“I am an intuitive designer and find that, even with the best prep, that my instincts will guide me in other directions once I am in the theater with the other artists,” says Finn. “I always strive to make sure that I am open enough to follow these instincts. I find that this often leads me in a direction that is extremely satisfying.”
In Michael Jackson ONE™, Finn admits to liking “various numbers for various reasons. “Jam,” for example, became a true rock and roll number and we found that we could layer it to death and it just looked better and better,” he explains. “There is a lot going on visually in this number. In the end we added a lot of laser work and I think it looks great. Benny Kirkham, my spectacular primary board op, was integral in such moments. I learned a lot from him.”
Josh Koffman, their second board op, spent nearly four months working with the team on integrated costume and prop lighting and programming. “His work on “Billie Jean” speaks for itself,” notes Finn. “Coming from a music background myself —working for 25 years in dance and opera— and having programmers who work primarily in the music business, proved to be a huge success. The work literally fell into place.”
Finn attributes much of this to with the prep time, noting that director Jamie King and his team of choreographers had 90% of the numbers roughed in during the rehearsal period in Montreal. “Using WISTIA for tracking the choreography on video, we chose Adobe Audition and placed all of the cue points, rhythm tracks, and accents in the music prior to entering the theater,” explains Finn, noting that Kirkham then transferred the Adobe Q points into the MA Lighting grandMA console “So starting with cue points and just being able to fill with content and then adjust was a fluid and efficient process,” Finn adds.
{ SOURCE: LiveDesign.com | http://goo.gl/rDEjLB }
