XL Video supplied video production for three stages and 18 crew for Radio One's 2008 Big Weekend at Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent, England, which kicked off the UK summer festival season. The action-packed line up included Madonna, The Kooks, Usher, The Fratellis, Scouting For Girls, Goldfrapp, The Enemy, The Zutons, The Wombats, and many more.
The main stage visuals were designed by Paul Normandale, for which XL Video supplied 131 square feet of Lighthouse R16 LED screen, rigged left and right of the stage, plus 24 panels of Martin LC2140 screen onstage. Two delay projection screens inside the tent were fed by two Barco R12 projectors. For the outside delay video, XL Video supplied one of their Barco B10 trailer-based LED screen systems. All screen playback content and graphics were supplied by the BBC.
The XL package also included a three-camera Sony D50 system for the main stage, directed by Phil Woodhead, and a large playback and DVE rig consisting of a GV Kayak mixer, hard drives, Digi Beta, and Magic DVE machines, all engineered by Alan Yates.
Says Fallon, "It was a great pleasure working alongside the Lite Alternative team again (Normandale’s rental company also supplied all the lighting equipment), with the production crew led by Andy Redhead, who ensured that everything ran like clockwork."
On the second stage, XL Video supplied left and right projection screens and a three-camera PPU directed by Ray "Moose" Sure. The screens were fed by two Christie 20K projectors and the onstage Martin LC screen was supplied by Lite Alternative. The playback rig there included hard drives and Magic DVEs, and as with the main stage, all content was supplied by the BBC.
For Stage 3, the video consisted of a six-unitunit mini-cam rig and 52 square feet of Lighthouse R16 screen onstage, directed by Richard Stembridge. The event was project managed for XL Video by Des Fallon and Carl Martin was the onsite crew chief.