WATCH THE VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OACNpqZv7ps
The very first Sama-Sama Live Experience was held at the Madrid Arena in late 2015. It was developed by Roy Offer in conjunctionwith Cirque du Soleil that combines elements from live shows, theme parks and interactive events.
Sama-Sama is a unique type of entertainment, showcasing the ability and creativity of its participants, merging the spectator and performer into one. The idea is that using the variety of technology available people can create their own entertainment in the space around them. The space used is a mixture of a dance studio, rhythm gaming, green screen and motion tracking technology aswell as a stage.
Eli Cochavi, Eran Klein and Omer Israeli from expert lighting design team, Cochavi & Klein used wysiwyg lighting design and previsualization software to programme an incredible volume and complexity of lighting, video and control for each experience area working with key stakeholders, artists, collaborators and technology vendors.
“Each experience had to be fully programmed with lights, sound, automation, performers, stage sets and video. As well as designing the show we also had to programme the technology elements including cable runs and network infrastructure. We used the great benefits of wysiwyg previz software to accurately represent how each area would work,” said Eli Cochavi, CEO at Cochavi & Klein.
Cochavi & Klein used a lot of custom and existing virtual lighting fixtures contained within wysiwyg’s library. “We worked with CAST library manager to create many new lighting fixtures. In total, the set had over 2,000 lighting fixtures and was connected to 22 DMX universes. It was controlled by 4 GrandMA2 desks and 4 NPU’s as included lamps and props that were required in this project and that enabled everyone to see the full picture with accuracy of details. That’s even without counting the 40,000 pixels used for control and programming in MADRIX as part of the scenery!” said Eran Klein, senior light designer at Cochavi & Klein.
Specific stage parts and sceneries were created byKeith Greco, studio set designer and team at Greco Décor, Los Angeles using Sketchup 3D modelling and these were imported into wysiwyg. “The ability to import Sketchup into wysiwyg and export back to Sketchup helped us to communicate and explain our lighting design to the design team located 13,000 kilometres away from our offices in Tel Aviv,” explained Eran Klein.
This feature has been greatly improved in wysiwyg version R36. Users can import drawings directly from Sketchup into wysiwyg and textures, layers, surfaces and object groupings are preserved as they were created.
The previsualizations and high-resolution renders were presented by Cochavi & Klein to each stakeholder and project partner. “wysiwyg had a really great advantage in letting other people see the project as it would look and evolve in a live setting. It also allowed us to accomplish tasks prior to being implemented - an amazing advantage,” said Klein.
The project took eight months to plan and when at the venue comprising 6,000 square meters, there were just three weeks to finalise and complete programming. “We had a wysiwyg studio located inside the venue and if we had not used wysiwyg, then we would not have had enough time to complete the programming that summed up to over 2,300 lighting cues,” added Klein.
“The project was extremely successful and was one of the most complicated projects that we have worked on. Having the right tool set and the great people made the project an enjoyable experience - including working with the amazing team at CAST!”
About Sama-Sama Live Experience
Whether following someone else’s lead or taking their own path, Sama-Sama gives the power to the individual. But it is more than just an individual experience. Everything concurrently works with what the other participants are doing to mold and change the show around them at all times.
Sama-Sama is closest thing to being able to watch a show and be a part of it. Audiences are not only part of a show but are a driving force behind where it goes and how it will get there. This has the chance to give new exhilaration to audiences when it comes to live entertainment. While it is not an entirely flawless and completely free to control experience, Sama-Sama gives a unique medium of live entertainment.
Project credits:
Skip Sherman – Chief Creative Officer
Amir Schorr – Artistic Director
Ido Kagan – Co-Artistic Director
Avishay Giladie – Tour Manager
Pamela Schneider – Multimedia Director
Shay Bonder – ShowControl (Ventuz) Management
Cory Korkos – Chief Technological Officer
Amit Segall – Head of Abelton programming and R&D
PRG Spain – Lights,Sound and Video Rental Company
Lior May-tal & Caco Garcia – GrandMA2 Programmers
Discover more at www.cast-soft.com
