Global visual and audio technologies company, Christie provided the spectacular red carpet displays at the world premiere of Star Wars® Episode VII: The Force Awakens™.
Christie provided technical consultancy for the whole installation including concept creation, pre-staging, onsite setup and delivery. Having a HQ in Cypress, California was invaluable as this allowed them to pre-configure some of the equipment in advance to meet the ambitious premiere deadline.
MicroTiles, Coolux and Dolby
388 Christie® MicroTiles® provided a stunning back drop to the red carpet. 18 Christie LCD panels were used throughout the installation. Both displays were powered by Christie’s Coolux® Pandoras Box Media Servers – Christie acquired coolux GmbH recently.
Christie worked closely with Dolby, co-developing a new proprietary HDR and wider color gamut technology for Dolby Vision™ – delivering customized, high-frame-rate (HFR) capable Christie 4K laser projection heads.
"Disney and Christie have been sharing projection and display ideas and innovations for several years…"
Michael Kern, Disney’s VP, Special Events Production and Technical Services, says that the choice to work with Christie was an obvious one. “Disney and Christie have been sharing projection and display ideas and innovations for several years now to provide audiences with unparalleled moviegoing experiences, so there was no question regarding who we would enlist to provide spectacular red carpet displays to make this a special night for everyone attending.”
Christie’s projection technologies have been on hand for many of Disney’s high profile world premieres including “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “High School Musical”.
The Walt Disney Studios rely on Christie to provide the latest digital cinema technologies and a variety of professional services for their production, post-production, screening rooms and premieres. Christie is on hand 24/7 for Disney’s Digital Studio Services Team with support for their digital cinema facilities.
In 2012 Christie, Disney and Barneys New York collaborated on Barneys flagship Madison Avenue store’s “Electric Holiday” display.
The project utilized 425 Christie® MicroTiles®. Kern says, “That’s where we first fell in love with the Christie MicroTiles – with their high resolution, shallow depth, virtually seamless canvas and true-to-life image quality – so we were eager to include them in the red carpet backdrop for one of our biggest premieres.”
