366 Part 5 · Example Show Control Systems It's a crazy night in Massive Stadium. During "Comfortably Rich," the band's biggest hit, images of a flying poodle, edited perfectly to the song's beat, are showing on a giant circular screen. Video walls built into the set switch back and forth from prerecorded poodles to live views of the band. Throughout the song, sound effects and barks from the poodle footage ema- nate from the massive quad sound system. Then, suddenly, the drummer's riser lifts 20 feet into the air, with massive spots tracking the riser from every direction; this is the moment the crowd has been waiting for--the drum solo. As the riser's ascent slows, the poodle images dis- appear and the solo starts. As the drummer hits each of his drums, the huge array of moving lights dances precisely to the beat. At the end of his solo, the drummer plays the famous open- ing beats from "Young Rust," and as the drum riser returns slowly to earth, images of rust and money appear on the screens. T HE M ISSION Elderly rockers Purple Floyd want this spectacle recreated nightly for their final tour (the band had its first "final" tour ten years ago). D ESIGN C ONSIDERATIONS Let's evaluate this application using the design process I laid out in "My Show Control Design Process," on page 118. Of course, we will also incorporate the principles I explained in the "System Design Principles" section, on page 43. Question 1: What are the safety considerations? The movement of the mechanized drum riser is potentially dangerous, and this needs to be taken into account. Question 2: What type of show is it? It's mostly a linear show, since the band will play (more or less) the same sequence of songs each night. Question 3: Is the show event-based, time-based, or a hybrid? Some sort of time code will likely be needed in conjunction with the media, but there will probably be a few event-based triggers as well.