Working with One Direction and their creative director, Lee Lodge, XL Video provided 144 Barco MiStrip LED batons which were housed in a custom structure created by design studio, Artisan, as a backdrop for the band's performance of their recent single Steal My Girl. The MiStrips complemented a sea of lasers behind the band, and content for the batons was controlled by two of XL's d3 media servers.
When Take That performed as a three-piece on The X Factor's Sunday night results show, their production director, Chris Vaughan, contacted XL Video to provide projection mapping for a multi-surface stage set which incorporated more than 40 blocks of varying sizes.
For this mapped projection, XL Video supplied six of their highest brightness Barco HDQ-2K40 projectors, which covered the surfaces of the rear blocks and dancer podiums. The platform on which Take That performed their hit These Days was covered by two of XL's Panasonic 20K projectors. The complex mapping and content control was supplied using three of XL Video's d3 media servers.
Barco MiStrips were also used to great effect for the appearance of returning X Factor winner Sam Bailey, who performed With You. Mounted on vertical stands, 60 of XL Video's MiStrip LED batons surrounded the singer as she performed the ballad.
Another X Factor returnee, Ella Henderson, made a big impression on the show with the performance of her hit single, Yours. A semi-circular tunnel style structure was designed by United Visual Artists, and to light the structure, 10,000 of XL Video's individual Barco FLX-24 LED pixels were used. The pixels twinkled and pulsed throughout the performance creating the effect of waves of light around the star.
XL Video's TV & film manager, Jeff Bailey, commented, "We often get requests for something a little different for artists appearing on iconic shows like The X Factor. This enables the artists to create something really unique and spectacular for their special performance on the show. For each of these performances, we were able to supply a custom creative solution to satisfy each act's unique requirements."
(Jim Evans)
