"I first started working with Miguel Bosé in 2005 and this is actually my first tour with Juanes," said Corthout. "After talking with both artists, my partner Bjorn and I put together a 'mood-board' with various looks to try and figure out what style each artist would find most appealing for their show. While many artists might have an idea or concept in mind, I find that if we give them some suggestions to choose from, it helps them make a decision, and really begins to direct the style for the show.
"After that we start putting together a design in cooperation with our visual artists chosen for each project. For each different musical artist with a different style for their show, we like to use different visual artists to avoid making things look alike. But as we did this, the common element that was becoming evident in both tours was that they we would be using a lot of video, and because we would use a lot of video, we needed bright fixtures."
As with most world tours, large high-resolution video screens would be used to create scenic elements and provide the performances with an electrifying video showcase of images and artwork. But as the video elements continue to increase in both size and output, lighting designers are faced with choosing the exact fixtures that can cohesively complement the video without getting lost behind it.
"During the design phase, it became apparent that our biggest obstacle with the lighting would be the brightness of the video. I didn't want to use spot fixtures for either show because they often drown in the output of the video, or you have to use a lot of smoke, and I really don't like smoke because it makes the video images look dirty. So we had to have bright wash fixtures to light the band that could match both the power and color palette of our video elements."
(Jim Evans)
