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CT and Dimension Join Forces for Great Result at Laureus World Sport Awards
Inaugurated in 2000 and now in its ninth year, the annual Laureus World Sports Awards was put in place to recognise the achievements of both teams and individuals that symbolise the very best in sport. This year, it was staged in the historic Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall (formerly known as the Kirov Opera and Ballet) in St Petersburg, Russia, on February 18 and was televised to a worldwide audience.
Working for production company Done and Dusted, leading audiovisual services company Creative Technology (CT) provided the event’s demanding screen requirements, a service it has been providing to the Laureus Awards for the past three years whilst sister company, Dimension Audio, was on hand to address its audio needs.
In charge of CT’s five man crew was project manager Alex Leinster, who explains what was involved: “We used Barco OLite 612 modules for the main screen in an 8x6 module which was split into four columns that were tracked backwards and forwards on a Vertigo Rigging system during the show, to create entrances for winners and presenters to emerge through.
“We then had a further 1,296 tiles of OLite 612 that were housed in custom metal work on each side of the main screen and divided up as three ‘fingers’ on either side.”
Barco’s lightweight, transparent MiTRIX modules were then used to create a 40m-wide banner around the top of the theatre’s auditorium, comprising a total of 663 tiles, again housed within custom metal work. A further two panels, consisting of 174 tiles of MiTRIX, were positioned on either side of the stage.
“We used another 126 tiles of MiTRIX to cover the master truss that supported the tracking OLite screen,” continues Leinster. “That meant we used a grand total of 1,137 tiles of MiTRIX, none of which were in a standard configuration. It was a complex system, but it all went together quite smoothly.”
Control for the system was via seven Barco D320PL processors, with playback from five Hippotyzer media servers. “These were controlled by video services company Digital Insanity,” adds Leinster. “They ran everything from the Hippotyzers straight through into our system, with the tracking screen going via the OB truck so they could cut to VT content as well as live camera footage.”
The ‘art’ for the screens was supplied to CT by graphics agency Hello Charlie and played back by Digital Insanity. Content for the main screen came from the OB truck and had already been scaled by CT and sent to the truck for mixing.
Meanwhile, Dimension’s remit was to provide a loudspeaker system that could adequately cover the steep rake of the venue’s seating. “The Mariinsky was designed as an acoustic venue,” says Dimension’s Staf Rowley. “But when you’re putting on a big television production, you have a different set of parameters from those for which the room was originally intended and this meant we had to put in a PA, which included amplifying the orchestra. We used the number of cabinets we did in the line array because of the steep rake of the seating. It was quite extraordinary: from top to bottom it was around nine metres, so we needed a significant number of cabinets to ensure complete coverage.”
Dimension provided a d&b loudspeaker system to cover the venue’s various levels, with other equipment including Sennheiser radio mics and a Yamaha PM5D mixing console at front of house, as well as utilising the in-house equipment. “We used two drops of d&b Q-Series line array,” explains Rowley. “This comprised six Q1 passive two-way cabinets with a Q7 per-side, plus two Q-SUBs per-side at the top of the array. We tried to use as much in-house kit as we could - it makes economic and environmental sense to transport as little equipment as possible. The Russian OB truck owned quite a lot of microphones that were ideal because we were simply lifting the orchestra.”
The audience numbered only 500 specially invited guests, but they were seated in a horseshoe shape, so Dimension also supplied a number of small d&b cabinets as infills, which were hung from the truss to ensure that each and every occupied seat was covered.
As with any event such as this, Dimension had to make sure they catered for the unknown, as well as the known. “We’re usually given confirmation of the line up and running order a couple of days before the event,” adds Staf. “But when you’re working in a remote location such as St Petersburg, you have to make sure you can account for the unforeseen and be as adaptable as possible. We achieved that with a flexible system and an excellent crew. In particular, Bill Birks, who was at front of house and is extremely good in any situation you care to throw him into, and George Hogan who is a radio mic expert.
“As you can imagine, working in Russia with their radio mics and bringing in some of our own meant we had quite a complicate system running, but George worked with all parties to ensure that none of the frequencies used caused any problems.”
“With a combination of the right equipment and great crew from both CT and Dimension, the event went extremely well,” concludes CT’s business development manager, Adrian Offord.
“It is important for an event such as this that we provide both a solid, reliable service, as well as something that is new and exciting each year, and we think we’ve achieved that.”
19th March 2008
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