No less earth moving is the video content for the play, devised and designed by cinematographer Jon Driscoll. XL has worked with Driscoll on a number of other West End projects including Madonna's Up For Grabs the Madness musical Our House, and most recently; Jerry Springer The Opera.
Featuring both front projections using Barco SLM G5's and rear projection using NEC XT5000's. The latter is located behind the set and features wide-angle lenses throwing a single, wide screen image onto a 7 x 3m upstage surface. The 3m deep set frames the rear projection screen, which is used to portray scenic elements and locations. The rear screen content runs off two Blade MPEG 2 hard drives streamed through a Micro Vision digital video mixer. This enables specific cues to be activated in real time, responding precisely and in sync with the actors playing the scene.
The downstage screen also measures 7 x 3m and rolls on in two halves from stage left and right, via tab tracks, joining in the middle of the downstage edge of the set. Two SLM G5 front projectors are rigged onto the front of the dress circle and fed by two Doremi V1 hard drive sources. The front projection screen comes alive during scene changes. As in the movie; a series of couples are shown sitting on a sofa, talking about their relationships and, marriages. The footage was shot by Driscoll, and edited by collaborator Richard Overall.
An AMX NetLinx controller, triggered by MIDI commands from the sound console, controls the vision mixing and all four SDI sources (Blades and Doremis) as well as opening and closing the projector shutters. The solid-state, fully embedded NetLinx system, was chosen for its robustness and reliability. It's also allowed XL Video's programmer, Quintin Willison to set up a touch screen panel for the operator, providing feedback and reporting facilities, ideal for ongoing system maintenance; and for the ability to execute any command at any time if required. The project was co-ordinated by XL's project manager Paul Wood.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
