LOS ANGELES – The movie, Iron Man 2, uses LED video screen with a media server feeding content rather than a green screen for the Stark and Hammer Expo scenes. Pixled's F-11 LED video technology met the production's cost, configuration flexibility, resolution and weight requirements. Matthew Libatique, ASC, the director of photography, worked with gaffer Mike Bauman, who oversaw all of the rigging and programming of the LED screens for the film. The large LED screen was made up of Pixled F-11, 11mm LED video tiles.
For the Stark Expo, the curved screen measured 70 feet wide and 30 feet high, and the Pixled product's low weight allowed it to be rigged from two 2-inch pipes mounted below standard truss.
That screen was reconfigured overnight into an 82-foot-wide, 22-foot-high screen for the Hammer Expo scenes. Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG), provided the Pixled F-11 gear, working with Pixled rental partner XL Video.
"We needed to provide an LED screen that could have a very specific radius, and it needed to be perfect when installed," said Bob Magee, XL Video account executive. "I am proud that we were able to do just that.
"What made it most interesting," Magee added, "is that the whole screen hangs off of only two 2-inch pipes. With these dimensions, no other technology could have done what the Pixled tiles were able to do and still have the same great resolution. Others were tested, but the F-11 was the right solution."
The Pixled F-11 LED video displays use a modular tile system suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. The Pixled F-11 uses Nichia SMD LEDs-at a pixel pitch of 11.25mm-to provide a light output of 5,500 NIT and has an IP65 rating.
The product weighs 3kg/7lbs per tile (15kg/33lbs per m2) and can be used for scrim effects with its 10-percent transparency, which lets light pass through it for 3D-like effects.
It also features an integrated shutter system, which provides the user with the option of using the display as a solid screen with zero transparency, increasing the contrast of the image.
Iron Man 2 took advantage of the transparency when the Libatique and director Jon Favreau noted the cinematic look behind the screen when shafts of light came through from the lighting rig in front. They decided to shoot some behind-the-scenes footage with the stars of the film doing scenes in the backstage area.
For more information, please visit www.pixled.com.
