Phil Mercer, PRG XL's Music Group director, worked with Major Lazer's production manager, Joel Stanley, and lighting and visual designer, Kyle Kegan, to create a custom-built video setup which could be varied in size according to the venue.
Using Pixled F-12 LED, the video team worked closely with All Access, who constructed the staging for the tour, to create four pods and a DJ booth. Everything was prepped together to ensure the construction precisely fit the LED tiles. Joel Stanley explains, "We wanted a more scalable design for this tour, and having video and staging prepped together made everything much easier to work with."
Kegan explained the thinking behind the video design. "The use of four pods across the front of the stage created portals through which the dancers could enter. The DJ booth and pods create a backlight for the dancers, which gave the show a more theatrical look, and the content used a lot of monotone or single colours, which meant the screens were used more as a light source."
The content for the screens ties-in with the Major Lazer animated TV series, which is broadcast by FXX, and with the artwork for the group's latest album, Peace Is The Mission, both of which were created by artistic director, Ferry Guow. The touring content was put together by content director, Mike Burakoff.
The video pods and DJ booth were backed with a rear LED screen, also constructed from PRG XL's 12mm LED. The size of the screen varied across the tour venues, depending on the size of the lighting rig for each show. The shows at Manchester and Alexandra Palace had the largest set-ups on the tour, with a total of 200 tiles of LED used for the back screen alone.
To control the video and lighting, Kegan used a combination of MBox media servers, which supplied the playback content for the screens, controlled via a grandMA2 desk. The MBox servers were supplied by his company Voyage Productions. He explains, "The MBox media servers work really well with the grandMA2, enabling me to trigger both the lighting and video cues all together from one desk."
Phil Mercer was supported by project manager Nilkanth Patel who took care of the technical production for PRG XL Video throughout the tour. Mercer sums up, "We really enjoyed working with Joel and Kyle to help bring their creative design to life, and the collaboration with All Access during the tour preparation ensured the video was quick and easy to setup out on the road."
(Jim Evans)
