Manny was thrilled when the folks at BRC Imagination Arts asked us to design the lighting for the Manufacturing Innovation a 360 degree theater that is part of the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. We were even more thrilled when we learned it won a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The show was conceived to celebrate the launch of the new Ford 150 truck which is built at the Rouge Plant, Dearborn MI. The audience experiences how the truck was designed and built through six screens that immerse the audience in a 360 degree experience. The show uses projection mapping on the 150 to illustrate the journey the truck takes through the manufacturing process.
We designed the lighting throughout the theater to wrap around the audience and immerse them in the experience of the show. We lit the walls behind the screens as wrap around cyc and we embeded small puck lights in the floor in a grid. We were then able to extend the canvas of the theater by using the floor and walls together in pixel map. The effect is a fluid radiating wash of color across the theater in sync with the music and narrative beats of the show.
A real highlight for us was conceiving the lighting for the manufacturing robots that are central to the show. It seemed natural that instead of lighting the robots from above or below, the robots themselves should emit and glow with light. This way no mater where in space their arms move they always are alive with light.
