Having worked with the classically-inspired pop trio for several years, STUDIO/ led the creative charge for Clean Bandit’s recent show at The London Palladium. The intimate performance was part of #BRITsWeek for War Child! which saw notable artists perform in famed venues across the city in the lead-up to this year’s BRIT Awards. TPi sat down with Show Designer, Jack Fox of STUDIO/, to learn more about the creative process.
For the uninitiated, STUDIO/ is a creative agency which specialises in show design and creative direction. Recently founded by the team at Really Creative Media (RCM) – themselves veterans of the entertainment industry – STUDIO/ aims to shake things up a bit in the show design world.
“We’ve always been a design-first creative team,” stated Fox. “In recent years we’ve seen a move towards designs built on rental technology rather than design intent. We’d like to shift the needle back!” STUDIO/’s aim is to go bigger and bolder than ever with their show design. “We share a studio space with RCM, and as you’d imagine this gives us access to a lot of equipment and clever technology, which gives us a lot of design freedom as well as the production support to think big with our work,” he said.
The two companies complement each other well, as demonstrated with this project. Alex Vipond was the video designer for the show. He explained how their creative-first approach and strong relationship with RCM meant they found the right solution for The London Palladium show design, which included multiple video surfaces. Utilising LED and projection, the production was able to create multiple forced perspective elements.
“Having a close partnership with RCM is still incredibly useful for us at STUDIO/ as we can use their space to test various looks before hitting rehearsals, saving both time and money,” he explained. “This allows us to push our creative ideas to the limit, to see what elements of the design work on which surfaces, to ground all these wild ideas in reality”.
In the build-up to the show, Fox and Vipond were able to draw on their eight-year relationship with Clean Bandit to create a unique look that was all centred around a ‘train theme’. Vipond elaborated: “One of the main goals for this show was to bring the three musicians that make up Clean Bandit – Grace Chatto, Jack Patterson and Luke Patterson – to the forefront of the stage. This was seen from the beginning of the show, which was completely stripped back. Just the original three, with simple direct lighting, playing for the first five minutes before revealing any other show elements.”
The eventual design incorporated a curved gauze structure that wrapped around the upstage, that with projection created a train live on stage – a theme that filtered through all aspects of the show design. “This was designed so each of the 10 guest singers ‘walked down the train’ behind the gauze to enter the stage,” stated Fox.
The ‘train’ also gave space for performers to remain on stage throughout the show. “Being in such an iconic venue, we wanted to lean into our theatrical influences. Having the performers remain onstage after their songs gave us that ‘a night with…’ vibe rather than a traditional concert format” Vipond added. “It made the whole thing feel really intimate for the audience”.
Aiding the creation of the rest of the set – which included a five-metre high gantry for the ‘DJ’ portion of the show – Fox brought in Illusion Design & Construct. “The company has a background in theatre, and I knew their scale and experience meant they would be able to build everything we needed to a high standard in the time we had. Building the train structure was quite challenging but I knew if there was anyone who could build such an impressive structure, it was them,” he said.
Vipond further outlined the varied video solutions behind the screens. “For this show, 99.9% of the content was new bar a few small easter eggs from other Clean Bandit projects. With 21 songs it was quite a huge task as we had five unique surfaces, we were creating content for – all of which was done in three weeks.”
As well as the use of projection to create the ‘train’-inspired looks, Absen PL2.5 LED panels flanked the stage to extend the theme, reproducing a departures board with ticker tape graphics on pixel bricks as well as live filmed footage from the stage. The visual narrative is a chaotic, glitch-driven spectacle that mirrors the unpredictability of travel and technology, taking us though vast landscapes and other-worldly parties until the culminating ‘virus’ takes over. “Imagine a digital glitch across the whole rail network. We wanted everyone to feel as if they were travelling on this crazy train ride with the band and their guests. The departure board, and signalling gantry brought different levels and a vastness to the world that allowed us to drive that story visually”, Vipond noted.
To close, Fox hopes this show and the formation of STUDIO/ will help push the concept of video content creation being included earlier on in the production process. “Video content is often the last production conversation and what we’re attempting to do is build closer relationships with artists so we can be brought in early on and suggest a design that isn’t just a few rectangles on stage,” Fox explained. “It’s early days but I’m confident about the future.”
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Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Rosie Wills
