More details from Christie (http://www.christiedigital.com/electricholiday):
NEW YORK – The world of high fashion comes to life in brilliant colors as multiple configurations of 425 Christie MicroTiles light up the windows of Barneys New York flagship store at 660 Madison Ave., for their “Electric Holiday” display. A partnership between The Walt Disney Company, Barneys New York, and Christie, “Electric Holiday” is a multimedia presentation highlighted by a digitally-animated, moving art short featuring Disney characters Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Daisy Duck, as they strut the runway in original designer clothes. The short is the highlight of the high tech light show, accompanied by an original score by Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino.
Following the world premiere on Nov. 14, the eight-minute art short will continue to loop throughout the day on the Christie MicroTiles. The eight window displays will be up until Jan. 3, 2013.
“We are thrilled to be working with the experts at Christie on Disney Electric Holiday Windows at Barneys New York. Disney and Barneys wanted to create a visually stunning window display unlike any other and the Christie MicroTiles – with their high resolution, shallow depth, virtually seamless canvas and true-to-life image quality – made that possible. Using 565 square feet of MicroTiles and 50 million pixels we are able to create a brilliant light and video show that will light up Madison Ave throughout the holidays,” said Lylle Breier, SVP World Wide Special Events, Walt Disney Studios.
Christie’s Managed Services team provided technical consultation at every stage of the installation, from concept finalization, to pre-staging, to on-site set-up, expanding on its long history of collaboration with Disney. Each window features an array of Christie MicroTiles in a staggered, multi-layer set-up of various shapes and depths, surrounded by bright meshes of lights that will be synchronized with the music.
The shallow depth of the display windows presented an especially daunting challenge, eliminating technology that required substantial space. Flat panels were considered, but their thick bezels significantly distracted from the display, which needed to appear nearly seamless.
Christie MicroTiles were the answer. Lightweight and shallow rear projection modules approximately 16” by 12”, they are less than a foot deep and fit perfectly in the store windows. More importantly, they have a nearly invisible 1mm gap between the tiles for seamless images and can be scaled to any size, shape and orientation, forming a digital canvas of the highest brightness and resolution. As well, with a viewing angle of 180 degrees, every view from the street offers “the best seat in the house,” regardless of where one is standing.
Harnessing the strengths of both DLP projection and LED technology, Christie MicroTiles offer substantially brighter images and a much wider color palette than conventional flat panel LCD and plasma displays. The result is a digital canvas composed of 425 MicroTiles in a combination of portrait and landscape modes, generating the equivalent of a 600 sq. ft. image spread across 2,275 sq. ft. of building. The complex design of the display includes:
· 565 sq. ft. of Christie MicroTiles digital canvas
· 50 million pixels of resolution
· 15 simultaneous HD video streams
· 476 sq. ft. of Traxon Mesh
· 600 ft of A-Deco Pixel strings
· 5 d3 Media Servers
VP of Christie’s Entertainment Solutions group, Craig Sholder said, “Christie and Disney share a long and successful history of collaboration, staging some of the industry’s most memorable multimedia events. Our latest partnership for ‘Electric Holiday’ continues in that tradition of success. We look forward to Christie technology, the Disney magic, and Barneys’ sense of fashion thrilling shoppers from around the world during the holiday season.”
“‘Electric Holiday’ is a stellar combination of state-of-the art animation, lights, music, and fashion … and represents one of the most complex combinations of shapes, resolution, size and depth of field ever used with the Christie MicroTiles,” said Sean James, vice president, Managed Services, Christie. “From the realization of the high-concept moving art short to the multi-layered arrangement of MicroTiles, it is a triumph of technical, creative and artistic vision never seen before on a holiday window display.”
