blog.entertainmentengineering.com: Controls for World's Largest Aquatic Show

Entertainment Engineering

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Controls for World's Largest Aquatic Show

Medialon has been selected by ECA2 to be the main show control system on "Mangrove Groove" aquatic show, a brand new stunning 38-minute multimedia show in Octbay, Shenzhen, China.

ECA2 is a French-based company that specializes in creating and producing major events and shows around the world. The group designed and produced the “Mangrove Groove” show, which features the world’s largest aquatic stage ever built. It covers an area of 5,600 square meters.

Every evening, up to 5,000 spectators celebrate the return of the birds in an amazing decor dedicated to the mangrove. The artistic and technological challenges represent the forces of nature, staging the four elements merged with the magic of captivating images, with water, fire, lighting, video, and air effects, all entirely controlled and synchronized by a Medialon Manager PRO Show Control system.

Thanks to Medialon Manager Panel, free user interface design tool, several Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) have been created. From a single touch of a button, the AV Technical staff can run the show (show mode), make video tests (test video mode), check the status of the devices (status mode), and much more.

The Status mode is the kind of tool that is very useful for technical maintenance. Based on a custom user interface, it has been especially designed to show the technicians the exact location of each device. Access buttons allow the direct checking of the status of all the AV devices as well as eight temperature sensors, one wind sensor, fourteen Uninterruptible Power Supplies, pressure levels of water-effect pumps and compressors, video projectors’ lamp statuses, useful lamp life span calculations, and many other features.

For a maximum reliability, two Medialon Manager units run synchronously creating a full redundant system that switch automatically at any time (even during the show) from unit A to unit B or from unit B to unit A if any unit failure is detected. The Manager has also been programmed to retrieve log files from devices located in different areas of the stage to help show technicians see an issue with an AV device has cropped up during the show.

“Medialon Show Control system helps us run, synchronize, and monitor hundreds of special effects. All of these devices interact with more than 50 actors, acrobats, and dancers, and have proven to be safe and reliable. The tools are used to show our interpretation of the life in the mangrove, surrounded by an incredible amount of mystery and enchantment,” explains Jean-Christope Canizares, ECA2’s Show Producer.