Devon, UK, based drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialist S+H Technical
Support supplied its innovative LED Video Floor product to the first Hungarian
edition of popular television games show, The Cube.

Recorded at the Stern Film Studio on Pomaz, close to Budapest, Hungarian
producers Show & Game Production Ltd. followed the style directions and replicated
the rules established by the original UK series producers, Objective Television, who
licenced this version, broadcast on leading commercial channel, TV2.

Hungarian Production Manager Krisztina Bene explained that they were
recommended to S+H as the interactive floor supplier by Objective Television, from
which they also rented key elements of the set.

Presented (in the UK) by Phillip Schofield, Cube contestants can win up to £250,000
cash by completing straightforward tasks – like balancing, catching, throwing,
estimating, reacting, memorising, etc. – within a 4 x 4 metre Perspex cube … which
becomes extremely challenging with the addition of disorientating visual and sonic
effects plus the pressure of being in front of a live audience.

The video floor has an absolutely integral role in the show’s overall concept, and in
the Hungarian edition, it was installed and used exactly as described in the
production rule book.

S+H’s Mark Mason was on site in Pomaz to ensure the set-up, testing and
installation went smoothly and efficiently.

“Mark and Terry (Murtha) from S+H gave us excellent support and great service –
the communication was good and they made everything very easy’, comments
Krisztina, adding “the video floor product was extremely robust and worked
perfectly for the effects.’

S+H’s product was originally specified for the first UK series in 2009 by set
designer Julian Healey as a versatile, robust and cost-effective solution to run the
floor based immersive visual effects … and it’s been used ever since.

In Hungary, the floor of The Cube was comprised from 36 panels of Video Floor
making a 3.6 metre square surface area.

This Video Floor is a completely bespoke 20 mm video tile product available only
through S + H Technical in the UK and Europe.

Using the “DIP’ system of three RGB LEDs positioned next to each other to populate
the LED PCBs – as opposed to SMD boards – a specific quality of pixel is produced
that is ideally suited to the Cube’s video content, as the floor of The Cube becomes
a volatile and unpredictable physical boundary with which contestants have to deal
and overcome whilst they perform the tasks.

S+H has over 100 panels of Video Floor in its current hire stock which is out
constantly on a variety of projects. Apart from TV shows, it’s also very popular for
making interactive bar areas at events, for “live’ dancefloors at parties and
spectacular fashion show runways, where anti-skid properties and inventive thermal
management systems ensure maximum safety.

Tough and well-engineered, it has a high-abrasive resistance and a strong
aluminium alloy transparent covering, so it can be directly trampled on and
stomped over without compromise. The panels can also be joined seamlessly for
continuous “runs’ of video.

The airtight design is IP68 rated, so also good for exterior work and the modular
design makes it quick, easy and user-friendly to assemble.

S+H’s Video Floor was also in action on the latest UK – series 9 – of The Cube which
aired this summer, and has been used on roll-outs of the show in the Ukraine and
Portugal.