Glow

In a first for RHS Garden Wisley, Framestore has used projection mapping to display an animation onto the historic Laboratory building, positioned at the beginning of this year’s festive illuminations trail as the first ‘wow’ moment for visitors.

The work is featured as part of ‘Glow’, a magical after dark spectacle of lights, sounds and effects that the garden runs annually throughout the festive season.

Framestore’s work covered the concept design, storyboards, animation and creative development, accompanied by the creative and design direction, under the supervision of Framestore’s Creative Director Gavin Fox and Head of Design Stephen Goalby.

The aim was to bring to life the story of the Laboratory in a colourful and fun way that would thrill visitors of all ages. After an exploratory site visit, 3 initial concepts were created, and the chosen one was worked up into a storyboard and animatic, in collaboration with storyboard artist Paul Frankland.

Then alongside projection mapping expert and animator Dan Wise, Gavin Fox directed the animation and selected the accompanying soundtrack.

The final stage was to install the experience and work with the projector technicians to create a bright, vibrant and crisp image on the building by re-designing the projection method.

“We used a LIDAR scan of the building to enable us to accurately recreate it in CG and apply believable lighting effects to it” Gavin explains. “We synced the projection animation to lighting effects across a large area surrounding the building to give the illusion the projection continues across a huge area and surrounds the guests”.

For maximum impact and to create beautiful reflections, the fountains in the Jellicoe Canal in front of the Laboratory were turned off.

Gavin concludes, “This was a great opportunity to make something truly site specific that not only celebrates the history of the space but is just a fun and surprising show. Working hand in hand with the wider experience team allowed us to integrate the animation seamlessly into the lighting and sound design of a massive area. The RHS Garden Wisley team were so genuinely excited about the project it was a pleasure to work on”.