Adlib Supplies Full Technical Production for 2019 Netball World Cup

Adlib Supplies Full Technical Production for 2019 Netball World Cup posted: 04/10/2019

Adlib was incredibly proud to supply full technical production to the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup staged at the 11,000 capacity M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Adlib's rental departments implemented a fully integrated video, lighting and audio package linking in with broadcast elements for BBC and Sky. The spectacle took place over 10 glorious days of top sporting action which delivered world class netball to an international TV audience and many thousands packing into the court-side seats which were sold out for the duration.This quadrennial event featured two distinctive criteria. Firstly, a spectacular Opening Ceremony which wowed the crowds and got everyone in the mood for the great sports to follow.

Adlib's technical team worked closely with curators of the ceremony Culture Liverpool' and Iluminos'. Adlib provided six Panasonic RZ21K 20,000 lumen laser projectors mounted vertically to project the visuals created by Iluminos onto the courts below. Lighting and video effects combined to produce the spectacle enjoyed by the live audience and TV viewers alike.

On-court drama followed, produced by Sport Presentation specialists Red Sky at Night Events Ltd, this saw 16 nations compete for the coveted Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 trophy.

Adlib worked with both clients closely, providing one point of contact so they could enjoy Adlib's famous gold standard service in providing an efficient and imaginative technical solution that served both ceremonial and sport presentation demands.

Adlib's overall project manager was Dave Eldridge. He worked with a highly talented and experienced crew onsite, and closely with host broadcasters Televideo and several other contractors to ensure seamlessly delivery of a world class sporting event to a hugely enthusiastic audience worldwide.

Lighting & Visuals

An additional logistical detail was that the sports presentation started off as a two court set up as the first round matches took place and teams were whittled down to the final 8, culminating in the exhilarating Australia vs New Zealand final.

Adlib's technical design had this change of court layout at its heart; greatly influencing the choice of intelligent moving lights over standard generic fixtures. The change of layout happened overnight with a complete moving of courts and branding for which Adlib supplied courtside LED screens.

Working with Red Sky at Night Events, the on-site team implemented a complex video playback system, controlling a large gondola' style LED cube, plus a court side LED branding system and many break-out areas around the arena.

Red Sky at Night events' team designed a schedule that kept crowds in the arena and constantly engaged, featuring MCs, live response games and interviews alongside many commercial, sponsorship and inspirational messages.

When it came to lighting, the initial brief was to create a lighting design to cover the audience and produce the required on-court Lux levels.

This became a balancing act of providing the correct levels of light for the players without any glare or lights in distracting places, also delivering good levels for the broadcast team's camera systems. In addition to that, the design highlighted important branding around the room and could create dynamic effects for the sports presentation sequences.

Adlib's crew worked closely with the house riggers from UK Rigging on this and all the other aspects of the event which required flying, roof access and working at height.

Around 200 Martin MAC Viper Wash DX and Viper Profile intelligent moving lights were used to cover the Opening Ceremony and the dual court configuration, later morphing into the one court setup.

To assist with the diversity of demands of the overall event lighting, with a particular focus on the sporting action, Adlib worked alongside Dominic Main to create a production lighting design.

As an expert in lighting sporting events like this, his knowledge and experience was invaluable, and gained over many years working on other major and high profile sporting events such as ATP Tennis. In addition to lighting the matches, he programmed a numerous other lighting sequences used for entrances, exits, team presentations and other key moments' related to the competitions.

Adlib supplied a full trussing and rigging package to help create all the lighting positions in exactly the right places.

All the data and power distribution was positioned in the Arena roof and fed down from the gantries and catwalks onto the trusses. This kept the overall look of the event very clean' allowing full focus on the sports without technology ever distracting from the action.

Adlib supplied a pair of ChamSys MQ500 consoles for complete and redundant lighting show control.

A custom specified Luminex network backbone ensured all the lighting technology on show didn't miss a beat. Adam Nicholls - LD for the Opening Ceremony - programmed from the same console, really highlighting its ability to handle a wide range of show environments.

Adam had access to the entire house rig to light the Opening Ceremony and added a few well positioned specials - in the form of eight MAC Viper Performances in pairs - on the deck in the four corners of the Arena. Their shutting capabilities were used to pick out the artists and performers from these low corner positions which looked dramatic and bold, working well with the overheads and the Arena floor projections.

The View of the Full Arena Floor

The eye-popping hi-energy choreographed 45-minute Opening Ceremony directed by the Culture LIVERPOOL team was a pacey collage of music, dance, aerialists, projections mapped on the arena floor, complete with a parade by the 16 competing nation teams.

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