When Scott Scovill of Moo TV was deciding which manufacturer's LED panels to use to create the video screen for Brad Paisley's 2010 Summer Tour, he turned to the artist to help make the final call. Scovill had narrowed the choice down to three LED panel models – two with a 20mm pixel pitch, and one with a higher-resolution 18mm – all of which he had been "putting through the paces" in the office of his Nashville video production company for weeks beforehand.
"It always helps if you have the artist in on the final decision," said Scovill. "So I brought Brad in, and as soon as he walked into the room he pointed at one of the screens and said, ‘That's the 18.' I told him, ‘No, that's the Elation 20mm.'" Paisley thus confirmed the decision that Scovill had arrived at after extensive testing – to go with the Elation Professional EVLED 1024SMD panel.
Along with image quality, the EVLED 1024SMD showed the most promise for reliable performance despite the rigors of the road. "I made it clear to all three companies that I was going to take their products to the limits and beyond," said Scovill. "Surprisingly to me, because I had never used Elation before, their EVLED panel turned out to be the toughest and most reliable product, as well as the best looking. The Elation had no pixel failures, while the other two screens both had pixel problems of some sort."
Scovill went ahead and placed an initial order for 330 EVLED 1024SMD panels. Then, just four days after they arrived, a natural disaster came to town. Torrential downpours caused the Cumberland River to overflow, drowning Nashville in one of its worst floods. About $4 million worth of Moo TV's gear was destroyed, including the EVLED panels.
"The flood came during the middle of the busiest five weeks of our history. We had seven tours going out and one huge corporate show," Scovill related. Miraculously, all of the tours, including Paisley's, were launched on schedule using replacement gear and "everybody was happy."
The irony of the devastating flood coming at the outset of Paisley's tour was not lost on many. The show is called the H2O Tour, and the artist's current big hit single is titled "Water." If that's not enough, Scovill named a documentary he is shooting on the making of the tour "Under Water."
Not surprisingly, water provides the theme for much of the video content that appears on the EVLED screens during Paisley's show. Moo TV supplied the creative content as well as the video equipment. "We pride ourselves in being able to provide video content," said Scovill, who also serves as the tour's creative director. "This is one of the things that distinguishes our business from other video production companies."
Along with larger-than-life fish, splashing surf and other water-related images, there's a 3D life-size caricaturized mascot of Brad Paisley, a sort of alter-ego of the artist who behaves "like an absolute jerk" in humorous video scenes.
Unlike some artists who re-use video clips tour after tour, "we go to great lengths to come up with something new and different every year," said Scovill. "It's a real challenge trying to outdo what you did last time."
The EVLED panels provided a tool to help meet this creative challenge. Three hundred of the panels were used to create an approximately 60-foot-wide, 30-foot-tall video screen upstage. In front of the screen is a platform where Paisley can perform, with ramps built into it. By going down the ramps, Paisley can seemingly "disappear" into the video. "It looks like he's immersed in the image," said Scovill.
Being modular and lacking a rigid structure, the EVLED panels could be put together in unique configurations, giving Moo TV the freedom to "build our own structure." This modularity also allows the screen to be easily taken down and transported, so it "travels really well," said Scovill, who recently completed a European leg of the tour. The toughness and durability that impressed him during the testing phase has proven it can withstand the rigors of touring, too.
"The reliability of the screen has been fantastic," said Scovill, who has since purchased additional EVLED 1024SMD panels, bringing his inventory to about 600, which will be using for upcoming tours.
