volume 2 issue 12 2009 - Mobile Production Pro

the show the screen was a verticalcylinder that tapered in from topto bottom like a funnel. It wasmade up of several plates thatvaried in size (larger at the top).Each pixel of the overall displaywas individually loaded into itsrespective plate and then had to bemapped into the overall look. Thescreen contained roughly 450,000pixels. The show started with thescreen at a high trim above thestage. At one point during theshow it flew into a lower elevation.From there the top of the unitexpanded up to an elevation thatwas several feet higher than whereit started at its first position. Inthe process of this expansionthe individual plates separatedcreating an entirely different kindof display. This meant that inthe mapping process the verticalexpansion had to be accountedfor as well as a light twist thatoccurred as well. It also revealedthe bracing of the display whichnow became an active part of thedisplay.Once fully deployed, the thingfully encompassed about 90percent of the area betweenthe roof and the deck. Thedeployment of the unit wasvery slow, and like all large-scaleautomation moves, it had a softstart and stop. Of all of theengineering solutions put forthin this production, this one mayhave been the best. The challengewas to create this funnel shapedcylinder and make it expandvertically and still maintain itsshape.The answer was in the structure ithung from as well as the frame ofthe unit itself. The frame consistedof a series of X braces that couldscissor out in order to allow thecylinder to deploy. The unit,which was divided into 4 tears,hung off of a circular frame. Thetears were supported off of sparsthat extended into the center ofthe circle. Eight hoists with theexception of the “C” tear, whichwas lifted at 16 points, lifted eachtear. All of this was operated by amotion control system. Regardlessof where you watched the showfrom, this was an incrediblydramatic display.Monitor world on this tour is agood bit more complicated thanon most tours. The show has3 monitor engineers, AlastairMcMillan – Bono, Niall Slevin– Edge and Dave Skaff handledAdam Clayton, Larry MullenJr. and Programmer/Keyboardplayer Terry Lawless. On the lasttour, two people off of the samedesk ran monitors for Bono andEdge. This time out, the 2 wereput on separate consoles, whichgave the engineers more precisecontrol.Because there is so much gearneeded to fill the monitor needsof this show it all had to be basedunder the stage. That’s nothingnew as they were under the stageon Vertigo as well. But on thistour, they were under a walkwaythat served as the band’s entrancefrom upstage. This had them agood distance from the action.Contact between them and thebackline guys who were in directcontact with the band memberswas critical. This was achievedthrough an open mic.That wasn’t enough. By the timean issue got from Edge through hisguitar tech Dallas Schoo and on toNiall Slevin time is lost. Therefore,there was a separate video cutspecifically for the monitor guysso that they could see exactly whatwas going on onstage at all times.This was a tough to pull off giventhat the cut was pulling from thesame cameras that were going intoI-MAG, and what was importantto Video Director Tom Kruegermay not have been of paramountimportance to the guys under thestage.Once the stage is built, 48 trucksof production gear rolls in. Halfof the gear that has to be storedwas put back in the trucks, asthere was precious little storageroom to be had wherever theshow was. The task of gettingeverything where it all has to gofalls to the one and only RockoReedy. There’s no arguing thatthis is the largest tour to ever goout, but Reedy takes it all in stridewhile handing the praise to thosearound him. “Well what I’m mostfortunate with, and it’s easy to sayit but it’s the God’s honest truth,is that I’m surrounded by the bestpeople in the world.” Reedy toldus.“They brought George Reeves outand gave him the title of assistantstage manager which I don’t getbecause you’re either the stagemanager or you’re not. But he’sa spectacular stage manager, andhe’s much younger than me, so I’dbetter watch myself. Then there’sJake. The thing that Jake alwaysbrings to the table whether he’sdoing Dinosaurs, The Stones orU2 is an organizational skill thatis unmatched by anyone else. Sofollowing his lead makes it allpretty easy.”Big respect for Jake Berry andGeorge Reeves notwithstanding,Reedy had equal admirationfor the crew. He went on toexplain, “It didn’t take too longin Barcelona for everyone to geta feel for the big picture on thisthing. They understood early onthat with this much gear how andwhere it comes into the room iscritical, and they showed a greatsense of cooperation with oneanother understanding that thisisn’t a race.”Seeing it come in the doorand spending time with thoseinvolved and making it happenis the only way to g et a feel1 Jack Richard - Automation Tech, Raffaele Buono - Head of Automation, Timothy “TK” Woo - Automation Tech, Simon Twigg- Automation Tech 2 Front Row: Niall Slevin - Monitor Engineer, Dave Skaff - Monitor Engineer, Alastair McMillan - MonitorEngineer/Recording, Jennifer Smola - Audio Tech, Jo Ravitch - Audio Tech/Crew Chief, Vincent Perreux - Audio Tech, Tom ‘Duds’Ford - Audio Tech, Jason O’Dell - Audio Tech Back Row: Hannes Dander - Audio Tech, Pascal Harlaut - Audio Tech, Dave Coyle -Audio Tech, Chris Fulton - Audio Tech, Jason Brace - Audio Tech, Josh Flower – Frequencies, Lunch Box - Audio Tech, KelseyGingrich - Audio Tech, Blocker - Audio Tech 3 Russell ‘Bits’ Lyons - Lighting Tech – High Platforms, Ethan Weber - LightingDirector, Alison Triplett - Lighting Tech, Craig Hancock - Lighting System Crew Chief, Mick Stowe - Lighting Tech Dimmers/Distro, Jessica LaPoint – Lighting Tech, Jake Sullivan - Lighting Tech – Moving Lights, Stuart Lee - Lighting Tech: General/Mains, Alex Murphy - Lighting Associate, Andy Beller - Lighting Tech – Moving Lights, Chris Keene - Lighting Tech, GarethMorgan - Lighting Tech, Christopher Davis - Lighting Tech, Nick Barton - Lighting Crew Chief, Blaine Dracup - Lighting Tech/Moving Lights 4 Jake Berry - Tour Production Director 5 Dallas Schoo - Guitar Tech: The Edge 6 Rocko Reedy – StageManager 7 Terry Lawless - Programmer/Keyboards 8 CAT power crew - Cisco Reyes , Erich Nemier, Jon Boss - CAT CrewChief, Dennis Crespo, Todd Miklos, Jimmy Angerami 9 Todd Mauger - Head Rigger, Riggers - Scott Fremgen, Robert Slepicka,Dion Pearce 10 Philip Docherty - Guitar Tech: Bono 11 Joshua Kapellen - IT Specialist 12 Scott Nichols - Security Director13 Jessica Berry - Production Coord, Sarah O’Herlihy - Security Assistant, Helen Campbell - Production Coord 14 Front Row:Adam “AJ” Rankin - Asst Head Carpenter/Bono Stage Assistant, Jesse Thayer - Carpenter, Rick Beulink - MOJO Barrier, JohnnyMendez Gonzales - Carpenter MiddleRow: Carpenters - Kerry Rothenbach, Andrew Johnstone, Appy Thörig, Hajime ‘Haji’ Minatodani- Back Row: Flory Turner - Head Carpenter, Gino Cardelli - Carpenter 15 Front Row: Patrick VanSteelant LED Tech/Crew Chief, EoinMcLoughlin - Camera Operator, Jeroen “MyWay” Marain - Video Engineer, Tobias Kokemper - LED Tech, Richard Jewell - CameraOperator, Luke Levitt - Video Tech, Stefaan Vanbesien - Video Engineer, Ollie Clybouw - LED Tech Back Row: Jeroen Mahieu - LEDTech, Jan Bonny - LED Tech, Mark Cruikshank - Camera Operator, Frederik Goemaere - Video Techfor this production. This is anexceptional group of people,but there is no question that themost extraordinary among themis Jake Berry. He has a graceand ease about him that seemsto spread throughout the entirebuilding. When asked what thebiggest challenge of the tour is,he finally settled in on letting thecrew answer the question, “I’ll betif you asked the crew what thebiggest challenge is they’d say it’sstorage.”While walking the site with him,mPm asked what it was like inthe beginning. He admitted thatthere were some rough spots to berubbed out, and then he gesturedto the ballet of work going onaround us, smiled and said, “Lookat it, you don’t see much panicgoing on here now though doyou?” Nope. 730 mobile production monthly