ADJ Lighting Creates The Atmosphere For Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Opening Weekend In Calgary

When the latest installment in the beloved Ghostbusters movie franchise opened at Cineplex Cinemas Seten in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, local production company Digital Media Integrations (DMI) was invited to work with the Alberta Ghostbusters to create an immersive display for cinema goers to interact with before and after watching the movie. Anchored by a huge inflatable model of the iconic Stay-Puft Marshmallow man, the display featured a backdrop from the movie providing a photo opportunity, a stall selling merchandise, and a collection of movie props and themed accessories including an ‘Ecto-3’ Ghostbusters-themed motorbike and sidecar created by local sightseeing company, Rocky Mountain Sidecar Adventures.

The DMI team constructed a truss structure that filled the movie theater’s lobby and supported the custom-printed backdrop as well as black dividing drapes and the significant quantity of LED-powered lighting fixtures. 40 of ADJ’s compact Mega Hex Par units were used for truss warming, while potent Jolt 300 multifunctional strobe / wash / blinder fixtures were used to illuminate the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man, in constantly cycling pink, blue and cyan colors, as well as the printed backdrop in cool white.

In addition, six of ADJ’s Focus Spot 5Z automated fixtures were also hung from the truss structure. Powered by an efficient 200-Watt LED engine, this compact and versatile moving head spot unit offers a comprehensive collection of beam-shaping tools. These include motorized focus and zoom, two rotating prisms (6-facet circular and 5-facet linear), two independent color wheels (including CTO, CTB and UV), a GOBO wheel with slots for six replaceable rotating GOBOs + open, and two frost filters (heavy and light) to create soft edge wash looks. For the Ghostbusters event, two fixtures were used to spotlight the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man inflatable while the remaining four units were utilized to create sky tracker searchlight effects.

“We previously used ADJ’s Focus Spot Three Z moving head spot fixtures, which served us very well for many years,” comments Dustin. “However, at the beginning of this year we decided it was time to upgrade. The Focus Spot 5Z is a fantastic fixture that is super light and super compact but also super powerful. As with all the LED-powered fixtures we now use, I love that we don’t need to worry about replacing bulbs anymore and that we can run a sizeable rig like this all from one 50-amp circuit.”

The DMI team also made use of four Focus Spot 6Z luminaires. The Focus Spot 5Z’s bigger brother offers many of the same features but paired with a more powerful 300-Watt LED engine, making it suitable for larger venues and productions as well as when a more intense light output is required. In addition to the features offered by its smaller sibling, the Focus Spot 6Z model also features a motorized iris and a second GOBO wheel with a morph feature, which allows creative transitions between GOBO patterns. For this project, the DMI team used the Focus Spot 6Z fixtures for break apart GOBO projections that moved around slowly adding atmosphere to the foyer.

“The Focus Spot 6Z is definitely more powerful but also a significantly bigger fixture than the 5Z, which means it makes sense for us to have both in our inventory,” explains Dustin. “It is incredibly bright, super robust and exceptionally versatile with all the features we could want from a moving head spot. Basically, it is everything you would imagine from a top-of-the-line ADJ fixture.”

The final ADJ fixture used for the promotion was the Focus Flex L7. Offering lighting designers the creative flexibility of vibrant washes, punchy beams, and eye-catching pixel effects all from one compact and quick automated luminaire, it is powered by an array of seven potent 40-Watt 4-in-1 RGBL color mixing LEDs. With motorized zoom offering a huge variable beam angle of between 6 and 55-degrees, as well as independent pixel control of each LED, the fixture offers a huge amount of design potential. It was utilized for the Ghostbusters opening weekend to spotlight specific props as well as to create ambient moving color wash effects.

“The Focus Flex L7 is truly a utilitarian ‘do everything’ wash light,” states Dustin. “It can be used to create a nice tight beam, a nice wide wash and everything in-between. The lime LED chips allow for excellent color mixing as well as variable color temperature white light. I love the great color and output, but also how you can set them up in different modes. There is a full 40-channel option with individual LED control for eye candy effects as well as options that use fewer channels when that is needed.”

Deployed together, the ADJ fixtures created an impressive display that made a huge difference to the atmosphere of the opening weekend celebration, especially in the late afternoon and evening, when the sun had set. The response was extremely positive both from the organizers and the thousands of theatergoers who engaged with the promotion across the three days.

“Movie theaters are still hurting a little since COVID,” concludes Dustin, “as everyone has home theaters these days. So, it was nice to help create a real experience for the people who came out to see the movie during its opening weekend. It was very rewarding to see so many smiling faces as people arrived, saw what we were doing and interacted with the display, and – of course – it was great to play our part in raising a huge amount of money for the children’s hospitals.”

Event
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Opening Weekend Promotion

Venue
Cineplex Cinemas Seton
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Audiovisual Supplier
Digital Media Integrations 
www.dmintegrations.ca

Project Manager
Dustin Milne

Photographer
Leya Russell

Lighting Gear List
6 x ADJ Focus Spot 5Z
4 x ADJ Focus Spot 6Z
8 x ADJ Focus Flex L7
10 x ADJ Jolt 300
40 x ADJ Mega Hex Par
2 x Elation Professional COLOUR 5 Profile