Elation lights Puscifer in Arizona desert
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Called on to create evocative visual atmospheres for the shoot was lighting designer Sarah Landau (A Perfect Circle, Childish Gambino, M83), who turned to an IP-rated rig of Elation lighting to brave the desert elements.
Landau has designed for Puscifer since 2016 and handled production design for the Arcosanti event along with Puscifer guitarist and producer Mat Mitchell. Puscifer, known for their eclectic live productions, performed their new album Existential Reckoning across a three-day shoot in September from the arcology site, a one-of-a-kind lifestyle project that is a fusion of architecture and ecology. The stream was released on 30 October.
Arcosanti has the goals of ‘combining the social interaction and accessibility of an urban environment with sound environmental principles, such as minimal resource use and access to the natural environment,’ and sits amidst a land preserve 70 miles north of Phoenix. The ethereal site supports perfectly the alien tones of the album, and as Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan lives and runs a vineyard just an hour north of the site, it was a natural choice for the performance.
“The show took place in three acts in three locations around Arcosanti to showcase both the desert environment, as well as its epic experimental architecture,” explains Landau, who says she was thrilled to be able to work there.
The performance, which was filmed with multiple cameras, was embellished with dynamic lighting, video graphics and fog effects, a combination of visual atmospherics that gave the shoot a powerful cinematic aura. Landau drew inspiration from video designers Mat Mitchell and Alisa Akay to make cohesive performance environments for the shoot.
The designer says the lighting brief was very “open-ended” and that the band trusted her to create a rig with looks that were aesthetically appealing from any camera angle. “Whether they ended up using a close up, or a jib or drone shot, dynamic lighting would be in the frame.”
The lighting setup included eight Proteus Maximus LED Profile moving heads used as key/front lights from trusses outside the playing circle for Locations 2/3 while four floor-positioned units worked as low sidelights in Location 1. Landau said she “required lights that would stay bright even in very saturated colours, and that had precise rotatable shutters to minimize spill.”
Some 42 Proteus Rayzor 760 LED wash moving heads were the main workhorses of the rig, used for backlight and eye candy. “The Rayzors sold me with their sparkle LED element, as well as the 360-degree pan and tilt,” she states and says.
Twelve SixPar 100 IP LED lights were used as uplights for the arches in location two, and for the buildings in the distance in Location three. Six tiny battery-powered Volt Q5E LED wash lights provided uplighting for trees in Location two, and for the low brush and bushes in Location three. “The Volts were helpful for flexibility and changing placements without having to worry about cabling,” Landau said.
The Elation IP-rated luminaires were outside in the dust and extreme heat of the Arizona desert for three days yet Landau reports there were “zero problems” on site and that “nothing needed switching out or repairing.” She is grateful to Ryan Knutson at Brown Note Productions for suggesting the Elation gear and adds that they were also budget-conscious when choosing equipment. “I’m thankful for the lighting team of Joe Casper, Parker Wall and Kyle Wolfe for working hard and bravely in 100-degree days and rattlesnake nights. I am also appreciative of programmer Joe Watrach, who made the best of every fixture's parameters with speed and precision,” she concludes.
