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Painting with Light brings Boombox to Schlagerfestival 2018

Painting with Light brings Boombox to Schlagerfestival 2018
Painting with Light brings Boombox to Schlagerfestival 2018

Luc Peumans and the team from Painting with Light presented the Boombox as the set centrepiece for Belgium’s 2018 Schlagerfestival, staged in the 14,000 capacity Ethias Arena in Hasselt. With Paco Mispelters as the lighting designer, Peumans and the crew created the event’s stage, set and production design and produced all the bespoke video content appearing on the Boombox. It’s the 13th year that Peumans has been involved in Schlagerfestival for producers PSE Belgium.

 

At the essence of the design was the desire to make the 8 mm pitch digital scenery three-dimensional and have it appear scenic rather than electronic. Once the Boombox idea started to evolve, Peumans added side panels at 90 degrees to the 20 metre wide by 9 metre high front fascia, so the audience sitting along the sides of the venue (the show was sold 270 degrees) would have a better viewing experience.

 

He then added two piles of retro-style scenic cassette tapes each side of the stage, which were fronted with Barco MiTrix video surfaces and which also formed part of the band risers. Their positioning and random appearance brought a new perspective to the performance space.

 

Painting with Light supplied three video artists - a 3D modeller, a Notch expert and an animations specialist - to develop the Boombox content. The 4 metre wide cassette door in the middle of the physical structure slid open to provide stage entrance points for artists, and the 16 piece house band was positioned onstage to the left and right of the door, with some ‘on’ the piles of cassettes.

 

The cassette spines included handwritten titles, text slogans and comments - each relevant to the performer onstage at the time - while various related graphics and artwork were applied to the different parts of the Boombox. The cassette spine video content was produced as artwork to fit the surface areas and also scaled to the Boombox. On top of the Boombox was a scenic handle, three large buttons and two antennas/antennae which helped make it look similar to the real thing.

 

Three different overall looks were developed for the radio section of the Boombox, including a tuner and VU metre, which were animated in real-time using Notch real-time effects and rendering software. This was linked to the disguise server, and ran scripts that translated DMX values from the lighting console and applied them to the different Boombox graphic layers. These scripts were triggered via audio inputs, so the VU metre movements were synched to the beat.

 

A similar treatment was used to pulse the speakers - utilizing a variety of graphics - in time with the music, with some animations looking identical to speaker cones vibrating and pumping with SPLs. Lighting and video were programmed, aligned and finessed with Luc Peumans, Paco Mispelters, video programmer Mark Honsbeek and lighting operator Arjan Grootenhuis all working in close collaboration.

 

The Disguise GX 2 server ran all the video playback, but the atmospheric video settings, including colour, were controlled and triggered via the GrandMA2 lighting console. Mispelters utilized around 400 lights on the rig, including 86 x Robe Pointe multi-functional moving lights, 65 x GLP X4 Washes, 40 x Claypaky Sharpy Washes, 26 x Martin MAC Viper DX Washes, with 10 MAC x Viper Performances illuminating the thrust which comprised both vertical and horizontal runways.

 

One hundred and twenty LED PARs were rigged on 10 pods, flown in the auditorium roof and lighting the crowds. Many of the stage lighting fixtures were also positioned so they could swing round and swoop over the audience when needed. Thirty Chauvet Strike 1 LED blinders blasted out into the arena and a number of SGM Q7 LED flood/strobes were also deployed for blinding duties. Three PRG Bad Boys running via a Ground Control remote follow spotting system ensconced under the stage were used to follow the artists.

 

Programming time on site was tight, so two GrandMAs were used, one for lighting and video, and one with the merged showfiles running off a single console operated by Arjan Grootenhuis (with ‘hot’ backup) for the four shows. The Painting with Light team also used their studio in Genk for three days of pre-visualization and programming. This was followed by a fine-tuning session.

 

Lighting, LED screens and sound equipment for the 2018 Schlagerfestival was supplied by PRG Belgium, with IMAG cameras and PPU from Fly Away, while lighting and playback video control was provided by Painting with Light.

 

(Photos: Louise Stickland)

 

www.paintingwithlight.be

 

 

Painting with Light brings Boombox to Schlagerfestival 2018Painting with Light brings Boombox to Schlagerfestival 2018

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