Seasons set the cadence that the beautiful flow of nature moves through as it sustains life and nourishes our planet. It is only fitting then that Z Event, chose a seasonal theme for its most recent Twitch TV streamed event, which raised funds for charities dedicated to protecting the environment.
During the three-day charity marathon, the wide stage at the14,000 capacity Sud de France Arena, went through a series of smooth transitions, as it assumed the personalities of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, plus a fifth season called “The Hell.” The latter being marked by foreboding pyro effects.
The fiery atmospherics for The Hell, along with the evocative looks that set the tone for the other seasons were all part of a dynamic and versatile lightshow created by Jo Martin and powered by a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M and MagicQ 250M.
Working with lighting operator Andreas Monshauer, and video director Ivan Lasgoute, as well as technical directors Pierre Marinier, and William Lecomt , Martin helped to transform the stage with a series of images that evoked the power of nature, all while supporting the performances of the artists on stage.
A striking feature of the design was a large tree in a traditional Japanese that dominated the video wall. Like trees in nature, this one was in flux, changing like the seasons to present different images to the audience, residing quietly in the garden one moment, and then being set against glittering sky the next — always matching the music and colorimetry of the show.
“We had a video wall and video floor,” said Martin. “Every video effect was done to coordinate with the season. Our colors and ambient light symbolized the natural imagery.”
The video content was control by Resolume Arena, with the graphic design being created before the show by the ZQSD Production team. The ChamSys console was used to trigger specific cues like the introduction VDO, as well as different strobe effects, and match them precisely with lighting looks and swaps.
Martin and the design team also relied on their ChamSys consoles to control the atmospherics that were so important to the production. These included the two haze machines and four smoke machines that were used to simulate a burning effect for the Hell season, as well as the four smoke machines that evoked a sense of a frigid lake in winter.
“We accomplished the lighting and effects as well as the video trigger with the ChamSys MQ500M and MQ250M on networking sessions,” said Martin. “Andrea ran the lightshow, and I took care of lighting the faces for the camera, as well as the colorized smoke, the sparkler machines, and the pyros machines. ChamSys was great at helping us match and level between light, VDO and SFX for the final capitation.
“The show was created in the Montpellier Zenith, preprogrammed with Stadium Connect and Capture Visualisation,” continued Martin. “We worked with ArtNet nodes. All the lights, including the follow spots, were in ArtNet control.”
Aside from the precise level of control it afforded him, Martin valued his consoles’ efficiency. “Being able to use the Pixel Mapper for the entire rig, the Timeline function, and having the ability to create Cuestack via importing CVS, saved us a great deal of time,” he said. “So too did being able to slide between different faders functions, while always remaining on the same page.”
Time saved with the console, allowed the design team to focus more on intricate creative issues. “It was challenging to balance between a traditional Japanese garden atmosphere and the modern look we had with all of our video walls and VDO floor,” said Martin “However we did this with by using wooden boards that captured a lot of light. This helped us to create some backdrops that reflected each season in all its beauty.”
