67 BrightSign Controllers help create an immersive visual experience chronicling animation with footage highlights from Disney and Pixar
Specialist distribution company, Pixels UK, has supplied 67 BrightSign HD media players to Pinnerton Video Systems Ltd for installation at Watch Me Move: The Animation Show at London’s Barbican Art Gallery.
Renowned for its ground breaking programmes, the Barbican is Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venue, making its Art Gallery an apt setting for Watch Me Move, described as ‘the most extensive exhibition ever mounted to present the full range of animated imagery produced in the last 150 years’.
Watch Me Move does not simply chronicle animation in all its forms; it highlights it as an influential force in the development of global visual culture. It is designed as an immersive experience, with footage from commercial giants such as Walt Disney, Aardman and Pixar running alongside work from contemporary artists including Étienne-Jules Marey, Harry Smith, Jan Švankmajer, William Kentridge and Nathalie Djurberg.
Pixels UK, Norman Garland, is proud of the fact that his company is a value-added distributor of BrightSign HD media player products – small, reliable, non-PC solutions for driving any high definition display – and that this has produced impressive sales figures. “Since the start of our relationship with BrightSign in 2009 we have shipped over 1900 units to our customers, over 900 to June this year already!” he says.
For Watch Me Move, Pixels UK supplied a total of 67 BrightSign units – sixty HD110 looping players, six HD210 network players for the synced pairs, and one HD410 interactive player controlling an Audionics EMU.
All BrightSign players are fitted with 8GB SDHC high-speed flash cards, providing sufficient storage for the hundreds of standard and high definition media files for the Watch Me Move exhibits.
“We worked very closely with Pinnerton on this project,” Norman continues. “Not only did we supply the BrightSign players at very short notice, we provided a lot of technical support. This included specifying the correct models of BrightSign players to drive the chosen projectors and LCD screens and programming several players for specific tasks.”
“The Barbican has been our client for many years,” explains Pinnerton’s Stuart Wardle. “We generally supply equipment for the Barbican which they install themselves, but as this project had more technical involvement, we undertook the installation as well which, because of its complexity, took a total of two and a half weeks.
“We’d worked with Norman at Pixels UK before on a 3D project, and when it became obvious that the BrightSign players were the ideal solution for Watch Me Move, we instantly got in touch with him again, knowing that he and his team could help us with the necessary programming, as well as supplying the units.”
“Many of the players at Watch Me Move are set up to play continuously from power-on without operator intervention,” adds Norman. “Others are set-up and programmed to play continuously in networked synchronised pairs and one was programmed to directly control an Audionics EMU power switching and management unit which is used for spot fx lighting. This eliminated the need for a separate, expensive show controller, thereby saving Pinnerton and the Barbican unnecessary cost and simplifying the design.”
“The HD410 was used to spotlight the title subjects (Popeye, etc) of the films in the Superhumans room,” confirms Stuart. “Pixels UK wrote the scripts to make that happen, the BrightSign HD410 being the best solution here as it has the serial control for the lighting.”
Watch Me Move is curated by Greg Hilty, Curatorial Director at Lisson Gallery and designed by Chezweitz & Roseapple. It runs at Barbican Art Gallery until 11th September 2011 and then goes on tour to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada, 8 October – 25 December 2011, before commencing a two-year tour in Asia.
About BrightSign Solid-State Digital Signage Controllers
BrightSign digital signage controllers are complete, ready-to-use solutions that include the hardware, software and networking support for driving stand-alone or networked displays ranging from basic looping models to interactive and networked controllers with live video feedback. With no moving parts to fail, the fully scalable controllers are more reliable and provide a significant savings in maintenance costs. They also offer a substantial savings in energy costs because they only require a fraction of the power used by PC-based systems.
About Pixels UK
Pixels UK specialises in supplying HD and standard definition digital media players, decoders, encoders and visual display technology for the professional AV, digital signage, presentation, broadcast and information display markets. Pixels UK is staffed by industry professionals with vast experience in digital video and computer display technologies. The company is the leading UK supplier and supporter of BrightSign products. www.pixels.uk.com
About BrightSign
BrightSign, LLC, based in Saratoga, California, develops products and software for digital signage. BrightSign solid-state digital sign controllers set new standards for both stand-alone and networked digital signage applications with their superior video quality, reliability, affordability, ease of use and interactivity. Online information about BrightSign units is available at www.brightsign.biz. For sales inquiries, please contact sales [at] brightsign.biz or call 408-852-9263 in the USA and +44-1223-911842 internationally. Follow BrightSign at http://twitter.com/brightsign and http://www.facebook.com/pages/BrightSign-LLC/121852744557182
Client Contact:
Karen Fore
408-556-9389
pr [at] brightsign.biz
Agency Contact:
Peter van der Sluijs
+44 1296 628182
peterv [at] neesham.co.uk
Source: BrightSign