A while back I was called upon to help solve a problem on the University of Virginia. Videolink (Boston, MA) was doing a show for CNBC and needed a JIB placed on the “upper deck” of the Jefferson Rotunda. That’s the Thomas Jefferson Rotunda on the UVA campus. The problem was the only access to that position was a very tight spiral staircase followed by a pull down “attic ladder”. Traditional equipment didn’t have a chance of getting in there. Because the Polecam is so portable it was relatively easy to carry things into position. After reaching the upper deck, we assembled and were ready to go.

This was actually two events in one. Outside the building a set was built for CNBC’s Powerlunch. That crew did live hits through out the day and then their regular broadcast. You can see the amount of work and number of lights needed to get that ready in the pictures. After Powerlunch was done our host came inside and lead a round table discussion for the Jefferson Innovation Summit. The conversation went about 2.5 hours and was pretty interesting.

The overall production was pretty large. The wheeled equipment included a 53′ production truck, two Sat trucks, a 10 ton grip truck, commercial grade generators, and around 12 cameras. The best part… the rain held off until everything was packed up and back on the trucks. Couldn’t ask for anything more.