The Team
AV Integrator: McCann Systems
The request seemed simple enough: High-end retailer Versace wanted to rent a couple of flat-screen video displays for its store windows on New York’s Fifth Avenue during Fashion Week 2010. Rather than rent run-of-the-mill plasma or LCD displays, AV integrator and Spotlight Award winner McCann Systems suggested a custom display built with modular Christie Digital Systems MicroTiles. Because of the way they’re built, MicroTiles can be arranged to create various shapes and sizes—such as tall, vertical videowalls that make runway models come to life in a Versace store window.
When McCann Systems suggested MicroTiles, the technology was brand new, so the integrator built a mock-up in its nearby facility to show Versace what it was thinking. The mock-up was three tiles wide by 10 tiles high, or roughly 4-by-10 feet, and ran Versace’s own video content mapped to the wall’s vertical aspect ratio. When it came time to install the actual videowalls in the Versace windows, McCann Systems had to build a custom mounting solution, including wing braces that stuck out from the sides of the walls and were hidden behind custom façades. Each wall also hid a computer that fed content to the walls’ controllers. The controllers mapped each wall’s 30 tiles and determined the best resolution for running the Versace video, making brightness, contrast, and color adjustments on the fly.
What about when Fashion Week ended? No problem. Because of the nature of the MicroTiles, McCann Systems was able to disassemble the walls and use the modules for other projects.
