PROMAG THIRD QUARTER 2014 - VOLUME 22 NUMBER 3 | Page 10

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TECHRIG & ELECTROSONIC SA COLLABORATE ON VIDEO MAPPING AT NAF
By Robbi Nassi (Entertainment Lighting - Technical Sales and Support)

Not only did TechRig supply the projectors, but they also supplied the
highly competent crew to set it up and man it. Goodwell Julias Banda was
the mastermind behind the projection calculations and configurations;
and Tsepho Khasebee, Head Rigger of TechRig, was responsible for
mounting the two 250kg projectors 14m up on scaffold towers (supplied
by the NAF). CM Lodestar Motors were used for the rigging, and TechRig
set-up the power distribution which included a 100m run of 63 Amp
3-Phase leads, breaking out to the two projectors, and the FOH Control.
The content of the light show, which ran from 6pm to 11pm every night,
was programmed onto the Green Hippo HD server using their Timeline
product feature. The projection was visible throughout the whole of
Grahamstown, showcasing the immense power of the projectors, and the
fidelity of the Green Hippo server. The show fast became a talking point,
and contributed to the general festivities, adding to the excitement of the
festival.
Special thanks go to Michael Collyer, CEO of TechRig & CLA Eventing, for
making this dream project a reality. Michael summed up the attitude of his
team by stating: “TechRig is about people, passion and professionalism,
and therefore we jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Nicci and
Robbi on this ground-breaking project. We love what we do, and we love
turning the unthinkable into reality.”

The National Arts Festival (NAF) is Africa’s biggest annual
celebration of the arts. It’s hosted in Grahamstown, a small
university city in the Eastern Cape, and takes place over eleven
days every winter.
This year, from 3 to 13 July, 225 000 people attended some 2800
performances in 50 venues scattered across Grahamstown and its
surrounds. Once again Electrosonic SA was a proud sponsor of this world
class arts festival. In the past we’ve supplied lighting equipment and
technical training, but this year, to celebrate the festival’s 40th birthday,
we decided to do something special. Recently Electrosonic SA became
the sole distributors of Green Hippo’s Media Servers, and the festival
presented the ideal opportunity to show what these servers can do.
The plan to use the Hippo to project images onto a large area was the
brainchild of NAF Technical Director Nicci Spalding and me. As Nicci tells
the story: “This project came about as all great ones do, over a beer in the
small hours. I said to Robbi, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could project
onto The Monument?’ He said, ‘why don’t we?’ I said, ‘Well, I know that
TechRig have the projectors; he said, ‘We could use the Hippo.’ And from
then on two of my favourite companies (Electrosonic SA and TechRig) got
together and pulled out all the stops to make it happen.”
The Monument (full name: The 1820 Settlers National Monument) is
the headquarters of the Festival and is located on a hilltop overlooking
Grahamstown. It was built to commemorate the contributions made by
English-speaking settlers to South Africa, drawing particular attention
to two areas of British Settler heritage: the English language, and the
democratic tradition. The Monument is not only a superbly equipped
facility, but also a hub for creative activity, especially during the festival.
Since its opening in July 1974 it has inspired artists to stretch the
imagination and embrace a future of hope, which is exactly what it did for
the intrepid crews of TechRig and Electrosonic SA.

TechRig, who have brought Barco's HDF-W26 and HDQ-2K40 projectors
to SA, believe the projectors will soon become a preferred AV solution
for those in the branding, event and technical industries. These
products are designed for the rental and staging industries, have several
applications, and are widely used in all types of settings. They allow for a
broad spectrum of applications, including 3D mapping and large-scale
conference or product visualisation.
"This is a focused, targeted medium," says Michael. "It offers the capability
of projecting multimedia at an unprecedented size and quality. The
HDF-W26 is the smaller of the two giants and is a perfect fit for any
large venue, or event held in a luminous environment and that requires
extra brightness and clarity. As for the HDQ-2K40 - the world's brightest
projector – it guarantees an unequalled event experience."
Michael believes projection is a unique communication tool: "It is nontraditional and will immediately capture the attention of the market.
The beauty of this technology is that it's in line with the current pop-up
marketing trends."
On behalf of Electrosonic SA I would like to thank Goodwell, Tshepo
as well as Lungi Zinyanga for their professionalism and know-how in
completing this project. They were an absolute pleasure to work with and
their assistance in implementing and completing the project is greatly
appreciated.

For our part we were very proud to work with TechRig on this exciting
project. TechRig are a technical solutions agency and providers of audiovisual (AV), lighting, sound and structures. They have a reputation for
delivering the highest level of expertise in a global arena. They are also
the proud owners of the only Barco HDQ-2K40 projectors on the African
continent. This 3-chip DLP projector boasts 40,000 lumens light output,
and 2K resolution. Not for nothing is the