The Royal Theater takes its sets to a new dimension with Christie projectors

The high-definition images provided by the Roadster HD20K-J projectors have played a starring role in the opera Fidelio, that has been represented for a month, creating spectacular 3D effects through a mix of audiovisual and reality that immerses the viewer in the work itself.

Audiovisual technology has strongly entered the stage environment, displacing the large scenic elements that previously played a key role in the opera. This is how he has seen it Royal Theater from Madrid, known for its demand in the use of the most innovative technologies, which this year has acquired three projectors Christie HD20K-J Roadster for use in productions that are represented in your spaces.

The Teatro Real is the center of Madrid's opera and is currently one of the most important in the world., hosting on its stage the best lyrical and performing artists of the moment. It was inaugurated in 1850 and offers some 180 opera and ballet performances per season.

"Historically, The opera has been characterized by having productions with very large corporeal sets and great lighting.. The large volume of materials that moved through the sets was truly magnificent.. But currently, with the emergence of audiovisual media, We are seeing that every day more of these sets have become virtual. That is to say, with the image we achieved almost the same corporeal effect that previously came in nine trucks.”, comments Fernando Valiente, Head of Audiovisuals at the Teatro Real.

“This made us think that it would be very positive to make an investment in high-performance projectors to be able to cover the greater demand for audiovisuals that we know will come in the future and that will allow us to provide a higher quality service to all productions”, continue explaining F. Brave.

With this objective, The Teatro Real brought together three of the main brands in the sector, inviting them to demonstrate their equipment in the range of 20.000 lumens. “The test was done in the theater itself with the same signals and lighting conditions for everyone.”, and Christie's proved to be the most reliable equipment, robust and versatile”, remember Juan José Pérez, project consultant Charmex, Christie partner who was in charge of the operation through the distributor List.

“The Christie projectors were the ones that had the most muscle and showed great reliability and great robustness of operation, with the simplest and easiest to use software and with an adjusted volume, which was very important due to the small size of our cabin”, corroborates Fernando Valiente.

The Theater acquired three Christie Roadster HD20K-J, a 3DLP technology projector, HD resolution 1920×1080 y 20.000 lumens. The equipment has been used in different functions throughout the year, but they just had a starring role in the opera Fidelio (the only one composed by Beethoven), which was performed in the theater for almost a month.

This is a production from the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Valencia opera house) which takes place in a prison on the outskirts of Seville and has a complex scenic conception, loaded with symbolism, stripped of ornamental scenic elements and in which audiovisual support is decisive to reinforce different aspects of a plot that contains several plots within itself.

High definition projections are one of the strong points of this production, creating spectacular 3D effects through a mix of audiovisual and reality that immerses the viewer in the work itself.

To make this possible, two simultaneous projections of animations were carried out on stage with 4 Christie Roadster HD20K-J. The theater rented the fourth projector from the Elenco company. Two of the projectors, arranged in dual in a projection booth at a throwing distance of 25 metros, performed a frontal projection constantly on a semi-transparent tulle.

The other two Roadsters, also mounted in dual in a car installed behind the stage, they made rear projection on four screens located at different levels, at a shooting distance of between 13 y 22 metros.

This double projection created a corporeal scenography by superimposing images, a game between the physical and the virtual that gave great depth to the stage and thus achieved the three-dimensional effect.

The aspect ratio was 16:9 and the image was cropped depending on the screen sizes. The largest was 17×9,30 meters and the smallest of about 16 meters wide. The resolution used was HD 1080i.

“The truth is that even we, We have a lot of experience with staging using videos, We have been impressed by how well the 3D effect is achieved with the combination of rear and front projections.. In fact, There is a magical moment in which different elements of the set virtually leave the stage towards the audience, making the spectator lean back in the seat., something really surprising”, adds Brave.

ILS, smart lens system

Fidelio's rear projection highlights the Roadster's intelligent lens system, el THEY, that automatically adjusts images to the screen size and maintains alignment in applications with movable screens of various aspect ratios.

“The ILS allowed us to automatically adjust the focus and zoom on each of the four rear projection screens. This is very important when you work in dual because when changing the projection surface the settings are lost and, if you don't have the ILS, you have to do the resets manually, with all the complications that entails”, affirms the head of Audiovisuals of the Teatro Real.

The ILS of Christie's projectors solved the problem that arose in other theaters where the play was previously performed, that they had to physically move the cart with the projectors every time there was a screen change.

To manage projections of Fidelio, the Teatro Real used the Watchout system of Dataton. Video signals were sent to the projectors using fiber optic cables.. An Edid emulator was also used. Extron to automatically manage the communication protocol between connected devices, as well as a converter AJA de DVI a HDSDI, What is the internal transportation sign in the theater?.

It's been a while since Christie projectors have been running in the theater and the sensations from their Audiovisual Department couldn't be better.. “The truth is that we are having a very positive experience with the teams, “We have been delighted with the service provided by Christie and Charmex and we trust that in the future we will be able to expand our projector fleet with Christie.”, concludes Fernando Valiente.