AUSTIN – How can I balance my lighting with a massive video structure so the two work together in harmony? Virtually all lighting designers have asked themselves this question — and with good reason! Like some giant planetary object that bends spacetime and pulls everything around it into its gravitational orbit, big video walls have a way of changing everything on stage. Figuring out how to work lights with them is the key to creating a harmonious design.

Tom Kenny has been blending his lights with video walls since big screens first appeared as a scenic element in the mid-1990s. He’s figured out some good answers to the “how do I balance lighting and video?” questions along the way.

This was plain to see in his recent work at the Moody Center when he created the lighting design for Diversified Production Services’ one-day iHeart Country Music Festival, featuring performances by Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Sam Hunt, Elle King, Parker McCollum and other stars.

Working with a 4Wall Entertainment supplied rig that included a 300-tile multi-wall LED video display, he used his lighting fixtures to accentuate the shows video elements, intensifying their visual impact even further.

When the video walls displayed abstract patterns, his lighting reflected them. For example, during one point in the show, when a rippling sea in sunlight was shown on the massive center stage wall, his lights project azure and white light that matched the scenic element. At other times, when IMAG images were shown, his design made them pop even more by raining down colorful washes on the stage and audience.

“It’s always about time and what gives you the biggest bang for your buck when designing around big screen structures,” said Kenny. “We followed all of the lines and mathematical guide lines for the set at the Moody center .We were fortunate again to have a great lighting  system that could contend with the beautiful and bright video surfaces.”

A key part of that lighting package were the rig’s 68 Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures and 22 COLORado Solo Battens from CHAUVET Professional. Flown in five horizontal rows of different widths, the RGBW moving washes, which are powered by OSRAM LEDs, provided bright and colorful downlighting that worked beautifully with the high output video tiles. The batten units were arranged along the deck to create a richly textured color washes that showed up well for the live and TV audiences.

“We found some new focuses and brand new palettes to work with,” Kenny said of the show. “For me to working with a crack lighting team and the 4Wall team made this a great experience.”