Creative Technology (CT) produced some unusual television effects for the BBC Children In Need fund-raising marathon hosted by Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin recently.
The company was contracted by BBC Resources to build on the Totaliser screen reinforcement they provided last year, as well as adding a spectacularly ‘retro’ LED dancefloor. The dancefloor dominated the stage and was in use for much of the evening. CT’s project manager Paul Holden commented: "Last year we provided a flown screen over the Totaliser using Barco i6 high-brightness panels. This year we used 80 of the Barco i8 panels, in a 16 x 5 configuration."
The display - measuring 7.16m wide by 2.24m - was run in 16:5 format, receiving 16:9 aspect ratio feeds, to create a letterbox effect. The content mostly comprised of Totaliser-specific graphics. But the more challenging aspect of the set was the creation of an underlit dancefloor, reminiscent of the Saturday Night Fever dancefloor matrix popularised in the late 1970s. "Rather than use standard lighting effects, we suggested placing some bright LED screens under the floor," says Paul. The idea was agreed and 96 Barco i10 modules were immersed beneath the 1" thick perspex surface in a matrix display consisting of 24 blocks of 2 x 2 tiles.
Outside London, CT’s sister company Screenco were also in action, providing OBs for various Children in Need events around the country. They fielded two 3x3 15mm big screen LED displays at Ipswich Town FC’s Portman Road stadium, Middlesborough’s Riverside Stad
Large format projection specialists E/T/C UK projected the images of the BBC’s 10 Greatest Britons onto three different city centre landmarks. Contracted by the BBC, E/T/C UK did this over the three evening’s leading up to the broadcast of the final programme in this high profile series.
As the final winner was announced, the face of Winston Churchill, voted the all-time greatest Briton by the public, was then projected onto all three buildings - in London, Liverpool and Bristol - in a simultaneous live broadcast.
The project followed on from E/T/C’s work with the BBC for the first programme in the series - on Viscount Horatio Nelson. They projected the face of Nelson onto the Shell Building on London’s South Bank. This projection was such a success, that the BBC decided to publicise the finale using the same hi-impact promotional techniques of large format projection.
The London site was Wellington Arch, at Hyde Park Corner - where E/T/C has previously projected for the Poppy Appeals 80th Remembrance Day anniversary in 2001. The Liverpool site was the Holiday Inn City Centre hotel, which has also been utilized for this purpose before, whilst in Bristol they found a new site in the former Bristol & West Building Society tower.
The projections were all achieved using PIGI 7kW xenon projectors with double scrollers. At Wellington Arch, the hardware was rigged in the back of a truck parked in front of the arch whilst in Liverpool, the projector was installed on the fifth floor of an office block opposite the hotel, with cables fed up from the g
Impact Europe, a market leader in audio visual integration, has signed a pan European agreement with Christie, a leading supplier of high performance projection systems. The agreement encompasses the entire Christie product portfolio.
Impact Europe integrates audio visual products into a variety of presentation systems ranging from simple meeting rooms, to network management centres and virtual environments, as well as providing customer support and facilities management contracts for those installed systems. "With over 39 engineers and dedicated support staff, based out of their Customer Support Centre in Sunbury, UK, Impact Europe is ideally positioned to provide its customers with Christie solutions, which can be supported by a comprehensive range of service and maintenance offerings, with the added security of facilities management and full service contracts when needed,"said Simon Smith, European Business Manager for Christie.
(Ruth Rossington)
Gearhouse South Africa was extensively involved with the Auto Africa show (23-27 Oct) - Africa’s biggest motoring event. Bill Lawford was Gearhouse SA’s project manager for the event, running a team of 30 Gearhouse technicians. The bulk of the company’s work at Auto Africa 2002 was in providing sound, audio-visual equipment, rigging and decking. In particular, rigging the trussing proved no small feat - Gearhouse SA rigged over 500 different hanging points throughout the three main Auto Africa exhibition halls.
Among the 25+ stands that Gearhouse SA was involved in were Land Rover, Ford, Mazda, Alpha Romeo, Fiat, Chrysler Jeep, Renault, Honda and Porsche. The range of equipment was extensive: for example, a cube wall on the Mazda stand involved 48 separate cubes. "To set that up they had to be perfectly balanced and stitched together which was quite a job," says Lawford. Several sculptural lights hanging over the Mazda stand were also Gearhouse SA’s - built to a particular design with each light’s different colour providing a fresh feel to the stand.
Another task that needed some serious attention was ensuring all technical specs were met. "For example, on the Nissan stand, we had to fly in special lenses for the projector to enable the projected image to fit the rectangular shape of the two screens - a case of tailor-making a technical solution to fit in with a client’s aesthetic."
Gearhouse SA were also integrally involved in the construction of the Polo Theatre and a dedicated Polo presentation area - both o
XL Video UK is supplying leading UK pop band Blue with a full touring video hardware package and crew. Blue are currently riding the crest of a massive popularity wave and also establishing themselves at the credible end of the pop scale, with a nationwide arena tour finishing two days before Christmas, which you can read all about in the January issue of Lighting&Sound International.
Video is the central visual concept to Blue’s energetic, up-tempo show. The artistic director is Kim Gavin, whilst the set is designed by Paul Staples, and the show’s video baseline developed by lighting designer Peter Barnes. Central to video being the defining visual counterpoint is an enormous 60ft by 24ft low resolution Westerhagen LED screen from Germany. This was originally designed and built by XL Video for German touring and recording artist Paul Westerhagen. Barnes had heard about the screen, and XL arranged a visit to Europe for him to assess its suitability for the application. Barnes intended to utilize the screen as a moving backdrop, showing a cool mix of highly original liquid-style video graphics content throughout.
Barnes has a great reputation for pioneering new visual ideas. With the Westerhagen being low resolution, it’s ideally suited to receive specific types of video material. Barnes wanted to experiment with shining lights through it from the rear as well as having material on the front. This was easily possible with the LED panels being less densely packed than usual.
The main video challenge for XL was in accommodating Kim Gavin’s desire
Specialist audio-visual company, Blitz, has appointed Rob Piddington, as new sales manager to Blitz Vision. Piddington will be responsible for helping to ensure that the division is successful in meeting a number of key sales targets set for next year. His main focus is on long-term strategy aimed at breaking into several new market areas. Reporting to sales director Andy Watterston, he also takes charge of developing and restructuring the sales team and managing the ongoing sales drive.
Having spent the last 18 years within the sales and marketing environment, he is ideally suited to the role. Prior to joining Blitz Vision, he spent 15 months as sales director at Autograph Sales Ltd. Previously he was at Sennheiser UK for 10 years, six of which he spent as sales and marketingmanager. Andy Watterston, sales director of Blitz Vision, told us: "Our appointment of Rob reflects the challenging targets that we have set for next year. I'm confident that his considerable track record and extensive experience mean that he will make a valuable contribution to Blitz Vision."
(Ruth Rossington)
Audio-Visual company 6th Sense Solutions (UK) Ltd has recently moved to new premises in Cheltenham, following six years of growth that have seen the business grow to need four times as much space as at its old premises.
The company specializes in audio visual production and hire and sale of AV equipment. Its clients range from those requiring a simple audio-visual presentation at a small event to large-scale productions for conferences, outdoor concerts and festivals. Clients include household names such as the BBC, Leeds City Council, Dyson Appliances, The Salvation Army, Pfizer and Dairy Crest. Matt McCarty, managing director at 6th Sense Solutions, told us: "The move will enable us to be more efficient and give us greater opportunities to display our technology. We need to continually invest in the latest equipment in order to satisfy our clients’ expectations."
The past year has seen the company involved in a number of key projects, including the first Cheltenham Festival of Science and The Cheltenham Festival of Literature, now in its 53rd year, which saw faster ticket sales at more venues than ever before. Over 56,000 tickets were sold in total for the ten-day Festival - which included over 300 events involving some 400 leading authors. 6th Sense Solutions provided extensive audio-visual support in the form of plasma screens, data projectors and custom sets, designed and constructed in-house at their new premises.
Further afield, the company’s project managers provided outdoor LED screens for concerts at Westonbirt Arboretum, installations
Skye Media, the Toronto-based outdoor advertising specialist, has installed a giant Lighthouse LED video billboard - the first of its kind in the world - overlooking the city’s prestigious Dundas Square project in the centre of Toronto.
The 64-panel LVP1650 (15.875mm pixel pitch, 5000-nit brightness) screen is in an 8x8 configuration 26.7ft wide by 20ft high. The 13-bit panels utilize Lighthouse’s M4 uniformity control and the screen has an overall resolution of 512 x 384 pixels. Although the high brightness, high resolution LVP1650 screen has been installed at the new Seattle Seahawks stadium, this is the first billboard application for it worldwide.
Skye Media’s newest outdoor advertising location is in the heart of Toronto's retail, financial and theatre district, on the south-east corner of Yonge and Dundas Square. Overlooking the new Dundas Square project, which is modeled after New York’s Times Square, it will be a prominent location within the city and will host year-round PR and promotional events, adding to the redevelopment already underway. Along with the rejuvenation of The Eaton Centre and The Hard Rock Cafe, recent retail additions include Buffalo Jeans, Guess, Future Shop, Virgin Atlantic Megastore, and an Olympic Theme Complex.
Danny Starnino, founder of Skye Media, comments: "This is the highest resolution screen in the Dundas Square area, where a number of screens are located. We chose the new Lighthouse LVP1650 because we were determined to offer our advertisers the brightest, most eye-catching screen in the city."<
The Barco Technology Showcase, held at Pinewood Studios on the 8-9 October provided an interesting opportunity to view the display specialist’s wide range of projection and display products, while the company’s experienced and knowledgeable staff were on hand to talk visitors through each product.
The Barco portfolio is certainly impressive, ranging from the compact state-of-the-art Cine Versum 80 home theatre projector through to the ScenergiX seamless wide screen and SLM Performance projectors - ideal for panoramic backdrops on stage.
Also on view to visitors was Barco’s iStudio, one of the most advanced all-in-one solutions for managed monitoring. Intended for use in studios, control centres, playout centres, uplink centres and for downlink monitoring, it has a high quality display with rear screen projection, a graphic controller and web-based operating software.
Show Presentation Services (SPS) has secured a further three-year contract as the preferred AV supplier at the Business Design Centre (BDC) in Islington, London. SPS, which has an in-house residency at the North London venue, has been working on events at the BDC over the last three years, and has most recently provided AV support for Cycle 2002 - The International Cycle Show.
Robin Coles, managing director at SPS, says: "We are delighted to be extending the working relationship with the BDC, and we hope that our expertise will continue to add value to all events at the venue. We have become an integral part of the way in which the BDC works and the two members of the SPS team that are permanently based at the BDC is testament to our close working relationship."
This sentiment is echoed by Dominic Jones, Managing Director at the Business Design Centre. He says: "We feel that having SPS in-house at the BDC has raised the profile of the venue over the past three years, and it is one of the reasons we would like the relationship to continue. During this time we have been particularly impressed by SPS's attention to detail in everything they do, but particularly with regard to health and safety issues, as this is an area where venues can't afford to cut corners."
The new contract is further recognition for SPS's service quality and technical expertise. For Cycle 2002, The International Cycle Show, the company provided a range of AV equipment for the exhibition stands and seminar rooms, as well as providing the set, sound, projection and lighting for
The whole slickly formulated Pop Idol phenomenon is the popular culture movement of the moment. With Will and Gareth topping the UK charts, the live Pop Idol concept is now flying high in the US with a30-date American Idol tour, produced by Simon Fuller and 19 Management, with production handled by Chris Vaughan’s CV Productions.
The show is a superlative example of high production values, with Chris Vaughan’s CV Productions team featuring many who made the first Pop Idol tour gel. With 12 trucks and 24 sold-out UK arena dates, this is some achievement in these politically jittery times.
With Vaughan himself in the States for American Idol, the UK tour is production managed by Kenny Underwood and Debbie Bray, with tour management by Bill Barclay. XL Video UK is once again the live video equipment supplier, working in conjunction with Blink TV - the latter hiring the gear to the band in return for using the side screens during the pre-show and interval ‘down’ times. Blink’s in-house production department, headed by Marcus Viner, prepared the specially-tailored programmes, carefully calculated to bring audience excitement to a crescendo just before the stars take the stage.
The pre-show programme is geared towards Zoë (another Pop Idol product), who plays the opening slot. The changeover Blink programme is full-on Will & Gareth, giving the young audience a chance to prepare their lungs for the impending hormonal meltdown! Live video director is Blue Leach, who worked closely with LD Peter Barnes, the show’s artistic director Kim G
This year’s MOBO awards recognized both new and established artists, from Miss Dynamite and Nora Jones, to the longer-toothed Jimmy Cliff and Chaka Kahn. The production team were closer to the latter in years, but they helped this year’s awards ‘Kick Ass’, as a star-studded occasion.
The atmosphere was more like that of a gig than an awards ceremony, due in large part, to its tight production and planning. The show itself changed format considerably this year, with the guests having dinner before the show in a separate draped area before moving into the main auditorium for the awards.
The event’s production manager, Mick Kluczynski, of MJK Productions, expanded: "We changed the layout in order to keep the show fresh. I brought together my regular team of suppliers, who make a consistent and professional team for the big awards shows I run each year."Peter Bingemann was set designer for the show, his brief to create an 'erotic and boudoir feel' which he did through the use of huge red velvet drapes and a giant gold flower. "We worked from a very intricate model, and built the set from there, so that we could envisage camera angles, and sight lines for the live audience."
Lighting designer Steve Nolan created a series of moods on the set, ranging from a ‘high energy look’ for LL Cool J and Craig David’s sets, through to the ‘sleazy feel’ of the Ashanti Club, and the ‘glitz and glamour feel’ of Chaka Kahn’s set. Vari-Lite supplied Nolan with a Virtuoso console, along wit
The Marquee Club, one of London’s most high profile live music venues, has re-opened at a new location in Islington, North London. After a £4 million fit-out, the club has been transformed into a 1,200-capacity club/live music and entertainment venue. The Marquee brand is now owned by former Eurythmics star Dave Stewart of the Artist Network, and entrepreneur Mark Fuller.
The lighting and visual elements for the new Marquee have been designed and co-ordinated by Dan Cook, who vacated his post as technical manager of the Ocean Music Centre in Hackney to take up the role of lighting manager. Cook designed a flexible lighting rig to cater for a diverse range of artists.
For its rock and roll credentials, Entec Sound & Light was asked onboard by Gary McGovern, Dave Stewart’s studio maintenance manager and the club’s technical consultant. Entec supplied the lighting equipment on a long-term rental basis to facilitate regular updates. Moving fixtures include Martin MAC 600s, High End Cyberlight SVs and Clay Paky Golden Scan HPEs. Added to that are Martin Atomic Strobes and a large variety of conventional fixtures, all controlled by an Avolites Pearl console, working in tandem with Avolites dimmers. Entec has also designed, built and supplied customized power distribution units.
Entec’s Adam Stevenson co-ordinated the supply, which also includes two legs of Tomcat ground support and two flown points for the lighting rig. Entec produced the rigging design and co-ordinated the installation of the hybrid flown/ground support system - a solution to the
Tom Stoppard’s trilogy The Coast of Utopia is just coming to the end of its Royal National Theatre run; not for those with short attention spans, the three sequential plays - Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage - are set across Russia and Europe, and relate an epic story.
Set designer Bill Dudley was struck by the shortness of the play’s scenes and the frequency of location changes. His design had to allow for quick, simple scene changes, which provided the opportunity to use 3D-computer modelling: it was but a short step then to the use of computer-animated projections to provide instant scene changes.
With 75 scenes, kinetics were key to the set and lighting design. The production sees a partnership between Dudley, lighting designer David Hersey, DHA’s projection specialists Wyatt Enever and Steve Larkins, the RNT’s new video department and Dick Straker, its video consultant. The perimeter of the stage is ringed by seven curved panels (6m x 9m). It is onto these that Dudley’s animations are projected, using six Barco video projectors which divide the panels into thirds, with each third having two projectors double-stacked for maximum brightness.
The projected scenery includes a combination of electronically-animated photos and technical drawings, or images modelled in the 3D software and computer-animated, frame by frame. Enever and Larkins supplied a wide range of slides to be used with Dudley’s video projections. Projecting onto the stage is a Pani BP4, flown from over 13m above the stage. The slides supplied by DHA for the overhead
Nocturne Productions & Vidicon are providing Barco high-performance display technology for Paul McCartney’s World Tour, which completed its 50-date North American leg on 29 October in Phoenix, having grossed over $100 million. Nocturne and Vidicon are providing approximately 1,600sq.ft of Barco’s Daylight Display LED video displays and 16 of its high brightness ELM Series DLP projectors for McCartney’s World Tour in Japan. The displays are located on both sides of the stage, each in a spectacular 60ft (18.3m) x 40ft (12.2m) display. 16 Barco ELM R12 projectors are rear-projected, side-by-side, onto eight 15ft (4.5m) x 20ft (6.1m) projection screens left and right of the stage. The stunning configuration is used to show live image magnification and video playback during the show.
Following his successful North American tour stops, McCartney then toured to Mexico City for concerts on 2, 3 and 5 November at Palacio de los Deportes. McCartney will perform in Japan for shows at the Tokyo Dome on 11, 13 and 14 November and the Osaka Dome on 17 and 18 November. Highlights from his World Tour will air on ABC in a two-hour special entitled ‘Back in the U.S.’ on 27 November at 9pm EST. His new live concert album and DVD of the same name will hit the streets the day before.
Vidicon, Nocturne’s LED specialists, owns the world’s largest inventory of Barco DLite 7 equipment. High-profile entertainers in the music industry consistently rely on Nocturne for superior live event production including: Christina Aguilera, U2, Madonna, Aerosmith,
XL Video, the UK's leading live video production specialists, has taken delivery of the first new Barco R18 projectors in the UK. XL has made an initial purchase of four of the new units. This brings XL's total stock of large projectors to over 50. XL director Lee Spencer comments, "It's important to stay at the cutting edge of the industry, and to keep investing in the latest technology as it comes on stream. This has always been XL's philosophy."
The Barco ELM R18 Director projector combines extreme light output, high resolution and advanced signal processing to deliver remarkable performance. It is specifically designed for large screen video projection, and is equipped with the state-of-the-art DLP technology. Combined with Barco's expertise in electronics and optics, the R18 features an impressive 17,000 ANSI lumens and SXGA resolution.
XL Video's busy autumn schedule includes UK tours with top pop acts Blue and Will & Gareth; European tours with Coldplay, the Doves, Ronan Keating, Jah Rule and Oasis (also in Japan) and the American Idol tour in North America. XL is also supplying a projection system for the hit West End musical Our House, and has serviced a myriad of corporate events including the Apple Expo in Paris, The Ryder Cup, the FedEx Rockingham International Cart Series and General Election in Turkey.
(Lee Baldock)
On 22 October, Orange and Microsoft announced the launch of the world’s first Windows-powered Smartphone - the SPV - at a press conference in London. Creative communications agency Park Avenue Productions developed the idea of using moving screens to communicate the key messages of the launch to the audience, and CT were contracted to provide the AV solution.
The event allowed CT to combine Dataton Watchout and QMotion screen movement. Four high-brightness Barco ilite 10mm LED screens in a portrait orientation were flown with Stage One’s Qmotion system. This enabled them to be tracked around the stage, each screen receiving input from the Dataton Watchout System. The Watchout content took the form of colourful images which set each scene, and this was supplemented with Video Stings timed to match the screen movement. The output to the i10 was pixel matched to maintain image quality.
In conjunction with this, a front projection screen was flown in and out with QMotion to match the i10 screen movement. This image came from two front-projecting Barco G8 projectors. The input to the G8 projectors came from an Extron SGS 408 Data Vision Mixer, which handled the mixing of the data feeds and the live D30 Camera feed via a Grass Valley PPU. In addition, two front projection relay screens were positioned further down the hall, using CT’s new 5000 lumen Sanyo PLC X30 projectors.
CT’s project director Jon Hodgson added: "It was good to see the very creative use of LED screen by Park Avenue and by pixel matching the output source, we were able to achi
5 Star Cases, the Cambridgeshire-based flightcase manufacturer, has expanded its sales team with two new members. As from 1 November, Andy Harford has been appointed to look after all 5 Star's retail sales. This is Harford’s second spell at the company, having previously worked for 5 Star as a sales manager on the road. Harford will be mainly office-based, but is available to make visits to customers if required. Harford has a wide knowledge of the DJ Market, being a part-time DJ himself.
The latest addition to the sales team is Dave Peacock: based in Manchester and starting on 6 January 2003, Peacock will become 5 Star's North West sales manager. With 14 years’ experience in every aspect of the flightcase industry, having worked for BSH Transit cases and Condor, Peacock will aim to improve service and support to 5 Star’s existing customers whilst developing new contacts.
(Lee Baldock)
Embarking on his first North American tour in almost a decade, Peter Gabriel kicked off his ‘Growing Up Live’ 2002-2003 tour on 13 November with a stage production that has been termed "spectacular." Lighting designer Luc LaFortune (LD for Cirque du Soleil) has specified High End Systems equipment in the design, including 36 X.Spot HO (High Output) and 36 Studio Beam automated luminaires, as well as four Catalyst systems with orbital mirror heads and six Catalyst media servers. Controlling the show are three Wholehog II consoles with a wing.
The UK's Neg Earth is the primary lighting contractor, with Upstaging as its partner on the North American legs. The Neg Earth crew includes programmer/operator Dennis Gardner, crew chief John Shelly, head electrician Andy Porter, and Dave Cox in charge of Catalyst systems.
(Lee Baldock)
On 14 November, 40sq.m of Barco’s Dlite 10 daylight display solution was on stage at the MTV Europe Awards ceremony in Barcelona. The screen was supplied by XL Video, one of the world’s leading large video display specialists, which due to its reputation has over the years provided equipment to events including The Spice Girls Tour (worldwide), the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the US Open Golf Tournament and U2’s ‘Elevation’ Tour.
"The diversity of important events where our clients have deployed our video displays is a testament to both the quality of our equipment and the dependability of our service," says Rene De Keyzer, managing director of XL Video. "When approached to provide material to high profile events such as the MTV Europe Awards, it is with confidence and pride that we recommend Barco’s material, as we know it will exceed the client’s expectations in terms of absolute picture quality as well as system reliability - two crucial elements to an event which will be watched live by over one billion viewers worldwide."
Stephan Paridaen, VP BarcoProjection, adds: "The honor of having our material chosen for an event such as the MTV Europe Awards attests to our client’s confidence in our equipment. The Barco Dlite 10 display is renowned for its picture quality and will provide outstanding close-ups and high-resolution video during the award ceremony. No doubt the fans will be blown away by the true-to-life images they see on this state-of-the-art technology, both in the arena as well as at home on
Large format projection specialist E//T//C UK projected one of the greatest Britons - Viscount Horatio Nelson - onto the Shell Building on London’s South Bank for the launch of the BBC’s new series Great Britons.
The major new 10-part BBC2 history series, directed by Miriam Jones, included the programme about Nelson, one of the top 10 Great Britons as voted for by the public. The two 6kW PIGI projectors were located in Jubilee Gardens, near the banks of the Thames, and overlaid, to project one 40m wide image across the building.
For the programme’s opening sequence, the camera panned along the Thames, taking in the various sights of that particular stretch of the river, including the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, before swinging round to catch the dramatic projection on the Shell Building, which stands near the Eye.
Three weeks later, E//T//C UK was back at the same building and location for a Remembrance Day projection for the Royal British Legion. This followed on from their incredibly successful projection event last year onto the Wellington Arch at the top of Constitution Hill. Again, the scrolling artwork featured falling poppies. There was also a television element involved, as the poppy projections were broadcast live on London Tonight.
This time, E//T//C used three projectors to make the spectacular statement. Two were overlaid on each other to create the falling poppies 54m wide. The third projector placed the words ‘Pause To Remember’, the Legion’s slogan for this year - 35m wide at the bottom of the image. Th
XL Video were approached by lighting designer Bryan Leitch of Siyan to supply hardware for Coldplay's hihgly successful world tour - which continues until September 2003. Coldplay's unconventional video production includes an eye-catching 48ft by 9ft semi-circular IMAG screen elegantly 'crowning' the stage. With the images in 4:3 ratio, the stage takes on a portrait-shaped look.
Below this - upstage of the band - is a 4-screen RADLite video effects generation system. Several layers of lighting are sandwiched in between the two video systems, giving depth to Coldplay's overall visuals. Siyan commissioned the projection screen from XL Video. The semi-circular idea was initiated by Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin, who approached Leitch and production manager Derek Fudge, wanting a semi-circular thrust stage.
Coldplay's video director is Nick Whitehouse, who is running Siyan's 4-way RADLite system live from an Avolites Sapphire lighting console at FOH. This separate system is fed by four small black and white remote, discreet, miniature cameras, strategically located around the band. Bryan Leitch runs the lighting from another Avo Sapphire console. XL Video is hiring four Barco SLM G5 projectors to the tour. These are flown on the rear (upstage) half of the circular truss, which also hangs the screen on the front half. They cross and rear-project from 30 ft, producing four 12 x 9 images, side by side.
The Barcos are fed from three mini-cameras onstage, and one operated Sony D35 camera, located in the pit. The separate images are slightly overlapped in the line up, a
Image enhancement and gobo specialist Projected Image, has announced the launch of a new division of the company - Projected Image Digital Ltd - and at the same time has announced the appointment of the new division as the exclusive UK distributor for the RADlite PC-based video effects and digital image generating system.
The new division will be based at Three Mills Island in East London and run by directors David March and Jim Douglas, the latter of whom founded Projected Image in 1999. Projected Image, meanwhile, has moved into new, expanded premises at Three Mills in preparation for a busy schedule for 2003. Projected Image Digital will be complementary to the gobo manufacturing side of the business, and dedicated to being at the cutting edge of new digital technology, video generation and projection.
The company was formed to take advantage of the ever-increasing creative integration between moving and stills imaging and lighting under the generic description of ‘show visuals’. "We very much see RADlite as a system for aiding this process, and we want to be at the forefront of this culture," comments March.
Between them, Douglas and March have an impressive aggregate of experience and knowledge in the lighting and video production industry. Both worked together at Vari*Lite during the embryonic years of their careers, and March has recently joined Projected Image from one of the UK’s leading live video rental houses.
RADlite has recently shot into the limelight as a cost-effective video generation package which can be controlled from
Building on their success as video supplier for Madonna’s ‘Up For Grabs’ this summer, XL Video UK is back in the West End working for cinematographer and projection designer Jon Driscoll, and production company Tiger Aspect on the new musical Our House, featuring the music of Madness.
Driscoll and film editor Richard Overall have again teamed up with video scientist Richard Turner to produce the visuals, working in close collaboration with lighting designer Mark Henderson and Tiger Aspect’s production manager Steve Rebbeck. The production’s principal projection sequence takes place during the seminal Madness hit Driving In My Car. The Morris Minor car comes onstage, and the minimal set turns into a giant three-sided screen surface, in old-fashioned Cinema 180 film projection style. The footage propels car and cast on a journey which starts on the streets of Camden Town, careers into the English countryside, via a giant wooden rollercoaster in Great Yarmouth into the sky and then into outer space.
Driscoll wanted to keep the material filmic and panoramic in homage to the Cinerama era. He utilized a combination of 35mm and Super 16, shot on an Arri 435 camera equipped with a time-lapse door, and an Arri SR II camera employing time lapse and long exposure techniques along the way. The footage itself was shot on a tracking vehicle on location in Camden, East Sussex, East Anglia and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, where the original Madness ‘House of Fun’ video was shot. The roller-coaster sequence involved approximately a doz