CPL delivers Carnival of Colour for Tropic
- Details
The extravaganza for 2,500 people - themed Carnival of Colour - was staged in Hall 4 at the NEC, Birmingham, UK.
CPL’s production and project manager Lee Gruszeckyj worked closely with Pandora’s Vanessa Carter and a crew of 27 technicians specialising in all the disciplines who started with the installation of a 20m diameter circular stage in the centre of the room. The inner 10m diameter section was a revolve.
Above this, four large screens were installed, which were fed by Barco UDX high-powered projectors, giving 360° viewing angles.
The stage was a full custom design and build for the event, with a Steeldeck base covered in bespoke ply pieces to make up the spherical shape and the revolve machinery installed in the middle, completely flush with the outer section, so not immediately evident to the eye. The whole surface area was finished in white gloss vinyl.
The four screens flown above the central stage each measured 16m wide by 4.5 high, and each was fed by a pair of doubled-up Barco UDXW32 32K lumen projectors which were positioned on the largest of three concentric circular trusses flown - chandelier style at slightly staggered heights in the roof.
On the two lower trussing circles, 70 x 1.2m by 100mm wide Roe pixel strips were rigged running via Brompton T1 processors and fed with video content which produced colour and movement effects above the stage, and also eye-catching kinetics during the production numbers.
Four Sony HXC-100 HD cameras were utilised for the IMAG mix of the band / speakers / presenters / award winners, etc., mixed via a GV Kayak PPU, and ISO and TX records of the evening were also produced.
Around 200 lighting fixtures - a mix of generics, LEDs and moving lights - populated the three circular trusses.
The 150 moving lights were made up from a mix of Robe Pointes, Spikies and LEDBeam 150s and the generics were a combination of profiles, Fresnels and spots, all operated by Ian Wood and Peter Thompson using a grandMA console.
A substantial L-Acoustics sound system comprised Kara, HiQ and Arcs Wide speakers. The crucial audio aspect was to get the speaker drops in exactly the correct places for optimal coverage right across the voluminous hall.
The band, Fully Funktional, had both FOH and monitors mixed via two Yamaha CL5 consoles.
Thirty six channels of Shure Axient Digital wireless mics ensured that the band were fully wireless, which was the only option due to the revolve and their central room positioning, and a Sennheiser G3 IEM system completed the monitor package.
DPA 4099 mics were deployed for the drum kit with an array of mics including DPA 2011s for the rest of the band’s instruments.
A full Riedel Bolero comms system was installed throughout the show-space connecting all involved in the event.
(Jim Evans)
