ADJ Fixtures Create The Atmosphere For UK’s Biggest Online Haunted House Afterparty

The official 2020 afterparty to UK radio station Kiss FM’s annual Haunted House Party featured a backdrop of ADJ lighting and LED video fixtures, while atmosphere for the set was provided by an ADJ Entour Ice low-fog machine. Hosted by Kiss FM DJ Majestic, the live stream provided the “stay at home soundtrack” for thousands of young people who weren’t able to go out to parties or clubs to celebrate Halloween this year.

MLC Events, a small but growing Essex-based production company owned by Sean Smyth, was brought in to provide lighting, video and audio for the afterparty shoot. Since filming the performances for the livestream was also part of the contract, Smyth in turn decided to bring in another rapidly-expanding local company, Kent Media Group, which has a team – headed up by Jack Wilson – specifically skilled in video capture. The two companies worked closely together to provide Kiss Dance with a full-service package that included both the lighting/video design of the stage set and filming/editing of the finished video material ready for live-streaming on Halloween night.

“Pretty much the whole rig was designed on the day,” explains Smyth. “We did no pre-production, there was no time for it! Although we knew it was on the cards, we literally got the nod we had the job the week before. The venue [The Club Room at The Bedform hotel in London] was perfect, it really had the feel of a haunted house. We got in there at 7am on the Monday morning and were ready to start filming at 11am. We then did two solid days of filming: all of the sets for the afterparty as well as Dizzee Rascal’s performance for the main show.”

The backdrop to the shoot comprised of 32 ADJ AV4IP LED video panels (supplied by Kent Media Group), which were used to display ambient visuals as well as the name of each performer during their set. Meanwhile, the DJ booth was fronted by 8 ADJ AV6X panels, which were used to display the “Kiss Dance Haunted House Afterparty” logo laid over matching ambient visuals. Both screens were driven by a single Novastar VX4S video processor, which made for an easy to setup and configure video solution.

The main moving head fixture of the rig that Smyth and his team created was ADJ’s immensely popular Vizi Beam RXONE. Featuring a potent Osram Sirius HRI 1R discharge lamp this compact and quick-moving fixture generates a super sharp 3-degree beam that will travel a distance of up to 100 meters. A total of eight units were utilized, four on either side of the rear LED screen. On each side, one pair were rigged to vertical truss totems while another pair were mounted to pieces of truss laying on the floor that came out from the rear video wall to the front of the stage at an angle. This had the effect of wrapping the lightshow around the DJ booth, giving it a three-dimensional feel, allowing performers to be surrounded by a myriad of beams.

“I have to say, the Vizi Beam RXONE is my favorite light!” enthuses Smyth. “I like it because it doesn’t use a lot of power, especially considering the intensity of the beam it creates. It’s also very fast-moving and I like the effects you can create using the prism and split-colors – it really is easy to program. Because it’s so small, you can hide it away in a lighting rig too, but then, when it’s on, the beam is just spectacular! I don’t think there’s a fixture out there that can compete with its combination of output, features, size and price. It’s also very reliable; I’ve had these eight units for almost three years and never had a problem – I’ve not even had to replace a lamp yet!”

In addition, four of ADJ’s Jolt 300 LED fixtures did double duty as both wash and strobe lights. Each of these versatile units feature a central strip of 144 x 0.5W white SMD LEDs, surrounded on both sides by 144 x 0.5W RGB SMD LEDs. This provides lighting designers with the creative potential of generating both strikingly-bright white strobe effects and vibrant color washes from the same compact fixture. What’s more, each set of LEDs is divided into three independently-controllable zones, which means the unit can also be used to create engaging “eye candy” effects and chase patterns. Lighting designers Ryan “Lofty” Lockett and Chris Gadd utilized the Jolt 300s to their full potential for the Halloween afterparty shoot, using them to add a colorful glow to the set while also adding excitement with chases and strobe effects that ran across all four units.

“For the money, you really you can’t beat the Jolt 300,” enthuses Smyth. “It’s robust but also compact, so you can rig it in so many different places. And it really is bright! On the shoot we were running them at 70 percent brightness and that was more than enough to create some really intense effects. They provided nice ambient washes but also some great feature effects. Chris used the zone control to create stunning strobe chases that came across very well on camera.”

The beam effects were enhanced by an Entour Haze Pro, ADJ’s professional-grade oil-based haze machine which is built-in to a flight case. Then, to tie in with the Halloween theme, an ADJ Entour Ice was also used to fill the stage with atmospheric clouds of low-lying fog. This innovative piece of equipment re-wrote the rule book when it comes to using solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) to create low fog effects. Instead of a manual system that lowers a basket of dry ice into a tank of hot water, this innovative new machine utilizes an automated system that pumps the hot water into the dry ice chamber on cue. This not only allows remote triggering of the effect via DMX, but also improved precision over the output volume.