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When the unique Blue Man Group
moved its show in Las Vegas from the Luxor to The
Venetian it took the opportunity to upgrade its video
department with a comprehensive, cutting-edge Medialon
Manager 3 to control video playback.
Blue Man Group is a creative organization dedicated to
creating exciting and innovative work in a wide variety
of media.
The Blue Man group is best known for its award-winning
theatrical productions which critics have variously
described as "ground-breaking," "hilarious," "visually
stunning" and "musically powerful".
These performances feature three enigmatic bald and blue
characters who take the audience through a multi-sensory
experience combining theater, percussive music, art,
science and vaudeville into a unique form of
entertainment. People from all over the world, all walks
of life and all age groups have become fans of Blue Man
Group's show in New York , Boston , Chicago , Berlin and
Las Vegas.
The Blue Man Group is no stranger to Medialon having
tapped systems for their new theatrical installations in
Berlin and Toronto . The Las Vegas show features a
larger equipment complement to accommodate new video
effects envisioned by the Group’s video director and
creative designer, Caryl Glaab. Medialon Manager 3
controls all video decks, routers and display devices,
including six DoReMi DVRs, a Barco/Folsom Encore
switcher M/E control head, an MTX Leitch 16x16 router, a
Soundweb audio router, an Extron Matrix 16x16 video
router, and three Christie S-16k projectors.
Medialon Manager also meets the need for a control
interface that could be easily understood and run by an
operator with as little training as possible.
The Blue Man Group’s show features video playback from
five DoReMi DVRs as well as from a bank of seven
Catalyst video servers and five camera positions onto
three on-stage LED screens, a rear-projection screen and
a video projector covering the entire stage from the
front of house. Routing to any of five Catalyst
projectors mounted in the lighting grid is also
possible.
Medialon’s interface allows the video operator to run
the show’s video by simply pushing a button for each
cue, whether the function involves video playback,
camera switching or video recording. Show cues are
punched manually by the operator with color-coded
buttons designating whether the cues are called
verbally, by cue light or via music. Each ‘button board’
on the interface provides the operator with a large
‘Next Cue’ arrow to immediately tell him that the
previous cue is finished and which cue needs to be
punched next.
The Medialon system also provides one-touch switchover
to a backup DoReMi in case of deck failure; all playback
and routing commands will be automatically ported to the
backup device. In addition, the Medialon system supplies
the operator with a simple interface for editing two
short video clips, recorded from cameras during the
show, and automatically placing these clips into the
ending of the show.
Projector status is constantly monitored by Medialon,
and the status of the lamps, power and shutter of each
projector is provided at the top of each user screen
running the show.
Jon
Kiphart, from AV systems installer Electrosonic Systems,
served as The Blue Man Group’s video programmer working
closely with Caryl Glaab. Scharff Weisberg handled the
project’s system design. |
