petermccrea

#WeMakeEvents

11/08/2020 by petermccrea

The events sector urgently needs further government support to survive the COVID-19 crisis.

Without major immediate support from government, the entire live events sector supply chain is at risk of collapse. We have seen our friends and colleagues facing redundancy, and business having to permanently close their doors.

Red Alert is a campaign to raise public and media awareness in support of the live events sector which employs over circa 1,000,000 highly skilled people in the UK, all of whom have had no work for the past four months with little likelihood of restarting until Spring 2021.

The campaign is being run by a large and growing industry collective of trade bodies, businesses and freelancers affected by the shutdown all working together. It spans online and social messaging, video, case studies and legal outdoor events to gain media attention, with specific activities occurring on August 11th.

Our aim is to have financial support extended for the people and companies in this sector until they can return to work. So join now the collective efforts to get the industry’s voice heard, calling for sustained immediate financial support by visiting #WeMakeEvents. Watch. Share. Record. Write.

www.plasa.org/we-make-events/

#WeMakeEvents #LetTheMusicPlay #LightItInRed #RishiSunak #OliverDowden #CarolineDinenage #SkyNews #BBCNews #festival #festivalseason #livemusic #livemusicrocks #liveevent #supportneeded #glastonbury #festivallove #gigs #livegig #liveeventssector #covid19 #redalert

@Rishi Sunak @Caroline Dinenage @Oliver Dowden @Jo Stevens @BBC News @ITV News @BBC Breakfast @BBC Radio 1 @BBC Radio 4 @BBC Radio 6 Music @Headliner Magazine @LSi Online @Tpi Magazine @Pro AVL Asia Magazine @Time Out London

COVID-19

11/05/2020 by petermccrea

COVID-19 has become a central part of our lives in the recent months, disrupting our normal life. Members of our team have lost loved ones, our extended families and friends have been kept apart, and patterns of work have shifted.

Production AV, like every other business has felt the effects.

We have worked to secure the business as best we can. Our staff are mostly furloughed, or are following government guidance and working from home, and social distancing where we have to undertake projects.

We are still operating to support essential work, and helping our customers prepare for the return of the new normal. However with reduced staff, it might take us longer to respond.

If you do have equipment that you need, or projects that you want to plan, then please do get in touch with us, either on our usual phone number of via email on info@productionav.co.uk.

We’re also working on our streaming and virtual studio solutions for when the guidelines allow us to deliver them appropriately.

Open House Event

16/04/2019 by petermccrea

Open House Event 7th and 8th May

The start of the year has seen us relocate to our new home in Cheltenham.

Now we’re more settled, we’d love to show you round our new home. So on the 7th and 8th of May we will be throwing the doors open and inviting you to come and see who, and where we are.

There will be an opportunity to meet the team and learn a bit more about where we have come from and our plans for the future.

We will be open between 10:30am and 5pm on both days.

There will be a range of solutions on display including our 6mm, 3.9mm and 2.6mm LED screens, 4K screen management system, Media Servers and Camera solutions amongst others.

We’ll also be showcasing some of our recent projects, such as our large scale mapping for Remembrance Sunday, and recent work with the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Help us celebrate 14 years!

May sees Production AV turn 14, so we’d love you to celebrate with us!

The evening of the 7th May will be more of an informal party between 5pm and 9pm, with a light buffet and locally sourced refreshments.

To make sure we can give you time on the days, please RSVP to openhouse@productionav.co.uk with your preferred day and time.

We look forward to seeing you on the 7th and 8th May!

We Have Moved!

14/01/2019 by petermccrea

New Premises for future growth.

After nearly 10 years in our previous premises, the time has come for the move to our home for the next stage in the companies life. Preparation and storage of equipment had become increasing hard due to our increases in inventory, so the search for premises had been ongoing for the last 18 months. Eventually suitable space was found in Cheltenham with the move happening in early January 2019. Offering over 9,000 square feet of space divided across 7000 sq ft of warehouse and the remainder as office and service space, we’re excited to be settling in to the new premises.

The new space gives us the ability to build large LED screens or stage sets within the premises for pre-production purposes, as well as having individual spaces for meetings, and studio space for visualisation and programming of media servers. We’ll also be increasing our space for custom fabrication works to allow us to go the extra mile for our clients.

New Address:

Unit F Ashville Trading Estate,
The Runnings,
Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire,
GL51 9PT

Telephone: 01242 517203

We’d love to show you round: drop us a line, we’ll get the kettle on and show you round! We’ll also be holding a series of open days in March – if you’d like an invite then email info@productionav.co.uk

Stolen Equipment

24/08/2018 by petermccrea

Update – Friday 31st Aug

Northamptonshire Police spotted a suspicious van parked in a lay-by about 15 miles from the scene of the theft on Sunday 26th. Thankfully the van contained all the stolen equipment, apart from a Leatherman and torch. All the equipment has, today, been returned to us.

A massive thank you to Northamptonshire Police, and our Insurance brokers Ryan Waring and Richard from Vista Insurance for their work and support.

Also a massive thank you to all the friends of the company that have shared the post across the various platforms, which hopefully had some impact on the thieves plans for the stolen equipment. We really appreciated it!

Stolen Equipment

We have suffered a vehicle break in between approximately 22:00 on the 23rd and 08:00 on the 24th August at the Thrapston Travelodge, Kettering. Our van was targeted in the car park of the Travelodge, with the thieves stealing a quantity of equipment, mostly marked as Production AV, but some sub hired from Central Presentations.

Thankfully the equipment is spares or pool kit, so the event has started without any issues.

All the equipment serial numbers are logged on our database, so if you come across any suspect items, we can verify the serial numbers.

Stolen Equipment:

Qty 2 Barco TLD+ 1.5-2.0:1 Lens in black 5 Star Flight cases,
Qty 2 Barco TLD+ 2.8-4.5:1 Lens in black 5 Star Flight cases,
Qty 1 Apple MacBook Pro in black 5 Star Flight case with Playback Pro + software USB Key,
Qty 1 Da Lite Fastfold Screen Kit 8’x 6′, frame, legs, front and rear surfaces in black poly case,
Qty 2 AV Stumpfl projection screen kit, 10’8″x6′ with frame, legs, front and rear surfaces in case,
Qty 2 Interspace Industries Microcue kits (Transmitter, aerial, receiver and 2 USB cables in black zip pouch)
Qty 1 Plus U5-732 3500 Lumen Projector in black zip bag,
Qty 2 Samsung ME55 screen in Red 5 Star Flight case, with power cable and Unicol mounting plates
Qty 1Black 5 Star ‘Tall Norman’ production case with various tools, adaptors, tape and food/drink, as well as a quantity of our new mugs!
Qty 1 Black 5 Star Arena Series 600 Flight case with quantity of 16A mains cables and adaptors,
Qty 1 Black Peli 1510 with various and assorted tools,
Qty 1 Orange North Face Duffle bag with rigging ropes, harness and assorted hardware,
Qty 1 Black Peli Storm case with assorted tools,

The Northamptonshire Police crime reference number is 18000402947.

If you have any information on the equipment, then please give us, or the Northamptonshire Police a call on 01452 372728 or 101 respectively.

Continued Equipment Investment

29/02/2016 by petermccrea

Production AV is proud to announce further investment in equipment in the form of the Barco S3-4K and EC-50 screen control system from Barco. Ideal for switching DisplayPort, HDMI and SDI sources, the S3-4K is ideal for a range of uses in situations from Live Events and Exhibitions to Conferences and Trade Shows. The processors partner with our high resolution 3.9mm Indoor and 6mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Screen products and High quality projection products for a complete solution.

Native 4K Solution

The S3-4K offers native support for 4K sources allowing the capability to manage and switch 4K content for displays. With up to 12 inputs and 10 outputs available in the HD setting the S3-4K offers real flexibility. Combined with the EC-50 Controller for hands on control of sources, layers and Presets the system offers a great solution for switching AV sources at conferences, exhibitions, lives events, music gigs, trade shows corporate events and awards ceremonies.

Increased Flexibility

Where you require additional sources or outputs, then the Barco E2 offers these. Offering 28 inputs over HDMI, 3G HD-SDI and DisplayPort, as well as 14 outputs the E2 is designed for the larger event or show. It will also seamlessly link with the S3-4K to offer additional inputs and flexibility.

Remote Control

Both the E2 and S3-4K can be controlled by the Barco Event Master software, which offers control of the entire system and work flow from a computer or laptop. In addition to this Production AV have invested into the EC50 controller to allow operators hands on tactile control over sources, layers and preset.

For more details on the products please see their respective product pages.

Barco E2

Barco S3-4K

Barco EC-50

If you would like a quotation for a particular project, or a demo of the capabilities of the switcher, then please do contact us.

Superdry Autumn/Winter16 for Tarren Production Ltd

20/01/2016 by petermccrea

Complete Conference AV Solution

Production AV had the pleasure of working for our long term client Tarren Production Ltd on several parts on the Autumn/Winter 2016 launch held by Superdry in Cheltenham in early January 2016. SuperGroup used a disused warehouse near their HQ in Cheltenham, which was used for a catwalk show and after show party, as well as running a series of presentations in their new staff canteen adjacent to the new site.

In the Cafe space, Tarren Production contracted Production AV to supply a simple but complete production package of sound lighting, video and staging. Utilising d&B Audio Q7 and QSUB speakers, D12 amplifiers and Allen and Heath QU32 mixing desk to provide a full range sound system for the spoken word and presentations, video was taken based around a 12,000 Lumen projector and 16’x9′ screen for the brightly lit space, with a Barco PDS901 switcher for allowing a clean fade between laptops and video playback handled by PlayBackPro+ running on Apple Mac Mini computers. Simple lighting highlighted the presenters on the 3m x 2m stage that was set up in the venue. Olie Goulding was onsite to oversee the running of the event and ensure that the presenters could focus on their presentations.

Fashion Show Catwalk Monitoring

Over in the launch area, Production AV provided several small but key bits of infrastructure. For the catwalk, a pair of Sony PMW-EX3 cameras were rigged in fixed positions, then fed their Full HD signals back to 3 pairs of Panasonic flatscreen displays positioned to allow the show caller and dressing teams to clearly monitor the action on the catwalk, and ensure they timed the model entrances correctly. Whilst not an overly glamorous part of the show, quality of the image and reliability were critical to ensure models were able to time the show correctly.

Presentation Flatscreen Hire

In a temporary structure located beside the catwalk space, members of the Superdry team briefed different groups on the new Sports and Snow product lines. Within this space Production AV provided a large 65″ Samsung LCD flatscreen display to enable the presentation to be seen clearly by the delegates. Another small d&b sound system with a wireless microphone allowed the presenter to be heard over the background noise of the busy site.

Our thanks go to Tarren Production Ltd for asking us work for them on this event.

Fantastic LED Screen for Nutcracker On Ice

14/01/2016 by petermccrea

The festive spectacular jointly promoted by the Royal Albert Hall and Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, welcomed the Imperial Ice Stars to the rink, chose a spectacular 13.6m x 5.4m 6mm pitch screen as a centre piece for the performances provided by SFL group members, Production AV.

High Resolution 6mm LED Screen

As part of the SFL Group, Production AV supplied the screen to the Royal Albert Hall for the run of performances over the festive period. A tight build schedule required that the screen build dovetail with the construction of the 4000sqft Ice rink and setting up for the orchestra. This was achieved to deliver the ground supported screen within the required schedules and with no issues. With the screen boasting over 1.8Million LED pixels, the content was fed to the screens over Lightware Modex fibre optic systems, and switched by a Barco E2 system. The tightly scripted show content was run from Apple MacPro machines running QLab, all equipment supplied from the SFL Group inventory.

Our thanks go to Mike Kane who looked after the screen for the successful run of shows.

Commercial Group’s IT Hotshots

10/11/2015 by petermccrea

Cheltenham based Commercial Group provide a range of business services, including IT Solutions. In early November they held a ‘Shooting For Distinction’ event at Ian Coley’s shooting school on the edge of the Cotswolds.

Gloucestershire Audio Visual Supplier for local conference.

Production AV, Gloucester based Audio Visual supplier, worked again with Commercial group to deliver a high quality, simple but effective solution for the event. The venue was a marquee to adjacent to the mains school and shop buildings, which required a high brightness solution to combat the high ambient light levels, and also work round the lack of space available for projection.

Compact Full HD Audio Visual Solution

To take up as little space as possible Production AV supplied a Samsung 65″ LCD screen, built into the custom set. Content was fed from a pair of show laptops running PowerPoint via a Barco PDS switcher to give the ability to seamlessly switch between sources, and fed to the screen over a fiberoptic cable to ensure that the quality of the signal was of the highest possible level.

Audio was handled in the space with a range of equipment, namely d&b Audio for the speakers and amplifiers, Sennheiser G3 series Radio Mics and a mixer from Allen & Heath.

A simple lighting package was employed to provide uplight to both the set and the rest of the space, along with profile lanterns for lighting the presenters whilst on stage. Production AV utilised LED Par Cans, combined with ETC Source4 Junior lanterns, controlled with a simple desk and Zero88 dimmers.

Set, Stage and lighting.

Production AV supplied a compact set tailored to fit within the available space. Making use of stock flats, along with specifically built components, the 65″ screen aperture was created. The whole set then had a custom printed wrap applied to give a smart appearance in keeping with the Commercial Group image.

Production AV also supplied a carpeted stage alongside the set for the event.

Onsite for the duration of the event, Production AV also supplied an experienced and friendly technician to assist with all the technical aspects of the conference.

If you have requirements similar to this, where you require a full solution, or maybe just support in one aspect, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, and we’d be delighted to offer a quotation for you.

BAMMA 18 – Wolverhampton Civic Hall

25/02/2015 by petermccrea

Full HD Projection Solution for BAMMA 18

Working again for our regular clients BAMMA, Production AV supplied a playback, screen and projector solution with engineers for the load in and show to the BAMMA 18 event held in the Wolverhampton Civic Hall in mid February. Another night of top level mixed martial arts was had, with the title fight going the full 3 rounds between Krzyzstof Klaczek and the winner by TKO, Tom ‘The Fire Kid’ DuQuesnoy.

This continues our long association working for BAMMA, starting from the BAMMA 4 Event back in 2010 at the NIA.

Compact Solution

Based on the ‘BAMMA Small Package’ based around a pair of the flexible Barco HDX-W20 Flex projectors running at 10,000 lumens and paired with 16′ x 9′ Stumpfl Screens flown on either side of the fighters entrance.

Taking feeds from our PlaybackPro+ software as well as the OB trucks camera and VT play-in mix through as Barco ScreenPRO-II switcher system, we managed the feed to the screens ensuring the fighters introduction VT’s were run at the correct times. By the nature of a live event, there is also a large list of assets that can be called on when fights don’t run the full length of the 3, 5 minute rounds.

As always it was a pleasure to be working alongside the established team to deliver another successful event, and we look forward to further BAMMA’s in the coming year.