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Christie Microtiles Bring Disney Magic to Barneys New York

Cypress, CA, USA — The world of high fashion comes to life in brilliant colors as multiple configurations of 425 Christie® MicroTiles® light up the windows of Barneys New York flagship store at 660 Madison Avenue, for their “Electric Holiday” display. A partnership between The Walt Disney Company, Barneys New York, and Christie, “Electric Holiday” is a multimedia presentation highlighted by a digitally-animated, moving art short featuring Disney characters Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Daisy Duck, as they strut the runway in original designer clothes. The short is the highlight of the high tech light show, accompanied by an original score by Oscar®winning composer Michael Giacchino.

Following the world premiere on November 14, the eight-minute art short continues to loop throughout the day on the Christie MicroTiles. The window displays will be up until January 3, 2013. Visit www.christiedigital.com/electricholiday to learn more about the display.

“We are thrilled to be working with the experts at Christie on Disney Electric Holiday Windows at Barneys New York. Disney and Barneys wanted to create a visually stunning window display unlike any other and the Christie MicroTiles – with their high resolution, shallow depth, virtually seamless canvas and true-to-life image quality – made that possible. Utilizing 565 square feet of MicroTiles and 50 million pixels we are able to create a brilliant light and video show that will light up Madison Ave throughout the Holidays,” remarked Lylle Breier, SVP World Wide Special Events, Walt Disney Studios.

“‘Electric Holiday’ is a stellar combination of state-of-the art animation, lights, music, and fashion that will encompass eight windows of Barneys New York’s Madison Avenue store and represents one of the most complex combinations of shapes, resolution, size and depth of field ever used with the Christie MicroTiles,” said Sean James, vice president, Managed Services, Christie. “From the realization of the high-concept moving art short to the multi-layered arrangement of MicroTiles, it is a triumph of technical, creative and artistic vision never seen before on a holiday window display.”

Christie’s Managed Services team provided technical consultation at every stage of the installation, from concept finalization, to pre-staging, to on-site set-up, expanding on its long history of collaboration with Disney. Christie projection technologies have powered some of Disney’s most famous world premiere events, including “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “High School Musical”. Each window will feature an array of Christie MicroTiles in a staggered, multi-layer set-up of various shapes and depths, surrounded by bright meshes of lights that will be synchronized with the music.

The shallow depth of the display windows presented an especially daunting challenge, eliminating technology that required substantial space. Flat panels were considered, but their thick bezels significantly distracted from the display, which needed to appear nearly seamless.

Christie MicroTiles were the answer. Lightweight and shallow rear projection modules approximately 16” by 12”, they are less than a foot deep and fit perfectly in the store windows. More importantly, they have a nearly invisible 1mm gap between the tiles for seamless images and can be scaled to any size, shape and orientation, forming a digital canvas of the highest brightness and resolution. As well, with a viewing angle of 180 degrees, every view from the street offers “the best seat in the house”, regardless of where one is standing.

Harnessing the strengths of both DLP® projection and LED technology, Christie MicroTiles offer substantially brighter images and a much wider color palette than conventional flat panel LCD and plasma displays. The result is a digital canvas composed of 425 MicroTiles in a combination of portrait and landscape modes, generating the equivalent of a 600 square foot image spread across 2,275 square feet of building. The complex design of the display includes:

  • 565 square feet of Christie MicroTiles digital canvas
  • 50 million pixels of resolution
  • 15 simultaneous HD video streams
  • 476 square feet of Traxon Mesh
  • 600 feet of A-Deco Pixel strings
  • five d3 Media Servers

“’Electric Holiday’ is truly a collaboration of some of the ‘best of the best’ in the world,” continued Sean James. “Achieving such a technological and creative triumph required a true partnership of trust among all the contributors. It represents the best in fashion from Barneys New York, the best in Entertainment from Disney, and the best in visual technology from Christie. ”

VP of Christie’s Entertainment Solutions group, Craig Sholder added: “Christie and Disney share a long and successful history of collaboration, staging some of the industry’s most memorable multimedia events. Our latest partnership for ‘Electric Holiday’ continues in that tradition of success. We look forward to Christie technology, the Disney magic, and Barneys’ sense of fashion thrilling shoppers from around the world during the holiday season.”

About Barneys New York
BARNEYS NEW YORK (Barneys) is a luxury specialty retailer with flagship stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale. The Company also operates a highly successful online business at Barneys.com. Founded as a men’s retailer in 1923 in downtown Manhattan, it turned into an international arbiter of high style for both women and men in the 1970s and became renowned for discovering and developing new and innovative design talent. Barneys is famous for selling the most intriguing edit from the world’s top designers, including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and gifts for the home. Barneys’ signature sense of wit and style is manifested in its creative advertising campaigns, original holiday themes, and celebrated window displays. Barneys’ innovative CO-OP was launched in 1985 and has since expanded into a freestanding store concept operating more than a dozen locations in eight states across the U.S. For more information about Barneys New York, please visit www.Barneys.com and explore its luxury content site, The Window, for an insider’s look into the Barneys world: behind-the-scenes visits with exciting designers, fashion, events, and the Barneys team.

About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of about $40.9 billion in its last fiscal year.

Ever since Walt Disney founded his world-famous company in 1923, the name “Disney” has become synonymous with boundless creativity and an unbridled imagination that helped define the 20th century. Today, The Walt Disney Company and its affiliated companies remain faithful to their commitment to produce unparalleled entertainment experiences based on the rich legacy of quality creative content and exceptional storytelling. From television and movies, to theme parks, merchandise, virtual worlds and beyond, Disney delights consumers and guests everywhere with magical stories, beloved characters and unparalleled family entertainment and experiences.

About Christie
Christie is a global visual technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world’s most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images.

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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