Sumida Aquarium has adopted FP-Z5000 for the visual performance of the Big Schale basin type of aquarium, which represents the arrival of spring throughout the entire space.
Sumida Aquarium presented The Moon and Jellyfish as a spatial performance where the moon-like jellyfish produced a story in the Big Schale basin type of aquarium while synchronizing with the moon and stars shining in the night sky. The second performance is a presentation of Dandelions and Jellyfish from March 21, 2021, to May 30 as a limited-time event. In this performance, dandelions, a symbol of the arrival of spring, are projected onto the surrounding walls and floor of the Big Schale to create an atmosphere in the space.
Spring scenes of dandelions in a field exposed to warm sunlight are projected onto the front and back walls of the aquarium in a beautiful sequence of images. The images create the dandelion’s life story from growing in full bloom and producing fluff to fluff falling on the ground to take root while expressing the fluff in relation to jellyfish babies, ephyra, and expressing dandelion flowers in relation to jellyfish. The ultra-short throw projector FP-Z5000 was used for the projection onto the walls.
The visual performance for Big Schale, where you can enjoy the projected videos and watch jellyfish!
We had an interview with Mr. Osada from Symdirect Inc., who oversaw the Big Schale project from planning to projector installation.
“Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, where we could hardly go anywhere and even enjoy watching cherry blossoms, we wanted to express the arrival of spring and offer a bright message of hope for the future through the visual performance. The last performance had a chic atmosphere more for adults, but the performance this time has more a warm atmosphere where you can feel spring.
First and foremost, Sumida Aquarium wants visitors to see the jellyfish and wants to place importance on how we can express the view of the Big Schale world without disturbing jellyfish just like the last time. We projected images onto three spots on the ceiling and walls last time, but this time we put more effort on letting the audience viewing the jellyfish in the water tank also enjoy the images at the same time.”
In the project this time, large images were needed to allow people to freely view the jellyfish while allowing people to maintain a social distance from each other in the spacious room and, in addition, build a feeling of unity in the entire space. In response to this, what was newly added was the visual projection (Projection size: W 6,000 mm x H 2,500 mm) onto the right wall of the water tank. The projector was the FP-Z5000, an ultra-short throw projector from Fujifilm, and one of its major strong points is the folded two-axial rotatable lens that allows the device to project images to the front, back, right, left, ceiling, and floor without changing the orientation of the lens. It also provides a lens shift feature that allows the position of the projected image to be adjusted within a wide range of ±82% vertically and ±35% horizontally (in 16:9 transverse projection).
Large-screen projection with a short projection distance, and the compact and lightweight design were the deciding factors!!
When employing the equipment this time, Mr. Osada said as follows:
“The FP-Z5000 can project large images with a short projection distance. I think this is one of the strengths of this projector compared to other general ultra-short throw projectors. Also, the compact and lightweight design was one of the reasons we chose this device. Because the ceiling where a project was planned to be placed was not capable of withstanding weight, we were not able to use a large projector. Also, the condition of the installation location was very harsh; the ceiling was so low that we had to avoid people touching the equipment to be installed, and the installation spot was limited to the space between the tank and walls. Only the FP-Z5000 met the requirements.”
A small unit with a rotatable lens is a feature that only Fujifilm can offer but no other manufacturers. It is effective in an environment with a limited installation space and allows us to submit flexible proposals.