Anti-War Protests in LondonWe must ask for short notice complicated jobs! One of our regular clients contacted us regarding an outdoor rally supporting the anti war protest for the West Bank / Garza Strip, not only did they want to provide a live satellite link to a bunker in a war torn part of Israel for a online conversation consisting of video and sound, they also wanted us to organise the whole job in 10 days. The site for the rally was a school field in Kenton, North London, so being a field where do you start! The rally was in July, an already busy time of the year, so below were the answers we came up with:- Power – Luckily we have a good relationship with our generator supplier, so getting hold of two 100 Kva sets for the event, was least of our worries, delivered and in place the day before the event. Stage – We were in July, so this is where things started to get complicated, it needed to be a simple stage, but with a cover, and space for branding. After calling a few people with no avail, we settled on Hackney Festival Support Group, who provided the stage and cover and were defiantly suitable for the budget. Sound & Vision – With an unknown number of people attending, we needed decent sound reinforcement and big screens so everyone could see the satellite link up. We provided a D&B Audio Q1 flown system, with a drop on each side of the stage on mobiltech towers. The screens were Barco daylite screens, flown on a QX30 truss system, all the visuals were mixed in a tent to the side of the stage, which had all the required processing equipment and was close to the satellite truck. Video Links – The film to play on the day was easy, DV-Cam player through the processing equipment and on to the screen, the live link to Israel was not as easy…. At the time of this event happening, you have to remember there is a war going on, with war comes news, all the satellite trucks in Israel were currently in use on contracts to BBC, CNN, and the like, therefore we had to go for option two! There was a temporary fibre laid from the nearest telephone exchange to the bunker, the signal then went via satellite to BT tower in London, where it was then relayed back to our satellite truck in Kenton. We booked two hours of airtime to make sure we were online for half an hour before the broadcast and had time if we ran over. We used God TV to provide a camera man and plasma in Israel so they could see what was going on in London. In London we had our regular camera man filming the stage for the link. Production – Other small amounts of production were required to make sure the event happened with out a hitch. This is another testament of adapting to clients needs on short notice, and being able to manage international collaborations to make sure a job gets done. For more information:-
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