UEFA EURO 2012

MARCO BALICH WILL BE THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES

The Filmmaster Events President, after the recent victory of the Rio 2016™ Olympic Ceremonies,

is one of  the most prominent figures  around the world in Show and Ceremony productions.

Milan, March 29, 2012 - After an international competition, UEFA awarded the task of creating and producing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012 to Filmmaster Events/Filmmaster Group, one of the international leaders in the production of great events and spectacular ceremonies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Filmmaster Events is guided by Marco Balich, the creator of the ceremonies for the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in Turin in 2006 and winner, together with the Brazilian society SRCOM, of the executive production of the Olympic ceremonies of Rio 2016™.  The first production for the Rio 2016™ will be the Flag Handover from the London 2012 Olympic  Games. 

The opening ceremony will take place on 8 June at the National Stadium in Warsaw in Poland before the kick-off of the opening match between Poland and Greece. The closing ceremony will take place in Kyiv on 1 July at the Olympic Stadium. More than 800 volunteers will be involved in the opening and closing ceremonies at UEFA EURO 2012.

Recruiting of volunteer performers for the UEFA EURO 2012 ceremonies has already started and the open positions include dancers, gymnasts, actors, acrobats. People who want to be part of the team must have energy for an event that will be watched by people all around the world.

Marco Balich is the creative director and executive producer of great events and ceremonies, one of the most prominent figures in the global live entertainment scenario. He designed many international events such as the Flag Handover in Salt Lake City, the Turin 2006 Olympic Ceremonies, the Carnival of Venice, Mexico City’s 2010 Bicentennial Ceremonies, the New Delhi Commonwealth Games’ Opening Ceremony, the 75^th Anniversary of Shakhtar Donetsk FC in Ukraine, and the inauguration of the Juventus FC Stadium in Turin.

To take part in the organizing team as a volunteer performer please visit: www.castinguefa.com and www.castinguefa.com/blog. 

Tower Bridge Launches New Animated Attraction

Exciting New Show that brings the Story of Tower Bridge to Life

     As Modern Technology meets Victorian Innovation - Open 01 May 2012

Tower Bridge proudly invites visitors to an audience with Her Majesty Queen Victoria, along with her faithful subjects Sir John Wolfe-Barry, the Victorian civil engineer who designed Tower Bridge, and its architect Sir Horace Jones, to experience the story of the bridge in an exciting new show that opens at the world-famous London landmark this spring.

Using the latest techniques in visual effects, this immersive experience features top stars from stage and screen, including Cally Lawrence (Coronation Street, Law & Order UK) as Queen Victoria,Sebastian Abineri (The Bill, Kingdom) as Horace Jones and Robert Benfield (Sherlock, Emmerdale) as Sir John Wolfe-Barry, to tell the fascinating story of Tower Bridge in an entertaining and light-hearted way that will appeal to all ages.

The Experience:

• On arrival at the North Tower of Tower Bridge, visitors are guided to engineer
  Sir John Wolfe-Barry’s Victorian ‘ virtual’ study - a realistic three-walled set created by 3D mapping (with a  floor-to-ceiling height of approx  4.5 metres
  and a back wall width of around 4 metres).
•  The audience enter the newly themed area and the four-minute show commences, using a projected figure of Sir John Wolfe-Barry in conversation with Her Majesty Queen Victoria and architect Sir Horace Jones, who are both depicted as talking portraits (animated plasma TVs).
• This exciting new initiative uses the latest developments in 3D mapping –
  a technique that projects images onto a 2D plane which has a textured surface creating the illusion of depth in a dynamic way. In this instance, we are projecting a textured visual effect of Sir John Wolfe-Barry’s study, as well as incorporating ‘Magic Lantern’ illustration and animation.
• No additional cost for the visitor.

This imaginative show was devised and created by Eddie Saul, Creative Projects Manager at Tower Bridge, and developed by innovative film and media company, ay-pe http://www.ay-pe.com/, whose previous work includes an animated pop-up book for Windsor Guildhall, the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh and an epic CGI film of Housesteads Roman Fort for English Heritage.

Ay-pe’s Creative Director, Richard Playford, comments: “This is a great opportunity to create a unique piece of immersive media theatre to help interpret and complement this truly iconic structure.”

Tower Bridge’s Creative Projects Manager Eddie Saul adds: “Sir John Wolfe-Barry will be able to pull books from shelves, open them up and have animations pop from the book to cover the whole expanse of the wall. He can even click his fingers to transform the space into the Tower Bridge Engine Room. The possibilities are endless!”

Tower Bridge

• Tower Bridge was the creation of architect Sir Horace Jones and civil engineer Sir John Wolfe-Barry. It took eight years to complete and was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra).
• Tower Bridge Exhibition is open every day from 10.00am to 6.30pm (April-Sept) and 9.30am to 6.00pm (Oct-March) with last admission half an hour before closing. Admission prices for Tower Bridge are adults £8, children aged 5-15 £3.40, under 5s free and concessions £5.60. The nearest underground stations are London Bridge or Tower Hill.

www.towerbridge.org.uk

Backstage Academy supports jobs and growth in the entertainment industry

Interested in a career in the entertainment industry? Backstage Academy launches a diverse range of short courses tailored around essential skills for the live events production industry

(March 29th 2012, South Kirkby, Yorkshire, UK) – Backstage Academy, a new industry-led training centre designed to deliver high quality, relevant and practical training in different backstage skills, has launched a range of short courses for Spring 2012.

Based at the famous LS-Live rehearsal studios in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the Academy benefits from its unique links to some of the world’s leading productions and production personnel, tailoring courses to suit the evolving demands of the sector. Courses take place in its state-of-the-art training centre and Apple Authorised Training Suite, adjacent to the studio where the likes of Kylie, Dizzee Rascal, P!nk, Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and Tinie Tempah have all rehearsed.

Backstage Academy is perfectly positioned to handpick the best tutors in the business with a wealth of real life experience spanning the fields of concert production, TV, theatre, film and corporate hospitality.

The courses cover a range of backstage skills, from rigging and stage pyrotechnics, to the SPA Event Safety Passport (which everyone on site at the Olympics must have this year) and Apple based technologies like Pro Tools and Final Cut for audio and video editing.

Robin Watkinson, COO, Backstage Academy commented: “Britain is going to host many exciting events this summer what with the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics celebrations coming up and we’ve tailored a programme of courses that can help event organisers and crew ensure they have the skills to make their live event creative, dynamic and above all safe.”

The value of the events sector to the UK economy is expected to rise from £36.1 billion in 2011 to £48.4 billion in 2020* and the economic benefit of Meetings and Events from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is forecast to be £1.8 billion, reinforcing Britain as a world leader in the production of major events*. The Academy has designed its range of courses to support skills development and ensure the many people putting on events this year and into the future are fully qualified to do so.

Tony Powell, a student on the Stage Pyrotechnics course said: “It was a very useful course, we learnt a lot about different pyrotechnics, their uses and a lot of common sense things that you need to be reminded of. At the end of the day the group had to wire up some pyrotechnics in the big studio to be set off in a certain order. Everyone joined in to do the final show which was quite impressive!”

*  Britain for Events’ ‘Opportunities for Growth in the UK Events Industry’ report

*  Business Visits & Events Partnership’s ‘Meetings and Event Manifesto for Britain’

Short courses commence from mid April and run through until the end of May. In certain circumstances for group bookings, some of the short courses can be delivered off site. For more information, click here.