Blending creative technology with history and heritage
Let's travel back to the year 1302, a significant moment in history that forever etched its mark on Flanders. The Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought on Flanders Fields, comes to life in an immersive experience that transports you right into the heart of medieval Europe.
As it is one of the most important stories in Flemish history, the Stad Kortrijk wanted to create a unique experience about this. The church 'Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe' (located on the exact location of the battle) hosts a unique chapel called “Gravenkapel” and was selected as the venue for this new experience.
The challenge? Setting up a creative technology-storytelling-concept that respects the heritage and church functions. Take a look on how we went about it.
THE SCENOGRAPHY
Turning a top heritage location like the 'Gravenkapel' into a venue suitable for an immersive experience was challenging. One of the first hurdles we had to overcome was darkening the beautiful stained-glass windows without causing any damage to the chapel or darkening the chapel permanently.
After constructive talks with Onroerend Erfgoed (Flanders Heritage Agency), we came up with a solution to install automated blinds that are controlled by the show control system and blend with the natural stone walls. This way, the chapel can still be used for its original functions, while the press of a button turns it into an immersive projection environment. Afterwards, the blinds open automatically and the sun shines through the stained-glass windows, bringing the audience back to reality.
Automated blinds darken the chapel and create projection surfaces for the immersive experience. After the immersive experience, the automated blinds reveal the amazing stained-glass windows
ARTISTIC APPROACH
During production, our artistic team worked alongside storytellers and historians to tell the story in a historically correct way. From the swords and pikes to the landscape and helmets, every detail was recreated with historical accuracy and input from experts. After an intense conceptual phase, a first script with storyboards came to life. The storytelling aspect of this production is huge, various characters, tension shifts and stunning audio bring the tale to life in a 20-minute immersive story. To produce the various scenes, our artistic team first defined an illustration / animation style. Take a look at the evolution from the early block-outs to the final illustration style.
Considering the huge resolutions, the immersive environment, the various canvasses, non-Hollywood budgets and the duration of the experience… we opted for a mix between 2D and 3D animation and matte painted (game art) illustrations. The 2D parallax animation would mainly focus on storytelling scenes, while 3D effects played on the chapel’s unique architecture. A 3D scan of the chapel was used as a pixel map for the production. This workflow allowed us to preview the animations in VR.
AUDIOVISUAL ENGINEERING
Video mapping a complex environment like the chapel in a permanent installation is not an easy task. Considering maintenance, stable play-out, show control and the large visitor flows, our audiovisual engineers came up with a solid audiovisual integration plan. The media system features 12 @Barco G60 projectors that run on 4K video servers. Multi-track audio is played through headphones, so it doesn’t disturb church functions.
THE END RESULT
The Battle of the Golden Spurs experience has far exceeded expectations, drawing huge visitor numbers and great reviews since it opened. The project is best practice for transforming heritage locations into new functions using creative technology.
