United Kingdom

Imperial Gardens – Cheltenham Science Festival 2019

03/07/2019 by petermccrea

Cheltenham’s annual Science Festival arrived in June to explore the weird, wacky and wonderful. In its sixth consecutive year of involvement, Production AV was commissioned to design, supply and operate the high-end screen, projection and sound solutions that formed the foundation of the multiple zones that were created in the specially built Festival Village.

Complete Video and Audio Solution Delivered to Festival Village

Festival organisers asked Production AV to deliver all audiovisual requirements for the growing event. The team oversaw set up and technical checks for all of the zones, including the flagship Cheltenham Town Hall space and adjoining Pillar Room, the Helix, the Crucible and the Cinema Zone.

“We were thrilled to design, set up and run an audio solution for the Town Hall this year, in addition to the visual elements, and we opted for a PA system based around d&b audiotechnik Y-Series speakers, Yamaha QL desks and Sennheiser radio mics,” explains Production AV MD, Pete McCrea. “The Town Hall is notoriously tricky to set up for good sound, and it took the expertise of Production AV’s Project Manager, Olie Goulding, who oversaw the event load-in and operated the Town Hall audio, to scope and plot the venue to design the d&b solution, which perfectly fitted the bill.”

Production AV also supplied the Town Hall’s main room with a 16ft x 9ft screen, 10k lumen Barco HDX Flex Projector, Barco switching solution and a camera package based around Agile ARC 360 Lite PTZ remote cameras and Sony EX3 Camcorders.

In the Pillar Room, the team installed a simple control package to interface with the in-house projection system, along with a d&b Y-Series and E-Series speakers and Yamaha TF series mixing desk. Matt Wadley, Production AV’s Technician, oversaw all audio aspects for the duration of the Festival in the Pillar room, with the Festival’s volunteer staff operating the majority of the video systems.

“One of the highlights of our AV package was the outdoor Cinema Zone, for which we specified a Desay M6 6.25mm pitch LED screen,” McCrea continues. “This displayed 13 hours of continuous footage from the moon landings over the festival, as well as lots of other content. The screen looked fantastic in the exterior garden, giving great high-resolution images over the large areas, with excellent colour reproduction and brightness.”

Hundreds of events took place over the six-day Festival, with more than 280 leading experts imparting knowledge, prompting discussion and provoking thought to thousands of visitors, including more than 9,000 schoolkids.

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Wembley SSE Arena – Jack Savoretti Singing To Strangers Tour 2019

19/06/2019 by petermccrea

Production AV hotfooted it to Wembley in May to ensure man-of-the-moment Jack Savoretti’s flagship show was backed by the best camera, projection and IMAG screen solution to delight his ever-growing fanbase.

Production AV Kit is ‘IMAGic’ for Jack Savoretti at Wembley

Photo – Projoe Photography and Axletree Design

“We had just a seven-day turnaround to design and deliver the camera and screens package to Savoretti’s tour team, managed by Production Manager Neil Anderson,” explains Pete McCrea, Production AV MD. “As this was the big one – Wembley! – they wanted to ramp up the production and include video to enhance the audience experience. David McIntyre had created a real visual spectacular with the lighting, and they wanted to enhance this by relaying live on-stage footage as well as pre-recorded content to two large IMAG screens.”

Production AV supplied a pair of 11 ft. x 20 ft. (3.35m x 6m) portrait screens for IMAG, with 20,000 lumen Barco HDX W20 Flex Projectors. Switching was achieved using the company’s Blackmagic ATEM 4k PPU. A pair of Sony HDC 1500R Studio Channels on 95x lens at FOH and second camera on stage combined with Agile Arc360 PTZ remote heads and Marshall minicams offered a range of creative directing opportunities. There was a requirement for black and white effects for the first song, as well as the playback of a show opener VT.

Pete McCrea served as Project Manager and Racks Engineer for the show, alongside his colleagues Anna Sadler as Vision Director, and Ste Webster and John Bowdler-Thompson as Camera Operators.

“It’s testament to our talented team at Production AV that we managed to put together such a strong kit package and creative solution in such a short amount of time – I’m very proud of them all and the results were fantastic. Anna, Ste and John made it look really awesome,” says McCrea. “It was brilliant to be working alongside our friends at Liteup, which provided the lighting and rigging, and the great team at audio supplier FE Live. On-site, it really came together as a collaborative production. Thankfully, Wembley is a venue we’re used to working in, so the load-in and delivery of the production was efficient!”

The project followed hot on the heels of another major London job, where Production AV supplied and operated a similar package for the annual Teenage Cancer Trust series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring performances from Take That, Rudimental and The Script.

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Royal Albert Hall – Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts 2019

27/03/2019 by petermccrea

The annual Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) fundraising week of concerts and comedy gigs descended on London’s Royal Albert Hall in March 2019 to help support young people with cancer. TCT engaged video solutions specialist Production AV to supply a full video package consisting of LED screens, cameras and mixing, media servers and technicians for the event, which saw crowd-pleasers including Take That, Rudimental and The Script perform over the week. Each performance was mixed with real-life stories of young people affected by cancer and appeals for donations.

Full Concert Video Production Solution for Teenage Cancer Trust

“There are two key video elements that we were required to deliver: one was to display live on-stage action onto IMAG screens, the other to promote how people can donate money to TCT,” said Pete McCrea, Production AV’s managing director. “To achieve this, we supplied Desay M6 LED panels as a central 8m x 4.5 screen flown above the stage and a large, curved 27.9m x 0.9m banner of LED screens across the back of the main stage, displaying information. This was supported with a camera package for the relay of real-life stories and live performances to the screens.”

Production AV supplied Sony HDC 1500R Studio Channels and Agile ARC360 Lite PTZ Remote Cameras, with footage mixed and directed using the company’s Blackmagic ATEM 4k PPU. McCrea and his team also used their Barco S3-4K for switching and disguise 2x4Pro Media Servers for content playback.

McCrea served as Project Manager, taking the helm with pre-production at Production AV’s new HQ near Cheltenham, load-in at the Royal Albert Hall and on-site set-up.

“Pre-production took the form of creating an artist liaison pack, to ensure we had all the screen pixel maps created and resolutions sorted, and the system design clearly communicated,” McCrea said. “Our team was in contact with the artists’ managers prior to the event to obtain assets, pre-program content and test everything well before we were on-site.

“We utilised disguise’s fantastic ‘designer’ software for building and pre-programming all of the content. In the days before the event, we pre-built the control systems and banner screen, patched and programmed the servers to ensure that the get-in went without a hitch. Then it was consigned to the job by our friends at R Jameson Event Transport.”

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Torry Harris Business Solutions – 20 Years of Digital Transformation

21/01/2019 by petermccrea

Production AV were excited to be working with new client, Torry Harris Business Solutions through providing a complete technical event solution that included our new, ultra high resolution Desay x2.6i 2.6mm Indoor LED Screen to celebrate the fantastic 20 years that the company has been innovating the digital experience for clients globally and inspire their increasingly talented team to continue delivering the high-quality solutions THBS are known for.

High Resolution Desay 2.6mm LED Screen Conference Solution

The centrepiece of the solution was a 5m x 2m LED screen using 30 of our new Desay x2.6i 2.6mm Indoor LED Panels that was built upon a ground support system and covered the rear of the stage. Two Novastar MCTRL 4K LED Processors were used to manage the data being fed to the screen with one acting as a fail safe hot back up to the main processor. Content was fed and scaled to the screen using our Barco S3-4K Screen Management System and easily managed when combined with our Barco EC-50 Event Controller. The S3-4K was also used to form a PIP (Picture in Picture) on the LED screen using the video feed from our Sony PMW-EX3 HD Video Camera positioned in FOH. Alongside the video solution, Production AV also provided the audio solution for the conference using our Yamaha TF1 Digital Mixing Console to manage several Sennheiser radio microphones that operated flawlessly throughout the event.

We were really happy with the performance of the Desay x2.6i throughout the day, as all of TBHS great achievements were crisply presented and the colours of the content perfectly reproduced. We’d like to thank TBHS for selecting us as the technical provider for this special event for their company. We look forward to working again with you in the future.

TBS Engineering – CEO Broadcast Event

03/10/2018 by petermccrea

Production AV were keen to put our newly purchased Desay X2i 2.6mm Indoor LED Screen to the test and we were delighted to provide TBS Engineering, a company local to Production AV’s headquarters, an LED screen solution at their production facility using the X2i for a broadcast message from the CEO of TBS Engineering.

High Resolution 2.6mm LED Screen Broadcast Solution

With TBS recently constructing this new facility, the CEO wanted to host an event that would explain the direction and goals for this new operation and its employees as well as thank them for the productive and smooth early performance. Production AV were on hand to provide 3.5m x 2m LED screen using 28 Desay X2i 2.6mm Indoor LED Panels which provided a super crisp display for the several hundred in the audience to focus their attention on. The screen was flown from two warehouse cranes using our rapid rigging system which saw the screen built and raised swiftly enabling the production floorspace to be opened back up for TBS use.

Two of our newly purchased Novastar MCTRL 4K LED Processors were used to manage the data being fed to the screen with one acting as a fail safe hot back up to the main processor. Content was scaled to the screen using our industry standard Barco ImagePRO II Dual with all the playback and processing kit located in a single flightcase positioned discreetly to one side of the screen. A 2m x 2m stage was also provided along with a lectern and an Soundcraft EPM 6:2:2 Mixer to manage the single microphone used to welcome the audience and introduce the CEO.

The event was a great success and we were very impressed by the performance of the Desay X2i both in terms of the build design but also the superb image quality displayed. We’d like to thank TBS Engineering for selecting us as the to provide the video solution and we we look forward to working on more events with you in the future.

Exciting Investment in Desay X2.6i 2.6mm LED Screen

10/09/2018 by petermccrea

Production AV are excited to announce that we have recently invested in over 200 panels of Desay’s X2.6i indoor LED modules. In doing so, we now have a significantly higher resolution LED option than our DigiLED 3.9mm and Desay 6.25mm stock and this will allow us to provide more technical flexibility and creative freedom to our clients. We are looking forward to testing the capabilities of our new 2.6mm LED product at leading edge events across the country.

2.6mm Indoor LED Screen with 4K Video Solution Capacity

Having already invested in Desay LED screen, we knew that the Desay X2.6i would have outstanding build quality that had been engineered to operate impeccably within event scenarios. Production AV also invested a wide range of rigging hardware that enables screens to be either flown or ground supported depending on the specific requirements of your event.

The screen has the ability to be built in both concave and convex configurations as either a flown or ground support configuration.

Novastar MCTRL 4K LED Processors were also purchased as part of the investment, and when combined with the X2.6i and our Barco S3-4K Screen Managment System, a complete end to end 4K solution can be provided. The screen itself has an high refresh rates and excellent color reproduction due to the 18bit greyscale processing making it an ideal option for an eye catching and close quarters video solution.

The X2.6i has already been selected for numerous projects by our clients and we’d love for you to get in contact if you would like a quotation or a demo of the screen’s capabilities.

St Christopher’s Place – Spring Garden Digital Activation

17/05/2018 by petermccrea

Production AV were excited to be working with new clients Four Communications to create a spring themed activation event hosted in the centre of St Christopher’s Place Square. The ‘Spring Rituals’ film was created by both floral designer Flora Starkey and Prettybird’s founding partner Juliette Larthe as a captivating and unique digital art installation to mark the arrival of the equinox through the magic of new floral life. The screen was on site for five days and ran from mid morning until 8pm so that members of the public could enjoy seeing time-lapses that offered extraordinary views into spring through the magic of flowers turning from seedlings to full bloom!

Outdoor 6mm LED Screen Art Installation

For this outdoor activation, our waterproof and versatile Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels were used to create four 3.2m x 1.8m screens that would be positioned into an outward facing square to enable 360° viewing angles. The four screens were raised up off the floor on Litedeck and were finished with a custom, white, weatherproof cladding. The control system was set up in a nearby building, with the cabling run safely and unobtrusively into the cube. Two Nova MCTRL660 Processors were used to manage the data being fed to the screen with one acting as a fail safe hot back up to the main processor. Content was scaled to the screens using our industry standard Barco ImagePRO II Dual with content sourced and managed using an Apple Mac Mini. A small but powerful PA system was also installed into the exhibition to amplify the film with a poignant soundtrack representing spring time. Four EV Evid 6.2T Loudspeakers were located in the centre of the cube, with a compact Soundcraft EPM 6:2:2 Mixer and amplifier in the control room.

The design of the cladding and technical system, project management and health and safety planning was undertaken by Pete McCrea, who managed the onsite installation of the screen and cladding. Installation was undertaken over several hours in the morning, and then removed in two hours after the event. Production AV contracted Congo Blue, who are also part of the SFL Group for the fabrication and installation of the cladding.

It was great to see so many people stopping to take photos and appreciating the exquisite range of flowers flourishing into full blooms. Production AV are always grateful when our services are utilised to display such beautiful artistry and positive messages especially about the arrival of spring! We’d like to thank Four Communications for choosing us as the technical supplier for this exhibition, we have really enjoyed making this project a reality and we look forward to working with you again in the future.

Our #SCPGarden is unveiled and on show! Hurry down to watch the magical time-lapse film Spring Rites by @florastarkey – here until Sunday! ?? #StChristophersPlace #London #SpringEquinox

A post shared by St Christopher’s Place (@stchristophersplace) on Mar 20, 2018 at 11:39am PDT

University of South Wales – Video Technology Demonstration Day

18/04/2018 by petermccrea

Production AV is always on the lookout to support up and coming individuals in the event production industry. So we were excited to be collaborating with the University of South Wales Live Event and Lighting Course, Stage Sound Services, Ashley Raines from Barco and Peter Kirkup from disguise to provide their students with a hands on experience using some of our industry leading video production equipment as well as offer advice and insight into the exciting but enigmatic industry we find ourselves in!

USW Video Technology Demonstration Day

Our aim was to provide two workshops for the students to experience and test the capabilities of our equipment. Our first workshop revolved around our DigiLED 3.9mm Indoor LED Screen as well as a Barco UDX-4K32 4K Laser Projector generously provided by Barco. 4K video was fed from our disguise 2x4pro Media Server into our Barco S3-4K Screen Management System and Barco EC-50 Event Controller so students could experience how these tools could be used with projection and LED technologies in event production scenarios. Features like PIP’s (Pictures in Pictures), luma keys and widescreen blend capabilities were demonstrated to show how easy it was to create slick and impressive video solutions whilst having the processing power to manage up to twelve different video inputs.

Having recently invested in disguise 2x4pro Media Servers, we wanted our second workshop to demonstrate the capabilities of these media servers. As our 2x4pro’s were driving a large scale project at the Geneva Motor Show Convention, disguise stepped in and provided a GX1 Media Server. With the assistance of Peter from disguise, four sessions were run throughout the day where students setup a projection mapping solution onto a model car displaying the power and vast creative opportunities that the disguise systems offer.

It was a pleasure putting on this demonstration day for USW students and we’d like to thank the University for hosting us as well as Stage Sound Services, Barco and disguise for attending and helping us create this informative and engaging demonstration of our video technologies. We’re looking forward to seeing some of the students out on site in the near future!

Today we are with @usw__lighting_design @usw_event_production showing off #barcos34k #barcoudx4k32 @disguise_one servers together with friends from #stagesoundservices

A post shared by Production AV Ltd (@productionav) on Mar 12, 2018 at 9:05am PDT

Tour of Britain – Cheltenham Festival of Cycling

10/10/2017 by petermccrea

Production AV were looking forward to being involved in a project that was hosted… or pedalled through our local area! We were working on behalf of several clients to provide a range of solutions for the Tour of Britain stage which finished in Cheltenham. For APT Marketing, we were responsible for providing the screens and live feed to the hospitality yurt at the finish line as well as the main LED screen site for public viewing constructed in Pittville Park next to the the final stretch of the race. For Mudway Workman, we provided another LED screen in Winchcombe a couple more kilometres away from the finish line which was erected on the back of a curtained trailer. With the race gaining considerable interest amongst the public Production AV were delighted to playing our part in enhancing this special day for the spectators and Gloucestershire as a whole.

Multiple Outdoor 6mm Livestream LED Screens

The hospitality yurt was provided as a space for the sponsors of race and their delegates to gather and enjoy meeting and listening to well known members of the cycling community, eat fantastic food and enjoy the race as it was presented around the edge of the yurt on four of Production AV’s Samsung ME65B 65″ LED Flat Panels. All of our sites were installed with satellite dishes that provided a reliable Freeview feed of the race and our onsite technician Jimmy Flanders was at the yurt to assist and tweak the setup in the event the feed slipped in quality. The PA, microphone systems and playback capabilities for the screens used before and after the race were also provided by Production AV.

Arriving at 5am on the morning of the race at Pitville Park, the team worked into the morning building a goal post truss structure where a 6.4m x 3.6m LED screen was constructed using our stock of Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels. Line array systems were flown either side of the screen which would project the audio clearly to large crowds expected throughout the day. In a gazebo behind the screen, control was set up to protect it from the elements. A pair of Nova MCTRL660 Processors were used to manage the data being fed to the screen with one acting as a fail safe hot back up to the main processor. The sponsorship content that would play during the races advert breaks was switched using our Barco PDS-901 3G 9 in 1 Out Seamless Switcher with all data being comfortably scaled to the screen using our industry standard Barco ImagePRO II Dual. In Winchcombe, the task was similar as we used our Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels to create a smaller screen four panels wide and two panels high constructed on the back of a Mudway Workman trailer using our ground support system. The screen faced outwards into the local Fanzone that was positioned within touching distance of the road where the race would fly through.

Overall the stage was a massive success with thousands of people lining the streets to support the riders. Mick Bennett the Race Director of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain mentions the overwhelming warmth and unprecedented support shown during Stage 7 and we’d like to thank APT Marketing and Mudway Workman for allowing us to be apart of that support. It was a pleasure having you both as clients and we look forward to continuing our relationship with you in the future.

Olympia London – Feel Korea Concert 2017

25/08/2017 by petermccrea

Production AV were delighted to working on behalf of SFL by supplying the LED screen solution for the Feel Korea 2017 concert. Earlier on during the day, the Korean Cultural Centre hosted the London Korean Festival 2017. However, for the evening, Feel Korea returned to Olympia London to host the evening concert. With KPOP blasting through SFL’s PA and the crowds cheering for their favourite artists as they appeared on our screens before the show, our onsite technician Sam McCrea realised he was about to experience one of the most vibrant, outlandish performances he’d have ever witnessed.

3.9mm and 6mm LED Screen Concert Festival Solution

For this event, both our DigiLED 3.9mm Indoor LED Panels and our Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels were used to create the video backdrop on stage as well as an elevated screen that relayed the live camera shots throughout the show. The stage backdrop was formed using a mixture of SFL’s and Production AV’s stock of Desay 6.25mm Panels to create a 12.8m x 4.5m screen as the centrepiece of the display which was flanked either side by three 1m x 4.5m columns of LED. This layout enabled clever video design to utilized the separate columns as their own entities to deliver more impressive visuals than a single screen of that size could achieve.In addition to this, 84 modules of DigiLED 3.9mm were connected to form a screen and were flown high above the stage to display the camera feeds.

For the 6.25mm screens, four Nova MCTRL660 Processors were used to manage the data being fed to the screen with two acting as a fail safe hot back up to the main processors. For the 3.9mm screen, two DigiLED Navigator LED Controllers the equivalent processors of the Novastars were used to fed data to the screen employing the same failsafe hot backup system. Whilst SFL supplied their own Barco E2 4K Screen Management System to drive the show, our Barco EC50 Event Controller was provided to increase the simplicity and flexibility of the E2 system.

With the last act finishing on stage, the exuberant crowd were further roused by an encore from all the main acts sporting ‘Feel Korea’ t-shirts as they came out on stage for a final hurrah! With inflated balls thrown around the crowd and confetti cannons shot from the bottom of the stage it created a beautiful end to the show. We would like to thank SFL for selecting us as the LED screen supplier for this event and we look forward to working on many more projects with you in the future!

KNK x Fans ? ?: #narinechalabi

A post shared by Narine Chalabi : Photographer (@narinechalabi) on Jul 13, 2017 at 3:12am PDT