XL and MX video production project

[Tash]

XL and MX video production project

 

XL Video are supplying video production – including a projection system, LED screen, cameras and PPU - to Coldplay’s acclaimed “Mylo Xyloto” (MX) world tour, continuing its long working relationship with the band that started in 2005.

 

Live video director is Andy Bramley and the content / media servers are designed and programmed by Ben Miles. Together they have evolved a unique, almost cinematic video aesthetic for the band’s live performances, working closely with the production and lighting designer Paul Normandale, who designed the screen layout, and Phil Harvey, Coldplay’s creative director. Misty Buckley styled the vibrant graffiti tagged set decoration which adds another layer to the visual tone.

 

Played to a 360 degree audience where possible, with audience seated behind the stage which is still in the end-on position, video is an intricate blend of raw and soft / colourful and monochrome elements in a lively, edgy interactive environment.

 

Both Bramley and Miles have worked with XL Video on many previous occasions and describe the service, equipment and attitude as “Excellent”.

 

Over the stage is a single five metre diameter circular Barco O-Lite (10 mm) screen –which is directly backed with a projection screen surface for the 360 degree shows. Out in the auditorium are four circular screens - two at six metres and two at four metres - flown in the roof above the audience.

 

This ensured that everyone in the arena has a good view of the video. The screens showed a mix of IMAG and playback throughout the performance, and video was again an essential part of the band’s communication with the audience.

 

Bringing the screens out to the audience also helps close the space down and make it intimate and theatrical when needed. Coldplay are one of a handful of bands to master the art of making large venues feel intimate and personal with a combination of performance, presence and production.

 

Each screen is fed by a pair of XL’s Barco FLM 22K projectors with overlaid images, all connected via a fibre network, specified as the best data solution to deal with the long distances which can be up to 200 metres between projector and control.

 

Miles is running two active Catalyst media servers, via a grandMA Lite console, with two hot backups. Each is fitted with a TripleHead2Go giving three outputs per device – one for each of the six screens, so all can receive independent feeds in any configuration.

 

This gives the full flexibility to send any source to any screen, together with a 16 x 16 Lightware DVI matrix supplied by XL Video, a new product geared to touring and also remotely controllable. XL built a custom rack to house all the Catalysts, the matrix, associated devices and a UPS.

 

Miles does all the screen management and effecting both playback and camera outputs – an organic Bramley / Miles process often with a flourish of improv– in the Catalyst.

 

The playback footage follows a graffiti inspired trajectory, including re-edited video of the bespoke ‘hypnoflow’ laser frame from the summer festival tour – and other funkiness, presented with futuristic twists of psychedelia.

 

Bramley has directed Coldplay’s live video since 2005’s Twisted Logic tour. He and Miles worked in tandem on 2008/09’s Viva La Vida tour, where their particular synergy and style of harmonising IMAG, playback and lighting in colour and movement was initiated.

 

XL are supplying four main cameras for this leg of the tour, one stationed at front of house with a long lens and three hand-helds in the pit – where they can move freely and follow the band. These and one robot cam onstage are cut by Bramley on his GV Kayak console and then sent into the Catalyst system along with the TX feed, and from there, output to screen.

 

XL is supplying six crew to work with Bramley, including Miles, engineer Ed Jarman, projectionist Kevin Parry, LED tech Pieter Laleman and Rob Wick and Sacha Moore on cameras. James Morden and Tracey Donnelly have been XL’s technical and project co-ordinators, with Phil Mercer from the LA office as the project manager.

 

This tour sees the continuation of a long and successful history between XL Video and Coldplay, and is currently scheduled to continue throughout 2012.

 

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[Tash]

An Ultraviolet Feel For Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto Tour

 

Longtime Coldplay production designer Paul Normandale is working with the band again, this time for the Mylo Xyloto Tour in support of the album of the same name (check out video below).

 

“We started in festivals,” says Normandale of this design, “so the idea was an evolving design that can scale all the way into stadiums from a core aesthetic. The band wanted a vivid ultraviolet feel, with a sphere of energy that could go from small to massive.”

 

Normandale notes that they did some preprogramming early on in Cast Software's wysiwyg for last year’s festivals, but since then, the lighting has been programmed on site. His workhorses on the tour are the 46 Martin Professional MAC 101s and eight Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX units. Additional lighting in his rig includes 16 GLP Impressions, 20 Martin Professional MAC 250s with beam kits, 13 MAC 2000 XBS Wash, 10 MAC III Profile, 22 i-Pix BB4s, five floor custom 2Ks with two BB4s Inside each, four Novalight 2kW units, eight Robert Juliat truss followspots, four Lycian FOH followspots, and 23 4-Lite liner Molefay units, with 112’ of red Neo-Neon and 227’ of white Non-Neon for accents. Atmospheric effects comprise two Look Solutions Orka Foggers and two Reel EFX DF-50 Diffusion Hazers. Two High End Systems Wholehog 3 consoles with wings run the lighting.

 

A Barco Olite 5m screen at the core of the video system, with additional screens for I-Mag in circular assemblies. A mix of live and prefabricated content, video makes use of a SAMSC Design Catalyst Media Server setup, and video is managed via an MA Lighting MA-Net2 network. Normandale says he has very few lights in his design, as “everything does everything in my world,” citing the fact that he uses his video elements as a source of light also. Also in use is a Thunder Jacks Video Dust live I-Mag management system.

 

A Kinesys system is used for motion control. Brilliant Stages built the set and staging. Normandale’s own Lite Alternative provided rigging and rigging services, and Upstaging is supplying lighting for the North American leg.

 

Strictly FX has provided the lasers for the tour, with a setup making use of six of high-powered Arctos diode lasers, four 34W RGBY units and two 32W RGBY versions. The laser team programmed seven Pangolin LD2000/BEYOND systems, including one LD2000 PRO.

 

In addition to Normandale, Misty Buckley worked on set design, while Andy Bramley is the video director. Graham Feast is the lighting board op, while Ben Miles looks after the catalysts/content operation.

 

Check out this video montage that shows off some of the design elements:

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=felJN3zg4B0[/ame]

 

 

 

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[coldspot]

WoW :stunned:

[coldplaymom]

Article: An Ultraviolet Feel For Coldplay's MX Tour

 

An Ultraviolet Feel For Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto Tour

 

May 10, 2012 12:17 PM, By Marian Sandberg

 

 

Longtime Coldplay production designer Paul Normandale is working with the band again, this time for the Mylo Xyloto Tour in support of the album of the same name (check out video below).

 

“We started in festivals,” says Normandale of this design, “so the idea was an evolving design that can scale all the way into stadiums from a core aesthetic. The band wanted a vivid ultraviolet feel, with a sphere of energy that could go from small to massive.”

 

Normandale notes that they did some preprogramming early on in Cast Software's wysiwyg for last year’s festivals, but since then, the lighting has been programmed on site. His workhorses on the tour are the 46 Martin Professional MAC 101s and eight Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX units. Additional lighting in his rig includes 16 GLP Impressions, 20 Martin Professional MAC 250s with beam kits, 13 MAC 2000 XBS Wash, 10 MAC III Profile, 22 i-Pix BB4s, five floor custom 2Ks with two BB4s Inside each, four Novalight 2kW units, eight Robert Juliat truss followspots, four Lycian FOH followspots, and 23 4-Lite liner Molefay units, with 112’ of red Neo-Neon and 227’ of white Non-Neon for accents. Atmospheric effects comprise two Look Solutions Orka Foggers and two Reel EFX DF-50 Diffusion Hazers. Two High End Systems Wholehog 3 consoles with wings run the lighting.

 

A Barco Olite 5m screen at the core of the video system, with additional screens for I-Mag in circular assemblies. A mix of live and prefabricated content, video makes use of a SAMSC Design Catalyst Media Server setup, and video is managed via an MA Lighting MA-Net2 network. Normandale says he has very few lights in his design, as “everything does everything in my world,” citing the fact that he uses his video elements as a source of light also. Also in use is a Thunder Jacks Video Dust live I-Mag management system.

 

A Kinesys system is used for motion control. Brilliant Stages built the set and staging. Normandale’s own Lite Alternative provided rigging and rigging services, and Upstaging is supplying lighting for the North American leg.

 

Strictly FX has provided the lasers for the tour, with a setup making use of six of high-powered Arctos diode lasers, four 34W RGBY units and two 32W RGBY versions. The laser team programmed seven Pangolin LD2000/BEYOND systems, including one LD2000 PRO.

 

In addition to Normandale, Misty Buckley worked on set design, while Andy Bramley is the video director. Graham Feast is the lighting board op, while Ben Miles looks after the catalysts/content operation.

 

http://livedesignonline.com/concerts/0510_coldplay_mylo_xyloto/

[HesterJulia#42]

Aah, thank you for posting!:D

[nanda]

I love behind the stage things like this. That sketch of the stage is pretty amazing!

[Tash]

XL steps up to stadiums with Coldplay

 

 

XL Video continues to supply Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto (MX) world tour with LED screens, cameras / HD PPU, media servers and control plus crew, which has stepped up to play stadiums shows in the UK and Europe.

 

The expanded design features XL Video's brand new Pixled F-12 LED screen product. XL Video is the first company in the UK to take delivery of this impressively bright and clear surface.

 

The screen layout for this leg of the tour - developed by production and lighting designer Paul Normandale - features five striking circular F-12 surfaces onstage. The central one measures 9m in diameter and is flanked by two at 8m and then two at 10m on the outside. The two 8m screens are slightly angled to maximise site lines for the audience seated on the sides of the stadiums.

 

The live camera mix is cut by Andy Bramley, and the media server system is designed, programmed and operated by Ben Miles. They work closely on the show's very memorable aesthetics with Normandale, Coldplay's creative director Phil Harvey and Misty Buckley who styled the lively graffiti themed set decoration with the help of graffiti artist Paris.

 

The screens contain over 1140 Pixled F-12 tiles, flown as squares from special screen support towers supplied by StageCo and masked with circular set fascias constructed by Tait Technologies - splattered with graffiti.

 

XL Video worked closely with Tait Technologies to design a custom touring system for the F-12 screens to make rigging straightforward and safe. This also includes sets of dollies in which the screen panels are stored for transit, giving full portability and expedient truck packing.

 

XL Video is supplying seven Sony HXC-100 cameras in total. Two are fitted with long lenses, stationed at the FOH mixer position and on the base of the house left follow spot tower; two hand-helds are at the front-of-stage, one on a tripod; two cover either side of the central ramp coming offstage into the audience and the final one is a hand-held onstage.

 

Bramley has worked with Coldplay since 2005, and together they have honed the look and feel of the live IMAG visuals into a fine art juxtaposing detail and spontaneity.

 

He is using a GV Kayak 2.5 M/E mixer / switcher with Evertz router and Zander Multiviewer and also running Thundering Jack's Video Dust effects software on two Macs. The software has been developed by Stuart Whites and Phil Woodhead, themselves both renowned video directors.

 

Ben Miles is running two active Catalyst media servers via a grandMA lite console each with a hot backup and fitted with a tripleHead2Go, giving three outputs per device - allowing all the screens to receive independent feeds.

 

He takes in four of Bramley's seven camera feeds plus his programme TX as an HD feed, and 90 per cent of the show is full HD with 720 pixels output to each screen.

 

A number of effects, including flips, solarisation, monochrome and the frame drops which bring a filmic quality to the images in key songs, together with the masking and all routing to screen, is done within the Catalyst system.

 

All Catalyst signal / data distribution is run via an XL Video custom DVI fibre system.

 

XL's crew of eight are crew chiefed by the unflappable John Wynne. They include three top LED techs from Belgium - Freddie Debaille, Peter Laleman and Reinder van der Steene - who are joined by Matt Gourd, engineer Ed Jarman and three camera specialists - Phil Johnstone, Sacha Moore and Darren Montague.

 

The tour is project managed for XL by Phil Mercer and Tracey Donnelly. Mercer comments, "We are thoroughly enjoying playing our part in XL's continuing long association with Coldplay, particularly enjoying the challenges, both technical and logistical, of keeping them visually at the very top of their game."

 

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