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PSL Pictures for Portishead
After a decade away from the stage, Portishead could easily have looked a little rusty at the kick-off of their first British tour this millennium. But not only did the Bristol trio hit wonderful form musically, but the stage was enhanced by a dramatic visual landscape, supplied by PSL.
To mark the release of their fourth album ‘Third', the so-called trip-hop band from Bristol has been touring Europe, with a classy visual design that matches artist John Minton's creative concepts with PSL display technology.
Behind the stage, three separate projection screens are used in combination, with either three individual displays or as one large landscape. A multitude of small cameras, positioned all over the stage amongst the musicians, provide live footage, which is also processed as a feedback effect and relayed onto the screen.
Visual artist John Minton explains that he wanted to keep the look raw and basic. "Not many bands are using projection, as people turn to LED, but I was keen on the quality. The content was messed-up footage, and we kept it gritty, live and spontaneous, merging live cameras with source footage using PSL's vision mixers. Every gig, the projection content was different, what you might call a very organic develiopment. But we had a clear idea of what we wanted, working closely with Adam Seaman who is our interface with the technical folks at PSL."
The screens are specially-made Rosco models, using dark materials which don't reflect as much light as white screens, thus blending the screens into the background and giving better colour and clarity with a brighter image. "You can't see it when there is no video; I hate to see big white squares behind the musicians. And it leaves space for the lighting." PSL's Barco SLM R12+ projectors are deployed, chosen for their impressive light output of up to 12,000 ANSI lumens and exceptional image quality and video performance.
The summer is already presenting a busy itinerary for PSL's projection inventory and crew. Giant 30' screens will be used for the UFC cage-fighting dates all over the UK: PSL is supplying all visuals for the Gatecrasher and Big Chill events: a PPU camera team and side screens was at the Rock Ness concert, headlined by Fat Boy Slim: and the PSL teams is also gigging with Roisin Murphy and Swedish singer Robyn.
25th June 2008
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