Robe DigitalSpots Get Lucky With Mark Knopfler

06 August 2010 11.41 BST

When visual cues get a reaction from the audience during a show it's always a 'goosebump moment', and this is what's been happening on Mark Knopfler's Get Lucky tour; the first time video has ever been incorporated into his performance, projected courtesy of four Robe DigitalSpot 7000DTs.

The DigitalSpots were specified by lighting designer Simon Tutchener, who has been working with Knopfler since 2002 and completed his first major tour with him in 2005.

Tutchener specifically wanted a neat, tourable, flexible lightweight video solution that would integrate seamlessly, both physically and creatively, with the lighting.

He discussed the matter at the outset with Lester Cobrin from Bedford based Bandit Lites UK, the lighting contractor for the European legs of the tour, and Cobrin suggested he checked the DigitalSpots as the latest innovative digital lighting technology that fitted all the criteria. In addition to that, the fixtures benefit from Robe's robust engineering which makes them ideal for touring.

Robe UK arranged a demo at Bandit Lites UK's HQ, and shortly after, they made the purchase. The same units also went to the U.S. where the tour was serviced by Bandit Lites Inc out of Nashville, Tennessee.

The four units are rigged on the front lighting truss. They are soft-edged together and project one large image onto a  26ft wide by 16ft deep video screen hung on the back truss, which is covered by a pair of starcloth curtains for most of the show. They are controlled via ArtNet protocol over Ethernet from Tutchener's grandMA lighting console.

The video clips are all stored in the DigitalSpots' onboard media servers, uploaded via Ethernet. Tutchener uses a mixture of library images and specially created content. While this elicits gasps of excitement from the crowds, it never distracts once from Knopfler's intense performance.
Footage is also taken from four surveillance style mini-cams (supplied by XL Video UK) dotted around the stage, plus one wireless camera from Broadcast RF. These are positioned on Knopfler's mic stand, on the drums, keyboards, etc, with the wireless unit attached to the head stock of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

The inputs of these are fed as composite video into the video capture cards of the DigitalSpots. They are also run through a DMX switcher which allows Tutchener to bring up the camera previews on a monitor and fade between them via the grandMA console.

The first hint of video, the guitar head stock shot, appears onscreen during the latter half of the classic Dire Straits track ‘Romeo & Juliet’, creating a surprise wow factor. It continues for the next song, another Dire Straits anthem, ‘Sultans of Swing’, when the impact is really maximised, with some camera shots used so sparingly they just appear on the punctuative bumps of a chord or two, before the curtains close to conceal the screen again until the encores. Here video runs, again to great delight of the audience,  for all three numbers.

"It's a simple video concept," explained Tutchener, "But it takes a lot of effort and precision to make it work for a song like 'Brothers In Arms', which is one of the encore numbers.”

He said: "I think the DigitalSpot 7000DTs are a hugely powerful product that really makes a link between video and lighting. The reliability has really been proven over the last five months we've been using them."

Lighting technician Ewan Cameron has been looking after the video elements of the tour, starting in the U.S. where he set everything up and continuing with Tutchener for the whole tour. He commented that the Picture Merge facility has worked extremely well and that the fixtures generally have been "great" for surviving the rigours of the road.

Bandit is also supplying all the tour's lighting kit, and has been the lighting company of choice ever since Tutchener has been working with Knopfler. Audio Rent from Switzerland is providing the sound equipment for Europe and the tour is production managed by UK based Kevin Hopgood.

www.robe.cz