SEMI-FINALS VIDEO CONTENT PACKAGE FOR STANDUP COMEDIAN COURTNEY GILMOUR
PHOTO : JAG GUNDU / ROGERS SPORTS & MEDIA
And speed is actually a great thing to bring up , because when you put such a large video wall behind talent , what you quickly realize is that a tiny microscopic part of your content ends up as the background of the tight shot . And so , you really have to be mindful that you ’ re looking at your screen in your editing station and seeing your loop go this slow and you ’ re thinking , “ Oh , my god , there ’ s nothing happening ”, but then you punch into the single and the line goes by super fast and you realize , “ Right , I ’ m going to be punching into a tiny little part of this content when we ’ re shooting the show , and I have to make sure there ’ s enough detail and the right speed in that tiny little section . There ’ s a balance there for sure , and speed is a very important thing to keep an eye on .
At a concert , everybody ’ s got a wide shot . When you go to TV , you ’ ll be punching in the side angles and reverse angles and tight shots – and you go might go right from a tight shot to a wide shot of the exact same video loop ; but in one shot , you ’ ve zoomed into a 120 by 120-pixel region . And then you go to the wide shot , and it ’ s the full 4K loop , and both have to work . And you don ’ t have time to switch between those two shots . It just has to all work from every angle , in every framing .
While the majority of the show takes place in the mainstage hall , Kapler details that there were other areas of the venue that had to be prepared for the show as well for various uses , including setting up lighting and decaling road cases to dress up the theatre walk-in , as well as building additional sets in the venue ’ s conference rooms .
“ Downstairs , there ’ s six conference rooms ,” Kapler explains . “ And throughout these conference rooms , we had to build many things ; one is the big main space where we built a little stage on the floor and have a bunch of lights and everything that ’ s used for group interviews or B-roll . We also built the CIBC Gold Room ; we custom-painted gold truss , we did gold flooring and gold confetti – so that if there was a Golden Buzzer moment , they could take the performer down there and do B-roll for that . And then we had a Tim Hortons activation , which was a branded interview space for Tim Hortons .”
Two other rooms were also converted into simple interview spaces , “ so we also had to build those ; and that was all happening simultaneously while the main stage was [ going up ] as well , so it was a lot of resources all over the map at one time ,” Kapler adds .
Despite the rigorous challenge of putting on a show of this calibre and doing so in a way that lives up to the precedent set by this illustrious franchise , the execution has been a smashing success and has yielded a show that looks incredible and feels larger-than-life in all the ways it should , and it ’ s left a feeling of satisfaction as the season has rolled out .
“ We ’ re really loving it ,” beams Nadon . “ I got to say , the set turned out looking almost exactly like the render ; and that ’ s not only a testament to the design holding up and being what we hoped it would be , but also our budgeting and execution teams doing their jobs really well . A lot of the work is done by those teams , who are able to figure out the rigging challenges , the power challenges , the schedule with the staff that ’ s available in the budget . We ’ re feeling really good about what the show looks like – I think it ’ s got a really modern flair . And you know , we were really excited when Howie walked in and he just kept raving about how massive the video wall was . We were really excited that that was noticed .”
STAGE LIGHTING & VIDEO SPEC PROVIDED BY INFRAME DESIGNS
LIGHTING SPEC
166 x Martin VDO Atomic Dot CLD 512 x Martin VDO Sceptron 10
1000mm 174 x Martin VDO Sceptron 10
330mm 27 x Martin P3 PowerPort 1500 5 x Martin P3 System Controller 36 x Martin MAC Aura 45 x Martin MAC Encore CLD 65 x Martin MAC Axiom 18 x ETC Source Four Par XWFL
Lens 60 x Chroma-Q ColorForce 12 v2 18 x Chroma-Q ColorForce 72 v2 10 x Chroma-Q Space Force 106 x Chroma-Q Studio Force
Phosphor 22 x Chroma-Q Gigabit Switch 66 x Elation DTW Blinder 6 x ARRI Skypanel S60C 46 x GLP Impression X Bar 20 2 x MDG Hazer 2 x grand MA2 Fullsize 1 x grand MA Lite 2 x grand MA on PC 4 x MA3 NPU 14 x Pathport Octo Node 16 x Hive Wasp 100C
VIDEO SPEC
796 x 3.91mm LED panels 130 x 3.65mm LED panels 20 x 1.58mm LED panels ( Judges ’ desk )
4x InFrame Vixen Media Server
Kapler agrees , saying he ’ s “ just ecstatic ” with how the show has turned out , especially lauding the Avalon and its staff for making their integration as smooth as possible .
“ We really , really wanted to make the impression that Canada is here to play as much as anybody else ,” Nadon concludes . “ And we may have less to work with and less resources , but we have a lot of drive and determination and talent and just love being part of that competition . The more we can be a part of that global competition and make our shows hold up to any show around the world , that ’ s what we ’ re here for . And we feel this one did that .”
A . Leyenhorst is the former Assistant Editor of Professional Lighting & Production .
Summer 2022 | 21