Technology Reseller v26

10 Information Technology for Small to Medium-sized Businesses Audio Visual Case Study: Norton Priory Casio’s lamp-free projectors bring vibrant medieval colours back to one of the UK’s historical statue masterpieces. The imposing St Christopher effigy, the patron saint of travellers, reigns over 11ft tall, hand carved from red sandstone in 1391. Historically irreplaceable, the statue remains housed within a bespoke gallery at Norton Priory and is the largest surviving medieval statue in Britain. Within the last decade, extensive conservation and research work was carried out by the renowned conservationist, John Larson, revealing original bright and vibrant pigment colours. Sadly, the paint was removed deliberately in the 1600s with a coat of wax to ‘dull down’ the appearance and make it less conspicuous to reformers. For visitors today, Norton Priory wanted to resurrect the statues’ former vibrant medieval colours while enhancing the exhibit with an accompanying animated story. To achieve this, a highly detailed and accurate sustained colour projection technology and a 'hearty king sized voice' would be required. Enter Sculpting with Light, one of the UKs leading visual effects companies who specialise in bringing exhibits to life through creative excellence, who embellished Casio’s cutting edge projection technology with the heartening voice of the famous English Shakespearean actor, Brian Blessed. John Hipkiss, Sculpting with Light’s Owner and Creative Director, relished the opportunity to recreate visual history with innovative Projection lighting. He recalls: “Originally, the statue would have started life painted in really vibrant colourful hues, common to the vivid paints used inmedieval times to show off the wealth of the Priory.” Thankfully in the restoration process, some of the original pigments were found, enabling the exact colour match to the authentic paint. “We started with a high resolution 3D laser scan together with John Larson’s own reconstruction painting that enabled to achieve the vibrant crimsons, ethereal blue hues required of the true colour spectrum. We also wanted to ensure the colours would not degrade over time through daily exhibiting.” John continues: “We have significant experience in using projection systems within the museumworld, hence when we were made aware of Casio’s lampfree projectors, we were keen to see if in reality the results would be as crisp and consistent as described.” A Casio lamp-free projector was dispatched. In setup, the Casio projectors’ simple intelligent design meant the infrastructure costs were dramatically reduced including the cradle structure support due to Casio’s light-weight construction. John explains: “ On similar projects,