Feast your eyes on this stunning enchanted forest event theme we designed for this year’s Victoria Racing Club Young Member’s Ball. The night was a spectacular evening filled with performances including death-defying aerial-artists. Event Brief
Staging Connections has been lucky enough to work closely with Victoria Racing Club over the last consecutive five years. Every year we are asked to create a fresh new creative look for each event theme that wow’s and excited their guests. This year we were asked to turn the event venue, Crown Palladium ballroom, into a magical “Secret Kingdom” that continued to surprise and delight guests throughout the evening. On top of creating the overarching event theme, we had to design a themed pre-function area, as well as stunning table centrepieces and of course, the hero of the night, the ceiling installation. The Event Solution
Through our clients mood board we conceptualised alternative room looks and styles together to come up with a different and a cost effect design for the ceiling installation. The idea of placing a large tree with a drooping canopy over hanging the central stage and dance floor was a key element our client wished to explore. Playing on the peacock colour pallet, the installation was made up of over 600 pieces of coloured fabric drops, fresh falling foliage and scattered crystal beads to capture the glistering light. We created a majestic 360 degree 15m x 14m border of hanging foliage which traced the outside of the dance floor. To add more depth and dimension to the installation we produced a secondary central installation above the middle stage, where a dense 3m x 3m filled arena of cascading materials hung lower, allowing this overall design to look full and luscious. Hanging garden ceiling installation By placing this installation in the centre of the room, it instantly created the wow factor and exuded an ambient forest and enchanted kingdom atmosphere, particularly when guests where up and dancing underneath. To depict the feel of a forest, the centrepieces and table design was a key factor in assisting this theme to fruition. Alternating heights of alike floras and foliage stood 1.5m tall and 40cm high wooden centrepieces filled the room within. Dark black linen and chair covers acted as the backdrop for the centres, coloured table pin spot lights allowed the florals to pop. Candy buffet by Hey Suga!
The room was finished off with a brand new gorgeous navy blue drape line surrounding all four walls and with the use of gobos, were lit beautifully with silhouettes of moving branches upon entering. Large real-life potted trees were placed in-between tables, corners of the room and in the pre function area portraying the mystical forest guests were surrounded by. The over all style of the room would not be complete with out the use of technology. We where able to create this mysterious environment through the use of innovative lighting, and pioneering special lighting effects. Up to date technologies in audio visual, including sound, vision and lighting was the platform for this space to come alive. Performances by Applause Entertainment Placement of lighting within the ballroom was challenging and many plots were drawn up to ensure that highlights and shadows were cast in the right areas so the entertainment were clearly seen for all the audience to enjoy but the shadows cast from the trees and foliage created atmosphere for the theme. The gobos on the draping created a depth as if the forest extended into the night and the movement programmed by the lighting designer opened and closed the forest canopy beyond the ballroom. To start the proceedings a thunder and lightning storm erupted to silence the crowd and the trumpet call introduced the MC for the evening. Performances by Applause Entertainment Throughout the night acts entertained the crowd form a central stage and the sound system was placed in and around the foliage to disperse evenly on the audience. This dispersal was mapped out using software to find hotspots and flatspots and adjust accordingly. At any point through the ballroom the even quality of sound has to be maintained to give the MC and the acts the best possible coverage. Ian Howard, the Technical Director and lighting designer for the event, ensured the crew were on point and cued for each part of the evening. Being a dramatic event with heavy use of audio visual techniques his role was to ensure everything ran seamlessly from changes in room looks, to sound requirements and camera shots as well as managing lighting coordination with stage-hand movement on stage. The key to running a successful audio visual event is communication. To ensure a flawless and safe event all crew use talk-back radios and are clearly briefed prior to the event as well as participate in a full dress rehearsal to iron out any potential issues. … Read More
Planning successful events across the Australian outdoors
Mar 19 2018
Our General Manager - SA/NT, Ashley Gabriel discusses the challenges outdoor events can present and shares his thoughts as to how you can make the most of your next outdoor event. Our General Manager - SA/NT, Ashley Gabriel discusses the challenges outdoor events can present and shares his thoughts as to how you can make the most of your next event. What epitomises an Australian summer more than attending an outdoor event?
Apart from the weather, have you ever considered the other numerous challenges that face event producers when delivering high quality event experiences in outdoor locations? Things like: 1. Making sure the public attending feel part of a community or brand experience. 2. Keeping safety as paramount at all times. 3. And most importantly, creating an interactive experience for those attending and those watching at home. Whether executing an audio visual solution for over 750,000 spectators in South Australia or providing staging for a parade which attracts close to 400,000 people we have combined creative and technical elements to deliver a recent slew of outdoor events under challenging outdoor conditions. The Santos Tour Down Under, the southern hemisphere’s largest cycling race, held annually in South Australia is a prestigious road cycling competition drawing cycling greats from around the world. By working together with the team over numerous years, we have been able to determine the optimal location of speakers and screens at multiple sites throughout the week long festival of cycling. Over four hundred 100 volt Line Speakers were spread throughout the streets of Adelaide, its suburbs and country towns with over 30 km of copper cable for the street PA's used. In order to ensure the outmost safety for both the riders and the public, a bespoke audio system was installed into some of the race day cars which travel ahead of the parade. All of this combined allowing for all attendees to be enthralled with the unfolding action whilst ensuring the riders were not distracted from the task at hand.
In celebration of the Tour’s 15th birthday acclaimed Australian dance music group, Sneaky Sound System took to the stage on Saturday 19 January 2013 to kick things off. We set the staging, concert lighting and LED screens withIn celebration of the Tour’s 15th birthday acclaimed Australian dance music group, Sneaky Sound System took to the stage on Saturday 19 January 2013 to kick things off. We set the staging, concert lighting and LED screens with live footage for over 30,000 spectators. We installed a comprehensive audio system suited the crowds, eliminating the audio bounce back that can often occur at outdoor events. Toward the beginning of Summer, we also assisted with the Credit Union Christmas Pageant in Now in its 80th year, the parade attracts over 400,000 people each year and many more for the TV audience. Our team of 12 staged the event with over 200 speakers along a 6km route through the city streets and over 60 individual MP3 audio systems in various floats and walking characters. We worked closely with the Pageant, even disguising two crew members as Clowns so they could ride in the pageant and fix any audio issues on the floats without taking away from the magic of the parade from either the live or TV audience. Although outdoor events present numerous challenges compared to Indoor ones, we find that our crew love taking on that challenge and working in the great Australian sun. Being able to contribute to a major outdoor event in a way which enhances the public’s enjoyment (whilst remaining relatively in the background) is part of the thrill the crew enjoy. With temperatures reaching 40+ and usually non-stop sunshine, we have developed logistics and plans to suit to all weather contingencies and ensure that not only our staff & general public remains safe but that the show goes on and all deadlines are met. Written by Ashley Gabriel, General Manager - South Australia/ Northern Territory. Ash shares with us that the best event he ever worked on was a Video conference for the Queen. He commented that whilst there were obvious challenges in ensuring technology worked in two countries, it was all worth it once the team saw the Queen smiling and amusing to see Prince Philip's reaction when he realised we were watching him back here in Australia. ... Read More