For Blink-182 's current US tour, production and lighting designer Nathan Wilson is making full use of one of the first NEV8 systems. The tour, with No Doubt also headlining, features the first outing of the new stand-alone NEV8 system, which was developed on the road with Sting’s current Sacred Love world tour.
Diagonal Research’s NEV8 System allows production and lighting designer Nathan Wilson, who is also an account manager for the ArtFag design partnership, to control true video hardware using lighting control technology without the need for a computer-based media server. “It’s the best way to control the video that we’ve found,” said Wilson. “We can speed clips up, slow them down, take it to negative and a host of other effects. Best of all, we have direct access to the drives.”
“This is a real landmark for the NEV System,” says the system’s creator, Breck Haggerty, commenting on the stand-alone system. “Previous incarnations of the NEV System have been hand-built prototypes with no instruction manual and precious few replacement parts. With the new NEV8, we have a stand-alone 1U rack-mounting product that is simple and rugged and much easier to produce in larger quantities. It controls the video with a level of elegance and transparency that sets it apart from other lighting control / video solutions.”
Without any rehearsal time before the tour's first show in Mexico, previsualization of both lighting and video was essential to the show's success. In order to achieve this, the designers utilized Diagonal Research’s own WYSIWYG studio in Newbury Park, CA. This allowed for the previsualization of lighting and video at the same time, while also having Diagonal Research’s Breck Haggerty on hand to answer any questions and receive feedback. “It was great,” remarks Wilson. “... and it is a very comfortable environment. We have five screens, so that means five projectors in the studio. Being close to both Delicate Productions, who were supplying the video, and Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting made it the perfect location.”
Delicate Production’s President, Steve Gilbard, who has been a long-time supporter of the NEV project, is equally enthusiastic about the new NEV8 System. “The NEV8 has unique creative capabilities, and when combined with the SDI broadcast quality video signals, it makes for an unbeatable combination. The incredible flexibility of the system, full genlock and no dropped frames makes it the obvious choice for these multi-screen types of shows.”
Video Director for the tour is Rob McShane with Sam Kriemelmeyer handling the projectors.