The Visual act Stage Control System conquered both the critics and the Belgian audience in December 2005.

Three tonnes of equipment was used at a series of 14 concerts with the famous Belgian music group “Cluoseau” in the Antwerp Sportpaleis.

Easy to move
The whole set up had to be easy to move, because there was other appearances in the hall during the period. “Clouseau” was playing December 2-29 apart from the 10th when “Golden Years” entered stage, the 12th – “Elton John”, the 13th “Duran Duran” and the 21st “Rod Stewart”.

“We had to rebuild the scenery three times, but it was rather easy as the stage actually was longer than what you saw and it was running through the wall at the Sport Palaeis in to the annex next to the main building. This made it possible for us to easily drive the Stage wagons, loaded with musical and other equipment, off stage during the other concerts and back in again for Clouseau.”

Much of stage design is about movement. Whether to create powerful visual effects for the audience, or simply move scenery in a blackout or off screen, the purpose of modern stage technology is to make these movements possible.

Visual act really showed the Belgians that the Stage Control System is powerful and helping in the process of creating a beautiful and imiginative scenery for the performing artists.

www.clouseau.be

Rehearsel of the Clouseau consert.

The Visual act technicians are setting up the stage scenery together with the band and the choreographer.

“The Stage Control System is designed to be flexible. It allows us to design the scenery in any way we like, creating movements never seen before. Then we use Visual act to automate those movements. The show settings will emerge from the moments of rehearsal. Practically the only limit is the stage boundaries. The wagons can be programmed to go pretty much as we want due to speed and movement.” Says, Daniel Boll, head of technicians for the Visual act Stage Control System in Belgium.

The stage is placed in the middle of the Sport Palace and measures 7×50 metres. It is covered with LED screens, for video projection from underneath, protected by a 15mm thick glass cover on top, where the wagons will run under the shows.

The stage will be placed in the middle of the Sport Palace. At the moment it is just a construction site.

Visual act will during stage building phase have four technicians in place and after the opening night will two stay behind to monitor and supervise the Stage Control System in unanimity with the band and the choreographer.

www.clouseau.be

The Visual act Stage Control System, containing wagons and computers, have now been shipped to Belgium. Three tonnes of equipment loaded and ready to be used for a series of 14 concerts with the Belgian famous music group “Cluoseau” starting December 2 in the Antwerp Sportpaleis.

Visual act Stage Wagons goes to Belgium for “Clouseau” concert.

The Visual act Stage Control System set up for Clouseau is containing a total of five wagons, four measuring 2,5×2,5 metres and one 2,5×5. The wagons will lodge the musicians and their equipment and instruments. All communication is wireless.

www.clouseau.be

Denmark is building a new national theatre – known as Actors’ House – in Nyhavn, in the very heart of Copenhagen. The project will take three years and the plan is to have it ready by the fourth quarter of 2007.

Visual act won the contract, which is worth around 50 MSEK, to supply the control system for the stage. However, the Danish state, which is building the theatre, required Visual act to provide a bank guarantee for a certain proportion of the contract price.  These funds will be frozen for the three-year duration of the project. This means that a small firm like Visual act could not have accepted a contract of this size without assistance. Visual act contacted The Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board, EKN, and obtained the backing it needed.

“This backing has lifted us into a different league; it meant we could accept the contract and still be able to develop and finance new projects and contracts. We could never have accepted the Danish order without a guarantee from EKN,” says Kristian Franck, president of Visual act.

www.ekn.se

Visual act supplied all the moving scenery and control systems for the largest Eurovision stage ever. A total of 85 motors were used to operate fan blades, lifts and moving columns. All of these items were in almost constant, simultaneous motion throughout the show.

Visual act also supplied the technical management, organizing the build up of a complete theatre in 10 days time.

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kiev, Ukraine

Visual act is proud to have been entrusted with providing a total concept for the stage design of Norway’s official opening of a year of activities celebrating 100 years of independence. The show took place February 5th in the Drammen Theatre and was televised live on Norway’s TV2. The goal of the design was to provide an open, modern and elegant room for the 100 performers in what was basically a completely new musical production.  

The official opening of Norway´s 100 years anniversary of independence

Visual act technology was an integral part of the show. The Visual act Flying System was used to position 6 projection screens in various formations during the show as well as fly in a swan carrying a representative of Norway’s most recent occupier, Sweden. A Visual act Advanced Wagon was used as a mobile stage, moving actors as well as props about the stage and even over the orchestra pit. Visual act supplied all of the visual technology for the production, including scenery, lighting, projections, smoke and special effects.

The Visual act Advanced Wagon used as a mobile stage, moving props and actors about the stage.

Key personnel included production designer Michael Varhelyi, lighting designer Stein Phillips and Visual act operator Jarl Erson-Wester. Projectors were sourced through Video Unlimited and lighting equipment was from Avab-CAC in Bergen..

www.hundrearsmarkeringen.no