Living Cinema: Special Forces Technical rider

Contact:

Bob Ostertag : bob.ostertag@mac.com

Pierre Hébert: ph@pierrehebert.com

Video:

- Highest quality video projector possible, preferably one that accept an NTSC signal. (If the video projector only accept PAL signal, Pierre Hébert must be notified of this before he leaves his home in Montreal).

- Projection screen or surface, as large as possible, at rear of stage. The bottom of the projected image should be above our heads when we are sitting on stage (about 4 feet/i.5 meter above the stage floor).

- Projection can be front or rear, as you like.

- Cabling to send either a VGA (best) or a composite video signal (“rca” or “cinch” connector) from an on-stage video mixer to the video projector (wherever the projector is). Note: all video comes from an on stage video mixer.

- An Edirol V-4 video mixer. This is a piece of equipment that Pierre Hébert formerly carried with him, but due to new airline restrictions on luggage and greater complexity of going through airport security, we now ask that the promoters supply it. It is easy to find and quite cheap to rent in DJ/VJ supplies stores. It has to be precisely that type of mixer and it generally has to be reserved in advance. Please confirm with us that you have secured this.

Sound:

- Highest quality sound system possible.

- We do not play loud. Large systems designed for rock bands are generally not appropriate. High-end systems designed to minimize background noise and maximize sound clarity are best.

- Both house sound and stage monitors MUST be in stereo.

- Cabling to send the audio signal from an on stage computer to the sound board, wherever that is. Note: all audio comes from stereo, balanced line-level output on-stage (1/4” jack connectors).

- Note: there is no live mic, and there is no need for any sort of “mixing”. We send Bob’s stereo signal to the speakers, set a level, and that is it as far as sound is concerned.

Lighting:

- 1 very focusable light which can be cut extremely tight to cover an area on the table approximately 8 inches x 12 inches, no color. This light has to come from the left at a 45 degree angle. Do not underestimate the importance of getting this right. The quality of the projected image depends on it. In venues that do not have a lighting grid, a light board and lights, a light stand and one focusable light that can be plugged in normal AC outlets should be rented.

- When possible, general blue lighting on Bob and Pierre, low intensity and quite focused (it should not bounce or create any haze on the screen). It is important that our faces can be seen by the audience.

Power:

- 12 AC oulets on stage where we sit.

Misc.:

- 2 piano benches or chairs without arms.

- 2 tables approximately 3’x 2’ (1m x .70m)

- 2 sturdy mike stands with boom (to hold small digital cameras).

- 200 sheets pf standard printer white paper.

- 6 white flowers.

- a bunch of approximately 20 little stones (diameter 50mm/70mm)

Notes on staging:

- Ostertag and Hebert sit downstage center facing the audience.

- Projection screen is upstage, as large as possible. From the point of view of the audience, the projected image should appear to be suspended just above their heads.

- Set up time and special considerations:


*** IT IS BETTER BY FAR IF WE DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE OR ALTER OUR SET-UP IN ANY WAY BETWEEN SET-UP AND PERFORMANCE. Our performance requires a very tight connection between stage lighting levels, camera placement, and the settings of our onstage computers. These settings are far more delicate than in a more conventional show. Once these has been set, nothing can be moved and the computers cannot be powered off. If moving our things between set-up and performance is unavoidable, please be advised that we will need time to recreate the proper arrangement, and an intermission longer than the standard 15 minutes.


*** If there is a choice between a concert venue in which the seats in the house are sloped upward from the stage, and a venue in which the seats on on a flat floor and the performers on an elevated stage, the venue in which the seats in the house are sloped upward from the stage by by far better. This arrangement permits the audience to actually see what the performers are doing on the tables.

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