The Use of Video Technology in Live Productions

[UK]Phil+Mercer

【Abstract】This paper introduces the development, present situation and challenges of the video industry. Take big performances in Europe and the United States as an example, the application of the multimedia video in the show was expounded.

【Key Words】live performances; video technology; multimedia elements; photographic equipment; programme production

Im very privileged to have worked with some of the fathers and grandfathers of a very innovative and fast moving industry.

1 A brief introduction to the dates, technology and shows

Video is the third major production element of live shows and is also the youngest. It traces its roots back to the mid 60s with liquid lightshows, psychedelic oils or live insects projected for bands such as Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane & The Grateful Dead. This was a start of live visuals and began the blurring of lines between ‘lighting and ‘video .

In the early 1970s prog-rock replaced psychedelia, film projectors and television monitor walls were used to add a multi-media element to touring shows such as Genesis, The Tubes& Kraftwerk. Pre-programmed slide projectors enabled content to be played back on cue during shows – a significant advance on the random/live element of visuals in the 60s. Sports stadiums and arenas in US started to install IMAG (image magnification) systems to enable those in the furthest seats close up views of the action in the court or field of play – these were also used for touring concerts and behold the ‘concert video director was born….! Pink Floyd staged The Wall for the first time, with very elaborate (for 1979) video projection being a key element in the show.

By the early 1980s, several bands purchased their own touring video equipment and set up companies to manage and rent this to others - when they were not touring. Nocturne Productions (now part of PRG) was one of the first such companies along with Tasco and Delicate Productions.

Industrial video projectors, such as the Talaria and Eidophor were used for filling large screens with a combination of live cameras and pre-recorded images. Modular CRT based videowalls such as Jumbtron and Astrovision, and were being introduced. David Bowie was the first to use such a videowall in 1983. Texas Instruments launched the DMD chip in 1987 and later on DLP projectors made the Talarias and Eidophors obsolete. By the end of the decade large scale video screens and camera systems were an essential component of a large stadium tour.endprint

The 1990s started with Roger Waters staging The Wall in Berlin, with big advances in projection clearly evident. In 1994 Nichia Corporation demonstrated a commercially viable high-brightness blue LED. In 1995 a computer based media server was used on Chris De Burghs tour, a forerunner to what is now known as Catalyst. By 1997 U2s PopMart tour featured the first tourable LED screen (the recently launched blue LEDs being an key component in this) a second generation LED screen was used on the Spice Girls Spiceworld tour in 1998. The first High Definition broadcasts also occurred the same year.

Entering the 21st century video technology had finally become accessible and user friendly enough to keep up with creative demands of show designers and the complex tours/projects on which it was employed. Now many smaller scale arena acts could afford video, particularly IMAG screens - as the costs were subsidized by pre-show adverting. Recently launched SDI broadcast cameras and switchers were built into touring flight-pack camera systems, a huge step forward which consigned all the component and analogue systems to history. Media Servers such as Catalyst and MBox became common-place, harnessing the graphics power of the latest Mac computers.

Daft Punks alive tour in 2006 was a hugely influential one, both from the integration of many different LED elements into a custom set and also starting the ‘a(chǎn)rms race between DJ/EDM artists on complex designs which continues even today.

U2s 360 tour which began in 2009, is certainly for now a high water mark in terms of ambition, scale and complexity, Im keen to see what their tour next brings.

Finally to conclude this segment of my talk, I want to reflect on the huge progress made in video technology between to The Wall concerts in 1979, 1990 and 2013.

2 But is was never designed to be used that way…..

I have just taken you on a very condensed journey through almost 50 years of fast paced changes in the word of live production video. We would never have made this journey without ignoring the warning labels or disregarding what was written in a user manual.

The majority of early video equipment was designed to be used, in a single location with adequate ventilation and often required a complex and slow process of convergence or calibration when transported from one venue to another – a process I often compare with retuning a piano when on tour.

Our biggest single challenge is touring equipment from venue to venue, country to country and continent to continent; how does a piece of equipment fit in a truck, plane of shipping container, is this thought about in the equipment R&D phase or do we have deal with it later. As the ‘youngest of the major production disciplines, video has often lagged far behind both lighting and sound in this area.endprint

Proprietary cables and very high bandwidth data are a real challenge, invariably a show design calls for power or data to travel further than a manufacturers standard cable infrastructure – we work in an industry where our clients dont understand the phrase it cant be done. Manufacturers may feel very smug about the profit margins on non-standard cables, but many rental companies actively avoid such products they demand flexibility.

How rugged is the equipment we use on a daily basis, do we need to replace many components on a piece of equipment to enable it to last the duration of the tour, safety standards vary greatly around the world, is it suitable to flown over the audience in Germany – a country with very high safety standards.

For the first 10 years LED screens were typically ‘indoor (i.e. low brightness and limited IP rating) or ‘outdoor (i.e. high brightness and IP65 rated), as the demand for LED screens has grown so much, we are looking for a single product that we can use both indoor and outdoor – after all shows transfer between arenas and festivals or stadiums with the same design, yet there are very few products on the market which cater for this.

We are constantly on the lookout for video products that are what I liken to Lego bricks, i.e. same key components that can be used in many different combinations to produce vastly different results visually – but very few manufacturers have standard protocols such as lighting with DMX or Artnet sound with MADI or OSC. Often we have create workarounds or custom programs to enable incompatible equipment (sometimes from the same manufacturer) to interface properly.

A final thought on this section; the live production industry, whilst high profile and influential is a tiny business when compared with the scale of the business that products we commonly use are actually intended; Digital Cinema installations for Projectors, Advertising Billboards/Sports Stadiums/Large Scale Installations for LED screens, TV/Broadcast for Cameras and Switchers or Server Rooms/Video Editing/Industrial Computing for Media Servers. But we do reap the benefit of these industries R&D budgets and their economies of scale and for that Im always grateful.

3 Going full circle

There are two very interesting dynamics that Ive observed both through my various roles in the industry and also discussing ‘a(chǎn)ll matters relating to video technology with many of the different people Ive interacted with over this time;endprint

Firstly

The creativity and vision by individuals or small and very often unknown manufacturers in the early days help created the tools for a fledgling live video industry using bespoke and low volume solutions which were accessible to a few. But the market was fast growing and demand was increasing for larger scale production and a degree of standardization.

Then along came the large multi-national companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Grass Valley and Barco who mass produced devices such as projectors, cameras, control systems and, later on, LED screens. This helped the industry to grow, and in turn the cost of ownership reduced and constant developments kept rental companies continually needing to re-invest in the latest technologies.

Over the past 6 or 7 years, the pendulum has swung firmly back in favour of the unknowns, it started with Media Servers, these are all produced by individuals or small very specialist project based companies such as Richard Bleasdale with Catalyst or UVA with D3 – whove developed these products as solution for their own show needs first and then later sold to the wider industry. Asian LED manufacturers, firstly in Korea with Basictech and Everbrighten, then more recently here in China with Kindwin, Absen and Roe/Unilumin have really shaken up the marketplace with low cost / good quality LED screens.

Whilst in the consumer and broadcast video world, SD video was the global standard for over 30 years, for the next 15 years it was all about HD, then 3D was meant to be the next big thing – but actually wasnt , so very quickly ultra HD or 4k became the future….. One thing is for certain, the multinationals with their vast factories to keep busy and shareholders to satisfy, will move standards forward to suit their commercial needs.

But dont underestimate what I call the Kickstarter or Crowdfunding era though – if an idea is good enough then people will back it with their own money in order to bring it to market.

Secondly

A wide variety of technologies were launched often way ahead of their time and then have a resurgence later when the technology has improved or the market is ready, here are some examples;

Data transmission over fibre was very popular particularly with the earliest LED screens in the late 90s, it was notoriously unreliable due the lack of a rugged connector, now that this has been resolved – fibre has become the cable of choice for any high bandwidth data transmission.endprint

Laser video projectors were patented in the late 70s and several upgraded devices have been shown at exhibitions and trade fairs on an irregular basis since then, but as with LED, the widespread introduction of blue laser diodes in 2010 – have put laser video projectors back on the product roadmap of all the major projector manufacturers again.

Peppers Ghost is an illusion technique whos origins date back to the late 1500s, but has particularly come to prominence again in the 21st century due in part to the power of modern DLP projectors and our desire to include fictious, deceased or the actual living people in a single or multiple locations at the same time. The use of ultra transparent / high brightness LED on Nine Inch Nails recent Tension tour is another variation on this technique, brought bang up to date.

Bullet time camera rigs, gained a worldwide audience via the Matrix movies and for the first time in a live show with Creed in 2009. Since then big advances in camera miniaturization and high frame rates in excess of 200 fps with GoPros and Canon 5Ds and user friendly control software are starting to find their way into live productions – particularly for filming drummers or djs.

4 Show me something I havent seen yet….

If Ive just given you all the impression that there is nothing new in the world of live productions, then Im about to contradict everything I have just told you!

How do we a) break down the traditional barriers between stage and audience, and b) transform very generic arenas or stadiums into unique venues for 1 night only?

Putting cameras literally everywhere helps; Oculus Rift type devices enable fans to experience the show through the eyes of their favorite artist. Using 4k and eventually 8k cameras trained on the entire audience will allow the same fans to see themselves or friends at any point during that show. This really heightens the experience of actually being an active part of a show.

Extending the video display from stage to audience by using Pixel Tablets, Xylobands, Pixmob or software from Makelight is another technique which creates a huge canvas and actively encourages audience participation.

The sensors currently crammed into our smartphones, and already finding their way into various items of wearable technology offer huge potential for trigger, response and reactivity on a wider video canvas.

3d printing and all the possibilities surrounding constructing unique objects such as ‘pixel arrays will take us way beyond the U2 360 screen or the Deadmau5s LED helmets and cubes.endprint

Botndollys ‘Box short film is an incredible demonstration of what is now being achieved in the field of projection mapping. Projector arrays when used in conjunction with sensors and media servers can be used keep eradicate shadows when a performer or set-piece is immediately in front of a backdrop – in lay-mans terms this is literally bending light!!

Transformable materials such as SmartTint which can switch electronically between translucent and opaque can make any surface suitable to project onto Samasungs SmartWindow is a transparent multi-touch hi definition screen along with many other similar technologies are already being incorporated into live productions.

In summary, we certainly have a far wider range of technology and techniques at our disposal than those early days when vision and imagination was frequently left unfulfilled by the limits of what was available at that time. Our challenge today, and going forward, is using everything to its full capability and keeping our audience asking how did they do that?

Phil Mercer:

He heads up the Concert Touring team for XL Video worldwide. Working with artists, designers and production managers, Phil and his team help translate creative visual designs into live performance spectacles. From high profile one-offs to global concert tours, XL's music team works with a broad range of artists in numerous music genres to ensure the impact of their live video production is maximised.

Phil began working with XL Video 10 years ago as a technician, and has progressed from hands-on experience through Project Management to his current role as group Head of Concert Touring. He now leads a dedicated team managing music projects across 14 locations worldwide.endprint