LA's Iconic City Hall Building To Become Canvas for NYE Projection Mapping Extravaganza

In light of Time Square saturation in New York and fireworks eclipsing the Opera House in Sydney, Los Angeles has never been a contender for its NYE festivities. Which is a bit of a surprise, considering Hollywood exists solely to churn out spectacles of entertainment (often including those Batman-friendly sky projection lights). But going into 2014, every past perception of LA’s role in the Gregorian calendar’s summit is going to change.

At midnight on December 31st, Downtown’s iconic City Hall building will disappear beneath a sheet of animations, neon, graphics and more, as part of Grand Park’s first NYE celebration. Resulting from a collaboration between LA-based media group Idea Giants and park coordinators, five 3D animators and digital artists created a projection mapping show which will engulf the tower and begin 2k14 with the biggest digital performance art piece of its kind ever performed on the West Coast.

It won’t compare to those iconic celebrations mentioned at the start of this article--but for good reason. The directors and artists aren’t interested in flooding the area with event-goers to the point where suffocation becomes a genuine concern. And in another vein, it's poised to be a pivotal moment for projection mapping's clout in the USA as it challenges incumbent archetypes of the Auld-Lang-Syne celebration. (Is projection mapping the digital answer to firework extravaganzas? We discuss below)

But enough from us. We talked with Idea Giants member Jonathan Keith, as well as the event's design team and park coordinators to see why they’re excited about the night. And, of course, why everyone else should be too.

The Creators Project: How did this become a reality? Was the idea born before you pitched it, or were you approached, or?

Jonathan Keith: We've been working with the park and a creative agency called Task Force since the idea's conception. The park is flanked on the east end by the City Hall building, which is an LA icon. They said right away that they wanted to do projection mapping on the entire tower, a tall order in every sense of the word. I brought together the production design and artistic team, led by Michael Fullman, a super talented designer and technologist who I imagine says brilliant things in his sleep. We collaborated with Grand Park to create a visual narrative that included Park iconography, LA civic-minded themes, and New Year's Eve celebratory content.

As this is the birth of a new annual tradition, it was a priority for Grand Park to do something innovative, that speaks to how Los Angeles is evolving as a 21st Century city.

Undoubtedly, metropolitan areas around the world all incorporate their own NYE festivities - many of which are broadcasted via global news syndicates. Why should people pay attention to this one?

Bonnie Goodman, event PR spokesperson: Grand Park’s N.Y.E. LA is truly a first for Los Angeles, a city (and County actually) that has a reputation for being short on public gathering spaces and traditions. In fact, until now, there was no one central location in Los Angeles where people could gather, all together, to ring in the New Year, in a community environment with activities that speak to everyone (and that is free). This event signals a shift in the city that Grand Park organizers (and guests) first witnessed during the 2013 Election Night and on the Fourth of July (10,000 people came to Grand Park for the park’s first Fourth of July celebration). We are seeing new traditions in the making (and ones that have nothing to do with the typical perspectives of LA, e.g., Hollywood, beach communities, etc.) This is about the diverse communities of Los Angeles County coming together around a common opportunity to share and to celebrate.

The 3D projection mapping that will take place leading up to and through the time the clock strikes midnight will be brilliant and powerful–and the largest of its kind to be shown on the west coast. In addition, guests will enjoy many other aspects of the event, including visual and performing arts, and the opportunity to see their wishes for the New Year projected 100 feet above the park. The park commissioned works of art by internationally-acclaimed artists, including: Michael Murphy, whose works challenge the boundaries between the second and third dimensions, often with the use of optical illusions; George McFetridge, who is well-known within the graphic design community for simple, but highly powerful imagery; and Charles Becker, a sculptor whose work often combines elements of realism and absurdity.

Jonathan, you mentioned in an earlier email you created a 3D model of the City Hall tower based on drawings "someone found in an old closet." Could you elaborate on this a bit more? Were you given access to architectural records?
We knew that, especially with such a large, unorthodox canvas--a 32-story tower--we would need a very precise model. With this type of work, fractions of inches can make a huge difference. Very often, 3D models are created from digital photographs and measurements taken during site surveys. If you're lucky, architectural plans will be available to help with the calculations. But with an 85 year-old building and a vast bureaucracy working in it, finding extant plans was a bit of a pipe dream. Then an event consultant who has worked with the City of Los Angeles for many years came across a mysterious storage tube in a closet. When he unfurled the contents he discovered an old schematic drawing of LA City Hall that was 1/16" scale! Highly accurate. It was definitely a high-five moment. The production designers made an oversized scan of the drawing and this was the basis for the model that all of the animators used. Having access to that drawing saved us a tremendous amount of time.

3D blueprints.

Let’s have the design team chime in. What was the process like? What programs were used?

Jared Otake, creator of 3D model: Once I received the schematic drawing, I noticed that it was only the front orthographic view of City Hall and that there were no measurements to indicate the amount of depth each extrusion had in relation to Z space.  Because of this, I decided to download a 3D Sketchup model of the building, and also a bunch of high resolution images of the building to compare to the schematic drawing. Everything seemed to match up except for the Sketchup model which needed a few adjustments so that it would be perfectly aligned with the schematic drawing. After the adjustments were made, I deleted all of the unwanted geometry that was not going to have anything projected onto its surface so that the file size would be a lot smaller and easier to work with. I then distributed the hybrid model to all the artists to use for their assets and animation sequences.

In regards to the Grand Park fountain model, there were no 3D models of the fountain online so I had to model it from scratch in Maya. And there were no schematic drawings or blueprints of the fountain either so I had to rely strictly on several high resolution pictures I found online as my modeling guides. Once the model was completed, I textured it to replicate the surface of the physical fountain and handed it off to Emad Kalili who would be handling the particle effects for the water animation.

Emad Khalili, Real Flow Specialist: When I received the 3D model from Jared, I needed to do some modifying to make it ready for two different types of simulation. The first part included making deflectors and adjusting them to the City Hall tower walls in order to get realistic particle reflection. I started with a lower number of particles and when I was satisfied with the dynamic movement, I increased the particle numbers to 1,000,000. The next part was simulating other parts of the fountain with different software using dynamic particles. I imported the model into my software and simulated my particles, making sure there was no false interaction between the 3D model's polygon surface and the particles. The final pass was making a solid mesh from the particles and assigning water material to them. And of course lighting the 3D scene with different lights and colors.

David Estes, 3D Animator: From the 3D model, I was able to line up the moving blocks to the actual structure, so they appeared to be manipulating the real-life geometry of the building. After setting up these blocks, the next step was to animate various patterns and shapes around the building. Finally, we have to fool the eye into believing that something is moving closer to you even though it’s just being projected on a flat wall. In the real world, if these blocks were truly sliding away from the building, they would create shadows around them. By simulating CG shadows on the flat building, it gives the illusion of depth to show that the block is sliding out or in. This effect is taken a step further by simulating lights moving around the face of the building, creating much more dynamic shadow-play.

David McMahon, animator and composer: The aspect ratio was massive on this show. I've worked in pipelines compositing 4k footage for IMAX, but this was larger in height by over 2k but smaller than HD in width. Pretty crazy! Render times were tough and keeping my GUI light and manageable was at the top of my to-do list. You'd be surprised how fast these animations can bog down a machine.

What are your thoughts on the idea that projection mapping will soon become the internet generation’s “fireworks”? 

It's funny you say "fireworks." We are literally incorporating fireworks into the end of this piece. I often describe projection mapping to laypeople, as "digital fireworks." Everyone, regardless of their station in life, has the same reaction to fireworks, which is excitement and awe. As a shared experience, these displays have the same effect on an audience. That's a powerful point I like to make to brands looking to reach a broad demographic and align themselves with technology and innovation. But fireworks have analog limitations and, to a large extent, when you have seen one show you have seen all of them. Digital art and projection mapping can be fresh and new every time. The only limits are your own imagination. And it can happen anywhere.

It seems to be proliferating more in performance art communities outside of the United States, though. Most of the projection mapping artists at last October’s Circle of Lights festival in Moscow were either Russian or based within the EU.

JK: Like most new art forms, Europe and Asia have led the vanguard of 3D projection mapping, but I definitely see it gaining traction in the U.S. I think part of the disconnect for American audiences is that they tend to compartmentalize art and technology. But there are a number of emerging studios here -- like the Bot & Dolly crew up in San Francisco -- who are using highly advanced technology to create pieces that, when you see the finished work, you have no doubt that it's art. And there is a ton of incredibly talented animators and visual effects artists emerging all the time, creating amazing works with little fanfare. The really exciting part is that they have access to a global "gallery" online. That's really where a lot of this work resides.

I understand you guys are tight lipped about the show's actual contents, although a few things have been revealed. Other than NYE and LA, what would you say are the themes/inspirations for the graphics we'll see?

JK: Besides holiday and civic thematics and the architectural effects which have become the hallmark of projection mapping, a recurring theme of this event is neon. These looks were executed by an incredible 3D artist named Akiko Yamashita. She created all the early evening animations, which we have loosely called "screensavers," that loop and evolve through various stages leading up to the presentation piece aroundmidnight. The neon looks projected onto an Art Deco building will give it a very South Beach kind of vibe.

Obviously implicit to any NYE celebration is anticipation and a concept of time, so we have synced the feature piece to a realtime atomic clock and have incorporated a countdown to 2014 into the actual animation.

It sounds like you guys are breaking ground in a number of ways. Was it always meant to be this ambitious? 

Julia Diamond, Director of Programming for Grand Park: Yes. Grand Park has been extremely ambitious from the start in its mission to be an unprecedented home for public celebrations, civic pride, and community growth in Los Angeles. Because we recognized that New Year's Eve was a perfect opportunity to bring this city together on a large scale, we deliberately decided not to do a NYE event in our first year of operation. We wanted the time to learn and get to know our audience. Over the last 14 months, through our programming, we have learned they are hungry for opportunities to come together, remarkably savvy in their taste and filled with love for their city. We wanted LA’s countdown to be massive, beautiful, cutting-edge, and tailored to the spirit of this creative capital.

You'd think LA would be one of the first places connected with this type of performance art, considering Hollywood's dependence on special effects. And people - locally and internationally - may still hone that association when hearing about this event. 

JK: Los Angeles has one of the most vibrant art scenes in the world right now and there is certainly no shortage of amazing visual effects artists working in the entertainment industry. But mass audiences here and throughout the country are mostly learning about projection mapping through experiential marketing events that brands produce and, more especially, the videos taken at them and distributed on YouTube. I think more brands will start catching on to this in America, especially with the economy improving. As a performance art form, I think a lot of people have been exposed to projection mapping through the so-called "EDM" phenomenon. The electronic music scene and DJ culture has always been the earliest adopters of technology and innovation with respect to visual art. Many of the top touring DJs have elaborate shows involving 3D animation and projection.

Lastly, what's next for Idea Giants? Anything we can look forward to in 2014?

JK: Idea Giants will be focused on producing a series of concert films that combine innovative musical artists with cutting-edge visual artists and filmmakers. We plan to distribute these worldwide to movie theaters for limited engagement theatrical events. We also hope to help brands engage with consumers through manifold media experiences, including real time social networking events, live video, IPTV platforms, projection mapping, and interactive media devices.

Below, check out a preview of tonight's projection via LAObserved: