The video element of the design is all supplied by Chaos Visual Productions - eight screens of differing sizes are arranged in a classically Normandale asymmetric form. "Although the optimum height for this rig is 50ft there are occasions when that can be reduced to 15ft. I also had to bear in mind that, on a festival stage, our rig could only occupy the last 10ft of the upstage area to allow other artists set up space downstage of us. Consequently, it seemed logical to make sure this was a design that could be adapted easily without it being detrimental to the show. Each of the screens is flown independently so everything can be adjusted to fit whatever the stage dimensions; we can even drop some of the screens if necessary and still run the show."
The on-stage screens supplied by Chaos are Everbrighten BR7 using Brompton M2 Processors along with a full camera package of four Sony HXC100 HD channels and six Bradley Engineering HD10 Minicams; Polecam is supplied by Thundering Jacks who also supplies the Video Dust package that allows for real time effects and as Normandale says, "is an exciting new toy in the hands of the creative video director."
It takes a crew of five from Chaos to support the video rig, headed up by system engineer, Alan Yates. Kings of Leon directors' Anthony Cairns and Phil Woodhead along with handheld cameraman Michael Cordier form the artistic element of the team. As Cairns remarks, "Having such a flexible system that can be reprogrammed to suit - wherever we are playing - means the band can be sure that the audience are going to get the full Kings of Leon experience no matter what venue they come to. It is the combined subtlety of Paul's design and the intelligent choices made when choosing the rig specification without forgetting the commitment and effort from the Chaos crew that achieves that."
(Jim Evans)
