techtrail VIP/Lorimage, who were among several prominent Benelux companies touring daylight screens (including JVR), maintained a close connection with Philips Vidiwall, and this led to an introduction to U2, whose records at that time were distributed by Polygram, a Philips subsidiary. Seeking a new screen for the European leg of their Zoo TV tour, U2 were put in contact with VIP who proposed a new product under development called Digiwall - a rear projection cube developed by VIP in cooperation with Barco - with a customised version of the new Barco 700 as the projection engine. It was Opsomer’s responsibility to make this cube sufficiently ‘tourable’ to impress Zoo TV’s lighting and show designer, Willie Williams. When this huge wall made its debut, the fact that the 36 screens appeared with aircraft warning lights on top of the stacks spoke volumes about the scale. Around the same time, Marcel DeKeyzer arrived at VIP and set up the Lorimage US operation. But in 1995 Opsomer left to and set up his own business, as did DeKeyser - the former inaugurating System Technologies while the latter would become founding director of XL Video, moving out to the US to head up their North American operation. And as U2 started to plan the PopMart tour in 1996, which would take the world by storm throughout 1997, the band’s production were soon back in contact with Frederic Opsomer. This time the Williams/Fisher design included a massive backdrop videoscreen - measuring 706sq.m - but the proviso was that the system needed to be lightweight, transportable and bright.
They hoped the new LED technology would enable them to meet these criteria and considered several options, including a video ‘blanket’, with the LEDs on cargo netting - this was even prototyped at Brilliant Stages with Opsomer transferring it to aluminium. With LED in its embryonic state, the Belgian scoured the world, visiting LED-based companies in Taiwan, Japan, USA, UK and finally Canada. The one company that stood out was Saco. Saco was run by brothers, Fred and Bassam Jalbout, who supplied much of the LED inventory for Nocturne (now PRG Nocturne), including V Bright and V Light, and built the V9 LED display for Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope tour. On PopMart they were tasked with developing the electronic components for Opsomer to integrate in such a way that the 706sq.m of moving landscape could be set up in a couple of hours, require only two trucks to transport, and be handled by just four crew members. This was almost certainly the first videowall to be designed and built entirely by touring personnel - Fisher and Opsomer. But it needed the influence of another legend . . . “U2 decided to send an expert on rigging and touring project management, which was when Richard [Hartman] walked through the door,” remembers Opsomer. “He taught me everything I needed to know about concert touring and we have worked together on many more large scale projects such as PopMart, 360°, Athens Olympics and Sochi ceremonies. I have always seen him as my mentor in concert touring.” In a time span of just six months, development, prototyping, manufacturing, assembly and transport from Europe to Las Vegas of PopMart were accomplished. Reflecting today, he says: “Everything about PopMart was new: the technology, the size of the thing, the packing, the installation method, the companies involved . . . the greatest accomplishment was bringing all these unknowns together and turning out a working video screen in six months.”
The PopMart screen marked the birth of a new generation. While the concept was initiated by Williams and Fisher, it needed real faith to get the first one on the road, as the technology was far from mature. “There is only one band in the world who would engage in such a venture,” mused Opsomer, “and despite scepticism about LED technology, show designers saw a huge amount of new creative possibilities. It changed video in entertainment overnight.” Entirely as a consequence of PopMart, the demand for LED went into orbit. After Popmart, Opsomer’s System Technologies continued to focus on making LED screens transportable, developing systems and mechanical carriers in cooperation with Saco, Lighthouse, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba and Hibino. He believes that had he also been given a say in the design of the electronics, life on the road could have been much easier still. But in 2005 he sold his company to Barco (where it was renamed Innovative Designs), since when he has remained central to many Barco product developments and tour designs. So what grand scale events remain most graphically and emotionally etched in Opsomer’s memory? The Closing Ceremony of the 2015 European Games in Baku is far up the list. “There we had 500 small video screens, all with the content on board which we steered from a central location,” he explains. “We were thus able to have a 100% freeform video display.” This saw the old creative team reunited, Opsomer developing the hexagons while CT built an LED floor system, creating three custom shaped stages around which the hexagons weaved their visual magic. Another feat of engineering and transportation that should be referenced is U2’s following 360° tour. In terms of both logistics and creative endeavour, the challenges involved in building, trucking and installing the ‘claw’ and 360° transformable LED wall with Barco FLX were even greater, as Opsomer explained. LSi - July 2016
www.lsionline.co.uk
Benelux company Philips launched their back-projected Vidiwall cubes VIP invested and offered Opsomer the position of operational and technical manager, his career in large format displays had begun.
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