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

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 lowered, 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 structural beams. 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.

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.

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.

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