LONDON – To promote their literacy campaign, the London Evening Standard, in partnership with Nook, planned a one-day event in Trafalgar Square called ‘Get Reading.’ The July 13 event featured an appearance by War Horse, performances from the casts of Billy Elliot The Musical and Wicked and live readings by celebrities including Hugh Grant, Warwick Davis and Rupert Everett.
More details from XL Events (www.xlvideo.com):
As technical suppliers for event agency George P Johnson, XL Events provided mobile outdoor LED screens, an HD camera system, HD recording, plasma screens, time-lapse camera record and radio communications. XL Event’s project managers Paul Wood and Jacqueline Rice collaborated with Executive Producer Chris Heyland and Andy Clarke, technical manager for George P Johnson.
‘Get Reading’ took over Trafalgar Square on July 13 and saw thousands of visitors throughout the day. Activities featured an appearance by War Horse, performances from the casts of Billy Elliot The Musical and Wicked and live readings by celebrities including Hugh Grant, Warwick Davis and Rupert Everett.
XL Events supplied two mobile LED screens – one 50 meters square and one 16 meters square – either side of the main stage. These showed live IMAG footage from the stage plus promotional films and event graphics throughout the day. Director Stuart Bailey oversaw the video production.
Four of XL’s Sony HXC-100 HD cameras managed by Phil Compton captured all the action. Two were located in the pit in front of the stage and two at the rear of Trafalgar Square for long shots.
XL Events’ HD PPU was the hub for all on site video, producing the IMAG footage and controlling prerecorded content. XL used several AJA KiPro drives for both TX and ISO HD recording. Video production crew included Nigel Griffiths, Stephen Hubbard, Dhanuka Karunanayake and Adrian Moore.
Backstage, XL Events’ plasma screens were used for relays. Exhibitors and sponsors had plasma screens in their on-site locations.
XL supplied radio and hardwired communications systems for the crew, to ensure the smooth running of the event from FOH to backstage. Matt Jackson managed all communications.
XL Events also ran a time-lapse video of the event from set-up to departure, which shows the crowds and performers throughout the day.
“We were delighted to work on this event with Chris Heyland and the George P Johnson team,” commented Jacqueline Rice. “The scorching hot weather brought its own challenges to the day, but our equipment functioned very well and all the crew worked tirelessly to pull off a highly successful show.”
