Protec supports Abu Dhabi opening ceremony
- Details
It opened in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 17 March. After taking a tour of the city, hitting some famous landmarks along the way, the Olympic torch finally arrived at ADNEC to the applause of the waiting 2000 spectators. Once the ‘Flame of Hope’ cauldron was lit, the show began.
A video entitled Welcome to my City was played and more than 1,000 Special Olympics athletes from 32 different countries entered the arena in a colourful parade.
Protec provided lighting, audio and video as well as some rigging for the show in ADNEC. HQ Worldwide provided their own lighting design and the video content. Project manager, Simon Travis reports, “Due to the openness of the venue, scaffold towers were erected around the grandstand area. For the three big ones on the open side near the road we used our total fabrications EHD truss to span across so we could hang our lights. Underneath the grandstand five more little scaffold towers were placed so we could use our smaller truss and hang fixtures around the area.
“We had four follow spots towards the backend of the arena to pick up speakers and performances. We used 16 Super Sharpies on top of the set to create a nice beam effect up top. On the floor on either side of the stage, we used 4 Super Sharpies, our new Robe Pointes and Robe Spikies. Underneath the set, which was used as the stage entrance, we used 12 more Robe Spikies for more beam effects. Along the edges of the stage we used a total of 56 Clay Paky K10 B-Eyes with 30 SGM P2s and 24 Robe Pointes to create some interesting effects there and to wash along the stages for the performances.”
Dan Ivanovski, Protec’s lighting engineer, adds, “Under the grandstand roof and front of house towers, we used Varilite Spots. 24 Varilite Washes and 24 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200 illuminated grandstands and athletes seating area. 16 Clay Paky Scenius Profile rigged around the arena picked up the performance on stage as well as some key positions for speeches.”
Florian Hoss, senior video technician at Protec, notes, “We used three WATCHOUT Servers for content playback. The WATCHOUT main, backup and the incoming camera signal was switched by a Barco S3-4K to screen.
Protec’s audio department handled the large space by using 24 L-Acoustic’s K2 loudspeakers, 12 hung either side covering the area with consistent coverage front to back. These were supported by eight SB28 Subwoofers taking care of the low end all powered by the LA8 amplifiers. The system was controlled by a Digico SD5 desk.
They used their new Shure Axient handheld radio systems and along with that they used Sennheiser in-ear monitors for the MCs. Communications were taken care of with Clearcom Freespeak and Helixnet, allowing the crew to wirelessly communicate effectively over the entire venue while the stage management team, Protec technicians and the client used our Motorola radios.
(Jim Evans)
