Pokustón the Magician with his Rabbits from the Hat inaugurating the Ice Hockey World Championship
Competing for the trophy from this year’s championship was started by the opening ceremony preceding the introductory contest between the Czech and Swedish teams.
World Championships once again in Czech Republic
After 11 years, the ice hockey world championships came back to the Czech Republic. Before the introductory match of the Czech national team, the hopelessly full house of the Prague’s O2 Arena welcomed Pokustón the Magician and his famous bedtime story rabbits Bob and Bobek, who were accompanying us during the whole 17 tournament days in Prague and Ostrava for the 79th World Champion’s title.
Videomapping on the ice together with a lighting show
The opening ceremony was started by the heartbeat on the multimedia cube in the middle of the O2 Arena accompanied by vigorous cheering by Czech supporters. Followed a commemorative projection on the ice depicting previous world championships. Then the fairy tale character of Pokustón the Magician appeared, who had never been seen by anybody that far, followed by a giant puck with the logo of the International Ice Hockey Federation. In a few moments, the magician was already swinging his wand and, by means of videomapping, he made the flags of all the 16 countries participating in this year’s championship dance. The map of the Czech Republic, which was subsequently projected on the ice, featured the most significant highlights of our country.
While the commemorations of the famous victories of the Czech team were slowly fading out, a giant hat descended from the roof of the O2 Arena with Bob and Bobek the Rabbits, who quickly skipped out onto the ice. The bedtime story heroes were vigorously applauded by the audience while, using the electronic pen projected on the ice by means of videomapping, they first put together their tactics, and then scored their first championship goal.
Towards the end of the opening show, the Kabát popular band played their “Sharpening our Knives” song composed especially for the Czech national team.
AV MEDIA equipped the O2 Arena with 8 powerful projectors, from which a unique original videomapping show was projected using Coolux media servers. The festive atmosphere of the opening ceremony was further enhanced by over 100 ROBE lights, distributed throughout the whole arena. The lighting effects were synchronized with the projection on the ice and on the multimedia cube and, together, they created an unforgettable show.
Check the recording from the opening ceremony at the website of the Czech Television.
