Project Description
Early this year, Maroon 5 commissioned BLINK to build a special set of visuals for their residency at Park MGM in Las Vegas. Production Designer and Creative Director Parker Genoway worked with Frontman Adam Levine to provide the initial concepts from a series of specific references to apply the band’s music-first rock identity to the next-level setting of a Vegas spectacle.
To keep the focus on the music and Levine’s connection to the audience, BLINK aimed for imagery that packed a punch while supporting–rather than distracting from–the band. Working with a stage enclosed on three sides with 130×30-foot transparent LED walls, they began iterating environments and impressions appropriate for each song.
BLINK set out to make work that either highlighted the geometric stage design–like their massive, audio-reactive disco ball and rectangular neon tubes–or took advantage of the negative space provided by the panoramic screen. They added a tasteful interplay of lighting to their video content as well as a series of projected mini-documentary films that kept the show rooted in the story of the band’s rise to stardom.
The BLINK team used Notch for heavy video effects in songs like “Animal,” for which they created a Predator-style heat vision effect. With “Animal,” they also used the Background Remover and a tight spotlight to prevent the screen from becoming a mess of solarised colour. They also used the Background Remover for “One More Night,” which allowed them to keep Levine’s figure standing out in front of video feedback textures.
“Notch allowed for optimum flexibility and power in several key video moments of this show. In ‘Heavy,’ for example, we broke the screens into rectangles overlaid with multiple video feeds, and we could easily cut between cameras on the beat. And with an array of different Modifiers, we could swiftly switch between all kinds of arrangements and colours.”
Harold Sherr, Notch Designer, BLINK
Additional press coverage:
Billboard, Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Screen Content: Kevin Ramser
Screen Content Producers: Kirsten Dickson-McFie & Richard Cullen
Notch Art Director: Kevin Ramser
Notch Designers: Harold Sherr & Sam Lisher
Video Programmer: Loren Barton
Lighting Designer: Parker Genoway
