Ballarat Lyric Theatre staged the Queen and Ben Elton’s musical, We Will Rock You bringing live, locally produced blockbuster theatre back to town.
The show featured a full stage LED wall with a garage door style cut out in the middle and
Matt Osborne ran the visuals for the production using a Smode Media Server, which is a real-time 2D/3D creation, compositing and video-mapping engine developed by SmodeTech.
“I needed a media playback solution and I wanted something I could set up and leave running without requiring me to be there to operate,” commented Matt. “I also wanted to be able to make changes as required remotely.”
Smode is a powerful media server combined with an intuitive real-time render engine, this means almost all of the content could be generated in real-time and changes made very quickly.
“Smode runs in a layer-based workflow very similar to after effects, so has a familiar feel and was very quick to adapt to,” said Matt. “Because everything can be changed and manipulated in real-time, it allowed for a lot of creative control and experimentation, tweaks could be made live on-screen in a run.”
The control of the system was primarily handled via Artnet from the lighting console as the show is called cue to cue so Timecode was only used to trigger the overture. Smode doesn’t have a DMX personality like most other Media Servers, instead, any parameter can be exposed to DMX control, this means there is a lot less pressure on the lighting programmer.
Lighting had control of triggering scenes and then had specific elements within each scene to control, like virtual RGB fixtures, moving elements and changes.
“Because DMX wasn’t taking over full control, this means I was able to have a remote editor station setup over WiFi and could make changes in rehearsal without conflicting with their control,” added Matt. “The show was shut down after opening night last year and had to be remounted again this year. The remounted show ended up with a different screen but Smode made it very easy to remount. The whole show is contained in a project folder and because it’s all real-time it was very quick to adjust to the new screen (this would be a nightmare to re-render normally) and I was also able to log in remotely and make changes without having to upload massive video files.”
Matt has used many Media Servers in the past including disguise D3, Resolume Arena, Arkaos, Avolites AI, Qlab, Mbox, Notch, Unreal Engine, Touchdesigner and Hippo.
“I strongly believe (like with lighting consoles) there is no one “best” as every job is different and has different requirements, and all the different systems out the have very different approaches,” he said. “It’s more about the best tool, for the job and budget. Smode is incredibly powerful and quick to get up and running, its mapping and device management is very good.”
Matt says that the big advantage of Smode for theatre applications is that it is the combination of real-time 3D and Media Server in one system.
“On the pricing side, Smode has a cheap perpetual Designer Licence which lets me fully program and test the show, I only require a licence for un-watermarked output and the licensing is a very affordable monthly rental,” he added. “3D previs can be built internally.”
In Ballarat, a single PC running SMODE was set up next to the LED screen processor backstage to feed it directly. Another feed was sent wirelessly to an old TV in a mobile set piece. Two Mevo Cameras were used to send feeds over NDI for a Pit shot and a reverse stage shot. Timecode from the Pit to run the overture sequence and then Artnet DMX control for the rest of the show.
“Smode made it very easy to build this show as much as I could in a previs setup I made in Smode, then big changes could be made on-site,” explained Matt. “A lot of things could be ‘tried out’ in front of the full creative team direct to stage with full lighting and cast etc, which would just not be possible with pre-rendered content. Triggering events is seamless and instant as there is no need to loop and de-vamp to shift between content.
“A huge part of the show was 3D digital set elements so I was able to adjust perspective on these to make sure they look right from the audience’s point of view.”
Customised element control for DMX gave lighting a lot of ability to take creative control too. They tried to avoid fading to black as much as possible, and where possible created virtual set changes where elements would move in and out like traditional set pieces.
Because all of it was controlled and timed with lighting cues, any changes that needed to be made were easily adjusted in LX cues.
DMX control of the digital set in real-time was the key to this production. Initial discussions with lighting about controlling the media server did raise some concerns because other media servers become very cumbersome to program via DMX and it put a lot more work into their world.
“However the way Smode was integrated made it much smoother and because everything could be broken down to elements like simple RGB and Dims, and once they started playing, they were very excited every time I gave them a new element to control,” remarked Matt. “In particular the laser brainwashing sequence was something I only saw in the final look in Final Dress, I built out controls to move in a big brain scan machine, which could spin, flash and move in and out, it was then up to lighting to incorporate these controls in their programming of the scene.”
Executive Producer: Alison Trevenen
Production Manager: Tess Kelly
Assistant Production Manager: Nikki McKinnon
Director: Stephen Armati
Musical Director: Jane Nice
Choral Director: Kristiana Withers
Choreographer: Katherine Armati
AV Design: Matt Osborne
Publicity Manager: Jessica Brady
Properties Manager: Marnie Bonell-Huy
Co-Lighting Design: Matthew Heenan
Co-Lighting Design: Laurence Heenan
Sound Design: Greg Ginger
Hair Design: Nikki McKinnon
Costume Design Katherine Armati
Costume Coordinator: Barb Stead
Make – Up: Cathy Heenan
Set Design: Matthew Noble
Stage Manager: Paula Robinson
Deputy Stage Manager: Braydon McKinnon
Rehearsal Pianist : Jane Nice
