PLSN’s April 2023 “In the Volume” section starts off with news about disguise and XPLOR’s new partnership to tackle the skills gap in virtual production in the UK; how EMN Tech is teaming up with AOTO to build a virtual studio in Turkey; how Reno Studios is launching Taiwan’s highest-res virtual production movie studio in Taiwan, and how Vectorworks’ connection to NVIDIA Omniverse expands designers’ opportunities in the Metaverse.
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NantStudios, a virtual production studio based in El Segundo in Los Angeles County, CA, recently announced that the company, through its wholly owned Australian subsidiary, has built two new LED volume/In-Camera VFX stages at Docklands Studios located in Melbourne, Australia, and will operate the world’s largest LED volume.
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PLSN’s April 2023 issue features details on new tools and solutions for virtual production from SUPERVOID (SVX-1 Media Server) and Nationwide Video (12G Fly-Pack).
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For the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, which aired March 4, 2023, the show featured a digital performance segment with rapper/Nickelodeon star Young Dylan. The sequence was shot via virtual production at LA’s Lulu Studio 18 with a Production Design by Silent House Principal Tamlyn Wright, who was Creative Producer, Production Design for the segment. Lulu Studio 18’s owner Michael Zinman served as Virtual Production Producer. Zinman and Wright share how they created the otherworldly, kid-friendly virtual environment.
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When the production team of the Hulu series’ “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” had an episode that took place primarily on a tour bus, they brought Carstage, an In-Camera Virtual Effects (ICVFX) specialist, onboard. While dealing with ICVFX for such a large vehicle like a bus may seem daunting, it was something Carstage had already tackled. They also got a big assist from Nationwide Video’s Secaucus, NJ location, which was just a five-minute drive from the filming stage.
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Trey Anastasio Band (TAB) and Goose co-headlined an arena tour in the northeast with Lighting Designers Marc Janowitz for TAB and Andrew Goedde for Goose. Joining them on the road were Lighting Directors / Programmers Patrick Hayes for TAB and Tony Caporale for Goose. Their great teamwork and creative synergy resulted in two equal but distinctively different full blown shows every night.
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From the creative minds of designers Steve Cohen and Bob Bonniol, working along with Felix Peralta, Blake Shelton’s “Back to the Honky Tonk” tour, with dynamic lighting, a cutting-edge video environment production design and a working bar stage extension, is a visually engaging theatrical experience. We catch up with the team to learn about the design and the practical solutions they relied on to realize it.
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Electronic music with live music from drumline and horn sections produces a unique acoustic and visually arresting live musical experience for ODESZA’s audiences. Co-Creative Directors Luke Tanaka and Sean Kusanagi along with Lighting Designer Kyle Kegan have been working with the band and PM Shane Crowl to ensure the visual design reinforces the dynamic performance on tour and at festivals during “The Last Goodbye Tour.”
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The Last Rockstars, a Japanese supergroup, played sold-out dates in Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. We speak with Lighting Designer Peter Morse about his rocking design that showcased the band in the best light, and with Video Director Kevin Garcia about capturing and livestreaming the Hollywood Palladium show globally, including to 100 movie theaters in Japan.
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Maggie Rogers, the Grammy nominated singer/songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, is touring with Lighting Designers Dan Hadley & Tess Falcone and Lighting Director Ali “Blue” Allison. Along the way, they talked to PLSN about working with the artist for “The Feral Joy Tour” and how the design supports the artist.
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Mason Ford, Lighting Designer, Programmer and Director for Tove Lo’s “Dirt Femme” Tour, noted how the cloud set pieces were “the main element” at the start of his discussions with Creative Director Charlie Twaddle and the Tove Lo team. They opted to focus more on lighting than video—with no complaints from Ford—with a rig provided by Premier Global Production, the lighting vendor that had supported this artist’s “Sunshine Kitty” Tour in 2020. “When I heard from our Production Manager Tyler Young that we were going with [PGP], I definitely breathed a sigh of relief,” Ford said. “With Mark Donahue out as our Lighting Tech, and the gear they sent us out with, I didn’t have much to worry about.”
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Vance Joy’s “In Our Own Sweet Time Tour” was Lighting Director Morgan Embry’s first chance to work with LD Sooner Routhier, which Embry called “an absolute pleasure,” noting that the design “has really served the show by allowing us to customize to each venue,” including arenas, stadiums, theaters, and amphitheaters. This tour was also the third where Embry worked alongside Lighting Crew Chief & Tech Quincy Stanton, whom Embry credited for expertise and leadership skill. She also gave kudos to programmers Dan Norman and PJ Carruth for “an excellent job of laying programming groundwork that would translate to clean cloning, regardless of which fixture types changed from show to show.”
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