In the finale of Tatiana Navka’s ice show The Nutcracker the audience became part of the act. They scanned a QR code on the arena screens, opened the page in the browser, and on cue the whole hall turned glowing phone screens towards the ice.
The prompt ran right on the arena screens: “Please turn your screens to the stage”. No app was needed.
What we learned
Engagement was high, people joined willingly. But screens only give a strong effect in full darkness. An ice show hall stays lit even during the acts, and part of the picture was lost in the light.
We saw the same at the screen show at a Spartak match. After these two runs we moved to flashlights: they are visible in any lighting, and in the theatre flashlights worked noticeably better than screens.
- Put screens into fully dark acts, then the hall becomes a canvas of colour
- For lit halls and arenas choose flashlights
- You can combine them: screens in a dark act, flashlights in the finale
For ice arenas and hockey this matters: an ice arena is darker than a stadium, so a flashlight show looks stronger there. Such a hockey show fits a KHL season opening or a match break, and after the show fans see the hockey club sponsor’s ad in the browser. How it works at matches is on the stadium and arena shows page.
