The Fête des Vignerons marked a milestone with the installation of the largest LED floor in the world

To design this surface of 800 m2 were used 3.132 Absen LF7 Pro panels 4.500 nit. Besides, At the top of the four stages were installed 150 m2 of AT5 Pro Led screens in the form of columns. For its control, Barco's E2 system and several Smode multimedia servers were used..

The Winegrowers’ Festival, an event that is celebrated every 20 years in a temporary stadium on the shores of Lake Geneva, features the participation of a large number of artists wearing elaborate costumes, as well as animals and vehicles. A month-long event to honor the region's winegrowers, stretching from Lavaux to Chablais in Switzerland.

Organized by the Brotherhood of Winegrowers, the Brotherhood of Winegrowers, The show represents a year in the life of the vineyard through 21 action packed scenes. This year's event has featured great technological innovation in the form of a gigantic LED floor VISS Display, subsidiary of Roll call, provided by rental company Alabama.

As two decades have passed since the last Fête was held, the technical team of 200 people had to ensure that this year's edition met all expectations, and demonstrate the best of the last two decades in live event technology.

With this objective, a temporary stadium was built with capacity for 20.000 people in the Swiss city of Vevey that had to accommodate more than 5.500 volunteer artists and 900 singers and musicians from the area.

“I grew up in the area and everyone in this region knows the Fête des Vignerons because it is truly unique”, affirmed François Mottier, technical director of the event.

After the installation of the first technical elements, The project evolved for budgetary reasons and also from a creative perspective to ensure it was in line with the artistic director's vision, Daniele Finzi Pasca, designer of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Turin and Sochi Olympic Games, as well as some Cirque du Soleil productions. To help the technical team understand the key themes and narrative, workshops were held together with the organizer, the Brotherhood of Winegrowers.

How day and night shows were requested, A more powerful visual solution than high-quality video projection was required, which motivated us to opt for the incorporation of an LED floor.

“We pushed for LED because we wanted to use something different and we believed it was capable of adding a lot of visual power to the show.. Besides, with his 800 square meters, would become the largest Led floor ever implemented for an event”, he clarifies Fran1cois.

With heavy vehicles such as tractors driven on the surface while the cows, horses and carts, and the goats walked around the stadium, It was essential that the soil, configured with 3.132 panels, was resistant.

A large number of tests were carried out in extreme conditions, as with high temperatures, to ensure it was strong and performed properly under the sun before the LF7 Pro floor panels were chosen. 4.500 nights of the subsidy of Absen, VISS Display. A team that had a weight of 66 tons with frames.

The product was co-designed with Alabama, which provided all the video equipment for the stadium. In addition to covering practically the entire floor area with outdoor LEDs, the company supplied 150 square meters of Absen AT5 Pro outdoor Led screens in the form of columns, that were placed at the top of the four scenarios.

Besides, provided a visual technical control system based on the E2 system of Barco and several multimedia servers Smode, and installed a system of cameras and return monitoring to ensure the show was displayed smoothly on all screens.

Managed by Dominique Lassarat, general director and Alabama Project Manager for the Fête des Vignerons, The product development process involved creating LED technology that ensured images could be seen clearly., even during daylight performances, and that in turn could offer controlled electricity consumption.

A large fan pushing cold wind from the lake beneath the ground helped cool the surface by using small microparticles of water that evaporated to reduce heat.. Additional fans were placed on the ground around the edge of the ground to control the fog used in production.

“The system was so efficient that not even the hottest day, in which the soil temperature reached 75 degrees, we had problems. I had worked with this type of soil on a smaller scale, so this was something really special.

We built a slope on the edge to drain water and designed a LED platform for 20 meters long that could be raised and lowered using a hydraulic system, to allow the entry and exit of the stadium of the artists and the elements that appeared in the show”, by François Mottier.

The use of LED also allowed the production team to show Finzi Pasca and the choreographers markers indicating where the artists should be positioned and where objects such as the trampoline mats should be placed..

To ensure the floor performed in the most demanding conditions (direct sunlight), tests were carried out in an open-air theater with a version of 3.000 VISS product nits.

“I was worried it wouldn't be bright enough, so a version of 4.500 waterproof nits that could withstand 1,2 tons per square meter”, says Roberto Vitalini of Bashiba, content creator and responsible for the images displayed on the Led floor.

Due to the distance, the public saw the ground from a pixel pitch of 7,8 mm. “The smaller it is, the more fragile it becomes and the more difficult it is to obtain high brightness and power, so we needed to balance that.”, added Dominique Lassarat.

With a floor composed of 13 millions of LEDs, supported by others 5 millions on the edge, the team could guarantee an impressive show, even during the day. When used as an effect in combination with lighting, the ground could also illuminate the artists.

“During our night productions, The LED has a power of 20%, while during the day it works at 100%. It's the beginning of an exciting new era where screens can be seen in broad daylight”, explains Roberto Vitalini.

Around the edge of the stadium, 200 Altair AT5 series panels (Ultralight traveling LED 5,5 mm y 4.500 nits of Absen) featured content that complemented or mirrored the artists' ground images or close-ups.

This solution was selected in part due to its common cathode technology, requiring little energy, offers low heat dissipation, high refresh rates and reduces pixel glitches. Alabama worked with Absen once again during the R&D phases to ensure it was strong and lightweight, and helped develop a later framework to speed up rigging.

In the control tower, Smode media server offered advanced control and easy adjustment of border panel and LED floor content brightness during day and night shows.