News

RAPID JAMMING WITH RED BULL

Posted on 14/11/2011

XL helps the leading soft drink brand with two unique sports events…


The streets of Cardiff were dominated by an exciting programme of motorsport action on September 3, when the Welsh capital played host to the Red Bull Speed Jam… with XL Events relaying live video to five LED screens around the circuit, as well as transmitting the action in high definition to VIP guests.

Featuring the energy drink brand’s top pilots along with Formula 1 and NASCAR drivers, and aerobatic and motorbike stunt teams, this one-off high-octane event thrilled the crowds who swelled around a specially-modified circuit in Cardiff Bay which, if not for the heavy, dark clouds and the threat of a premature autumn, could have passed for Monaco.

Red Bull has staged similar events in the past but this was the first time they had done it on such an epic scale with around 60 drivers — mostly in their teens and early twenties — competing in heats hosted by Jake Humphrey and Layla Anna-Lee.

Above the Bay, the Red Bull Matadors stunned the thrill-seeking crowd as they defied gravity in their colourful Suhkoi stunt planes to give an amazing display of formation aerobatics in preparation for Australian F1 star Mark Webber’s spectacular drive around the 1.2km course, champion cyclist Chris Pfeiffer’s daring motorbike demo and the roar of the Red Bull Nascar as it was put through its paces by Hispania Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Hired by Jaie Genadt, production manager at Innovision, Red Bull’s long-time production partner, XL Events’ team arrived on-site on August 31 to set up a production unit, video monitors, plasma screens and nine HD cameras which included Sony HXC-100s, two radio-controlled Philips LDK-8000 on jibs.

Relaying live video to five LED screens around the circuit, XL’s spec also included four channels of EVS playback with graphics and inserts cued from a Grass Valley Turbo2 console.

While video content was provided by UMTV, XL’s Creation department at Hemel Hempstead crafted a selection of stills to be inserted into the visual menu. “There was also a special program that we created to indicate when we were going to slo-mo,” explained XL’s project manager, Robin Evans.

XL’s technical director Richard Burford and broadcast director Malcolm Whittall were the senior engineers on the event, and Phil Moor directed the footage.

Meanwhile, the company’s IT manager, Ian Woodall installed XL’s exciting, new IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) network solution which transmitted unprecedented high definition views of the action to VIP guests and security personnel away from the race circuit.

“The quality and versatility of the IPTV transmission blew everyone away,” said Evans. “A TX feed was distributed to 14 monitors in the hospitality area, and we also sent TX to the emergency control area as well as feeds from all of the cameras, displayed in multi-viewer format across three large plasma screens that we provided.

There was 450m of CAT5 cable running between the hardware in our control base in the middle of the racecourse and the event emergency control room situated at Wales Millennium Centre.”

Ian Woodall added: “The Millennium Centre already has a resident data network so we were able to simply connect our cables to the CAT5 sockets in the server room, and there was instant multi-channel delivery. This isn’t obstructive for the client, it uses existing wiring so it keeps costs down, and it’s incredibly quick and simple to set up.”

The day’s programme also played host to the finals of the amateur go-karting competition, Red Bull Kart Fight, with first place awarded to Bradley Philpot.

After the Speed Jam, Red Bull contacted Robin Evans at XL to explain that it was launching a new event called Red Bull Rapids. This involved 24 teams who were challenged to build their own imaginative rafts and take them down more than 250m of terrifying Grade III rapids in the shortest time possible at the National Watersports Centre in Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire on September 25.

Produced by Sue Gurner, it was decided to début the event in the UK to enable any potential technical problems to be ironed out in advance of the actual launch in Australia during November.

Said Evans: “Our original brief from Red Bull TV was to bring three manned Sony HXC-100 cameras to feed I-Mag to a large LED screen and also supply content on hard drives for their broadcast use. One of the cameras was on a long lens and positioned on the bridge that spanned the course, while the other two were located at the start and end of the course, with radio links from Broadcast Direct.

“To ensure that we didn’t miss any of the crucial action, we added two Sony HD Robocams that were placed between two of the bigger rapids to catch the rafts [from a Lego-inspired boat and a ‘Viking ship’ to a giant rubber duck and a replica of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine] as they navigated the turbulent water.”

Paddy Cannon and Jack Dickinson from XL’s content creation suite operated the graphics for the big screen (and later broadcasts) which they built from material supplied by Red Bull.

“The design was already formulated by Red Bull’s team,” explained Evans. “What Paddy and Jack did was to apply them to scoreboards, idents and timing systems.”

At the end of the competition, after many of its rivals had — quite literally — taken an early bath, the North Yorkshire-based team, Water Wars emerged victorious with its raft constructed from inflatable lilos, beach balls, rubber canvas, wood and plastic sheeting to resemble “a WWII landing craft as seen on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day”.

In summary, Robin Evans commented: “It’s always interesting to work on sporting events but Red Bull’s brand of entertainment is unique. I’d certainly never seen anything like the Speed Jam and the Rapids event was just as thrilling in its own way. We are always kept on our toes right from the start, and our reward is a very satisfying and fun experience.

“Red Bull’s creative team are constantly looking for new ways to thrill the fans and I really appreciate their drive and passion for bigger, edgier and ever more unusual productions.”

See more of the Redbull Rapids here
http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Video/Red-Bull-Rapids-2011--Highlights-Video-021243094353310

www.redbull.co.uk • www.innovision.eu