Saskatchewan Masonry Institute
2009 Awards Show Case Study

Overview

It started out to be a modest project of a couple of projectors showing the history of the Saskatchewan Masonry Institute (SMI). The vision for the awards show quickly evolved into a cultural retrospective history of Saskatchewan. It was a full sensory experience like the Province or the industry has never experienced before.

Over 420 feet of projection screen was flown from the ceiling to completely surround the entire audience of 360 people. Twenty-two, 4,000 ANSI lumen LCD projectors were driven by a series of computers, DVD players and an image magnification camera.

The opening reception featured a jazz duo that filled TCU Place Grand Salon with their silky tones. Guests mingled, snacking on hors d’oeurves, catching up with friends and industry associates.

A sumptuous dinner was served followed by the 360˚ multi-media presentation. The visuals illustrated the history of Saskatchewan, from the building boom of the 1920’s, today’s expansion and a glimpse of the future. The 360˚ visuals blended with prerecorded music, narration, a four piece band, Professor Fustbuster and dance routines reminiscent of the decades. The show culminated with SMI honouring the best in their business including the Bethlehem Catholic High School project, winner of the Presidential Masonry Design Award.

The final result of all the creativity and hard work was an event that will live on and inspire the masonry industry.

Pre-Production
Vision, Concept, Reality

There is a lot of preparation work to create and execute a show of this magnitude.

The SMI delved into their archives and sourced the pictures, images and video raw material. A theme was developed and in December, Inland AV staff got their creative juices flowing. Whiteboards and flip charts were set up as the focus of daily brainstorming sessions where ideas were refined until the final show was produced.

The awards show portion of the presentation included using a simultaneous interpretation booth as a sound booth for recording the narration of the nominees and winners of each SMI award.

Pre-production also included the logistics and planning of the show. How to surround the room with a screen, where to place the 22 projectors, how to drive the images on the screen and how to lay out over 7,000 feet of cabling, were just some of the logistical issues that needed to be resolved.

Adding to the importance of the logistical planning was the fact that the room was booked for another event the night before the Saturday SMI show. Set up had to be organized so that as much equipment could be set up on Thursday, out of sight for the Friday event and then ready for rehearsal on Saturday afternoon.

Set-Up
Three Days of Preparation

There was a lot of work to complete in preparation for the SMI show.

TCU Place technicians moved into the Grand Salon on Thursday morning to hang the main 400 foot screen while Inland AV technicians started to hang the projectors and cables. The cable runs included the construction of a temporary cable tray to hide the ceiling cables, keeping the ceiling sightlines neat. The tireless technicians worked until 5 am to finish hanging the screens, projectors and cables.

There was a different client with an event in the room that Friday night so Friday morning the TCU Place technicians tied the screen into the ceiling. This event was finished at midnight, the room was cleaned and the TCU Place staff lowered the screen back into place.

Inland AV technicians arrived on-site at 4 am Saturday to continue setting up the room and testing the system.

The SMI staff and other show musicians, dancers, performers and hosts had the afternoon to rehearse the different elements of the show.

Show Time

After months of production and three days of preparation, the show flew by in four short hours. We knew it was worth the effort when it was reported that the show was the talk of Saskatchewan.

view from inside the round