Pandemonium Productions' MD, Simon Garrett collaborated with Brunel University's event manager, Liz Thomas, from the outset. Garrett appointed Malcolm Birkett as production manager. Together they managed their team of preferred suppliers to tackle the challenge of transforming the Athletics Centre into a ceremonial auditorium environment, which complied with current DDA regulations.
Working with appointed set designer, Ian Fogden of IFD Design, Pandemonium configured a set that was sympathetic to the simplicity of the hall.
Custom built by Centre Stage, the modular stage boasted a curved frontage, central steps and incorporated two DDA compliant ramps either side of the ceremony area. Above the stage, two 16:9 front projection screens (5.33m x 3m), showed live relays of the event. The screens were joined by a central scenic panel with a relief rendering of the Brunel crest.
Production manager Malcolm Birkett commented: "One of the key challenges to overcome was the protection of the Athletics Centre's floor. We spent time sourcing a suitable covering manufactured by Softfloor, which provided the perfect solution."
Arena Seating supplied a theatre-style arrangement of its upholstered tiered structure seats that were positioned stage left and right, with another 500 flat seats positioned centre stage for the graduates. This configuration allowed the desired 1,500 capacity audience for each ceremony.
Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout was appointed to provide all the 'softs' for the event. Over 150m of black wool drapes were suspended around the perimeter 'masking' daylight from the venue and softening the acoustic potential of the space.
Delta Sound specified a flown distributed d&b audiotechnik speaker system, which was suspended onto the 130m presentation truss structure. At the FOH position a Midas H1000 added flexibility on site.
Jon Pope of Lighting Design Services specified the production lighting that complemented the set design. The lighting solution fused a classic combination of Par 64's, Source 4's and Fresnels to achieve the desired effect. The audience was lit with 2000W fresnels in light pink. All the lights were controlled via a Celco 60 lighting desk and a 72-way Avolites dimmer rack.
AV supplier Cookie Jar, headed by Ed Jarman supplied four Panasonic 10k (10,000 ANSI lumens) projectors, which were double hung to provide extra brightness and used to front project the real-time footage captured on stage by projectionist, Steve Highgate and video director, Steve Rowsell, using cameras supplied by XL Video positioned FOH.
(Jim Evans)
