Stage designers talk about enhancing the fest experience – Orange County Register

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Stage designers talk about enhancing the fest experience – Orange County Register

April 23, 2023

Gorillaz will perform on the Coachella stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Indio’s Empire Polo Club on Friday, April 14, 2023.

While attracting attention at the annual event, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival focuses on the musical line-up, with stage design and visuals making each set aesthetically pleasing and becoming an important aspect of what fans talk about.

Coachella has eight unique stages (Includes Do Lab) differ in both sound and design, some being entirely altered based on a particular artist’s vision. incorporates lighting, visual effects, and video content. The festival’s exhibitions are set by hundreds of production crew members and stage designers who work hard to encapsulate the essence of music.

Steven Lieberman has been the lighting designer for Yuma Tent since its introduction to the festival in 2013, and has also curated and designed lighting for EDM music festivals such as EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) and Ultra Music Festival. I’m here. The air-conditioned Yuma Tent has its own dance floor, and Lieberman works to emulate the atmosphere of his scene with edgy techno that allows festival-goers to fully immerse themselves in his underground club. .

“When you ask for entertainment, it’s not just music and lights,” says Lieberman. “These are all larger cohesive experiences. Lighting is meant to visually explain the story we are trying to tell, much like when you play a record or a song.”

Another EDM-focused experience at Coachella Do Lab, one of the festival’s most colorful and diverse experiencesWhat started as a small stage with several artistic structures has turned into a must-see spectacle for EDM enthusiasts looking to catch up on up-and-coming talent and surprising guest performances in the past, including Skrillex, LP Giobbi and Rüfüs du. Evolved. Sol and SG Lewis.

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Do Lab co-founder Josh Flemming oversees the design of the stage and the creation of its artistic structure. He and his twin brother and co-founder Jesse Fleming, who curates the music and lineup for the stage, have worked with Coachella for nearly two decades to bring his EDM-focused area to life at the festival venue. I breathed it in. Lightning in a Bottle Festival.

“In the old days, I was tinkering with small lighting installations and small sculptures, but gradually I started to learn the tools and techniques needed to create environments for larger spaces and people,” says Josh. increase. Fleming said.

Do Lab’s early designs were small and whimsical, imitating giant vegetables and other plants. The Do Lab team will use the design at the festival for three years before unveiling the new design. The space now has several sculptures and aerial dancers suspended from the ceiling.

“People were very excited to be there just because it had just been transformed into our little garden and it was so unique,” Fleming said. I want it to be like a giant sculpture, so you can be inside a work of art instead of just staring at a box or a generic white tent.”

Another key element of Coachella’s stage design is the video content displayed on the giant screen behind the artists.

Ian Simon, CEO and co-founder of Strangeloop Studios, said his team has been working with Coachella for nearly a decade, with the visuals highlighting the 3D animation being driven primarily by music. The studio has provided work for SZA, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar. This year they collaborated with his Kaytranada, Chromeo, Kenny Beats and others to produce original video content for the set.

Simon says that producing video content is a lot of fun and hard work. Because of the huge screen, three animators would need to work with different software to design the content for each artist. The team may work with the artists to get ideas for their vision of the set.

“It’s just a process of synesthesia, trying to translate an artist’s musical identity into something that has visual and physical meaning and build a narrative in 3D animation for the show,” says Simon. says. “These stages are so big, so creative, and the artists take their shows so seriously, they often build entirely new shows just for Coachella. is to be with someone who has to show off.

Most of the lighting, set design and visuals are best seen in person, but those watching the live stream at home will also enjoy exclusive 3D content.

Coachella has teamed up with Epic Games and Unreal Engine to enable 2023 performers such as Gorillaz and Bad Bunny to enhance their performances in YouTube livestreams with the help of special cameras installed at the festival. .in the meantime On the set of Gorillaz, viewers watched beloved animated band members come to life and interact with the actual band’s setBad Bunny’s performance incorporates a cow kidnapped by the sun, palm trees and a flying saucer, all paying homage to Bad Bunny’s album Un Verano Sin Ti.

“Our goal with this program is to give audiences at home something special that festival-goers don’t get,” said Sam Schoonover, Coachella’s head of innovation. “I think it works with people’s sense of reality and gives artists a bigger, more interesting canvas to express themselves.”

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