The steps rising up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art are familiar to generations of movie fans as the “Rocky Steps,” due to their inclusion in what might be the most feel-good scene in the ultimate underdog flick, 1976’s Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone.
In the film, Rocky jogs and shadow boxes his way through the streets of early morning Philadelphia as a crowd of school children trail behind him, fueled by the scrappy pugilist’s ramped-up energy. Motoring like an Olympic sprint runner, Rocky scales the steps of the Museum, leaps onto the building’s stone slab platform, and raises his arms in victory. By the end of the scene, the children envelop the Italian Stallion until he’s but one face in a sea of humanity.
It’s clear: Rocky is, for lack of a better phrase, a populist; a personality all of Philadelphia could root for, regardless of race, religion or social status. It’s perhaps entirely appropriate, then, that Pope Francis, himself a transcendent figure, delivered his Papal Mass for the World Meeting of Families from a stage in Eakins Oval on September 27, 2015, within view of the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art building. (For more details on the museum projections, see “Projection Support for Church and State,” page 70).
Human interaction seems to be Pope Francis’ sustenance, and the pontiff demonstrated such by pressing flesh, blessing families and kissing babies during his recent U.S. visit. He’s not called the “People’s Pope” for nuthin,’ and Francis seems to have a gift for rallying believers and non-faithful alike with his message of “bringing all of the human family together …”, a missive reinforced by a Papal Mass with portions delivered in English, Spanish, Latin and Vietnamese.
Video: A Godsend
Pilgrims came from far and wide to hear the Holy Father speak. Estimates of attendance ranged anywhere around 200,000 to 700,000 or more. Previously, Pope John Paul II had given what some had deemed the largest outdoor mass at Logan Circle, in Philadelphia, back in 1979, and frankly speaking, that may still hold the record for such an event. Regardless of the actual statistics, a reverent and enthusiastic crowd received the Pope’s wisdom on accomplishing everyday selfless acts of love.
While it’s true that the head of the Catholic Church is a transformative figure, techie friends who helped to enhance and amplify Francis’ revelatory message via video technology aided His Holiness. It seemed technology, both of the video and audio variety, was the Pope’s co-pilot for the mass, allowing the pontiff’s words to resonate, literally and spiritually, with the multitudes spilling out into Benjamin Franklin Parkway. According to some reports, Pope Francis’ mass in Philadelphia was the largest single-site, multiple-screen LED video event in history.
There had been some rumblings early on, however, from the religious community in Philadelphia, about ticketing, zoning and whether the Pope could deliver an intimate mass to such a massive outdoor gathering. “Slightly three weeks shy of Francis’ much anticipated visit to Philadelphia, the residents of the City of Brotherly Love and its environs are all atwitter (translation: stamping mad) over the logistics of seeing Francis when he finally appears here,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David O’Reilly.
Of course, the faithful meeting Francis on a face-to-face basis — how the Pope, himself, would prefer it, one thinks — is a much different experience than a festival-like atmosphere. Granted. But, as it turns out, the Vatican and Papal Visit organizers were well aware of the effectiveness of modern LED technology and its power to transform a live event, having used so-called Jumbotrons to bedazzle overflowing congregations in St. Peter’s Square.
“The organizers from World Meeting of Families had experienced the use of remote LED screens when they had visited The Vatican in the years leading up to the Philadelphia visit,” says Doug Murray, president of Upstage Video, the LED video screen provider headquartered in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, that supplied the video units for the Papal Mass. “We knew security was going to limit how many people would have a close view of Pope Francis, but we also knew that [this] Papal visit could potentially draw millions of people. Providing all of the attendees with a way to connect to the event in an intimate way was key.”
Upstage utilized a combination of Liantronics and ROE LED products for the event. Over 160 square meters (more than 1,700 square feet) of brand-new ROE MC7 (7mm indoor/outdoor LED) panels were used along Ben Franklin Parkway while Liantronics RK6 (6mm indoor/outdoor LED) panels flanked the stage.
“We’ve had the 6mm outdoor panels for over a year now,” says Murray . “We have a few corporate clients that have outdoor trade shows that kept demanding higher and higher resolution. This was a natural choice for the two screens flanking the stage. We used a good number of Liantronics RK8 as well. The RK series is just a rock solid panel that looks great in bright sunlight. We had to bring in a bunch of our RK stuff from our Los Angeles office. All hands on deck.
“We just finished adding the ROE MC7 and Black OnyX 3 [3mm] to our inventory,” continues Murray. “We’ve been watching ROE’s products for some time. When this job got confirmed, we were not in what we call a ‘buying cycle.’ We’ve been steadily adding more and more of the Liantronics RK series over the past two years, so we didn’t exactly need a new high resolution outdoor panel. It was, however, time to move into a 3mm product for our indoor clients.
“During our research period for the 3mm,” Murray continued, “we booked this job, and we kept seeing the ROE MC7, and the gorgeous touring frames and carts that they travel in. It was an InfoComm decision.…Our Liantronics gear was fresh and perfect for this sort of job. As for the ROE MC7, the client asked for 10mm minimum pixel pitch. We brought eight, seven and six, because we could. We’re sort of past that 10mm mark, and we were able to bring the higher resolution products at pretty much the same price points as they were expecting at the 10mm [panels].”
Thirty-one large LED screens and “over 1,200 individual LED tiles were used at this event,” reports Geza Divenyi, vice president of Upstage Video. One news report had estimated that the screens, when placed end to end, stretched the length of 11 football fields. In fact, the number of screens was so voluminous that Upstage cleaned out its modular inventory for the Philadelphia mass. (Upstage Video also provided screens for Papal events that took place in Washington, DC and New York City.)
“We provided one of our 11 foot by 18 foot, 8mm mobile screens on the outside of the security perimeter,” says Murray . “Other than that, all of the screens were truss supported on traditional goal post structures provided by Light Action Productions from Delaware. Some of our screens were on the inside of the security perimeter, a few weren’t.”
“Even though somebody might be standing more than a mile away from the stage, they were still able to feel connected to the event via our video displays,” says Divenyi.
The mobile LED screens’ easy load-in and load-out made them prime candidates for Philly, as well as DC and NYC. “It took an immense amount of planning to choreograph the load in, our show presence and the load-out efforts,” says Murray. “We had each screen staged in our shop, with all necessary components. We had a nice advantage with our shop being located less than an hour from the site. The guys in our warehouse came up with a pretty ingenious system. The trucks would shuttle gear and empties back and forth. The build took about a week, and on any typical day we might have five or six screens staged in our warehouse in the morning; they would be up and lit by mid afternoon in Philadelphia.”
“With some of the screens weighing up to 1,500 pounds,” says Upstage Video marketing communications manager Morgan Santoro, “Doug and Geza assembled a team of the best LED technicians and made it a priority to ensure the safety of the crew as well as attendees. From closing down roadways to bulking up security, the great people and police force of Philadelphia made our job easy by giving us the support we needed to get the job done.”
Togetherness
Some heavyweights of the production industry were in Upstage’s corner, such as ESM Productions, veterans of staging large-scale concerts and events in Philadelphia. Scott Mirkin, co-founder of ESM Productions and executive producer of the Papal Mass, studied John Paul II’s 1979 outdoor mass in Philadelphia, but admitted there were not many similarities between the two events. For one thing, the 1979 mass was conducted in a different, if nearby, location. However, ESM’s rep indicated that the largest free outdoor concert in America, the Philly 4th of July Jam, for which Mirkins is executive producer, is staged at the same location and with “virtually the same footprint, Eakins Oval.”
“[ESM] had a good perspective on how to tackle an event such as this,” concurs Murray.
Upstage received assistance in the trenches as well, augmenting its crew. Initially, Upstage had charged a dozen people with working onsite, but as the event drew closer, that number grew. “We had a total of 22 techs spanning 10 days for the screen build and tear down,” says Divenyi. “There were a total of 18 technicians on-site during the actual Papal activities.”
“What I experienced when I arrived [on site] on Friday was nothing short of miraculous,” says Murray . “Pardon the pun. Our team had 25 or 26 of the screens up and operating perfectly. There was some security request, seven of the screens had to be built over night on Friday, before the Saturday arrival of Pope Francis. This sort of change in plan, a plan [we’d] been working on for months, normally throws a crew into disarray and stress. We just rolled with it, dealt with it, and delivered as requested.”
FOH MIA?
There was no traditional FOH position from which video was operated, says Murray, who explained that “our signal originated in the TV truck compound [NEP broadcast truck].” Video signal was “fed from the NEP trucks to VER, who distributed the feed to our screens,” says Divenyi. “We provided primary and backup HD scalers and processing at each location to ensure there would be no downtime during the events.”
What appeared to be an FOH station was actually a tarp-covered tent protecting some of the orchestral instruments from the elements. However, due to its size and relative location, it blocked the view of some in the crowd, who began chanting, “Take it down,” pointing out that the obstruction stood in stark opposition to the Pope’s message of inclusion.
“A pretty significant and lasting cheer went up from the crowd when crews pulled the skin off of that tent,” says Murray. “Weather was questionable throughout the day on Sunday. About an hour before the Pope arrived onsite, it was sort of obvious that he had arranged for the weather to cooperate, so someone made a great decision to remove it and make a lot of people very happy.”
Even if a sprinkle or two had landed on the attendees it’s doubtful crowds would have felt compelled to flee. There was something heartbreakingly beautiful about the scope and sweep of the entire day and the outpouring of love, words of mystery and faith, and the mellifluous sounds of cantor Charlene Angelini’s ethereal voice.
Thanks to Upstage, attendees became “immersed in the intimacy of the event,” says Morgan Santoro. “Anyone at the event could vouch for a feeling of kindness, religion and happiness that permeated the crowd.”
“Our clients had a lot to deal with, and I like to think we were pretty transparent to them,” says Murray . “They go down the list of 101 things they need to do and they arrive at ‘video’ and someone says, ‘Check.’ They check the box and move onto something else. What really kind of caught me off-guard was how well our team was working together. We have worked some really tough shows, tough conditions, tough mentally and technically, and all of that stress and sweat over the past 10 years paid off on this job.”
More details at www.upstagevideo.com
