ATLANTA — The 27th edition of WrestleMania muscled its way into the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with some hefty visual firepower for the 70,000 live spectators and PPV broadcast to 35 countries. The centerpiece was a digital cyclorama that helped the event set a new high mark for the greatest number of Martin LED panels ever used. The lighting rig also included close to 500 Martin MAC moving light fixtures. Upstaging provided the gear.
The longtime production designer for WWE is Jason Robinson, who works with WWE executive producer Kevin Dunn on design and themes for WrestleMania events. This year’s even featured a high-tech look, starting with the digital cyclorama comprised of Martin Professional LC and EC Series LED video panels. The panels also lined the front of the stage and were positioned along a catwalk leading to the ring in the middle of the Georgia Dome.
The cyclorama measured 180 feet in length and was 65 feet tall, forming a huge video wall backdrop that arched 180 degrees in a true cyclorama curve. This huge screen was positioned on an entrance stage at one end of the arena where the various performers received a grand theatrical introduction.
The screen portrayed a variety of visuals including the wrestlers themselves and other graphics composed by WWE senior graphics designer Dan Cerasale. The graphics were typically newly designed looks from merchandise and other branding imagery, fresh looks that fans hadn’t seen before on weekly WWE events.
Graphical processing of the LED screen imagery took place via P3-100 System Controllers, Martin’s video processor. It allows for full control over the video signal before the image is displayed on screen. The P3-100 helps video easily integrate with a lighting system by treating LED screens like lighting instruments with direct cue-by-cue control of brightness, image rotation and position, color temperature, etc.; aligning and addressing the entire screen automatically.
The entrance stage featured a clean design compared to past years, with one important exception, a huge multi-legged Stageco “crab” truss positioned in front of the LC Series screen. The legs of the crab were fitted with a skin of Martin EC-20 LED panels, which added depth to the stage and made for a three-dimensional feel. In order for the legs to stand out visually, Robinson ran opposing graphics on the LC wall and the EC legs.
“The panels fit in well and we had no problems with them, and we didn’t just hang them vertically,” noted Robinson on the panels’ mounting versatility and user-friendly design that requires no separate rental structure. “I’ve used the LC Series before and have been using Martin gear on WWE for a while, but this was my first time using the EC panels. They were very durable and held up well.”
The Georgia Dome is a huge space to fill with color and light and it takes a large amount of automated luminaires to do it. A significant portion of Robinson’s automated lighting package were the nearly 500 Martin MAC moving heads that he used to light the building, columns, ring and audience.
Two large concentric truss circles loaded with MAC 2000 Wash XBs gave a vertical look to the huge arena space with custom MAC 300 LED wash lights providing the toning color. Robinson also mounted MAC 2000 Wash XBs on handrails around the arena and had Martin MAC 301 Washes along with Atomic strobes mounted on the crab truss.
“Upstaging did a great job and was able to get me all the panels I needed. Everything went fantastic with no problems to speak of,” Robinson concluded.
Martin equipment:
540 LC Series 2140
185 LC Series 1140
168 EC-20
3 P3-100 System Controller
18 MAC III Profile
147 MAC 2000 Wash XB
56 MAC 2000 Wash
36 MAC 700 Wash
154 MAC 300 LED Wash (custom)
78 MAC 301 Wash
120 Atomic 3000
For more information, please visit www.martin.com.
