Sunrise Journeys – Uluru

The Experience

Sunrise Journeys is a new immersive light experience staged in front of Uluru at the Uluru Ayers Rock Resort, produced by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia. Staged in the hour before sunrise, the experience recreates an original indigenous artwork using lighting, laser, projection and sound across the desert floor in front of a stunning viewing platform. Each show concludes with the audience witnessing a spectacular sunrise behind Uluru.

Mandylights was engaged to create and deliver the experience’s show design; encompassing story creation along with cohesive technical and soundtrack design and delivery.

This experience is a result of a collaboration between three renowned Anangu artists – Selina Kulitja (Maruku Arts), Denise Brady (Kaltukatjara Art), and Valerie Brumby (Walkatjara Art) – along with Anangu musician and composer Jeremy Whiskey, and expert visual experience creator Mandylights.

Sunrise Journeys is now playing at the Uluru Ayers Rock Resort; more information and tickets are available via the link below.

Sunrise Journeys - Official Site

Collaboration and Creation

Sunrise Journeys recreates an original artwork Ngura Nganampa Wiru Mulapa, Our Country is Truly Beautiful by three renowned female Anangu artists, Selina Kulitja (Maruku Arts), Denise Brady (Kaltukatjara Art) and Valerie Brumby (Walkatjara Art) that was commissioned for the experience. It is on display at the Gallery of Central Australia (GoCA).

Mandylights worked with the artists and key stakeholders to develop a new immersive experience based on the artwork and the heartfelt narration provided by the artists that communicates the artwork’s meaning and stories. Throughout a series of meetings and discussions, a soundtrack and journey through a range of visual elements was developed to guide audiences through a ‘tour’ around the artwork – explaining every detail of the expansive canvas and how the visual elements are intricately linked to the artists’ connection with country.

From Artwork to Animation

Over the course of three months, over a hundred and forty parts of the artwork were photographed and painstakingly imported into digital video software by the Mandylights team. These were then animated frame-by-frame to see cockatoo’s fly, bush plants grow from the ground and waterholes to emerge after heavy storms.

A twelve-minute sequence was developed utilising a mix of video and laser projection in conjunction with the show’s soundtrack; beginning with darkness and ending with a powerful series of images designed to ‘fade’ into the morning sunlight as the sun rises behind the show site each morning.

Soundtrack Design

Jeremy Whiskey – a virtuoso-guitarist from Central Australia – was engaged to create a compelling soundtrack to the show which contains a contemporary mix of instruments broken into several distinct ‘acts’ that help convey the mood of each part of the experience.

Long time Mandylights collaborator Tim Commandeur rounded out the creative team to produce the soundtrack, including leading the development of a 17 channel surround sound mix that was designed to fully immerse guests in the experience with music and sound effects coming from every angle.

Recording took place over a week in Alice Springs before post production in Sydney and Brisbane. The final soundtrack was refined on site during visual programming, which enabled the entire team to perfectly balance each aspect of the lighting and audio to play perfectly off each other.

Programming & Delivery

Preproduction was carried out at Mandylights’ Sydney and Melbourne offices ahead of an intensive two week programming period on site at Uluru. Working after dark in near-freezing conditions proved challenging – with temperatures often around freezing!

A key team of three created the experience, with programming regularly reviewed by the artists, stakeholders and resort staff to ensure that the experience always remained true to the artists’ original intent.

Guest Experience

The Sunrise Journeys experience is only partially about the show; guests are picked up from their hotels in buses, welcomed with warm mugs of hot chai and given moments to contemplate the beauty of the morning sunrise before enjoying a breakfast on site.

The Mandylights team were keen to extend the visual experience beyond just the show – this lead to the creation of over a hundred coloured ‘caps’ to recolour existing lighting on the show deck to a deep red to mimic the first light in the dawn sky. Pre and post show soundscapes were also developed to set the tone of the morning and to create a ‘soft’ ending to the show that would appear to meld seamlessly into the brightening landscape each morning.

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