AV Case Study: Adelaide 500 State Dinner
Novatech takes VIPs trackside thanks to some next-level AV.
3 October 2024
Text:/ Derek Powell
The only problem with doing a great job for a client’s special event is that they expect even more wow next year. So, having provided selected AV production services for the past two events, Novatech really needed to deliver for the South Australian Government’s gala Adelaide 500 State Dinner. The event was staged to serve as the opener for the 2023 VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercar event and is designed to showcase local talents to industry and business leaders from around Australia.
“For the 2023 event, we conceptualised and designed the entire audiovisual production,” notes Ashley Gabriel, co-designer of the production for Novatech. As well as the customary state-of-the-art sound and lighting, delivered in conjunction with the Adelaide Convention Centre crew, their creative included two uber-wow moments that surprised and delighted both the audience and the client.
The first was the ‘immersive entrance experience’. Instead of simply walking through a door into the dinner venue at the Adelaide Convention Centre guests entered via a specially created 30-metre-long LED entrance tunnel, as Ashley explains: “The VIP guests experienced a fully programmed one-minute entrance loop featuring a high-octane energy soundtrack, stunning visuals, lighting effects, and real Supercars behind the screens. This immersive experience amazed attendees, revealing real cars behind the screens. Later, static content with black gaps showcased the cars during dinner.
“The entrance featured ROE Visual’s Vanish V8T LED screens, having an 8mm pixel pitch and a transparency of around 60%. These screens appear solid with stunning images when content is displayed without backlighting. However, when using black areas with lighting effects, objects behind the screens become visible.”
VANISH & REVEAL
Novatech is the exclusive suppliers of these screens in Australia. The ah-ha moment was seeing the displays featured on Ed Sheeran’s ‘Mathematics’ tour earlier in 2023. On the night, the effect that revealed glimpses of real supercars behind, worked spectacularly – maybe even a little too well.
“When people started to enter, it was quite overwhelming but in an immersive and engaging way,” Gabriel explains. “The sound was loud, deliberately so, to give you the impression of being at the track with the cars racing past you. It was dynamic, but having the cars behind becoming visible every now and then just compelled people stop to have a look. We’d see them get their phones out and walk a little bit closer to see what was behind. We found that a lot of people had a longer dwell time than we thought they would, and they wanted to experience one or two or three times before they actually went into the room – which the client considered a great success!”
SURPRISE MUSICAL
Once inside the main area, guests were surrounded by themed images and tasteful lighting effects but another surprise was on the way. The stage, with its formal lectern for the speeches was backed by a 12m-wide and 7.2m-high central LED screen flanked to the left and right by similar screens showing IMAG imagery of the speeches. This screen, however was definitely not see-through. In fact, the centre screen concealed a much larger stage behind which a surprise musical act was waiting.
On cue, as the speeches finished, the band struck up and the apparently seamless, giant screen parted like a curtain to reveal Jon Stephens and his band which were ready to get the party raging. Even as the screens coasted to the left and right, the images switched, such that as the two halves reached the flanking screens, they joined to create two 12m-wide IMAG images. The effect was magical, bringing the audience to their feet – delighted with the unexpected reveal.
“No one was expecting it!” Ashley laughed. “It was all very formal up until that point. And then the band kicked off, the LED started to reel back, the lighting poked through, and there was a rush of people towards stage – and they were really into it. It just changed the dynamic of the room.”
9 TONNE SPLIT
So how did Novatech rig a nine-tonne LED screen to split apart and glide across to join with the flanking screens? The answer lay with a special monorail track system – and a heck of a lot of engineering pre-planning to design the rigging that made it fly.
To make it move, each half of the screen was suspended using an aluminium track and roller system designed by Victorian company Bomac. Once rigged from the ceiling, the track allowed one crew member on each side to propel the screen using a single finger! But of course, designing the rigging was an exacting process.
“The first thing we did once the concept was approved by the client, was to establish a working group with the venue,” Ashley recalls. “We engaged an engineer to examine the roof and help devise a rigging plan we could get signed off by the Adelaide Convention Centre. Then, once everything was rigged on show day, the engineer inspected everything and approved it ready for the show. It was a big feature and a dynamic moving load is a little bit unusual, that’s why we wanted to get it 100% checked off.”
While it was a huge amount of work, Novatech alone had a crew of 30 to bump in, run the show, de-rig and bump out – all in under 24 hours – yet, according to Novatech’s Ashley Gabriel, it was well worth it.
“We just like doing creative, innovative, different solutions,” Ashley reflected. “Especially as a family-owned South Australian company. The premier really wanted to show off what the state was capable of doing. And that’s exactly what happened. We saw him a couple of days later at the race, and he was just glowing. To be able to show something that’s different, innovative and creative was very important to the event and to the client. And that’s what we love doing.”
EQUIPMENT LIST
Event Entrance – Immersive Entrance Feature:
- Transparent LED walls (ROE Vanish V8T):
Size 30m (W) x 4m (H) each on the left and right side, with programmed lighting effects for the Supercars behind the walls. - Central transparent LED wall (ROE Vanish V8T):
Size 10m (W) x 4m (H) to complete the immersive experience.
Gala Main Area – Dynamic Main Stage & Reveal:
- Large moving LED (ROE CB5 with AirFrame) screen (centre): 12m (W) x 7.2m (H) – split to two to reveal the headlining performer Jon Stevens.
- Two side LED (ROE CB5 with AirFrame) screens (left & right): 6m (W) x 7.2m (H) – each for event videos, holding states, content and, when joined with the central screen, IMAG for Jon Stevens.
Other
- Brompton LED processor
- GrandMA
- disguise
- Vectorworks, Braceworks
- Bomac track
TEAM DETAILS
Project designers: Leko Novakovic
Ashley Gabriel
Client:
SA Government (Department of the Premier and Cabinet)
Other event partners: Adelaide Convention Centre (Audio & Lighting supply)
PT Design (Engineering)
Showpony (Content)
Nexstage Staging & Rigging Technologies (Custom stage & cladding)
Transparent LED walls: www.roevisual.com/en/products/vanish-8-touring
Bomac track: www.bomac.com.au/altrac-products
RESPONSES