"TED is an unbelievable event where the best of the world's minds in art, science, philosophy, politics and business gather to share ideas with talks and presentations ranging from poetry to music to amazing medical advances," says Bob Bonniol, principal creative director of Seattle's MODE Studios, a grandMA2 user who was asked to provide video design for the main sessions and several social spaces. "I know that MA has put a lot of time into this console. What I hear from everyone, and what I experienced myself at TED, is that the grandMA2 is ready for primetime. Many of the top programmers I know have made the switch and expressed a great deal of enthusiasm for it."
On the main stage in Long Beach Bonniol deployed a 75 x 35ft rear projection backdrop, three Hippotizer HD units, three Barco DML 1200 projectors on a yoke and fed six Barco FLM 22 projectors.
"It sounded impossible to most, but we knew we could do it," Bonniol reports. "We talked to DannyO Video about providing the equipment; there wasn't enough throw for one large projector, so we used the Hippos to blend vertically and horizontally. In addition to the big scenic rear projection there were speaker presentation screens in unique places like up on the balconies and on the side walls for the audience in-the-round. There was no way to mount regular projectors for this application, so we mounted multiple Barco DML 1200s up in the lighting rig: Projectors on yokes gave us the most flexibility." The grandMA2 provided control of the equipment complement.
"The grandMA2 was just splendid," Bonniol says. "As a designer, I prefer to have a programmer with me, but advances in how the grandMA2 presents information and the way it programs it made it so much simpler that I can take on programming responsibilities. I used the tutorial on the console to train myself, and within 48 hours I felt very comfortable with the console. Then I did the preprogramming for the event and was very gratified by the flexibility of the system."
In addition to Bonniol the TED Video Design team included Danny O'Bryan, Randy Mayer, Marty Kel, Keith Black and Bo Crowell of DannyO Video, as well as Colleen Bonniol and Stuart Kenney of MODE Studios.
(Jim Evans)
