Copyright Lighting&Sound America February 2018 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html TECHNICAL FOCUS: INSTALLATION Above and opposite: The moving screens constantly reconfigure throughout the film, with lighting providing additional effects. The film, by the late Jonathan Demme, pulls together some of the greatest musical performances at the Rock Hall’s induction ceremonies. Long Live Rock By: David Barbour The Power of Rock Experience, at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, combines video, lighting, sound, and automation in a unique musical celebration Contemporary music history has a galvanizing new show- theatre, guests view a 12-minute concert film, directed by case in The Power of Rock Experience, which opened at Jonathan Demme, that edits together a cascade of classic Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on July 1. A three- performances. (Demme, who died in April, was a prolific part experience, it begins on the museum’s top floor, on the director of rock documentaries, including the classic Stop bridge outside the newly named Connor Theater, with a Making Sense.) montage of scenes from various Hall of Fame induction cer- Beginning with Ruth Brown, lending her signature sass to emonies, presented on a dynamic LED screen. Inside the “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” and concluding All photos: ©BRC Imagination Arts 80 • February 2018 • Lighting&Sound America with Prince’s stunning rendition of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the film is a nonstop procession of show-stoppers—performed by, among others, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Joan Jett, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Deborah Harry, Metallica, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, and Green Day—aided and abetted by lighting effects, moving screens, and a sound system guaranteed to blow audiences out into nearby Lake Erie. For the grand finale, guests step into Say It Loud! story booths, where they are “interviewed” by such previous Hall of Fame inductees as Smokey Robinson, Michelle Phillips, Mary Wilson, and Alice Cooper. The Power of Rock Experience is part of an ongoing upgrade to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, under the aegis of BRC Imagination Arts, the Burbank, California-based experience design and production agency. Christian Lachel, executive vice president and creative director at BRC, says, “We started working with the museum’s board (including Jann Wenner), foundation, and senior leadership several years back on a master plan to reinvent the Rock Hall for future generations. Phase One involved renewing the muse- um’s brand identity. The Rock Hall logo has been tightened up, gone is the word ‘museum,’ and we’ve created a new series of brand and tone-of-voice guidelines to help align the look and feel. We put out large letters on the plaza that spell out ‘Long Live Rock.’ They welcome guests and also frame the architecture of I. M. Pei. An event stage was ear- marked for summer music concerts, and new lighting and speaker towers were installed. We created two custom food trucks, along with all-new lighting of the building’s exterior; a motorcycle parking area was installed on the plaza. A key criterion was to create a pre-concert atmosphere, with music, drinking, eating, and opening bands playing.” Phase Two centered on The Power of Rock Experience, which, Lachel says, is designed to be “the cherry-on-top moment” for guests who have made their way through exhibits on the lower floors. “The idea was to make people feel like they are in the front row of an induction night con- cert,” he says. There was no shortage of material, he adds: “The hall has 20-plus years of incredible footage. We tried to create a concert that really brought it all home—why these individuals were chosen for the Hall of Fame. Because their music stands that test of time.” Lachel says that his team was dedicated to theatricaliz- ing the experience of viewing the film: “Previously, the Connor Theater played host to a multi-hour show of footage from every single induction ceremony. There was no real story. If you were a Jimi Hendrix fan and you got lucky, he was on the screen when you walked in. But you could wait hours for him. It wasn’t envisioned as an experience.” Working with the noted film director was something of a new experience for the BRC team. Lachel says, “We started at the Hall of Fame, then got on the bus to Dearborn and showed Jonathan the Ford Rouge Factory Tour [another, www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • February 2018 • 81 TECHNICAL FOCUS: INSTALLATION BRC project]. He said, ‘You guys create the concert-like gets cut into the ceiling. They tone the graphics with color.” immersion and we’ll create the greatest hits of these Hodge says that the Connor Theater, in some ways, “was moments’.” Editing the film was an intensive task. “The a very difficult space. It’s a 30’ drum, cantilevered out over Rock Hall has thousands of hours of footage,” Lachel adds. the water. The benefit is that it is completely sound-isolated “They recorded everything, but [as it was done over several from the rest of the museum, and we have a show that decades] all in different formats, aspect ratios, and quality. often reaches 110dB. [A set of sound-isolating doors keeps Early on, they didn’t have that many cameras; last year, at sound from bleeding out.] Also, there is no freight elevator; Barclays Center, they had 18. It was all about culling we had to bring scenery up flights of escalators, and every- through the available material and finding the right emotion- thing had to fit through a double-wide door.” al clip, then stitching everything together to make it feel like When audience members enter the theatre, they see a one experience. We were fortunate to work with Jonathan single 4:3 screen; there are five screens altogether, including and his team. He was definitely our partner in this.” two silver screens that come together to make a complete Edward Hodge, creative technical director at BRC, says 16:9 configuration. At different times, the screens can align that Demme and his team “had terabytes and terabytes of to make a single wide-angle image; split into three, some- material, more than half of it standard definition on Beta times offering a single image in triplicate; or form an tapes. We were asking him to put that into a room where arrangement consisting of a wide screen with narrow bands the screens are 12' tall and 30' wide and would dynamically at left and right, the center screen presenting a close-up of move. We did some restoration of footage, and with others a performer and the side screens offering details, such as a we’d do double images, or Manny [Treeson, the lighting tight face shot or a hand picking a guitar. designer] would help us out with an amazing light cue that Hodge says, “The screens helped us to deal with the masks some of the video’s resolution challenges.” variety of aspect ratios available, but they also gave us Now, when guests enter the theatre, they see an elabo- something that is custom to the Rock Hall—for example, rate setup that includes a network of overhead truss, and, being able to split out the Prince sequence and reveal, in a upstage, a curved truss for moving projection screens glance, Tom Petty, standing to the left of Prince. With the backed by an automated lighting rig. On either side of the screens, you can break the story apart, to enhance what screens are enormous stacks of loudspeakers, outlined in would normally be a single-screen view. We do this several lighting. The show that follows, has, by all accounts, an times, playing with the lighting in the theatre as well. When electrifying effect. Grandmaster Flash is performing, the lights back and forth across the theater follow his mixing action, and the sound The experience system moves, too.” Treeson says that his work began with the preshow on the The automation of the screens was handled by ZFX, a bridge outside the theatre, which features custom-made company best known for flying performers. Hodge recalls, “I lighting, an LED wall, and an immersive concealed audio said to them, ‘I know you’ve never done a permanent instal- system: “I came up with a way to do accent lighting within lation before, but how about it’?” The company agreed, and the marquee with a recessed downlight version of the a system was assembled that, Hodge says, “is part off-the- Gantom Wash—there are 40—that was developed for me. shelf and part custom. It’s a solid core nylon rope system When the doors to the theatre open, the marquee lights that really helped us with travel times. I had never done a change color and pulse. I also put in ribbons of light, using rope-and-pulley system for an attraction; they fly people FlexiFlex RGB LED tape, above and below the marquee.” and have a lot of experience, especially when dealing with The walls of the preshow area are covered with graphics. wear and tear.” A RAYNOK motion control software drives “It’s part of a posterized vibe created by BRC,” Treeson the screens. says, “There are great action shots of rock stars, iconic Working with a rough cut of the film, Hodge says, “We images paired with quotes.” The question, he adds, was did simple 3D modeling of the show in After Effects; we “how to use color and tone, even in the preshow, to further kept it simple, because we didn’t want to spend too much that story.