A diverse line up of well-known names descended on Cheltenham for the 70th anniversary of the Literature Festival, including headliners David Cameron, Lenny Henry and Debbie Harry.
The multi-site event demanded some serious screen, camera and crew to capture the bookish action and augment it for audiences. Long-time professional partner Production AV – which has been designing AV solutions for Cheltenham Festivals for nine years – supplied ten venues across the sprawling site, including 2,250-seater The Centaur. In total, more than 800 writers, journalists and cultural commentators appeared over ten-days.
Production AV’s high-end stock of Agile Remote Cameras and Barco HDX projectors were out in force.
“Cheltenham Festivals is one of our longstanding clients and the Literature events are well attended, respected and hugely enjoyable,” said Production AV’s Pete McCrea. “This year, we planned for a biggest incarnation of it yet as they celebrated a big birthday and expanded the line ups.”
Production AV designed systems to fit across the multiple spaces, from the Cheltenham Racecourse Centaur to The Town Hall and multiple temporary spaces in Montpellier Gardens.
In The Centaur, Production AV was challenged with a tight build time for the launch of David Cameron’s new memoir, For the Record, which was inevitably going to be an attention grabber.
“We supplied our Sony HDC-1500 Camera Channels – which offer incredible picture quality for HD live events – paired with our Agile Remote Control Cameras and the stunning PPU recently configured by our team here at Production AV,” explained McCrea. “It was a winning combination!”
With Jude Butcher, Pete McCrea and Tim Perrett heading up the team the tight build time proved to not be an issue.
“Over at The Times Forum, located within the main Festival site and where Debbie Harry discussed iconic Blondie lyrics and the band’s music legacy, Production AV supplied Barco Projection, brand new to hire stock Dell XPS laptops, Roland Switch Gear and a Sony Camera package.
McCrea concluded: “It’s a delight to be so heavily involved in such an incredible event, with many of the discussions featured on the Sky Arts channel throughout the festival. The reach for this world-class festival is an incredible advert for the town of Cheltenham – a place we are passionate about supporting with leading technical production.”
