JDC Line helps Glass Animals into Dreamland
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The Oxford-based quartet were all set to tour their chart-topping Dreamland album this Spring until lockdown came along. When their lighting team (Cassius Creative) were eventually called into play (by tour/production manager, Simon Lutkin), it was to produce a viewable online show only (Live In The Internet) -a dynamic concert masterminded by the band’s inventive front-man, Dave Bayley.
Set up nearly five years ago by Chris 'Squib' Swain and Dan Hill) Cassius Creative dipped into their armoury of GLP fixtures and at the same time became one of the first adopters of the new JDC Line hybrid strobe batten. This combines a powerful linear white strobe element and two separate RGB LED pixel mapping lines, all in a slimline format that complements the classic JDC1. To Swain and Hill it simply seemed like “a natural extension”.
The virtual venue chosen for this showcase was the LH3 rehearsal/prep space at Neg Earth, the lighting hire company who would have been delivering the tour inventory. During the hour-long performance, the band reimagined their live show for streaming, and were joined along the way by singer songwriter Arlo Parks and rapper Denzel Curry.
Using video content from Russian company Sila Sveta to create an ever-changing immersive environment, the show tested the lighting artists’ ability to combine the dynamic impact of a pop video, or TV promo, with a full length concert. “The band didn’t want it to feel like a music video - they wanted it to be as live as possible,” state the two LDs.
Cassius Creative explained how they helped convert performance space into what was described as a “vibrant paradise” to represent Dreamland, with the aid of 14 JDC Lines on the downstage edge on the floor and 36 JDC1 in the roof, with the visuals constantly transforming the stage scenically via a number of “miniature sets within a set”, as Dave Bayley put it. They also suggested the use of foliage, working in conjunction with the lighting to produce an organic feel, taking inspiration from mixed media artist, Nam June Paik.
Other credits for Live In The Internet include James Barnes (director); Marcus Domleo (DoP); Amy James (producer); Daniel Richardson (lighting programmer) and Sam Henderson (video programmer).
