Indie-folk group The Paper Kites have successfully managed to tour the country on the back of their fifth studio album Roses.
Their lighting designer Sam Jarousek was asked to create something textural, cinematic and transportive.
Sam set out to design a visually bold show, while always allowing the delicacy and intimacy of the songwriting to remain intact. It also had to be versatile enough to compliment and cater for the monstrous dynamic shifts within the performance.
“Of course, it also had to be incredibly budget-friendly (that dreaded “B” word) and easily tourable around the country,” said Sam. “But I guess those are givens.”
Sam set himself some self-imposed challenges that he likes to set himself on every new tour. For this one they were; not having a symmetrical rig, creating a mostly-static show of saturated, textured scenes – not quite tableaux, as the band aren’t statuesque and do move around the stage a bit, and restricting all movement to only the absolute pivotal moments of the set etc.
“I guess those are more choices designed to creatively stimulate, rather than actual challenges but I feel the biggest challenge for me was and will continue to be, creating something that I am genuinely happy with and proud to display,” he added. “I am my own harshest critic and my ability to second-guess myself and question my abilities due to inane reasons is second-to-none.”
The show was designed using as much gear as possible from Brisbane’s Princess Theatre, where they did their first production rehearsals and shows. It also happens to be where Sam occasionally moonlights as a systems tech and in-house operator.
“This gave me the freedom to move, configure and generally MacGyver the house rig into whatever I needed and then just hire in the specifics such as GLP X4 bars and extra LED profiles,” he said.
The main rig employed at all shows (except Hobart where the standard house rig was employed) is as follows, and consists of the following fixture models, subject to availability, location and cost.
– 9 x Static LED profiles overhead in a 3×3 grid, acting as both specials and top wash (Chauvet E-910FC, Martin ELP CL or Prolights ECLProfile FC), with 36 degree fixed lenses.
– 8 x Moving Spots (4 x rigged, 4 x floor) for the usual claptrap. Fixtures with decent and flexible feature sets were prioritised here (animation wheels, prisms, decent selection of gobos etc) to create varying aerial patterns, as well as add a different type of texture to the drapes. (Robe Esprites, Robe MegaPointes or Claypaky Axcor 300 Spots).
– 8 x GLP X4 20 Bars on the floor as drape uplights, band backlight AND shoot-through light under the band riser – I got my money’s worth with them.
– 3 x more static LED profiles on booms on PS floor (stage left) for sidelight.
– 4 x Moving washes on OP floor (stage right) (Robe Robin 600s, Robe Spiiders or Claypaky Mini Bs), providing a much broader and softer focussed sidelight on the band.
– 2 x LED pars downstage centre as uplights, for when the group come even further downstage for a couple of intimate songs sung around a single mic.
Atmospherics were either Unique 2.1s or MDG ATMes whilst control was via Sam’s own MA Lighting grandMA2 command wing, in its new little touring rack.
Initially, Sam was hoping to do a couple of days of pre-vis to get the show together and programmed before they bumped in but he had to jump back into his day job, so that plan didn’t come to fruition.
“My backup plan was to do most of the programming on our production day but I ended up getting my COVID booster morning of, so by the time everything was rigged in the early afternoon, my head was a fuzzy, creatively-inhibiting mess and my body was hating me, and I got very little completed,” revealed Sam. “So 80% of the show was programmed on the morning of our first shows in Brisbane, tweaked in Adelaide and then finally completed for the Melbourne and Sydney shows at the Palais and State Theatres, respectively.
“As there was no timecode, the songs were programmed on simple cue stacks and executed in the same manner, with the occasional executor bump or group master move when needed. The band can shift from minimalist alt-folk, to sweeping 80s synthpop, to filmic indie rock in the space of a couple of songs. So while it was tempting to program each song to their specific genres, I found the overall aesthetic and continuity of the set to be more important than all of the potential “flashy flashy hazy hazy” I could have done, and in-turn took a more subdued and complementary approach to the programming and execution.”
The only set piece (the centrepiece, if you will) were the Dragonscale Drapes, procured through Backdrops Fantastic on the Gold Coast. Quite a bit of research and inquiry was undertaken, as well as many phone calls to set designers and fellow LDs to see if it was possible to manufacture or import their clothes from overseas. Both proved to be well outside the scope of the budget but also outside the realm of practicality for a six-date tour (then cut to five due to Perth). However, the Dragonscale drapes were the perfect find, in that they were texturally unique, budget-friendly and easily transportable.
“My favourite lighting moment of the show is the first time the drapes are lit, at the top of the second song, with a slow formidable pulse in a deep red,” commented Sam. “Until the drapes were rigged for the first time, I was still a bit apprehensive regarding how they would look in situ (having never seen them in person before). There was a feeling of vindication and excitement when I first put the X4 Bars on them, and then further feelings of vindication via the audible gasp given by various members of the audience on them seeing the drapes for the first time as well.”
Suppliers
Brisbane – Creative Productions (supplementary package)
Adelaide – AJSound + MPH (full package)
Melbourne – MPH (full package)
Sydney – Latarka (full package)
Photos: Dara Munnis, Gabrielle Clement, Nikita Oliver
