Adelaide 500 State Dinner 2023

The prestigious Adelaide 500 State Dinner is a highlight of the annual VAILO Adelaide 500 motor racing event hosted by the South Australian Government. This event gathers business and industry leaders from near and far to showcase the state’s top priorities and celebrate the Supercar excitement, in this Festival State. Novatech, in a successful partnership with the Department for Premier & Cabinet and the Adelaide Convention Centre, has expertly handled the AV Production design for the past two State Dinners. Their innovative and creative work in conceptualizing and executing the audiovisual production has wowed attendees. Their role in event design & delivery included:

Event Entry – Immersive Experience
• High-resolution transparent LED walls: 2 x 30m (W) x 4m (H) with programmed lighting effects for the Supercars behind the walls.
• Central transparent high-resolution LED wall (ROE Vanish V8T): Size 10m (W) x 4m (H) to complete the immersive experience.

Dining Area – Dynamic Main Stage & Reveal
• Large moving LED screen (centre): 12m (W) x 7.2m (H) – split into two to reveal the headlining performer, Jon Stevens.
• Two side LED screens (left & right): 6m (W) x 7.2m (H) – each for event videos, holding states, content, and, when joined with the central screen, IMAG for Jon Stevens as 12m x 7.2m surfaces.

Other
• Complete Vision control, cameras, content playback
• Production design and engineering
• Production management and showcalling

The invited audience often attends the Adelaide Convention Centre with the client wanting to show the venue as it’s never been seen. Novatech’s design transformed the event into an extraordinary Gala Dinner, leaving a profound impact. By collaborating closely with the client, venue, engineers, and other event partners, Novatech ensured an innovative design with contrasting areas that led to an unforgettable event.

The entrance that occupied a full Hall, featuring transparent LED walls with real Supercars behind them, instantly engaged guests and set the scene for a unique night. These screens appear solid with stunning images when content is displayed without backlighting. When using black areas in content with lighting effects, objects behind the screens magically became visible at key moments.

Novatech showcased this ability with a fully programmed 1-minute entrance loop featuring a high-octane energy soundtrack, stunning visuals, lighting effects, and Supercars that became stars of the show at key times. This immersive experience amazed attendees as whilst not visible at first glance, the showcraft of using cars hidden behind the screens becoming part of the show, really added an extra layer to the event. Later, static content with black gaps showcased the cars during dinner for a more subtle viewing experience with full screen cityscapes of Adelaide being displayed at the conclusion of the night. This distinctive setup enhanced the event experience and perfectly matched the VAILO Adelaide 500 theme, making a memorable impact from the start.

Upon entering the room, a more traditional Gala Dinner setup greeted guests with a jazz saxophonist contrasting the roar of the entry area. High resolution LED panels formed the backdrop to the stage in the format of three screens along the rear wall. For most of the evening, the stage was set clean from any band backline for the Premier’s speech, interviews, and live entertainment. For the surprise performance of Jon Stevens, the centre 12m x 7.2m LED screen split evenly to open and reveal the band and joined the outer screens to become 2 x giant 12m x 7.2m screens for live-to-screen camera images.

One of the main challenges for the event was the sheer weight required to hang the infrastructure, especially the equipment required to move approx. 9-ton of LED screens. Detailed planning, drawings and the engagement of engineers were required to ensure that a safe-and-cost-effective solution could be designed within the venue’s tolerances. This allowed Novatech to open and close the large screens effortlessly, enhancing the overall experience by ensuring an uncluttered stage for formalities but a large performance space when required which left the crowd in awe.

Novatech takes great pride in creating an immersive experience for guests and transforming the event entrance into a Supercar racing scene was a unique way to engage attendees. Using transparent LED walls isn’t new, however, the application Novatech deployed certainly hadn’t been seen in SA before. Usually used with high-energy lighting effects to peek through the screens, using objects behind instead demonstrated what was possible with creative thinking. It was the talk of the Track for the rest of the weekend.

Photo credit: David Solm