(10/10/2013) XL Video was one of the principal worldwide technical production suppliers to Roger Waters' seminal The Wall Live' world tour, which finally wrapped in Paris on September 21st with a sold out Stade de France show, exactly three years and one week after its opening show in Toronto in 2010.
Richard Turner, the tour's Video Director worked closely with XL's Project Manager Phil Mercer throughout, together with Tour Director Andrew Zweck and Creative and Video Content Director Sean Evans.
The production featured both stadium and arena versions and is acclaimed as one of the most memorable and technically ambitious touring shows on every level. The performance was a complete rendition of The Wall, one of the best loved and most compelling art-rock albums ever.
Every single brick in a 420 ft wide (stadium version) projected wall was individually mapped, and the built section cued into place during a fully choreographed construction over the course of the first half of the show.
The original production design concept and base architecture for The Wall tour was created by stage architects Jonathan Park and the late Mark Fisher, and dates back to the first Wall Tour by Pink Floyd in 1980/81.
The cardboard bricks of the 2010-2013 tour were built by TAIT who also supplied all the stage machinery and engineering it was erected and demolished each gig by a team of 15 dedicated carpenters headed up by Denny Rich.
The stunning, provocative and highly emotive show visuals were projected onto the wall by 36 of XL's new Panasonic PT-DZ21K 20K projectors divided into nine screen areas each covered by a quad stack rigged on standard Leyher scaffold platforms at FOH.
Seamless edge-blending was achieved by custom manual shutters clamped onto the scaffold towers. Physical shuttering and blending was demanded by the black nature of the content - if only electronic blending had been used, the tombstone effect of the eight overlapping projectors in the blend zone would have been unacceptable to Roger Waters.
Previously when they played arenas, a special DMX controlled shuttering system, comprising a series of metal blades on adjustable screw threads, was devised by Turner and built by TAIT to ensure that there could be a complete blackout across each batch of projectors. It was a fundamentally straightforward technique that worked extremely well.
At 15,200 pixels wide for the stadium show, the video content was being projected at nine times higher resolution than HD far bigger than IMAX imagery!
It had to be created at that actual size which entailed some serious editing processes and equipment at Breathe Editing in New York - then back at the show, was split into 10 x HD channels (the tenth fed a 30ft diameter circular projection screen behind the wall).
After Effects was used to split the full 15k canvas into 10 individual playback channels. Content was stored on 10 Mac Mini servers (10 more provided fully redundant backup) with 10 x AJA IoXT capture / playback boxes plugged in via Thunderbolt to give a hardware gen-lock across all 20 machines for frame-accurate playback.
True hardware gen-lock (rather than just frame accuracy ) was required because of the hard cut nature of the visuals - 9 cuts happening at sub-frame slightly different times would have again been unacceptable to Roger Waters.
Each Mac Mini was running a Final Cut project for assembly and changes - the resultant movies were syncronised with VVTR from Gallery.co.uk.
Ten Blackmagic ATEM switchers one channel per screen area - was used to apply specific effects like lighting and keying across the content, all connected together by another hot-rodded piece of software called Just Macros.
This was developed by John Bengston to allow the dynamic uploading of masks in realtime during the show as the bricks were added to the wall in the 242 manually executed brick-building projection cues.
There was content for all bricks all the time, and each manual cue simply revealed another brick's worth of imagery.
The playback rig was designed, supplied and built by Lucky Frog Ltd. - Turner's company - which celebrated its tenth anniversary while out on this final leg of the tour.
The ATEMs were also used for extremely fast and responsive direct mixing of live camera feeds for the IMAG projections which came from two of XL's Sony HXC100s stationed at FOH with long lenses.
The majority of the IMAG' in the show was actually pre-recorded from one of the early arena shows and composited onto the original 5 screen arena version of the show. The intention for the 9 screen stadium variant was for the whole show to be extended in this fashion, but when the process started, Waters decided there were many moments that demanded the original content be reformatted from the 8560 pixel wide arena version to the full 15k wide.
The show was recorded every night for Waters. A long lens camera was used to follow him and composited with a live wide shot and close ups from the fake IMAG so he could learn every move from the shoot and mimic it perfectly whilst it was playing out onscreen!
Having consumed over three years of his life, Richard Turner comments, A very common complaint or excuse is No time - No money . The latest touring version of The Wall demonstrates what can be achieved when you have a leader with plenty of both, and more importantly a clear, intelligent, reasoned vision of the goal .
In 1980 the show set the benchmark - and heralded the arrival of large scale touring rock shows. Over the last 3 years we have reset that benchmark, and in the words of the boss May well have raised the bar beyond the reach of others'. I believe this to be the case as it's probably not possible, culturally or economically, for any artist or entity to put the amount of effort and she
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
04/05/2024
NEW YORK As the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off in May, Nielsen has released an extensive new report diving into their media habits with data sh...
04/05/2024
PHILADELPHIA As National Military Appreciation Month gets underway, Comcast has announced several new initiatives to help veterans, service members, and their f...
04/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled...
04/05/2024
The Broadband Forum has announced major enhancements to key 5G convergence standards that the group said will help advance next-generation applications, improve...
04/05/2024
Spotify Wrapped Campaign Spot Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist M...
04/05/2024
Three Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions.
...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
03/05/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Actors K stutis Cic nas and Greta Grinevi i t , Director Marija Kavtaradze and Producer Marija Razgute attend the 2023 Sunda...
03/05/2024
If you aren't familiar with Danny Ocean's music, it's only a matter ...
03/05/2024
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all genres, to helping them launch and thrive in their careers, and to connecting the...
03/05/2024
Como uno de los sonidos de mayor expansi n en el mundo, la M sica Mexicana va m ...
03/05/2024
As one of the fastest-growing sounds worldwide, M sica Mexicana is more than jus...
03/05/2024
NEW YORK FuboTV reported that it lost 110,000 subs in Q1 2024 but it exceeded its guidance for the quarter with double digit year-over-year increases across key...
03/05/2024
Only 3 Weeks Left To Enter The Creative Industries Most Award
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Creativepool is giving a last call to the creative i...
03/05/2024
WePlay Studios Transforms the Future of Live Event Storytelling with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
By 2032, the esports market is expec...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Shannon Bream, Fox News Sunday anchor and chief legal correspondent, sat for a keynote chat at The Business of TV News, with Tom Umstead, senior co...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Asked how important is local news, Martha Raddatz, who has covered foreign conflicts for decades and moderated presidential debates for ABC News, s...
03/05/2024
Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion cash offer fo...
03/05/2024
CBS announced its 2024-2025 primetime schedule, which features the new dramas NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson, and new comedies Poppa's House and Georgie ...
03/05/2024
Sports-focused streaming service Fubo said it reduced its red ink in the first quarter, despite losing 110,000 subscribers since the end of the year....
03/05/2024
Walmart is reportedly about to release a new 4K streaming box/smart speaker hybrid device for Google TV that could retail for as low as $50, according to a repo...
03/05/2024
Enhancements to its Delivery Workspace solution provide increased content delivery robustness and security
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 3, 2024
Enha...
03/05/2024
According to reports, if the bid is successful, Sony would be the significant majority shareholder of the new private company
By Jenny Priestley
Published: M...
03/05/2024
Located in Manchesters Spinningfields district, the course aims to equip students with the skills, knowledge and industry insight for a career in the creative s...
03/05/2024
Lightbridge has created a new Cine Reflect Lighting System kit, dedicated to enabling artistic lighting with consideration of today's productivity practical...
03/05/2024
Broadcast media systems integrator BeckTV and Lawo worked together on a large-scale AES67 build of radio control rooms at KPBS, San Diego's NPR and PBS memb...
03/05/2024
Raleigh, NC, April 12, 2024 SmallHD announces PageOS 6, a powerful software update free for owners of SmallHD monitors, featuring increased functionality, exp...
03/05/2024
SmallHD announces the Quantum 32 a new 31.5 OLED monitor designed to provide reference HDR/SDR images for post-production final color grading, as well as cri...
03/05/2024
By 2032, the esports market is expected to grow to $9.29 billion, bolstered by a global player count and fan following that both continue to climb. The 2023 Lea...
03/05/2024
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced that the 11th edition of the Amagi Global FAST Rep...
03/05/2024
Riedel Communications today announced that Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) is relying on a media and intercom network based on Riedel technology for the renewal of...
03/05/2024
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
03/05/2024
Media technology innovator Limecraft will exhibit the latest updates to its online platform on stand G79 at the 15-16 May 2024 Media Production & Technology Sho...
03/05/2024
Audio interface specialist Prism Sound is partnering with console manufacturer Solid State Logic, professional monitor manufacturer PMC and acoustic panel and d...
03/05/2024
Intinor, Sweden's leading developer of products and solutions for high-quality video over the internet, is set to join forces with its UK partner Zest Techn...
03/05/2024
NAKIVO Inc., a fast-growing software company dedicated to protecting physical, virtual, cloud, and SaaS environments, announced its Q1 2024 financial results to...
03/05/2024
Hiltron Communications announces an addition to its range of satellite communication products and systems: a field-upgradable motorisation kit specifically desi...
03/05/2024
Visit LiveU at Stand D30
With this year an exceptional one for major sporting events alongside multiple, key elections, the power and flexibility of LiveU'...
03/05/2024
Agile Content, the leader in the development of technology and solutions for the provision of television services over the Internet, announces Koldo Unanue as i...
03/05/2024
Eight co-signers representing streaming services, pay TV operators and public interest groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging their Committee...
03/05/2024
BOSTON Brightcove has announced that it has implemented Amazon Q Business, a new generative AI assistant on Amazon Web Services (AWS)....
03/05/2024
NEW YORK CBS has declared that it will finish the 2023-24 season as Americas Most-Watched Network in primetime for the 16th consecutive season....
03/05/2024
A new survey indicates that U.S. businesses and consumers had an overall positive attitude towards their technology spending plans in the first quarter of 2024,...
03/05/2024
Sony and Apollo Global Management have sent an offer letter to Paramount Global's board of directors making an $26 billion all cash offer for Paramount Glob...
03/05/2024
EMG / Gravity Media has appointed Charlie Cubbon chief operating officer (COO) and Jamie Hindhaugh regional CEO for the U.K., U.S., Australia and the Middle Eas...
03/05/2024
Final 2024 Season Games to Air Saturdays on WRAL at 10:30am in May, Championship on June 1
Taping for the final episodes of the 2024 season of WRAL-TV's Br...
03/05/2024
Estrella MediaCo said it is expanding its connected TV portfolio by launching three new channels with Curiosity that will first appear on Samsung TV Plus....
(10/10/2013) XL Video was one of the principal worldwide technical production suppliers to Roger Waters' seminal The Wall Live' world tour, which finally wrapped in Paris on September 21st with a sold out Stade de France show, exactly three years and one week after its opening show in Toronto in 2010.
