Firing Room Show Upgrade

Hartwell AVD just finished our latest project and it was a ton of fun. Since I'm a huge space fan and I live so close to Kennedy Space Center, it's always interesting to do work out there. The fact that security is somewhat strict and the location is only about an hour and a half way from the home office just adds to the fun.

 

We (Electrosonic, MY Design, FX Lighting and Hartwell AVD) took the theater down just after the New Year on January 3rd and started strategically removing wires, projectors and racks from the site. The previous installation had been operating for almost 13 years and consisted of Windows 98 computers, a first generation Media Matrix system, a PicBlock Video Wall and processor cage and tons of gear that could no longer be fixed or easily replaced. To say that this show was ready for an upgrade would be an understatement.

 

The top photo on the is the control room with the 6 (yes SIX) racks of amps, audio processing, show control, video playback and lighting gear. Tony Peugh at Electrosonic had performed an upgrade a few years ago which had upgraded the original LaserDisc players to MPEG video players and updated the original video projectors.

 

New gear is now everywhere and it takes up a lot less space. The second photo on the right is the newly finished control room. Electrosonic has installed two full sized racks with Crown amps, a NION audio processor, AMX Netlinx control and touch screen equipment and two Alcorn McBride BinLoops

 

The main show video projectors have been upgraded to new Christie DS 6K-M units and the recently recently replaced Preshow projectors (Christie LX505s) were permanently mounted in the projection booth.

Because of all the changes in playback hardware and image format, the designers hired The Pixel Factory to reformat the old video files and create new segments to enhance the show. The Preshow area has been fitted with (for lack of a better name) a "Pre-Preshow" which shows commercials, photos, personalities and landscapes that fit the era of the show; 1968. To emphasize the mood of the time frame, music from the late 60's and early 70's is played in the bus unloading and Preshow theater during the Pre-Preshow loading.

The Main Show changed slightly but the most impressive additions were to the guest space. My Design installed benches into the theater which make a huge difference in guest experience and show comfort. They also rebuilt the Blast Shield effect and installed butt shaker speakers into the new benches. Now when the rocket launches (this is in the Apollo, Saturn V Center - it's not a small or quiet rocket!) you hear, feel and are slightly scared by the experience. I failed to mention the new subwoofers we installed...two dual 18" boxes by EAW grouped behind the consoles. How do you spell Very Effective?

The lights in the main show were also upgraded. Instead of thousands of watts in incandescent lamps spread thru the ceiling, all new LED lighting was used in both the show areas. This made a huge difference in the look of the show as well as the power usage and heat load in the building. The colors are richer and the new lights offer variable colors that were incorporated into the show with new effects such as the sky glow in the launch sequence and the color washes in the console area during the first few seconds of launch. Eric Haugen (Luminous Studios) and David Upton (FX Lighting) left the site with smiles on their faces.

This job was a lot of work and more than a few weeks of extended hours, but it also offered some very interesting fringe benefits. January 31st was the final rollout of the Shuttle Discovery from the VAB to the launch pad at LC39. Tom Miller (the Electrosonic tech) and I stayed late and watched this historic event. It took a long time for the process to start but we stood in the parking lot of the VAB with our cameras and had discussions with employees of NASA, United Space Alliance (USA) and other contractors who were collected to watch this.

 

Once the rollout started, the photos were spectacular. Here's one (left with the shuttle still in the VAB) we took just before the very courteous security guard told us that we couldn't be where we were and sent us back to the parking lot. (Turned out that this was an advantage to us - I ended up liking the parking lot images better than the ones we would have gotten from the press area.)

 

As the crawler rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building, they lit the orbiter with multiple spotlights to highlight the scene. This casts very interesting shadows on the side of the VAB (photo above right.)

 

The view of the Shuttle fully outside the building is hard to describe. In the interest of full disclosure, I've been a fan of the space program since I was a kid and I did numerous reports on the space shuttle in High School as the program was nearing its first launch. Still, watching this in person gave me chills. This was a huge honor to be present and something that every lawmaker should be invited to see in person. (The photos just don't do it justice.)

 

Less than a month later NASA launched this same orbiter on its final mission to space. Discovery took off on-time after an almost flawless countdown and we were there, just a few miles from the pad to watch it. This was one of those moments that I will look back on later in life and say "I was there for that!"

 

Not everyone has the access, time or camera to capture such a moment in time but I was blessed with all those things and it is something that I consider exceptionally cool. We work so hard in the entertainment industry to give people exciting sensations, re-live moments such as the launch of a Saturn V rocket, fly thru time with fictional characters, ride in flying benches with magic kids and a long list of other attractions and rides. This, however, was the REAL THING. Not simulated, projected or created - real, actual and present.

What's next? Hard to say right now but I'll be bringing the camera along.

Chris Hartwell
Hartwell AVD Inc.