CPL creates video looks at Camper Calling 2022
- Details
The CPL crew, led by Lee Gruszeckyj, relished the chance to return to this festival, which this year attracted much larger audiences than in 2021, when it was among the first round of live events able to operate as Covid restrictions were tentatively lifted.
This year organisers Jazz Events and everyone involved was buzzed to be back to the full-tilt energy levels of 2019 with a line up including Basement Jaxx, Starsailor, Shed 7, Del Amitiri and James.
Following on from the success of last year’s presentation, the side stage IMAG screens were again flown in portrait format, a move suggested by CPL to frame artist close-ups and full-length shots more stylishly. All the bespoke content could then be tailored to fit.
The two IMAG screens each measured 4.4m wide by 6m tall and were complemented by five different width columns of screen onstage – tapering down as they went offstage, all with a 4.8m drop.
The screen elements were constructed from CPL’s Roe CB5 product, with 115 panels in total on the project, driven by Brompton SS40 processors and XD boxes for distribution, running via a fibre system with loop redundancy.
Two operated Sony HXC 100 HD cameras were positioned at FOH either side of the platform for cross shooting.
The HD camera feeds were augmented with three hot-head remote sources, two above the stage area at the top of the front legs, with a third on a mobile tripod that could be finally positioned as appropriate around the different band blackline set ups.
The visual department has a container backstage for their operational HQ into which they built a custom control unit based around a Barco E2 switcher for screen management. A disguise media server was used for various artist graphics and content plus public announcements.
Lee contacted all the artist production teams directly once the line-up was confirmed and asked them for logos and other graphic materials from which the CPL team created individual 30 or 60 second intro sequences to ramp up the excitement as they took to the stage.
This advance planning also ensured slick changeovers and avoided the stress of having any dubious quality content turning up right at the last minute not formatted for the system!
As each band hit the first bars of their opening number, the video screens all flipped to IMAG, with Lee cutting an animated mix using a Panasonic 410 with some additional keys and aux’s to send different shots to the stage and side screens.
In keeping the look fresh and invigorating, the emphasis was more on IMAG and less on playback footage, keeping the artists fully centre stage and connecting with their audience as that atmosphere is right at the essence of Camper Calling.
CPL supplied six half tonne ProLyft hoists to fly the side screens, with the onstage screen attached to a dedicated truss with catenary wires and clips.
DMX control of the LED screen was provided to the lighting department, so they could adjust the brightness.
A full set of Riedel Bolero wireless comms was supplied for the crew, and joining Lee was Shaun Foster, Jo Khimasia (CPL’s live event technician apprentice), James Wagstaff, Phil Manson, Derek Gruszeckyj and Daryl Kibblewhite. Lee commented, “There were absolutely no issues with finding crew for this one - everyone was up for it! It’s intense work once everything is running, but it is great fun and a fabulous event in all aspects!”
CPL has worked on Camper Calling since it was launched in 2016. “Their commitment to production values is really impressive,” says Lee, explaining that “the idea is to change up each year and improve the guest experience in some way which involves increasing the production and experimenting with different ideas.”
