Page 74 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

The event saw the company create a mountain set
The production included a mix of local heritage performances as well as local and international military parades. The main part of the show was a battle enactment of a fictitious scenario where an elite military group representing the Land Forces, Special Forces, Navy and Air Force liberate a war torn nation in the mountains from militia control. The enactment featured air drops, low passing jet fly-bys, helicopters and naval support, firefights, fast moving pursuits involving tanks and armoured vehicles in challenging surroundings, a fully working and custom built train and submarine as well as full movie grade special effects (including high grade vehicle hits, land fireballs and debris explosions, rock falls, bullet hits and water explosions) culminating in the successful liberation of the mountain village.
‘This show involves jets and helicopter fly pasts that have to be timed to the precise second to match up with the action sequences on the staging area performed by armoured vehicles, infantry, special effects that include large pyro explosions on land and on the mountains, water explosions and vehicle explosions,’ explained Eddie Andradé, the show’s creative director. ‘This involves intense coordination between the show caller, stunt director and choreographer, special effects crew, stage managers, video, audio, cameras, the Navy, the Land Forces, the pilots, the airport, the air bases, air traffic control, road traffic control, the police and civil defence.’
Protec’s founder and CEO, Stephen Lakin, was in charge of building the entire scenic set. ‘Under the temporary venue that Protec built, were the exhibition centre’s utilities and drainage systems which had to be protected by the weight of the military vehicles, some of which weighed in excess of 60 tons,’ he noted. ‘Therefore it had to be built up to 1m above the existing surface, graded up with sand, road base and tarmac/asphalt. Protec also built a temporary 65m long x 30m wide x 1m high ‘lake’ which held 2 million litres of water on which jet boats and a submarine were run. ‘We added working waterfalls that we built into the mountain set along with artificial greenery to complete the scenic visual,’ added Mr Lakin.
The mountains themselves were built out of base scaffold structures with carpet fascia that was painted to resemble rocky and moss/grass covered mountains and finished off with artificial greenery and landscaping. The mountains had to be strong enough to withstand pyro explosions at various heights, abseiling, zip lining and a lot of personnel movement.