The Teatro Real takes its sets to a new dimension with Christie's projectors

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

Audiovisual technology has made a strong entry into the scenographic environment, displacing the great scenic elements that previously played a key role in opera. This is how the Royal Theatre of 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 performed in your spaces.

The Teatro Real is the centre of opera in Madrid and currently one of the most important in the world, welcoming on its stage the best lyrical and scenic artists of the moment. It was inaugurated in 1850 and offers a 180 Opera and ballet performances per season.

"Historically, Opera has been characterized by having productions with very large corporeal sets and great illuminations. The large volume of materials that moved in the scenery was truly magnificent. But today, with the irruption of audiovisual media, We are seeing that more and more of these sets have become virtual. In other words, with the image we achieve almost the same corporeal effect that used to come 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", F continues to explain. Brave.

With this objective, the Teatro Real summoned 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 teams, robust and versatile", recalls Juan José Pérez, Project Consultant Charmex, Christie partner who was in charge of the operation through the distributor Cast.

"The Christie projectors were the most muscular and showed a lot of reliability and a great robustness of operation, with the simplest and easiest to operate software and with a tight volume, which was very important because of the small size of our cabin", corroborates Fernando Valiente.

The Theatre acquired three Christie Roadster HD20K-J, a 3DLP technology projector, HD 1920 resolution×1080 and 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 at the theater for almost a month.

It 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 which 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 in itself.

The high-definition projections are one of the strengths of this production, creating spectacular 3D effects through a mixture of audiovisual and reality that immerses the viewer in the work itself.

To make this possible, two simultaneous projections of animations were made on stage with 4 Christie Roadster HD20K-J. The theater rented the fourth projector to the Elenco company. Two of the projectors, arranged in a projection booth at a shooting distance of 25 metre, they made a frontal projection constantly on a semi-transparent tulle.

The other two Roadsters, also dual-mounted on a carriage installed behind the stage, they were rear-projected on four screens located at different levels, at a shooting distance of between 13 and 22 metre.

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

The aspect ratio was 16:9 and the image was spoiled 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, that we have a lot of experience with staging using videos, we were impressed by how well achieved the 3D effect is achieved with the combination of the rear and front projections. In fact, There is a magical moment in which different elements of the scenery virtually leave the stage towards the audience, causing the spectator to lean back in the seat, something really surprising", adds Valiente.

ILS, Intelligent Lens System

Fidelio's rear projection highlights the Roadster's intelligent lens system, the ILS, that automatically adjusts images to 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 you change the projection surface you lose the settings and, if you don't have the ILS, you have to make the readjustments manually, with all the complications that this entails", says the head of Audiovisuals at the Teatro Real.

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

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

It's been a while since Christie projectors have been working in the theatre and the sensations of its 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 are confident that in the future we will be able to expand our projector park with Christie.", concludes Fernando Valiente.