Leicester Mercury Sports Awards

Introduction

The Leicester Mercury Sports Awards is an annual event held to celebrate and reward individuals who have gone above and beyond within the sporting sector. Premier were tasked by the organisers, Champions, with providing the AV for the event. This included audio, video, lighting, staging, rigging and effects with additional event specific requirements which Premier dealt with directly. The event was held at Leicester Tigers Stadium in Leicester, an iconic venue for sporting events.

 

Pre-Production

Upon receiving the brief from the client, our production team were able to analyse every aspect of the show to ensure smooth running of the event. Visiting the Tigers Stadium in the months leading up to event day gave them an idea into the possible layout and design which could be implemented safely and effectively, whilst still providing the ‘stand out’ factor.

Having an idea of the venue layout raised some questions regarding the capability of the lighting as the awards required both generic and LED room / stage wash. To effectively light the room, Premier proposed a 20m run of truss above the stage which would consist of warm generic lighting for efficient modelling of presenters / award winners on stage and then LED moving lights for stings and colourful room lighting.

Proposing this truss span called for Premier to liaise with the venue in assuring rig points were available and rated to lift the required items, to height. After proposing this another question was raised regarding overall weight as to use 3 motors would add 150kg so Premier opted for manual chain hoists. This removal of weight from the overall structure meant additional lights could be proposed for the awards.

This event required a disability ramp that would work with the staging setup we had proposed. A versatile ramp that has variable incline and height was installed, allowing quick and easy setup alongside the ability for the incline angle to be changed upon request to suit the needs of the guests.

 

Equipment Used

A full audio system composing of flown 8XT L-Acoustics speakers and 12XT L-Acoustics speakers on the floor spread out evenly gave every guest in the room full coverage of the action. Inputs such as the AKG CK43 lectern microphone and DPA 4088 headsets were the main sources alongside Q-Lab which was all mixed with a Yamaha LS9-16 digital desk. Accompanying this system was 4 x SB18 subs which gave low end to audio stings and the DJ performance, thus providing a full 30hz – 20khz system which was required.

Lighting in the venue was controlled by the Avolites Quartz with an Elation E-Node in between the lights and the desk. The E-Node offers control over ArtNet allowing more universes alongside the ability to use it as a DMX splitter giving flexibility to the lighting rig. The 20m truss run above stage included Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and 5R Pro for effects accompanied by Selecon Fresnel’s and ETC Source 4 Juniors. Working together these lights give effect on stage and within the room itself to add to the ‘awards’ atmosphere.

The video component for this event was crucial with 2 main screens being powered by the PT-RZ970 10k projector which were fed scaled, quality-controlled video sources such as cameras and show laptops relaying branded content, VT’s and PowerPoints.

Premier also have in stock a handy piece of kit when it comes to recording live, with ability to combine audio with video and store it on a 480gb SSD. The Samurai Blade HD-SDI recorder offers various compression codecs however the one used was Apple ProRes 442, this lossy compression codec will record up to 8K with a 10-bit sample depth. This system is designed to allow the end user a simple cost-effective way of editing and making recorded videos of events, for clients.

The camera system for this event was a remote-controlled Lumens VC-G50 HD camera with control over 3 pin XLR from the Lumens PTZ Controller. Ability to adjust the iris, focus and zoom efficiently gives the show team more ability within the video system.

Effects such as the Showven Sparkulars made yet another appearance at this event with 4 spread out evenly across the stage for stings and when award winners are announced. With 12 minutes run time per Sparkular and adjustable throw height, these are great for multiple short stings and offer massive effect on the actual presentation of awards.

Another effect included in this production package was the Astera AX3 battery powered uplighters. These can be used in various contexts such as truss warmers, statue / prop uplighting and generic room uplighting however for this event we have added to the list of its uses. 2 of the Optikinetics Trilite 200 lecterns were proposed for this event and controllable by wireless DMX at the base of the lectern could be found the AX3 uplighter. The lighting within these lecterns was RGB allowing full colour mixing capability and with the supplied 30-degree filter which sits on the light it gave a soft but controlled lighting state.

 

Feedback

As a company responsible for running many high-profile events throughout the year, our reputation is paramount. Premier Events have been supplying our AV equipment for a number of our events, including the Leicester Mercury Sports Awards.

For the Leicester Mercury Sports Awards the team really understood our needs and delivered a bespoke AV package to suit. They didn’t just supply the equipment and leave it at that though, they were on hand to help us resolve any problems or glitches we had and helped us to ensure the event ran seamlessly from beginning to end.

Lauren Ecob – Champions Events Manager

 

Stats

Total Equipment Value – £178,521

Total Weight – 5 tonnes

Transport – 1x 18T Truck

Premier Team

• 1x Production Manager
• 1x Sound Engineer
• 1x Lighting Engineer
• 1x Video Engineer
• 8x Crew