LONDON — Its 2.2 million members in 150 countries and regions have a joint mission of exposing and documenting human rights abuses. But if its mission is deadly serious, Amnesty International also relies on live comedy and music for part of its fundraising activities. A case in point is the 14th incarnation of its Secret Policemans Ball, recently staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall and broadcast the following day on U.K.’s Channel Four. The event featured comedians Eddie Izzard, Frank Skinner, Ed Byrne, Shappi Korsandi, Sarah Millican, Tim Minchin and others, and also featured U.K. indie band Razorlight. Flux Events managed technical production for the live event, which was lit by LD Gurdip Mahal.
Mahal's lighting design featured a low-level rear wall of 80 JTE PixelLine LED battens and five Novalight Nova Flower high-powered effects fixtures, which were positioned on the floor at the back of the stage. This helped increase the depth of field for the cameras on the RAH’s relatively shallow stage, and also filled the gaps on both this and a satellite stage in the centre of the arena floor. The RAH’s organ was also architecturally lit.
The six-by-three-meter satellite stage floor was made up of eight panels of Barco MiTrix, used to display the Amnesty logo. XL also supplied two Lighthouse L7 side screens flanking the stage and a large FOH projection screen that was rigged at gallery level and fed by a pair of doubled up Barco R7s.
All lighting equipment was supplied by PRG. Ross Williams programmed the show onto a WholeHog 3 console, and Seb Williams was Mahal's gaffer. Video was supplied by XL. The project manager was Steve Greetham and all the technicals were coordinated on-site by Stuart Heaney. The 12 cameras and the OB truck facilities was supplied by 021 and project managed by Andrew Jones.
“As always, putting the right team together was the key to everything running seamlessly on the day,” said John Farquhar-Smith, who headed the production management team for Flux Events, and who had just returned from directing the production details for the London 2012 Handover portions of the Closing Ceremony for the Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing.
Farquhar-Smith added that the RAH is the perfect fit as venue for the event, due to its inherent character and the “fantastic team” involved in its operation. This year, the get-in commenced on the Friday, and Farquhar-Smith said that helped the production run smoothly, giving each department ample time to get their elements in place.
Farquhar-Smith collaborated closely with Tiger Aspect, who oversaw all the televised aspects of the show. The event was directed by Julia Knowles. Production manager Joe Sanchez worked with two production coordinators, Marlies de Kraauw and Octavia Harwood. Lucy Barker worked as stage manager with ASM Zeynep Kepekl. Helen Mooney was in charge of props and arts direction and Jeffrey Bryant created the costumes. The executive producers were Mike Agnew for Tiger Aspect and Seamus Mitchell-Murphy and Suzie Aplin for Amnesty International.
For more information, please visit www.amnesty.org and www.fluxevents.com.
