Designing and delivering a 20-metre projection mapped tree at Longleat’s Festival of Light 2022
The UK’s original, biggest and most exciting lantern festival returned to the woods of Longleat at Christmas after a two-year hiatus due to Covid, and with a theme that transported visitors straight back to their childhoods.
The experience presented The Wondrous Worlds of Roald Dahl which took place from 5th November – 8th January, and invited guests to meet their favourite childhood characters from the Road Dahl series including James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr.Fox, Matilda, The Twits and Danny Champion of the World to name just a few. The lantern trail illuminated over 30 acres of the park using enchanting projection mapping and mesmorizing light displays.
The annual Festival of Light also features scenes of traditional Christmas with a 20 metre projection mapped Christmas tree which marks the end of the lantern trail. LCI designed and delivered the tree in all its glory, which forms part of a larger projection mapped show, which uses a 52-metre-wide Longleat stable building to project upon.
LCI designed the tree using over 100,000 LEDs and is controlled by 14 pixelators, each of which run on 24 light chains. The team programmed these to create animated sequences, controlled using a 2×2 Disguise media server.
LCI delivered the full audio, visual and lighting production, including technical design, concept creation, original media and audio scores, installation, show programming and onsite maintenance throughout the live dates. This included hand stitching the LEDs on to the rolled steel tree frame to form an accurate grid pattern.
Seven Panasonic 8500 Lumen projectors in VIZBOX enclosures were used to create the 3D video mapped projection, seven projecting in total. 40 RGB uplighters and two RTI lasers provide further enhancement. The show is controlled using a 2×2 Disguise media server combined with two Datapath units to deliver eight video inputs in total.
The original content was created by our LCI’s in-house team of character artists, animators and motion graphic experts to include festive imagery and mischievous elves who pop up in the windows in between shows, each with a story to tell.
The Enchanted Christmas Tree show has become a central part of the Christmas experience at Longleat. The accompanying soundtrack includes traditional Christmas songs taking the audience on a delightful festive journey.
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