As sponsors of the Channel 4 documentary presented by Annie Mac, Ford invited industry guests to the wrap party held in the heart of trendy Shoreditch. Contracted by the event organisers, Live Nation Experiential, Utopium's project manager Angus Chinn and his team supplied all lighting, rigging and production services to the event.
The cultural space housed in a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse, Village Underground, is essentially a blank canvas. Utopium transformed the venue with a versatile lighting package that accommodated both the brand aspirations of Ford, and the significant production elements for live DJ sets from DJ's Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
Liaising with production manager Phil Beaven on all creative elements of the show, the team overcame a particular logistical challenge with access into the small sized venue, as two Ford EcoSport cars were installed and raised on 2.5m high truss platforms behind the DJ booth.
Angus said, "We condensed the dynamic visual elements of a large dance music event to fit in a smaller venue. This included prominent placement of Ford EcoSport cars in the set and Ford branding, whilst maintaining a nightclub environment. Along with lasers and our extensive range of modern lighting fixtures, the new Chauvet R1 Beams were a welcome addition to the inventory and used extensively to give exciting beam effects in the haze and smoke.
"We also recreated a spectrum analyser effect with various LED fixtures including the Nexus 4 x 4 panels. This proved to be visually impressive and the ability to add text within this was very well received."
The panels featured prominently in the DJ booth providing an aesthetically pleasing finish hiding cables, whilst the smooth transition of words 'Ford', 'Eco', 'Annie Mac' and 'Pete Tong', added a bespoke element to the show.
Phil Beaven, production manager said, "I tasked Utopium London with delivering a high end event to replicate a superstar DJ stage set within a small London club. Utopium built a stage set that incorporated two Ford EcoSport cars using a mixture of Nexus panels, pixel line, coloured smoke and moving lights to create a backdrop and platform for the DJ's and cars. The final outcome was an amazing, high impact stage set that exceeded my expectations. A brilliant job."
(Jim Evans)
