The tour's video treatment was designed by Ora's creative producers Bronski (also production manager and FOH sound engineer) and Amber Rimell (also stage director) in close conjunction with lighting designer Andy Iliffe.
It's based around creating big epic looks, lots of movement and interest, as well as working with a series of props to produce a constantly changing visual environment.
Ora supported Coldplay last summer and Bronski was impressed with the service they received from XL's crew on this, so he approached XL project managers Jo Beirne and Macca (Paul McCauley) to help devise a suitable package for the tour.
Pixled's FX-11 indoor / outdoor product was selected - 60 tiles for the main surface area upstage centre - with the option of having two 1-tile wide by 6 tile deep left and right columns either side of this for the larger shows with greater stage width.
The screen was chosen as the best medium resolution surface to optimise the content - produced by Bronski and Rimell plus a selection of other video artists - and also because of its light weight and easy assembly. This was a real asset in some of the venues, which were primarily Academies combined with a few theatre and concert hall spaces.
Projection provided a high-impact intro to the show. A 12K Barco machine was located at FOH on a scaffolding tower, beaming content onto a white kabuki drop covering the whole mouth of the stage. After a minute and a half, this fell to reveal Ora in her radioactive tent.
Video was absolutely central to the performance. Carefully interwoven with the lighting, costumes, set and props, all elements fused to create a dynamic, layered visually entertaining performance space.
XL's Joe Makein was video technician and Catalyst operator on the tour.
Macca comments, "It was really refreshing to be involved with Bronski and Amber at this really early stage of Rita Ora's touring career. They understand the power and impact of using video properly and appropriately. The artist is very creative and everyone contributes with a real passion to making the performance outstanding and memorable."
(Jim Evans)
