The Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico opened in October 2011 with a two hour spectacular sequence of music, dance, projection and aerial acrobatics.
In creating the show organisers wanted to showcase the past, present and future of Guadalajara and created four separate scenes celebrating culture, peace, innovation and sport. The scenes took place below the “Halo”: a large circular structure located 30 metres above the playing field at the city’s Omnilife Stadium. This truss structure both served as a scenic element and provided the location for the attachment of rigging, performer flying systems, projection, lighting, and more. A fifth scene featured a flying athlete lighting a huge cauldron which in turn set off fireworks above the stadium.
The opening ceremonies were produced by FiveCurrents and viewed by an estimated worldwide audience of 200 million as well as over 60,000 ticket holders in the stadium. Stage Technologies managed the performer flying in the five scenes.
Stage Technologies was contracted by Production Resources Group (PRG) to provide a 21-axis power flying system. The solution comprised 21 winches (12 with a speed of 5 metres per second and 9 at 3 metres per second speed), six Au:tour plug-and-play racks, and two Acrobat G6 desks all running eChameleon and the Sculptor Animation Toolkit (Stage Technologies’ own interface that works between eChameleon and 3D Max Studio). Sculptor Animation Toolkit enables operators to programme multiple 3D paths. Stage Technologies’ Project Manager Patrick Bettington said “The creative team was really impressed by our Sculptor Animation Toolkit, which enabled us to run complex jobs much more efficiently and quickly than large events like the Games have experienced in the past. The interface communicates a large number of 3D paths easily.”
Stage Technologies worked especially closely with the choreographers and other members of the creative team, to ensure that the automation elements matched their vision. The flexibility of both eChameleon and the Sculptor Animation Toolkit interface meant that any creative changes could be implemented immediately by the Stage Technologies team.
The System included:
Location: Mexico
Date Commenced: March 2011
Date Completed: October 2011
View footage from the Opening Ceremony on YouTube: http://ow.ly/73d5O