Outlook - this was the seventh edition - features the largest collection of dub step, bass music and soundsystem culture in Europe with an action-packed line up uniting some of the biggest names from these vibrant dance genres.
Overall project, production and site management for Outlook 2014 - and the four day underground electronic beats Dimensions Festival on the same site the previous weekend - was undertaken by Bristol UK based WNY, headed by Ben Price, with lighting design and rigging site wide by Fineline Lighting, also from Bristol. They were working for the event organisers, NVS Promotions.
Each year the production values increase and become more demanding in line with the success of the event itself. This year, the 15,000 capacity Outlook saw over 400 international acts perform. Ben Price, as overall production director, was responsible for the site design and technical realisation which saw a 1.5 x 1.5 Kilometre area on the Punta Christa peninsula divided into three main zones.
The main Harbour Stage was nestled into one of the Adriatic's many scenic sea-side coves and could accommodate audiences of up to around 7000. The second stage was located in The Clearing, mid way across site which was accessed by a network of dirt tracks. (For the smaller capacity Dimensions Festival, The Clearing had been the main stage)
On the opposite side of the site to the Harbour was The Beach area, complete with the Beach Party stage directly on the waterfront which fired up every afternoon and ran until the main two stages and the Fort, with its seven live areas, kicked off at 8 p.m. each night. Farther along the waterfront from this was the camp site.
The late 19th century fort, Pula's first line of defence during the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, presented an eclectic collection of seven 'pop-up' performance spaces all ensconced in and around the charismatic ruins of the extensive fort. These ranged from the 75 capacity Ballroom to the 1500 capacity Void Stage.
Suppliers brought in by WNY included RG Jones from the UK, who provided the audio requirements for all performance stages; Swiss staging company Nüssli, who built all the main structures; The Power Company from Austria who provided site-wide power and Croatian plant specialist Magrad who were the source for portacabins, trackway, fencing tele-handlers, safety lighting and other related infrastructure.
The site build started in mid-August. Price and crew - which peaked at 120 people - ran the site to the same CDM standards as they would any event in the UK, with a few local interpretations to take specifics into account.
It's the third year that Fineline Lighting has been involved with supplying lighting and rigging for the Festival - and their first supplying all eight major performance stages plus all the Fort's environmental and architectural components including trees, bushes, landscape and historical features.
Fineline asked LD Nic Ayres to design and operate lights on the main Harbour Stage, which included a live mix of reggae, dub and dancehall stars as well as a selection of DJs, so his objective was to create a fabulous, flexible and dynamic visual space, which he approached utilizing curves and spheres.
The moving lights were nearly all Robe - 12 x Robe Spot 600Es and 12 x Wash 600Es, 12 x Pointe multi-purpose fixtures and 8 x LEDBeam 100s, which were rigged all over the trussing framework, with an additional 8 Sharpies on the deck.
These were joined by 10 x 6-lamp PAR bars, eight Atomic strobes plus a splattering of single LED PARs used to tone the trusses and reveal the architecture, plus 8-lites and 2-lite blinders.
Control was an Avolites Tig
