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VENETIAN HOTEL
The Sands Hotel was the home of classic Las Vegas. The famed "Rat
Pack", Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and
Peter Lawford, was born there.On November 26, 1996, 8 years after it was bought by Sheldon Adelson, the 44 year old Sands Hotel was imploded to make way for The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. The resort reportedly would be the largest hotel in the world when all phases were done, with a total of over 6,000 rooms. The replicas of Venice monuments like the Doge's Palace, the Campanile Tower and the famed Venetian canals as well as the Grand Canal Shoppes were to bring European splendor to the Las Vegas strip. 
Ground was broken April 14, 1997 on the 1.5 billion mega-resort. Thanks to Bobby
Baldwin, GM of the Mirage at the time, our camera was attached to the
roof of his hotel looking down on the Venetian property recording the
construction in time-lapse.
As a construction time-lapse, the Venetian project was quite simple.
One camera, shooting east, with only slight adjustments to the framing
as the high rise grew. We knew by this time how important "ground
footage" was and made sure we had plenty. Some of the most interesting
footage was done close up of Italian tile being laid and the finishing
touches on the beautiful facade.The world class resort opened May 3, 1999 with flutter of white doves, grand trumpets, singing gondoliers and actress Sophia Loren. Our time-lapse footage was broadcast worldwide before the opening and later appeared on the Discovery Channel. |
