Bodmin Jail Experience offers immersive AV-controlled tour with Pixera

More than sixty combined audio channels are played through a single Pixera mini Director control unit, manufacturer's AV Stumpfl, in a historic space in the English county of Cornwall: the Bodmin Jail Experience.

Although the Bodmin Prison (converted for your historical tour) has always welcomed tens of thousands of visitors every year, at least before the arrival of the pandemic, in 2020 the direction of this space undertook a renovation of the museum.

The centerpiece of this reform, which also includes a new building with a redesigned entrance, it's called Dark Walk (dark ride), an immersive exhibition that uses spectacular sets, special effects, films and screenings to transport visitors through Cornwall's haunted past.

This audiovisual experience is complemented by additional work throughout the original prison building, protected by law, that have been carried out to preserve their heritage, while improving the atmosphere along the original prison corridors and in the filthy cells.

The project was able to carry out this ambitious recreation thanks to the knowledge of the specialist in the design and production of experiences Sarner, whose team was tasked with the technology needed to transform the humble prison into a world-class immersive attraction.

“We use a whole range of special effects and AV technology to achieve the desired end product," explains Ross Magri, Director General of Sarner-. This included holographic gauze, smoke, wind, water and mechanical effects, all automated and perfectly synchronized with audio effects, video and lighting”.

In addition to four hundred lighting devices that use 1.713 canals DMX in seven universes, Dark Walk has sixteen laser projectors E-Vision 7500 manufacturer's Digital Projection and a discreet audio system (composed of speakers JBL amplifiers Audac).

These systems help create the unsettling and even sinister atmosphere that follows visitors from one exhibition to another, including the ghostly voices and images of road jumpers, smugglers and former inmates, and keeps the journey through the sentence, life in prison and, At last, execution.

All the audiovisual content of this experience, configured with more than sixty combined channels of audio and time code, are reproduced with a single master unit AV Stumpfl mini Director, which in turn controls five other media servers also from this manufacturer. The system's ultra-compact format makes it ideal for this type of facility, since two servers can be coupled into a 1U rack of 19″.

“Pixera mini Director allowed us to synchronize all aspects of the exhibition," Ross Magri recalls.. AV Stumpfl supported us a lot during the early stages of design and in the installation period. Having so many audio channels turned out to be a challenge, but this manufacturer fully committed and helped in everything necessary to get the problems resolved as soon as possible”.

The experienced team of Sarner used a mix of mixed widescreen edge projection and projection mapping, working closely with production and creative teams to ensure that the material supplied took into account the technical requirements.

“Once we receive the material, the playback setup was quite simple and we are very happy with the end result”, Sarner's manager says.

Although renovations to Bodmin prison suffered the same delays and complications as other attractions during UK national closures due to the pandemic, the exhibition was opened to the public on 1 October 2020 and exceeded all expectations for the number of visitors that relatively short period.

“Although we were only able to run the attraction with small numbers, the public response was great. This was reflected in the number of visitors, which at some points worked at full capacity”, Magri concludes.

Other articles on Audac, AV Stumpfl, Bodmin Jail Experience, Digital Projection, JBL, JBL Professional, Sarner, Yamaha