This was project managed for XL by Des Fallon, with live direction by Jon Shrimpton. Fallon comments, "From my first meeting with management and production, Elbow have been a pleasure to work with. The show was immense, a very special evening."
Shrimpton worked in close collaboration with Mark Thomas from Soup Collective who designed and produced all the playback visuals, and Hugh Davies Webb, who was brought in by XL to run the Catalyst media server that was at the hub of the live video show control.
"The visual cues were all very precise and we had no physical rehearsals, so the this was a major challenge" recalls Shrimpton. The three of them had several meetings to establish, run through and build a structure for the show, but on the night, it was all completely live and direct operation. "It's a very exciting way to work and certainly keeps you on your toes," says Shrimpton.
The screen was shaped like an offset cross, referencing back to artwork on the Seldom Seen Kid album, and constructed from 60 panels of 10mm Barco O-Lite LED, forming an impressive upstage backdrop.
Shrimpton mixed the show from the FOH position - "a completely logical place to do it from considering the collaborative nature of the show" he comments. It's also something that's becoming increasingly common for video directors working as part of a visuals team as opposed to just doing their own thing. Apart from being in close proximity to Davies-Webb and Thomas, Lighting designer Cate Carter was also there, working her own share of imagination into the look of the show.
Six feeds from Shrimpton's GV Kayak mixer were sent to Davies-Webb to output via the Catalyst, and between the two of them, they applied specific treatments like tinting and black & whiting.
XL supplied a strong crew for the occasion, with Carl Martin as crew chief, Bjorn Parry (engineer), Dave Carlton and Chris Isaacson (screen techs), Ron Conley (camera operator) and Rob Wick (camera operator). A special guest appearance was made by leading video director Ruarie MacPhie, who operated the hand-held onstage.
(Jim Evans)
