Earlier this year, Melbourne in Australia welcomed the inaugural Now or Never festival – a 16-day celebration of digital art and future thinking, with a programme spanning art, film, music, panel discussions and food. Brompton Technology’s Tessera LED processors powered customised video content at the Royal Exhibition Building, where performances explored digital creativity.
The 19th-century Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage listed venue and was built as part of the international exhibition movement of the late 1800s. It was the stage for several events as part of Now or Never 2023, with Gig Control (a technical management company with expertise across Australia’s live events) responsible for the entire design of the lighting, audio and visual elements.
Gig Control called upon production rental company Novatech Creative Event Technology to look after the technical supply for five shows at the venue across four days of the festival. Events ranged from keynote talks and panel discussions to dance music parties, orchestral performances and 3D shows from electronic artists, meaning the scope of what needed to be achieved visually was extremely diverse.
“The venue’s age means it was a very challenging environment,” said Leko Novakovic, managing director at Novatech. “It has a wooden floor and very limited rigging from the wooden ceiling. With weight loading being an issue, the stage was designed around a central scaffold tower that had LED and lighting suspended from it.”
The screen displayed a range of high-resolution customised video content from the performing artists. Novatech supplied a Roe Visual Vanish V8T screen, along with a Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processor and two Tessera XD data distribution units. The setup stayed in place but was slightly modified each day to suit the varying events.
“Knowing that Brompton offers redundant signal control was very comforting, and the screen configuration allowed us to test it as it was being built,” said Novakovic. “This meant that any modules that needed replacing could be done at ground level before it was raised to its 16m position above the stage. Additionally, being able to correct the brightness of the seams allowed for a much more polished look.”
Brompton’s Tessera software tool suite includes the Dark Magic feature. “Dark Magic works by enhancing the quality of the image or video on LED panels when they are indoors and operating at low brightness,” said Novakovic. “It helped us to alleviate issues such as loss of delay and banding by processing the video signal up to 26 bits per channel.”
Another feature is On-Screen Colour Adjustment (OSCA), which was used by the team to match panels quickly regardless of the LED panel model or batch difference, for a more unified LED wall.
“The visual setup took the party to a whole other level,” concluded Novakovic. “We wouldn’t even think about using another processor as Brompton is the best around. The brand gives the flexibility, reliability and professional feature set our events require.”
“It’s always exciting to see our processors being used for such innovative projects, particularly with a valued partner like Novatech,” said Elijah Ebo, director of APAC operations at Brompton Technology. “It’s also gratifying to know that the Tessara software features made such a difference to the visual content. Novatech always produces great results, and this is another great example of how its team chooses the right technology to deliver for its clients.”
