The Festival was organised by Eventica - a Russian-EU relations event management team - for the GLA. XL was working for production company Out Of The Blue for the first, a London v Moscow ice chess match, who in turn were brought onboard by PR company Freud Communications.
XL supplied one of their Barco B10 mobile trailer-mounted screens for the ice chess which took place live via a two-way satellite link between London and Pushkin Square in Moscow. The screen measured 10 square metres and was located right next to the action taking place on a giant chess board made from Steeldeck.
Team London was led by UK Grandmaster Nigel Short, the strongest British chess player of the 20th century, helped by author Peter Ackroyd and 8-year-old chess prodigy Darius Parvizi-Wayne. The Russian team was captained by Russian Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, along with another 8-year-old prodigy, Konstantin Savenkov, and famous Russian author Viktor Erofeev, plus champion Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
The project was managed for XL by Tim Riley. XL commissioned 2CI Events to create a graphics clock to do the countdowns in both countries. This was stored on a laptop and hooked into the XL system via a vision mixer and scan converter.
XL's crew of Ian Wilson and Ewan Richardson were onsite from 4.30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. start. Riley and a larger crew of 11 returned to site on the Friday evening to set up for a day of entertainment and events throughout Saturday, for which they supplied screens, cameras and PPU via one of their OB trucks.
Two 25 square metre Mitsubishi DV8 screens were erected either side of the stage. These were hooked up to three Sony D50 cameras and a DVD/laptop/Beta playback system. The live mix in the truck was directed by Ray Shaw. XL also supplied two Barco R18 projectors for beaming the Russian flag onto a pair of white scrim curtains across the front of the stage at the climax of the day.
The gig kicked off at 11 a.m. with sponsors messages and logos. Then the live camera mix kicked in along with the stage action that commenced with traditional Russian dance and entertainment troupes, moving through to contemporary performances, culminating with a series of Russian rock and pop acts. Additionally, XL supplied a break out area in nearby Hilton Hotel with projection, a small sound system plus a microphone link.
Trafalgar Square was packed to capacity for the whole day as London's Russian and Russian-connected community enjoyed a packed day of culture, festivities food and vodka! Tim Riley says: "An interesting job and a real cultural experience. All praise to the crew who made it happen."(Chris Henry)
