Rigging specialists Summit Steel, working for production managers John Marriott and Bernie Kearns at production company PCI:Live, helped transform the venue into a magical environment for the press party, held for an invited audience of 400 notoriously hard-to-impress individuals! The set of the ‘Blu Oval Club’ was designed by Martin Grant, and included a central reveal of the new vehicle. Summit’s first job, a week ahead of the event, was to install 530 meters of trussing infrastructure into Studio 217’s roof to support other elements of the technical production - sound (from Delta, SD Paul Keating), lighting (by Essential, LD Gary Collins), soft goods (Blackout) and set/scenic elements constructed by Blackfriars. This was a huge challenge because the roof loadings are very low. Stage One also built a 15m x 35m mezzanine floor over a quarter of the venue’s floor.
Summit installed spreader beams in the roof to make all this viable, utilizing 92 CM Lodestar hoists to help achieve the objective. The reveal involved several pieces of custom engineering and a movement system designed by Summit’s Chris Walker, who led their team of seven riggers plus automation operator Dave Weatherhead.
The evening commenced with guests walking into the Blu Oval Club to see a Ford Fiesta on a revolving plinth (weighing approx 1200kg) at the centre. As they received drinks and canapés, the vehicle was covered by a blue tube (weighing 300kg), which was moved down into position by Summit using a QMotion Next Q control system, driven by an SC 7 winch. Once concealed by the tube, the Fiesta was lowered into the bar below on a scissor lift hidden in its central section.
The StreetKa - rigged on a platform in the roof above the bar (weighing approx 1200kg) - was then flown in - moved by two double-purchase SC7 winches - and landed where the Fiesta had been. It rested on supports either side of the scissor lift, and by virtue of an ingenious quick-release system, the flying wires automatically released from the StreetKa once it was in position, and flew back out simultaneously with the blue tube, leaving the vehicle free to spin on the revolve. This whole process was completed smoothly in a precisely timed 1 minute 38 seconds, to coincide with the StreetKa brand video featuring Kylie Minogue.
(Lee Baldock)
