LD Mike Baldassari uses 24 of the iconic hybrids on band reunion concert in New Orleans
One of the most keenly anticipated follow-up movies this Autumn is Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. In this mockumentary comedy film, again directed by Rob Reiner, the band reunites after a 15-year break for one final concert.
As the action moves to New Orleans it is for this concert — which took place at the City’s Lakefront Arena — that vastly experienced lighting designer Mike Baldassari and his programmer Mike Appel, charged 24 of GLP’s original JDC1 hybrid strobes with performing a multiplicity of roles, including setting a colour palette specific to each of the iconic songs.
The convergence of concert and film disciplines is familiar territory for Baldassari, who can cite theatre work, including Broadway, concert touring (Neil Young and Alice in Chains) and a large portfolio of film and television work at the highest level — including Rock of Ages — over his four decades in the creative front line. “To be able to take all the atmosphere of a concert and capture it in movies is really exciting,” he says. The fact that he had grown up with the ‘hair metal’ bands of the 1980s was a further incentive for wanting this project.
His inspiration this time around was drawn from meshing geometric shapes — which is where the rectangular JDC1s came in. Production designer, Michelle C. Harmon had mentioned that the band had been inspired by a concert they did at London’s Royal Albert Hall back in 1992. “When I saw it on YouTube I noticed some small hexagon shapes in the background, which I latched onto immediately,” says Baldassari. From the six-sided geometric he started playing with numbers. “There are three guys in the band. I put three pods stage left, three pods stage right, and three over the top. Then there was the obvious connection of 666 to heavy metal. Finally there was the ubiquitous shape from 1980s rock and roll, of the silver hexagonal parcan gel frames … so I knew the hexes would be the right element to execute the design.”
“Along with the hexes I also used circles — and when you start playing with shapes it was the rectangular form factor of the JDC1 that made it all the more visually interesting.”
He and Appel faced challenges, not only with the tight timeline but the significant weight restrictions at the theatre — which had been compromised after Hurricane Katrina; thus the massive videowall backdrop was entirely ground supported by a 5-storey-tall structure.
The two men worked feverishly during a week of pre-viz at their respective New Jersey and Florida bases, using a gaming programme called Parsec to share computer screens and programming on a grandMA3. The show itself was built in Vectorworks 3D and the JDCs were run in full pixel mode. “There’s a lot that I love about them,” he said. First of all the strobes are not just white, and keeping in this style of music it was very important that each song had its own palette. Another great thing about them,” Baldassari noted, “was that just 24 fixtures, strategically placed all over the stage, was sufficient. Even on a rig that size, just 24 JDC1s create enormous impact.”
The iconic Stonehenge — for which he assigned a turquoise colour palette on the JDC1 — took a full day to shoot. In Spinal Tap II, the band once again performs at the actual Stonehenge this time, however, with a correct-sized 18-foot replica which was flown in upstage (with minimal clearance), re-recording the song with Elton John and other guests resurrect and rectify the classic mistake made in Spinal Tap I (when they received an 18-inch one).
Mike Baldassari also highlighted the fixture’s tilting function: “There were times when it was facing the audience, times when it uplit the band and then fired across the front. There is a moment when Stonehenge lands and there are two JDC1s right in the centre between the two legs of Stonehenge. You could tilt them back and forth but I specifically made them do a little happy dance and because they were in full pixel mode Mike was able to give them a nice little sparkle. What makes them such a great fixture is that they obviously work terrifically in the big wide shots but also in the close-ups, because they can have an internal shimmer to them; it’s really fun to see them up close.”
Finally, he insists that with control of the refresh rates so paramount in movies he would always opt for the guaranteed flicker free performance of a branded LED such as GLP rather than accept a substitute. “I wouldn’t put anything I wasn’t sure of on a film or television show without control of the PWM, especially if you’re on camera with smoke and haze, where you’re really going to see any flickering.”
And once again the GLP performed rock solid. Supplied by local New Orleans vendor Ray Ziegler, of RZI Lighting, they didn’t miss a beat.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is in cinemas now.
Credits
Director/Writer/Producer: Rob Reiner
Producer: Michele Reiner
Executive Producer / UPM: Christopher Warner
UPM: Brian Johnston
Director of Photography: Lincoln Else
Gaffer: Allen Parks
Production Designer: Michelle C. Harmon
Concert Lighting Designer: Mike Baldassari
Concert Lighting Programmer: Michael Appel
Production Electrician / RZI Crew Chief: Jason Parnell
Concert Lighting RZI Best Boy: Adam Waguespack
Concert Lighting RZI Crew: Mac Farquhar
Lighting Vendor: RZI Lighting, Ray Ziegler
RZI Rep & Project Manager: Kim Wytcherly
Rigging Gaffer: Russell Beard
Key Grip: Nick Nicolay
Key Rigging Grip: Chris Strong
VFX: Kolby Kember
