Artiste Picasso Sets the Scene on Nissan Altima Promotion

Christien Methot, principal lighting designer at Design One in New York City, turned to the scenic design qualities of Elation Professional's Artiste Picasso color and graphics moving head for a special snow globe promotion of the all-new 2019 Nissan Altima.

Design agency Fake Love worked with Stuart Weissman Productions to display the car in a 36' geodesic dome dubbed the world's largest snow globe, the company says. Taped around the holidays in lower Manhattan and open to the public, the online and social media campaign was also a photo opportunity for guests that drove people to Nissan's Instagram page.

Methot, who worked closely with Stuart Weissman Productions on the project, says that the brief was very theatrical and all about experiencing the car amidst a fun winter-wonderland complete with snow and changing scenes. "They wanted to create very specific environments with lighting, the way a theatrical lighting designer is asked to do," he says. "The idea was to show off the all-wheel drive aspect of the new vehicle so part of my task was to make it look like a crisp, sunny day one moment then a cloudy, rainy day the next, then a snowy day. I needed a light that had some punch but was very theatrical in its capabilities as far as the effects on board, and the Artiste Picasso fit the bill."

In order to display the different types of clouds you would see in each of the weather events, Methot loaded the Artiste Picasso with custom cloud gobos. "Half the globe was white opaque and half was clear plastic, much as a snow globe would be," he says. "We uplit the white opaque half like a theatrical cyc and were able to change the overall color in the dome, then we punched the effects of clouds across it. Many of the effects required us to track the clouds horizontally across the skyline, all of which was able to be done really smoothly with the wonderful high-res capabilities of the fixtures, very reliably recreating a cue time after time. In combination with the colors, we were really able to transform the space." The Picasso also gave the designer the ability to dim down to a very low level and then back up very smoothly.

Twelve Picasso fixtures worked from an arch truss about a 20' throw from the cyc. "Although it wasn't a long throw - the zoom capability helped with that - the snow globe was outside so ambient lighting was an issue. The first time we turned them on, the output was a wonderful surprise. They had really great punch and wonderful color."

Also rigged in the arch truss were white light Fuze Wash 575 LED PAR moving heads used specifically to light the car in a flat field of high quality light. "The single source was really helpful in keeping the sparkle aspect off the car and getting it to stand out from its environment," Methot says. "It was my first time using those and I would certainly go back to them again." The Fuze Wash 575 uses a high-output 350W COB LED engine with a color temperature of 6,800K that is ideal at accentuating the details of an object and with a high CRI of 95 it has the ability to accurately reflect an object's true color.

The immersive experience ran for about a week and presented Nissan as a company that not only moves people literally but also emotionally, the company says.