Video of ballroom setup and feedback.
Hello ladies and gentlemen. This year we moved the ballroom stage by 90 degrees. I was curious of what our attendees thought of this set up. Did everything sound good? Was it more simple to get to your seats for the shows?
Also we have a video that one of the union members put up.
Overall impression: a Good Move!
...But I was a Supersponsor, and was able to get a seat in the second or third row back, front-center section, next to the aisle. Having the audience seating area extend out far to the left and far to the right, would have made seeing what was happening on the stage extremely difficult for people sitting in the front of those areas.
I believe that you foresaw this as a problem, and to solve it erected the splendid giant video displays, to mitigate this - I suspect that it did wonders, except that sitting as far forward and central as I was, I could not easily see whatever was projected on either screen with any ease, and what I did see was - from that angle - rather dim, just as watching a movie in a theater from that angle would be.
With the arrangement of the seats and the video screens as they were, this would have suggested that the very best seats for viewing what was happening, both directly from the stage and from the video screens, were the ones in the front of the second tier back; and for people seated left-of-center or right-of-center, this was probably true. But for seats in the center of the second tier, there was this rather wide "Obscured View" zone, caused by the camera and camera platform, which of course was necessary to get the good shots of the stage action to display on the video screens (I presume).
So I humbly make two suggestions:
1) Consider a third, smaller video screen above and behind the stage, so that people in the front center - and those seated at the table during the ceremonial parts, or during presentations which require powerpoint or reference pictures, can view what is being displayed just by turning around.
2) Consider a remotely-operated camera, hung from the ceiling or suspended from a lighting rig above or behind the A/V control stage. I don't know if AnthroCon has their own video equipment or rents it for the occasion, but if the latter, consider including such a camera in the mix, to eliminate that camera "island" in the middle of the room.
You didn't ask about the Audio component - I'm not an A/V technician or a P/A Systems engineer, but I _do_ make my living with my ears, and had to wear earplugs through the shows. Might want to restrain some of that awesome acoustical power just a tad.
Our cameras were remotely operated this year and thus the islands were significantly smaller than they have been previous years, since we also downgraded from pedestal cams to canon XL-2s which are ENG and significantly smaller. I wouldn't count on AC spending the money to fly a robotic camera, and the angle at which it would be shooting from would be nearly unusable for our purposes. :b
For the closing ceremonies I did sit on the far right side. Viewing the stage was /ok/, but, I found it easier to just watch the projector.
Of course, the funny things happening by those not in the camera's focus wasn't always caught, so, I'd end up swinging my head back and forth now and then to catch the odd humor.
I've been to a few large scale concerts locally here in NB; and I can safely say this arrangement was better than every high budget concert I've been to. So, good work ^.^
Oh, as a final thing... how hard would it be to have the opening and closing ceremonies on youtube (or, since they are longer than 10min, blip.tv (free) or vimeo (paid, but, a bit better quality))? I'd personally love to re-live those moments 
/Wolfin
Good thing you put up this thread, since I was just about to make one about it.
Plain and simple, I thought this was a very smart move in more then one way.
With the seating being more wide then deep, it allowed everyone to sit closer to the stage. If there was one suggestion, if possible...I think it would be nice if you could turn the far ends of the rows towards the stage.
Also, I thought this set up worked extremely well for the dances. The main points being...
-More room. It really felt like there was much more space to dance in, especially for everyone to Poi/Glowstring. Last year we had to glowstring right up against the walls due to space, so this year with the big areas to freely glowstring in is very well appreciated!
-Sound quality. In last years set up it really seemed that the sound would travel down the ballroom and messily bounce back. This year didn't have that problem since it just went out and smacked everyone in it's path, the sound was great and that wall of bass speakers in the front of the stage were simply awesome. (As I've said before, powerful but never uncomfortable.)
-Lighting. Plain and simple, the lighting set up was great. The intelligent lights were nicely spaced apart and the lasers stood out very nicely.
So overall, I'd say it would be very well appreciated to bring back this kind of set up for next year. While yes there could be a few things added or tweaked, those things have been pointed out in this thread...as for the rest, well to me it goes in the catagory of. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
-Silverwulf *aka* Tobias
I tweaked your post to include the embed code so the video displays inline.
I then frontpaged and Tweeted it.
I was pleasently surprised to see the setup change. It was so much easier to get a good seat this time around with no need to wait in the massive lines. the sound was a bit much sometimes but all in all I think the ballroom was well preped this year.
One thing I noticed every year was the disco ball that hangs above the stage - is that some quirk of the DLCC's, or does someone set it up every year? :3
Our disco ball shall be put up every year. As long as Anthrocon goes on.
Glad to hear the positive comments and the suggestions as well. We are going to try to make the set up even better for next year.
Switching the audience/stage formation from "portrait" to "landscape" made a lot of sense, and it worked out beautifully. The twin projections screens was an elegant, professional touch. I love how well it went.
"Slapback" was always a problem. Not only did this change reduce slap off the back wall, but it puts the booth CENTER (mostly) of the sound system for REAL balancing and tuning. Oddy and Dave did an excellent job with the sound.
We should really try to tune and color balance the projectors and cameras as much as possible before the con, if feasible.
White-balancing is best done once the camera is in the location and lighting which it will be used; afaik that isn't really feasible before the cameras are in place at the con.
[Disclaimer, this holds true for JVC's first series of studio 720P camera; maybe technology has changed and snuck by me]
/Wolfin
Was I late for all of the ballroom events, or was there no White Card used this year?
No, there was no white card. The white card was used for balancing the studio cameras, while Cheetah was still doing video. The new canons have built-in white balancing.
We wound up doing them manually, but we didn't have a reference most of the time. In fact, the only time I recall using a white reference was for Matthew Ebel's concert, unless there was one for the Masquerade, too.
The biggest "issue" I recall having was getting the color balance between the three cameras correct. Even on default settings/color profiles, the temp was off slightly. I didn't really touch the cameras myself, but switching between them on the mixer it was obvious that one of the cameras was really blue compared to the other two, probably because of the CCD model.
From almost 20 years of working at a TV station, I can tell you that auto white balance is nearly useless if you're trying to match color between several cameras. It takes a skilled technician, a chip chart, and a few minutes of tweaking on each camera to get them to match. White balance gets them in the ballpark, and it's adequate for a single-camera shoot, but every camera will have slight differences in color that can only be matched up with a trained eye.
Reading your description, I get this image of something like tuning an orchestra.
The Oboist plays his or her "C", and all the other musicians then match the pitch while tuning their instruments.
Do you set or define one camera as the "standard", and then "tune" each of the other cameras in sequence to match it? Or do you use an external "standard" for calibrating them all by?
The way I was trained, a little of both. Here's a chip chart:
When aimed at a chip chart, the video waveform of a color camera looks like this:
The white chips are at the top of the scope, the black at the bottom, and the steps of grey should be evenly spaced in between. In this display, a color temperature problem would manifest as a "fuzziness" on the stairsteps -- they should be as flat and as clean as possible. Looking at a color monitor would tell you which of the red, green or blue channels need to be adjusted. Switching from one camera to another, the steps on the waveform should stay at the same levels, and looking at a color monitor you should not perceive any shifts in color -- all cameras should appear as a neutral gray. Sometimes one camera will have a flaw that can't be adjusted away (a bluish cast, for instance) so you'd adjust the other cameras to match it.
Admittedly, I'm an analog guy in a digital world, so I don't know if the techniques have adapted for digital technology. Someone may have invented a way to automate the process with satisfactory results, but since it's dependent on the lighting on the scene, for the best color at some point the cameras have to be aimed at a real chart under the real lighting and matched to each other. It's probably not so critical for video reinforcement, but more so for something being recorded.
White balancing is very much something you do for the location you're shooting in, it's a way of compensating for lighting temperature on the location you're shooting at. It's not something you can predict in advance.
Sorry, by "before the con" I meant during setup, before events started happening. I realize it needs to be done on-location.
Also: What is the song in this video? I've heard it before, used as the intro to The Umbilical Brothers' "Speedmouse." (Which by the way is a freaking hilarious video if you've never seen it.)
Speedmouse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP9WMBsGezA
EDIT: Never mind, found it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmesqhz0g58
Rammstein - "Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen?"
In case anyone was curious.
I will have to make sure we bring out the white board for next year. The attendees always seem to enjoy that.
I missed the chants for white board myself. And the subtitled commentary as well.
I thought the new stage setup was a big improvement. But the rows next to the center row should be angled toward the stage instead right at the video screens. Otherwise great job!
Outside from the need for a stage monitor screen, I liked it. ;D