The Real Mary King's Close Tour
Black Light brings Halloween magic to famous Edinburgh tourist attraction
Filed under : Events, Heritage / Visitor Attraction
The Real Mary King’s Close is one of Edinburgh’s most popular tourist attractions. For Halloween, the company that manages the Close asked us to create a new lighting scheme for a ‘Supernatural’ tour. The brief was to enhance the features of the attraction and make it subtly ‘spooky’.
Key Details:
Service Type: Events
Sector: Heritage / Visitor Attraction
Completion: October 2010
Client: The Real Mary King's Close Tour
What we did
- We walked the site and designed the lighting scheme to meet the brief. We needed to keep the power requirements of the lights low. We also had to minimize the amount of heat they produced to avoid fire hazards.
- We lit the main Close with an ultra-violet and blue/purple lighting scheme and used a lot of red up-lighting to achieve the desired effects.
- We used LED PAR Cans and CitySkapes and to meet the technical requirements of the job.
- Among the special effects we employed was a ‘flicker’ animation to give a ghostly feel.
Result
Working to a strict budget, we added a dose of Halloween magic to The Real Mary King’s Close Tour, so meeting the client brief and enhancing the visitor experience.Feedback
"It was great to be able to work with Stephen at Black Light who spent time touring the attraction to get to know our unusual setup and the subject matter of
the fascinating Real Mary King’s Close. A heritage attraction is not without its challenges, but Stephen’s expertise and advice of what could be achieved within our budget really helped us create a Halloween atmosphere for our Supernatural History Tour with no disruption to the operation of the site. We are looking forward to working with Black Light again."
Lisa Robsaw
The Real Mary King’s Close Tour Company
the fascinating Real Mary King’s Close. A heritage attraction is not without its challenges, but Stephen’s expertise and advice of what could be achieved within our budget really helped us create a Halloween atmosphere for our Supernatural History Tour with no disruption to the operation of the site. We are looking forward to working with Black Light again."
Lisa Robsaw
The Real Mary King’s Close Tour Company
The Venue
The Real Mary King’s Close is a warren of underground streets and spaces that run off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Dating back to the 1600’s, it is of great historical importance. Visitors are led through the Close by a costumed character tour guide, whose persona is based on a one-time resident of the Close.Equipment
- LED Par 64’s.
- Halogen tungsten floodlighting.
- Source 4 750W Fixed Beam Profiles.
- Animation Discs for above.
- Zero 88 Jester Lighting desks for localised control.
- Zero 88 Alphapacks for localised control.
- Par 16’s.
- Selecon Aureols with Beamshapers.
- Robe City Skape 48’s.
- 400W Coloured Discharge Floods.
Events
We pride ourselves on our ability to turn your event – commercial or social - into a real spectacular.
Browse by industry
- Local Councils
- Education
- Charity / Fund raising
- Video Production
- Heritage / Visitor Attraction
- Architectural
- Performance Venues
- Schools
- Live Entertainment
Browse by service
Accreditations
