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About one year in advance, we begin with our first preparations for the festival.
About half a year in advance the work intensifies and three months before the festival it is work on a day-to-day basis.
We had four days to prepare for the festival, to transfer 36 presentations to the video server and test them.
Normally the screen in the 'Neue Tonhalle' is 8x5m large.
Every two years, during the international media festival, we have this huge screen with an aspect ratio of 3:1
You can witness the fascination behind big pictures in slide festivals, which we have been sponsoring for decades.
We made these festivals possible by building big screens and providing these for the festival hosts.
We created the technology that was needed and developed the control unites for the slide presentations.
The screen you can see is huge, but we have constructed bigger screens.
We can build screens of almost any size.
This screen, with a width of 18m, is a rarity, and was built especially for the 'Medienfestival'.
We deliberately choose this extreme widescreen ratio, because it underlines the fascination behind the phenomena of projection.
With 10 people, you can set up the screen in nearly 2 hours.
Dismantling is quicker, you only need about a half to three-fourths of an hour.
The audience was overwhelmed by the huge screen size.
Everyone who entered the 'Tonhalle' was amazed by the size of the screen.
One of the biggest challenges was setting up the projectors.
Due to the large distance between projector and screen, smallest misalignments result in blurry images...
… images that do not accurately fit. Absolute precision setting up the projectors is inevitable.
We had no problem setting up the softedge, because we used wings platinum from AV stumpfl.
Independent from the number of projectors used for projecting panoramas.
The projectors used here are state of the art, 3-Chip DLP projectors from Panasonic, with a brightness of over 10.000 ANSI Lumen.
Of course, you need such equipment if you have a 18m screen.
The projectors are capable of full HD resolutions of 1920x1200 pixels. And due to the 3-Chip technology have a well-balanced and precise color spectrum.
Submissions ranged from panoramas to 16:9 movies.
In order to achieve the best projection, we only use the projector in the middle for 16:9 movies.
It is the opposite when we project a panorama. There we shut down the middle projector and only use the outer projectors.
We have a beautiful, vivid picture.
When you use more than one projector, it is important that they match in terms of brightness, color balance and soft edge.
Calibration is absolute thorough in order to achieve this huge, seamless picture.
Smallest errors would result in color differences and the big picture would be perceived as two individual pictures.
One day before the festival, we set up all the technical equipment, with four people in about 3 hours.
Because all presentations are prepared in advance, one employee would be sufficient to control the projection.
But if something goes wrong, then it's wise to have enough technicians who know their job and who can get a backup system up and running.
That is the ultimate challenge. If everything runs smoothly, it's easy.
In case of a system failure...
.. as mentioned before, we use three media engines. One is the controlling unit, the others are used for playback on the screen.
In case of a failure, another unit can fill the gap. In an extreme scenario, we could operate everything from one unit.
The authors are the ones who benefit the most from this brilliant projection.
Normally you do not have the possibility to present your production in this aspect ratio.
Various media formats were projected through wings platinum by AV stumpfl.
Among the submissions were QuickTime files, Windows Media Video files, picture sequences, time-lapse movies and big panoramas.
Everything was rendered using wings platinum and is played back using this software.
Iseo is a software that sits one layer above wings platinum.
Iseo controls wings platinum. Presentations are selected and playlists are arranged through it.
Iseo handles the timetable of the festival. It controls wings platinum, which is responsible for the projection on the screen.
A noteworthy feature is the possiblity to communicate with the hosts via this computer.
In case of technical difficulties or a delay, we can send them a text, ask a question and receive feedback via small selectors, answering yes or no.
We have had an enormous evolution from the first 'Medien Festival' in 2001...
... where we used multiple slide projectors...
... up to the sixth 'Medien Festival' where everything is presented in full HD, with over 18.000 ANSI Lumen.
During the three festival days, about 200GB of data are projected on the screen.
By providing technical support, our projectors, media engines and the screen, we supported the event with roughly 150.000€.
We adhered to slides for a long time, even when digital projection came up.
We always said: We will only move on towards digital projection, when our quality requirements are satisfied.
Today the quality is unbeatable; playback is downright sensational.
20 years ago, I wouldn't have dreamt it possible to project images and video with this kind of brilliance and quality.
In my opinion, the festivals have reached a quality in a technical sense, that cannot be exceeded.
The 'Medien Festival's biggest challenge is to please the audience.
That is to arrange a preselection from the submissions, in a manner that you can present a wide variety in an audio/visual realm.
My wishes for the future are: ...
...a larger audience that appreciates the quality...
...that even more people are reached through technology...
...that technology constantly becomes more flexible, smaller and affordable...
I hope that more and more authors can present their qualitative works to a broad audience.