Date entered: 29/05/2008
LOUISE STICKLAND DONNED HER ‘POSH' WELLIES AND JOINED IN THE CRAIC IN CO. TIPPERARY FOR A DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT ST. PATRICK'S DAY...
For the first time ever, Ireland's primary St. Patrick's Day spectacular event moved out of Dublin to beautiful Cashel in County Tipperary, for a live Saturday night prime time broadcast on RTÉ 1. The Skyfest event has traditionally been a
fireworks show, but this year, Donal Sheils, chief executive of the St Patrick's Day Committee, decided the time was right to add some additional visual elements to the spectacle as well as shifting it to a charismatic site-specific location.
Peter Canning from Dublin-based design company High Resolution Lighting and Ross Ashton from large format projection specialist E/T/C London started speaking to Shiels after last year's festival about the whole concept. The idea was that they would come onboard as LD and projection designer respectively to devise a mixed-media show - along with pyro - that could be staged at the Rock of Cashel.
Ashton devised an original storyboard for the projection which included symbols, images and texturing based on the Rock's rich history which dates back to the 12th century.
The majority of buildings at the summit of the Rock of Cashel's current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although Cashel itself dates back much further, and is reputedly the site of the conversion of
the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century A.D. The buildings have a complex mass and outline
rivalling other sites in western Europe. The earliest is the distinctive Round Tower, and the whole collection has a unique, native ambience rated among the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture in Europe.
It is absolutely the perfect site for a St Patrick's Day celebration in many ways. A prime viewing area at the foot of the rock was negotiated with one of the local farmers for 20,000 people to enjoy impressive views of the event... and the wheels were in motion.
Despite the distinctly historic setting, and the need to keep it tasteful and appropriate, Canning and Ashton proposed that the lighting and projection show injected some rock'n'roll "attitude" into the whole presentation. The final format of the show was not fully agreed upon until a few weeks before the show, at which time a music track was compiled by Dublin-based DJ Mark McCabe and Karen Monid from E/T/C London.
Once the 16 minute music track was signed off, OB facilities company Observe burnt a master and distributed time-coded copies to lighting, projection and pyro departments.
Very early on in the process, Canning also asked PRG's Richard Gorrod to come onboard his team as crew chief, along with lighting programming guru Mike ‘Oz' Owen, with a view to PRG Cine Electric and Syncrolite supplying the lighting kit that was always likely to include several large light sources.
"It was important to have a strong crew to work to a tight schedule on a difficult site," explained Canning.
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