Event Engineering Designing, Scheduling, and Implementing a Large-scale Gathering
چکیده
In this research project we investigated the pre-planning and engineering aspects of designing the technical components of a large-scale fundraising event. We created the preplanning for a case study that simulates an event, The Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology (GSET) Gala, for a thousand audience members to be held at the Rutgers University College Ave Gym. This formal fundraiser was designed with a strict budget of $500,000 with a goal of raising 200% profit for GSET. Although the set-up for the event will begin on September 23, 2007, the actual event is scheduled for September 28, 2007. This event will include cocktails, dinner, award presentations, and a concluding acoustic performance by U2. Our plan for this event encompasses a floor plan design, a lighting design, and a master production schedule which details the hourly schedule for the seven days for which we have use of this specific venue. Simulating a real life situation, the scheduling and budgeting restrictions of this event included a seven day time schedule and a strict budget. For this reason, the capability of a planning team to successfully design this event was the main concept in question. INTRODUCTION Nationally acclaimed award ceremonies, such as the Oscars and the Grammies, have a very large amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. In the case of such a large-scale social gathering, many different types of workers are brought in to create such large events. All types of professionals, from florist to caterers and designers to engineers, are needed to ensure the safety and success of such an event. When implementing an event of this degree, the expertise of numerous structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers is required to bring about the success of the event. Most importantly however, it is the responsibility of these individuals to ensure the safety and quality of the event. To maximize the ability of the event engineering team, communication and detailed scheduling are crucial. To the simplest extent, event engineering is the combined effort of multiple engineering disciplines working together to design, schedule, and implement a large-scale social gathering. After investigating the various aspects of event engineering, one must design an initial concept for an event. Upon conceptualizing a preliminary idea for the event, one must investigate the various aspects of the event and make modifications as deemed necessary for the success of the event in terms of budget, scheduling, and safety. BACKGROUND/RELATED WORK For a project of this magnitude, numerous disciplines of engineering must be combined. There is no margin for error in the mechanical and structural engineering of such a function. For example, all lighting, audio, and video equipment for such an event is hung from the ceiling on truss, an additional means of structural support attached to the venue’s ceiling. Due to the great weight of truss and the height off the ground, structural engineers must ensure the security of the guests and staff through rigorous inspection and calculations involving the weight distribution of the truss. Also in order to ensure the safety of the truss, mechanical engineers are required in order to properly connect the truss and attach the truss to the ceiling. This process is extremely important, and the prevention of serious injury is one of the primary concerns of such an event. In addition to structural and mechanical engineers, electrical engineers are required for the success of an event. In terms of event engineering, providing power and controlling lighting, audio, and video equipment requires a significant amount of electrical engineering enterprise. Most importantly, however, electrical engineers are key to calculating the power requirements of an event. Furthermore, this process includes determining the power capacity of the venue and choosing an outside electrical source in order to generate enough power to run the event. Although event engineering combines many different types of engineering, no specific discipline dominates the process. Communication among all the areas of engineering is necessary to achieve the desired atmosphere, setting, and quality for the event. While the technical aspects of the pre-planning process and important, the scheduling and communication processes ultimately determine the success of an event, and information technology management is essential to the event engineering practice. Most significantly, ensuring an effective line of communication between individuals is a must; however, having a brief understanding of all aspects of event engineering, from lighting to décor, is also essential to a successful event. Large scale events are held in venues as diverse as high class hotels and basketball gymnasiums. In these situations, venues are rented only for a certain number of days due to availability or budget restraints. Construction work, such as rigging, flooring, and building a stage, requires many hours of work. As a result, all construction work and the décor of the event must be completed in set time frames. Specialized workers must be scheduled to arrive at the venue to work at different times to be able to perform their tasks efficiently and without interference with jobs of others, making scheduling more complex. Oftentimes, venues are rented out as “four-wall rentals.” This type of rental only provides the space for the event but does not include any necessary equipment, which can lead to expensive equipment rentals and time-consuming construction work. A four-wall rental can range in price depending on the purpose of the rental; event engineering professionals quote a rate of approximately $2000 to $3000 a day for an average college gymnasium, including both the main and auxiliary, for events held by non-profit organizations. When engineering a large-scale event, power is the number one consideration for all systems, including lighting, audio, video, catering, and communication. Many times, the venue will lack sufficient power output for the quantity of electricity required. Therefore, generators must be rented and available to power the event. Risk reduction and proper power calculation must be considered when determining which generators to rent. A generator is a machine that creates an electrical current with two slip rings, copper coils, and magnets. The slip rings are attached to the coil, and deliver the current to and from the power destination. A current is made when the coil crosses the force lines of a magnetic field creating a sinusoidal configuration. Force lines are the marks that demonstrate the specific areas around a magnet that exerts some force [24]. The type of generator used for an event of this type supplies alternating currents. Alternating currents are created by the changing of direction of current flow caused by the shift from positive to negative polarity [24]. Another type of generator is three phase and single phase. Single phase simply means that one coil is used, while three phase means that two extra coils are placed a hundred twenty degrees out of phase or time with the other coils so the current is a different magnitude than the single phase current [25]. In order to convert one phase voltage from three phase voltage or vice versa, transformers must be used. Since power is equivalent to the product of voltage and current, the conversion can occur by increasing the voltage of the power, while decreasing the current. Transformers are generally provided with the generators as a package, if rented [23]. For any large event, two generators are required in case one fails there would still be sufficient power to run the event. When choosing a generator system, a total estimated power must be acquired for the event, which therefore points to a specific generator size. Even though generators are vital for an event of this size, other types of machinery are needed as well. For a true life event, large amounts of machinery are brought in to set up an event of this degree. For instance, machinery is needed to lift and move nearly all of the equipment used for an event. Forklifts are one such thing that can assist in moving heavy items. In addition, when putting on such an extravagant event, a large amount of manual labor is required. Specialized workers are required not only for rigging and cleaning and maintenance, but for setting up the lighting and audio systems. Moreover, security guards must be present at all times during the event development process to ensure the safety of the event. Following the safety requisites of a large-scale event, rigging is a major component to the success of an event. Rigging is the term used to identify the process of safely hanging overhead support structures, also known as truss, from the roof of a venue. In order to maximize floor space, this truss serves as the mounting point for heavy technical equipment such as lighting, video, audio, power, and décor, functioning as the skeleton of the technical layout of the venue. Before planning the rigging, one must consult a structural engineer in order to determine the weight capacity of certain structural beams and points located on the ceiling of the venue. Also, one must calculate the weight of the objects, such as lighting fixtures, being hung from the truss. Once determining this information, it is necessary to determine the load on each line, as the fixtures hung from truss are attached by way of steel cable, chain and shackle, etc. Typically, truss is mounted to the ceiling of the venue using large chain motors capable of lifting over one ton of weight. In this situation, these chain motors are hung from the building’s structural beams using slings and shackles. Also, burlap is placed between the beam and the sling in order to ensure that the metal pieces do not snap from the friction between the two metal objects. These chain motors, usually provided by the same company from which lighting fixtures are rented, then allow the properly attached truss to be lifted by way of shackle system. Once the method of attaching the truss to the ceiling and the fixtures to the truss, one must determine the type of truss appropriate for the event. In some situations, combinations of truss are also used based on individual need. In most cases, pre-rigged truss is prepared ahead of time, attaching all lighting and audio fixtures in a shop prior to installation of the truss. Due to these advantages, prerigged truss is often used for event engineering and quicker installation; however, other types of truss are also used in event engineering. For example, light and medium duty box truss are often used for mounting lighter objects, such as drapes and solitary sound equipment. This box truss is less expensive than swing wing truss and is much easier to handle. It is necessary for us to hire professional riggers to hang the numerous trusses that are needed for the event. It is essential to have experienced riggers due to the fact that rigging has the potential to be very dangerous. When hanging such a massive amount to the venue ceiling it is important that it is done properly because if the trusses were to fall for any reason, it could cause a disastrous or even fatal accident with numerous causalities. By hiring professionals in this particular field a better rigging job is guaranteed which ensures the safety of the Governor School Gala guests. It is the responsibility of the up riggers to align and focus all of the conventional light fixtures once they are attached to the ceiling. The main job of the down riggers is to attach the prerigged truss together and align them with their designated spots on the ceiling. One common method that is used to recruit inexpensive labor is to recruit college students to help out with setting up an event of this magnitude by offering them pizza and, in this case, a discount on a ticket to the show in exchange for their help. Another way to minimize cost of labor is to only have the professionals on site for the least amount of time, as long as quality of work is not sacrificed. Thirty to forty college students can be recruited in order to expedite the process of unloading trucks and laying out the truss where they need to go as well as bolting them together. Other experts are hired to handle other aspects of the event. For example, a lead light programmer/operator is needed to program the moving lights that are to be used to illuminate the room and to program the lighting show that will be used during the U2 performance. Another type of labor that is needed for the event is a cleaning and maintenance crew. They are needed to ensure that the venue is sanitary for the guest as well as to clean up the space after the event. Also to protect the attendants of the Gala security guards are brought in and present whenever there is a person at the College Avenue Gym. Additional security is brought in upon U2’s arrival in addition to their personal body guards to ensure their safety. It is required that more body guards are brought in for the protection of U2 because they are such a big name band and such a prominent pop culture icon. Lighting is another essential part of planning an event that performs many tasks, from setting the appropriate ambiance of the event to lighting the performers on stage, and requires careful consideration. In theatrical lighting, there are numerous types of lights one can choose to light a venue and stage. Typically, the two broad categories of lighting fixtures used for large-scale events are conventional fixtures and moving lights. Varying in lamp size, brightness, and focus capabilities, conventional fixtures are fixed lights positioned and manually focused once mounted on the truss. In this situation, fixed lights such as ETC Source Four’s, as seen in Figure 1, and Par 64’s are less expensive than other forms of lighting, typically costing under $500 for purchase and $100 for rental. In exchange for the lower cost these types of lights require more manual labor upon installation. In addition, conventional lights require the use of dimmers, which channel the power from the generators to the lights themselves. Once provided with power from the generators, dimmers increase or decrease the voltage, thus controlling power delivery and the intensity of light. Under the category of conventional lights, the four specific types of lighting fixtures are flood lights, focusable lights, spotlights, and specialty lights. Two specific examples of flood lights include the Par 64 and the Fresnel. Parabolic Aluminized Reflector lights, or PAR lights, are used for flat lighting and are quite literally a lamp within a can. Due to their low cost, light weight, easy maintenance, and high durability, PAR lights are often used for low-budget lighting, producing an intense oval pool of light, some with fixed focus and soft edges. The "number" associated with a PAR light (e.g.: Par 64, Par 36, Par 16) indicates the diameter of the lamp in 8ths o an inch. Similarly, Fresnel lights are small lighting fixtures giving a softedged spot or pool of light, the name of the light coming from the distinctive ridged Fresnel lens used in the light. However, the downside of these fixtures is that the light cannot be focused at all. Similar to flood lights, fixtures such as Ellipsoidal and Source Fours are circular fixtures without lenses. Equipped with simple reflectors at the back of the fixtures, these lights do not have any sort of lens system and are cheaper than Figure 1: ETC Source Four Lighting Fixture other fixtures. The most useful feature of these lights is the use of metal shutters at the focal plane of the lens to shape and focus the beam of light. Finally, spotlights and other specialized lights are also types of conventional lights often used in event engineering. For example, a follow spot is a lighting instrument that is moved by an operator to provide extra illumination and usually to “follow” a specific performer, especially when he or she is moving around the stage. When most people use the term “spotlight” they are referring to the follow spot. On average, conventional lights such as those mentioned above cost under $600 for purchase and tend to cost under $150 for rental. This huge cost advantage, however, is matched by the equal disadvantage of the physical labor required to manually program each individual light. In contrast to conventional lights, moving lights such as the VL3500 Spot Unit and the VL3000 Wash Unit, as seen in Figure 2, are more costly, but are prerigged on the truss and require no on-site physical labor. The principal feature of moving lights is the ability to remotely control the movement and characteristics of the output beam of light. Easily programmable from the ground, moving lights use digital multiplex (DMX) cables to run the programming signals from the programmer’s lighting control console to the lights. Once equipped with DMX cable, these moving lights are then capable of being used as spot lights or wash lights, spot lights concentrating a strict circle of light on a specific location and wash lights serving as flood lighting fixtures covering the floor with a large pool of light. In addition to spot and wash capabilities, moving lights can easily change gel colors and gobo patterns, creating vast combinations of colored lights and patterns. Specifically, gobos are circular metal inserts equipped with small cut out patterns through which light can pass in order to create a patterned effect over the lighted area. Another common effect, gel colors are thin transparent sheets of color that can be placed over a lamp to create colored lighting. On average, moving lights such as those mentioned above cost around $5000 for purchase and tend to cost $500 for rental. This huge cost, however, is matched by the equal advantage of the ease of programming and lack of physical labor required to program each light. In the end, it is the performance differences between conventional and moving lights as well as the cost and differences that determine an event engineer's choice in lighting fixtures. Typically, the most economical combination of lighting fixtures for an event includes a minimal number of moving lights and a large amount of low budget conventional lights. However, in designing large scale events where scheduling is the main concern, moving lights are the most time oriented lighting fixtures. In the case of event Figure 2: Vari-Lite VL 3000 Wash Unit engineering, engineers planning an event including a concert must also consider the lighting preferences of the performers, as some artists prefer certain types of lighting fixtures [22]. For any event, audio is necessary. Musicians employ it for vocal and acoustical performances; guest speakers use it for speech; presenters need it to be heard by audiences. Audio is commonly defined as sound reproduction or in video communications, the electrical signals that carry sounds. In event engineering, audio consists of the various systems involving sound in recording and transmission such as speakers, amplifiers, subwoofers, and microphones. These instruments are most frequently used in special events, both large and small. In special events ranging from awards shows to live concert performances, video projection is often employed for both formal and informal presentations. Many musicians use video projection to enhance their performance and overall aesthetic effect on the audience. Moreover, additional coverage of an event allows a broader viewing for people everywhere through broadcasting networks and additional screening during performances. Over the years, the technology supporting advances in digital media has grown from simple Cathode Ray Tube monitors to the modern LCD and DLP screens prevalent today. The oldest system of projection technology consisted of CRT projectors where minimal maintenance was required, but only suitable for fixed installations. LCD projectors use light gates in a simple and affordable design for home and business use. DLP projectors employ micro fabricated light valves called digital micro mirror devices that use rotating color wheels to modulate color. Nowadays, entertainment products manufacturing companies, such as the reputable Christie Digital Systems, produce mainly LCD and DLP digital cinema projectors [1]. All of these things are able to come together due to the master production schedule. This schedule maps out the order in which everything is supposed to happen ranging from the load-in to the load-out for the event. Without this master schedule and communication it is nearly impossible to be able to coordinate such a large-scale event.