LiveDesignOnline: All Access provided major engineering and automation solutions for the Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, serving as the primary set shop, working in collaboration with Tait and Atomic to realize the production designs by Bruce Rodgers of Tribe. Live Design chats with All Access president Erik Eastland about the scope of their work and the challenges provided by this year's pandemic-era project, and the fixed-location set in a busy football stadium concourse.
10 comments:
This was a really interesting read in terms of it being such a unique yeah with COVID protocols. I watched the half-time show live and was very impressed with the scenic elements with automation and such. All Access did a really amazing job at automating the set despite it being 80,000 pounds. I was also blown away by the inside room in the set that they called the infinity room. Having 5000 incandescent bulbs is insane to think about. I thought it was really interesting how they had to design and place the scenery within a very active stadium concourse as opposed to having it on the stage like they traditionally do. To me, as someone not involved in the process, this seems easier because they do not have to move pieces on and off the field before and after the show, however they had to navigate the completely new challenge of masking pathways for fans to travel through the back of the scenery to get to restaurants and food stands. This is a new challenge that I would not have thought of. I was overall very impressed with the execution of this unique design.
I didn't watch the Super Bowl halftime show this year, so this is the first I'm hearing of the details of the production (other than the Weeknd being confused with a handheld camera at himself). It's really interesting that they chose to put the stage in a concourse rather than on the field; I had no idea that they did that. It starts to make you think: when you're designing performance spaces that no longer have use for audience seating/standing, what avenues and new concepts could that open up? I initially thought that having the stage in a fixed area would make it easier on the tech designers/day-of crew but I guess that when you're having to assemble a field in the middle of a football field year after year, the technical and functional process of that system get ingrained and should theoretically get a little easier year after year.
The novelty of the half-time show this year was definitely fun for the audience, but this guy doesn’t really sound too thrilled about it. It’s interesting to me because you’d think that being fully in the audience would make it so much easier due to the lack of setup necessary, but of course they wanted the concourse accessible by fans. The split choir risers were a really cool effect during the show, especially because I wasn’t expecting it. The mirror room was also pretty cool and I liked the skyline elements in the background with their little lights. It was interesting to hear this guy talk about the design process during the pandemic. It’s interesting to me that for large productions like this they hire lots of different firms to work on it, which seems like it would complicate things but I guess it may be out of scope to have one company do the whole thing.
While I am not a football fan I do usually watch the halftime show and I am always very interested in various design choices. I thought this year's was especially impressive. It is really facinating to read about people have figured out how to work with COVID protocols. I thought it was facinating where they decided to have the stage and set and how it wasn't on the field. I felt that it was really made for a televised performance instead of an inperson one but I think that they did a really good job with it. I honestly think this was one of the best halftime sets, although I haven't seen very many. I also really love that you can read about the process behind it and find the lighting plots and other design elements online to learn about and discover. I really enjoyed watching this performance from both an entertainment and technical standpoint and I enjoyed reading about the processes behind it.
This seems like quite the undertaking of a project. Although I did not see the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the way they described it it sounded like the stage was in the stands this year. I think that that is quite a strange decision as I am sure there is a lot of room for everyone to social distance on the field. But anyways it also sounds like how a traveling show might operate. They are able to break their entire set down into small pieces to be stored for a period of time and shipped only to be put up a short time before the show. I would be curious to see if the people working on the Super Bowl Halftime Show think of it the same way. It seems like they cannot keep almost anything out once the Superbowl continues so there must be alot of organization in how everything is broken down and put back together.
I did not know anything about this year's Super Bowl halftime show except for all of The Weeknd memes I've seen floating around. I did not watch the halftime show and historically, I think, also have not, as no one in my immediate family is really into football, but I do remember reading an article about the scene change breakdown for the Super Bowl halftime show last year on this webpage. Last year had a heavy emphasis on techs coming in, assembling, and disassembling the stage in six or so minutes or less. This year there seems to be an emphasis on automation, which, to me, sounds like a real headache to plan and execute.
I was also really surprised to hear about the infinity room. Five thousand incandescent bulbs and tunnels of mirrors sounds like a lot, and also very, very hot. Props to anyone who had to perform in there and work so hard to put it all together.
Thank you for putting a post up about the Super Bowl! RIP the Super Bowl this year but GO FALCONS (lol they sucked this year but oh well) Anyway. I enjoyed the Halftime show, it was very different from years before but it was by far the highlight of the event, was a nice break from the crappy game that was more of "The Tom Brady Show" than the Super Bowl. During the event I questioned how many lightbulbs were used in this design and my prayers were answered, lol. There were over 5000 incandescent bulbs in the mirror room. I liked the lighting design of the show and I think it did a nice job high lighting the performance and wasn't distracting. I read another article on the budget of this show in comparison to prior half-time shows and for the cost of this show, I think the production team did a stealer job. Especially with all of the Covid constraints, they were under a round of applause has to go out to this year's production team. I am looking forward to next year and fingers crossed we can have the stage back on the field next year!
This was probably one of the first years I didn't watch the superbowl and specifically did everything to avoid watching the halftime show. I honestly could not get into it after the year we have had and definitely did not want to tune in to watch Tom Brady win another superbowl. It was really interesting to read this article and I found myself looking up The Weeknd's halftime performance on youtube after reading this article just to see how well they pulled off such an amazing feat. The only thing I had heard about this year's halftime performance was how conflicting public opinion was about it, people either absolutely loving the performance or absolutely hating it. I enjoyed it and thought with all the restraints it was an amazing performance and not only is that a testament to The Weeknd but also every single person working backstage to make it happen. The technical aspects were spectacular and I didn't miss seeing something on stage for a single second. The infinity room was genius and seeing something this big being pulled off was a great way to lift creator spirits.
I always love reading and looking at the plans for the halftime shows during the Super Bowl. I personally rarely watch the Super Bowl, but as a designer I am fascinated by how they are able to produce some of the amazing effects that get pulled off every year. It is especially interesting to read a little bit about the unique challenges brought this year during the pandemic. Having to build the whole set and stage into a predefined area in a stadium is a challenge that I never would want to take on, especially considering that they had to meet the expectations of the stadium in allowing traffic to still move through. Rarely would you get lucky enough that premade mechanics would be able to work in such a unique space, so having to design and build a unique track system like they did would just be a complete headache. From what I have seen of the halftime show, I would say that they managed to be a complete success and that the plans truly don't do justice to how convoluted and challenging it must have been to pull that success off.
Thank you for putting a post up about the Super Bowl! RIP the Super Bowl this year but GO FALCONS (lol they sucked this year but oh well) Anyway. I enjoyed the Halftime show, it was very different from years before but it was by far the highlight of the event, was a nice break from the crappy game that was more of "The Tom Brady Show" than the Super Bowl. During the event I questioned how many lightbulbs were used in this design and my prayers were answered, lol. There were over 5000 incandescent bulbs in the mirror room. I liked the lighting design of the show and I think it did a nice job high lighting the performance and wasn't distracting. I read another article on the budget of this show in comparison to prior half-time shows and for the cost of this show, I think the production team did a stealer job. Especially with all of the Covid constraints, they were under a round of applause has to go out to this year's production team. I am looking forward to next year and fingers crossed we can have the stage back on the field next year!
Go falcons they just drafted a TE, Kyle Pitts. I hope they don't trade Julio after today...
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