Known for their bereavement-facing sub-brand Obitus, technology company Vivedia provides cutting-edge audiovisual services that help funeral directors, venues, and officiants offer families a personal, meaningful and positive bereavement experience. They offer music, video streaming, bespoke content, booking systems, and management facilities, and work with over 300 venues and 5,000 funeral directors to deliver over half of all funerals in the UK.
In their commitment to making funeral services as personal and immersive as possible, Vivedia recently partnered with Gedling Crematorium in Nottingham to launch the world’s first experiential funeral venue. Owned by Westerleigh Group, the crematorium integrates the latest technology, music, and visual storytelling to create a deeply personal and reflective service. A key partner in bringing this vision to life was 3LR Lighting, who were responsible for the lighting concept and design, as well as consultation services.
The experience at Gedling Crematorium is the result of over two years of research and development work, in which Vivedia worked closely with numerous families to understand what a service needed to offer to truly resonate with them. In terms of 3LR’s involvement, this was overseen by Business Development Manager Stuart West, who comments: “Initially, we were called upon as Vivedia were interested in improving the standard of presentation lighting at lecterns across various customer sites; both for in-room visibility as well as on camera for live streaming. Yet when we spoke to them more about what they wanted to achieve with their new R&D project focused on delivering immersive experiences, it became clear that lighting could play a much more significant role. As a company, our mantra is ‘lighting by emotion’, as we are passionate about the power of light and how this can impact how a person feels and be truly emotive. Given this is what Vivedia wanted to achieve with this experience, they quickly understood that, when used to its full potential, lighting could help them deliver just that”.
At Gedling, there are three key innovations that make this new funeral service truly immersive. One of these is the ‘Canvas Wall’ – a dynamic back-wall projection system that transforms the chapel with visuals and customisable pictures and video content. The second is a muti-point source sound system, providing soundscapes and selected audio tracks. The third is the completely flexible lighting system and, when all three are combined, this allows families to select content and lighting colours that reflects their loved one’s personality and passions. 3LR’s role was to create a custom lighting set-up that would help elevate and complement the visual and audio features and contribute to the overall immersive experience of attendees. Stuart explains: “The lighting needed to be holistic to the audio and visual elements of the space. For instance, if the video-mapped walls were showing an image of someone’s favourite countryside view, we needed the lights to accurately colour match this content – in effect making it an extension of what the attendees are seeing. Another part of the brief was ensuring that the lighting fixtures had an architectural aesthetic about them that would complement and fit in discretely to the space. Thankfully, given our background, expertise and partnered network of manufacturers, we were able to provide all of this”.
Knowing what was required of the lighting, Stuart sat down and created a design that would fulfil the emotional and practical requirements of the space. He explains: “We decided to draw on ETC, Studio Due and LEDFlex fixtures, largely due to their achievable colour spectrum, quality of build, service support and warranty as well as their controllability; given how they are able to smoothly dim and colour change, both in the room and on camera. For the presentation lighting, we utilised ETC’s Irideon Washes, due to their elegant shape and size, high CRI and light output. For room accent colour washing and house lights, we called upon a customised version of the Studio Due SMART17 RGBWA fitting, which allowed us to match the colour temperature and feel of the pre-existing house fittings, so it felt like it belonged in the space, whilst also having the ability to colour shift with lots of different scene settings. The LEDFlex RGBW linear was chosen to top out and wash above the video canvas wall – essentially uplighting the existing brickwork and ceiling.
He continues: “When it came to lighting the Catafalque area, we needed a fixture that could replace the existing down lights, delivering exceptional light quality and functionality. We drew on ETC’s Navis 100 range of fittings, utilising the Chroma (RGBW) and Fade-to-Warm options. The Navis Chromas are positioned around the space, providing calibrated whites and colour washing across the whole area including the perimeter drapes. In order to accentuate and lift the coffin out of a colour wash, we used the Navis FTW versions. This allowed us to have a variant of colour temperature with intensity, which really helps to bring out the natural tones of the wood as well as making the flowers pop! For us, it was all about making everything look the best it can possibly be even if no one wanted to utilise any video or colour theming options for their service; hence why all the fixtures were chosen to meet certain white colour points, as well as be able to get to the required colour space to match or compliment the video content”.
In terms of the power and control of the space, Stuart adds: “We used an ETC F-Drive R12 for powering and controlling the Irideon, Navis and LEDFlex fixtures. This was a really cost-effective solution not only because of its versatile modular output cards but also because it allowed us to centralise everything all to one control rack, negating the need for distributed power supplies around the venue. Having the R12, rather than having a mix of power supplies, guarantees us superb dimming across all of those different fixtures. We also allowed for additional capacity should the venue wish to expand its lighting infrastructure in the future, by simply adding additional output cards”.
Stuart spent two days on site doing final commissioning and fixture line-up, as well as working with Vivedia’s creative team to help blend the lighting into the custom video content before the venue opened to the public. Following its official launch, which was attended by press, industry leaders, and representatives from the ICCM, the Cremation Society, SAIF and other key organisations, the venue’s new technology is now used daily, with over 95% of families choosing to include these new features in their services. Such is its success that Vivedia now plans to bring this technology to other venues across the country and ensure as many people as possible get to engage with this truly unique experience, with 3LR there to support them along the way.
Stuart comments: “Given the importance and magnitude of saying goodbye to someone, it’s fantastic that an organisation such as Vivedia realises how AV and lighting technology can play a significant role in this – and push the boundaries of what is the expected norm from a funeral service. It was a privilege to be involved with such a unique project and help deliver the proto-type venue and the future of funeral services within this industry. Whilst, as a company, we’ve always been aware of the power light can have on people, it’s been truly inspiring seeing this first-hand at Gedling; on a project that is both ground-breaking and will leave a lasting impact on anyone who experiences it”.
Simon Taylor, Venue Experience Producer at Vivedia, comments: “Our latest project gives us the ability to truly personalise the chapel experience for each family, allowing us to tell a life story through thoughtful lighting, projection, and sound. This innovative lighting solution not only provides thematic elements where needed but also gives us the power to set the perfect scene and control the mood throughout the service. We can focus the lighting on key moments, enhancing the overall atmosphere. It’s been invaluable to find partners like Stuart and the 3LR team, who guided us through this journey and helped elevate our understanding with their century of experience in an industry with such rich tradition.”
Photos courtesy of Vivedia.
