Alexander has just arrived back in Sweden for a short pause in the come-back tour with Swedish House Mafia. The Electronic Dance Music (EMD) group is on tour in most of Europe, Singapore, Mexico and South Korea. There are 16 acts in total in which Hesse’s team has produced lighting design, 3D-animation and video in close collaboration with the artists.
- Lighting is a crucial part for these types of acts, and the artists are keenly aware of the importance of having a music and light show that is tightly synced, says Hesse. In this case, the artists have had a break for almost six years. So their attitude towards the lightshow was “we need to have something big, bold and Iconic!”.
The show is a massive production, and involves a lot of different expertise.
- We all have very clear roles and responsibilities in the team, explains Hesse. As a lighting designer and lighting director, it is my responsibility to guide the artist’s requests on how to program creative lighting in their show. It’s very important for them to feel a part of it all. I just have to trust that their creative crazy geniuses knows what they want, laughs Hesse.
The work for the scene – behind the scenes
The entire show is first programmed in a 3D-world, using a programme called WYSIWYG (first stage simulation). The program connects lasers, luminaires, renderings, videos and control desks and is operated like as if it were a real show on a TV screen. All of this gives the artists and mangers an impression of how the stage will look once it is set.
- This show had three big rings on stage, Alexander explains. Each ring weighs approximately 2.5 tons. We had 82x GLP x4 bars 20 & 8x BB3 lasers in each ring, 56x Chroma Q CF 12 II around the truss in each ring 8x motors so that each ring could lift and rotate it. So of course, all of this must be carefully planned before we go for the real thing.
For a production like this Alexander uses highly advanced luminaires, far from the everyday kitchen lamp.
- Basically, a Blinder has one channel, and that channel has 1 function, Hesse explains. For instance dimming that one light. In this show we had some advanced luminaires, that can have up to 93 channels each. When you plan and program the light you have a workspace where you sort your luminaires. Each workspace is a “universe”. In one universe you can have a maximum of 512 channels. This show had 97 universes, so you can imagine that's a lot of channels and data that is sent out. The show was run from 2x Grand MA2 full size with 15x NPUs to processed all the data.
Not only are the luminaires highly developed for controls, they are carefully selected to give the right visual effect as well.
- When I use a luminaire I look for a product with the right colour mixture, explains Hesse. Colour mixture means that you can use primary-red, primary-blue and primary-green – but also get nuances and different colour temperatures. This gives us a huge range of possibilities when designing the show. I also look at different types of white that are available.
There are so many possibilities with lighting fixtures today, from pan & tilt speed, zoom range and speed, different gobo, animation wheels and beam effect to shutter speeds. All these attributes are considered before picking fixtures for the show.
Lights in code
The profile of a lighting designer has changed over the years. Not only do you need to be a luminaire expert and a creative soul, but you also have to know a bit of code to produce a show like this. Data knowledge within lighting technology has developed quite rapidly in recent years. The lighting designers need to know how to code and program lighting, in the same way as one code and program a website. This, so that all the luminaires are assigned to know what to do. Above all, the possibility to control different light units has increased. Every unit in the show is connected, and needs more power and fibre to send faster signals to and from the luminaires.
- There cannot be a weak connection, during the show – that would make all my cues late or effect the flow of the show, says Hesse. A strong connection to all processors is key, so we have a dedicated network-guru working on set just with this. We control the luminaire down to pixel level, and it drives a lot of data.
"My goal is that the audience will bring something with them home, a feeling that lingers on. If you get the audience moved to tears – that’s when you have succeeded." Alexander Hesse, Lighting designer and Director
Emotions in motion
In order to get inspiration for different elements and settings, Alexander sometimes searches for new influences in another field of lighting.
- I live in Gothenburg, Sweden, and I visit the Opera from time to time, go to art galleries and check out underground raves, says Alexander. They all have a great way of working with light. When you work with electronic dance music, the light is often facing out into the audience. In the theatre or live bands, the light is a part of the artist/stage in another sense. I try to absorb these things, and I always try to think – how can I adapt this to a show? How can I capture different feelings, modes and scenses?
The goal of a production is always to leave something behind. To make it live a little longer.
- I always want to produce that creative moment when the audience is touched, says Hesse. Music affects you, but if you at the same time see something while you listen to music, it adds an extra dimension. The ambition is not to just build a big night club. My goal is for the audience to take something home with them, a feeling that lingers and stays with them. if you get the audience moved to tears – that’s when you have succeeded.
For more visuals from the show, please visit swedishhousemafia.