Based on the popularity of Live Design's 31 Days Of Plots in December each year, we have decided to present Plot Of The Week, with a light plot (or plots) per week until December 2023, when the next 31 Days Of Plots begins.
Originally from the UK, lighting designer Tom Sutherland has a truly international career. As the CEO and head of creative of DX7 Design, he and the DX7 team have worked on some of the most successful shows on three continents, including American Idol, The MTV European Music Awards, Britain’s Got Talent and Tonight’s the Night in China. Sutherland's accolades include a Knight of Illumination Award for Pitbull's Time Of Our Lives Las Vegas Residency, an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design for the finale of Dancing With The Stars 2021, and an International Emmy nomination for Univision's La Banda.
Sutherland talked to Live Design about a recent project at Den of Thieves in Miami, Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, which was streamed live on Peacock.
Live Design: Did you have any special considerations on this live-for-broadcast event that you haven’t had to address on other specials and TV shows like Dancing with the Stars?
Tom Sutherland: This was our third time designing a Television Special for Miley, and our second time working on Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. Miley’s vision for the show has always embraced the classic rock-and-roll look mixed with a sleek, vibrant Miami night club setting. Embracing Miley’s aesthetic led to using a PAR wall as our background, as opposed to a video wall. While so many shows are increasingly relying on video walls to provide a wide range of versatile looks – we knew we needed to create a lighting rig capable of offering a lot visually unique moments.
Live Design: You've worked with Miley Cyrus before but were the guests on this show, including co-host Dolly Parton, Latto, Liily, FLETCHER, and Rae Sremmurd an added complication? Did you collaborate with their LDs or were you running the whole show?
TS: I was the only lighting designer on the project, and our main collaborators were Keith Raywood the production designer, and Jacob Bixenman, Miley’s creative director.
Live Design: Did you rely on your favorite workhorse fixtures, what are they?
TS: We brought in the Solaris Flare LR Q+ Fixtures, which is a frequent tool of ours. It’s an extremely bright, low profile, linear LED fixture that was able to accentuate the arches in an unobtrusive way. Utilizing the fixtures' pixel control gave us a lot of visually fun options to program with, allowing us to achieve the wide variety of looks we were hoping for.
Live Design: Did you bring in anything new you haven’t worked with before?
TS: We brought in the VL5 LED, which was a relatively new fixture to us at the time. The VL5’s vintage-style lens and impactful intensity made it an excellent tool for the job.
Live Design: How much time did you have for set up and design on this project?
TS: After the success of the Miley New Year’s Eve Party in 2021, the whole team was fairly confident about the show returning for 2022. This let us start musing about designs early on. However, we didn’t enter the more formal drafting process until early November, giving us about two full months to realize the project.
Live Design: What was most challenging on this project?
TS: Live outdoor shows always have the added challenge of managing the elements. We do almost all rehearsals in the daytime, which leaves us little time to balance levels between the artist's key lighting and our more high impact, dynamic lighting. We took on this challenge by using every nighttime programming session very strategically and by maintaining adaptability with both the programming and shading of the show.
Live Design: What was your favorite part?
TS: The whole process is incredibly rewarding from start to finish. After the first year of the show, the full production team had really found its stride, making the collaboration process smooth and familiar. Seeing this level of superstar talent in such an intimate setting is just really special. Watching the midnight fireworks after the medley from Miley and Dolly felt like a once in a lifetime moment, so if I had to pick a favorite part that would be it.