Lüz Studio’s Immersive Design for BRP’s Club 2020 Dealership Show in Las Vegas
Bombardier Recreational Products held their Club BRP Sea-Doo | Can-Am at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in early September. The event included a 30-minute Global Product Reveal show on opening night for 3,000 of their dealers who came in from around the world. Included within the BRP product line are well known brands Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, Evinrude, Can-Am Off-Road, Can-Am On-Road, and many more. The Global Product Reveal show was followed by a two-day tradeshow featuring BRP showroom style exhibit booths and conferences. During the tradeshow portion, a dealer could walk around the showroom, talk with product specialists, try out the vehicles off-site, and then place orders from BRP for the coming year.
The agency in charge of overseeing production for all of the BRP Global Product Reveal shows is Lüz Studio. PLSN recently visited with Matthieu Larivée, creative producer and partner at Lüz Studio, to chat with him about their role in the show and the unique use of projection mapping and video content that was utilized in this event. We asked how long they have been working with Bombardier Recreational Products. “BRP has been doing this for about 30 years, however, two years ago, they did an RFP process to get an agency to deal with those events,” Larivée says. “They are not event planners nor a PR or marketing agency. They wanted to have an event agency to deal with these events that happen twice a year.” (The winter event showcases Ski-Doo, and the fall show highlights the On-Road/Off-Road vehicles, as well as the Sea-Doo brand.) “They do two shows per year, so we have six months to design and prep each one,” Larivée adds. “In order to produce this event as a true experience, we handle everything from the production aspects to the creative direction and logistics.”
Lüz Studio’s Role
As for Lüz Studio’s role in the production portion of the show, Larivée says that “the mandate is to oversee the production of every aspect of the event, which consists of over 45 trucks of gear traveling to each Club event, and BRP wanted us to rethink the event. Why do we do this…? I want this to be an experience. It is not about doing a nice reveal with smoke and strobe lights. It’s about surprising people, keep their attention during all those days, and providing them with the BRP experience. We had to re-think the event by cutting down the speeches, doing a short introduction for new products, make sure that the showroom was near the Global Product Reveal venue, and, of course, being sure to keep their attention.”
Immersive Projection Mapping
One of the most interesting parts of the show design was the incorporation of projection mapping onto the show floor in order to simulate multiple environments choreographed with the vehicle reveals. Larivée elaborates on how this idea was born, saying, “We had to re-think the reveal staging. This is where the mapping idea came about. We had to reveal three different brands (on road vehicle, off road vehicles and Sea-Doo), all with very different environments. Other companies usually use a kabuki or automation to make a good stunt, but once it’s revealed, there is nothing left except to step into a speaker with a keynote and a product. We wanted to have the product in relationship with its environment, that way you step into a mood, a context. It’s like being immersed into a live commercial. In fact, the media is based directly off the BRP TV commercials and branding. It’s quite spectacular, but it does not upstage the product. You can have a massive video wall and hundreds of lights behind your product to make it look big but it might just look like bells and whistles. When your product is integrated into the production, the scale looks right. It’s not about the size of the production, it’s about how the product is integrated within the production.”
Video Spike Marks
Another unique use of the projection and content was the video spike marks that were added into the media content in order for the drivers of the vehicles to eliminate the issue with show mode darkness, as well as any potential confusion with multiple spike marks spread all over the stage. “Besides the initial reasoning behind this being safety, we were able to have a completely clean stage, with each individual driver and speaker using the spike marks built into the video leading them as the video played through,” Larivée says.
The Lighting Complement
In addition to the spectacular use of video that was incorporated into the show, additional lighting and FX gear were implemented to enhance the production. Included in the rig were four Robe BMFL followspots, used specifically for the gear’s ability to precisely control color and movement. A multitude of other fixtures were used to highlight keynote speakers and further complement the look of the show, with colorful pinpoint beams and subtle washes matching the media content being shown.
The gear for these BRP shows is supplied by Solotech, Larivée notes. “We chose Solotech for multiple reasons, including their location in Montreal as well as the ability to get everything we needed on the production side from one company. Solotech owns a massive amount of gear including the cameras, audio, lighting and projectors we need for these shows. They are used to large tours and we packaged this show like a rock tour, with everything pre-rigged and the ability to load-in within a 36-hour window. We use two crews in order to achieve the very short timeframe… one crew for the product reveal show, and another separate crew handling the showroom.”
Some additional forward-thinking elements added into the Club BRP Sea-Doo | Can-Am involved streaming the show live on Facebook and the use of non-polarized media content being displayed on screens during the tradeshow. The TV screens look blank until a person puts on polarized sunglasses, then the content is visible.
A Truly Immersive Feel
After interviewing Matthieu and watching the product reveal show, this writer found the choreography between the projection and the drivers on their vehicles during the product reveal show to be truly impressive — it makes you feel like you have been immersed into a live television commercial. Lüz Studio’s unique twist on the standard corporate product reveal created a show atmosphere, keeping the attendees entertained while achieving the goal of showcasing the latest and greatest in BRP technology.
About Lüz Studio
Lüz Studio is a design studio for live entertainment. They can also manage the full production and provide clients with a turn key package. The purpose of this vision is to help the client focus on their part of the event and Lüz Studio can manage the rest. Even if you have a great idea, if you don’t have the production or technical team to achieve it – It might not happen the way you want. Luz has a team of 23 designers, programmers, specialists and account managers that work together and challenge themselves to make to a cohesive vision of an event, from creative and strategic, to the load out and gear transportation. For more information about Lüz Studio, visit them online at www.luzstudio.net.
Bombardier Recreational Products Club BRP Sea-Doo | Can-Am Dealership Show
MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Sept. 2019
Crew
Artistic Director: Matthieu Larivée/Lüz Studio
Producer: Ian Dubois/Lüz Studio
PM: Patrick Lafond/Lüz Studio
Account Management: Raphaelle Bessette/Lüz Studio
Lighting and Video Supplier: Solotech Montreal
Solotech Rep: Robert Tomeo
Solotech Project Manager: Eric Gauthier
Stage Director: Catherine Girard-Lantagne/Lüz Studio
Lighting Designer: Normand Chasse/Lüz Studio
Lighting Programmer: Jean-Benoit Meunier.
Lighting Crew Chief: Mathieu Lemelin/Solotech
Video Director: Marc Ledoux
Video Content Director: Sebastien Tilly/Lüz Studio
Video Programmer & Operator: David Lee/Lüz Studio
Video Crew Chief: Jonathan Couillard/Solotech
Gear
1 MA Lighting grandMA 2 Full Size
1 MA Lighting grandMA 2 Light
45 Robe BMFL Beam Wash
48 GLP Impression X-4
40 Elation Dartz 360
4 GLP JDC-1
24 Elation ZCL 360i
4 Robe BMFL Followspot with RoboSpot Control
2 MDG theONE Atmospheric Generator
6 Martin JEM ZR45 Fog Machine
8 Chauvet Geyser LED Fog Machine
12 30K Barco projectors