SOLUTIONS: TEXAS SPIRIT THEATER, AUSTIN UNITED STATES That’s the spirit An AV upgrade is helping a small Texan theatre portray the state’s colourful past. Tom Bradbury reports
TELLING THE story of Texas history is not a task to be taken lightly; the huge US state has witnessed many notable disasters and triumphs over the years. But 4D Texas Spirit Theater, located inside the Bullock Texas State History Museum in downtown Austin, takes on that challenge on a daily basis using a multimedia experience. US integrator Electrosonics
was recently enlisted to upgrade the 190-seat theatre with an AV overhaul. The new system was required as part of preparation for a short film premiere, Shipwrecked, which would air in November 2013 and form the basis of a new exhibit at the museum. In addition to small
production companies screening their films, the auditorium-style multimedia theatre regularly holds two shows for viewers: one, Star of Destiny, depicts stories of perseverance, such as the devasting Galveston Hurricane of 1900; while the other, Wild Texas Weather, enables the audience to feel the wrath of Mother Nature in 22 minutes of footage showing wicked weather conditions. “The theatre is very busy. In
fact, that made it difficult to do the systems upgrades – we had to sneak in after hours and work as quickly as possible,” says Dan Lauf, Electrosonic project engineer. The theatre is laid out with a standard proscenium stage plus two flanking openings. Three flat projection screens provide an immersive experience for audiences when a single image fills all the screens simultaneously; the side screens can also display different images to support the narrative. Moreover, a complement of 4D effects enhances productions with atmospherics and movement. Having worked on the
theatre before, Electrosonic had prior knowledge of the AV systems. “The Shipwreckedfilm offered a good opportunity to upgrade the equipment and provide a clean slate for programming the new show,” explains Lauf. Shipwreckedis centred on
www.installation-international.com
The busy show schedule in the 190-seat auditorium meant that after-hours work was necessary
system allows full 5.1 surround playback for regular film presentations and expandability to the 15 separate audio tracks required for the 4D shows,” Lauf adds.
The Museum’s director of
theatres, John Lewis, concludes: “The recently upgraded theatre system has breathed new life into the Texas Spirit Theater by increasing programming capabilities, streamlining operations, and preserving the theatre's tradition of providing a superior immersive theatre experience to
the ship La Belle, one of Robert de La Salle’s four ships that set out to explore the Gulf of Mexico in 1685. Electrosonic needed to provide a way for audiences to feel the power of the storm (that resulted in the sinking of the ship) using 4D effects.
THAT SINKING FEELING The integrator opted to replace the existing show control system with an Alcorn McBride V16 Pro show controller and swapped out HD-MPEG video players in favour of a Dataton WATCHOUT video playback system. Electrosonic also ensured that the programming for Star of Destinyand Wild Texas Weathertranslated smoothly to the new gear and that programming for Shipwrecked got underway efficiently. “The new WATCHOUT
system gives the theatre technicians a greater ability to run shows easily every day and play alternate content easily when the venue is used for other events,” Lauf says. “We didn’t just install the new equipment – we provided training for it, including a two- day session with visiting Alcorn McBride personnel. A lot of our focus for this project was getting the theatre techs ready to fully service and operate the space in all ways.”
On the audio side,
Electrosonic upgraded the audio systems with a QSC Q- Sys DSP engine featuring SSD multi-track audio playback. “The Texas Spirit Theater is a full surround theatre. The new
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generations of Texans and visitors to Texas for years to come.”
www.alcorn.com www.dataton.com www.electrosonic.com www.qsc.com
[INSTALLED]
VIDEO Alcorn McBride V16 Pro show controller
Dataton WATCHOUT video playback system
AUDIO QSC Q-Sys DSP
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