Toronto’s Casa Loma, a Gothic Revival-style estate that has become a major tourist attraction and special event venue, was recently transformed visually with projection mapping for a Halloween attraction dubbed ‘Legends of Horror.’
Throughout October, Liberty Entertainment Group commissioned video jockey (VJ) Scott Guy, lead video technician for EMD Show Systems, to projection-map Casa Loma’s 8,631-m2 (90,000-sf) exterior façade with a themed mix of graphics and video content, which was developed by Toronto-based Big Digital Studios. The production used AV Stumpfl’s Wings Vioso content production, playback, mapping and show control software.
Legends of Horror’s storyline featured such famous horror characters as Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Guy used Wings Vioso to map the surface of Casa Loma, calibrate the characters’ images to the architecture and then display them on it with four high-definition (HD) digital projectors.
“It is definitely the single biggest project I have ever worked on,” he says. “I got to work with a n elite team of technicians, designers and builders to make it happen.”
“We were blown away with the vision and couldn’t wait to bring the castle to life,” says Michael Girgis, co-founder of Big Digital.
Elsewhere on the grounds, EMD Show Systems controlled several other projection effects and managed sound design through 10 separate channels. In total, visitors toured more than 1.5 km (0.9 mi) through the estate, including the lower gardens and tunnels, many of which has been previously unseen by tourists.
“We had been working on this concept for more than two years with a team of 30 production crew members,” explains Nick Di Donato, president and CEO of Liberty Group. “The event featured a cast of more than 100 actors. We were excited to work with the best partners to put this project together.”
