Projects: Macy’s Gets Projection-Mapped For Super Bowl

January 31, 2014 by Dave Haynes

It’s Super Bowl week in New York, and while there is lots of head-scratching going on about the wisdom of staging the game in early February in the Nor’Easter corridor, there’s no doubt it’s a good locale in media and brand dollar terms.

One of the big Wow factor visual events is a projection mapping job that’s running on a facade of the iconic Macy’s store on 34th Street. The job is being executed by Montreal’s Moment Factory, the same company that did the LAX Int’l Terminal and has done projection mapping in Atlantic City and around the globe.

The area around Herald Square has been dubbed Super Bowl Boulevard, and an eight minute show has been running every half hour from 5 to 9:30 p.m. on the storefront.

Moment Factory, in its blog, says:

The show’s visuals feature original footage, 2D and 3D animation, and special effects. Images morph, come out of the “screen” and grab you, an engaging experience that’s as exciting as football itself. Like most of Moment Factory’s large scale shows, Super Bowl Virtual Theater required the collaboration of the company’s multicultural in-house team, including technology, motion design, and management, as well as proven expertise in conceptualizing and creating these highly engaging environments. And, while designing special effects, the artists worked in consideration of Macy’s unique architecture, and the urban setting of the show.

Throughout the six-month creation process of Super Bowl Virtual Theater, the artists worked with NFL Films to source stunning archival footage ranging from 8 millimeter to digital. A powerful soundscape features music inspired by the spirit of football and the hip-hop and rock legacies of New York and New Jersey. The original soundtrack also incorporates NFL orchestration, emphasizing the sport’s heroic legacy.

Doing this sort of thing in NYC is a bear because of all the logistical consideration, and the ambient light and noise. The company “cheated” a little – if you want to look at it technically – by using suspended fabric to mask the windows and make for a much easier projection surface. But that’s pretty common.

The company used Barco 40K projectors to battle the city light. Looks spectacular.

Here’s a teaser video: