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P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S
NEWS
Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to U.K. Supported by XL Events
BIRMINGHAM and GLASGOW, U.K. —
XL Events supplied LED screens and camera
systems to Pope Benedict XVI’s recent
state visit to England and Scotland, including
video support at three of the four
major sites where the Pope made formal
appearances.
The sites included Cofton Park in Birmingham
for the beatification of the now
Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman;
Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, celebrating
an open air Mass; and for a meeting
of religious leaders and school students
at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham,
Surrey.
XL Events was working for production
companies WRG in Birmingham and
Twickenham and DF Concerts in Glasgow
and had been involved in the planning for
this project for over seven months. XL’s
Guy Vellacott was lead project manager
for the Papal visit and also coordinated
the site at Cofton Park, with XL’s Steve
Greetham and Dave Lawrence taking care
of Glasgow and Twickenham respectively.
“The production requests were both
specific and fluid as they unfolded,” said
Vellacott. “We put a lot of energy and
detail into getting everything organized
in advance so it would flow smoothly on
each of the sites.”
Pope Benedict XVI in Crofton Park
International Event Agency WRG was
the event organizer and contracting
body for The Cofton Park site. The event
was managed by executive producer
Alie Tilley, technical director Cliff Zenker
and produced by Justine Catterall. The
135-meter-wide main stage held some
2,970 people during the Papal mass and
beatification ceremony, including 2,340
choir members, 580 Bishops, 50 Cardinals,
plus his Holiness The Pope and his
entourage.
This was the biggest and most complex
site for the XL team, which also required
full integration with the BBC, who
televised the Beatification Mass live in
HD.
A total of eight screens were installed
in the Park - two columns of Pixled F11 as
the backdrop behind the Altar, two 9-meter-wide
Lighthouse R7 I-Mag screens
behind the choir, with another Lighthouse
R7 and a Mitsubishi DV8 screen
for disabled Pilgrims offstage left and
right, along with two field delay screens
of Mitsubishi DV8. The delay screens all
required video delay lines so the audio
could be time-aligned.
XL supplied one of their HD Grass
Valley Kayak PPU systems along with 14
cameras for the I-Mag mix that was fed to
host broadcasters, the BBC. In turn, the
screen mix directed by Nick Fry received
eight additional camera feeds from the
BBC for integrating and outputting to the
live screens.
Of the 14 Sony HXC100 HD cameras
that XL supplied, four were fitted with
long lenses for in-the-field coverage, and
three consisted of hot head cameras on
stage. Positioned backstage, there were
two RF backed cameras and one wired
camera to capture the excitement of The
Pope’s arrival. An additional three cameras
were used to cover the Morning
Service on the B-Stage, and another was
locked-off in the Orchestra tent for conductor
monitoring.
Nick Fry cut his mix using a GV Kayak
console. Additional playback content for
the main stage screens was stored on two
Hippotizer media servers and XL also supplied
an Aston Cap Generator at the racks
position for titles and on-screen text.
continued on page 44
2010 NOVEMBER PLSN
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