LONDON – The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists' and Engineers' Fair, an event sponsored by the nonprofit EngineeringUK, got video and visual production support from XL Events, including camera and PPU system, projection, playback and crew. The Big Bang was held within a 2,500-seat performance space at the International Convention Centre (ICC) at London's ExCel Centre as part of the fair, which strives to promote the contribution that engineering and technology make to society.
The ICC element was production-managed for M4 Entertainment by Nigel Mousley and project-managed by XL's Bill Hughes during the three-day event, which included hour-long versions to two different TV science shows, Brainiac and Bang Goes the Theory – each with two shows a day.
The event also included the national finals of the CREST Awards (managed by the British Science Association) and the Young Engineer for Britain Competition. The awards were presented by Professor Brian Cox and BBC science journalist Kate Bellingham.
"It was a very exciting event in which to be involved," said XL Events' Rich Rowley. "The turnaround time pressures of 30 to 40 minute resets between the shows were intense, and a lot of precision was required to ensure seamless transitions," he added.
XL Events supplied a 3-channel Grass Valley Kayak PPU with three Sony D50 cameras. Two of the cameras had long lenses and were stationed at front-of-house. The third was used as a hand-held onstage for close ups on Bang Goes The Theory and on a spider dolly in the pit for Brainiac and the Awards. XL's Jerry Rosenfeld served as I-Mag director.
XL provided three 20-by-15-foot I-Mag screens for the stage, each fed with a pair of front-projected Barco R12 projectors.
The content playback for Brainiac consisted of Power Point and VT files, which were played off a Sony Anycast system operated from front-of-house. XL Events also provided the audio playback system for this show, run on PC-based show cue software.
For Bang Goes The Theory, content was all triggered from instant start HHB DVD players backstage. Chris Johnson operated both systems.
Wired and wireless RTS Show Comms were also supplied as part of the XL package, and Rich Rowley undertook the sound design, using the venue's in-house system.
For more information, please visit www.xlvideo.tv.
