XL Video Supplies Florence + The Machine

XL Video supplied a projection system, Catalyst media servers and control, cameras, and crew to the latest Florence + The Machine UK tour, working with visuals designer and video director, Richard Stembridge.

Stembridge was asked to present ideas for the band's live show video early this year after they were impressed with his work on Arcade Fire. He collaborated very closely with Florence's set and lighting designer, Chris Bushell, and together they evolved a visual for the show combining both mediums to great effect.

Stembridge comments, "I've always used XL as their level of support is unsurpassable! Their approach to, and their ability to provide for the most unconventional of touring situations puts them way ahead in my opinion."

Stembridge had only a week to create the video elements of the show, which meant a lot of additions and support from XL, where the tour was project managed by Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer. "They came through every time," he says.

The flown set was 40' wide and 16' high. It comprised seven conjoined trapezoidal panels and was constructed by Hangman / Metalman from frosted polycarbonate material. It resembled a series of large art deco style glass mirrors with a milky-white finish. These were carefully edged in chrome to allow them to be joined together to form the overall backdrop and split into tour-able sections.

The idea was the panels could be lit from behind or projected on to from the front or the two different types of illumination could be merged and work together seamlessly.

To fit the video -- playback and IMAG -- content to the panels precisely, Stembridge created masking in the Catalyst. Central to Stembridge's aesthetic goal was the desire for the projections to have their own mystique.

The projectors were five Barco FLM R22s. Three were rigged on a downstage truss above the audience, trimmed at around 35' high, and these fed images to the main set screen, with one focused on the center and the other two corresponding to the stage left and right sections.

The other two projectors, feeding two IMAG side screens, were flown another 20' out to the sides on separate trusses.

These side screens were also specially shaped and hung at a five degree angle to mimic the style and shape of the center of the main set. Stembridge worked with Hangman / Metalman to design a lightweight frame to support the 18' x 12' surfaces which were covered in a 'Translight Midnight' rear projection surface made by Harkness. This allowed them to almost disappear when not in use.

The control system comprised three Catalyst v4 media servers operated via a Hog PC console. Eight Sony robo-cams positioned all over the stage, picking up the action, together with an operated broadcast quality camera at front-of-house with a 50mm lens, which was focused on Florence Welch. All nine were all routed into the Catalyst system via an SDI matrix switcher and directed by Stembridge for the show.

In addition to this, Stembridge created all the playback media for the show. He was given an open brief, and used imagery from the previous and current albums (Lungs and Ceremonials), along with other inspirations.

The set screen panels received camera and playback footage in various combinations, with projection for each of the seven set panels controlled individually using 11 Mix Windows and 32 Catalyst layers.

In some songs, the projection was precision masked to fill just the chrome detail edging of the set panels or just a circular section at the top centre of the set wall, leaving the main surfaces to be illuminated with lights.

Video content ran for most of the performance, starting by subtly highlighting the chrome set elements and the circle.