UAE: 50th National Day

Nested between the majestic Al Hajar mountains lies the Hatta Dam reservoir, the setting for the United Arab Emirates’ 50th National Day celebrations. This otherworldly site combining a spectacular mountain range and a cobalt green water basin would serve as an outdoor theater able to showcase the greatest edition of this yearly event. Once again teaming with Creative Technology, VYV supplied its technical expertise to support a unique event that was live streamed on national television on the second of December 2022. Acting as the event’s projection technical designer, VYV UK’s Anthony Bezencon oversaw the deployment of a complex system that would use 32 projectors and 22 tracking cameras to cover and calibrate a surface of about 2500 square meters.

In order to propel the vision of Es Devlin, the Artistic Director and Designer of UAE 50th National Day, the production team had to face unparalleled technical challenges: a multitude of remote controlled water jets distributed in the basin as well as a massive rotating structure deployed on its surface and would act as the event’s projection screens — the faintest movement on the surface of the water could completely offset the video projections. Fortunately, VYV’s ALBION system supports real time projector calibration. Have a look at the behind the scene video to see our team install optical markers and calibrate video projections on a gigantic installation set in a breathtaking locale.