Crew Week
March 28, 2009

Crew Week Part 2: Video

14 Comments

video1Today for our crew spotlight we are going to give you a little insight into the world of video. Really we should give these guys a week all to themselves because they are the reason we get such amazing video streamed to you guys every night. So you should all comment and tell them what an amazing job they are doing. If you don’t know how amazing they are because you don’t watch the live streaming, well then you should.

The video crew has a pretty long set-up.  In all, it takes them about 5 hours to set everything up from start to finish.  They do get some breaks as they have to wait until certain things are set before they can move on to the next thing.  Tear down after the show takes about 2 hours.  So, doing some math here, in all they are working for about 7 hours and that does not include actually running the video during the show.

Now a lot of you have been asking about the cameras and here’s a quick run down.  They’ve got five cameras: three robotic, one front of house, and one guy manning a camera at stage right.  Once the cameras are set up they they still have to focus them and check white balance.  Technical stuff that only super smart video people understand.  Trust me, I’ve tried.

Second they are responsible for setting up all of the LEDs on stage.  (Those massive towers that display words, logos, and other things like that).  Each towers weighs around 400 pounds.  Once they get those up on stage they also have to reprogram them every night to make sure they work right.

Third, they set up the machines that actually control all of the cameras and LEDs.  This also controls what all of you guys are seeing at home.  This awesome crew consists of four people.  One to control the front of house camera (Tim), one to control the camera at stage right (Daniel), one to control the three robotic cameras (Jeff), and one to act as the director (Ryan).

Running the video at The Roadshow is pretty complicated and takes a crew of professionals to pull it off as well as they do.  So, like I said give some thanks for all of the hard work they put in.  A big thanks to Ryan, Jeff, Tim and Daniel for amazing video night after night.

SharePosted Under: ,
March 26, 2009

Crew Week Part 1: Merch

6 Comments

cottontech

In order to give The Roadshow-ers more behind the scenes information we are going to “interview” different people around the crew and let them give you a glimpse of what they do.  First up is Michael Todd.

You’ve heard of Sound Techs, and Guitar Techs, well he is the Cotton Tech, at least that is what we call him.  Yes that is right, his sole reason for being on tour with The Roadshow is to make sure you can get your official Roadshow merchandise.  For that matter he only deals with the official Roadshow merch.  He does not help with any of the other bands merch.  Sound easy?  I am not so sure it is.  Let me walk you through a typical day.

His first step is to get tables set up for all of the merch.  I know I said he only deal with Roadshow merch, but he does set up tables for everyone else.  After that he carts in all the Roadshow merch and starts setting up his booth, a task that take more than 2 1/2 hours each day.  He is able to vary up when he does the set up, but he gets the work done as soon as possible.  Before the show starts he is also responsible for training the 5 volunteers he will get for the night.  Everybody has their own way running the merch tables, and he must teach them his for the night.  During the show he still has plenty of responsibility.  He restocks the merch table as needed, gets his volunteers water, bathroom breaks or anything else that might come up.  He also gives them the opportunity to watch different portions of the show.  You may also spot him wandering around the arena selling various glow in the dark merch.  After the show is over he still has about another 2 hours worth of work to do.  He has to put all the merch away, make sure it is all accounted for and pack it away in the trailer, ready to start again the next day.

At The Roadshow this year we have plenty of official merch.  There is a unisex t-shirt, a girls t-shirt, a unisex sweatshirt, beanies, tour buttons, tour stickers, flashing guitar magnets, flashing mouth pieces, l.e.d. sunglasses, and glow in the dark necklaces.  Make sure to stop by and see Michael Todd the Cotton Tech for all of your official Roadshow merch.

SharePosted Under: , ,