Dario Spinelli is an Italian born experiential creative director. He is the founder of Milan-based creative studio Bonsai Ninja. In order to continue to innovate, Dario broke out on his own, and has entered the world of immersive installations. His works are interactive and captivating and he has worked for brands such as Timberland, Ray Ban, Luxottica. Today he has taken the time to sit down and tell us about his work on The Presidents Cup, the UAE Soccer Championship, for which he created an augmented soccer field.
The UAE has become known with their celebratory ceremonies. As a nation it has catapulted to the top of the list of luxurious destinations, wowing guests with high end realty and top of the line real estate. The country puts on shows that go above and beyond what you could ever imagine.
However, when Dario Spinelli was approached with the project of creating an immersive opening ceremony for the UAE Presiden’t Cup, his collaborative approach took on a more minimalistic quality. Through close coordination with the show director Gavin Robins, and CEO of People & Co., Tim Elliot, Dario prepared a stripped back, tech forward approach which highlighted the narrative and performers within the spectacle.
“We wanted to challenge the stereotypes and aesthetic expectations that are prevalent at events in the region,” the Italian born experiential creative director begins. The black and white design achieved the creative groups’ desired visual aesthetic. They sought to strike the delicate balance between tradition and modernity.
“We felt that merging these two elements into a cohesive aesthetic would make it feel both timeless and forward thinking.” By stripping back the visuals, they left room for more expression from the performers. “Ultimately the goal was to add depth to the performance without dominating it,” while Dario and the other creatives had a plan of action, the process was far from over.
“The process of merging the choreography to the movements of the performers was the most fascinating part of the project!” To begin with Dario created a 3D mockup of the stadium incorporating a rough version of the choreography. “This served as a reference point to help us align our animations with the performers’ movement.”
From there most of the work was done during the ten days of rehearsals. Working hand in hand with the performers, Dario used scaled projection to simulate the final effects. “This collaborative process helped us to refine our pre-prepared animation elements to match the movements of the performers,” he says. The goal was ultimately to make it feel seamless, and that could only be done through repetition at rehearsals.
At the same time, Dario and his team were working hard on the light patterns and sequencing for the LED bars in order to coordinate with the animations and movements. The whole process took a lot of effort and couldn’t have been done without strong collaboration throughout.
While much of the work was done on the ground during rehearsals the project took shape when Dario and Gavin Roberts began coordinating. Putting their heads together they worked on developing the projection and performance in parallel. “Both elements need to be tuned perfectly for the performance to be balanced and look good, so by creating together we were able to control the final result.”
It was the director’s artistic vision that served as the guiding force, however it was the collaborative approach that ensured every detail supported the overall narrative and aesthetic. But planning alone cannot fully prepare all parties for such a large scale production.
“There is a fine balance between flexibility and time constraints when working on such a large project,” says Dario. When working with live performance it is imperative to be able to adjust or change direction multiple times during the process. This is why the Italian chooses to build from a solid foundation.
After that it is about the organizational effort on such a large scale. “The coordination and precision required to bring everything together is awe inspiring!” Dario lauds praise upon the People & Co. team who he says “truly excelled in making it all run smoothly.”
So with the plan in place and rehearsals finished, the only thing left was the performance. “Nothing compares to the moment when the show comes to life on a grand scale.” This moment, in Dario’s mind, makes the hard work worthwhile. To see the pure magic unfold is enough to leave even the experiential creative director speechless.
Despite their “stripped-back” approach, the opening ceremony at the UAE President’s Cup was nothing short of a spectacle. Dario Spinelli in coordination with Gavin Roberts and People & Co. created a moment of magic that spectators won’t soon forget. Performances like these are what Dario lives for, a moment when everything comes together and the synergy of the performance makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Follow Dario Spinelli on LinkedIn, Instagram and visit his website www.lospino.net. Images courtesy of People & Co – Spectaculars
