Barco Opens All China Games with a Super Bowl Display

Barco, as the visual-solutions provider for the 11th National Games of the People’s Republic of China, created and installed, with the help of some of China’s lighting companies, a dazzling lighting event in the center of Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium for opening-night festivities.
Color Lighting, one of China s top lighting production companies, served as the exclusive lighting supplier for the ‘All China Games,” as they’re called, including design, production, implementation and complete service. Creative Technology served as the projection and video consultant and technical partner for specialist, video-content delivery.
A 164-ft.-diameter, 85-ft.-high, cylindrical display screen – a “Super Bowl” – initially appeared as an illuminated bowl. During the ceremony, the screen displayed 52 special effects while glowing peace doves descended into the stadium from its perimeter and dramatically lifted the bowl into the air. Then the bowl was revealed as a circular projection screen.
The lighting solutions deployed 48 XLM HD30 wide-screen projectors and eight DML-1200 luminaires for dynamic projection.
The National Games are considered China s most significant sporting event. This year s Games, takes place from October 16 to 28. The Friday opening ceremony of the Games was presided by People s Republic of China President Hu Jintao and attended by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. The All China Games will feature 33 sports and 360 disciplines with the most competitions occurring taking place in 17 cities across Shandong.
“The Super Bowl screen was an outsized creative idea,” said Liu Guanlin, the Games’ executive director. “It was designed to serve as the soul for the entire opening ceremony. However, it was very difficult to build a bowl screen 50 meters in diameter. What s more, the processing technique was especially complicated, and created a real challenge in material selection and video production, not to mention the need for powerful playback system. In the end, we made it happen. I m proud to say that I ve never seen such a vivid 360-degree video display that provided an engaging view for virtually every person in the stadium.”