LOS ANGELES, CA– Over 60,000 video game enthusiasts converged on the Los Angeles Convention Center to attend the highly-anticipated Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) event. Video game publisher, 2K Games, looked to capitalize on the buzz they created in the gaming world earlier this year when announcing their new Borderland 3 video game. 4Wall Entertainment provided a turn key lighting and video rental package that helped create a vibrant, Warhol-esque spectacle surrounded by life-size 3D models, featured over 100 gaming stations, a theatre, and a lounge.
More details from 4 Wall (www.4wall.com):
One focus of the lighting design was to only light the aisles of the gaming areas. To accomplish this look, Lighting Designer Chris Wojcieszyn decided to utilize the massive LED video wall as the primary light source to keep the area as dim as possible. This helped create a comfortable gaming experience while attendees were demoing the new game.
The Martin Professional Viper Performances’ framing system worked perfectly to create a precise isle of light in the gaming area.Another focus of the lighting design was the larger than life 3D models of characters from the new video game.
“We needed to make them look as dramatic as possible and highlight specific areas on each character,” said Wojciezyn. “This was achieved through multiple types of light sources and angles.”
Each character was lit with 4 Chauvet Professional MK3 Wash and 2 Viper Performance fixtures hanging in the rig above. While 2 Martin MAC Aura XBs sat on the floor for uplight.
“This was my first time using the MK3 Wash lights, and I was impressed with the white light output, especially for the wall graphics,” explained the LD. “The color and zoom range was also instrumental when lighting large or small areas.”
Next to the gaming area was a large two-story structure which was home to an open-air lounge on the second level that was flanked by various meeting rooms and “influencer” gaming rooms on the first floor. The lounge was covered by 9 floating fabric ceiling panels that were each lit by a single Robe BMFL Blade overhead.
“We used a couple variations of 3200K light to create a very warm look in contrast to the dark, colorful world of the booth down below,” said Wojciezyn. “The BMFL Blade’s zoom range and powerful lamp source allowed me to cover the ceiling panels with a smooth even beam without any spill outside the frame of the fabric.”
For the theatre, 4Wall provided Chroma-Q Color Force II LED battens and TMB Solaris Flare Q+ fixtures.
“The battens were used to aide in general light level in the room, and the Solaris Flares were used as house lights,” explained the LD. “The small but powerful Solaris Flare Q+ lights were the right choice – quiet and flexible in color and intensity, which is what we needed for a couple of looks in the theatre space.”
In addition to the light package 4Wall provided a large AV Package including 5 4K 2.8mm LED walls, 16 75” 4K monitors in the meeting rooms and 4 84” 4K monitors in the “influencer” gaming rooms.
The control system was comprised of a MA Lighting grandMA2 Light console, 3 MA NPUs, and multiple disguise d3 media servers.
“The programming was very basic actually,” said the LD. “Mainly a static look with a few variations, mostly taking place in the theatre area. We did triggers from the d3 to the console to perform specific cues and executors.”
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the E3 Expo. The total attendance for the 3-day event was 66,100.
