The Electric Forest was born out of the Northumberland Lights project with which White Light was closely involved some years ago. Lighting designer Phil Supple explains, "In the winter of 2007, the Northumberland Lights production team staged an illuminated night-time walk through the beautiful landscaped woodland of The Cragside Estate's Victorian Pinetum.
"Ideas for a technologically and creatively enhanced forest experience were further developed in 2008 on the shores of Northumberland's Kielder Water. By then the production team -myself, event producer Zoe Bottrell and her team at Culture Creative, a core team of artists and outdoor specialist technicians, with great technical support from White Light - had the beginnings of a plan for an event that could be transferred to different locations.
"In its present form, Electric Forest consists of a series of interventions along an accessible route of between one and two miles in length that leaves from and returns to visitor facilities in a public recreational forest, held early evening after dark." The project uses lighting and sound to create spectacular visual and sometimes audio treatments to transform the experience of passing through the forest.
To create each scheme, Supple follows the same approach as would be used to create a lighting design in a more traditional venue, though on a much larger scale. Each design is carefully planned, costed and equipped.
The design is then installed by Supple and a team lead by production manager Jezz Hellens, using a range of equipment that is both easy to carry to and install in remote locations and able to survive for up to three weeks outside in a British winter. "The Par Can is our tool of choice in all its forms," Supple explains, "and we also use, amongst other things, Chroma-Q Color Punches, IP65 encapsulite fluorescents, Source Fours, and lots of LED fairylights." The most unusual part of the rig is not in the equipment but in the infrastructure: "we do use a quite extraordinary amount ofcable!"
(Jim Evans)
