Aurora Multimedia has installed a fabric projection screen stretched across a balcony for the TV studio at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms 2022, in a new departure for set design in coverage of this classic British institution.

The elastane screen, which was 3m wide and 90cm high, displayed video content from an Epson EB-PU2010B 10,000 lumen laser projector fitted with an ELPLU04 short throw lens. The projector was hidden beneath a custom-made coffee table, with the screen appearing in the background, behind the presenters.

The innovative solution came about when Aurora Multimedia was approached by freelance production designer Lucy Foster, who works with Livewire Pictures to create the BBC Proms studio each year. A TV screen had previously been used, but the BBC was looking for something more unusual this year that could display imagery from the production and graphics that would complement the hexagonal design of the studio.

Foster had considered a suspended projection screen or a projection gauze across the balcony. But after testing various acrylic projection screens and fabrics at Aurora Multimedia and Livewire Pictures’ studios, and the Royal Albert Hall, it was decided that a fabric screen stretched across the railings of the gallery in a super-widescreen format would be the best option.

The Livewire Pictures team created the visuals to fit, generally displaying the composer combined with imagery that mirrored the studio design.