XL Video
supplies Woman in White
AV
Product Stories Published: 9 March 2005
XL Video is supplying all projection and playback equipment
to the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production, “Woman in White,
at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End.
XL’s Malcolm Mellows worked closely with
projection designers Sven Ortel and Dick Straker of Mesmer to
realise the ambitious technical requirements needed for video
designer Bill Dudley’s ideas to come alive onstage.
There’s been plenty of positive comments,
including the projection being described as “Impressive”
and opening up “new possibilities in the marriage of theatre
and cinema” by Michael Billington in The Guardian.
The Concept
Taking the concept of video scenery to a new dimension, the
whole show’s settings, locations and backdrops are projected
onto a 30 metre wide by 5 metre high cylindrical projection
surface. At certain points, the side sections of the screen
track all the way around the stage to form a surface across
the front. A section of the screen also splits off from the
main structure for several more intimate scenes, and tracks
into the central stage revolve, complete with its own set of
video projections.
Mesmer was asked onboard after working with Dudley
on previous video projects including “Coast of Utopia”,
the award winning “Hitchcock Blonde” and the controversial
David Hare creation “Permanent Way”. Lloyd Webber
had apparently seen “Coast of Utopia” and wanted
to develop a strong video content for this next production.
The
Mesmerist
There was no off-the-shelf playback or control system capable
of dealing with the geometry and curvature of the “Woman
In White” set.
The fact that it also moves, made the task of
filling the space coherently and evenly with image a massive
challenge. The resulting customized playback - dubbed “The
Mesmerist” by its creators – was designed and built
specifically for the show, resulting in a unique tripartite
collaboration between commissioners XL Video, Mesmer and Digital
Antics.
Digital Antics was contracted by XL Video’s
Mellows to help develop the system and write the special software
needed, enabling Ortel and Straker to up the ante on the image
resolution from past productions.
The Mesmerist, developed for XL Video by Digital
Antics’ Quintin Willison, to Mesmer’s spec, includes
a fully programmable PC interface which controls all playback,
serial and DMX devices, as well as 12 digital media servers
(hard drives). It’s complete with its own bespoke playback
engine capable of dealing with the shape of the screen and soft-edge
blending.
Treating the stage as a 3D environment, it also
has the mapping capability to move the shapes and images across
the stage in real time, keeping pace with the screen movements.
XL Video trained up two Really Useful Group Technicians
– Damian Ridge and Patrick Achegani – to operate
the Mesmerist for the show.
The Images
The computer generated imagery was originated by Bill Dudley
and then given to Mesmer to finish and manipulate into a suitable
playback format. Much of this task was undertaken by animator
Richard Kenyon, one of the Mesmer team.
Mesmer also did a video shoot at MR Studios in
Wimbledon, filming members of the company for integration into
particular animations and sequences.
Projection
Feeding the main screen are four over-stage Barco G10 ELMs,
housed in special acoustic enclosures designed by XL Video and
Mesmer. XL worked closely with Unusual Rigging to get the projectors
in precisely the right positions over the stage and out front,
and also ensure that they can be dropped in conveniently for
maintenance.
Another two Barco G10 ELMs sit on a newly installed
FOH truss, projecting onto the main screen when it closes across
the front of the stage.
The tracking section of screen is targeted by
two Barco G8 SLMs, also on the FOH truss. For this XL and Mesmer
developed a special moving mirror system to allow the images
to track the screen movements.
UTP wiring
The whole projection system is serial and data wired via a massive
UTP cable infrastructure, installed by the video team specifically
for the production. The UTP Cables are a mixture of CAT 6 and
a special video transmission optimized UTP. Physically smaller
than the alternative BNC data cables, this is ideal for transmitting
high resolution XGA graphics over long distances with no earth
hums or interference. DMX can also be sent over the same cables
without alteration, plus serial data transmitted to serial servers
located close to the specific devices they are controlling.
In all, five kilometres of video department cable
was installed!
The Team
This demanding project involved close teamwork between XL Video,
Mesmer and Digital Antics. Up to 10 people worked non-stop for
5 months, engaging in large amounts of R ‘n’ D and
using numerous components and combinations of technology in
this way for the first time. Other members of the team included
Ian Galloway, who did additional editing of the footage and
Paul Scullion, who worked with Willison on specific control
aspects.
Comments
“It was hugely exciting and very demanding” states
Mesmer’s Dick Straker. “Developing the software
on site during technical rehearsals meant we could be totally
flexible in responding to the needs of the production. Some
software fixes were implemented as we reached specifically difficult-to-programme
cues. In past productions, limitations to the show may have
been dictated by the video system, but on this occasion our
capacity and versatility more than exceeded the limitations
of the physical set and mobile structures.
Sven Ortel adds, “We initiated all the system features
that we considered vital for programming, monitoring, operation
and backup. The Mesmerist operator/programmer can monitor all
cues and devices, including projectors from the same interface.
Effectively, it’s a powerful combined show-controller
and video-controller. Keeping it streamlined to what was required
also ensured its stability. The most unusual feature is possibly
the Error Feedback Window, which dramatically reduced programming
time by pinpointing the exact location of an error (i.e. the
specific line of the script). Considering the complexity of
the show this feature was a real blessing!”
For XL Video, Malcolm Mellows says, “This is undoubtedly
a landmark theatre production through its use of - and near
total reliance on - video visuals for setting the scenes and
moods and for special visual effects. XL Video has further cemented
its position as the cutting-edge; and leading video services
supplier to theatre and arts communities. Bill Dudley has excelled
himself once again, and teaming up with Dick and Sven of Mesmer
has; as always, been a pleasure.
“The development of the ‘groundbreaking’
Mesmerist Media Server has provided a most powerful and exciting
tool. While it’s already suited to the most demanding
of projection applications, there’s still plenty of untapped
capacity and capability.
“Our new design patented acoustic sound
absorbing systems are also working extremely well. We’ll
further develop and refine these to remove 80% of projector
noise without the need for a full enclosure and the consequential
expense of air-conditioning and extraction.”
