Denver Animator Takes On Challenge Of Programming The Mile High Tree
DENVER (CBS4) – The Mile High Tree let up in Denver for the first time this year. CBS4's Britt Moreno hosted the lighting ceremony. The tree has been a crowd-pleasing addition to the Mile High Holidays tradition.
After the first of the year, the programming changed to two alternating musical light shows. One Colorado-themed and the other is a collection of favorite karaoke songs.
Andrew Spain is an editor/animator at One Floor Up, a Denver-based production company. He built one of the musical programs for the Mile High Tree.
"It was a very interesting project," Spain said. "If you have a line going vertical, it's going to stripe down the tree. But if you twist that line and make it a diagonal line, it's actually going to wrap around the tree, and so you have to actually counter act that and curve the line if you want a diagonal line to go across the tree."
There was a lot of trial and error. Spain built a replica tree, so he could see how his animations would play.
"Getting to see it in real life was really pretty exciting," he told CBS4.
Spain crafted a 5-minute, 40-second program that encompasses nine popular songs, each with their own feel and look.
"It was kind of fun. It was basically just making the animation dance to the music," he explained.
Not only is your canvas 110-feet tall and cylindrical, but there's an outside view and an inside view. Spain accommodated it all.
"Going inside the tree is a surprisingly immersive and really pretty cool experience," he said.
LINK: Mile High Tree
The experience started with Spain and is now delighting hundreds of thousands of Denverites.
The Mile High Tree will stay up until January 31st, programming runs from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every night.
