Elation adds atmosphere to Deadstream #2
- Details
Motionless in White are one of the leading acts in the genre with an explosive sound and captivatingly macabre stage presence. A troubled and abandoned state-run school and hospital, Pennhurst Asylum, a frightening place with a sordid history of suffering and paranormal presences, provided the backdrop for a heavy hitting dose of horror-themed metal.
“I feel that if Alice Cooper or Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson were to know where we shot this they would be very jealous of where we were and what we got to experience,” stated lighting designer Mike Null about the eerie location.
Null has been with the band for over a year, a stretch that includes a tour as well as the band’s first Deadstream, recorded at the Squeek Lights shop in New Jersey last October. Null used Elation Artiste Picasso and Dartz 360 on that show and again turned to the LED moving heads for Deadstream #2.
“The first stream planted a seed in their head,” he said. “If we can do this again, how can we make it bigger and better?” As the band hails from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the somewhat local and debilitated environs of the Pennhurst Asylum seemed a fitting place to put on a show at the end of a pandemic. For Deadstream #2, Null painted the Asylum building and projected gobos behind the band using eight Artiste Picassos, lined a path along the front of the building with 24 Dartz, and used some 30 SixBar 1000 linear battens as foot lights. He also lined the yard with Hex Panel IPs from Elation sister company ADJ.
Null says there were a few boxes that he needed to check regarding the lighting design. “First, this was a live show so we needed firepower and massive looks. Second, was to highlight this special place and create a theatrical and haunted feel, and third was to light for video. We needed something that could satisfy what Chris Motionless [lead singer and main songwriter Chris Cerulli] wants to see from a live concert perspective but also fill the needs that video as well as the environment needed.”
Lined up as footlights, Null incorporated 30 SixBar 1000 six-color LED battens for front light throughout the set - the drummer, pathways, risers, and Chris’s catwalk. The Hex Panel IPs from ADJ were used as sidelights and strobes.
