Saudi princes witness live technology magic from Projection Advertising

Projection Advertising, the UK’s leading projection specialist, has staged the largest indoor 
video-mapping event in Saudi Arabia. Staged to promote the new Saudi city of Murooj Jeddah (translated as Jeddah Meadows), the 35m wide by 7m tall 360-degree spectacular utilised three separate components, multiple projectors, 50 lighting fixtures, elaborate surround sound and an innovative, ‘magic’ live element to create a unique 3D projection mapping experience on an 8,000 pixel canvas. 

Staged at the Leylaty ballroom – the biggest such venue in Saudi Arabia – as part of 
a one-night gala to promote Murooj Jeddah (developed and built by infrastructure/construction company Sumou Real Estate in a 70/30 split with the Saudi government), the 5-minute indoor mapping spectacular took place in front of a huge audience which included two Saudi Royal princes. The entire build and de-rig took place in less than 24 hours. Integrating Projection Advertising’s bespoke mapping software, with complex media server-controlled sound and lighting on a moving, three-component stage setting, the event also boasted an innovative ‘magic’ live sequence, which blended seamlessly with the overall production to create a unique video-mapping narrative, translated from the Arabic as ‘Jeddah Meadows: The Reality of a Dream’. 

“This was one of the most challenging mapping productions we’ve delivered,” explains Tom Burch, Projection Advertising managing director. “From the elaborate storyboards right through to the integrated projection and live elements, we delivered an event worthy of the new city of Murooj Jeddah – and one of the most complex and entertaining 3D-mapping shows staged anywhere in 
the world. It was an absolute pleasure to have been given the opportunity to deliver this event to Sumou and the Saudi government.”

“Projection Advertising promised a completely unique 3D-mapping experience, and they delivered on all levels,” says Khalid Telmesani, Sumou CEO and managing director. “Murooj Jeddah is going to be one of the most spectacular developments in the world, and it was important to us that the one-night gala event to promote it lived up to expectations. Projection Advertising were able to 
take our initial ideas and develop them into something we’d only dreamed was possible – before delivering them in spectacular fashion in front of an audience which included two of the most influential Royal princes. We are delighted to have been involved with this project in particular.”

The video-mapping narrative begins with film of a Saudi boy walking through the desert. He falls asleep and dreams his incredible journey growing up in the city of Murooj Jeddah. The finale features the seamless integration of the real-life actor emerging, as if by magic, from behind a projection cut-out, before shaking hands with the Saudi princes – HRH Prince Khalid Al Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, prince of Makkah Province, and HRH Prince Mansour bin Meteb bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, minister of municipal and rural affairs.