User manual

10 ExtroNews 12.1 January/February 2001
Staging a professional audio/visual event
for such a visible organization comes with
high expectations. This past holiday season,
Atlanta-based pro A/V firm Dillon Production
Services, Inc. (DPSI) put on a top-notch show
for the folks at Turner Broadcasting System.
DPSI was contracted by Universal Video
Production to set up and run the A/V display
for the Turner Holiday Party. To stage an
event that would meet the expectations of
this major media mogul, Dillon Productions
used the Extron SGS 408 seamless graphics
switcher as the core of the system design.
The SGS 408 is an eight input, high-
resolution RGB and component video matrix
switcher that performs seamless cuts,
dissolves, wipes, and titles. This switcher with
built-in scaler creates digital, high-quality
transition effects when switching between
multiple sources to a common projector.
When the opportunity came up to do the
Turner party, the staff at Dillon Productions
RENTAL & STAGING CORNER
knew the SGS 408 was the best piece of
equipment for the job. “We had used the
SGS 408 on four shows before we were
contracted to do the Turner party,” says
Matt Dillon, President and CEO of Dillon
Productions, “and I was really impressed
with how it performed.”
The Main Event
The theme was “Lights, Camera, Party!!”
and it took place on Sunday, December 17,
at the Georgia World Congress Center in
downtown Atlanta. “The main
entertainment was held in Hall D,” explains
Dillon, who was A/V Production Coordinator
of the event. Hall D covered roughly 75,000
square feet. Singers and dancers performed
on a 50 ft. stage at the front of the room
throughout the four-hour event. During and
between live acts, video screens positioned
around the room displayed a range of
images. These images included movie
snapshots from films owned by Turner
Classic Movies, live camera shots of the
audience and stage, and still shots, such as a
slide of the party theme.
DPSI was hired to provide the audio,
video, and lighting systems for the party.
“We contracted the lighting to another
Atlanta-based company called I&T—
Imagination & Technology,” says Dillon.
“They set up around 40 intelligent lighting
instruments and did a great job lighting the
stage and the entertainers. Dillon
Productions, then, focused on the audio
and video components of the event.”
Dillon’s goal was to design an A/V system
that would let each person in the hall see
and hear the entertainment comfortably. He
tackled the audio with a 40,000-watt
system that included a 24 channel
Soundcraft Console and a range of well-
positioned speakers from EAW. To get the
visual effects he wanted, Dillon put
together a network of video equipment
with three SGS 408s as the hub of the
downstream end.
Seamless Switching and Special Effects
Dillon placed 13 video screens around the
room. The largest of these, a 15 ft. x 20 ft.
rear projection screen, was flown above the
stage. The other twelve were located off-
stage, positioned around the perimeter of
the room. There were six screens on each
side of the stage—two were 10.5 ft. x 14 ft.,
two were 9 ft. x 12 ft., two were
7.5 ft. x 10 ft., and the last six were smaller
spandex surfaces. The off-stage screens
were balanced to decrease in size the
farther they were from the stage, and same-
sized screens were located in mirror
positions on opposite sides of the stage.
Dillon used sixteen projectors to
display video images on the screens: two
Dillon Productions Wows TBS with SGS
W
hether you’re a sports fan or a news hound, the one name that is synonymous with Atlanta, Georgia, is Ted Turner.
From CNN headquarters to Turner Field, the Turner media empire is a hallmark of the city.
Extron’s SGS 408 (Seamless
Graphics Switcher) with optional
remotes, RCP 1000 and ECP 1000