Tuesday, March 19, 2024

CAST Software’s wysiwyg Lighting Design and Previs Software Transforms a Warehouse Into a Sophisticated Arena for Poland’s Largest Dance Festival

 

Every year for the past 18 years, the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (province) in Poland has hosted the country’s largest dance festival – and for those 18 years, Białe Błota has come alive as 2,500 contestants and spectators from all over the country descend on a village whose usual population numbers just over 100.

For the last few years, the event has benefited from the technical skills and hard work of Mateusz Mielcarek and his team at Mielcarek Event, transforming a large, anonymous space into a compelling, sophisticated arena in which the contestants’ talents gain an outstanding showcase.

Key to this are the innovative, spectacular lighting effects designed and delivered by Mielcarek – using CAST Software’s wysiwyg lighting design and previsualization software.

SLIDESHOW:

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“Every year, we have done something different, starting from scratch to ensure each event is unique – and every year, we try to raise the bar,” said Mielcarek. “That means that we need incredibly smart tools that allow us express our energy and passion for what we do – and wysiwyg is perfect. It’s an essential element in our preparation.”

Some idea of the ambition of the event can be gleaned from the equipment list, with around 150 individual fixtures from the likes of Clay Paky, DTS and Robe driven by a Jands Vista console.

Mielcarek and his team spent five days in preparation, seven days assembling the equipment and three days installing it at the venue.

“The ability that wysiwyg give us to create an entire project from scratch gives us many options for ensuring a professional implementation,” continued Mielcarek. “For example, the program includes a 3D viewer. That’s very important to us because it allows us to prepare the entire project to scale, replicating all the key elements.  We use the wysiwyg Perform version as it is an all-in-one software, which combines 3D CAD, documentation, rendering, and pre-visualization functions into one tool that’s very useful for large-scale production. Another interesting feature is the ability to simulate effects when connected to a DMX console or a compatible offline editor.”

According to Mielcarek, another key benefit of CAST Software’s wysiwyg is the ability it gives him to share with organizers what he has in mind in order to get feedback, and for the organizers to demonstrate to potential sponsors what the show will look like.

“Not only does wysiwyg enable us to achieve a much more efficient production process,” said Mielcarek, “but it also helps the organizers to get financial support in a country where that can be very difficult.”

“We’re already thinking about next year’s show,” he concluded. “You can be sure that we’ll be using wysiwyg again – as well as all the other events we will support.”

Project credit list:

Producer: Mielcarek Event
Sound: Mateusz Mielcarek

Stage: Elek with crew

Light: Denis Dejv

Technical support: Dziamdziok

Multimedia: Tom Skof

 

Equipment list:

Lighting:

8 x Robe Spiider LED washbeam luminaries
20 x Robe Pointe
22 x Clay Paky Sharpy
10 x Atomic LED
54 x Sunstrip Active DMX
13 x DTS 600
12 x OXO LED
8 x Flat Cob Light
Jands Vista Driver

Sound:

LA8 NEXT-proaudio + Las12 + Midas Venice mixer
Video:

6 x Kinesys motion control systems
32-meters2 P4 LED screen
Images: Mielcarek Event

Joe Kleiman
Joe Kleimanhttp://wwww.themedreality.com
Raised in San Diego on theme parks, zoos, and IMAX films, InPark's Senior Correspondent Joe Kleiman would expand his childhood loves into two decades as a projectionist and theater director within the giant screen industry. In addition to his work in commercial and museum operations, Joe has volunteered his time to animal husbandry at leading facilities in California and Texas and has played a leading management role for a number of performing arts companies. Joe previously served as News Editor and has remained a contributing author to InPark Magazine since 2011. HIs writing has also appeared in Sound & Communications, LF Examiner, Jim Hill Media, The Planetarian, Behind the Thrills, and MiceChat His blog, ThemedReality.com takes an unconventional look at the attractions industry. Follow on twitter @ThemesRenewed Joe lives in Sacramento, California with his wife, dog, and a ghost.

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