By far the largest overall production ever staged in the UK, the festivities in and around Buckingham Palace which celebrated '50 Glorious Years' of Queen Elizabeth II's reign marked the greatest achievement to date for Unusual Services.
The pivotal moment of the action-packed event, held over Monday 3/Tuesday 4 June, was the incredible multimedia son et lumiere, a spectacular that utilised projection, lighting, sound, music, water, fireworks and pyrotechnics in a breathtaking visual amalgam, witnessed live by over a million revellers, and enjoyed by a worldwide TV audience of over 200 million at the close of the Party At The Palace rock and pop show.
Unusual's executive producer Alan Jacobi worked closely with Major Sir Michael Parker and the Golden Jubilee Weekend committee, led by Lord Sterling. Unusual undertook the huge logistical effort involved in establishing the technical infrastructure needed for the multi-site event that was centred in the Buckingham Palace area.
Jacobi's team of associates included Unusual's production administrator David Mayo, production designer Malcolm Birkett and Lindsay Barrowclough, who co-ordinated Tuesday's processions, featuring over 20,000 performers. However, it was the incredible projections on to the familiar Palace facade that stole the show and the heart of the nation - a major highlight in the building's illustrious 300 year history.
The 15 minute son et lumiere show featured artwork and projection by E\T\C UK, collaged with lighting by Durham Marenghi to transform the already imposing building into a magical canvas of colour, images and spectacle, crowning the evening. These elements were choreographed together with a retina-burning firework and pyro display designed by Wilf Scott and Keith Webb of Pyrovision, blasting off from the top of the Palace and a shell site in Green Park. The show left the nation and the world in no doubt that the UK excels at producing exciting and memorable theatre on a grand scale.
Unusual is no stranger to large public shows, having produced both the VE and VJ Day celebrations in the mid-1990s, plus several large events in the Middle East. However, in terms of historic significance, this was the BIG one. It is also easily the largest and most complex technical production brought directly to the UK public. Jacobi explained that Unusual always seizes these opportunities to unite innovative technology and the very best practitioners of the industry in their mega productions. This was no exception.
The logistics of establishing the technical infrastructure to underpin the event started back in September, when Unusual was confirmed as the main contractor for the project. The main sub-contractors - both people and suppliers - recruited by Unusual have worked with them regularly on large scale shows for several years, and are among the cream of the UK production industry. This included production managers Chuck Crampton, Tony Wheeler and Claire Sampson.
The site build started on May 2. This was a tight deadline for a ground up build of this scale, and also by then, Unusual was sub-contracting and co-ordinating over 250 other companies, organisations and individuals, all experts in their own areas. This introduced another entire - and complex - layer of administration, paperwork and logistics. Everything, from the traditional site accoutrements like trackway and toilets, to the more offbeat, like organising a no-fly zone over central London with the CAA, was dealt with by Unusual in a precise and efficient operation.
Crew personnel, at times numbering 500, grafted many long nights and full days. They paid attention to a minutiae of detail, each individual dedicated to the project, and each department working integrally alongside the numerous other teams on-site, all for one goal. Unusual also recruited over 40 stage managers to run the parades; set up the site accreditation system; installed an international broadcast village accommodating teams from over 50 countries, and arranged enough IT and communications equipment to run the world's media as it reported live on the two-day event.
To ensure the atmosphere on site was kept as chilled and pleasant as possible for the working crews, Unusual hired Eat To The Beat as site caterers. ETTB delighted everyone with inventive menus, scrumptious food and an airy, relaxed environment that was a welcome respite for all needing a break from the rigorous work ethic surrounding them. Unusual also interfaced with various authorities including Westminster City Council Special Events, the Metropolitan Police, Royal Parks, the GLA, the WRVS, London Underground, London Ambulance, St. John Ambulance and the British Red Cross.
Working on a site still essentially open to the public was a major challenge. Although the production area was fenced off and had 24-hour security, the roads, pavements and rest of the parks were open to the public right up until showday - and to traffic until the day before. The Green Park site alone comprised of two 25 metre wide ESS Orbit stages on the north and south sides of The Mall, each with clear sheeting and open flat back walls.
ESS also supplied other stages, plus screen support structures, camera platforms, cable bridges, security and media platforms and access ramps and stairways across the various central London sites. Stageline supplied three truck stages for Green Park, St James's Park and Trafalgar Square. At QueenÕs Gardens, the stages were flanked both sides by three storey high press and broadcast studios, constructed by MSL, and painted green for aesthetic blending.
The Queen Victoria Monument (QVM) in front of the Palace became a major architectural element of the show. The Palace itself was the hub of the show, playing host to the relevant lighting, projection and pyro departments, amidst intensely tight security.
Unusual designed and built the rocket fired by The Queen that ignited the National Beacon on the QVM, triggering the start of the son et lumiere. It also co-ordinated the Beacon's gas tank - with British Gas - and supervised the building of its gold ball top. During a post show overnighter on the Monday, the Beacon was extinguished, dismantled and replaced by a platform built, complete with weatherised roof, for the Royal Party to sit and watch Tuesday's parades as they streamed down The Mall.
The ultra tight security was heightened by the fire at Buckingham Palace the day before the son et lumiere show. With several tonnes of explosives on the Palace roof, this gave cause for some concern, curtailing the only full rehearsal (which would have been everything all but the pyro), heightening the pressure on the production team to get it right on the night. The results spoke for themselves!
The Queen lit the fuse, the rocket streamed down the wire along the bottom end of the Mall, exploded the beacon and triggered the most memorable, emotional and magical public production ever seen in the UK.
LIGHTING
Durham Marenghi is a past master of illuminating large events. Once again, he worked with his long-time associate Nick Jones, who also has a wealth of related experience. Marenghi designed an overall architectural lighting concept for the Palace, The Mall, the Queen Victoria Monument (QVM) and Admiralty Arch. From the outset, Michael Parker was keen to project on to Buckingham Palace, and that the building should take centre-stage in the celebrations.
Marenghi adopted a theatrical approach to the design. It was minimalist in its simplicity of colour combinations and looks, and large in terms of the fact that each effect utilised multiple fixtures - why have one light on a fader when you can have 30! His biggest challenge was, "Making it theatrical, practical and affordable - in that order". The colouration was based on the highly complimentary combination of gold, blue and white.
The LD's initial scheme underwent a degree of value engineering during the quoting process. It was too massive and impractical a project for one lighting company, so they split the site into three lighting areas, appointing one rental company to deal with each.
Vari-Lite Europe was asked to deal with everything in the Palace roof and forecourt. For security as well as practical reasons, it would have been impossible to have a company working both inside and outside the Palace. Fourth Phase London was appointed to deal with the North and South stages in Green Park, lighting of the QVM and the crowds immediately in front of the Palace. The QVM's water content was boosted by 30 temporary water fountains, supplied by Water Sculptures, installed in the pools at its base. Stage Electrics dealt with the Mall lighting, Admiralty Arch and assorted satellite stages in St James's Park.
With the Palace as the lighting centrepiece, Marenghi wanted 50 searchlights on top of the roof to make a bold gesture. This turned out to be a very tight squeeze, physically and logistically, but determination won the day and they all made it up there: a combination of Sky Arts, Skytrackers and Space Cannons. These were controlled by John Harris operating a WholeHog in the courtyard - one of six WholeHogs on the gig... if 'gig' is the appropriate word!
The Palace was washed with 60 Vari-Lite 2416s and 60 VL5Arcs. Marenghi utilised a further 60 2416s, 30 each positioned on the front truss rail of the North and South stages, flipped round for fill lighting. On the roof of the broadcast areas each side, were six of the new, automated 3kW Synchrolite SX3K Xenon searchlights, used for backlighting the QVM and also helping with the front of the Palace wash. Also up here were two Gladiator follow spots supplied by Fourth Phase, positioned to pick out the Queen for the first part of her journey from the Palace to the dais 150 metres down The Mall to fire the rocket. The QVM was lit close-up with gold Pars and ACLs, and the dancing water sculptures were lit with battens of waterproof lights and Dataflash strobes, adding their own ethereal ambience.
The Mall was draped its length with festoons on both sides, and each of the flagpoles was illuminated with three Par cans. Admiralty Arch was lit with 48 Pars, and the Queen's Walk section of The Mall (nearest the Palace) had its lighting boosted by 48 MAC 600s in Flightdomes in ground supported trussing that blended in with the trees.
In addition to its work on the Buckingham Palace concerts, Edwin Shirley Staging was out in force in The Mall, providing two 25m wide Orbit stages with clear sheeting and open flat back walls - as well as five Orbit stages in Hyde Park for the BBC Live Festival. ESS also supplied disabled, security and media platforms, camera towers, cable bridges, projector towers, and access ramps and stairways for the Mall celebrations, plus video screen support in Trafalgar Square.
PROJECTING A WORLD FIRST
Large format projection specialist E\T\C UK was appointed to supply the projection on to the Palace. Taking an open brief from Marenghi and Parker, E\T\C UK's Ross Ashton was commissioned created a storyboard and artwork for the stunning projection show - the first time Buckingham Palace has ever received such treatment.
Ashton has projected on to many different surfaces in his time, from the giant cranes at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast to the Tower of London, so this was another great challenge. An initial site visit established that the Palace wanted the projectors positioned very specifically - to be as concealed as possible. With this info, and with the help of a subsequent visit, a camera obscura test with the proposed lenses and 6 x 7 roll film tests, E\T\C was able to calculate to the millimetre the throw distances, coverage and various other image parameters.
The music track wasn't completed until seven weeks before the show, leaving Ashton a very tight deadline to create, source and compile the artwork into scrolls. He also had to present his artwork ideas to the Golden Jubilee Committee. Once they gave the thumbs up, he set to work furiously on the design and production. The scrolling footage, in tandem with the soundtrack, encompassed memorable images from the last from decades - from flower power symbols to pink Cadillacs, space scenes, rotating records and photos of childrens faces projecting the future of Britain. Images, paintings and art from various schoolchildren at the Ponsborne St Mary's Infant & Junior School was incorporated into the scrolls, along with photography of children from the Heston Community School.
Ashton's toughest job was ensuring the fast-moving 15 minute scrolling montage, with most tracks only lasting 30-40 seconds, kept the interest and excitement levels pumped, and had immediate impact from start to finish. He needn't have worried. The reactions in the press were astounding - projection of this scale and nature is still relatively rare in the UK, and the impact of this element on all watching was truly incredible!
The building presented an awesome projection surface, but every other technical aspect was challenging. The projectors were all off-centre (for unobtrusivity), all were keystoning, and all were at ground level - none of which is ideal for large format projection. The artwork was therefore keystoned and distorted to correct the effect. While Ashton was dealing with the artwork, his colleague Paul Highfield dealt with the logistics of getting equipment to site, technical co-ordination and health and safety. Highfield designed projector cradles, (built by ESS) that ensured they pointed upwards at exactly the right angle as soon as they were lifted into position.
The 10 PIGI 7kW projectors were run as five pairs, located just inside the forecourt, butted up to the railings, lined up with the Palace pillars. They utilised 18cm lenses, rotating double scrollers on the front and each projected an image 32 metres wide. Control was PIGI 6 software running on a PC.
SOUND
The event's many audio elements were co-ordinated by sound designer John Del Nero (on release from Imagination) and his associate Chris Hey. Both have worked with Alan Jacobi, Unusual and Michael Parker many times before. Del Nero took leave from his post as Imagination's sound consultant to work on this project on which he started work last year.
Unusual and Del Nero chose to use four top audio rental companies - Dobson Sound, Orbital Sound, RG Jones and Wigwam - all picked for their expertise in specific areas. Del Nero commented that it was a brilliant experience working with all four companies, which he felt covered the brief comprehensively.
The Jubilee event's most complex sound element was the system lining The Mall for the processions. It required technology that would move the sound image down the street in synch with the progress of each of the five Parade Troupes, and for the 20 individual floats on the 50 Years Parade.
The Parade featured over 20,000 performers from the Notting Hill Parade, Chicken Shed Theatre, the Gospel Choir, the Services Parade, and the Commonwealth Parade. The Gospel Choir was 5,000-strong and the 50 Years Parade also contained dozens of cars, pram-pushers and bilkers. The idea was that the moving system replaced sound systems that would conventionally be installed directly on the floats, putting the sources and volume levels in control of the audio department! The same principal was applied to the Parade's sound sources.
Del Nero collaborated with Orbital's Sebastian Frost to come up with a creative solution for The Mall. Orbital also supplied and rigged the 90 d&b E6 speakers in the trees lining each side of The Mall. Using Level Control Systems' hardware/software platform allowed them to send multiple sources to multiple outputs, and to move the sound image anywhere in The Mall. Audio source playbacks were from 19 CD players, on 50 second loops, giving a total time of 22 minutes - the time predicted for each procession to progress down The Mall.
LCS enabled sound to be sent in real-time anywhere down The Mall, complete with individual attack and decay times for each source. On the day, they used strategically placed 'spotters' who advised of the progress of the processions and any delays/speeding ups. One of the beauties of the system was that when delays occurred, they could 'hold' the sound for any section of any Parade Troupe exactly where they were until they started moving again.
The audio department also supplied sound feeds to the three major broadcasters of the event - the BBC, ITN and Sky - from the FOH control box on the north side of the QVM. Processing and distribution was done using 44 BSS Soundwebs, a mix of hubs and DPS boxes. Soundweb also allowed them to connect the entire Mall sound system using Cat 5 network cable instead of copper, which would have been completely unmanageable in this situation.
Like lighting, sound was divided into different geographical areas. Orbital dealt with The Mall; Wigwam with the QVM itself, the North and South stages and the system at the front of Buckingham Palace; RG Jones supplied stages at Constitution Hill and Green Park and also co-ordinated sound for four stages in Hyde Park for the BBC Music Live event on the Sunday. Dobson Sound supplied audio for stages and screens in St James's Park, Horseguards Parade, Trafalgar Square and three locations in the City.
To facilitate smooth communications on site, Orbital's Head of Communications, Tim Sherratt, supplied a network of Radiocom BTR 700 wireless duplex intercom linked to RTS 2- and 4- wire products for stage management, the sound teams, and broadcasters based on-site. Employed extensively by roaming stage managers throughout, the BTR 700s played a vital role as the official cue mechanism as the Queen ignited the Jubilee Beacon, setting off the chain of beacons across the UK and the sensational Palace fireworks display.
POWER
The huge task of supplying power to all sites, including Buckingham Palace, Green Park, the QVM, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Horseguards Parade, Smithfields, Waterloo Bridge and the City of London sites, fell to Power Logistics. It involved 95 generators of various sizes and capacitates and was the biggest show Power Logistics' Pete Wills has executed in 15 years.
In total, his company provided over 15 Megawatts of power and 20 miles of cabling just for the Palace and Green Park areas - the satellite sites were extra. The Mall lighting and screens alone took five miles of cabling, slung along on catinery wires between the trees, rigged by Unusual Rigging. The feed for the searchlights and pyro on the Palace roof was 2000 KVA, with the generators were located on the ground and the cables craned up into position.
The high security and the physical task of providing power to so many geographically dispersed areas was the big factor for the electricity department. Unlike a normal green field or festival site, which is usually closed to the public until doors, there was no shortage of curious punters wandering up The Mall and Constitution Hill, specially in the later stages of the build and during rehearsals. They also had to work hard to avoid any fuel spillages or making a mess on the grass or on top of the Palace. Fuelling was done from two 10,000 litre tankers on site, with individual sets fed via a series of mobile bowsers.
In addition to the stages and screens, Power Logistics also powered the broadcast village and all the backstage facilities like catering, site safety and working lights plus and all the production offices. Six of the Power Logistics crew of 16 worked at the Palace site, and the other 10 spread themselves across the others.
EXPLOSIVE!
The burning technical question of this event was, "So what's it like to blow up the Palace?", although Wilf Scott has actually done it twice before, but not in such grand style, nor with such complex technology, nor in conjunction with so many other visual elements.
Utilising over four tonnes of explosives spread primarily across two sites - the Palace roof and Green Park - plus some on the QVM, the fireworks shot hundreds of feet into the air in great bursts of colour, searing and shimmering into the night, illuminating the skies of London for miles.
The biggest challenge, said Scott and his co-designer and Pyrovision partner, Keith Webb, was moving his crew of 21 from A to B. Anyone entering the Palace grounds was subject to doubly intense security checks, and Sunday evening's fire introduced an additional frission of excitement, with the entire Palace roof laden and ready-to-rock on the Monday night.
There was also a limit to the amount of debris they could deposit on the Palace roof. Many advance tests were conducted to see what exactly the Palace would and wouldn't deem acceptable.
Pyrovision were one of a number of companies which tendered for the job. Another firm which has worked with Unusual and Parker on many previous occasions, it went on a speculative mission to China to design and source new effects in the event before actually getting the show contract. Custom effects for this show included bursts with red, white and blue centres and gold surrounds, and red, white and blue shells that formed into a pie chart.
By the time the music track was compiled and sequenced by Orbital Sound's Sebastian Frost at Orbital's in-house Pro Tools editing suite, it was flat out at Pyrovision, seven days a week, 20 hours a day for seven weeks - designing the show, getting the effects manufactured and shipped to the UK, gathering all the equipment, number crunching and making it happen. The show was designed in sections, with the heavy artillery shells located in the Green Park site, detonated at different times to the Palace effects, which worked closer to the rhythm of the music. Five control positions were used, each with a different customised controller. Pyrovision was also involved with designing the rocket and its catcher unit underneath the Beacon.
VIDEO
To ensure the public had as much access as possible to all the festivities - including the Party At The Palace - Screenco fielded what turned out to be the largest-ever supply of video screens - a total of 22, including the latest Phillips LEDs. The Unusual Rigging team of Robin Elias, Simon Tiernan and Jason White built the screen support structures. These and their accompanying PAs enabled the public in and around The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace and at other key central sites like St James's Park, Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square, to enjoy and experience this public show as never before.
Screenco took feeds from all the main broadcast channels into the Creative Technology OB truck, and then distributed them via cable to the screens lining The Mall plus two in front of Buckingham Palace. Screenco also had dedicated feeds from four of its own cameras and each screen had a dedicated set of PowerPoint graphics available for announcements.
Martin Jangaard was the live video director for all the screens. He tapped into feeds from the BBC, ITV and Sky, and mixed and matched to suit and to produce an interesting mix of entertainment from live relay. Slow motion recorders mounted on two trucks allowed them to create montages during the son et lumiere, and to keep interest levels pumped in any lulls.
Screenco's Dave Crump commented on how technology has advanced since they did the VE Day event, which was Screenco's first show with Jumbotrons. They used four screens and at the time it was considered a large job. Early on Monday evening, the surreal experience of a special Jubilee edition of Eastenders was broadcast live across all the screens!
THE GRAND PARADE
The 50 Years Parade proved the most humorous and fun aspect of Tuesday's parades down The Mall. Led by 50 Hell's Angels, 20 floats followed, buzzing and vibrant with colours, sounds, comments, personalities, suggestions, events and memorable moments that have shaped the UK's last 50 years.
50 Years featured a megamix of changing culinary, social and political trends, icons, cars, politicians, social events and people - from ravers to Teddy Boys to space cadets - with over 500 performers.
The 50 Years Parade's artistic director was Hilary Westlake and the floats were designed by Jonathan Park - including a few content surprises along the way! Park worked with his design associates Max Maxwell and Holly Park, and the 50 Years Parade was production managed by Jonathan Bartlett.
Alan Thomson, MD at Fourth Phase London, spoke for all of the production crews when he said: "The number of people that turned out to celebrate with the Queen was incredible. Monday night attracted around one million people and I would say that toward the end of Tuesday there was nearly half as much again on and around The Mall. I don't think anyone had anticipated the extent to which the volume of people would make it difficult for operators to move between control positions, but the whole production was brilliant, the working relationships were excellent and being a part of it was extremely rewarding."
photographs: Diana Scrimgeour & Louise Stickland