More details from Gearhouse (http://www.gearhouse.co.za):
ZAMBIA, South Africa – Gearhouse Group supplied full technical production for the CNN African Journalist of the Year Competition 2012. Produced by Mark West of CAP Events, the event which took place at the Government Complex Auditorium, Lusaka and was broadcast live on ZNBC.
The Gearhouse team, having supplied the 2007 and 2009 events, was well prepared to give the 700 attendees a high quality technical experience.
“We have a long standing business relationship with Mark West of CAP Events on events like the 2003 Cricket World Cup, The Presidents Opening ceremony and more,’ said Gearhouse Project Manager, Eyal Yehezkely. “We gained the confidence of the client and his team right from the start of talks here in South Africa. It was great working with him and other technical team members of the caliber of Producer Tamara Dawning, Production Designer Dewet Meyer and Lighting Designer Alasdair Richards.”
The event required crisp, high quality Audio Visual within a given budget. Other than a bit of Gearhouse input on the lighting and audio aspects (from Herman Wessels and Jako de Wit respectively) on how best to achieve the desired result – plus a bit of intense planning to keep the load confined to a single interlinked closed truck – there were no real challenges in delivering exactly what the client wanted for both the Awards and Banquet areas.
According to Yehezkely, Alasdair Richard’s lighting rig was designed specifically around the camera requirements and it worked perfectly. The rig was comprised of ETC Source 4s, 2 and 2.5K Fresnels supplemented by BB4 LED wash lights and Robe ColorSpot 700Es hung off an EHD ground support structure and run via a grandMA Lite. T-shaped truss supports onstage were configured to serve the dual purpose of supporting the set flattage and providing backlighting positions for the set.
The set was designed by Dewet Meyer of JDM Unlimited with a richly patterned set of circular panels and rectangular set pieces radiating outward from a central point. While the flattage was fabricated onsite by a local set builder, the CNN Logo was manufactured by Gearhouse’ set building company Sets, Drapes, Screens (SDS) over 5 days before being transported to Lusaka.
On the AV front, 16/9 front projection from four 10K Christie Roadsters and a Panasonic PT-DZ6710E relayed Supersport feed to large screens either side of the stage using fiber cabling to overcome the delay in single transmission from OB van to screen and ensure a crisp, stable image.
“Every event teaches us something new,” says Yehezkely. “In this case, working with a state-of-the art OB Van gave us new insights into the latest video switching gear and HD facilities. We enjoyed an extremely close working relationship between lighting and camera. The Lighting desk was placed inside of the OB Van to assist seamless interaction between disciplines.”
On this event, Yehezkely comments that his team was particularly “on point” in terms of the power distribution, power back up systems and Auto Q screens. “These elements worked exactly as they should – 100 percet – but their importance to the show was superior to the rest of the disciplines for the simple reason that without them we would have no show.”
Gearhouse Group is working more and more into the African continent, a development which comes with its own set of challenges. Yehezkely is one of Gearhouse’s team of African facilitators fondly referred to by the company as “Our Men in Africa.” He manages mostly the Southern and East African work, while colleague, Bill Lawford covers Central and West African events. “We have put serious effort into extending our work across the borders and we have a team of people ready to take on jobs into the continent. It obviously takes much more planning and intelligent use of equipment and furthermore, I enjoy travel and exploring new places.”
photo courtesy Dewet Meyer (JDM Umlimited)
