PixelFLEX Gives a New Look to the Miss Florida Pageant

	Set of the Miss Florida 2015 pageant with PixelFLEX

As event organizers for the 2015 Miss Florida and Miss Teen Florida pageant prepared to host the annual competition, Trenton Dick was asked to help give the show a fresh look. Since the pageant had been using the same set pieces over previous competitions, Dick suggested the introduction of an HD LED video wall. With everyone on board, Dick turned to Nashville-based PixelFLEX and decided to bring the FLEXCurtain HD video wall into the Mahaffey Theater.

"The full production takes place over a full week with the preliminary rounds, the Miss Teen Florida competition, and then the final competition for Miss Florida," began Dick. "In the previous competitions, we had used scenery backdrops, but this year we wanted to update the set for a fresh look. As we talked to the event organizers about using an LED wall, they gave us the green light to move forward and so we chose the PixelFLEX FLEXCurtain HD."

With a myriad of LED video walls available on the market, Dick had been researching the various options for some time. While in the process of deciding which products to use, he took a visit to the PixelFLEX headquarters and found the ideal solution for the Miss Florida Pageant.

"I had been looking at the PixelFLEX products for a number of years as my church is in the process of updating their cameras to HD video and we needed an HD video wall to complement," explained Dick. "So earlier this year, I went to the PixelFLEX home office to speak with Jon Lewis about how we could use their products in my church, and in the process we started talking about how we could also use them for the Miss Florida Pageant as well. In discussing what we needed, we decided that the FLEXCurtain HD video wall would be the best product for this application and it worked great."

The PixelFLEX FLEXCurtain HD is a flexible LED wall that the company says offers a variety of advantages over the competition. FLEXCurtain HD panels are ultralight, offer extremely crisp and sharp video and image playback, and 500-sq.-ft. can be setup and broken down in under 15 minutes using the convenient quick-lock system.

Dick continued, "For the Miss Florida Pageant we used 13 FLEXCurtain HD panels that were placed center stage to create an 8' by 26' LED wall hanging 6' off the stage. Since this was our first time using an LED wall for the pageant, we wanted to start out with a simple configuration so that the event organizers could get a good look and feel for what it could do. Once we got the wall hung and powered it on, they absolutely loved it."

Since this was the first time that Dick and his team at the pageant had actually used the FLEXCurtain HD video wall, there was some concern about the load-in and set-up time needed. With a tight production schedule any delays could create larger problems, but thankfully with the FLEXCurtain HD this was never an issue.

"I was really happy with how easy it was to set-up the FLEXCurtain HD wall," admitted Dick. "For the load-in and hang, it was myself and two technicians and none of us had any previous experience setting them up. While we had a general idea of how they fit together, it literally only took us 30 minutes to assemble and connect the full 26' wall. The set-up and tear-down time in my opinion is one of the best attributes to the entire system. It was extremely fast."

With the HD video wall now in place, it was time to start loading the content which would give the 2015 Miss Florida Pageant a completely new look and audience experience.

Dick explained further, "Since this was the 80th anniversary of the Miss Florida Pageant, we had pictures of all the past competitions to display, plus we also ran old video clips of the past pageants as well. We then had the graphic backgrounds used in place of the scenery backdrops, along with the standard pageant logos and contest graphics that needed to go up as well. Once we got the content software program loaded, it was a simple drag-and-drop to get all the content layers in place and the video worked perfectly."

When the final votes were counted, Mary Katherine Fechtel was crowned Miss Florida 2015, and as they watched the pageant draw to a close, both Dick and the event organizers say they were confident that they had made the right decision in choosing the FLEXCurtain HD from PixelFLEX.

He concluded, "The performance of the PixelFLEX FLEXCurtain HD LED wall was flawless. When it was show time, everything worked like clockwork from start to finish and everyone was very impressed with the creative elements provided by the FLEXCurtain HD. It gave us a completely new show."