Gaming event lighting guru Steve Thurkettle selected Titan – the
fast, powerful and intuitive lighting and media control interface from British
manufacturer Avolites – to drive his complex audio-visual design for the 58th
Insomnia Gaming Festival (Insomnia58), the UK’s biggest ever celebration of
gaming culture. The event took place at the NEC in Birmingham over the August
bank holiday weekend, from Friday 26 to Monday 29 August.
The Insomnia Gaming Festival has been running since 1999.
Organised by specialist gaming event producers Multiplay, it has become so
popular that it has outgrown a series of venues, including Newbury Racecourse
Conference Centre in Berkshire and the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. It now takes
place three times a year and offers a comprehensive series of activities,
demonstrations and talks. Gamers have the chance to play an impressive
selection of the latest games in halls packed with thousands of PCs and
consoles. Lovers of esports can take part in tournaments and watch all the live
finals on a dedicated esports stage or sit back and watch live gameplay demos.
Festival-goers can also join in live Q&A sessions with YouTube and Twitch
gaming stars. Housed in nine halls at the NEC and featuring six stages,
Insomnia58 was the biggest Insomnia Gaming Festival yet – with a record
attendance of 66,783 people.
For this vast event, Multiplay’s Senior Production Project
Manager Steve Thurkettle was responsible for designing and co-ordinating all
the audio-visuals – from staging and rigging through to lighting, audio and
projection equipment. The lighting director – who built up his career by
freelancing for the likes of Microsoft, Packard Bell and Seat cars chose the
Titan interface to power his final, overall design. A long-term advocate of
Avolites, he rates the user-friendliness of the products.
“The simplicity of Titan’s user interface and the speed from
unboxing the desk to being able to start a show are invaluable, with the shape
generator, which is fantastic for last minute programming,” he says. “I tend to
patch desks using the Titan PC suite and the beauty of the Titan OS is that
it’s the same software across every console. This means that I can put DMX
addresses on my plans for the rig crew to follow and once the stick is in the
desk, I\’m ready to go. All in all, Titan has made programming and operating
easier.”
Insomnia58 comprised six stages/arenas. Thurkettle selected a
combination of Robe Pointes, Martin Mac 101s and Lanta Fireball Par64 Quad LED
Cans to illuminate the main arena in an immersive design with winged truss,
angled to make the space feel more enclosed.
The smaller League of Legends-themed League stage is lit by Robe
100s, Mac Quantum profiles and more Lanta Fireball Par64s. The Robe fixtures
are at two different heights between the stage and the back truss where the
Quantum Profiles and Fireball LEDs are positioned, with Thurkettle commenting
that varying levels is his go-to design look. Each team in the League of Legend
tournament had a specific colour, which programmer Matt Evans reflected in the
look for each stage as they took their turn to play.
“Avolites’
Titan-powered consoles are my desks of choice, I have used them for many years
and they never fail to impress me,” says Evans. “I enjoy how speedy and easy
the software is across all the consoles – from powering up to having a few
simple states takes a matter of minutes. After receiving Steve’s plans I can
sit on the sofa at home and patch the desk with Titan suite, giving me all my
addresses for the fixtures, which also makes rigging easier for the crew. The
Shape Generator along with the Pixel Mapper are my favourite features and when
I need to get creative – Key Frame Shapes provides the power and precision I
need. is there to help.”
“For
smooth and reliable dimming across the event, Thurkettle selected Avolites
ART2000 touring dimmer racks and Power Cubes, commenting “the Power Cubes are
very powerful for their size, offering both dimmer and switch channels and the
six split channels are a nice feature.”
To
control each stage’s set up, Thurkettle specified Avolites Expert Pro and
Quartz consoles according to the demands of each arena. The kit is was supplied
by MCL Create and Hawthorn.
“I
love the way that Titan works and the mix of different desks was based around
cost against playbacks and usability,” he says. “This is why the larger, more
complicated stages had Expert Pros – with the ability to use not only multiple
pages, but also put playbacks on the two rows of 30 handle faders. And for the
smaller stages, which don\’t need so many playbacks, the Quartz was cost
effective – plus it can be packed in a travel case and used almost anywhere.”
