Shirin David, the chart-topping German rapper, singer, entrepreneur, and former YouTuber, is celebrated by her loyal fan base for her impactful shows David’s 14-date “Schlau aber blond” touring show played out in five acts that incorporated all manner of theatrics, lighting and fire effects, video walls, and dancers. Alongside a host of other industry-leading collaborators, Production Director John Pryer and Production Manager George Doherty of 24/7 Productions brought in Adlib for the lighting, video, and rigging requirements, relying on the company’s 40 years of experience with touring events.
Rapper, singer, entrepreneur, and former YouTuber, Shirin David, is one of the most successful female artists in Germany
Ashley Ball, Adlib’s Video Technical Manager, says, “Getting a good image for the audience is what we strive for. We wanted to represent the vibrancy that comes along with the show. A cinema camera was going to be the only choice to get that look. The initial brief for this show was glam; being synonymous with her music, there’s a lot of bursts of color. Most people in the audience will be looking at Shirin through the LED screen. So, replicating what you would see with your own eye in as photogenic a way as possible is really important.”
Adlib had previous experience working with ARRI’s ALEXA 35 camera at live concerts, but the ALEXA 35 Live – Multicam System came to the fore for this project, with its Live Production System LPS-1 (comprising a Fiber Camera Adapter and Fiber Base Station) purpose-designed for the demands and workflows of live productions.
The Shirin David tour pioneered the first use of the ALEXA 35 Live - Multicam System on a concert tour
“A live environment is probably one of the most challenging environments for a camera,” continues Ball. “We’ve got super dark blacks and super bright highlights. But also it being there turned on for hours and hours getting hot; it’s super important that the cameras can stand up to the robustness of a touring environment. For this show, the ALEXA 35 Live seemed to tick all of the boxes. It really transforms the cinema camera into what would be a more traditional broadcast-style camera. We have a CCU, we have an RCP—powered and connected via fiber. So it’s ideal for our touring multis that we would run out every day and it integrated into our system perfectly.”
Nicholas Whitehead, Head of Video for the touring show, comments, “The interesting aspect of this tour is the ARRI ALEXA 35 Live camera system. The image quality is a step beyond what we would ordinarily tour. Despite the advance in technology, it’s important that this system acts like any other broadcast camera package—it needs to be plug-and-play, while outputting better image quality and processing.”
Always seeking to deepen its understanding of industry needs, ARRI sent a team of R&D technicians to observe the touring setup, overseen by Jannik Abelt, Technical Specialist Multicam. This allowed ARRI to release a software update with new features for the LPS-1 part-way through the tour, in direct response to the feedback and requests of the “Schlau Aber Blond” production team.
ARRI’s Live Production System LPS-1, comprising a Fiber Camera Adapter and Fiber Base Station, is purpose-designed for the demands and workflows of live productions
Abelt says, “I am always happy to attend shows to see how systems behave in a working environment, to understand how we can improve things and gauge the reaction. The workflow of a modern touring production requires cameras that can deliver night after night. The ALEXA 35 – Multicam System and its predecessors are well established in other sectors, but their plug-and-play usability and robust nature make them ideal for touring productions.”
Ashley Ball notes, “Having a complete, unified system has really helped us deploy this not only easily, but also confidently. Using the Skaarhoj universal RCPs [which form part of the ALEXA 35 Live – Multicam System] has been fantastic as well, because we have the facilities to remotely record, play back, deal with look files, textures. It really is as fully functional as an OEM RCP. Some of the features the camera operators have enjoyed specifically have been being able to upload custom frame guides to the cameras and viewfinders to perfectly match the LED screens.”
Nicholas Whitehead couldn’t have been happier with the integration and collaboration, commenting, “ARRI has delivered first-class support.” Ball echoes his sentiments, saying, “Having ARRI working with us directly has been fantastic, and seeing their willingness to try and push this into touring has been really amazing. I do see seeing a cinematic image as the future of live music touring; it just adds another level to the creativity that is possible with a show. And ultimately seeing the image on the screen just blew me away.”
The Adlib team agreed that a cinema camera would be the best choice to deliver a visual feast for the audience
