The band, who, despite their mainstream successes still adhere to their punk ethos, chose not to deviate from their stripped down look to the stage allowing the video crew to concentrate on the band members (and audience members) playing on stage. Video director, Blue Leach was given pretty much carte blanche to interpret his vision of the show onto the two 29Sqm Barco OLite 510 screens either side of the stage.
"The band wanted a very clean look to the stage so there was no scenic video on stage; all the visuals were on the side screens. That said, the band was really enthusiastic to capture every moment of their interaction with the audience that grew ever more integral to their performance as the night progressed. That made my job simply a joy. When you have people as vibrant and electric as Green Day are in performance, you are pretty much guaranteed a roller-coaster ride of a night."
When the video director is gifted with such a blank canvas to work on, his camera team are the most important tool in his kit as Leach explains, "I was lucky enough to have my own camera team with me on the six camera set-up. They were as excellent as ever. There are simply top-notch guys who I can totally trust to be creative and original in their camera work. In an environment like this where the band have given me the freedom to do as I please, having that kind of trust is vital to producing spontaneity and originality to shots.
"Our camera positions allowed us to be really flexible in the way we worked with the band. Green Day are really receptive to anything that underpins their punk ethos so we could experiment with different shaped shots or blow-out lenses shooting the LED banks on stage. That sort of freedom combines with the trust between director and camera crew makes for a really stylish free form show. At a stadium show like this I'm able to try a few ideas at the beginning of the evening so by the time Green Day are on stage I have secured a few tricks up my sleeve."
(Jim Evans)
