NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIPS CONCERT

Creative Video was once again asked to record the 2007 National Heritage Fellowships Concert at Strathmore Music Center on September 20th.  The event is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Darden Restaurants Foundation and is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts.  This was the 25th anniversary of the program and features the 2007 Fellows performing their specific talent or skill and being interviewed on stage by host Nick Spitzer of New Orleans Public Radio’s “American Roots” distributed by American Public Media.

The production took place on the concert hall stage at the Strathmore Music Center.  Because the show has more of a theatrical stage requirement, the challenge for set designer Tony Cisek was to convert the wide open concert stage into a more traditional looking stage that would allow curtains and various looks.  Integrated into the portal were two large screens that were used for I-Mag and to support the artists and craftsmen on stage with pictures and video of their crafts.  Director Paul Douglas Michnewicz and Producer Madeleine Remez crafted a wonderful evening of music, song, crafts and performances that the packed house at Strathmore truly enjoyed.

Creative Video was called upon to not only record the show and at the same time projecting a combination of the four camera switch, stills of the art, crafts and video to supported the Fellows onstage interviews.  The key was a combination of our primary Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 switcher for the screens and our Panasonic MX70 sub switcher for recording the four camera switch.  The Broadcast Pix which includes dual digital disc recorders, an extensive still store capability, and the ability to operate our remote pan tilt cameras was ideal for switching the show for the audience to see on screen.  Tech Director Matt Eidemiller set up the dual switch back stage and had an audience looking over his shoulder most of the night as performers, artists and craftsmen, prepared to go on stage or just got off stage.

Projecting onto the two 10.5’ x 14’ screens required front projection due to the lack of space behind the screens and the stage entrances.  The throw was a little over 100’ feet and with the stage lighting, Creative Video chose two Eiki XT-4 12,000 ANSI projectors to do the job.  To get the projectors above the audience, Creative used two of their “Shark Cage” projector stands that stand 6’ tall and skirt nicely.  They were located nest to the audio board and one of our two 36x long lens cameras.  We also used one of our Hitachi Pan Tilt robotic cameras flown high above the stage for the top down look on a wood carving display and for musical numbers.

The crew included Tech Director Matt Eidemiller, Engineer/Cameraman Sean Hovan, Cameramen Camron Bartlett and Pete Josendale.  The finished production will be combined with the Capital Hill Ceremony, where the Fellowship Awards were presented, on a DVD that will be given to the Fellows.

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