TNDV is the live production team of choice for worship events like the annual Passion Conference that brings university-age students and campus leaders worldwide together for three days of inspirational speakers, educational sessions and musical performances. With preparations underway for the forthcoming Passion 2025 events next month, TNDV’s work on the recent MVMNT Conference applied TNDV’s experience in stadium and arena-sized worship events like Passion to a much smaller-scale event in an unusually remote setting.
Staged in a modest rodeo arena in Montana’s Flathead Valley, the four-day MVMNT Conference features a dynamic set of musicians and speakers that inspired youth groups and family groups to the extreme northwest part of the state. TNDV’s crew traveled to the site with two of its production trucks, treating an audience of hundreds to the same professional services that TNDV brings to its largest worship productions. That included a foundation to support all video and audio acquired by the TNDV and MVMNT Conference teams respectively.
“We originally built our Vibration audio truck 10 years ago to address a fast-emerging desire for dedicated audio production and multitrack recording capabilities for large events that primarily featured musical performances,” says Rob Devlin, President, TNDV. “We also have the flexibility to re-engineer Vibration’s infrastructure to support smaller events like MVMNT Conference, allowing them to bring their own crew and equipment onboard and in this case work under the direction of Tanner Freese, TNDV‘s Engineer-in-Charge assigned to the truck.”
Freese’s counterpart in charge of all-things video was Dakota Russ, who handles all EIC duties inside TNDV’s recently refurbished Aspiration truck. That included switching six wired cameras, two wireless cameras, a long lens slash camera, and a 20-foot jib to in-venue LED screens and an onboard server bank. The latter ensured that viewers around the world could live-stream lectures, performances and more.
“The staging of this event was highly impressive, capturing the enormity of Passion within a much smaller setting to unbelievable effect,” says Russ. “Our job was to capture the dynamics of the concerts and content that the MVMNT Conference staff planned and executed so well and translate that to audiences inside the venue and watching online. That’s not achievable through a flypack that would be the typical choice for an event with an audience of this size. We treated this production with the same approach that do all Passion events.”
The multi-camera strategy is a key ingredient to capturing the excitement in the venue, including the professional event lighting like the annual Passion Conference delivers every year. TNDV managed all video switching and graphics insertions from Aspiration through its Grass Valley K-Frame system, and provided the MVMNT Conference with a remote switching panel onboard Vibration. The broadcast audio mix for the live stream happened on board Vibration in synchronization with the front of house audio. Aspiration’s new Evertz NEXX routing system kept the two seemingly separate audiences in harmony.
“This was a memorable team effort in a very unusual scenario that reminded us why we love what we do,” concludes Russ. “By feeding some multiviewers and adding a remote switcher panel onboard Vibration, they could add their own audio, and we could also use it as a B unit. It gave them the feeling of doing production work that was completely separate from our work yet came together to create something truly special.”
