This is a guest post from Karim Saad.
“Shine a Light” is a project commissioned by the MBC (The Middle East Broadcasting Corporation) – a free-to-air, pan-Arab, news and entertainment broadcaster – for the month of Ramadan for their Group Head office in Dubai, UAE. Ramadan is considered the holy month of Islam, put simply – a month of fasting and repentance mandated in the Qur’an. The objective would be to create a piece that projected the enthusing elements of the month.
MBC wanted a quick turnover, a challenge Printworks Mediatech accepted. It seemed like an impossible task within the time frame offered, but it challenged us to achieve something beyond what we had accomplished before. The brief was to allow employees and visitors to see a lantern changing hands along a sequence of posters as they walk through the corridor of the main lobby.
The project called for showing different individuals who represent various departments of the Group, grabbing and then passing a lantern across a corridor-long display. The objective was to project a sense of unity and brightness to celebrate the season.
MBC took care of the principal photography by snapping photos of employees. Dozens modeled in traditional and modern clothing, who were both men and women, either devout and more secular, posed for photos. Each model had two principle images taken: one receiving a large lantern from his or her left (Position A), then a second image where the model passed the lantern on to the next recipient (Position B).
All the images had to be set to a similar background and receive a number of effects, primarily revolving around the lantern itself. Afterwards, the two images would be converted to layers to be rendered together.
There would be 24 panels in total, 17 on the first and 7 on the second of the two walls around the corner from each other. Each panel would be huge – 1X2 meters each. All together, the information saved when we started pre-production totaled about 89 GB of data.
Photoshop provided the background that included stars and other religious, seasonal symbols to the project the feeling of the holiday. To keep the mood of the project, later graphics included adding a glistening effect to the lantern.
In just 24 hours, we made all the edits and inserted all the background and lighting effects and printed all the panels overnight using a Flatbed UV direct print to prepare for next-day installation. The lenses that we used were 22 LPI letting us display fine detail. But that next day was a 36-hour marathon of building. To display the panels we had to build a free standing custom display case that was illuminated from behind. Take a look at these snapshots of the massive project (and party) it was to install the finished posters:
Hundreds of workers crossed the halls throughout the month being hit with the massive imagery of the display. Our objective, to project a hopeful mood and optimistic feel for Ramadan was achieved by the illuminating theme of the pictures. It’s an approach I think would also work well with other religions’ holidays. I hope you enjoyed this and hope you check out the full panorama pics of the project for a more immersing experience!
Beirut born, Karim currently lives and works in Dubai as Managing Director of Printworks Mediatech. His studies in Communication Arts in Saint Joseph University of Beirut enhanced his love for strong visuals and helped him go further in his main hobby: photography. When not glued to his office, he loves to escape in his Defender and capture nature from its most minute details to it’s 360º splendor