Inner Space 2012

Inner Space 2012
Publicity Poster Production Team Project Management Oran O'Neill Stage Management / Publicity & Front of House Jane Paterson, Rosie Barber, Elleanor Taylor TSM Andrew McCabe, Christopher McIntyre, Jennifer Howes Lighting Design Sam Cunningham Lighting Daphne Mir,Sam Cunningham, Kathryn Douglas, Ben Terry AV Patrick Watson Sound Graeme Brown Set Ashley Kerray, Natalie Wilson Stats Venue New Athenaeum Theatre Performance Date Thursday 19th January 2012, 7.00pm

FoH/Stage Management

Room Booking

Rehearsal room one and two dressing rooms were booked early on in the term through client services. This meant we were able to have a bar in room one before the audience entered the New Athenaeum Theatre stage. The two dressings rooms kept the two bands we had organised content and meant they were only in the Athenaeum when required.

Bar

A bar was set up on the night in room one. There was red wine, white wine and beer all for one pound, some chocolate and soft drinks. It was organised through 'Where the Monkey Sleeps' the cafe at the conservatoire. We discussed it with the manager Jim about a week before the performance. We also advised that it was going to be a maximum of 120 people, as at this point we had no idea of numbers for the night.

Ticketing and Door

We ticketed the event. The tickets were 'sold' through our production manager. Having one person kept it simple and alot easier to have an idea of who was coming and who to speak to anything ticket related. The tickets we also numbered. The numbers corresponded to had a ticket, this way it could be monitored that only internal students and staff went to the event. This was important as this production could not have any external people come to see it. On the night we had one person on the door to room one checking the tickets. They kept a tally of how many people were there (making sure the maximum wasn't exceeded), made sure they were an internal student or staff member and kept any haze coming into the corridor.

On the night a total of 34 people came.

Poster, dressing room signs and tickets

The poster, dressing room signs and tickets were all the same design. The posters were put around both Renfrew Street and Spiers Lock Studios. See our poster under the name of 'publicity poster' on the top right of this page.

TSM

Lowered grid

The grid was constructed from 2 single purchase bars and 3 double purchase bars; 11, 14, 15, 16 and 21. These were cross-braced with a number of lengths of scaff bar, attached with right-angle and swivel clamps (19 in total). We would have liked to have used entirely right-angled clamps, apart from the 4 used to connect the 2 lengths which were not at right angles to the counterweight bars. However, we were unable to find enough.

We also initially planned to connect another 6m bar to the far SR end. However, we felt that the grid was rigid enough without, and that the clamps could be better used elsewhere.

Bar weights were worked out as follows:

Bar 5 (LX): 7.68kg + 10% = 8.5kg. Therefore, 1 weight - but another 1/2 was added to make it easier to fly. 1 1/2 weights

Bar 8 was added to help provide support to the grid. No weights were used.

Bar 11 (Grid): 68.11kg + 10% = 75kg. 6 1/2 weights. However, when the bar was weighted, another 4 weights were added. 10 1/2 weights.

Bar 14 (Grid. Double purchase): 106.35 + 10% = 117kg. 19 1/2 weights. Only 19 weights were ever put into the cradle.

Bar 15 (Grid. Double purchase): 69.96 + 10% = 77kg. 12 1/2 weights. Only 12 weights were ever put into the cradle.

Bar 16 (Grid. Double purchase. Identical to 14): 117kg. 19 1/2 weights -> 19 weights.

Bar 21 (Grid. Identical to 11): 75kg. 6 1/2 weights -> 10 1/2 weights.

Bar 24 was added to help provide support to the grid. No weights were used.

Bar 27 (LX. Identical to 5): 8.5kg. 1 weight. Another 1/2 was added to make it easier to fly. 1 1/2 weights

Once the grid was flown out to height, braked and clipped, it was decided that we should secure all weight bearing cradles to a secure point in the buildings structure, just incase the brake or clip failed. All three double purchase cradles (14, 15 & 16) were secured from the loading gallery. Cradle 14 would fixed to a structural beam using 2 slings and a shackle. Bars 15 and 16 were secured using ratchet straps again to a structural beam. The two single purchase cradles that were weight bearing were secured from the Intermediate Fly Floor. Bars 11 and 21 were both secured using slings and shackles to a rail fixed to a structural beam. By doing this it meant that there was a secure hold on the floating grid.

Masking

Full blacks were hung on bars 2 and 29. We used them to mask the unsightly iron and the back wall of the stage. We initially wanted them on 1 and 30. However, 2 is the first available bar, and there was a cyc currently being stored on bar 30. We also had to be careful of bar 28 when flying 29 in and out, due to a row of floods being stored on the bar. Initially we planned to have the cyc fully out and the full black on 29, in. However, we discovered that this drew the audience's eyes towards the ceiling and the grid, especially when the stage lighting was on. Therefore we solved this problem by bringing the cyc fully in to hide it almost entirely behind the full black.

Hemp lines

3 hemp lines were put in SR using single 1T pulleys and 3 short slings. These were placed at 2m intervals along the scaffolding bar above the gap in the grid. A 6m bar was attached, to enable the set 'cubes' to be flown. These provided a decorative feature to the stage.

On the SL side, 4 double 1T pulleys were put in at distances of 1.5m. 2 lines were dropped from each pulley. 1 for the border, and another for the 3x7m legs. The border was 13x4m, attached to a 6m bar. This meant that the majority of the fabric was folded back on itself, creating folds in the bottom of the fabric. This meant that the bottom of the border had a tendency to fall in a curve. This was solved by attaching gripons to pull the border tighter.

The 3x7m legs were attached to a 6m bar with 2 x 700mm bar extensions. These were used to mask the AV screen.

We originally put in a sharkstooth gauze from 3 points, hung directly off the prompt side fly floor. This was going to be used as a screen to back project onto. However, as a result of too much light shining through from the scene dock, this was changed for a screen requiring only 2 points, connected via 2 very small slings.

Both the screen, border and legs were breasted back to ensure that they lay flat against the fly floor for maximum floor space.

A hard masking flat was placed lengthways underneath the screen to complete the 'black box' effect.7

2 other 3x7m legs were used to provide stage masking. They were hung from points at distances x and x. These were hung from 2 x 2m bars. The excess material was on-stage, to provide a neat edge. We had to be careful about the positioning of these points, as they sat very close to some of the lanterns on the grid.

Stage

We created the stage using steel deck. For the main platform we used 6 - 8x4 bits of deck. This gave us the perfect size to fit on out bands without taking away to much space from the venue. For the main stage we used 24 500mm legs, this gave a good height for the platform. The stage was central to the venue, and used 2 sets of double treads on the left and right hand side at the back for safe access.

For the control position we used 200mm legs to give the operators enough height to see the stage, and also because it was a TPA event, to show off a bit. We used 3 bits of 8x4 and a single tread for safe access.

TSM Full Equipment List

The following equipment is all avalible in the Scene dock, TSM corner and Ath Void in RCS.

• 18 Hemp Lines
• 4x 6m Bars
• 2x 700mm Bar Extentions
• 2x 500mm
• 7x 1T Double Pullys
• 4x Grid block pullys
• 4x 3x7m Legs
• 1x 13x14m Border (although length less than 13m is advised)
• 7x short black slings
• 2x small black and red slings
• 2x full blacks
• 1x 6m IWB
• 24x Clamps
• 2x 2m Bars
• 2x 1.7m Bars
• 3x 1m Bars
• 6x 1m Drifts
• 6x Small shackles
• 8x 4x8 Deck
• 2x 4x4 Deck
• 30x Full thred bolts
• 30x nuts
• 24x 500mm deck legs
• 16x 200mm deck legs
• 1x single tred
• 2x double tred
• 6x pin hinges
• 36x screws

TSM Recommended Crew

We would recommend 4 TSM crew or swing tech, but in an ideal world, 5 would be the best.

Emergency Exit

We realised in order to cover all possible situations that we should add another emergency exit to the venue. This was tricky because of the full masking that surrounded the space. We decided to place our new exit where the prompt desk would usualy sit(DSL in the normal Ath. layout) In order to do this we hung a small bar off of the tormentor, using a clamp and then hung a "custom made" emergency exit sign on it. This also provided us with safe access to and from backstage withought getting caught up in the full blacks in a blackout or strobe sections of the event.

Safety

• Make sure you have put white tape around the edges of all of the platforms and treads.
• Keep the fly floor and prompt side tidy to avoid risks.
• Mark all flying pieces accurately so that anybody can quickly see what they are looking for.
• Always have a buddy with you, to help with work and also get help if the need arises.
• Wait for supervision before starting any work.
• Keep the wings and scene dock tidy, it will safe time if you tidy as you go along.
• Always follow safe systems of work
• Isolation MUST be put in at least 15 mins before any work on the grid or use of haze.

AV

Initial Design Note

The initial design for the AV was to have a projector set up at the rear of the stage and project a mixture of camera shots/visual effects. Chris McIntyre then came up with the idea to also stream photographs from pictures taken at the event. This initially began as a small side show effect, but as the full potential of it was realised it became one of the main feature of the event by adding depth to the stage.

Equipment Used

The majority of kit was sourced through the AV Department the BNC camera cables were source through Venues.

• Projector - (With a BNC input)
• Projector Mount (In case rear projection failed)
• Panasonic AV MX50 Desk (With TV monitor)
• 3 Cameras (With adapters to link to BNC cable)
• 3 Tripods
• DVD player (with composite output)
• 12X9ft Rear Projection Screen
• 4 x Long 20m runs of BNC cable to run through the void
• 2 x 15m runs of BNC cable to run to Camera 1 and 2 (Stage Left and Right)
• 1 x 10m runs of BNC cable to run to drummer cam
• 1 x 15m runs of BNC cable to run to projector
• 2 x 10m runs of BNC cable to run through cable traps
• 2 x 1M runs of BNC cables to run to DVD Player
• 1 x 1m Run of S-VHS cable to run to Laptop

As this list shows, despite starting off as a small scale feature of innerspace, it did use a rather vast amount of equipment. Unfortunately the venues department did not have these exact lengths of BNC therefore I had to couple lots of smaller lengths together.

The Screen

The initial plan for what we would use as a screen to project on was a gauze. TSM took control in sourcing and rigging the gauze. After recieving advice from the AV tech and other staff members we realised that the gauze ruined the effect for a number of reasons. Firstly, the quality of the projection was severely dropped. The projection also easily shot through the gauze causing a beam onto the LX and potentially could cause an eyesore to the audience. Finally the gauze wasn't thick enough, therefore the audience could easily see through it into the scene dock. After realising all this the AV and TSM's decided the best option would be to remove the gauze and replace it with masking and the rear projection screen with masking around it. Despite taking longer than expected to change round, the final look of the screen with the masking was terrific and really did fit in with the nightclub/gig feel.

The Desk

The desk that was used for the AV was the Panasonic MX50. This is a relatively old desk, however very straight forward to use. It allows the user to input 4 sources and mix them onto the screen using a variation of mixes and wipes. The only issue with the desk was it appeared to not have a preview out for a monitor, therefore I relied on the camera operators to perfect the shots with almost no direction from the desk operator.

Cameras

Natalie and Ashley to input

The Photo-stream

The idea of the live photo feed came from the idea of how the majority of nightclubs have photographers. It was decided that there would be a photographer who would take pictures of the crowd during the DJ sets. These images would then be transferred back to a laptop which would be connected to an AV mixer and out to a projector.

Equipment used:

• 1 x Canon Eos 5D Mark II DSLR Camera
• 1 x Canon WFT-E4 II Wireless File Transmitter (Attached to the bottom of the camera to instantly transfer images to the laptop once taken)
• 1 x Belkin Wirless Router complete with CAT 5 Ethernet cable
• 1 x Laptop

Software Used:

• Canon EOS Utility FTP Server Software
• Custom software program developed specifically for the event (called Image Viewer)

How it Worked!:

• Image was taken by the camera
• WFT-E4 II would automatically transfer the image to the computer using the wireless router
• EOS Utility software would take the image and dump it in a folder of your choice
• The custom software program would monitor the folder for new images and it would display a full size picture of the new image once it had been transferred from the EOS Utility Software
• Once another image came in the custom program would dump the last image and display the new one

The AV operator would then see the new image on the laptop and would decide when to cross fade from the live video feeds to the still shots.

Points to Note:

• On camera only Small JPGS were being transferred in order to get them to the computer faster.
• The Camera could not be turned off as it would lose the wireless connection with the router and FTP software
• Portrait shots could not be taken as due to the aspect ratio of the screen there would have been grey lines down the side of the image

Lighting

Fixture list

• 26X Par 64

2x CP60, 10x CP61, 14x CP62

• 16X Source four par

12x CP60, 4x CP62

• 6 X Strand lighting SL profile

4x 26°, 2x 50°

• 4 X Selecon RAMA 1.2Kw fresnel

• 4 X Varilight 1000 TSD (27 chan')

• 6 X Stairville LED Par56 (4 chan')

Second Gen'

• 1 X Generic strobe 1.5Kw* ( 2 chan')

• Please note some fixtures used were brought in by team members and not in the existing lamp stock*.

Control

Control was provided by MA lighting's GrandMA (Manual here )

The desk was set up in a busking style with chases and effects programmed to executor buttons and faders. This worked to the operators advantage when lighting a show with such a variety of performances. It is also extremely easy to patch and can be configured to any operators preference.

Three DMX outputs were used and the fixtures patched accordingly .

DMX Universe 1 - House dimmers (run from stalls output)

DMX Universe 2 - VL 1000'S

DMX Universe 3 - LED Parcan's , Strobe

Note: To assign a fixture to any given universe the number of the universe must be stated in the patch address followed by a period and then the fixture address. For example 1.001 .

Sound

The variety of content during our show provided many challenges and problems for sound during The Innerspace project 2012.

Control

The control surface used for Innerspace was the Soundcraft K3 from the AGOS. One of the stereo channels was removed from this board and replaced with a mono channel from the K3 in the lantern store in order to have enough channels to match the mic'ing requirements of the bands. As an anologue desk was used, analogue outboard equipment was required. This proved to be difficult to source and relied on personal kit from venue techs, myself and borrowed kit from City Halls. A definitive list of what was used and where it came from is below.

The F.O.H channel list was as follows

01. Kick 1 - Shure Beta 91a

02. Kick 2 - Shure Beta 52 <

03. Snare Top - Shure SM57

04. Snare Bot - Shure SM57

05. HiHats - Shure SM81

06. Rack Tom 1 - Sennheiser e604 <

07. Rack Tom 2 - Sennheiser e604 <

08. Floor Tom - Sennheiser e604 <

09. OH 1 - Sennheiser e614

10. OH 2 - Sennheiser e614

11. Guitar - Sennheiser e906

12. Bass - BSS DI ^

13. Keys 1 - BSS DI

14. Keys 2 - BSS DI

15. Vocals 1 - Shure SM58 ^

16. Vocals 2 - Shure SM58 ^

17. Vocals 3 - Shure SM58 ^

< = Gated

^ = Compressed

Note: There was no requirement from the bands for using rack tom 2 so the channel was not used although the gate was inserted. The two BSS DI's used for the keyboards were also used to give balanced L & R lines for the DJ sets.