After previous work with the University of Reading's JCR committee Viable Events were invited back to take charge of the technical production for their freshers week events.
The Brief
To manage complete production including marquees, lighting, sound systems, effects and suitable props, for the freshers week events which consisted of a welcome buffet, white T-shirt night, wild west night, UV Rave and a Cops & Robbers themed night.
The Production
There were various elements to the freshers weeks main production that stayed the same throughout the week.
First due to the fact the venue wasn't physically big enough to accommodate all the freshers a marquee was erected and linked to the venue via the use of a pinspot tunnel (almost doubling the capacity of the venue).
To read more about our Marquee's click here
Secondly the close proximity of all the events meant a versatile lighting system was needed. We used a series of 10 LED par cans to uplight the marquee. These were controlled via wireless DMX control allowing us to easily change the colours for different events from the JCRs signature colours to yellow and green for the wild west night and flashing red and blue for the Cops and Robbers night.
For the main dance floor a complete ground support truss rig was erected with a Martin Atomic strobe, moving heads, LED effects and a smoke machine. UV lights and green lasers were added for the UV Rave.
For further details about our lighting systems click here
With the events main focus on dancing, sound quality was crucial. For this the Viable team provided a complete Martin Audio system including S18 subwoofers and F12 tops powered by Lab Grubben amplifiers.
For more information about hiring our Sound Systems click here
The Nights
Each of the nights were completely unique giving the freshers five memorable experiences. This required different equipment for each night.
For the White T-shirt night a huge graffiti wall was constructed allowing the fresher students the opportunity not only to write on each others T-shirts, faces and other body parts but to leave their mark on the wall as well.
The Wild West night saw the arrival of a rodeo bull in the marquee and suitable props around the venue including saloon doors at the entrance.
For the UV rave we added to two impressive 120mw green lasers, six UV cannons and a bubble machine. The bubble machine was loaded with UV active bubble fluid which gives the bubbles a UV glow which makes a mess all over the dancers which is only visible under UV light. This has to be seen to be believed and was incredibly popular on the night.
Finally for the Cops and Robbers finale we added two jail style dancing cages giving the more daring of students a platform to show off their skills (or just embarrass themselves on). Thousands of locks and keys were provided for use as a lock and key party.
The Testimonial
"Dear Luke,
Once again thanks for all your help in Fresher's Week, the committee all agreed that the JCR looked great" Chris JCR Vice-President
For a list of freshers week events ideas click here
Click here to see our freshers week solutions and step by step guide on how to organise a freshers week