It was early November 2005 when Nocturne Productions set off on the
mega-city "Have A Nice Day" world tour with rock band Bon Jovi, and a
brand new high definition video system. The Illinois-based video
production company has been contracted many times over by artists such
as U2, Paul McCartney and Madonna, to deliver live concert footage and
pre-recorded materials for shows around the world. This is the first
tour, however, they're doing it live, in HD.
From cities in the U.S., to Europe and now back in the states, rockers
Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora are undoubtedly grabbing most of the
attention onstage, along with an enormous 22-ft. x 40-ft. HD LED
screen-a Vidicon V-9 powered by Saco-positioned overhead, projecting
the live HD video of the band. Behind the scenes, though, it's a
different story. Sitting at the center of Nocturne's HD system is a
variety of high-end Grass Valley broadcast equipment, including the
company's new Turbo iDDR digital disk recorders, its Kalypso switcher
and several LDK 6000 HD cameras.
David Lemmink, live video production guru and director of engineering
at Nocturne, spoke to us while on a three-week break from the road.
What makes this tour, and the company's HD system, so
special?
DL: This is actually a first in the industry-we're
delivering a complete high definition video system. Other tours have
gone out with high definition screens, but no one has toured with live
high definition cameras before.
It's kind of unusual. In fact, we've been waiting for this for a while.
At least I have. Obviously, the cost associated with the HD video has
not justified having a band paying that kind of money. Fortunately, Jon
Bon Jovi is a good looking guy and can appreciate what HD video can do
for him.
The last few DVDs we shot for Jon were all done in high definition. Jon
liked the way it looked and we managed to talk him into HD video for
the tour.
Can you discuss the major pieces of your
system?
DL: This rig is carrying Grass Valley's flagship
switcher; their top-of-the-line Kalypso HD switcher. And the entire
system is actually designed around the Kalypso. It's a very capable
switcher, same kind used for the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the
Olympics, all of the big shows. In addition to the switcher, most of
the other equipment is also Grass Valley. One of the reasons for that
is interoperability. It makes it real easy for us to troubleshoot if we
have problems. So, we're also using a Grass Valley 64 x 64 high
definition Concerto series video router as well as Grass Valley LDK
6000 HD cameras.
For playback, we're using the Grass Valley Turbo iDDR playback device,
but there's additional HD playback from the lighting camp, with a
[Green Hippo] Hippotizer, a media server that runs off of DMX.
We also have three high definition POV cameras from Ikegami, the
HDL-40s, on pan/tilt heads.
Why are you using broadcast gear for this sort of
application?
DL: It's not really all that untypical. We currently
have 10 tours out; with ten of these systems. And it's all broadcast
gear. With systems of this size, there are a few reasons. For starters,
there's the reliability factor. For instance, we have systems we had
built around the Grass Valley 250 [switcher] that have been touring for
14 years. Because of the tight schedules we have, the systems are
constantly on the road. Now, I don't think there's a piece of consumer
equipment that would have lasted for 14 years.
Another reason for the broadcast gear is for its capability. We
typically push the envelope on what these units could do. We refer to
it as the 'bleeding edge.' What I mean by that is, we typically try out
the newest and latest gear. Obviously, this is what trying to 'wow' an
audience is all about—the newest, greatest thing. Well the only way to
do that is to get the newest, greatest equipment. Obviously you're at
the bleeding edge here because sometimes it doesn't work. So, for
example, we had serial number 3 of the Grass Valley Kayak switcher and
serial number 7 of the Pinnacle Systems PDS 9000
switcher.
And is all of this gear working
okay?
DL: Yeah, it's all working fine. Obviously with any
system of this size, you're going to have little bumps along the road.
There's definitely been a little bit of pain; a little bit of suffering
when you're trying to make certain pieces of equipment do what they
were intended to do. But we've successfully pulled off every one of our
shows so far.
What about the Turbo, this a newer
product?
DL: Yes, it is new. Originally, it was so new, we
couldn't talk to it. We sat there scratching our heads for a while
until we figured out what we needed for it to actually communicate with
the rest of the equipment. We wrote our own custom code.
As far as the bulk of the processing, the signal processing, layering
and image manipulation, that's done by the [Vista Systems Model 353]
Spyder video processor. It's essentially 15 channels of DVE—it gives us
15 layers of video that we can manipulate over the various screen
surfaces.
There are more screen surfaces besides the V-9 video
wall?
DL: Yes, on the indoor tour, in addition to the
large screen, we have what we call 'fingers,' which are very long,
vertical columns of video. We have five of those and then two high
definition soft screens on either side of the stage for those in the
audience with an obstructed view.
When we go outdoors, it's actually a little different. We have what we
call 'Mesh City,' which is meant to look like a cityscape, built out of
low-resolution video tiles. So we have a 140-foot wide video screen
behind the high definition video screen that also displays various
video images.
So, playback is coming from the iDDRs, the Hippotizer servers from
lighting and also a custom media server that was built and programmed
specifically for the surface we're using for the outdoor shows so the
cityscape is literally a 3D landscape. There's depth to this background
video and we needed a way we could actually map live video over this
screen and not have it all distorted. So, special hardware and software
was built for this tour. We had to do a lot of custom work for this
tour. Everything goes through the routers, and then through the Spyder
for the final manipulation onto the screen
surfaces.
Another difference between the indoor and outdoor show is that the main
screen doesn't move when we're outside. With the wind blowing and such,
there's no way you can do that. The wind would probably throw that
screen around like a tinker toy. And needless to say, the winds do pick
up.
Besides wind, you're taking the equipment on the road where
there's a lot of moving around, shaking, different environments,
including the outdoor shows where you have heat and rain. You need the
equipment to work through all of that.
DL: Exactly, that's another reason we use the
broadcast equipment. We actually use it in a pretty non-standard
scenario. Everything is packed in flypacks, which are essentially racks
that are about 5 feet tall and about 4 feet wide just loaded with
equipment. They're shock mounted, have foam inside and usually take
about a 400 mile trip between every show. So they get shaken and are
exposed to the elements. When we were in Germany, it rained practically
for every show. In fact, it snowed in Austria and it hailed in
Switzerland. We go through all the weather
patterns.
It also gets really hot, sometimes up in the 90s or hundred degrees,
especially come the summer tour here in the states. So, you have
broadcast equipment that's kind of operating out of its realm. It
really wants to be in an air-conditioned room with humidity control. It
unfortunately doesn't get that with us. We actually act as a really
good torture test for a lot of this equipment. Just because of the fact
that we're using it outdoors, and in places were there's going to be
vibration every night, just leads to the fact that we're going to need
equipment that's actually built to travel. Fortunately, a lot of the
broadcast equipment is built for television trucks, so it's secured
very well.
What kind of a reception is the HD getting with audiences? Are
they really noticing?
DL: They're definitely noticing it. A lot of people
don't realize they're watching high definition video, and on one of the
largest high definition screens in the world, but the feedback we're
getting is amazing. The European audiences don't realize it's high
definition, because high definition really hasn't hit Europe yet.
They're just starting the trials of Sky TV in Europe now. They're not
really used to what high definition can do for them, but what they are
noticing is that the screen is extremely crisp, the pictures are great,
and the images from the back of the house look incredibly sharp. They
notice that they can see Jon and see the beads of sweat come off of his
face.
It doesn't really matter to us that the audience doesn't know they're
watching high def video. I mean, those that do know obviously
appreciate it, those that don't just notice a difference; and it's
a big difference.
We're now at the point with the typical reverse shot, where we turn the
cameras on the audience, where we can literally read what the T-shirts
say. That's something you could never do before on a screen that
size.
It's kind of interesting, we've done shows with large screens before,
at least standard definition, and the problem is, when you take a
standard definition image and blow it up that big, the pixels become
huge. We're actually cross-converting to 720p for the screen. All the
LED technology runs progressive. And what we're doing is taking our
1080i signal and cross converting it to a 720p signal for that screen.
But the pixel count on that screen is literally 1280 pixels wide by 720
tall. So, it's a 1:1 mapping, which is something you rarely see.
How are you converting the
signals?
DL: The Vidicon V-9 screen was actually engineered
and built specifically for us, and it has a built-in converter. So,
we're sending everything around as 1080i video in the system. When it
reaches the video wall processor, that processor actually does the 1080
to 720 conversion.
What can you tell me about Nocturne and your own
background?
DL: Nocturne is a video production company that
started in the 70s as a lighting and trucking company to support
Journey. In fact, it's still owned by Neil Schon [one of the founding
members of Journey] and Herbie Herbert [former manager of the band].
Later, we sold off the lighting and trucking assets. When I joined in
the late 80s, we actually were the innovators in bringing live video to
the concert scene. Journey, Simon & Garfunkel and The Who were our
first clients. And it started, believe it or not, with black and white
screens. Not because color video wasn't out, but because there were no
color video projectors that were bright enough.
Back in the early 90s when we did Zoo TV, Paul McCartney's world tour,
Michael Jackson, the jumbotron had just come out, so obviously for
Michael Jackson we toured with jumbotrons. But as far as screen
technology, the video projectors that we used only put out about 700
lumens. To give you an idea, the little projectors you can buy at
Staples now, they put out about 1000 lumens. These are about the size
of a dictionary.
Finally, technology moved along and we went to the DLP projectors, and
now with the LED technology, it's suddenly becoming easy. When we were
first doing it back then, we literally needed a rocket scientist to do
video and we've come a long way.
We're still the industry leader. We currently have Madonna out, we have
Tim [McGraw] and Faith [Hill], Red Hot Chili Peppers,
etc.
Typically, the video crews are between six and nine people, with a lead
director and engineer. The cameramen double as LED or projectionists so
they set up the screen during the day and then at night they run the
cameras.
It's definitely one of those jobs where you're working from the time
you get up until the time you go to bed. It's a long day. But it's
definitely rewarding. Every day, about 17,000 people remind me why I do
my job. And I've been doing it for about 20 years
now.
In 1992, I was involved with U2's Zoo TV tour and to this date, that
was probably the largest video tour I ever went out on. Now, with the
Bon Jovi tour in HD, Nocturne has hit another milestone.
Equipment List:
Thomson Grass Valley Kalypso High Definition Switcher
64x64 Grass Valley High Definition Router
3 - Vista Systems Model 353 Spyder Video Processor
5 - Thomson Grass Valley LDK6000 High Definition Cameras
3 - Ikegami HDL-40 High Definition Cameras
2 - Fujinon CPT-10 Pan Tilt Heads
2 - Grass Valley iDDR Turbo High Definition Digital Disk
Recorders
3 - DVD Recorders
Sony HDW-2000 High Definition Videotape Recorder
Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers
40' x 22' Vidicon V-9 High Definition LED video wall powered by
Saco
5 - Vidicon V-9 High Definition LED 'fingers' powered by Saco
2 Barco R-8 High Definition Video Projectors (on 16'x9' front
projection screens)
Crew:
Anthony Bongiovi - Video Director
David Lemmink - Video Engineer
Jason 'Short & Spikey' Harvey - Asst.Video Engineer (1st US
Leg)
Gerald McReynolds - Asst.Video Engineer (Japan Leg)
Dave Jolley - Asst. Video Engineer (European Leg)
Mark O'Herlihy - Crew Chief / LED Tech
Troy Baccheschi - Lead LED Tech (US & Japan)
Carson Austin - Lead LED Tech (Europe)
Jay Strasser - Jib Camera, LED Tech
Steve Ossler - Dolly Camera, LED Tech
Mark Wood - FOH Camera, LED Tech
Chris Kemp - FOH Camera, LED Tech
Cliff Hannon - Handheld Camera, LED Tech
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