Lighting designer Martin Khun, who has created lighting designs for the event since 1997, was looking for something 'a bit special' to ensure this year's event surpassed previous occasions. He wanted to create something no one had ever seen before which is why the focus of his design involved extensive use of the G-LEC Curtain. Martin first came across the Curtain, which is made from LEDs in transparent tubes, at the ProLight and Sound show in Frankfurt and presented the idea to Nature One's producers who jumped at the chance to experiment with something new. "Having worked on Nature One for the last six years, it naturally becomes more of a challenge to create pioneering lighting designs. I always aim to create something that people haven't seen before and with the G-LEC Curtain we were able to achieve something which would have been impossible with conventional screens".
Martin's design involved flying six G-LEC Curtains in the middle of the audience. Martin explains: "The Curtain is perfect for any outdoor rave, festival or concert since the lighting designer is able to use various graphic effects and control it from the desk. What's more, it's the only system which is light enough to install as we like, when we like, particularly in the round as we did here."
While it's the first time Martin's used the Curtain for the festival, it's rapidly becoming associated with the glitzy world of showbiz, making some high profile appearances on the stage and screen. Freelancer Jerry Appellt is one lighting designer who's already put the G-LEC Curtain to use for such purposes. "The first time I used the G-LEC Curtain was in the summer of 2002 when I lit an arena tour for the punk rock group Vohfeonkelz. The Curtains were used in two strips on the side of the set and to cover the risers at the front of the stage. I then created special graphics, in keeping with the punk theme of the tour, and the effects were amazing, especially since the G-LEC Curtain allows you to project moving images too."
It was the translucency of the G-LEC Curtain which first attracted Jerry, but he explains that being so easy to handle and use, are major benefits over the traditional LED screens. "Because it's so convenient, I have been able to use the G-LEC Curtain on numerous projects and it's currently very popular for TV shows. In fact it went down a storm at the Echo Awards (Germany's answer to the Brits). As the winners, including Robbie Williams, Avril Lavigne and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were announced, the G-LEC Curtain allowed us to light up their names on the stage, it really was quite spectacular."
The G-LEC Curtain is available in the UK through G-LEC's London Office at Fourth Phase London.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
