LEDVision, one of the Gearhouse Group of companies that specialises in supplying LED panels for the entertainment industry, took on the enormous challenge of constructing the LED wall that would be the centrepiece of the Castle Lite Unlocks Experience.
Speaking to Pro-Systems on the afternoon before the show, project manager for the event, Jaco Saaiman of Gearhouse, explained that the LED display for the show comprised of several sections, some of which were rigged to move during the show. Central to the design for the South African acts that preceded Chance the Rapper, who performed with a full band, was a window that housed the DJ booth on a raised platform in the middle of the LED wall. Also, sections of the LED wall were lifted on hoists during key moments in the show, providing dancer reveals and other special effects.
While everybody involved understood that the design team had set them an ambitious project, the highly experienced and efficient Gearhouse crew were pushed to their limit on both load-in and load-out, due to the tight schedules involved. To make matters even more interesting during the build-up, while finalising the plot and weights; head rigger, Adrian Manley pointed out that the significant weight of the screens, together with the lighting rig, would necessitate consultation with the engineering team to evaluate Gearhouse’s proposed loadings and confirm that the spread would be acceptable for the roof.
“To adhere to the venue’s stringent safe loading limits and safe working load stipulations, our rigging and staging specialists developed a solution, in consultation with the engineers, which involved splitting the screens, to half the weight of the rig,” explains Saaiman. “This ensured that safety standards were more than adequately met, taking into consideration the dynamic loads that the screen movements would generate. The solution did not compromise the team’s ambitious production design.”
Gearhouse technicians and engineers quickly installed a full 18m x 5m x 13m TFL ground support system that was used to mount the centre screens. This allowed the crew to fly the panels that would be moving on hoists during the show. “We have used ground support to solve challenges like this in the past,” explains Saaiman. “However, the sheer scale of the rig for this production made designing and implementing a solution an interesting challenge. We used 136 motors overall.”
Due to the ingenuity and perseverance of the crew, engineers, and rigging specialists involved, the show has set a new record for LED displays. “The LED display for Castle Lite Unlocks is the largest indoor LED wall to have been erected by LEDVision within the TicketPro Dome venue and includes three different LED product types perfectly colour-matched for overall consistency,” states Hansen.
