Christie Technology Powers the Visual Wow Factor at the Guadalajara Festival of Light GDLUZ 2019

Christie was the technology partner at GDLUZ, the recently held festival of light in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the third year running.

Organized by the company Alteacorp in conjunction with the local government, the festival celebrates the 477th anniversary of the founding of Guadalajara. Held in the city's old quarters, it featured 40 attractions inspired by light, making it Mexico's biggest night-time festival. The local people from Guadalajara, known as Tapatíos, were treated to an array of video mappings, multimedia shows, interactive projections, live music, art installations and performances which drew crowds of more than 1,100,000 over the course of the four days.

One of the festival's main attractions was a mapping projection at Instituto Cabañas, using a Christie Boxer 4K30 3DLP projector with 30,000 lumens center and 4K resolution. "We opted for this particular projector because of its resolution and power," says Carlos Márquez, director of projections at Alteacorp, before adding that "it's a superb projector, easy to use and incredibly powerful. In my opinion it is one of the jewels in the crown of Christie."

Another of the show's strong points was the way people were able to interact with a different video mapping, which used a Christie Crimson WU25 3DLP technology laser projector with WUXGA resolution and 25,000 center lumens. "In this case, we chose this equipment because of the short throw distance and the sharpness of the image," Márquez explained. "A really crucial factor in ensuring a truly successful interactive show was that the projector can reduce the projection area dynamically, and this allows you to concentrate the projection in a very short space."

To run the various projections, Alteacorp used the Christie Pandoras Box 6.0 media server, more specifically a Pandoras Box Manager, and a Pandoras Box Player. Márquez recalled: "In the case of the mapping at Instituto Cabañas, Pandoras Box was the critical element in the project, because it was what made it possible to synchronize the lighting, the audio, the video and the fireworks. In the interactive project, we used a Pandoras Box Player to capture the videogame from a second system."

Alteacorp's director of projections was delighted with having Christie on board as GDLUZ's technology partner. "The truth is that we are more than happy with Christie's input to our festival, because it gives us the peace of mind you need when organizing such a complex project, as well as ensuring the visual wow factor our audiences have come to expect. I have only good things to say about my seven years' experience working with Christie technology. The combination of Christie projectors and Pandoras Box servers is the kind of guarantee you need for this kind of event."