By Beverly Pereira
Photography: Moment Factory; courtesy v2com
Read Time: 2 mins
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| Aura - Part 2 of the show in progress |
Multi-media entertainment studio Moment Factory creates a multi-sensory experience within Montreal’s grandiose Notre-Dame Basilica using sound, light and video projection-mapping.
Designed by Irish-American architect James O’Donnell
in 1824, the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal is a picture of divinity. Now, as
part of the city’s 375th anniversary celebrations, the iconic
heritage landmark has been given a new, and luminous, lease of life. Montreal-based
multimedia entertainment studio Moment Factory has created AURA, a
transformative experience that propels visitors on a sacred journey using
layers of augmented reality and spatial orchestral scoring within the walls of the
Gothic Revival cathedral.
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| Aura - show in progress |
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| Aura - Part 1 of the show in progress |
Since its opening in March 2017, AURA, which seats 600
people at a time, has been performed over 400 times. The 45-minute experience,
presented in two acts, unfolds beneath the grandiose Basilica’s lofty rood
screens. Before being seated, visitors are encouraged to discover and connect
with sublime artworks highlighted by multimedia-enhanced installations on a
self-led tour.
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| Aura - storyboard: 3d renders, visuals & scans |
The second act, when the Basilica’s interior is bathed
in a series of animated projections, is just as, if not more, breathtaking. Coupled
with an orchestral composition interpreted by 30 musicians, 20 chorists and the
Basilica’s resonant organ, the experience is soul-stirring.
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| Aura - integration of lasers |
Conceived in 2015 by the Moment Factory team and the
cathedral’s managers, Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre-Dame, the project was
produced by over 100 people. Bringing this vision to reality required an
intensive year of musical composition and recording, four months of visual
content production, 90 days of installation and a month of content integration and
testing.
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| Aura - creative process |
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| Aura - creative process |
The technical rig of a total of 21 projectors — seven
for the exploratory introduction and 14 for the second act — and 140 lights,
four lasers and 20 mirrors is but one of the cogs in the machine.
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| Notre-Dame Basilica ornamental ceiling |
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| Notre-Dame Basilica ornamental ceiling detail |
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| Aurs - process of integration |
To fully utilize the cathedral’s intricate
architecture as a complex digital canvas, in a seamless manner, Moment Factory
developed X-Agora, a specialized projection-mapping software that permits the
creation of complex 3D maps of concave surfaces and ornate carvings. The video
projections were also tuned to match the cathedral’s vibrant chromatic palette
so as to enrich the existing details.
The intense rounds of developing and testing have paid
off, for it is impossible to be unmoved by this powerful, ethereal journey.
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