Paramore’s This Is Why Tour

Cour Design reached new visual heights in pairing the dreamlike quality of vintage film aesthetics with modern 3D animation on Paramore’s This Is Why tour.

Cour Design collaborated with Production and Lighting Designers Sooner Routhier and Trevor Ahlstrand to develop a visual language for Paramore’s recent tour of North America. They set out in a totally new direction for the band, taking inspiration from their recent exploration of retrofuturism and film aesthetics, at which they arrived during the rollout of their album, This Is Why.

Cour’s vision centred on space-age architectural design and environments. They incorporated print and photography techniques, complementing the 16mm-inspired textures and adding a 20th-century balance to their 21st-century 3D renders. With a wide array of live feeds, they also maintained camera layouts as a primary consideration.

The Cour team animated camera layouts and effects in Notch, playing them back through their Notch Block in the media server. Using timecode, they could rhythmically cut cameras during the show’s more active segments. As Content Director Mike Kluge explained, “The ability to use Notch in a server that works on a timeline is huge for me. It’s really helpful for a show that requires extensive planning like this.”

They used Notch’s Virtual Background feature to create a “sandwich” effect, placing the alpha camera image of the performers on top of the original camera image composited with graphics, resulting in a clear view of both the performers and accompanying designs.

“With Notch, I can programme a show at home and know all of the information will carry over to an arena. That’s extremely powerful.”

Mike Kluge, Content Director, Cour Design

Additional press coverage:
NME, The Emory Wheel, The Cosmic Circus, Parklife DC.

Credits
Client: Paramore
Tour Manager: Andrew Weiss
Production Manager: Charlie Bybee
Stage Manager: Sam “Fish” Wilson
Tour Coordinator: Brad Coletta 
Production & Lighting Design: Trevor Ahlstrand & Sooner Routhier, The Playground
Creative Assistant: Allison Ciccarelli
Technical Direction: Matt Geasey & Bryan Seigel, Clear All Visuals
Lighting Programming: Bobby Grey, Chris Smith, Nikita Jakovlev & Kyle Lovan
Lighting Director: Chad Peters
Video Director: Adam Peck

D3 Programming/Op: Ciara Hegli
Content Director: Mike Kluge
Notch Programming and Design: Mike Kluge & Brett Bolton
Content Assist: Matthew Delisi
Head Rigger: Derek Purciful
Automation Programming: Ryan Mast
FOH Engineer: Travis Bing
MON Engineer: Schyler Blackman
Video / Lighting: LMG Touring
Automation / Rigging: PRG
Audio: Clair Global
Scenic / Staging: Upstaging & SGPS Show Rig
SFX: Pyrotecnico
Photography: Zachary Gray