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David Davidian
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Many of you have probably never seen David at a RUSH concert. The reason for that is that the Video Control equipment is usually behind the massive Video Screen. However you see David's work all night long during the show as David is RUSH's Tour Video Director.
Everything you see on the 40 x 20 foot WinVision 9mm LED Screen is directed by David. David is also responsible for the video feeds into Alex and Geddy's backlines and Neil's drum riser.
David has worked on Video and Lighting for many artists, he joined RUSH for the Vapour Trails tour in 2002. I asked him what he thinks of RUSH and working for them, without any hesitation, "Best Band Period".
David and his video crew usually start unloading the video equipment from the trucks around 10:30. The rigging for the WinVision screen should be in place by this time so they start assembling the 2' x 2' tiles together to form the 20 foot high by 40 foot wide LED screen.
Each of the 200 LED tiles weighs approximately 19 lbs, bringing the total weight of the screen to just under 2 tons!
For you techies... each tile has a 4,096 pixel resolution, 218 Trillion colours, and consumes 400 watts of power! At 200 tiles the total power consumption for the screen is 80,000 watts! LED technology is much more efficient than the older projection methods, imagine how much power they would require to bring you video that would pail in comparison to the WinVision LED Screen.
At the same time as the screen is being assembled, the FOH (Front Of the House) cameras that provide the straight on shots of Alex, Geddy, or Neil are setup just behind the lighting control area on the floor at the back of the venue (where Howard and Brad are located).
One of the camera operators (or cameraman as the crew call her) Lindsey Haney ensures that the wiring for the cameras located in the lighting rigging for the spider are hooked up before it is risen into place. These cameras provide the overhead shots that you see, especially during Neil's drum solo.
Finally after most everything else has been setup, the camera dolly is placed in front of stage right and the camera is mounted on the dolly. This is the camera that Lindsey operates during the show providing great close-ups of Alex and Geddy.
Most of the video content on the WinVision LED screen is provided by Hippotizer's HD Green Hippo media servers. The Framing (area where Alex, Geddy, and Neil appear), Mats (graphics around framing), and effects are all run on the Hippo servers. Catalyst media servers provide the video for Alex and Geddy's backlines and for Neil's drum riser.
After the show, take down and loading the gear back on to the truck, usually takes between 1 and 1 1/2 hours... Since the final video is the last part of the show, the screen cannot be taken down until after it finishes... on a normal night the video crew would be finished around 01:00...
Very talented and very nice Rush Road Crew... 2 for 2, David and Lindsey!
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Video Equipment just behind the WinVision LED Screen...
Catalyst servers on the left... HD Green Hippo servers on the right...
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Close up of the Video equipment including HD Green Hippo servers on the right...
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The Video Control Centre...
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WinVision 2' x 2' LED Tiles... 200 of these tiles form the 20' x 40' LED Screen...
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WinVision 20' x 40' 9mm pitch LED screen assembled and wired... Waiting to be raised into place...
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Vision Video Control Console during pre-show testing...
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Vision Video Control Console with Monitors... Shows each camera's content...
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FOH (Front Of the House) Cameras... Plus extra cameras in Cleveland for the DVD shot...
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Geddy's backline opened up showing electronics for videos played during the show...
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Alex's backline opened up showing electronics for videos played during the show (bottom)...
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One of the panels on Neil's riser awaiting signal from Catalyst media server...
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The Blimp in Cleveland... Took video of the crowd in the upper sections...
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Camera mounted on the bottom of the blimp...
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