UK - A Catalyst V 4 digital media server is at the core of Paul Normandale's visual design for the 2008 James Blunt world tour. It replaces a previous digital media server and is being operated on tour by lighting director Glen Johnson, who is also running lights and overseeing all the design aspects of the show.

Normandale and Johnson have created a varied set of visual content which runs throughout the set, produced from a variety of sources including the Catalyst library, websites and selected and re-cut James Blunt videos, some of which have never been shown before.

"Using Catalyst allows daily onsite editing and scaling, and also the development of images for colour palette and the various media surfaces," says Normandale.

The tour was conceived for American arenas and has been scaled accordingly for the European section. The design had a regal theme using Blunt's family coat of arms, along with the monkey symbolism of the album and the desire to progress the show in a series of scenes. These involve cyc projection, red stripes and the 108sq.m of 250mm ColorWeb LED, all of which play a part in a series of reveals, adding depth and dimension to the stage.

In addition to the Catalyst, they have a PixelMAD system, also supplied by UK Catalyst dealer Projected Image Digital, running as a stand alone machine, which is supplying content - via 13 DMX universes - to the ColorWeb which flies in and out during the show. Being transparent, this is also utilised for some leftfield 3D effects with video running on the surface and lighting punching through from behind.

Johnson us using a WholeHog 3 console for control, and all lighting hardware for the tour is supplied by Lite Alternative. Sound is supplied by Skan, and the James Blunt tour is scheduled to continue into early 2009.

(Jim Evans)


Latest Issue. . .