USA – It’s been said that creativity often feeds on ambition. Ryan Warffuel and the team at Antic Studios certainly had an ambitious creative vision for the show they planned for Levity at Wintrust Arena, a massive effort involving 330 FB4-level lasers controlled over a sprawling network of nine laptops, along with 60 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes.
Ambitious! Most definitely, but ambition only blossoms into a compelling creation when it’s guided by talent and inspiration. Antic Studios, along with its collaborators, LEC Event Technology and Slick Lasers, displayed plenty of both this winter, transforming the 10,000-plus capacity downtown venue into a vortex of light and color that worked in harmony with the music of the hardcore bass trio as they performed on a 360 stage.
“This was a 360 show in an arena with many very different asymmetrical levels,” said Warffuel. “So, our main challenge was to shoot lasers safely in every direction to cover the entire arena space while still looking cohesive. To achieve this, we shot the lasers in and across the arena, out from the center towards the crowd, up and around the ‘Lasership’, and even had some crowd scanning lasers shooting into the audience. This took a lot of careful placing, zoning, and planning the different looks.”
Warffuel and his team also put a lot of thought into where they positioned their Color STRIKE M fixtures, which were supplied by Antic Studios., with additional lighting units, along with audio, rigging, power, and networking from LEC Event Technology. The majority of lasers were furnished by Slick Lasers with additional lasers supplied by Antic Studios and Levity.
“We made sure to have plenty of them placed at great viewing angles so they could all be seen easily,” explained Warffuel. “The tilt function is also very useful in this situation, so we can adjust them to all the different levels of the arena.”
“STRIKE Ms are great for a show like this,” continued Warffuel. “They are very bright, so they are able to cut through all the lasers, but they also are pixel mappable giving lots of programming options to complement the lasers at the same time. We made sure to program lighting, lasers, and video, to play off each other, and give each element their time to shine without having to fight each other. We needed extensive planning and practice to hit the specific cues.”
Artfully working their entire rig in harmony, Antic Studios and the entire Levity team including Alyssa Miller (Video Director/VJ/Cameras), Owen Howell (Lighting Director/LD), Corbin Sharpe (Laser Director/Operator) created a series of mesmerizing looks throughout the two-hour concert. There were times when the entire arena seemed to be elevating with light, as lasers coming from the circular stage gave it the appearance of a spaceship ready to lift off and take the entire crowd on a spectacular journey.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t use all the different looks and FX/tricks right away in the beginning and brought them in throughout the set to make sure it kept evolving and felt fresh,” explained Warffuel, who added that the team strove to ensure that the audience was “fully engaged throughout the whole set.” Another ambitious goal to be sure, but the Antic Studios met it with flying colors.
