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Industry Museum, visitor attraction
Region Melbourne, Australia
Type of Solution
3 x Optoma EH500, 5 x Optoma ML750
Installation Company
Amber Technology
www.ambertech.com.au
Amber Technology is one of Australia's largest and most respected distributors of high technology equipment solutions to the professional broadcast, film, recording, live production and home entertainment markets. Tel: 1800 251 367 Email: [email protected]
“ The heritage-listed Rippon Lea mansion presented a series of logistical challenges, which meant we had to think of a flexible way of creating an engaging and visually exciting space without modifying the building’s existing fixtures. ”
Martin Green, Learning & Interpreations Manager, NTAV
“ Amber Technology recommended a solution based on Optoma projectors, which met our requirements perfectly. These products are versatile and perform exceptionally well, projecting superior quality images in bright and dimly lit environments. Easy to use and move between different areas of the venue, these Optoma projectors are versatile for use in virtually any application ”
Martin Green, Learning & Interpreations Manager, NTAV

Optoma projectors light up Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition

Challenge: The National Trust of Australia Victoria (NTAV) wanted to bring the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition to Rippon Lea Mansion, which has strict limitations around altering a building in any way.
Solution: To get around the restrictions at Rippon Lea, the NTAV designed the exhibition using projectors to beam images onto different surfaces, namely walls and mannequins. Amber Technology identified the Optoma EH500 and ML750 projectors would best suit the exhibition’s needs and these were installed.
Results: Martin Green, Learning and Interpretations Manager at the NTAV said, “The heritage-listed Rippon Lea mansion presented a series of logistical challenges, which meant we had to think of a flexible way of creating an engaging and visually exciting space without modifying the building’s existing fixtures.”

The Challenge

Background

The NTAV is a community-based, non-profit, non-government organisation committed to promoting and conserving Australia’s indigenous, natural, and historic heritage. It is the producer behind the exhibition which features costumes and props from the popular Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries television program featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Challenge

The NTAV wanted to bring the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition to the historic Rippon Lea Mansion in Melbourne, Australia. Rippon Lea is a heritage-listed, historic building with strict limitations around developing or altering a building in any way. This presented a number of logistical challenges for the NTAV.

For many exhibitions, the venue requires new furnishings - such as new or additional lighting, display cabinets and fixtures, and new wall treatments - among other changes. In many cases, the exhibition venue’s interiors are designed to have these items attached, with flexible internal layouts to accommodate any number of displays. Rippon Lea, however, does not have this flexibility, as major interior alterations are heavily restricted or entirely forbidden. Because of this, the NTAV needed to source alternative solutions that would let it create a compelling, opulent exhibition without changing the interiors of Rippon Lea.

To get around the restrictions at Rippon Lea, the NTAV designed the exhibition using projectors to beam images onto different surfaces, namely walls and mannequins. This way, there would be a full complement of material on display, with little disruption to existing internal walls and fixtures. The projectors for the exhibition needed to:

  • Be small enough to be recessed into corners
  • Be quiet enough to be unnoticed
  • Be cool enough to not overheat in small spaces
  • Be easily mountable and light enough to not require drilling into walls
  • Be bright enough to be seen in daylight
  • Project an image detailed enough to faithfully reproduce images from the television program
  • Be able to be used as a touring exhibition after Rippon Lea, hosted in historic properties across Australia

The Solution

The NTAV recognised it needed a fleet of portable and easily-mounted projectors. Having previously used Optoma handheld projectors for tours at another historic building, the NTAV chose to invest in several new, compact Optoma projectors through local distributor, Amber Technology.

Amber Technology helped the NTAV determine which products would best suit the exhibition’s needs, and how many would be needed. The NTAV chose a combination of the ultra compact ML750 and Full HD EH500 projectors from Optoma. With extensive technical support from Amber Technology, the NTAV was able to design an exhibition that would make the most of the imagery despite the building’s structural limitations.

The projectors were strategically located in unobtrusive locations throughout the exhibition space. High definition short-throw projections beamed faces of characters from the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries television program onto the faces of mannequins dressed in period costumes.

One of the displays - dubbed the ‘Jack Robinson Murder Mystery Machine’ - had the compact ML750 projector displaying the moving face of character Detective Inspector Jack Robinson onto a mannequin. Coupled with an audio track, visitors were met with quasi-live and speaking Inspector Robinson, and encouraged to participate in an interactive game at the exhibition.

Weighing just 380g, the ML750 ultra mobile HD Ready little projector with 700 LED brightness and WXGA resolution, incorporates a media player, native office viewer, built-in speaker and HDMI connectivity.

Larger EH500 projectors were used to build ambience from the television show, beaming imagery of the programme’s background sets, furnishings, and designs onto the walls and lightweight, moveable screens. This allowed the NTAV to transform Rippon Lea’s interiors without disturbing the building’s existing fixtures.

The EH500 high resolution 4,700-lmen Full HD 1080p projector produces bright, high quality imagery and has extensive connectivity including HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort. It has an Eco mode for energy saving which includes standby mode and auto power off – perfect for exhibitions like this.

The Results

Exhibition visitors, comprised primarily of fans of the television show, were delighted by the displays and the interactive ‘Jack Robinson Murder Mystery Machine’.

The NTAV saw over 60,000 visitors through its doors within the first three months of the exhibition - an exceptional start given the size of the exhibition - with more than 30 per cent of visitors participating in the exhibition game. This presented a positive increase from the average take-up rate of less than 10 per cent.

Martin Green, Learning and Interpretations Manager at the NTAV said, “Amber Technology provided the NTAV with extensive end-to-end support, from the initial project briefing through to post-sales. Amber Technology discussed existing and potential needs to ensure the solution we chose would be adaptable for future projects at the NTAV.

“The heritage-listed Rippon Lea mansion presented a series of logistical challenges, which meant we had to think of a flexible way of creating an engaging and visually exciting space without modifying the building’s existing fixtures.

“Amber Technology recommended a solution based on Optoma projectors, which met our requirements perfectly. These products are versatile and perform exceptionally well, projecting superior quality images in bright and dimly lit environments. Easy to use and move between different areas of the venue, these Optoma projectors are versatile for use in virtually any application,” continued Green.

The Optoma projectors will remain an integral part of the exhibition for its entire life-span. The exhibition left Rippon Lea to tour Australia and has since been installed at Ayers House Museum, Adelaide and the Old Government House, Sydney. It can still be seen at the Old Government House, Brisbane until September 2016.

Pictures

Melbourne Exhibition Image copyright © National Trust of Victoria.

The Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition was produced by Every Cloud Productions in partnership with the NTAV.

Costumes, image and footage used in the exhibition courtesy of Every Cloud Productions and Marion Boyce.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation presents, in association with Film Victoria and Fulcrum Media Finance, an Every Cloud Production, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

Equipment List

3 x Optoma EH500, 5 x Optoma ML750
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