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The magic behind the Illusion
Lake of Illusions, Happy Valley
Shanghai © Creation and production by ECA2. Image by Julien Panie
Lake of Illusions was produced and directed for OCT Shanghai by a team of 140 experts from ECA2, one of the world's leading specialists in multimedia spectaculars. With over 60 spectacles to its name, the French firm has made a name for itself with award-winnng productions such as the Big-O Show at Yeosu International Expo in South Korea and the Thea Award winning Wings of Time in Singapore and Fountainof Dreams in Wuyishan, China, and now boasts offices in Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Park World speaks to four key members of the team that prodced Lake of Ilusions to learn a little more about the show and its signature Icon (tower) feature
Lake of Illusion’s Icon is packed full of lights and effects
Eastern Sunrise
On August 31, less than two months after the launch of Lake of Illusions in Shanghai, ECA2 premirerd another multimedia spectacular, this time as a standalone project up in the Shandong Province. It is on this northeasterm part of China’s coast that the sun’s rays first greet each new day and this was the inspiartion behind the name of the show, produced in record time for Rizhao City Construction Investment. From the first phone call to opening night, the production was completed in just 12 months, using
many of the same team members as Lake of Illusions. Never before has ECA2 used so many effects within such a concentrated space. From sails, nets and water screens everything seems close as focus jets to lasers, geysers, shooting flames, lights and fireworks bring the story to life. Animation and storytelling meets state-of-the-art multimedia effects, projected onto a vast, magical
water screen and sail sculptures that echo the local passion for sailing and the sea. In this locally inspired tale, an nightly auidience of uo to 2,030 follows the fortunes of two star-crossed lovers who should never have fallen in love. And yet their romance blossoms, and finally helps transform the fortunes of their seaside home.
“The Icon needed to be contemporary, and match the feel inside Happy Valley without hiding any of the attractions,” says Julie Moreau, chief architect at ECA2. “The tower’s height was limited to 32m and made as thin as possible so to remain elegant. As the Icon slopes to one side as guests move around the lake, the perspective of the Icon changes, which is great for repeat visits as the show will look different
from different angles. This all ties in with the theme of 'Illusion’.”
“It was very hard to install all the equipment inside the Icon,” explains Gael Piquet, ECA2 technical director. “The first level is 6.5m wide, but at the top it is only 3.5m wide. We had to follow the plans very carefully. We have a lift inside to carry some of the heavy equipment, which had to be reassembled at the top. The show control rooms are kept at positive pressure, meaning that when the door is opened air is always pushed out to prevent any dirt or dust messing up the equipment. All equipment is air-conditioned to keep it sufficiently cool, and we've even got ledges at the bottom of the doors to stop rats getting in and chewing the cables.
“We have worked with OCT before, in a different context,” reveals ECA2 chairman and CEO, Jean-Christophe Canizares. “That show [Mangrove Groove at OCT Bay in Shenzhen] was not in theme park, but the need was basically the same as at Happy Valley: how to make people stay longer, make them spend more money, come wth the family and maybe stay in the hotel when they wouldn't have stayed in the hotel. Above all: to provide life at night!”
“On every project we have worked on in China I have learned a little bit more,” notes Moira Smith, ECA2 artisic director, “getting a sense of the way to tell a story, the difference between their narrative and ours. The brief for this show was quite vague – something modern with no cast involved – and there was not a particular theme, identity or symbol of the park that we could use for the story, so the idea was to create a legend that would give a role and identity to the tower [Icon]. From the initial storyline, we developed a more visual show based more on effects and sensation. The audience won’t know it, but every sequence is actually a play on a physical law or concept, for exampe inertia, gravity, concept of time, infinity etc.”
eca2.com
Lake of Illusion’s lasers are housed in three show buildings on the lake
Eastern Sunrise © Creation and production by ECA2. Image by Julien Panie
SEPTEMBER 2016
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