That Was No Hologram, That Was An LED Video Wall Inside A Gold Coach

July 19, 2022 by Dave Haynes

 

There was lots of buzz and no end of erroneous descriptions about the virtual appearance of the Queen Elizabeth II, rolling along a parade during Platinum Jubilee events in early June.

Footage of the Queen, taken from her coronation day in 1953, was shown in the windows of a 260-year-old gold-clad carriage. Media coverage tended to describe the visuals as a hologram. The Queen, now 96, was having mobility issues and to limit public appearances.

It was not, of course, a hologram, and it was not rear projection on film, as I thought it might be from a brief glimpse on news coverage. It was a small LED wall, using ROE rental cabinets and driven by a Brompton video processor.

The rather amazing and terrifying thing is that a tech from PRG – which does AV and lighting for technical expertise and equipment for big entertainment and corporate events – was assigned to put a stand and all the hardware in the coach. I assume he was told even leaving a fingerprint was a problem, and guessing there were no holes drilled or gaffer tape used. A company called Treatment Studio ran the project, but the tweet below seems to link to a venue that does Mad hatter tea parties for kids, which I am guessing is not really who was commissioned to pull this off (though that would be a hell of a story!)

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