DURBAN, South Africa — Gearhouse South Africa’s Durban and Johannesburg branches worked together to support the launch of Emirates Airline’s nonstop service between Durban and Dubai. That technical support included lighting, AV, sets, rigging and sound. The show was produced by Emirates with support from The Event Production Company and staged at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban. It was project managed for GHSA by Durban branch operations manager, Stuart Andrews.
“Emirates is a six-star client and extremely precise in their requirements,” said Andrews. “Our local knowledge of the venue coupled with the fact that we could draw on expertise from other areas in the company to supply elements like the bespoke staging, enabled us to deliver these exacting standards.”
The event was divided into three distinct areas, all requiring individual treatments.
The 1,300 invited guests, including local VIPs, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Durban and other civic dignitaries, were first welcomed into a champagne and cocktail reception in the venue’s transformed foyer, featuring music from Durban jazz combo Beat Route.
Gearhouse supplied a 6-by-4.8 meter stage with a custom backdrop and fascia created by Sets, Drapes and Screens (SDS), which is also part of the Gearhouse SA Group. An L-Acoustics 115 PA system was installed for the band, and the stage was lit with ETC Source Four PARs and i-Pix BB4 LED wash lights. Two plasma screen walls were used for moving wallpaper and for showing Emirates video clips.
Next, guests passed through to an auditorium environment where the main presentation took place. This was a large area with tiered seating, featuring a flown lighting rig over the stage and a projection screen measuring 15 by 4 meters. Marcel Wijnberger from Gearhouse Media, Johannesburg, co-ordinated the video, working with Emirates’ manager of video communications Mike Siddaway, who had produced all the show content in Dubai.
Content was stored on two AV Stumpfl Wings servers (master & slave) and run in double HD (3384 x 1080 pixels), with two synched picture-in-picture video windows left and right of the screen and a high resolution background still covering the entire surface area. The PiPs showed a mix of playback video footage, live camera feeds and PowerPoint graphics.
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A Barco Encore system was used to size and switch all sources to the screen, which was fed by four double-stacked Christie 18K projectors — two running live and two as hot backup. The PA was an L-Acoustics dv-DOSC system, complete with a Yamaha LS9 mixer.
Jason Fritz designed lighting for this and the other two areas. The presentation area featured a mix of Martin Professional MAC 2K Profile and Robe ColorWash 700E AT moving light fixtures, plus a selection of conventionals, all programmed on a grandMA full size console and used to highlight the stage and set and illuminate the room.
Once the presentation was finished, guests entered an interactive buffet dinner featuring music by South African rock band The Parlotones, who performed behind a scenic wall built by SDS. This was then flown out to reveal the band, followed by a set of their music.
The stage was lit with Robe ColorWash and ColorSpot 700E ATs plus conventional lights controlled by an Avolites Pearl 2008 console, and the sound system spec’d for this room was L-Acoustics Kudo, with HiQ115s for stage monitors and a Yamaha M7 mixer.
The main challenge for the Gearhouse SA team was time. The crews got in on Saturday afternoon and had to deliver all rooms ready for Monday morning rehearsals. “All went very smoothly,” said Andrews. “We all enjoyed a very positive collaboration between the Gearhouse crew and the teams from Emirates and The Event Production Company.”
For more information, please visit www.gearhouse.co.za.
