Universal supplied everything - from the lighting, sound, video and staging - to the dome-shaped marquee and seating rostra. The company’s brief was to provide a clean, slick, streamlined environment in which to launch one of the most ecologically sound vehicles available. Universal’s Steve Butcher designed the show’s production elements. A flat, empty centre stage at the start of the show was soon filled with the demo smart car, revealed by elevator, clouds of smoke and flashing lights, early on in the proceedings.
Lighting was designed by Chris Doy. Rigging points were provided by two circular Penn trusses - a 4m diameter section over the stage, suspended from the nodes of the dome, and a 15m diameter curving elegantly around the perimeter of the entire space. Doy used 22 Futurelight MH 640s spaced equidistantly around the outside ring, plus two under the stage, and six Futurelight MH 660s on the central truss for gobo work and for whizzing about - all from Universal’s moving head stock. Doy operated using a Celco Ventura console, located in the very handy circular production area, created between the inner and outer skins of the tent.
The audio, covering a variety of sources, was designed by Universal’s Mike Day. He utilized an Allen & Heath G3 desk, QSC amps and EV S200 MS speakers. The eight EV speakers were secreted under the stage, augmented with two RCF 1018 subs, plus four EAW TF200s on stands, pointing inwards around the periphery of the presentation area. The presenters’ mics were all lavalier tie clip types. These proved a challenge to control as the presenters were all performing on stage - on top of 10 speakers and a void that acted like a large boom box! Pre-recorded sources were played back on Mini-disk or CD. Universal also provided a 3-camera live video system, relayed onto 12 plasma screens circling walls of the presentation area. These, together with graphics and playback video from four DVD sources was mixed by Mark Kimber, using a Panasonic MX50 desk.
