ROCK OUR WORLD AWARDS 2011 2011 Rock Our World Awards These 12 finalists will take your breath away PLASA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE 12 fi nalists for the 2011 Rock Our World Awards. Now in their fourth year, these awards recognize outstanding and groundbreaking achievement by PLASA members in the entertainment technology industry. With the merger of ESTA and PLASA, the awards program has been expanded to a truly global event, highlighting the work of members worldwide. This year’s winners will be announced at the 2011 PLASA Cocktail and Awards Reception on the eve of the LDI 2011 show, Thursday, October 27, at the Hilton Orlando. And the 2011 PLASA Rock Our World Award fi nalists are… BY RYAN SWEARINGEN 83rd Annual Academy Awards Video Projection Green Hippo, PRG, TMB While the jury may still be out on the success of its hosts, this year’s Academy Awards was certainly successful as a showcase for groundbreaking technical expertise. The video projection system featured technology of unprecedented technical complexity and scale, and the results were nothing short of gorgeous. Steve Bass of Hasbas Designs’ production design juxtaposed vintage Hollywood and futuristic science fi ction styles for an incredible feat of technical magic. Dave Taylor at SenovvA, Inc. designed the rig and Jason Rudolph of Mobius Designs, Inc. programmed the Green Hippo Hippotizers, which used 52 discrete outputs run from MA Lighting grandMA consoles. 34 Hippotizers, 73 projectors, and multiple screens made it the largest projection rig for any Oscar show. To meet the challenges of projecting video on a variety of surfaces, the team employed Hippotizer’s UberPan multiple display software to control video feeds for over 70 projectors, a custom keystone created by Green Hippo Special Projects to address complex geometry issues, Hippotizer’s Automation tracking linked to PRG motion control system to handle display on moving screens and panels, and 20 DVI Parrot EDID Emulators by Carallon to capture, analyze, create, and control EDID settings and profi les. Rudolph commented, “The automation tracking worked fantastically. This is a credit to both Green Hippo and PRG, as both systems were extremely accurate, and just simply worked. It was one facet of the show we never had to think about once it was set up.” Entertainment Weekly raved, “. . . one thing is quite certain: The stage design—featuring an ever-changing tableau of projected images both abstract and specifi c to Oscar-lauded fi lms from years past—was a stunning show-stopper.” PHO T O BY MICHAEL Y ADA / ©A.M.P.A.S . ALEXA Digital Camera System ARRI ARRI’s ALEXA line of cameras achieves the organic look and cinematic quality of 35 mm fi lm in a digital camera solution. Created for the motion picture and broadcast markets, the line offers an impressive arsenal of features at an affordable price. fall 2011 38 FALL 2011