”Feel Like A Kid Again”: Manick Sorcar's Laser Dream at the Pepsi Center Arena


Pepsi Center, Denver Colorado
(Photo © 2005 Jackie Shumaker)
February 5, 2005:

The football game between the Grand Rapids Rampage and Colorado Crush, at the Pepsi Center of Denver, Colorado, kicked off with an unforgettable show in the beginning: "Feel Like A Kid Again", directed by Harlan Hendrickson. With the popular song Wishing Upon a Star of Disney's Pinocchio in the background, the audience experienced how the dream of a young boy literally came to life. The adolescent was an avid Colorado Crush fan. He imagined the sounds and excitement of his favorite football game at play. He desperately wanted to be sitting in an arena engrossed in a game where his heroes were tossing the football across the stadium. This young boy’s dream was simulated in three distinctly separate media - laser, video, and live action.

The inauguration ceremony started with the imagination of the youngster which took him through space, the galaxy of stars, and finally to a fantasy world where he could see the football players and roaring fans screaming at an arena. The child, overjoyed with contentment and disbelief, could not stop smiling or his excitement. This fantasy world sequence was depicted through a series of complex laser animation. Later, the medium changed to a four-sided, overhead video screen where the young boy was supposed to go to bed but gives into his urge of listening to the commentary from a game on the radio. "Touchdown! Touchdown!!" - he screams as he hears the news - jumping up and down on his bed with joy. The video shuts off, but the shouting of the little boy continues as the audience finds, under the spotlight of the stadium, - the boy truly is jumping up and down, live, on his bed inside the field. The boy's scream is now joined by the roaring voices of the fans from the entire stadium as the Colorado Crush and Rampage teams rush into the field to start the exciting game.
Boy wishes upon a star.
Laser animation projected on the football field.
(photo: Timothy Adams)

The laser dream sequence of the youngster was the creation of Manick Sorcar who used the cutting-edge technology as his paintbrush to create each of the graphics and animation. But how to present this fascinating work in front of the 18,000 spectators of the stadium? He used the massive football field as the flat screen projecting from the audio-visual room of the stadium, five levels above.

The game had a dramatic ending as it had a start; the boy's dream indeed came true! Colorado Crush players pulverized the Rampage team winning 72-56.



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