Lightroom debuted its latest visual spectacular on Wednesday January 22 at 8pm, simultaneously showcasing Coldplay’s new A Film For The Future exhibition at venues in London, Manchester and Seoul – and Installation was in London for the launch. The images projected onto the four walls for a 360-degree experience were contributed by 150 artists from 45 countries, who took inspiration from the group’s recent Moon Music album.
Each artist, mainly animators but including a vast array of different styles, was given a 15-second snippet of one of the songs. They had very little guidance, although they were told the overall theme of the song worked on.
Although the full film is already available on YouTube, and was not made specifically for The Lightroom, it is undoubtedly far more spectacular when viewed in this format.
In his introduction to the film in London, the executive producer and co-director Ben Mor quoted Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin who described it as an “experiment gone right”.
Loud applause from an invited audience in London greeted many of the songs from the 45-minute album, illustrated by a succession of startlingly beautiful and creative ideas.
Speaking to Installation at the show, Mor explained how the project was developed. The germ of the idea came from the band’s creative team who were thinking about how to make videos that intersect more closely with short-form content designed for the Instagram generation.
The Coldplay team then brought together Mor, an experienced music video producer, and the Coldplay head of content, Sam Seager, who is also a producer. Seager explained: “We started figuring out who are those kind of creatives and artists that would actually want to work on such a project. Our role was to curate the participating artists, and split the album into 10-15 second sections. Then we did a lot of work sequencing it.”
The artists were only allowed to listen to the short clips, and no more. Mor said: “At the start they weren’t even aware of what the whole song was about. It was pretty random, but we also embraced that. It was like a puzzle piece. Someone got an eyeball, another got the sky, someone else got a shoulder. So they had no idea what to make of it.”
At this point, Mor decided it was best to provide the artists with a little more thematic content. He wrote a couple of paragraphs describing the broad direction of each song. “They created their own planets, but I told them what universe it would be in. So I kind of gave them abstract, poetic interpretations to work with,” he explained.
Each clip was marked up, for example “track seven: clip 11”. The artists submitted one-page treatments, which Mor and Seager had to approve.
Mor says every conceivable type of artist was involved. Although the majority are animators, there is a healthy dose of live action directors. And others are as niche as it’s possible to imagine. “One person does aerial photography merging bodies of water and that’s all he does. Another artist does table-top microscopic filming of liquid. And one of them films particles and textures for sci-fi films – it’s pretty deep stuff. Another guy is an FPV drone operator that shoots in remote locations,” he told Installation.
While many of the artists were established names, many were discovered on social media. “I like to think a lot of the talent is next-generation and, for now, Instagram-famous. We just sent them a message to see if they were interested. So it’s all the way from novices to very established individuals,” added Mor.
Once the film was completed it was uploaded onto YouTube. The decision to project it onto the huge walls at The Lightroom came later after the Coldplay team approached the London venue.
Richard Slaney, CEO, The Lightroom, said he had wanted to work with the Coldplay team for some time and this project seemed like a good opportunity to do something “unique”.
“It’s thrilling for us to say ‘look it’s premiered on YouTube, but live experiences at our Lightroom venues in Manchester and London and Seoul are the best places to watch it. Our sound system makes it feel far more intense and it’s such an immersive album that it plays well in the space. It’s a big statement for us and we’re really excited about what it means for our future as we get more sites,” he said.
Studio Flint, a leading video design and animation studio that specialises in creating immersive, narrative-driven designs, helped the teams at the Lightroom and Coldplay to adapt the video for the 360-degree space.
The projection at Lightroom is delivered by 14x Panasonic PT-RQ22K 20,000 lumens, 4k resolution, 3-chip DLP projectors, projecting across the walls of the space, with 14x Panasonic PT-RZ12K 12,000 lumens, HD resolution, 3-chip DLP projectors handling the floor. Meanwhile, immersive sound from HOLOPLOT delivers crystal clear audio for the voiceovers.
As with its opening collaboration, David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (see our report here) and the hit show The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks (see Installation’s report here) the film aims to push the boundaries of what immersive exhibitions can offer.
A Film For The Future is available to watch in London and Manchester in the UK, as well as in Seoul, Korea. Tickets are £25 per adult and £15 for students. Details below:
- Thurs 23 Jan 7.30 & 8.30pm
- Friday 24 Jan 7.30 & 8.30pm
- Friday 31 Jan 7.30pm & 8.30pm
- Thursday 6 Feb 7.30pm
- Friday 7 Feb 7.30pm
- Thursday 13 Feb 7.30pm
- Friday 14 Feb 7.30pm
- Thursday 20 Feb 7.30pm
- Friday 21 February 7.30pm
Aviva Studios, Manchester
- Weds 22 Jan – 9pm, 10pm
- Fri 24 Jan – 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm
- Sat 25 Jan – 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm
Lightroom Seoul
- Weds 22 Jan – Fri 31 Jan
- Weekdays: 6:30 PM, 8:00 PM
- Weekends & Public Holidays: 2:00 PM, 3:30 PM, 5:00PM, 6:30 PM, 8:00 PM
