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Located at Mercury Towers, St. Julian’s, in the heart of
Malta’s entertainment district, Odyssey Malta is the result of a
multi-million-euro investment by property mogul, Joseph Portelli and is
situated inside a new development designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
Discussions with the developers began four years ago
initially about a scuba diving experience to be filmed underwater. “Following a
number of meetings we realised it would be extremely tricky to simulate the
weightlessness of a scuba diving experience to the standard we wanted,”
explains Ross Magri, managing and technical director of immersive experience
designer and producer, Sarner International.
“That led us to develop different ideas. At the time, I was
also looking at a number of projects where a flying theatre was one of the
components. We brought the concept to the client and they loved it.”
In most existing flying theatre installations - in Iceland,
Rome or The Netherlands - the local landscape forms a key part of the
experience. Malta, because of its size, is more limited in this regard.
“There are some great locations for aerial photography but
not enough for five minutes of footage. So we came up with the idea of Maltese
history and linking the island’s history with the present,” says Magri.
The concept evolved to include a Dark Walk that would take
visitors through the pre-history of Malta culminating in a flying theatre
linking key historical events with the present.
“Our aim is for visitors to leave the attraction with the
city’s landmarks holding a deeper meaning for them,” says Magri. “They will
better understand the story, for instance, behind the fortifications in
Valetta, Cittadella and Mdina and their significance to Malta.”
Dark Walk
The attraction begins with a 25-minute Dark Walk that reveals the traces of
history from the oldest manmade structures to the critical battles that echoed
around Europe.
Northern Ireland-based scenic theming specialist, Best
Constructors and digital media designer, Cosmic Carrot worked in tandem with
Sarner’s editorial team to create the interactive experience.
An evocation of Malta’s prehistory draws on temple
archaeology that dates back earlier than Stonehenge. “We created a sunburst
effect that simulates the solstice,” says Sarner’s creative director, Michael
Bennett.
“The effect comes straight down the corridor through
atmospheric smoke as visitors walk into it. Each scene in the Dark Walk is a
form of theatre with dynamic lighting.”
Scenic artists painted a backdrop of Phoenicians, Greeks,
Roman, Normans and Arabs who all settled in Malta creating its distinctive
culture and Latin/Arabic language roots.
An animated sequence in the maritime section brings these
civilisations to life and leads through to a sequence where Ottoman Turks and
Christians battle for control of the island.
Large sandstone block walls which characterise Malta’s
castles are recreated out of plaster by Best Constructors and employed as
proscenium arches for animations projection mapped by Cosmic Carrot.
“A view through the gates of fortified Mdina opens to a busy
market scene in the Middle Ages with people walking about,” says Bennett. “We
even filmed a local falconer in the studio with his Maltese falcon and
incorporated that into a sequence.”
Visitors also learn the story of Mercury House, the site of
the attraction and previously an underground Control Centre and vital
communication hub during WWII.
The element of flight, and in particular the idea of the
Roman god, Mercury as the ‘messenger of the gods’ is used to connect scenes
throughout the Dark Walk with a final animation that is also mirrored in the
introduction to the ride.
Projection mapping transforms a three-dimensional thematic
wall, taking visitors on a journey from medieval Malta to the era of the
Knights of St. John and into the early days of the Second World War. Enhanced
with smoke effects, cannon fire, and a surround sound system, this dynamic
experience brings Malta’s pivotal moments to life.
Flying theatre production
“I tend to use a similar team for our digital media attractions,” says Bennett
who credits writer Chris Lethbridge as being “very good on historical
documentaries and the ideal person to brainstorm the content with.”
Bennett drew storyboards before deciding how much to shoot
in studio, or location or to make in VFX. “We wanted to provide the connection
from Malta’s geological origins and first cave dwelling inhabitants right up to
the present. So, for example, linking the history of the Second World War and
the dogfights over Malta with a scuba dive to actual shipwrecks of planes and
submarines in the ocean off the Malta coast.”
That ambitious concept required a production mix of aerial
photography, photoreal computer-generated imagery and studio filming with
Bristol’s Moonraker VFX in charge of delivery.
Sarner worked with Heritage Malta to obtain digital scans of
the wrecks which lie about 100 metres underwater. The scans were used by
Moonraker to create an animated dive experience.
“Everything is factual and based on historical events using
a mixture of aerial filming and VFX to link the past with the presence,”
confirms Magri. “That’s why the content in this flying theatre is unique. We
are immersing the audience in the history so that visitors can better
appreciate the historical significance of Malta.”
London-based Talesmith were commissioned to provide the live
action media for the flying ride, filming cinematic visuals over different
seasons using a RED Komodo camera and FPV drone, as well as from a helicopter.
It proved a little tricky to obtain permits for aerial
filming for both drone and twin-engine helicopter. A planned flyover over
Cittadella had to be stopped at the walls of the city itself but Sarner had a
creative workaround. In the ride, an animated sequence takes over at this point
and takes the viewer back in time.
The grand finale of the Dark Walk culminates with the Flying
Theatre at Odyssey Malta, where visitors travel back in time and take flight
over Malta’s history and landscapes. Combining the use of stunning VFX, a 6DOF
motion platform, and a 10-metre spherical screen, this state-of-the-art
experience immerses guests in a breathtaking journey through Malta’s underwater
and aerial views while showcasing its rich heritage.
Ride install
The location was in Mercury House, part of the new Mercury Towers, but a Grade
2 listed building with space and planning restrictions.
“Most flying theatres are installed in large custom-built
locations but in this instance the building was listed with certain
limitations,” Magri says. “The space featured a column that is also one of the
supports to the building which we could not move.”
The HEXaFLITE mini from German supplier, Simtec met a lot of
these requirements. “It needed some reinforcement to the basement slabs but
nothing that would impact the structure. Because the product was roughly the
scale and size that we needed we felt comfortable that there’d be less R&D
needed than selecting a product where we would be starting from scratch.”
The 6 Degrees of Freedom HEXaFLITE motion system features a
10-metre spherical screen with audiences seated on two levels, ten people per
level. The design allows guests to enter the system in a horizontal position.
After starting, at the beginning of the ride, guests are tilted towards the
dome screen in one movement, so that their feet are hanging freely in the open
air, creating a unique feeling of free flight.
“Most flying theatres are fifty to eighty seaters,” says
Magri. “I’m not sure there is another on the size and scale that we’ve
achieved. The challenge was to fit the theatre into this space with a
relatively small audience and still achieve that depth and sense of flight.”
Seat fans enhance flight sensation
Fans embedded in each seat enhance the sensation of flight to accompany
animations of a World War II aerial dogfight before plunging the passenger into
the ocean among scuba divers exploring the wrecks.
“These are key points where we use a very fine mist. It’s
exactly the right balance between having that sensation of water without it
becoming annoying.”
A recreation of the Siege of Malta in 1556 when the Ottoman
Empire attempted to conquer the island and were held by the Knights Hospitaller
is accompanied by the smell of gunpowder.
Visuals are projected from four Barco 4K RGB projectors with
media controlled by AV Stumpfl Pixera ONE Quad. The surround sound system
features two levels of speakers each with three JBL speakers and two sub base
speakers.
Says Magri: “ More specifically, the Barco projectors are
the UDM-W15 and Digital Projection and Evision 9000. Audio we have JBL SRX
815s, SRX 828S for subs, Audac range speakers Crown 1250 and Audac SMQ range
amplifiers. BSS BLU806 for audio processing, Pixera One and mini for video
playback. Show control is via Alcorn V4-X and AMX NI-1200.”
Tests included running the attraction at full capacity with
invitations to groups of 400 people. “We wanted to see what happens if we’re
running twenty people every fifteen minutes and people start to turn up earlier
or later. There’s also a viewing platform that takes them up to the top floor.
All that needs to be managed and tested. There was the usual last minutes panic
of getting things working but it prepared us well.
Adds Magri: “We’re very pleased that we’ve had visitors as
young as four and (old as) ninety on the ride and they loved it. An older
gentleman was apprehensive about going on a roller coaster, but he really
enjoyed the sensation of flight.”
A beautiful friendship
This is the latest in a series of attractions that Sarner has activated with
the Maltese authorities. Magri, who was born in the country, explains how his
own passion for AV was fired as a teenager when he worked on the very first
Malta Experience (which still operates in Valetta).
“In the early 1980s I had an interest in film, photography
and electronics,” he recalls. “I saw what the Malta Experience was doing with
slide projectors and show control and it inspired me to pursue a career in this
business.”
Magri joined Sarner a number of years later and helped the
company work on several Maltese projects, including a visitor centre on Gozo,
the National War Museum in Fort St Elmo, a project for Farsons brewery and the
Cittadella Visitors’ Centre.
The latter won awards including the Prix d’ Honneur and
Silver Medal by Din l-Art Helwa, Malta’s leading NGO in Cultural Heritage and
the 2016 Malta Architects Awards.
“Mercury Tower is the culmination of all those projects
because it has the biggest investment and allows us to take the visitor
attraction in Malta to another level,” says Magri.
“We’ve got quite a pedigree of products there now. It’s more
word of mouth and building the reputation of what we do.
“It’s also an advantage that our guys have worked on so many
historical attractions in Malta. They know more about the island than a tourist
guide!”
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