Mother of the Nation

We have built a great spectacle that speaks different languages and listen to different hearts
-Lulu Helbeck, Director

The stage, designed by London based company STUFISH, was inspired by flower petals. They created a 70m wide proscenium that embraced the audience in an immersive projected environment, framing both action and storytelling. We created video sets for each of the 8 segments of the show. With the help of the Photon system developed by VYV.CA we were able to feed and map all the images on this complex structure consisting of 52 projectors, shooting from 47 unique points of view on the set proscenium of 36 huge flower petals, the cyclo and a scrim.

One of the climax of the show was a 5 minutes animation in a kid’s chalk drawing style, while childrens on stage interacted with it thru precise choreography Leigh-Anne Vizer, Nikos Lagousakos and Gavin Robins. The images were projected on the scrim cloth and by playing with transparency we simulated scenes such as a flight of a paper plane through the skyline of Abu Dhabi, two children in a fishing boat playing with a giant octopus and a child taking off towards the sun with his kite.

Another big challenge was a 4:30 minutes video moment evoking the future legacy of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, in field such as sport, architecture, humanitarian help, orphan care, traditional handcrafting…

The orphan scene required green screen shooting of groups of children playing, which were composited into the petal proscenium as if they were all running toward one lone child to cheer him up.

The show played in Abu Dhabi on March 22^nd and 23^rd as opening of the Mother of the Nation festival on the Abu Dhabi corniche.

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Abu Dhabi, March 2016

Mother of the Nation