Kean Production Services has deployed four AJA ColorBox units to calibrate and match colour across LED and projection systems at a large-scale live event in Atlanta, replacing manual colour correction with a measurement-based workflow.
The system was used at Keller Williams’ three-day Family Reunion Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center, where a keynote stage combined a main LED wall with 24 projectors across main and delay positions. Working with Red Rock Ops colourist Angel Banchs, Kean Production Services used ColorBox to establish a common colour target across the different display technologies, addressing the discrepancies that arise because LED and projection reproduce colour differently.
The event’s LED wall and 24 projectors were profiled and targeted to Rec. 709. Banchs measured colour using a Klein K-10A and Colorimetry Research CR-250 spectroradiometer, with the CR-250 used to profile the K-10A for each display type. Patterns were generated by a networked Portrait Displays G1 running from a mobile DIT cart, allowing measurements to be taken around the venue.
Production content was fed into a Spyder X80 screen switcher, with outputs distributed to the projectors and LED wall. LED correction was handled by Brompton SX40 processors, while four ColorBox units handled correction across the projection paths: one serving two house-left projectors, another serving two house-right units, and one on each of the ten-projector house-left and house-right delay chains.
Portrait Displays Calman processed the measurements and generated correction LUTs, which Banchs loaded into Pomfort Livegrade for live colour grading before pushing them to the ColorBox units. This allowed the projection output to be calibrated against the LED wall and adjustments to be made in real time during the event.
Projectionists established centre white on each unit, with ColorBox then maintaining the match across the different projector types. According to Kean Production Services, the calibrated system measured under 2 dE2000 between the main projectors and LED wall, and around 3 dE2000 across the delay projectors, which comprised different units positioned elsewhere in the venue.
“This workflow was key because a lot of the content for the displays was red, which is difficult to colour-match,” said Chris Kean, founder of Kean Production Services. “Projection primaries simply cannot reach LED red, so our ColorBox workflow helps us define a common target that both technologies can hit and maps them to it. Before using the ColorBox, it looked completely jarring.”
The combination of Calman and Livegrade also allowed Banchs to make adjustments while moving around the convention floor, calling up individual display zones and grading them in real time to compensate for ambient lighting or respond to production requests.
“The tweaks weren’t big, but being able to make them in real time, in the room, is not something we have been able to do before using ColorBox,” said Kean.
With only a few days available to prepare the production for rehearsals, Kean said establishing consistent colour across the different display technologies was an important part of the commissioning process.
“Since projection and LED colours never align, ColorBox gives us the calibration tools we need to deliver consistent, colour-accurate content across displays,” he said. “It replaces guesswork with informed decision-making.”
The production also deployed AJA UDC-4K Mini-Converters to handle two UltraHD 4K Rec. 709 SDR feeds from iMacs. The units converted the HDMI signals to SDI for input into a large 4K router and the Spyder X80 for the live LED feeds, while simultaneously down-converting the UltraHD signals to 1080p SDR for the event’s online live stream and recording.
“The fact that we could handle both with one converter was so helpful,” said Kean. “The UDC-4Ks have allowed us to focus more on colour when moving HDMI computer signals over SDI. They’ve also given us so much flexibility, because they solve many different signal flow challenges with such accuracy.”
Kean Production Services is now looking at extending its colour-management workflows into HDR as demand for higher-quality visuals grows across live events.
“HDR is an underserved area in our industry, largely because it’s complex,” Kean concluded. “Now that we have tools like ColorBox to simplify HDR work, we want to show clients how we can improve the quality of their shows with it.”
