Birmingham Post Business Awards

BRIEF:

To provide full production for the annual Birmingham Post Business awards. This event required the combination of video, lighting & audio along with working alongside in house venue technicians to bring the event at the ICC in Birmingham alive.

There was also a separate drinks reception featuring live music whilst the guests arrived. The given brief was an awards dinner celebrating the best business’ and individuals within Birmingham over the past year, this also incorporated two live acts, fixed camera with a 40m shot and lighting elements across the vast space within the ICC.

PROCESS:

After discussing the event requirements with the client and sourcing technical drawings from the venue we started to design a set and technical elements to complement the room as well as give maximum impact to the guests.

Once the set was designed using 3D software a render was sent to the client showing how it would look on the stage at the ICC. With this signed off we could send the set drawings down to our workshop for manufacturing and custom wrapping.

Using L-Acoustic Sound Vision we mapped out the room and plotted the room to ensure that we had the correct amount of line array cells as well as even coverage across the room.

Post quotation we draw technical plans, provide health and safety documents, book the technical team and crew as well as draft a working document which allows all technicians to get an idea of what it is they are doing to ensure we can be efficient and safe in our workings.

 

EQUIPMENT USED:

With such a big space and the intricate nature of the clients content video was an important part of this event using two large 24ft video projection screens with four 10k Projectors as well as two 6K projectors for the central 14ft screen this gave the clients content a large area to be see on. Running the Analog Way Pulse 2 in matrix mode allowed a variety of options for displaying the various content including the live camera feed, a Sony PMW-350K, used for speeches and special entertainment.

For audio we made use of L-Acoustic Kara line array featuring nine cells aside as well flown subs. We added additional cells to the front of the stage as front fill. On stage for the acts we used L-Acoustic 12xt.  All amps we L-Acoustic LA8’s which allowed us to control the amps over a network. We opted for the AKG CK43 Lectern microphones on each lectern as back up. For the hosts we used  wireless Sennheiser EW300 handheld microphones, and beltpacks coupled with dpa4088 headsets this gave a great reliable sound from the hosts.  Using our modular racks all of this could easily be connected and controlled by the in house Digico Desk.

Video was a crucial part of the entire production component with 3 fastfold screens hung across the venue from the balconies so the audience could see PowerPoints, videos and a live camera feed all fed into a Pulse PLS350 switcher. We opted for a matrix mode configuration which allowed the addition of a comfort monitor to have a separate feed from the audience screens. For video recording and live camera feed we made use of our PMW-350K and Atmos Samurai Recorder.

Lighting was controlled by an Avolites Sapphire with lines to the house lighting in the roof as well as the floor package. The floor package consisted fourteen Elation Sixbar 1000 used as set uplighting, four elation Davinci, four Chauvet Rogue 3’s and  twenty showtec lightbars. This combination of lights not only added colour to the set but also the walls around the room.  The moving fixtures gave great effects for winner stings and was very impactful in the space drawing people’s attention to the stage. Four Sparkulars were used at the bottom and top of the steps to give even more impact when the winners went to collect their awards.

STATS:

• Total equipment value – £183,369
• Total Weight – 4048kg
• Transport – 1no 26T

Premier Team

• 1no Production Manager
• 1no Senior Video Technician
• 1no Camera Operator
• 1no Sound technician
• 2no General Crew