West London

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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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

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

Wembley SSE Arena – Rock Assembly 2017

09/08/2017 by petermccrea

Production AV were feeling excited to be working alongside GLS Lighting to provide the technical solution for the annual Rock Assembly organised by The Transformation Trust’s as an end of term concert at the SSE Wembley Arena. Production AV felt privileged to be involved in providing a day of inspiration and celebration for underprivileged secondary school children and were looking forward to experiencing all the amazing artists such as The Vamps, The Dixon Bros, Sarah Close and Pink Angels here to celebrate their successes and opportunities for the future.

Complete Video Solution Rock Assembly 2017

Our task for the concert was to provide the complete video solution which consisted of projection, LED screen, camera system and video control system. The 6.4m x 3.6m LED screen created using our Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels was flown above the centre of the stage and was used for to display playback throughout the course of the show. On both sides of the stage, a Barco HDX W20 DLP Projector and its projection racking were erected to rear project onto a pair of flown Stumpfl 20ft x 11ft screens. The projection showed the live camera feed from four Sony HXC-100 HD Camera Channels positioned around the venue with the furthest camera from stage having a Canon XJ86X9.3 Box Lens attached to it to maximise the range of focal lengths throughout the show. One camera channel was shoulder mounted and was free to roam around the stage to diversify the visuals and the other two of the camera channels were elevated on the pit floor to provide close up shots of the performers but also rotate to capture the excitement of the groups of school children when they saw themselves on the big screen.

Our Video PPU housed the drivers of the show with the Barco S3-4K Screen Management System comfortably pushing the playback that was gathered and managed using a pair of our Hippotizer AMBA V4 Media Servers to the LED screen as well as the live camera feed to both HDX projectors. Vision mixing was performed using the Panasonic AV-HS400 Vision Mixer and control units for the camera channels were also installed so that engineer settings such as colouration levels so that the camera operators could focus fully on getting the best shots. Production AV were also requested to record the entirety of the show using our Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio Pro which was matched to a synced audio feed and then provided on SSD cards following the completion of the event.

With The Vamps closing the afternoon off with a performance to match the frenzied energy of the crowd, Rock Assembly 2017 was over for this year. With 10,000 pupils from across England having the opportunity to explore career options and talk to universities at the Futures Fair before watching the concert in the afternoon, Production AV felt privileged to be a part of this meaningful and benign event. Thank you to GLS Lighting for selecting us as the video supplier for this event, we really appreciate working alongside you and look forward to the next one.

SSE Wembley Arena – Seasick Steve Concert

14/12/2016 by petermccrea

Production AV were delighted to continue working with Crosstown on behalf of Seasick Steve to provide a full video solution for his biggest ever headline show at the SSE Arena, Wembley. Having previously been the video supplier for Steve in his UK 2015 tour, we were looking forward to being back for his ‘10 Years Out Of The Dog House’ party that was promising great crowd atmosphere and funky guitar work!

6mm LED Screen Concert Video Solution

Using our stock of Desay 6.25mm Indoor/Outdoor LED Panels, we built a 9.6m x 5.3m LED screen that was flown at the rear of the stage. As we were providing the full video solution, two Sony HXC-100 HD Camera Channels and a Sony PMW-EX3 HD Video Camera were positioned around the venue with the aim of taking the production quality to a new height with multiple live feeds running to screen. Control was set up in front of house and the live feed management was run using our Panasonic AV-HS400 Vision Mixer Portable Production Unit (PPU). Two Nova MCTRL660 Processors were used to manage the screen with one being set up to act as a redundant backup to the main processor. Scaling for the screen was handled by a Barco ImagePRO II Dual – industry standard due to it’s great processing.

The concert went exceptionally well, with the screen performing perfectly throughout the evening and our skilled camera operators not missing a moment of the exciting evening. Seasick Steve had an amazing performance, bringing people up on stage to sing with him made it a real party atmosphere and he managed to turn the arena into the most intimate venue. He also didn’t let his eccentric reputation lessen as he turned up to the venue driving a tractor! Production AV filmed Steve’s arrival at the iconic venue for playback on the LED screen, as well as introductions for the support acts.

It has once again been a real pleasure working with Steve and his team and we’d like to take a moment just to thank them for selecting us to provide the video solution for this performance. We hope that we’ll be back in Spring for his next one!