Pretty Lights’ Scope

A collaboration that grew to include every creative need an artist could have. Derek Vincent Smith, better known to festival-goers as Pretty Lights, has always had an expansive creative vision. In a long collaboration with RadioEditAV we got to explore creative ground that most client relationships simply don’t allow for, creating films and mounting complex communications campaigns with artistry and professionalism.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at The Visual Project for “A Color Map of the Sun” featuring my co-founder David Najarian, produced by me.

Across The Gamut

What started with stage visuals and show-recap videos, had grown into deep integration of the creative forces of Pretty Lights and RadioEditAV.

On any given day you could find me:

 

  • designing and animating motion graphics for the stage-visuals
  • planning, managing, and producing the next video shoot
  • designing logos, posters, album covers, and other graphics
  • transforming the graphics into admat for social media, email, and print

and that was merely the day-to-day work. Every project needed an individual approach because they all had such individual goals.

Pushing Boundaries

Our creative collaboration led to projects that had us experimenting on the limit of what was possible.

A brief look at the city website process and screencap of the live site

  • When Derek wanted to create an online experience unlike any artist’s website before, we worked with cutting edge WebGL and packages like three.js to bring a 3D city to life in the browser.
  • Using CRT television sets to create a retro-futuristc stage booth involved days working with shell-scripting Raspberry Pis and custom coding software to multiplex and individually assign each screen.
  • Working in Touchdesigner to create a video system that would be controlled directly from the stage booth to give an unheard of level of artistic control to the performer.

A Color Map of the Sun

A full-album short film accompaniment to 2014 Grammy Award Nominee for Best Dance/Electronica Album

A Pinnacle in Telluride

By the time Derek and his team were negotiating with the City of Telluride to host a two-night festival, we were all-in.

My responsibilities included:

  • posters, passes, wristbands, signage, print materials
  • designing an entire line of merchandise and managing the sales staff at the event
  • managing my normal crew of videographers for recap and behind the scenes footage
  • supervising the stage-visuals which were also being projected onto the trees behind the stage
  • writing and configuring the software and hardware for the CRT booth and teching it on show days
  • liaising between my teams, the city officials, and the event staff

An intimate recap video capturing the vibe of the weekend.

Admat banner design based on the poster design.

Woven wristbands for access control.