With over 25 years of experience as a technical engineer, Pascal Leroy knows live events

Pascal Leroy is a technical engineer for live events. Based in France, he’s worked on events from projection mapping festivals to weddings and has been involved in some major transformations in the industry. To understand more about the role of technical engineer, we spoke with Pascal about his 25-year career, changes in the industry, and some of the successes and challenges of working in live events. 

Meet Pascal 

Pascal didn’t get his start in large-scale events and projection mapping. He started on the other side of AV: audio. He worked in radio broadcasting studios and, from there, moved to a rental company that provided both audio and video technology. “I had the chance to work in many different positions in the video world, and little by little, I became passionate about video projection,” he explains. 

“I was in the right place at the right time,” says Pascal of his start in AV. “And 25 years ago, I was part of the evolution of video production.” Pascal worked with artists who were experimenting in projection mapping, including one of the first projection mapping projects in France, called 3minutes2, which was shown during the 2003 edition of Nuit Blanche in Paris.  

When asked what attracted him to projection mapping specifically, “It was logical that I would be interested in video mapping! What I like is the artistic side of video projection,” he says. “But from a technical point of view, projection is very interesting because there are optics, video mechanics, and geometry. And all of this with narrative sensitivity.” 

Global experience 

Pascal has worked on hundreds of live events of all shapes and sizes around the world. One of the most memorable? “I did immersive video mapping for a wedding ceremony in Qatar,” he says, then adds, “About 10 years ago, I did a project in Dubai on the first floor of the Burj Khalifa building. It was very big, and one of the biggest video mapping projects in the world at the time. It was beautiful, with landscapes [projected] on the walls.”  

New adventures 

When asked what the greatest challenges are in projection mapping and live events, Pascal’s response is the epitome of someone who is passionate about their job: “It’s always a new and interesting adventure.” 

“For me, the job is done well when the image created by several video projectors is perfect – without any visible connections or blend areas and homogenous colors.” 

However, when pushed for the challenges of his role, Pascal is pragmatic. “One of the difficulties is the placement of machines. Outdoors, or in towns, we sometimes have to place the projectors in adjacent buildings and shoot through windows.” With some installations requiring 10 or more projectors, finding a place to mount them is a challenge. However, what makes Pascal’s job easier is the reliability of the projectors. 

“To work calmly, I need to trust the projector. I have to understand how the machine works and how it behaves. The projector is my tool, and if I know it well, I will use it well.” 

Preferred technology 

Pascal prefers DLP projectors. And when he saw RGB pure laser projection? “I can tell you when I discovered the pure laser RGB technology from Christie, it had been a long time since I’d been so impressed. The colors are so powerful, deep, and beautiful. And you know, when you watch something like that, you can't go back.” 

Technology has changed significantly since Pascal started in the AV industry 25 years ago. From LCD to DLP, Pascal estimates the power and brightness of projection has grown by four or five times. “When I studied video production, it was an engineer’s job. It was risky and complicated. Today it’s easy by comparison!” 

Measuring success 

Reflecting on the hundreds of events that he’s worked on, Pascal says, “I think the technical part [of an event] is a success when people can’t see the technique – they have no idea how it’s done.” He equates this to cooking – sometimes you don’t know how a dish is made, only that it tastes delicious. The same is true of events. Audiences see the final result, not the meticulous behind-the-scenes technical work.  

The last word 

When asked if he had anything more to add, Pascal did not miss a beat. “Can you tell Santa that my wish list includes a Griffyn 4K50-RGB for my home?”