Archive for July 4th, 2012

Live video and AV production and rental specialist Central Presentations Ltd. (CPL) has appointed Lee Gruszeckyj to boost its busy Project Management team.
Gruszeckyj – popularly known as Lee G – will be co-ordinating a diverse range of CPL’s events work, and also expanding business in the broadcast sector, where there is a healthy demand for camera crews for news shoots and commercials. He is highly respected in this area and has many contacts.
Gruszeckyj has worked in the live video production since he was 16 and has a passion and zeal for his work that is an ideal fit with CPL’s philosophy.
His extensive industry experience includes freelancing for a number of leading companies and brands for the last six years, dealing with video and IMAG systems – both engineering and directing – and also projection, through which he has built up a broad technical and creative knowledge base.
He also brings a calm and unflappable personality and great communication skills to the equation.
Gruszeckyj once worked full time for CPL back in the early stages of his career and has also done so on many occasions as a freelancer, so he knows the company well and has seen it grow and move into new and exciting areas and directions.
Gruszeckyj comments, “It’s great to be back! CPL has always looked after me as an employee and a freelancer. They have the right attitude to people, a policy of investing in the newest and best technologies in order to offer the best service and options to their clients …. And that’s where I want to be”.
CPL’s MD Matthew Boyse adds, “We are extremely lucky to have someone of Lee’s calibre and knowledge on-board. He’s well liked throughout the business and regarded as an expert in the field of broadcasting as well as being well-known in the Midlands” – where CPL is based.
CPL has enjoyed a busy start to 2012. The addition of Gruszeckyj is in line with planned expansion plans which has also seen recent investment in the latest Panasonic, d&b Audiotechnik and Sony equipment for hire stock.

XL Video continues to supply Coldplay’s phenomenal Mylo Xyloto (MX) world tour with LED screens, cameras / HD PPU, media servers and control plus crew, which has stepped up to play stadiums shows in the UK and Europe.

The expanded design features XL Video’s brand new Pixled F-12 LED screen product. XL Video is the first company in the UK to take delivery of this impressively bright and clear surface.
The screen layout for this leg of the tour – developed by production and lighting designer Paul Normandale – features five striking circular F-12 surfaces onstage. The central one measures 9 metres in diameter and is flanked by two at 8 metres and then two at 10 metres on the outside. The two 8 metre screens are slightly angled to maximise site lines for the audience seated on the sides of the stadiums.
The live camera mix is cut by Andy Bramley, and the media server system is designed, programmed and operated by Ben Miles. They work closely on the show’s very memorable aesthetics with Normandale, Coldplay’s creative director Phil Harvey and Misty Buckley who styled the lively graffiti themed set decoration with the help of graffiti artist Paris.
Coldplay continue to wow the crowds with their incendiary performances and stunning visuals that have won much critical acclaim.
The screens contain over 1140 Pixled F-12 tiles, flown as squares from special screen support towers supplied by StageCo and masked with circular set fascias constructed by Tait Technologies – splattered with graffiti.
XL Video worked closely with Tait Technologies to design a custom touring system for the F-12 screens to make rigging straightforward and safe. This also includes sets of dollies in which the screen panels are stored for transit, giving full portability and expedient truck packing.
XL Video is supplying seven Sony HXC-100 cameras in total. Two are fitted with long lenses, stationed at the FOH mixer position and on the base of the house left follow spot tower; two hand-helds are at the front-of-stage, one on a tripod; two cover either side of the central ramp coming offstage into the audience and the final one is a hand-held onstage.
Bramley has worked with Coldplay since 2005, and together they have honed the look and feel of the live IMAG visuals into a fine art juxtaposing detail and spontaneity.
He is using a GV Kayak 2.5 M/E mixer / switcher with Evertz router and Zander Multiviewer and also running Thundering Jack’s Video Dust effects software on two Macs. The software has been developed by Stuart Whites and Phil Woodhead, themselves both renowned video directors.
Ben Miles is running two active Catalyst media servers via a grandMA lite console each with a hot backup and fitted with a tripleHead2Go, giving three outputs per device – allowing all the screens to receive independent feeds.
He takes in four of Bramley’s seven camera feeds plus his programme TX as an HD feed, and 90 per cent of the show is full HD with 720 pixels output to each screen.
A number of effects, including flips, solarisation, monochrome and the frame drops which bring a filmic quality to the images in key songs, together with the masking and all routing to screen, is done within the Catalyst system.
All Catalyst signal / data distribution is run via an XL Video custom DVI fibre system.
XL’s crew of eight are crew chiefed by the unflappable John Wynne. They include three top LED techs from Belgium – Freddie Debaille, Peter Laleman and Reinder van der Steene – who are joined by Matt Gourd, engineer Ed Jarman and three camera specialists – Phil Johnstone, Sacha Moore and Darren Montague.
The tour is project managed for XL by Phil Mercer and Tracey Donnelly. Mercer comments, “We are thoroughly enjoying playing our part in XL’s continuing long association with Coldplay, particularly enjoying the challenges, both technical and logistical, of keeping them visually at the very top of their game.”

XL Video UK supplied Production North with Pixled F-11 moving screens and two large left and right IMAG screens made up from their brand new F-12 product for Westlife’s Farewell Concert at Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, Ireland.

Westlife – the most popular, long lasting and successful boyband in the history of the genre – performed their last two ever live shows in front of 85,000 capacity audiences, topping off a hugely successful 14 year career that’s seen them sell over 45 million records, land a string of number one hits and retain a loyal fan base.

XL Video has been involved with Westlife since their first full scale production tour, Coast To Coast, in 2000. Video has always played an integral part in their live visuals and presentation and this last Farewell tour – six weeks in UK arenas – followed by the two shows at Croke Park – was no exception.

Says XL Video’s Project Manager Phil Mercer, “We are extremely proud of our history and association with Westlife. The fact that they have consistently toured UK arenas (11 tours in the last 12 years) to a very loyal group of fans has been a huge challenge in keeping the visual aspect of the show fresh and different each time. The band’s hard-working attitude to live shows I’m sure has played a major part in keeping them at the top for so long”.

The tour and the Croke Park shows – produced by Emma Bull – needed to be extra spectacular and special to mark the band’s exit.

The final show in particular, needed to ensure the band ended on a high note, a tricky psychological and spiritual challenge, but one to which all technical departments rose.

The four Pixled F-11 moving screens onstage each measured 5 panels wide by 12 deep, and tracked from side to side on a system installed by production riggers, Over The Top. These screens displayed playback content that was specially tailored for each song, produced by Blink TV.

The screens provided an additional layer of drama and mood which combined with Dave Lee’s lighting design to produce the highly-matched visual treatments that Bull had envisioned. They shifted into numerous different positions throughout the set, and were also used as the exit door for the band’s emotionally charged final exit from stage.

The side screens of F-12 – specially developed by Pixled and Tait Technologies for XL Video – came straight off Coldplay’s UK stadium tour, for which they were initially commissioned, and this product is currently available only from XL as a rental item.

Mega bright, very lightweight, reliable and quality engineered to the high standards associated with Pixled, the side screens each measured 9m x 9m, and ensured that fans all around the stadium received a clear view of director Billy Robinson’s slickly structured IMAG mix. At strategic moments, playback footage – primarily monochrome VT capturing the band’s thoughts, reflections and most enjoyable memories of the last 14 years – also appeared in these.

XL’s engineer Patrick Vansteelant comments that the F-12 has been “Fantastic” to work with. It’s going to be seen on plenty of XL’s projects this summer and its clarity and punch will be a great asset for shows competing with the long daylight hours!

The PPU and cameras were supplied by Luke and Tom Levitt, who co-ordinated the video elements for Production North.

The mix from Robinson’s PPU was fed into Barco Image Pro processors, where it was formatted and output to the screens by Vansteelant. He worked alongside Steve Clarisse on the tour and at the Croke Park shows. Together with the Levitt brothers and Billy Robinson, they all formed one harmonious video team.

For Croke Park only Alain Demey, Robyn Tearle and Marcus Wareham were additions to the XL crew.

The B stage, used towards the end of the show right in the middle of the audience and from where Westlife said their final goodbyes, featured a custom W shaped video deck produced by Production North, containing 384 Stealth tiles which were also provided by XL Video.

In addition to the live audience in the stadium, the Farewell Concert on Saturday 23rd June was beamed live to nearly 300 cinemas around the UK, ramping the pressure on everyone to get it just right, so all the Westlife enthusiasts, even if unable to get there in person, could still enjoy the atmosphere and vibe of an historical moment.