Case study – Enchanted Forest celebrates 10th anniversary with 2012 Flow show

The Enchanted Forest, a Perthshire Big Tree Country event and Scotland’s premier sound and light show, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, beating all previous box office records by attracting more than 30,000 visitors. The 2012 show “Flow” was designed by a creative team led by Derek Allan, which included Scottish designers Simon Wilkinson (lighting) and RJ McConnell (sound), as well as Dundee-based visual artists Dalziel + Scullion, whose work was supported thanks to the generosity of a grant from Creative Scotland in celebration of Year of Creative Scotland 2012. Together they created a dazzling and engaging show which not only celebrated 10 Years of The Enchanted Forest, but was in itself a celebration of the stunning woodland setting in which the event is set.@page_break@Derek Allan, creative director of The Enchanted Forest 2012, commented: “We worked tirelessly this year to ensure we delivered a show that was creatively interesting and visually stunning. Thanks to funding from Creative Scotland we have been able to work with some of Scotland’s most exciting designers to deliver an experience that our visitors found breath-taking and unique. We were inspired by the stunning natural woodland that is Faskally Wood and this year’s show aimed to enhance visitor appreciation of the forest in which The Enchanted Forest is set.” NL Productions provided the technical installation and support for the event for the third year running. NL Productions – the events arm of leading installer Northern Light – provided the full technical installation of temporary sound and lighting equipment in the forest to meet the event design created by Simon Wilkinson and R J McConnell, as well as the illuminated wire and Spandex sculptures for the “Pollen” area of the event by Dalziel + Scullion. Dalziel + Scullion also designed neon sculptures within the “Dialect of Leaves” area. Phil O’Halloran, head of NL Productions, said: “As always, working with the Highland Perthshire Area Community Interest Group, as well as Simon Wilkinson and R J McConnell, to deliver this annual sound and lighting show has been an absolute pleasure. It is tremendously satisfying to know that NL Productions has helped The Enchanted Forest to enjoy its most successful year to date.”@page_break@During the two-week build, NL Productions collaborated with Wilkinson and McConnell to bring their designs to life and remained on-site for the duration of the three-week event to provide technical support and trouble-shoot as necessary. An outdoor event of this scale requires a huge amount of equipment and NL Productions provided, amongst other things, 469 lighting fixtures, 924 pixels across the 33 trees that were pixel mapped, 600 metres of rope light, 6.6 kilometres of 16a cable, 81 hard power circuits, 36 dimmed circuits, 8 generators, 2.1 kilometres of DMX/control cable, a gigabit network reaching from control over 600 metres in each direction to the far corners of the site, a GrandMA2 lighting console and Avolites Titan pixel mapping. Derek Allan commented: “The Enchanted Forest was a tremendous success in its 10th anniversary year and the introduction of new visual elements added to the overall creative impact of this year’s show, which has been well received by over 30,000 visitors to the event.”@page_break@Pete Wishart, Member of Parliament for Perth and North Perthshire, formally opened the show in October, commenting: “This is undoubtedly one of Scotland’s finest events. Not only does it provide an essential boost for the local economy, it opens up the beauty of this area’s stunning scenery to literally thousands of people, and showcases it in a brand new light. I can’t think of a better way to cheer up these October evenings than a trip to The Enchanted Forest.” James McDougall from Forestry Commission Scotland, from whom the idea for The Enchanted Forest event first originated back in 2002, also attended the launch: “It’s incredible to see the show’s success over the last 10 years. I’m really proud that it’s grown from the humble beginnings of just 2500 visitors in its first year to over 10 times its size and firmly established itself as one of Scotland’s flagship events attracting visitors from all around the world.@page_break@“The Enchanted Forest is a fantastic showcase for Scotland’s woodland beauty and I’m really very proud to have founded an event that has captured the imagination of so many people. The work of Forestry Commission Scotland is so much more than planting trees and through this event we have been able to support tourism, strengthen communities and attract more people out into our woodlands.” www.enchantedforest.org.ukwww.northernlight.co.uk