ON THE ROAD: George Michael
Below: The d&b J Series Line Array sound system was chosen for the orchestral tour; Head Rigger Steve Walsh; Don Parks, System Tech from Wigwam; George ‘The Prof’ Hogan manned Radio Frequency; as on all of Michael’s shows, the visual elements were key but effortlessly classy.
left and right, four side trusses comprising 24 Sharpys were used to create cross light, with 60 Philips ColorBlast TRX LED fixtures placed on the header and 48 standard ColorBlast 12’s on the floor to uplight the drape, which was created in America by Back2Front. All LED lights on the floor and in the
VersaTubes were fed through a Catalyst, meaning some content from the video screen was reproduced as a low-res mirror image on the built-in LED strips the set. Halpin came up with the concept of inlaying the LED lighting into the floor of the stage, along with the show’s stunning overall lighting design. “At the Royal Opera House in London we
will also add a set of Philips Colour Kinetics TRX ColorBlast in the orchestra as uplight to complement the music stands. Right now, the music stand’s standard tungsten fixtures just light their upper body, but the concept for future dates is for every musician to have a foot light to uplight them,” explained Richard. With video being as integral to the show as
it was on 25 Live, it was necessary to prevent lighting from interfering with the screen and to make sure the colour palette followed video content. “Lighting needed to follow video colours in order for the audience’s eye to be led to the centre and not be distracted by clashing colours,” said Richard. The lighting crew also had to be mindful
of the amount of aerial lights used because Michael prefers most of the illumination to come from the ground or the sides to further help direct attention towards the central video screen. To achieve this goal, Richard used an
48 • TPi NOVEMBER 2011
ESP Vision lighting pre-visualisation system, enabling him to see the full system in a virtual environment, play the tracks with time code to find when the video colours changed and programme complimentary lighting colour schemes at specific moments. Said Richard: “It was important to get a
model of this lighting system and video screen drawn up in Autodesk’s 3D Studio Max. Once you’re on tour, you have very little time to catch up, so while the real system was being set up every day, ESP Vision helped me programme complex lighting cues and rhythm chases and really push the time code triggering capabilities of the grandMA2.”
A VISUAL REACTION TO SOUND One of the focal points of the stage design on Michael’s last tour, 25 Live, was an LED video screen in a ski-slope form that flowed across the stage, on which Michael performed. Said Watts: “This time around, George wanted something just as unique and new, so the decision was made to use a giant screen that curves at the sides to wrap around the set. George was directly involved with the video team throughout and the content was very much his baby.” Video Director Richie Shipman, who was
also part of the 25 Live team, has noticed the benefits of Michael’s hands-on approach to the visual side of his tours. Commented Shipman: “He notices everything and the ideas for content have come from him directly.” At almost twice HD and with over two million pixels in the display, the video screen
supplied by Chaos Visual Productions treated the audience to a visual extravaganza. Seven hi-def Sony HXC-100 cameras filmed the show, with the footage upstreamed and reconfigured by UVA’s D3 media server to be displayed on the LED screen, comprising 494 9mm WinVision tiles. “The budget determines how much
resolution you have on a show and all the material we play on Symphonica has been created at a double video rate and is run at almost twice HD. It’s a new concept we’re testing out here really and the screen looks amazing, but it’s not video; it’s data effectively,” said Shipman. The 9mm WinVision display panels were
chosen to make up the screen because they could be formed into a curved shape. Their light weight was another advantage, allowing the screen to be easily hung on the purpose- built VideoTech truss developed by Chaos and Total Solutions. The PLASA Innovation Award- winning truss system enables the crew to access the screen using mini motors. Explained Shipman: “This means we can climb up the back of the screen if we need to adjust it. For us, the whole video package is a lot smaller with less cases, so it can fit onto one truck.” The visual element of Symphonica is far from
your standard concert, utlising a programme that uses an algorithm to produce moving coloured patterns, complex shapes and 3D environments in reaction to live instruments or vocals. Although live footage and pre-recorded video of stars such as Dita Von Teese and John Lennon appear on the giant screen, graphics
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92