Mediacorp’s Marquee Event, Star Awards 2018 was not only a visual spectacle for its viewers but also for the entire television history of Singapore as it was LIVE aired. Star Awards 2018 was organised at MES Theatre on April 22, 2018 where the Top 40 Nominees from the Singaporean Television Industry walked across a “Floating” catwalk platform. Ecstatic and magnanimous effects were created by Dome Projection Mapping at the venue that was designed by Knownsense Studios.
On the star-studded night, inside the MES Theatre, there was a special holographic segment featuring all the past recipients of the ‘All Time Favourite Artistes Award’, communicated to the audience in the form of holograms. This hologram projection was the first in Singapore broadcast history and was the opening act of Star Awards 2018. The audience on location and at home were able to have an immersive 360 visual experience.
When asked about the project to Himanshu Ghosh and a team from Knownsense Studios, he said, “We had previously worked with Adesh (Managing Director of MOVPL) on a few projects and were pretty excited to take on a new project with his team. MediaCorp along with MOVPL is one of the most genuine and like-minded people to work with and we are honoured to be a part of the history-turning event as Star Awards.”
According to the production heads Rajarshi Samanta and Mandeep Sharma, ‘’The team had to work out themes contrasting the backgrounds of Bling, Shine, Abstracts, and similar. Multiple themes were decided upon like Star-field, Pop Illusion, Mystical Forest, Space Travel, Crystal, Smoke, and Mist etc. but a bigger challenge was to create all the themes in a spherical canvas as it was a 180-degree dome. It was a completely different workflow than conventional video making.”
Almost as many as 12 projectors of 20,000 Lumens were installed for the Dome Projection. 7 projectors being operated inside the dome and the rest at various places outside. This gigantic dome was 22.5 meters high and 20 meters in diameter, giving a feeling of a virtual sky to the audience.
According to Rajarshi, “Planning perfectly was the most important aspect. We completely simulated every projector placement beforehand, created and tested new review systems to review the dome content on simulated 180-degree setups so that there would be no surprises for us in the end.”
A massive group of technicians had come together from all parts of the world for the execution of this show. They left no stone unturned in pulling together one of the most remarkable shows of all times. Technocrats from Singapore, Germany, China, and India were present at the venue to add enormous bling to a starry night.
Challenges are a part and parcel of getting something right and our case was no different. All the content had to be pre-fabricated as there were time constraints, leaving time only for touch-ups. A dome of such vast nature needed precision and constant design check for zero faux pas.
