Boston College Pops on the Heights
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
In 2015, our team was approached by Rafanelli Events to design the concept and content for the stage surround of Boston College’s “Pops on the Heights.” This event is an annual gala fundraiser and performance by the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra to raise funds for student scholarships at Boston College in a 9,000 seat auditorium. “Pops on the Heights” has had a long tradition at Boston College, dating back to 1992. The 2015 event marked the first year that “Pops on the Heights” featured a stage surround with projected content. We were honored to have been selected to create the theme and content for the show.
Since then, we have had the great pleasure of working with the talented team at Rafanelli Events for five years. Every year, we develop a unique concept and create a two hour show of original content based on the music that the Boston Pops presents each fall for this exceptional event.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2022
Pops on the Heights 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of this fundraising event. This year, our team, in conjunction with Jane Miller of Rafanelli Events and Port Lighting, redesigned the projection surround experience to incorporate a large lighting element.
In this design, we removed the central header projection surface, but left the two wing walls. In doing this, it freed up the space over the center of the stage. With that open space, a chandelier was designed to cascade from the back of the room, throughout the space, and down over the back of the stage. The programmable lighting in the chandelier was coordinated with the video content showcased on the projection surfaces. This allowed for all of the different design elements to come together in a cohesive vision and experience for the guests.
We also redesigned the stage from a flat single-level stage, to a three tiered stage with a shaped front that optimized the view of the performers for the VIP tables in the front rows. Jon Batiste was able to move easily into the crowd and more easily interact with the audience and with the orchestra.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2021
In 2021, we were very excited to return from a virtual event the previous year, and to be back in-person on the Boston College campus. Our focus this year was to showcase the people of Boston college, the student experience, and to use this giant canvas as an opportunity to share a message of reunification. We were inspired by the school motto “men and women for others'' and how it related to the incredible examples of community support, as we emerged from the throes of the pandemic.
The school also wanted to send a message of institutional stability, which we depicted through the iconic stone architecture of campus. Our team worked again with 3D animation team FourWall to create a 3D surround that mimicked the stone that can be seen all throughout campus. The shape of stone archways were designed to frame the live feed video throughout the show, and to change in tone and texture to compliment that particular moment of the show.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2020
In 2020, due to the nature of the world dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic, we were forced to completely reinvent a new version of Pops on the Heights, as an entirely virtual event.
Our challenge was how to keep Boston College and its spirit at the forefront of this new kind of event experience. Our teams came up with the idea to film members of the Boston Pops Orchestra across the BC campus, featuring some of the most iconic buildings and spaces of the school. We brought in a father and son team, Aram and Rick Bogoshian, to capture these unique performances with stationary cameras, handheld cameras, and drone video capture. We filmed student vocalists and Pop’s orchestra conductor Keith Lockhart, as well as Grammy award winning artist Josh Groban, who was filmed in front of a high resolution LED screen featuring dramatic drone flyovers of campus in the fall.
After capturing all the footage, our team stitched together all the different elements of the show and packaged it to be broadcasted via the web. This allowed for us to reach an even larger audience than had ever previously attended, as this event was open to the entire BC community and their families.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2019
In 2019, we were presented with a new challenge to provide a visually dynamic element that enhanced the experience of the music performance, while featuring live video performance of the Pops orchestra at all times. The solution we developed was a digitally projected stage surround that created the illusion of a physically constructed stage. This virtual stage had the capacity to sparkle and morph in shape and materiality to match the evenings music program.
The sequence of 3D surrounds were inspired by the richly gilded stages of the Oscars, but designed to change and evolve throughout the evening. The colors and textures of these 3D surrounds reflected the mood of each song. As the songs would crescendo and decrescendo, the animation would reflect the dramatic changes, creating a dynamic visual richness that enhanced the experience of the music and heightened the visual impact of the stage.
Additional elements that we brought into this year's visual experience were inspired by the graphics, designed by Michael Persson of Boston College, from the printed program each guest receives upon entrance. These graphics featured rising balloons and accented spheres.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2018
In 2018, Studio HHH took a different approach to content creation. Driven by a desire to depict the incredible natural beauty of the campus, we departed from an exclusively 3D animation approach and included original edited video produced by our team. We were inspired to showcase the work of students from a variety of departments at Boston College.
We approached the teachers of the studio art department and teamed up with the Advanced Mixed Media class at Boston College, taught by Professor Sheila Gallagher. We worked with the students to hone in on a concept for the 2018 event and landed on the theme “BC through the seasons” – a metaphor for the student experience over 4 years of campus life. We also worked with the class to determine the video content and animation style. We developed a “double exposure” theme which allowed us to show the visual metaphor of the student experience through the beauty of campus by overlapping video images for captivating ephemeral visuals.
The Advanced Mixed Media class constructed and painted a large scale eagle, the mascot of Boston College. The construction process was documented in intervals. The eagle started out in black and white and gradually gained more colors and patterns, revealing a multitude of transformative layers. The entire process was turned into a timelapse animation and showcased during the intermission of the show. As the Pops began playing again, the painted eagle lifted off the canvas into a 3D animated painted eagle and soared over campus. As the eagle arced over Conte Forum, the projected paint fell from its feathers and the eagle became illuminated with gold confetti cascaded down into the auditorium as Lionel Richie took the stage.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2017
In 2017, Boston College celebrated its 25th Anniversary of Pops on the Heights, as well as the culmination of a three year arc of concept and content for this show. This year’s event featured guest conductor John Williams and guest vocalist Jennifer Hudson.
The theme centered around the exterior of Gasson Tower and the campus mascot, the Golden Eagle, at the entrance to Boston College. The content was closely tied to the decor and event theme “historic glamour,” depicting the exterior of the tower and emphasizing the striking architectural detail. The high contrast, warmly lit night shots were all created in 3D animation.
As the guest vocalist Jennifer Hudson entered the stage, the golden eagle, depicted atop its grand pedestal overlooking the campus entrance, spread its wings and took flight. A cascade of golden light activated through the entire audience (via the LED bracelets on the wrists of the audience members). From a static statue to a grand creature in flight, the eagle became a metaphor for the scholarship recipients that the event benefits.
The highlight of the show was when John Williams stood up and conducted Star Wars with a projected surround video of a journey through space. The performance culminated into a warp speed travel back to BC campus and Gasson Tower, perceived through the lens of a glass orb, as though all in a dream.
The technical focus of this year became about the in-depth 3D modeling and character animation of the golden eagle. From a 3D scan of the eagle, our team transformed the sculpture into an animated life-like creature with each feather articulating as it moved across the screens.
Year after year this fundraiser has proven to be a huge success. It raised a record $14 Million in 2017 which was distributed to over 300 scholarship recipients.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2016
In 2016, Rafanelli asked us to return to produce and execute another exciting gala event for Boston College “Pops on the Heights.” This annual fundraiser dinner features performances by the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra and raises funds for student scholarships with this year’s guest performer Kristin Chenoweth.
The 2016 performance theme was "Light the World." Our team chose to focus on the architectural gem of the campus, Gasson Tower, and the marble statue that resides inside the tower of Angel Michael slaying the dragon. The story was unveiled through performances, starting with a projected scene of the vibrant stained glass as the Pops performed “Singing in the Rain.” As the performance proceeded, a micro-landscape featured the folds and curves of the marble statue as the orchestra performed the Star Wars theme song.
After intermission, as guest vocalist Kristin Chenoweth entered, the projected interior of Gasson Tower was brought to life with animation magic depicting color and light across the architectural detail with celestial sparkle. The light then traveled throughout the interior of the rotunda before emerging out of the top of the tower to reveal the night sky. The finale reveals Gasson Tower from an aerial perspective, as fireworks burst in the sky.
One of the most successful aspects of the content was the integration of IMAG (live image magnification) into scenes and animated content. The Pops Orchestra, the Boston Chorale, student performers, and guest vocalists were all captured on live camera which seamlessly streamed into the surrounding content.
POPS ON THE HEIGHTS 2015
The stage was surrounded by a 40’x70’ blank projection fabric drape at both the right and left of the stage with three hanging baffles above the stage. This drape was transformed into a giant screen surrounded by projection mapped 3D animation content for the duration of the performance.
In 2015, the theme of the evening was “The History of Broadway.” We worked with the Boston College fundraising team and the Rafanelli Events design team to craft the concepts. Our teams developed original animated content depicting the architectural evolution of Broadway theater design. Throughout the evening, the stage morphed from a classically gilded theater, to a bulb lit marquee, and finally to a neon marquee for the finale.
The 2015 performance featured three guest vocalists, the stars from the recent movie release, Twenty Feet from Stardom.
Our team produced a video depicting campus life by telling the gripping story of five scholarship recipients.