Motion Mapping salutes NHS heroes on the front line
Video mapping and creative content specialists Motion Mapping paid tribute to the NHS staff on the Covid-19 front line with a powerful projection on the exterior of Ipswich Hospital’s A&E department.
With events being cancelled as a result of the current pandemic, Motion Mapping put the equipment they have available to good use by projecting a message of support for the NHS staff who are battling to save lives and contain the spread of the virus.
“A lot of other industries are adapting and helping fight the virus using their skill sets,” says Stuart Harris, projection specialist and owner/director, Motion Mapping. “Projection mapping is limited in what we can adapt it to functionally, so we thought we would help by creating an uplifting projection to say thank you to all those working on the front line for what they do for us, especially now. We really enjoy doing the guerrilla-style, large format projections and wanted to contribute towards keeping spirits up in the best way we know how.
“We incorporated the Rainbow Trail hashtag which is being used at the moment to show kids that things will get better after the storm. Having a 6-year-old myself I wanted to get involved and what better way than to do that than with projection. My son Jake also had input into the content we created, so it’s been a large-scale art project for him too.”
Motion Mapping relied on the kit they would normally use for such projects, including a sustainable LPG inverter generator to power the Epson EB-1755U projector with an LM11 long throw lens, all powered by MadMapper for the mapping. After Effects and Cinema 4D software suites were used to create the content.
Due to the current restrictions and rules being implemented regarding social distancing, the projection had to be carried out with care. Motion Mapping’s Harris normally creates guerrilla/large format projections alongside projector technician, Derek Scott, but due to the social distancing rules Harris worked alone on this occasion.
“Whilst we were setting up, four big guys from security came over to investigate as they had seen a man in the back of a van acting shifty on the cameras,” says Harris. “I was just setting up! As soon as I explained what I was doing they laughed and wanted to shake my hand. Elbow bumps had to do.”
Finding a suitable spot to set up can be difficult for mapping projects, but it was even more challenging due to the current situation, says Harris: “We use a ‘silent’ generator but it still makes noise so we set up as far away as possible so we didn’t disturb anyone or block any vital parking spaces.”
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Posted: 9th April 2020