ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION DESIGNER

STEVE AOKI - Neon Future Grids

Making up Steve's Spring 2015 touring production were four square LED canvases, one for each letter of his last name, that continuously displayed dynamic typographic animations and futuristic content throughout the show. They surrounded Steve in an arching fashion with correspond staging, allowing him to perform in and around the set. Wrapping each LED screen was a 3d mapped, mirror-lined LED scenic grid that extended the visual elements in physical ones, adding an elaborate scenic layer to the show.

The 3D LED grid was designed, programmed, engineered and built primarily in house at the VSL Studio. It is a very custom piece of scenery designed and built specifically for this tour. The grid consisted of 972 frosted acrylic tubes, each of which contained 26 individually controlled LED pixels. Lining the mounting structure was a highly reflective mirrored acrylic, creating the illusion that there were twice as many pixels and depth to the grid (50,000+). The overall effect was a video product that was integrated into standard staging and LED modules to create a scenic composition that came together like pieces of a puzzle. Lighting was arranged to compliment and frame these effects in a variety of interesting ways. The programmed combination of each element and the interplay between them is what made this production truly unique.

Credits

Credits

  • Client: Steve Aoki
    Artist Management: Matt Colon, Deckstar
    Tour Manager: Dillon Anderson
    Director: Vello Virkhaus
    Producer: Andi Perez
    Production Design: Amanda Hamilton
    Grid Programming and Fabrication: Matt Guertin
    System Programming: Evan Pierre & Max Chang
    3D Animation: Carlo Sa, John Federico, Drew Best, Aaron Kaminar & Davy Force
    Assistant Animators: Art Perez and Alec Maassan
    Set Fabrication: Tractor Vision
    Truss and Decking: Accurate Staging