SET UP A VIDEO MAPPING PROJECT
Many local authorities, public institutions or private companies wish to develop video mapping without knowing the requirements or the stakes.
The following elements provide the basics to understand this form of audiovisual creation.
A video mapping project involves two different types of professions: creation and projection techniques.
Some professionals do both, and the majority of them are able to subcontract to manage everything.
You therefore have the choice between looking for two partners: creative and technical, or one for the totality.
However, it is more relevant to be able to exchange directly with both the technical and artistic interlocutors.
The creation
The first thing to know is that in video mapping, a creation is necessarily original in that it is designed for the volumes of the medium, which are most likely unique. A mapping is created for a specific medium and therefore cannot be broadcast on a new medium, unlike a film.
The creation being original, we can create a tailor-made object that responds to the specificities of the volume, the territory and the themes you wish to address.
A wide range of artistic approaches is possible: from narrative/figurative to abstract. In order to choose the artist you wish to work with, it is advisable to ask yourself about your expectations, and to see if the artist's previous creations correspond to the type of writing, graphic design, and realization that you wish to see implemented.
The most commonly used technique is the animated image (2D, 3D), the use of real images is more difficult to work with in video mapping, due to the need to have a graphic construction of the images that is adapted to the volumes of the support.
Projecting a real image as is, is therefore quickly unreadable.
A mapping creation being original, everything is to be developed. In animation, making images is long, which explains why a video mapping creation budget can quickly be significant. We are talking about several thousand euros per minute for a fully animated project. The price often reflects the quality: experience and work time.
The technique
The configurations, and therefore the processes, constraints and budgets can largely vary depending on the medium chosen: immersive mapping, object mapping, monumental mapping, indoor or public space mapping, etc.
Mapping can be one-off or permanent, requiring a different installation and equipment rental or purchase options.
In all configurations, we will find one or more video projectors, with different power and focal length constraints.
The placement of these machines can be done in different ways: totems, indoor platforms, boxes, or outdoor towers.
The video projectors are controlled by a computer or a server, on which the mapping software is installed, which distorts the image so that it fits the volumes. The more video projectors there are, depending on the size of the image or the type of video mapping (immersive being the most machine-intensive), the bigger the server.
In the case of interactive mapping, different interfaces can be associated with this server.
Video mapping generally has sound/music, and will therefore require a classic sound system, but adapted to the configuration. Indeed, a sound system for a 360° mapping in a church, for a micro mapping on a bas-relief in a museum, or for a monument on a public square, will be very different.
This setup will be electrically powered and this power supply is often the responsibility of the client. In the case of monumental mapping, to power large video projectors, the power can rise to 32A, 63A or even 125A for very large configurations.
The control of the environment is essential and will often be the responsibility of the client.
In particular, it is necessary to guarantee the darkest possible environment to obtain the best image quality (cutting off public lighting, cutting off private light signage), and to ensure the safety of the public, and maybe even to cut off the roadway.
As far as the schedule is concerned, depending on the system, the installation may take one or more days and some of the work of the technicians will be carried out at night in order to set up the video projectors.
Finally, as for the budget, it is important to note that the costs can vary depending on the size of the installation ; as they cover personnel, transport and equipment. For the smallest indoor configurations, on an object, we can already estimate a budget of a few thousand euros. When the mapping takes place outdoors or on a monument, the figures rise to tens of thousands of euros. On very large buildings and/or multi-day broadcasts, budgets can rise to several hundred thousand euros.
As each video mapping is a unique technical configuration and an original creation, this type of project requires exchanges with potential partners to refine the possibilities and the budgets.
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