Vol. 16, No. 3, Oct-December 2005 

Ski Championships Celebrate with
Multimedia Laser Ceremonies 

The Ski World Championships opened in Bormio, Italy earlier this year with the Italian laser company Laser Entertainment srl producing a one-hour show to entertain thousands of spectators and an international television audience in the millions.

One of the most challenging aspects of the production, said Laser Entertainment srl’s (LE) Alberto Kellner, was creating an event that combined such mandatory elements as speeches and flag processions with entertainment segments that would keep audiences excited. Working with the event’s producers and television directors, it was decided that a multimedia show was a must. Athletes, artists and dancers were incorporated into the opening ceremonies, along with powerful lasers for projecting beams and imagery on to the stage and surrounding areas.
 

Stage, at top, is filled with choir while lasers projections fill area below.
The same scene in daylight showing position of stage, audience and ski area.

The most exciting moment of the show, said Kellner, was the “escape” of a deer. The deer imagery was animated by LE and projected using a 10-watt Jenoptik Jenlas whitelight laser. The deer seemed to literally jump off the projection screen and run into the mountains, and then race onto the finish area of the ski area. The deer, said Kellner, received a standing ovation from he audience and was praised by the international TV commentators. The show ended with a rich 10 minutes fireworks finale.

In addition to the whitelight laser, LE used a Spectra-Physics Millennia X green laser connected to remote LE 360° scanning heads for volumetric beam effects. LE also worked with Stark srl, which supported the show with Stark 1200 Live large format image projectors. Intelligent moving lights and general lighting was provided by Giochi di Luce.