An audience of more than a 1,300 witnessed an extraordinary advanced digital cinema screening. RailCity - the main train station in Zurich was again chosen as location for the Credit Suisse event “KINO IM HB” (“Cinema in the main station”) and headlining a week of entertainment was the third part of the George Lucas saga: “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith”.

The event was extraordinary because it utilized two of Christie’s CP2000-X digital cinema projectors, with their innovative ‘split-head design’ to project onto an enormous 450sq meter screen especially installed for the occasion. Two projectors were required, since the screen’s dimensions were greater than a traditional theatre screen, making it necessary to overlay the image of one projector directly over the other – doubling the projected brightness of the onscreen image.

The real challenge, however, was to fit the projected images on top of each other with exact precision and ensure no part of one image incorrectly overlapped another causing a “ghosting” effect. 

The week-long event which ran from 17th – 29th May 2005 in Zurich, required the remodeling of part of the station and in addition to the theatre with its grand-stand seating for a 1300-strong audience, included two VIP lounges, bar and a technical stage for the management of the movie and other alternative content screened during the festivities. 

The atmosphere was already fully charged prior to the screening with fans arriving dressed as characters from the movie – many wielding their ‘Light-sabers’ or modeling ‘Darth Vader’ masks. The movie itself was preceded by a laser show, music from the movie and brief clips from the latest installment.

The Swiss Christie partners EXCOM and ESAG were, among others, responsible for the realizing the temporary installation. While EXCOM AG took care of the coordination and organization of the event, ESAG focused on technical implementation.

The two projectors were operated via the HDSDI-interface. The movie and commercials were both played via a masterplay server. The special masterplay software controlling the projectors (shutters and formats included) and also the time coded control of the laser show; making it possible to adjust the timing of the laser intro to the music and on-screen imagery.