Showpro Installs Analog Way Aquilon and Solo Media Players to Drive Custom digiLED Screens at Westfield Century City Shopping Mall

Showpro, a live event production partner in Atwater Village, California that delivers high-quality audio, video and staging solutions for corporate, entertainment and broadcast environments, has installed an Analog Way Aquilon RS6 and four Analog Way CorePlay Solo media players in the Westfield Century City shopping mall in Los Angeles. It was installed to enable enhanced control of digiLED multi-purpose LED screens across the space.

The Aquilon RS6 drives six major LED screens in the space.  Two 100 x 15-foot screens run subscription advertising content: One is attached to the side of the parking structure facing into the mall and the other is above the food court. “We decided to go with the RS6 for master control of all the screens thanks to its reliability in continuous use situations,” says Ryan Kayson, Director of Audio Video at Showpro, who works with the mall’s in-house team to manage special live events in the space. 

 A 24 x 13-foot screen is mounted in the atrium, an area which typically hosts special events.  The screen plays advertising content during mall hours, but on-site staff take over full playback, content and IMAG for live events.  

“Before, we had been driving just the atrium screen with a switcher in the control room, but with the installation of the new digiLED screens we needed more horsepower so we could take over full control of all of the screens,” Kayson reports.  “The addition of the four Solo media players gives us solid, reliable playback for high-end live events.”  

Additionally, two smaller LED screens, showing advertising or event content, are mounted above the escalator and at the P1 and P2 level of the parking structure.  A double-sided portrait screen is positioned in front of the Wine Bar in the middle of the mall.  

“We have a history with Analog Way,” notes Kayson, citing their early adoption of Aquilon C+ and an Ascender multi-screen switcher prior to that.  “We knew the Aquilon would be reliable, streamlined, easy to use and easy to change and upgrade.  The Westfield Century City mall goes above and beyond the scope of most malls and has quite the flagship production facility, which is serving as a model for other Westfield branded malls.”

Since the recent installation of the Analog Way gear the mall has hosted three special events, all related to movie releases at the on-site AMC Theater.  The atrium space is used for stars’ step-and-repeat and red-carpet segments with the screens running event content and loops of movie footage and trailers.

“Everyone has been very pleased with the equipment’s performance,” says Kayson.  “We actually have more headroom than we need, which is great for whatever future endeavors we will need to manage: We deliberately overbuilt with the future in mind.  We’ve been working with the mall for about nine years now, and this marks a huge leap forward in in its AV capabilities.”