Commented John Anderson, in his second year of designing the show: "The idea of a sliding screen this year was at the request of director, Richard Valentine. Also we moved the (36 x 1 module) i6 LED banner from the overhead proscenium last year onto the stage; it looked very prominent in the foreground." He said that the support he received from CT, and in particular project manager Steve Purkess, had been excellent.
Away from London, CT also sited two large LED imag screens at each of the regional outside broadcast locations as they have in previous years. This year they were on duty in Hull, Gloucester and Carlisle, with the live action relayed back to the studio during the course of the evening. This enabled the huge crowds who assembled to witness the activity on a pair of 18sq.m 25mm displays in Hull and Gloucester, and a pair of 10sq.m Barco D10s, which reinforced the images in Carlisle.
Creative Technology have serviced Children In Need for a number of years, but this is the first time that both the regional events and studio show had been managed by Steve Purkess. It is testament to the strength and depth of the CT team that they managed to provide such a quantity of LED screens for Children in Need, while over the same weekend servicing The X-Factor, Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, England vs South Africa rugby at Twickenham, The National Indoor Rowing Championships, Valderama Golf Masters, GT Cars, Bahrain and the Gabrielle tour. In all, 442sq.m of CT LED screen was out on hire on this busy weekend, the company reports.
(Lee Baldock)
