(03/07/2014) When Studio 100, producers of the hugely acclaimed and highly successful 14-18 Spektakel Musical wanted to move a 2000 seater audience tribune up and down a 150 metre long performance space throughout the show they called Hans Willems of Wicreations!
Who else! Willems and his team at the engineering and automation specialist, based in Heist Opt Den Berg, energised themselves to help bring a world class production right home to Mechelen, one of the many places at the centre of hostilities during the carnage and devastation of the First World War which started a century ago in 1914.
The laser controlled seating tribune that moves nearly 2000 audience per show 90 metres up and down the 150 metre long performance space in Mechelen's Nekkerhal is just one of many technical WOW factors.
The seating tribune makes 13 moves back and forth throughout the show at different speeds and distances as the drama sung live to a special backing track by Dirk Bross and Allard Blom recorded by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra unfolds.
The unique aesthetic that 14-18 Spektakel Musical's creators - Frank van Laecke, Dirk Bross and Allard Blom of Studio 100 - wanted to share with their audiences involves taking them collectively in and out of the scenes and playing area. It is a combination of classic musical and movie treatments on a basic level, with the moving stand being the zoom of the camera and an additional vehicle for opening up the playing space and distancing everyone from the action or closing it down for additional intimacy.
Wicreations applied their usual mix of ingenuity and engineering magic to produce three major production elements: the tribune, the 11 moving and repositionable scenery wagons and the control systems.
This involved three disciplines the mechanical construction and design of the stand; the design and build of the set pieces and the automation and control of both. The process started in 2013, and with a separate Project Manager assigned to each element, it was a resource-hungry but extremely rewarding project.
The steel stand is 33 metres wide, 55 metres long and 7 metres high at the back and can accommodate 1880 people with full wheelchair access. It weighs 135 tonnes empty and 270 tonnes at full capacity.
The first of many sets of calculations undertaken were completed by external surveyors to establish the strength and integrity of the Nekkerhal floor, after which Wicreations and its R n' D team started their part of the design process.
A second phase of calculations dealt with all the dynamic forces of the stand in motion which were checked and approved every part of the structure was subject to these using Finite Element software.
The whole structure rests on 368 wheels, so getting the right ones was fundamental! Each powered wheel can hold up to 2.8 tonnes and the supporting wheels 3.2 tonnes.
The structure is actually moved by 24 of Wicreations' rental stock drive motors which are based on UK manufacturer Kinesys' Evo system each of these drives two sets of wheels. The maximum speed is half a metre a second and the units are smooth so the acceleration / deceleration is mega smooth once the motion has started.
The stand's position is determined by laser eyes which position it with millimetre precision in relation to 55 markers on 3 metre high poles anchored into the concrete and running down the length of the venue. These guide the stand and all the scenery trucks into the correct positions for each cue. The poles are located so that the laser eyes of every moving element can simultaneously see at least three markers and receive its correct positional co-ordinates.
The laser guiding control is a customised version of a system made by Swedish theatrical and opera specialist Visual Act, which has been specially hot-rodded by Wicreations. This monitors all the information in realtime and, if necessary, adjusts the tribune's and scenic wagon's movements to keep them on track.
An impressive cable festoon was devised to provide a neat and practical solution to manage the approximately 4.5 kilometres of cables needed to power the moving stand and run control data to lighting, audio and video equipment. With the stand and the FOH control positions moving it couldn't just be plugged in and left like a conventional set up.
One hundred and twenty metres of Wicreations' WI-Track product was installed into the roof on the left of the tribune and the 175 metre cable festoon is attached beneath.
There are 46 different positional cues for the set pieces and tribune in the show which are executed by operators Sam Melotte and Tim Beckers.
The innovative set which comes together like a giant multi-faceted jig-saw to form numerous complex scenes was designed by Stefaan Haudenhuyse, Art Director at Studio 100 who worked closely with Wicreations' Project Manager for Set, Yves Vervloet.
The 11 automated set wagons, all of which have a minimum of two faces, move into multiple positions throughout the show. Two have hinged parts which lower on Wicreations' zero-speed motors also controlled wirelessly via the Visual Act system - into a horizontal setting to form the trenches.
The 6 x 2.7 metre bases of these set pieces are all customised. Each contains a state-of-the-art drive unit from Visual Act specially modified for this application and house all the technical kit including the laser navigation system, WIFI receivers, batteries and power distribution to all the many practical lights integrated with each wagon / set piece. Wireless DMX data control for these practicals shares the same WIFI network as the laser control for the wagons.
Constructed on top of the bases are eight different types of steel towers, some as large as a small house which required extra parts to be added to some of
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
(03/07/2014) When Studio 100, producers of the hugely acclaimed and highly successful 14-18 Spektakel Musical wanted to move a 2000 seater audience tribune up and down a 150 metre long performance space throughout the show they called Hans Willems of Wicreations!
