Antin Infrastructure Partners

At the beginning of last February, we were contacted by the agency Exigent Events of London, in our capacity as “preferred supplier” of the Westin Hotel Excelsior Rome.

This is the concise email we received:

Dear Sirs,

I need a quotation for AV at the Westin Excelsior on 15^th May.

We will need a large wide format projection (approx. 10m wide and 3m high) which we normally use a blended projection for (2 10K+ HD projectors) and a computer software to blend…

In addition we will need a PA with around 10 wireless microphones and a lighting package.

From these few lines came an exchange of correspondence and telephone conversations between the London agency, the Westin Excelsior Rome’s event office and our Product Manager, Eric Bassanesi. Our intent was to be able to get more information from the Client, in order to understand his overview of the event.

Despite our communicative effort, all we could get was a picture, not enough to answer all our questions.

Despite the lack of information, the real challenge was to create a technical structure that would ensure high level and total reliability, as much as possible corresponding to the needs of the final Client.

To avoid “overloading” the beautiful Winter Garden Hall with a too technological audio video set-up, instead creating an almost minimalist integrated system.

An “important” 8-meter backdrop covered with TNT black felt, with a base measuring 2,5 meters and over 3 meters of opaque PVC to be used as a borderless screen. A platform of the same length covered with the same kind of felt. An architectural lighting system with a blue dominant to dramatize the contrast with the blackness of the stage and the setting of the hall.

Production analysis

Winter Garden Hall

Audio video system

01 8-meter backdrop with an integrated screen

08 Led bars for lighting effects on the backdrop

20 Par Led for lighting effects along the perimeter of the Hall

02 EPSON Full HD 10K lumen video projectors from the back of the Hall

01 S3-4K Barco for emission control and full-screen image projection with a 2880×1080 pixels resolution

04 Mac laptop

01 Technical direction with digital audio mixer

12 Digital QLX-D Shure radio microphones for questions from the public

04 UR Shure radio microphones for the speakers

01 Amplification system with DXR8 Yamaha bi-amplified speakers and two DXS12 Yamaha Subwoofer

01 Accessories set, such as D’San Perfect Cue and LimiTimer

04 English-speaking technicians of high professionalism and experience, for assistance during the tests and the event.

Highlights:

• Venue set-up, including technical testing: 1 day
• Staff employed for set-up, assistance and de-rig: 10 highly professionally-trained technicians
• Project Manager: Eric Bassanesi