Five-Stage, 21-Camera Production Supplies Live HD Webcast Footage and Feeds Big Screens and LEDs Provided by NEP Screenworks
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Aug. 30, 2012 -- NEP today announced that NEP Trio Video has completed its seventh successful year as sole provider of mobile video production facilities and services for the popular Lollapalooza music festival, which took place Aug. 3-5 in Chicago. Under contract by Springboard Productions for promoter C3 Presents, NEP Trio Video provided four production vehicles that supplied more than 60 hours of high-quality HD video footage for the festival webcast, featured on two YouTube(TM) channels, as well as the Lollapalooza Festival Network.
Recently acquired by NEP, Trio Video has its roots in Chicago-based professional sports coverage but has built a center of competency around production for the United States' highest profile outdoor music festivals -- including Lollapalooza, the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Austin City Limits Festival, and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. At this year's Lollapalooza, NEP Trio Video's Tango, Beta, and Blues and NEP Supershooters' SS14 mobile units supplied 21 cameras capturing more than 80 bands, which performed on five stages to an estimated on-site festival audience of 100,000 and a worldwide webcast audience of millions. In addition to supporting the webcasts, NEP Trio Video provided a private festival network that delivered live HD video to "Lolla Lounge" VIP tents and to large-format monitors and LED screens -- supplied and operated by NEP Screenworks -- throughout the venue.
To continue an innovation that NEP Trio Video has been applying at other recent music festivals, all Lollapalooza content was recorded digitally -- bringing a new level of time and cost savings to a production environment that traditionally has been tape-based.
"Not only does this tapeless workflow cut production costs by up to 75 percent, but it also represents a huge time savings and means that large quantities of content can be made immediately available for distribution, webcast, or broadcast," said Peter Kimball, senior account manager at NEP Trio Video. "It's one more example of the innovation that defines the quality of our music festival coverage, including HD webcasts that often receive higher viewership than many prime-time television programs."
The on-site Lollapalooza festival network supplied by NEP Trio Video took on an important public safety role when a powerful thunderstorm struck the show on Saturday, Aug. 4, suspending the program for more than two hours and forcing concertgoers to find shelter in nearby downtown buildings. The festival network fed evacuation announcements and information to more than 40 locations including the large NEP Screenworks Image screens on the main stages.
"The NEP Trio Video engineers are to be commended for their prompt action in helping to support a calm, orderly evacuation, and then for safely getting all trucks back online in time to webcast the headliner acts that evening -- including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Avicii," said Hank Neuberger, executive producer for Springboard Productions.
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About Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. Conceived and created in 1991 by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band, Lollapalooza has grown to a weekend destination festival spanning 115 acres. A production of C3 Presents, the 2012 Lollapalooza festival featured more than 130 artists performing on six stages in Chicago's Grant Park. For more information, visit www.lollapalooza.com.
About NEP
With the world's most advanced equipment, largest fleet of mobile units and global production studios to suit every genre, NEP enables its clients to execute, deliver, and display exceptional productions on any platform around the world. For more than 30 years, NEP has ensured its clients' success by delivering superior service and building lasting relationships with a passion for continuous innovation. NEP's talented staff is committed to acting with integrity and working as a team to deliver comprehensive solutions for remote production, studio production, video display, webcasting, and power generation that set the global industry standard. For more information, visit www.nepinc.com.
