John-Dee Styles
Black Coffee, an inspiring Durban based rental company, have become even more creative since taking ownership of the Hippotizer Boreal+ Media Server.
With his imaginative mind, John-Dee Styles heads the creative team at Black Coffee, put the Hippotizer Boreal+ purchased from DWR Distribution to the test for the first time at the Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre is a new multi-purpose dome structured venue which forms part of the Suncoast Casino. The event was held to celebrate the casino’s new massive upgrade and renovation, a project that took two years to complete.
“We used our new Hippotizer Boreal+ with a backup system,” explained John-Dee. “We used 4 DVI outputs, two of which went to a double stack of 18k Barco projectors, for the main content. This was projected on a black gauze to create the clients desired effect.” The climax of the show saw a dancer performing behind the black gauze projection surface, interacting with the content on screen. The other two outputs were used for projection mapping onto giant balloons positioned on either side of the stage.
Globe Theatre
“The show went well but I have to admit it was nerve-wracking getting to know the system and using it for the first time on a major show,” John-Dee confessed. He adds that he was grateful to have Dylan Jones from DWR on site for technical support.
“Going down to help Black Coffee with their first Green Hippo show was an experience,” said Dylan Jones. “They did remarkably well, having just taken delivery of the system. John is extremely creative and I can’t wait to see what he will come up with next! Both he and Gerrie van Heerden, head of AV from Black Coffee attended training at DWR a few weeks prior to their show, and they took to the new platform effortlessly.”
The Hippotizer has since been on a variety of other productions. At the Unilever’s Customer Development Conference, held at the scenic Champagne Sports Resort in the Drakensberg, Black Coffee opted for a two-wide blend on a 17m screen. “We made use of various layers and had camera and presentation PC inputs, so it was very convenient and quick to setup,” said John-Dee. “We also had to make use of the affective masking and geometry tool.”
Dancing Divas of Indian Cinema, held at Sibaya’s iZulu Theatre at Sibaya Casino, was a challenge in regards to matching LED panels of different pixel pitch and make. The Black Coffee technical team got the aspects as close as possible, pretty quickly, and the show ran smoothly and looked great.
At the Toyota Supplier Award held at the Durban International Convention Centre, Black Coffee masked out shapes, circles and crescents, and a blended projection. The show ran with 48 video cues.
“Hippotizer Media Server is flexible and reliable for a demanding AV industry,” said John-Dee. “What I like most about the Hippotizer is the constant development and refreshing local support of the system. We are looking forward to getting more inventive and more responsive to our environment as we explore the many uses of the Hippotizer where the only boundaries will be our imagination …and budget.”
