Showtech adds sparkle to TOIFA
Published: MEA
UAE: Showtech was called in to provide the sound, audiovisual, lighting and trussing equipment as well as set-build for the recent Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA 2016), which took place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
An Indian film awards ceremony, TOIFA is held at a different international location each year, to celebrate and honour the best in Bollywood. The event featured performances from various popular Indian actors and singers and was attended by the entire Indian film industry.
On the sound side, for the main PA the rental company flew 32 JBL VTX V25 line arrays and 24 VTX S28 subs, while 12 Vertec 4889s were deployed as delays. A total of eight VRX 915s were used as stage monitors and four VRX932LAs provided front-fill. The system was powered by Crown HD 12000 amplifiers networked via Performance Manager version 2 software.
‘As we were well acquainted with the venue, it was easy for us to understand, analyse and tune the system according to the cricket stadium and meet the expectation of the client,’ noted Wasim Shaikh, head of the rental company’s sound department. ‘JBL is known for its quality and we were satisfied with the end results.’
A Soundcraft Vi 6 console was employed at FOH, with a Neutrik four core fibre optic cable connecting both stage and local racks. For the artists and hosts, Shure UR4D radio mics alongside UR1 and UR2, with DPA 4088 headset microphones were utilised, while an AKG GN50 ESP featuring a CK33 capsule served as the podium mic, with Audix’ MB1280 micro boom also put into action.
As for the A/V setup, the design called for curved LED displays spanning 425 sq-m. Showtech’s A/V department, led by Kawaljeet Singh, facilitated this with LED screens featuring pixel pitches of 3mm, 5mm, 6mm and 7mm. An Analog Way Ascender 32 switcher, Dataton Watchout media servers, Lightware MX16x16DVI-Plus matrix switcher and Extron’s fibre optic receivers were all implemented. Meanwhile, a Eurotruss TT heavy-duty truss spanning 32m x 20m with a height of 15.5m was deployed with five legs per side to handle the weight on the mother truss grid.
‘The set design was a very unique and challenging one and unlike any that’s been done in Dubai and also for that matter in India too for a Bollywood concert,’ noted art director Santosh Vijayan. ‘We flew down fabrication specialists because of the scale and size but the end result was worth all the effort.’
Custom RGB tube lighting was also utilised by Showtech, with over 2,600 RGB fixtures reportedly flown, controlled by Madrix software. A total of 50 Claypaky Mythos lights, 32 Sharpys, 12 Atomic strobe 3000s, 16 4way Molefays, 12 Robe BMFLs, 32 Claypaky K10 B-Eyes and eight K20 B-Eyes comprised the remainder of the lighting fixtures.
‘The sub hang trusses went well with the decor design and the lights looked amazing with the help of eight MDG Atmosphere Haze machines and six DMX PRO Fans also deployed,’ noted Benzy Razi, head of the light department at Showtech. ‘A couple of F100 smoke machines also went far in enhancing the whole look of the event.’
The biggest challenge for the event came from the weather. ‘Gusty winds and intermittent rain through the week resulted in meeting deadlines being a bit challenging,’ recalled head of production Sujeet Gautam. ‘Nonetheless meticulous planning, rapid execution of backup plans and constant war footing coordination between various crews over 140 radios got us that astounding result.’
‘It is a delight for me when it all goes well regardless of what challenges we had to face during the setup of the event,’ concluded Showtech founder and CEO, Shaji George. ‘It’s like a tournament – there is so much equipment on site and it is such a case of shuffling it efficaciously.’