Live Event Technology Solutions ›› News ›› CTME “Delivers the Wow” in Qatar!
CTME “Delivers the Wow” in Qatar!
The most-watched sporting event in the world took place from 18th Nov – 18th Dec in Qatar. Creative Technology Middle East, a leading provider of live events AVL technology, played a major role in making it an unforgettable experience. Taking place every four years, the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar saw 32 nations compete against each other for the sports top prize, energising football fans across the globe.
CTME’s innovation and expertise is on display to the millions of people watching around the world, as our team provide the live events technology behind one of the most visible backdrops of the FIFA World Cup, FOX Sports’ live open studio in Doha. CTME supported FOX Sports with full turnkey live event services, including all video, audio, lighting, LED screens and display.
The onsite build started on October 22 and ran 24/7 until FIFA went live on November 20. Technical deliverables include 400 square meters of LED, along with best-in-class lighting featuring nearly 700 active fixtures. CTME managed all the daily systems and operations, providing critical support for the FOX Sports production team.
CTME Facilitates spectacular Opening and Closing Ceremony
In addition to supporting FOX Sports with best-in-class live events technology and service, CTME is also powering some of the biggest events throughout the FIFA World Cup including the FIFA Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
CTME provided projection for the Al Bayt Opening and Closing Ceremony, a highly anticipated and extravagant show kicking off the first and last match of the tournament. The Al Bayt Stadium, which holds about 60,000 fans seated under a retractable roof, is one of seven stadiums in Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup. Creative Technology Middle East were proud to have delivered the spectacular projection mapping covering the entire field of play for the impressive opening ceremony along with flown and tracking LED screens and rolling stage LED screens.
The shows were technically complex due to multiple signals running to the various tracked and automated displays under the high-pressure environment that comes with global televised shows and our technicians rose to the occasion as always. We were operating on very tight schedules delivering the highly technical installation in a time sensitive manner.
For the opening ceremony Creative Technology’s technical design consisted of field of play projection spanning a pitch area of 3,250sqm with a canvas size of 3840 x 5340 pixels. To achieve this we deployed 18 x Panasonic PT-RZ31k laser projectors not only giving us the desired pixels, but with a brightness of 280 LUX. The heart of our design was the huge 128×128 signal router managing all our data feeds to the multiple displays around the stadium. Managing the content to the multiple LED, projection and perimeter screens which exceeded 30 million pixels, was the latest VX2 and VX4 Disguise servers.
One of the striking features of the opening ceremony were the flown and tracked LED screens that were positioned above the pitch and performance space. We used ROE Vanish 8T and GLUX 10 mounted in custom-made scenic frames. The signal that fed into the screens was a broadcast wireless system using 7G bandwidth.
Another key feature of the night was the rolling stage on the pitch. This was custom built for the live performers for the ceremony. CTME installed ROE Vanish 8T LED screens fed through a Riedel MediorNet system.
The climax of the tournament was the World Cup final match on Dec. 18, with an edge of the seat match seeing Argentina lifting the trophy. Directly following the game, CTME delivered the Closing Ceremony which coincided with Qatari National Day and was held at Lusail Stadium, the largest stadium in Qatar. CTME delivered a massive high-end projection package across the field of play and a bespoke LED stage system for the highly anticipated closing ceremony of the competition.
Team Creates Stunning Venues for Fans, Visitors and Major Sponsors
One of the main showcase events was the daily shows at the Corniche, located along the waterfront promenade at the Doha Corniche. The showcase ran daily throughout the tournament, featuring a spectacular tridimensional multimedia water show that comes to life where you can witness a tale of two young athletes’ friendship united by their love for football, celebrating the FIFA World Cup. For this, CTME is provided projection for the water show which took place four times a day at the bay of the Corniche.
CTME provided video projection across two huge water screens measuring at 35m x 15m as we all the centre circle ‘Icon’ smoke screen which was one of the main attractions.
A month of pre-production and programming took place before the project was executed and our engineering team had everything planned to ensure a seamless execution.
Croft Clinton Project Manager expressed, “This project was incredibly innovative and unique yet challenging as the projection took place out on the Persian Gulf Sea. Our solutions consisted of four 50k Panasonic projectors which where double stacked on each side. And a further two 31k projectors were used to project on to the centre ‘Icon’”.
In another important and highly prestigious project CTME did a full venue takeover at the elegant Mondrian Hotel, Doha for the FIFA World Cup, delivering the latest AVL technology for VISA, the biggest leading digital payment supplier and official sponsor of the tournament. The technology solutions spread across the entire venue supplying customised LED screens, Audio, Video, and Lighting for the entire month.
The luxurious venue was used as a relaxing hospitality experience for VISA guests and clients to enjoy the football and the best of Qatari culture.
One week before the FIFA World Cup took place, Fox NFL Sunday delivered a live broadcast of the Veterans Day celebration held at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. CTME delivered a bespoke lighting and audio package along with rigging, video and LED screens across the air base for the tribute show to honour men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces. It was an absolute privilege to deliver and celebrate such a commemorative show, which offered tribute to the men and women who embody sacrifice and bravery.
As the buzz continued in Qatar during the FIFA World Cup, CTME delivered on some very high fashioned projects including Fashion Trust Arabia, Desert Rose, and Forever Valentino.
International talent came together to celebrate the exclusive ‘Fashion Trust Arabia Awards’ at the architecturally stunning National Museum of Qatar.
Creative Technology was honoured to deliver a vast range of LED screens around the venue, a bespoke camera package powered by disguise one screencontrol and the latest line array and XSL loudspeaker system from d&b audiotechnik.
The prestigious awards were held in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Honorary Chair of Fashion Trust Arabia, as well as Founder Tania Fares who welcomed guests alongside Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums and Co-Chair of FTA.
Cosmopolitan fashion brand Valentino brought their history of Haute Couture to the Middle East for the very first time!
Maison Valentino pays homage to its founder Valentino Garavani with its largest ever exhibition “Forever Valentino” displaying timeless high-end fashion designs beautifully projection mapped on mannequins by La Rosa in an immersive scenography. The exhibition weaves a richly textured image of the city of Rome leading viewers on a colourful journey through Valentino’s past and present since 1959.
Creative Technology’s Systems Integrations team were commissioned by our client Kennedy to produce a bespoke design for a soundscape across the entire exhibition experience using the latest audio technology and a high-end video installation for the projection mapping along with multiple hi-res LED displays.
This is a must- see state of the art exhibition and is open to the public till 1st April 2023 at M7, Msheireb Doha.
CT Building a Strong Legacy in the Middle East
Creative Technology Middle East has been supporting clients in Qatar since 2006 and opened the CTME office in 2011. The team has been working toward the 2022 FIFA World Cup for three years and the planning work never paused during the pandemic. CTME currently has a staff of 120 in the Middle East, representing 27 nationalities. More than 200 personnel and freelance technical talent were involved in the World Cup, including teams from the UAE office. Additionally, Creative Technology’s local resources have opened doors for the rest of NEP’s Global Production Ecosystem in Qatar. NEP Broadcast Services is currently utilising a warehouse next door to CTME’s facility, positioning the broadcast business to serve key World Cup clients from where they delivered stadium broadcast production facilities
“It’s been a massive support having people on the ground,” said Andy Reardon, CTME Managing Director. “It’s a great collaboration, and there’s a big synergy between countries and NEP group businesses to make sure it’s a success. We are so proud of our teams across the business who delivered on so many incredible projects.”
There is also a great collaboration among the CT Middle East leadership. Irum Ashraf, who joined the business as General Manager in 2012, has played a leading and vital role in coordinating all the teams and projects.
“It’s really lovely to be able to support everyone, and to see how all these incredible project came together has been breath-taking. Our teams across CTME worked incredibly hard over Q4 and beyond to deliver on some of the worlds largest projects. Some of these projects were in the pipeline pre-pandemic and have all been executed seamlessly. We have worked with some fantastic clients and we are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication of all our staff at CTME.” said Ashraf.