Wrexham Christmas Light Switch On

This was another huge event that I again was directing. This time the crew was huge. Myself and Holly Cooper took the static side of stage camera to catch most of the action, as we always do. Another of the film teams was David Fisher and Ayse Kaya, who were placed in the space above the butchers (The Meat Man). They had cleaned the window and set up the camera to look down on the event. They were also in a perfect spot to capture the fireworks coming over the buildings. Paul Lowndes was with Frank Hagger and Dave Hale was with Tommy Needham. Both of these crews were floating around to capture the atmosphere of the crowd and to get close-ups of the stage. Paul and Frank had the specific job of getting the fireworks display. We also had a massive photography team, including Sue McGrane, Juliet Dover, Will Arun, Ryan Ankers, Jessica Combe, Kathryn Lunt, Steph Bate, Jessica Kilvert, Dawn Field, Katie Cowell and Catherine Findley.

This is the running order we recieved prior to the event:

The whole crew, ready to go !!

Wrexham Christmas Lights Switch On, Queen’s Square, Thursday 22nd November
Running Order (approx)
1.00pm - Access to square from this time onwards
1.30pm - Mobile Stage Arrives
2.00pm - PA Lights Setup
3.00pm - Volunteer / Steward Briefing
4.00pm - Soundcheck
5.15pm – 5.20pm Event Opens – Calon Fm Host CONFIRMED
5.20pm – 5.40pm Tudur & Ali from S4C’s STWNSH CONFIRMED
5.45pm - 6.00pm Delta Academy Performance CONFIRMED
6.00pm – 6.05pm Calon Compere introduces The Mayor CONFIRMED
6.05pm - 6.10pm Mayor Speaks
6.10pm – 6.15pm Calon Compere introduces Panto Cast CONFIRMED
6.15pm - 6.30pm Panto cast CONFIRMED
6.30pm – 6.35pm Calon compere announces comp winner, s guest, lights
6.35pm - 6.45pm Switch-on with GARETH THOMAS
+ FIREWORK DISPLAY CONFIRMED
6.45pm - 7.05pm Heal The Last Stand CONFIRMED
7.05pm Event ends Set down and area cleared by 10.30pm
Notes:

Power is supplied on site from a mains source (liase with WCBC electrician)

Mobile, covered staging is provided – own production required.

Scale drawing of site inc access /egress points available upon request.
All contractors / service providers must have necessary insurances in place and be able to provide up to date copies of those insurances for inspection prior to and at anytime during the event.

We encountered a lot of problems on the day of filming. First off, as it was the end of November, it was a truly miserable day and it rained non-stop. This meant that it was touch and go as to whether or not we could risk the equipment. We over came this by sourcing umbrellas for the film crews. We had runners in place to help with keeping the crews and equipment dry and safe. Once we decided we could go ahead, we went up to the room where team 2 would be filming. This is where we encountered our second problem of the evening. The battery on one of the film cameras was completely juiced out. luckily there was a charger at hand to top it up before the fireworks. The plan was for Paul and Frank to use that battery and stay indoors until it was charged. Most of the photographers had DSLR's capable of HD footage so everybody pitched in. Kathryn and Ryan especially helped, as they were meant to be filming on Canon 5D at the top of St. Giles church. Due to the weather, this had to be abandoned. This meant they could join the street crew and do filming and photography.

©Sue McGrane. Dave, me and Holly, Setting up.

We got set up in our locations and everything got underway. It was absolutely freezing but I enjoyed the event itself. As I was directing this project, I occasionally left my post to check up on everybody else. I went up to see how Ayse and Dave were getting on. Everything was running smoothly with them and they had no problems all night. Dave Hale and Tommy had some interesting ideas for composition and cutaways that they ran by me. They worked extremely well as a team and are both talented cameramen. Paul and Frank also knew what they were doing. I used my time circulating to get feedback and relay messages to other teams. Will had a problem as he wanted to use his tripod, due to the low lighting. I advised him against this, as there was far to many people around. As a compromise, I helped him find the correct settings. I made sure all the photographers were in the right places at the right times to capture the specific moments they were meant to. Everything went incredibly well given the circumstances. I was very proud of our team.
When we came to upload the footage we had a massive issue with storage. Luckily the university allocated us our own Mac to use for editing. We moved it into our own space, a little office we created. This made us look a little more professional. We wiped the Mac and put the footage on there but ran out of space. The main camera footage was uploaded first and this is where we ran into problems with space. Our technician, Simon, then came along to do a restore to get rid of unwanted files from the machine. Unfortunatly, he accidentally wiped the footage we had just transferred. This meant the core footage and sound we had recorded had gone and we had no way of getting it back. This was a major setback. Luckily we had taken the Fostex with us. This is a device that records sounds straight from the sound desk. Jess Kilvert had some sound effects of crowd that she let us use. This meant that the sound was sorted, we just lost a lot of footage. We realised that it was going to be a massive editing job now so decided to set up an editing rota. This is the rota:


This is the editing rota we have set up for the Light Switch On.
Monday 26th - All day
Beckah
Kathryn
Ryan
Juliet
Tuesday 27th - AM
Kathryn
Beckah
Tuesday 27th - PM
Ryan
Juliet
Wednesday 28th - AM
Tommy
Beckah
Wednesday 28th - PM
Tommy
Beckah
Sue
Thursday 29th - AM
Beckah
Holly
Thursday 29th - PM
Holly
Beckah
Jess K
Sophie
Friday 30th - AM
Tommy
Will
Sue
Friday 30th - PM
Tommy
Will
Ryan
Monday 3rd Dec - All day
Sue
Beckah
Kat
Ryan
Tuesday 4th Dec - AM
Beckah
Ryan
Sue
Ayse
Tuesday 4th Dec - PM
Sue
Ayse
Beckah (popping in and out)
Kat (popping in and out)
Wednesday 5th Dec - AM
Ayse
Tommy
Beckah
Sophie
Wednesday - PM
Tommy
Beckah
Sue
Holly
Thursday 6th Dec - AM
Sue
Holly
Thursday 6th Dec - PM
Sue
Holly
Beckah
Kat
Thursday 6th is the deadine. On friday it will need to be exported and uploaded to YouTube.
This rota is based on who was at the meeting and told us when they are available. People who were not at the meeting, please just come along and help out when you can. Any problems with days you cannot come in, let us know.

At first, everybody stuck to the rota. Towards the end, however, myself, Sue and Holly did the bulk of the editing. It was serious hard work as we had so much content and a specific time cap. We managed to get everything edited together in time. Andy Argyle then joined the Collective as we needed help sorting out the sound levels. He did a brilliant job of it and we got it exported and uploaded in time for all of the clients to view it. I believe this was a massive success and well done to everyone involved.