Sun City Music Festival
Big Fish on Broadway
Big Fish is certainly one of the most eye-popping spectacles to hit Broadway in years. The stage adaptation of Daniel Wallace’s book, which was also turned into a film by director Tim Burton, is a vibrant musical that features high energy numbers, dozens of scene changes and some dazzling visuals in which scenic and projection design are integrated into a seamless blend. The story concerns Will Bloom (Bobby Steggert), a young husband and expectant father who is trying to discern the truth behind the tall tales frequently orated by his flamboyant father Edward Bloom (Norbert Leo Butz), a small town Alabama man whose health is in decline.
Read More »
A Dark Visual Feast: “Metallica Through the Never”
Metallica: Through the Never merges both the concert and dramatic narrative genres into a feature film with visually stunning results. The Picturehouse Entertainment film is an unusual hybrid that reflects the band’s “go big or go home” style. Even the release of the movie was unique as it first opened exclusively in 3D IMAX in the U.S. before going to wide release a week later. Directed by Nimród Antal, who also co-wrote the script with Metallica, the dramatic portions of the story are interwoven with a Metallica concert that, literally at times, bleeds together for a dark visual feast based on the band’s hardcore metal music.
Read More »
Umphrey’s McGee
No Matter the Size of the Venue, Big Looks All Around
Since Jefferson Waful, LD for jam band moe from 2003-2008, took over for Umphrey’s McGee LD Adam Budney in late 2008, the band performs in a variety of venues — everything from theaters to sheds and arenas. They can range in size from Oklahoma City’s Diamond Ballroom, with a 14-foot trim and a capacity near the 1,000 mark, all the way up to the 12,000-seat Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta, GA.
Read More »
The Pet Shop Boys “Electric” Tour
The Pet Shop Boys duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, (vocals, keyboards, occasional guitar) and Chris Lowe (keyboards, occasional vocals) may not be boys anymore — they’re in their mid- and late-50s — but the electronic pop duo have continued their ability to top the charts through the decades. Their 2013 Electric tour supports the July 2013 album release of the same name — the band’s 12th. The album was both a popular and critical success, with U.K. chart results besting any of the duo’s albums since the release of Very in 1993. Since the duo first hit the big time in the mid-1980s, they have sold more than 50 million records.
Read More »
The Big House Under the Lights
Michigan Stadium Halftime Crew Goes Long with Beams and Lasers
On Sept. 7, 2013, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI, the University of Michigan Wolverines squared off against the Fighting Irish from Notre Dame in the latest football matchup in a rivalry that dates back to Nov. 23, 1887. (After giving the Notre Dame students a few pointers about the new sport, Michigan won, 8-0).
Read More »
Robe Robin Pointe
Group One Ltd.
ExactTarget Connections Conference
Dodd Technologies Serves Up a Visual Feast for Multi-Venue, Three-Day Convention
Working a three-day convention event with thousands of attendees and a plethora of live video content is already a challenge for collaborating companies, but add in a live concert event as well as video walls in two other locations, and the juggling act becomes trickier. But Indianapolis-based Dodd Technologies was up to the task of tackling the ExactTarget Connections conference, which included speakers Jim Collins, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a presentation by Pinterest.
Read More »
Lighting ‘Oblivion’ with a Projected Sky
Universal Studio’s sci-fi feature film, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, presents a post-apocalyptic earth, which would seem to demand heavy visual effects (VFX), and while there are many in the film, there are some surprising sequences that are, in fact, not CG. For two of the primary, futuristic sets — the Sky Tower and the Cloud Tower — cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC, and director Joseph Kosinski filmed most of the visual effects live in-camera rather than using green screens. It’s an old-school style that immerses the actors in the actual environment, but not the first instinct of filmmakers when the environment is supposed to be a cloud-surrounded glass-walled apartment 3,000 feet in the air.
Read More »
Keith Urban “Light the Fuse” Tour
Australian country music singer Keith Urban embarked on his “Light the Fuse” tour, in support of Fuse, his eighth studio album. The tour launched in Cincinnati, OH on July 18 and ran through Oct. 5 in West Palm Beach, FL on its first North American leg. Urban has two more North America tour legs mapped out for Oct. 18-Dec. 8, 2013 and Jan. 9-Feb. 1, 2014. The album’s lead single, “Little Bit of Everything,” debuted in mid-May and the full album was released on Sept. 10.
Read More »
“Waiting All Day for Sunday Night”
Carrie Underwood and a Digital Cast of Thousands Kick Off the NFL Season for NBC
After six seasons, Faith Hill opted out and Carrie Underwood was chosen to sing the musical introduction to NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football (SNF). A new intro video was created and shot with Underwood’s take on the theme song to kick off each week’s prime time game. It premiered Sunday, Sept. 8, before the Dallas Cowboys hosted the New York Giants.
Read More »