The Challenge

An annual electronic dance festival with its flagship event held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands each year. Featuring electronic dance producers and DJs, the rhythmic and all-welcoming festival brings people together under the electric sky in a musical celebration that lasts from dusk until dawn.

Looking to create an innovative visual experience within one of the festival’s many set designs, integrators Virginia Barach and Tico Acosta from Tico Sighting wanted to use a vintage 1940’s B-25 Mitchell bomber airplane in their design and showcase it descending from the clouds. On its decent, and all to the beat of festival music, the visual display would tell the story of the ghost plane and its pilot. Knowing their “Ghost Ride” concept would mean a massive display of forms and brilliant imagery, they turned to Optoma to help tell their unique visual story and bring the ghost plane to life.

The Solution

Hoping to create an infinity mirror effect, Tico Sighting installed disks of plexiglass with projection film in each of the plane’s engines. They then used projection mapping software and Optoma ProScene ZU1050 and ZU850 laser projectors to simulate working propellers. Using the same approach, they creatively installed additional Optoma laser projectors on projection platforms, this time projecting against the plane’s body and surface as their inventive backdrop and screen.

“The ZU1050 and the ZU850 were incredibly easy to install,” Tico said. “The projectors have an unbelievable range in lens shift, allowing us to reach unconventional areas on the plane’s surface without major placement modifications to the projectors and projection towers. The ability to turn the projectors off and restart them, without the usual long cool down time, was extremely useful. It made switching out lenses and making tweaks to the performance fast and efficient.”

The creative combination of stimulating simulation video content, projection mapping and ultra-bright laser projection resulted in a life-sized illusion of a plane that was operating and in motion, turning the vintage war plane into a living work of art.

Boasting 10,000 and 8,000 lumens respectfully, an impressive 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 20,000 hours of virtually maintenance-free operation, Optoma’s ZU1050 and ZU850 laser projectors were an ideal choice for the festival’s demanding installation environment. A variety of lens options, motorized lens-shift, zoom and focus with 360 degree and portrait operation also helped ensure installation flexibility.

The Results

Creating a memorable visual display that captivated the festival’s audience, Tico Sighting’s aerial narrative brought the audience together in a celebration of storytelling and sound.

“The Optoma ProScene professional laser series really allowed our work to shine,” added Tico. “There was a lot of ambient light around us due to the bright stages and other art installations, but we were really pleased with the way the 10K and 8K laser projectors performed. With some tweaking on the first night of the show, we really got the colors to show through richly.”

“Tico Sighting has been using Optoma projectors exclusively for the past two years in our 360 degree immersive dome theaters,” Tico concluded. “Optoma’s laser and short throw projectors are really bright, easy to install and work well with our auto calibration software. After experiencing the Optoma ProScene laser series we are excited to incorporate them, as well as the Optoma dome lens, into our theaters.”