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I recently had a change of scenery that involved less of driving a switcher and more of driving a desk. This has given me a different perspective on preparation for the one-off gig in the world of video. What I’m finding is that an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. So what exactly is an ounce of prevention? This is my take concerning video flightpacks, LED screens and projection.
Most any one-off preparation begins with power. The requirements are usually a 60 to 100 amp three-phase service for flightpacks, or as our Euro readers say, PPUs. Where you need to pay particular attention is with LEDs and projectors. Make sure you have power conditioning, proper outlets on your distro or distros, “T”s for your feeder cable and enough power to handle the gear. Exact power requirements are vendor-specific, so I won’t get into what those might or might not be.
But we can begin with some basics. A power distro with conditioned juice for your electronics is a good place to start. The ability to tie into whatever power source is available at the venue with tails, cam locks or cam lock Ts is the first thing you’ll need. Cable, and plenty of it, is probably second. Let’s stop right here because that could apply to power or signal. Having plenty of both and following their paths is the key to solving problems; those are the mantras of our industry—signal flow, baby! You never know where the next monitor location is going to be requested, so having plenty of BNC runs in 25-, 50- and 100-foot lengths for different destinations should always be a priority on any pack list. And of course, patch cables in 2-, 4- and 10-foot lengths that are good for rack-to-rack and device-to-device patches are key.
And speaking of your pack list, my favorite flightpack piece is the frame shaker, a device that lets you synchronize a video source with the rest of a video system. The correct term is a time base corrector (TBC). If you are an engineer, tech manager, technical director or a television director in any form, you’ll love what this device does for your flexibility. It’s like a trump card in any card game, and it can resolve many issues.
A level of redundancy in playback devices is always good, whatever the format. Having extra cards for the video D.A. (distribution amplifier) tray is a nice luxury. Isolation transformers or hum buckers to “clean” signals up are incredibly helpful. At least two extra 9-inch monitors are nice to have for just whatever comes up—and believe me, something will come up! These items apply to most any size of video world or that area of video control that we on the road call “the racks.”
On the camera side, rain gear, solar blankets and lens wipes are always needed. Always have on hand gaff, E-tape, trick line and visquine (plastic tarp) with which to cover gear—all the usual roadie suspects. A portable signal, grid or color-bar generator will also come in very handy, especially on projection gigs. And obviously, a wellstocked workbox with any of these items and your own cache of equipment to reach that highly coveted level of having it completely “sussed out” or reaching a premium level of “sussage.” If you can appreciate the vernacular, then you’re a true roadie. “Sussed” is a common term on the road that can be used as an adjective, verb or adverb meaning organized, or very together. My old friend Bill Calison, a director/engineer of note, would describe a person who operates in that state of suss as a person “who’s got their s— together.” (Sorry mom).
In projection, it’s all about having the glass, or, more to the point, having the right lens or selection of lenses to remedy any venue-specific situation. On a one-off, it’s easy. Advance the gig and you’ll know what to bring. In a touring situation, it’s much more difficult to know. Sometimes, you just have to carry a lot of different lenses. Vendors hate that because those lenses are so very dear (read “expensive”). A couple grand a pop for each is not unusual. Say you carry four different sizes, times two projectors and, whamo! That’s $15K to $20K worth of lenses! The client doesn’t understand words like, “We can’t because all that video stuff is expensive, right?!” Well, perhaps in vague terms. But that’s our cross to bear.
On the big screen LED side of things, motors and motor cable are next in importance after the obvious power concerns. Be sure to bring enough of both, and plenty of steel, shackles, span-sets and whatever else it takes to hang your LED wall. A sound, working motor controller with a phase-reverse switch is necessary, as well as dual redundant runs from your video signal source. You might need a good ladder, and, again, a workbox with all those extras that are so needed when the screen load-in starts. I could go further into the requirements for hanging big screens on one-offs, but it really depends on the particular kind of LED screen you have. Each beast has its own particular needs.
In summation, I think the most important thing in the preparation of one-offs is to give a lot of thought to the upcoming event without over thinking it. Again, power and signal cable is important, so bring plenty. And as always, it’s very important to meter your power source and your power distro output as well. It might end up saving your gear.
Do a good advance, as most of these events are event or venue specific. Communicate with the shop, pack your equipment to ride, and watch the weather, even if it’s indoors. Once you’re on-site, it’s just like the road; load in to load out!
P.S. In the January Video World column, I mentioned the pixel pitch, in mils (or millimeters) of an LED screen. Specifically, the article said, “…don’t expect it to look even close to a 20-mil LED wall.” Pixel pitch is the spacing between pixels on a video display. After going back and rereading the article post-publication, I realized that I should have mentioned this for the sake of you folks out there who are trying to learn more about the industry. In fact, this could be an entire article! See ya next month.
E-mail the author at mhaney@plsn.com.
