England – Inspiration begins by looking at what’s in front of you. It is a principle that has been followed by artists, writers, and scientists for ages. “Learn to see!” The great Leonardo DaVinci told apprentices. Davy Sherwin embraced this advice in his powerfully immersive design for Snow Patrol’s widely acclaimed three-show late-September residency at Royal Albert Hall that marked the 20th anniversary of the band’s legendary LP Eyes Open.
The stage at the iconic venue has a curved edge. Appreciating this, Sherwin accented this feature, while adding a compelling new dimension to his show, by lining the edge with CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL Curve 12 motorized battens.
“Our brief from the band was to come up with a design that lent itself to the shape of the iconic building, so my starting point was a curved screen that would seamlessly sit behind the band and follow the shape of the building,” said Sherwin of Davy Sherwin Light Design. “We wanted to utilize the stage edge. The PXLs were a natural fit as they are curved. The curves sat just below the curved LED screen and followed the curve of the building.”
Sherwin included 26 of the PXL Curves in his kit, which was supplied by Lights Control Rigging. Drawing on the pixel mappable batten’s wide zoom range, color rendering capabilities and other performance features, he relied on them to fill many roles in his design.
“I used the curves to create a wide range of unique looks throughout the show,” said Sherwin. “They were most impressive when they were fanned up in the center creating that classic PXL curve look.
“Since the curves followed the same physical width /curve of the screen, we mapped some video content from our server onto the PXLs, keeping the lighting and video as a single coherent canvas,” he continued. “I have to admit it was very strange seeing a LED fixture producing browns and greys, typically not a go-to color palette for lighting, but I loved the strangeness of this. It really was a visual extension of the screen.”
In addition to relying on the versatility of his fixtures, Sherwin counted on the efforts of a supportive team. “This show was a collaborative process, mainly by my right-hand man Robin Haddow from Shadow projects,” said Sherwin “He was responsible for all things video, including D3 and Notch. He is also known for getting behind my lighting desk when needed. Then there is Chris Richmond from content geniuses Atticus Finch who was responsible for all our current content and notch effects, Mike Wilson for our awesome and very unique notch looks, as well as Julie Mriouah, our incredible video director, Mike Oates our PM, and JC Joel who made our bespoke lanterns.”
Together, Sherwin and his team with help from a cutting-edge fixture, created a fitting tribute to an landmark album that has withstood the test of time.
Photo © Ruby Gaunt
