Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Immersive Forest of Light for Closing Ceremony of Sochi Winter Games

01/03/2014

(01/03/2014) The closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics wrapped up the most expensive games yet with an exquisite cocktail of Russian music, ballet, art, design and literature - plus a witty and inspired sprinkling of self-deprecation. Much of the action took place amongst a dynamic forest of light, which was created and built by set and stage designer, TAIT Technologies, and programmed by creative UK collective, Immersive.

Throughout, the Forest of Light provided the stage architecture that gave scale and perspective for much of the action that unfolded on the huge Fisht Stadium floor. It also provided the perfect TV-picture framing vehicle for the stunning aerial and stadium TV pictures, broadcast worldwide on 23rd February 2014.

The impressive Olympics Closing Ceremony design was by Danielle Finzi Pasca. The Forest of Light comprised a custom LED product, designed and built by TAIT Technologies, which was flown from a complex flying system rigged above the field of play.

Our part in this spectacular event comprised programming and pixel mapping the 240 individual LED rods, each of which is 12m high and 25cm in diameter, explains Immersive project manager Mark Calvert. Known as the LED Forest, each rod boasts an impressive 360 degree-viewing angle, which enabled all 46,000 of the audience members and the global broadcast audience to see the same effect.

Hans Cromheecke of TAIT Technologies led the LED product development team; Immersive has a long history working with Hans and his team, having first collaborated on the Pan Arab Games in Doha followed by the award winning London Olympics Ceremonies.

Immersives role on the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony embraced software programming, dynamic tracking, sampling of content over a range of 36 vertical meters, using the position of column data to interpolate models sets, managing the creative workflow and pre-visualisation, continues Immersives Ai Server architect, Dave Green. We also provided the Ai Media Server technicians, operators and project management, including Ai developer and site operator, Ciaran Abrams, and Ai technicians Martin Harvey and Joe Dunkley.

Calvert continues: Another project challenge Immersive faced was the Artnet Control from 3 different sources... Lighting Desk for Camera Balance, Lighting Desk for Operations and Motion Data also having access to 1836 models in the system in real time and pixel mapping based on interpolated UV data. One of the main advantages to the Ai Media Server is the Operation Flexibility, allowing the operator to timecode tracks, busk, or control from a remote source - this design flexibility proves why Ai has quickly become the Media Server platform for shows of this scale, and imagination.

Immersive also supplied TAIT Technologies with x2 Avolites Media S6 Servers for the installation mapping and playback of the effect. One system took care of the live show, while the second provided a seamless backup.

The installation was visualised using the Ai 3D stage interface, which enabled the show designers, content houses, programmers and technicians to work remotely on the project and still see the installation within the same 3D model of the stadium, continues Calvert. This helps in a number of ways with workflow and ongoing problem solving.

In fact for many of Immersives large-scale projects the 3D Visualiser has been a mission critical part of the design process. It enables ideas to evolve in a real-time 3D space and in a number of cases has helped visualise and deliver some world-first achievements. The visualiser makes realising a design a tactile, easy to navigate, real-time experience.

Immersives association with TAIT and its portfolio of groundbreaking projects (including the BMW/Mini Countryman UK Launch; Bon Jovis Because We Can USA Tour; the X-Factor Finals with Rhianna; and the 2012 London Olympics) has enabled the company to develop an offering that ensures it is globally recognised as the number one turn key firm for the delivery of ambitious technical projects.

At Immersive we strive to work at the forefront of project design alongside clients that not only have the vision to see the idea but also the technical know-how to deliver them, concludes Calvert. TAIT Technologies has consistently proven why they lead the market. I believe they chose to work with us because we share the same passion: To make creative dreams a reality and because we all thrive as part of a team committed to making all creative visions work.
LINK: http://www.live-production.tv/news/sports/immersive-forest-light-closi...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Solid State Logics Berny Carpenter on Expanding System T With Virtual DSP, Cloud Workflows

Solid State Logic is advancing its System T platform with a stronger focus on IP...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Dolbys Giles Baker on the Growth of Dolby OptiView, Immersive Vision and Audio for Live Sports

From immersive audio to live streaming, Dolby Laboratories is focused on the fut...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design's Bob Caniglia on Implementing Cinematic Looks in Live Broadcasts

Shallow depth-of-field cameras have taken the industry by storm. Its debut a han...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eastern Kentucky University deploys campus-wide ST 2110 network with Riedel and Bridge Digital

Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that Eastern Kentucky University (...

22/04/2026

SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2026, Day 4: Live Reports From the Show Floor in Vegas

The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces URSA Cine 12K LF 100G

Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, a new model in the URSA Cine family adding 100G Ethernet for SMPTE 2110 live production output up to ...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Martin Stewart Talks 40 Years, the NEP Platform, and Scaling for FIFA World Cup

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, NEP is leaning into hybrid production with the...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Dan Murphy on NEP Platform, TFC, and the Shift to Software-Defined Workflows

NEP VP, Platform Dan Murphy sits down at the 2026 NAB Show to unpack what NEP P...

22/04/2026

Spotify and WNBA's New York Liberty Bring Basketball and Music Together With New Partnership

Spotify and the New York Liberty are teaming up to give music and basketball fan...

22/04/2026

The story of the Focusrite ISA preamp

New 20-minute documentary explores iconic design The Focusrite Room in Mesa, Arizona, where John Aquilino hosts the Studio Console 005. In 2025, Focusrite co...

22/04/2026

EverSync SP-10 wireless from Cloudvocal

Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...

22/04/2026

Arturia release Augmented Persia

Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...

22/04/2026

Acustica Audio launch Salt 2

Combines three distinct analogue EQ emulations The latest addition to Acustica Audio's ever-expanding collection of analogue-emulation plug-ins combines...

22/04/2026

Analog Empire: Bass & Lead from Melda Production

Final instalment in vintage-inspired instrument series Analog Empire: Bass & Lead marks the final instalment in Melda Production's vintage hardware-insp...

22/04/2026

Strymon reveal the Canoga

Fuzz pedal joins all-analogue Series A line Given that Strymons reputation was built on unapologetically digital pedals, it was a little surprising to see t...

22/04/2026

SBS names shortlisted brands for 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge

SBS names shortlisted brands for 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge 22 April, 2026 Media releases National broadcaster also releases its second annual...

22/04/2026

The Frequency That Decides the Fight

Why Low Band Electronic Warfare Matters...

22/04/2026

Polish national football team play-off games top monthly programme list

The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...

22/04/2026

Nielsen and the Polish Organisation of Advertisers announce strategic partnership to elevate marketing standards in Poland

Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...

22/04/2026

Nielsen helps New Zealand brands expand internationally with greater clarity and confidence

New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...

22/04/2026

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Cinnafilm Tachyon Plugin and More at NAB

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Ci...

22/04/2026

Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs Experience

Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs...

22/04/2026

Bolin Demos New PTZ Cameras and Controller at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Anchor Audio Launches Beacon 3

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

FCC Grants WSWB TV License Transfer to Sinclair

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Telemundo Puerto Rico Streaming Channel Launches On Prime Video

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Chyron Announces PRIME Translate

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

VEON's Banglalink to Bring Starlink Mobile to Customers in Bangladesh

22 Apr 2026 VEON's Banglalink to Bring Starlink Mobile to Customers in Bangladesh Bangladesh becomes the third market where VEON and Starlink Mobile partne...

22/04/2026

FIRST LOOK FOR NEW U DRAMA SERIES HIT POINT

U have unveiled exclusive first-look images for their six-part police thriller Hit Point, starring Nick Blood (Day of the Jackal) and BAFTA nominee Saffron Hock...

22/04/2026

UKTV Highlights: Saturday May 9th -15th 2026

What can I watch on UKTV and stream on U this week? This week on UKTV and the free streaming service U, viewers can watch a range of new and returning programm...

22/04/2026

Sky announces fifth year of WNT Fund with 30,000 bursary supporting players and grassroots football

Wednesday 22 April 2026 Sky announces fifth year of WNT Fund with 30,000 bursa...

22/04/2026

This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series

Back to All News This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series Emma Stewart, Ph.D. Netflix Sustainability Officer Enterta...

22/04/2026

Retail Media Standards Are Expanding Into Commerce Media - Here's Why That Matters for Measurement

The move from Retail Media to Commerce Media is about broadening the scope of th...

22/04/2026

Dolby and BMW Bring Dolby Atmos to the BMW 7 Series, Expanding Immersive Audio Across Future Models

April 22 2026, 07:00 (PDT) Dolby and BMW Bring Dolby Atmos to the BMW 7 Series,...

22/04/2026

RT Licenses Stolen Sister to Pushkin

RT Documentary On One 7-part series breaks US market for first time RT Programme Sales has announced its first deal with a US distribution partner for its 7-...

22/04/2026

NVIDIA and Google Cloud Collaborate to Advance Agentic and Physical AI

NVIDIA and Google Cloud have collaborated for more than a decade, co engineering a full stack AI platform that spans every technology layer - from performance o...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: BitFires Colin Bonzey on Growing Spark Platform for Live Cloud-Based Productions

Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: AWSs Jason Dvorkin, Regina Rossi on Driving Innovation With Al-Based Workflows

The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: T-Mobile for Business' Jason Schnellbacher on Enhancing 5G for Sports Fans, Broadcasters

5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Appears Ed McGivern on Fox Sports Deal, New XM Platform, and VX Software Debut

At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Studio Network Solutions launches on-premise AI suite for media production workflows

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Suite Studios integrates file-streaming technology into Frame.io Drive

Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight integrates InSync FrameFormer into Nimbra Edge for media processing

Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...