Canada’s Wonderland launched Starlight Spectacular in 2011. Since then, it has become a standard feature for the theme park. Photos courtesy Christie
Starlight Spectacular
In 2011, Cedar Fair Entertainment mandated each of its theme parks must develop a nighttime show, including its only Canadian property: Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan, Ont.
Doug McBoyle, Wonderland’s technical and event services manager, worked with his team to go beyond the mandated specification and develop Starlight Spectacular, a nearly 10-minute projection-mapped show that would close the park every evening. They were assisted by Tantrum Productions and Westbury National Show Systems, both based in nearby Toronto.
Starlight Spectacular is projected onto the park’s central feature, the manmade Wonder Mountain, making it appear overgrown with foliage, populated by butterflies, covered in snow, made red hot by lava, crumbled, rebuilt and occupied by a fire-breathing dragon.
“We want guests to walk away feeling good about what they just saw,” says McBoyle. “I think we achieved that. At the end of the day, they can regroup, see a spectacular show and go home having had a great time.”
Today, Starlight Spectacular remains a standard closing feature at Wonderland.
Hot@175
In 2012, Canadian luxury apparel retail chain Holt Renfrew celebrated 175 years in business. As part of these celebrations, a nine-minute, 4K-resolution video presentation—titled ‘Hot@175 Now and Forever’—was developed for projection onto the 50-m (165-ft) wide bulkhead at Holt Renfrew’s flagship store on Toronto’s Bloor Street West.
Rose & Thistle Media mapped the dimensions of the bulkhead’s 700-plus tiles and incorporated archival images and full-motion video to celebrate the retailer’s past, present and future. The tiles appeared to ripple, models danced in virtual windows and image mosaics filled the space.
In 2012, Holt Renfrew celebrated its 175th anniversary with a 4K video presentation in Toronto. Photos courtesy Westbury National
In addition to drawing big nighttime crowds, the show went on to win digital signage awards for its creativity.
Winter Dreams
In February 2013, Quebec City’s Palais Montcalm concert hall was painted in light as a preview of LumoCité, North America’s first
international projection mapping competition, in 2014. Called ‘Winter Dreams,’ the light show on the stone building—built circa 1931—explored the premise of what the world would look like if the city’s winter carnival snowman mascot could dream. Icicles appeared to drape the structure while water filled the building and whales swam across the facade.
The project was developed by Philippe Bergeron and undertaken by his company, PaintScaping, based in sunnier Los Angeles, Calif.
“Despite temperatures in the -30s, this was an incredible experience the PaintScaping team will never forget,” said Bergeron.
Mike Garrido is a senior product manager for Christie. This article is based on the company’s recent publication, The Book of Transformations. For more information, visit www.christiedigital.com.
