"The client's brief," says Private Drama Events director Adam Blackwood, "was for a glamorous, spectacular awards dinner with a knockout theatrical element, and the Science Museum was chosen to align the theme of space exploration with people who had done extraordinary things for the company's customers."
After a reception in the museum's Exploring Space gallery, guests made their way upstairs past a flashing runway and into a recreation of the Houston NASA Mission Control Centre, starring a life-sized replica of an Apollo rocket. While guests found their places a soundtrack played relaying the pre-launch checklist.
Once everyone was seated countdown commenced and a launch film on a pair of projection screens was accompanied by pyro-laced effects from the rocket - which opened to release a space-walking 'astronaut' who glided serenely over the guests' heads, courtesy of the Vertex system in the hands of the Vertigo team, and out of the room. A swift changeover then saw Siemens' CEO walk back in to begin the award presentations.
Vertigo installed a truss rig that stretched the whole length of the room, carrying the event's lighting and sound systems, as well as the screen supports and the Vertex flying track for the astronaut's solo flight through Kensington, SW7.
The PLASA Innovation Award-winning Vertex system allowed the team to rehearse the astronaut's movements with millimetre precision using its intuitive joystick controls, recording the movements in real time for precise playback during the event.
Says Blackwood: "Vertigo's team was superb, pulling all the stops out to do everything we wanted and more. Each of the client's dinner tables was hosted by one of its business heads, all of whom gave their feedback about the event and their response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic."
(Jim Evans)
