The Hoover Dam, one of the top 10 engineering marvels of the world that sits high above the Colorado River on the border of Arizona and Nevada, was the chosen location for Freightliner to launch their new ground breaking autonomous truck, the Freightliner Infinite Inspiration. Presented in front of a live audience perched high above on the Dam’s observation deck, the event was also streamed to millions around the globe.

OSK Communications out of New York created “the big idea” and brought in NY production management specialists SIAM Productions to produce the overall event. SIAM had the experience and the knowledge of what it would take to pull off this large and complex undertaking. SIAM however would need a partner who had the creativity to bring the vision to life and who also possessed a proven track record in seamlessly supporting large-scale events and Creative Technology (CT) was consequently contracted to help deliver the spectacular reveal.

After the initial brief CT assembled a top-flight team to design the technical specs and layout the execution strategy. The challenges were enormous; the 420,000 square feet surface had a number of different angles of curves to it and was an incredible 2,500 feet away from the projection tower. 60 projectors at 26,000 lumens each were synchronized to create a single seamless image with a resolution of 4592 x 2048 pixels on the dam half a mile away. A complex projector setup, the output of the projectors generated an incredible 1.17 million lumens; equivalent to the output of more than 1,400 60-watt household light bulbs and breaking an official Guinness World record among projections! 

Used as the US’s largest ever projection screen, the project required months of planning, preparation and set up but CT’s experience at video projection mapping and the use of specialized software to warp a projected image onto irregularly shaped screens rendered the curved wall of the Dam a perfect surface for this type of technology. 

What resulted was pure desert magic. To complement the stunning visuals, immersive sound enveloped the audience while lighting and still imagery painted and danced upon the Black Canyon walls completing the stunning experience.