30 • February 2010 • Lighting&Sound America

SPECTACLE

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www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • February 2010 • 31

Along time ago (2006) in a galaxy far, far away (well, okay, Los Angeles)a project began that would change the world of Star Wars fans. Thegerm of the idea: that the Star Wars saga, as recounted in six of the

most popular films of all time, could somehow, some way, be presented to alive audience, tour the world, and be profitable.

The project was the property of Greg Perloff and Spencer Churchill, ofAnother Planet Entertainment, a San Francisco Bay Area concert productionfirm. Early on, they brought in the concert lighting designer Steve Cohen, whowas intrigued by the idea of building a live event around George Lucas’ outer-space films. There was only one problem, he recalls: “They really didn’t have aconcept of what the show would be.”

Cohen, a creative man if ever there was one, had the solution. The last filmin the Star Wars series, The Revenge of the Sith, had a companion DVD entitledStar Wars: A Musical Journey, featuring the music of John Williams. “I took ithome, popped it into the DVD player, looked at it, and said, ‘There’s yourshow,’” Cohen says.

The concept of a live touring production featuring a full orchestra playing themusic of Star Wars was a solid one, and Another Planet loved the idea.However, John Williams did not. “We did these pitches for him and they fellflat,” says Cohen. “He didn’t believe that we could pull this off.”

The project was consigned to oblivion for about a year. Then Perloff andChurchill, still grappling with budget issues, came back to Cohen, naming himboth creative and show director. It was a welcome development, he says: “Forme, the more areas that I can control, the more I can monitor the budgets, themore I can spend money in places that I think need it, and the more I don’t A

llphotos:JamesPetrusson

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have to reinterpret my ideas, to havesomeone else do them.” After a finalpitch, Williams came on board, andthe project went forward.

Since this was a productioncelebrating Star Wars, featuringfootage from all the films, Cohensays, “I needed a video display thatwas spectacular—I couldn’t useprojection, because it would limit mewith lighting.” The answer was anLED screen—but not just any oldmodel. “It had to be an LED that wasof the highest resolution possible,because we were getting hi-defmaterial from Lucasfilm [the films’producer], and we needed the mostnatural display available. We alsoneeded one that could tour effectivelyand set up efficiently.”

Cohen turned to Danny O’Bryen,of the firm Screenworks NEP, whoinvested several million dollars in a60'-wide-by-30'-high Daktronics10mm screen—the largest touring

LED screen in the world. “I saw thisscreen at LDI the year before,” saysCohen. “It’s [made of] magnesium—very thin, very lightweight; I havenever seen a video display this clear.”Indeed, when looking at it, one ishard-pressed to remember that it isan LED screen and not some kind ofprojection surface.

Since much of Star Wars happensin the vastness of space, Cohennaturally felt a spectacularenvironment was needed. “I wantedto make the stage feel bigger, and Iwanted to make the video deliverysystem bigger—but I didn’t have a lotof money to do it,” he explains.Undaunted, he turned to one of hisdesign trademarks: low-resolutionLEDs. “I built a couple of panels ofSoft-LED that went on either side ofthe screen, and also, in the interior ofthe lighting rig, which replicates thetrapezoidal shape of two Imperial StarDestroyers [seen frequently in the

films’ battle scenes], I also used Soft-LEDs,” he notes. In other words,there are two Mainlight Industrieslow-resolution video curtains oneither side of the main screen andtwo above it.

Cohen called on his partner, CurtisCox, to edit and program, via aMartin Maxedia media server, thevideo for the Soft-LEDs. He tappedBryan Barancik to be associatelighting designer and Martin Maxxyzlighting console programmer, alongwith co-production designer/associate director Seth Jackson andvideo director/content manager MarkHaney. “We spent a good three orfour days studying the movie clipswith Steve,” says Jackson. “We allkept our own notes of what we weredoing and then combined them; wecame out of the weekend with amoment-by-moment script.”

One challenge Cohen and his teamfaced was how to get the 86-piece

The logo, framed in lighting, kicks off the performance; note the metal screen surround.

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live orchestra, headed by theconductor Dirk Brosse, to work insync with the LED screen. Theanswer was streamers, a technologyused in scoring films. “Streamers arethe visual version of a metronome,”explains Haney. They’re a series ofwhite, red, and green vertical barsmoving across the screen, left toright, along with large flashing whitedots. These visual cues indicate thebeginning, ending, and tempochanges within a piece of music, thedownbeats being identified by theflashing dots. The streamers for theshow, which were created for eachvideo segment by the editor JeremyStewart, working with members ofJohn Williams’ camp, are sent to aDell monitor at the conductor’spodium. “This is absolutely cut to thebeat—there are over 200 cuts—and Iwould say 90% are on an upbeat ordownbeat, so it’s quite a dauntingtask for a conductor to stay in time,”notes Cohen. It’s also one of the firsttimes that streamers have been usedin a large arena tour.

Initially, Haney used a DoremiLabs-based system to synchronizeall the elements of the show,including the streamers. There wereproblems with the approach,however. “To build the show, theDoremi V1-UHDs were the perfectsolution,” he says. “I could start/stopeasily, go to specific time codesinstantly, and they chased to withintwo frames of video. But, in the

straight playback of the show, wefound that sometimes the playbackwould hesitate a little bit, thenrecover immediately. In other environ-ments, that can be manageable. Ona show driven by screen content, weneeded perfection daily.” The teamapproached Doremi, but, says,Haney, “Either they did not care, orthought the issue was manageable.To me, the video vendor, theproduction, and our clients, it wasnot acceptable.”

Therefore, he adds, “At theencouragement of Danny O’Bryen, Ilooked at using the Green System.”Provided by Gen2Media of Orlando, itworks in tandem with four Apple X-Servers (two primary HD sources andtwo SD conductor element/streamersources). “The X-Serves, as they arecalled, are triggered by Akai Abletons,which Ian McDaniel helped me find,”says Haney. The latter, he adds, “areUSB/MIDI-type devices that triggerthe software in the X-Serves to playback simultaneously.” With itsmultiple levels of redundancy, thesystem has proven to be reliable.“They’re not as in sync as theDoremis, but they are in sync enough,they look fantastic, and they havebeen bulletproof,” Haney adds.

The content for the Soft-LEDcurtains is contained on a Maxediamedia sever that Jackson triggersthrough his Maxxyz lighting console.“We make sure the Maxedia signalgets into our video flight pack, that it’s

frame shook, and is run through scanconversion,” explains Haney. Thisprovides him with a wide palette: “Anyof our display surfaces can have themain show playback content as on theDaktronics HD LED screen, theMaxedia content, or live images of theorchestra. On the low-res Mainlightcurtains; it’s about 20% of main screencontent, or what we call global, whichis everything on all display devices. It’sprobably about 40% Maxedia andabout 40% live cameras.”

The IMAG package, also providedby Screenworks, includes a Ross3ME HD switcher, four Sony 1500 HDbroadcast cameras, two Sony BR-700 HD POV cameras, and two Cam-Mate jibs. “I’ve always been a fan ofusing a jib in a live situation for IMAG,with a bigger or longer lens on it toget individual solos or tight shots thatyou normally wouldn’t be able to get,even with a handheld,” says Haney.

Building the starshipMeanwhile, Jackson was busy withthe set, fabricated by All AccessStaging and Products, of Torrance,California. “It’s made up of fairly largepieces, to match the size of the LEDwall,” he says. “Then you have themonumental task of 86 people andtheir instruments, a 7' grand piano, anextraordinary amount of percussion,and a 40-voice choir that all have tosit on a stage somehow. There alsohas to be room for Anthony Daniels[the narrator, familiar to the fans as C-

Left: In addition to lasers, effects include fire and cryo jets. Right: Lighting and imagery work together to make vivid stage pictures.

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3PO] to enter, exit, and walk aroundfor his narration. And, oh yeah, it alsohas to look like something.”

The set also has some designflourishes. “We built a screensurround, a massive piece of metalthat is reminiscent of the cockpitwindow of the Millennium Falcon[Han Solo’s spacecraft] and the archi-tecture of [the planet] Naboo. Theriser fascias are the interiors of theStar Destroyers, and the shape of theconductor’s platform looks likesomething out of one of spaceships,”Cohen reports. There are alsocustom-made practical lighting unitson stage, featuring ElationImpressions, which provide a visualecho of the office of EmperorPalpatine, a villain who appearsthroughout the most recent trilogyof films.

Jackson was also charged withmaking Cohen’s designs a practicalreality, as well as handling the lightingduring rehearsals when Cohen hadother obligations. “I sat down for aday or two, right behind Steve andBryan, and tried to wrap my headaround how Steve programs and howhe designs, to try to get the flow inmy head,” he says.

And, while Cohen has gone on toother projects, Jackson is the director

on the road. “I meet with Anthony[McDaniel] every day to discuss thevariables of the room with him, findout how his show was the nightbefore, and that sort of thing,”Jackson notes. “I’m also running theconsole, calling all the effects cuesand the followspots,” he reports.

Galactic soundFor a production featuring 86musicians and a choir of 40 singers,the standard rock-‘n’-roll soundapproach wasn’t necessarily the best.“We needed someone who couldamplify the orchestra,” says Cohen. “Ialso wanted to make sure it didn’tsound like a bad electronic version ofit.” He tapped Fred Vogler, theprincipal sound designer at theHollywood Bowl, for his ideas. “I said,‘I want to really set the bar for howmuch you can get out of anorchestra,’” Vogler explains. “Youcould see Steve’s eyes light up—hetotally connected with the wholeconcept and, to their credit, theyreally allowed a lot of latitude fordesign and components.”

Vogler’s approach has been honedover the years at the Hollywood Bowl.“Orchestral music requires a differentlevel of sophistication,” he says.“You’re not just trying to blow loud

sound. You’re trying to create volumeof sound, a larger wave front—notsomething that is punishing in soundpressure but something thatimmerses you,” he explains.

Vogler adds that finding the rightorchestra balance isn’t easy in arenasituations. “There aren’t manyreflective surfaces, and often whatperformers hear is energy bouncingaround the house and coming backto them,” he says. “They are oftencompromised in what they hear frominstruments next to them, let aloneinstruments across the stage.”

There’s another piece missing inan arena: an orchestra shell. Vogler’ssolution is to use the Constellationsystem, an electro-acoustic shellfrom Meyer Sound. “We put a seriesof speakers around the sides, in theback and in the Star Destroyertrusses above the stage lookingdown,” he says. Used in this manner,the Constellation essentiallyfunctions as a virtual monitor system,eliminating problems like monitor hotspots. “Now they’re hearing thingsmuch like they would in a concerthall,” he says. This is first time thatthe Constellation has been used inthis manner. “We can control howmuch violin reflective energy there is,or how much woodwind, how much

Left: The conductor’s podium. Right: A good view of the Soft-LED curtains, in contrast to the his-res Daktronics screen.

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brass, and we can cater it to theneeds of the stage,” he adds. Thesystem consists of threeConstellation mainframes, ten MeyerSound M1D top speakers, eight UPJ-1P side speakers, and seven UPA-1Prear speakers.

The rest of the PA and monitorsystems also consist of Meyer gear,says Vogler, noting that it wascapable of dealing with the full soundof the orchestra and film sequences.He also wanted a company thatcould provide reliable support 24/7and on weekends and holidays.“Meyer had a really strong network ofsupport, and has completely heldtrue,” he comments. “If there was anissue or a concern, or we neededtechnical support, they have a lot offolks to jump in and help out.”

The flown portion of the rigconsists of 17 Meyer MILO cabinetson each side, ten Milos in a centercluster, 16 MICAs on each side, andnine 700-HP subs. Front fill isprovided by six Meyer M’elodies andsix CQ-2s. Four M3D subs are placedon the floor. The surround/delaysystem consists of six Meyer UPQ-1Ps and six UPQ-2Ps. Loudspeakerprocessing is handled by a MeyerGalileo system, with a Meyer SIM 3system used to analyze each venue.For orchestra monitoring and cueing,there are eight Meyer MM-4s andeight Aviom A-16II personal monitormixers. Solotech, of Montréal, thetour’s sound vendor, provided all theaudio gear.

For the front-of-house soundconsole (handled on the road bySteve Colby, sound engineer for theBoston Pops, who has worked exten-sively with John Williams), Voglerchose the Studer Vista 5SR. “That

thing is a horse; it has all sorts ofpower and potential,” he notes. Adigital console, the Vista 5SR featuresfull 5.1 surround-sound capability,Studer’s Vistonics user interface, anda compact design. “We have 120inputs in the thing and another 40 orso outputs, and we’re able to accom-modate that in a console that is 6'wide and 3' or 4' deep,” he notes.“There’s a warmth, a musicality [tothe console], and I think all that trans-lates nicely for the arena acousticensemble show.” On the road, Colbyalso has a TC M6000, Lexicon PCM96, Fostex DV824, and 360 SystemsInstant Replay as outboard gear.

The last piece of the audio puzzleis the microphones, and Vogler has120 of them. For the orchestra, herelies on a combination of both closeand ambient units. “With orchestralmusic, if you go too close or toodeep on the instrument, it tends tosound unnatural, and an unnaturalsound amplified really loudly is notgoing to be pleasant,” he says.

Here he relies on three microphonebrands. “I usually use more studiocondenser microphones; this time,they’re a combination of DPA,Schoeps, and Sennheiser,” hereports. Over the conductor, there arefour DPA 4028s, which are widecardioid pattern units. “On the wideleft/right, which are about 14' offdead center right next to the first lineof performers, are two SennheiserMKH-800s,” he adds.

For the individual instruments,Vogler has “DPA for strings, andSchoeps and [beyerdynamic] M 160sfor woodwinds,” he explains. The restof the package includes 56 DPA4061s, eight Neumann KM 184s,eight Shure SM57s, one Shure Beta

52 and two Sennheiser e825Ss.Anthony Daniels is on a DPA 4061headset lavalier with a Sennheiserwireless pack.

Light sabersCohen’s lighting rig, provided byUpstaging of DeKalb, Illinois, includes42 Coemar Infinity Wash XLs, 28Martin MAC 2000 Performances, 24Martin Mac III Profiles, 16 PhilipsVari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX units, nineVL3500 Profiles, ten Robe Colorspot2500 ATs, eight Robe Colorspot 1200ATs, six Zap Technology LittleBig units(located on the floor upstage), ten i-Pix BB7 LED units, 60 custom bluelanding lights, four 48-channelLeprecon racks, one 48-channel ETCSensor dimmer rack, and one 24-channel Sensor rack, and lots ofUpstaging’s HUD truss. Also includeare five Base Hazers from Hasebase,two Le Maitre G150 foggers, and fiveMartin AFI DMX fans.

Anthony Daniels, the voice of C-3PO,narrates the show.

“Orchestral music requires a different level ofsophistication. You’re trying to create a volumeof sound, a larger wavefront—not somethingthat is punishing in sound pressure.” —Vogler

SPECTACLE

The color palette is, of course, tiedto the images on the screen. “Whenthat screen goes red, that stage goesred, and when you’re in outer space,you’re in dark blue,” explains Cohen.There are bold, intense greens in the“Sanctuary Moon” segment, while thecantina scene in “An UnlikelyAlliance” is filled with ambers,purples, and greens. “To a greatdegree, it’s monochromatic,” he adds.“It has to be—you have an orchestraon screen all the time, so you have tobe aware make those exposures lookgood,” he adds.

The last—but perhaps, for theaudience, most exciting—elementconsists of the special effects,provided by Howard Ungerleider,senior effects designer and co-ownerof Production Design InternationalInc., of Markham, Ontario. “It’s StarWars, so you’ve got to have lasers,”Jackson says with a smile.

And lasers there are—seven of

them, to be exact—five active plustwo for backup. “We have some inthe air, some on the ground, andsome in the audience,” saysUngerleider. “That’s how we get thethree-dimensional effects: Peoplefrom all angles can see them and feellike they’re right inside of them.”

Originally, Ungerleider planned onusing both green and red lasers, butthe massive Daktronics screenproved to be an obstacle. “Whenyou’re dealing with so much light andvideo, you want to make sure you canactually see the effect; once you startusing certain colors in front of thatvideo wall, they all go away,” henotes. The solution was two 60W Yaglaser systems, as well as some diodepulsed solid-state lasers, controlledby Pangolin Laser Systems softwareand programmed by Scott Wilson.

Other effects include flames andcryo, provided through PDI’s industrypartner, Hi-Tech FX, of Fort Madison,

Iowa. During the section titled “AHero Falls,” there are cryo cannons,as well as flame jets so intense onecan feel them as far as the front ofhouse. “After you see Lord Vaderrise, the cryo cannons go off, andthe blackout happens; it’s prettyamazing,” Ungerleider reports. Theimage of Darth Vader on screen withthe cryo cannons in the floor is oneof the biggest “wow” moments ofthe show.

Overall, the key to the effects wasblending them seamlessly into theshow. “Steve wanted to tie theaudience together with the effects,”Ungerleider says. “Consequently,Steve and Seth blended them reallywell with the visuals.”

Star Wars in Concert wrappedup the first American leg of thetour in December. The tour will beopening in Europe in March, and isexpected to return to the U.S. laterthis year.