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Aerial Technology Reaches New High with Asian Games Ceremonies
Stage One pulled off one of their greatest technical challenges ever, putting their extensive engineering capabilities into practice for both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the recent 15th Asian Games in Doha in The State of Qatar.
Dubbed one of the most technically spectacular sports ceremonies in history, both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were produced and created by David Atkins Enterprises (DAE) of Australia and told the story of a young man on a voyage of discovery through Asia, guided only by the stars and his Astrolabe.
Stage One were commissioned to supply all the aerial engineering and associated automation for both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies along with three of the Opening Ceremonies main stage trucks. Working extremely closely with the director of ceremonies and cultural events in DAGOC Sharif Hashisho, producer David Atkins, director of design Eamon D’Arcy, technical director Paul Bates and production designer Michael Scott-Mitchell, Stage One were an integral part of the core team throughout the process.
Technical director Jim Tinsley said: “Once again we’ve proved we can deliver, advancing our technological know-how with the development of a new server-based version of Next-Q (providing the capability for multiple operator locations and a theoretically unlimited number of motion stack playbacks), our new Q-Pos Mk4 2 channel positional controller with SSI encoder inputs and our new multi-reeve long travel hoist with a proven positional capability of a staggering 500 metres of travel.”
He added: “We have also been working on final system developments to complete our product range including; a new Next-Q wireless tablet for easy setup and local control and a new Next-Q operator console, both should be available in the next few months.”
All of the aerial engineering elements were commissioned by DAE technical manager, James Lee, who asked Stage One’s Q-Motion and engineering team to design, supply, rig and commission 143 axes of aerial automation for use in both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
To perform the complex show moves, 13 primary catenaries were rigged east to west across the stadium, ‘strung’ between an existing grandstand roof and a temporarily built giant LED cyclorama. This required another innovative Stage One solution, as Jim explains: “It was apparent that the catenary loads had to be managed at all times to stop the supporting structures collapsing. Our solution was to govern the catenary forces by means of attaching the catenary on one side to a hydraulic ram that automatically paid in and out, to maintain a constant catenary load.”
In all, 11 catenaries had four traverse trolleys on them with associated luff sheaves. The remaining two catenaries were rigged with four ways of three-dimensional flying, utilised mainly for the Golden Falcon and the Astrolabe Sphere. These complex moves were plotted in Stage One’s 3D animation software and downloaded directly to the Q-Pos positional controllers along with all the 2D moves, allowing for a very fast turnaround of any changes required.
Finally, to emphasize the scale of this epic show at its climax, 14 tonnes of scenery along with 26 people were moved by Stage One at speeds in excess of 2m per second at a height of up to 60 metres throughout the field of play.
The three stage trucks were commissioned by DAE head of technical design, Piers Shepperd, who offered some interesting scenic and engineering problems for the Sun stage, the Astrolabe stage and the Rocky Outcrop stage.
The Sun stage was built to reveal a horse and rider from a subterranean lift and weighed in at 16 tonnes. The Sun stage was a feat of engineering and automation packaged into a 10-metre diameter stage truck. It consisted of eight cantilevered sun rays which acted as ramps for the horse, with a further eight sun rays rotating out from underneath. The rays were finished with copper laminate and inset with rubber strips to cope with the impact of the horse’s hooves and assist with their grip. The movements of all 16 rays were controlled separately using Stage One’s newly enhanced positional controller, Q-Pos Mk4 - developed to interface with SSI encoded hydraulic cylinders, allowing each item to be moved independently or simultaneously to a fixed location and at a fixed speed. This was an invaluable feature for rehearsals and for integrating the final show cues.
The Astrolabe is perhaps the most lavish single piece Stage One has ever built, the detail and level of finish of the Astrolabe truck was simply put, superb. Appearing on the central lift, again controlled by Q-Pos and SSI encoded hydraulics, the Astrolabe’s four arches opened up to reveal this complex piece in its full glory. The finishes consisted of a highly detailed chrome surface, inlaid with white acrylic detail and overlaid across the whole surface with Arabic lettering and chrome detail. LED lighting strips highlighted areas in the stage deck with further LED lighting on the main arches and stage deck adding to the effects.
The Rocky Outcrop was built in three circular sections, which were engineered to telescope out from each other as the piece was revealed on the central lift. The Rock structure was formed using moulded sections of polystyrene, which were then sprayed with a toughening foam application. Although a lightweight substrate it gives a hard and durable surface that can be scenically finished as required - in this case it was given the appearance of rock.
1st February 2007
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