GLP JDC1 joins the party on new Spinal Tap II

Body One of the most keenly anticipated follow-up movies this Autumn is Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. In this mockumentary comedy film, again directed by Rob Reiner, the band reunites after a 15- year break for one final concert. As the action moves to New Orleans it is for this concert — which took place at the City’s Lakefront Arena — that vastly experienced lighting designer Mike Baldassari and his programmer Mike Appel, charged 24 of GLP’s original JDC1 hybrid strobes with performing a multiplicity of roles, including setting a colour palette specific to each of the iconic songs.

His inspiration this time around was drawn from meshing geometric shapes — which is where the rectangular JDC1s came in. Production designer, Michelle C. Harmon had mentioned that the band had been inspired by a concert they did at London’s Royal Albert Hall back in 1992. “When I saw it on YouTube I noticed some small hexagon shapes in the background, which I latched onto immediately,” says Baldassari. From the six-sided geometric he started playing with numbers. “There are three guys in the band. I put three pods stage left, three pods stage right, and three over the top. Then there was the obvious connection of 666 to heavy metal. Finally there was the ubiquitous shape from 1980s rock and roll, of the silver hexagonal parcan gel frames … so I knew the hexes would be the right element to execute the design.” “Along with the hexes I also used circles — and when you start playing with shapes it was the rectangular form factor of the JDC1 that made it all the more visually interesting.”

He and Appel faced challenges, not only with the tight timeline but the significant weight restrictions at the theatre — which had been compromised after Hurricane Katrina; thus the massive videowall backdrop was entirely ground supported by a 5- storey-tall structure. The two men worked feverishly during a week of pre-viz at their respective New Jersey and Florida bases, using a gaming programme called Parsec to share

computer screens and programming on a grandMA3. The show itself was built in Vectorworks 3D and the JDCs were run in full pixel mode. “There’s a lot that I love about them,” he said. First of all the strobes are not just white, and keeping in this style of music it was very important that each song had its own palette. Another great thing about them,” Baldassari noted, “was that just 24 fixtures, strategically placed all over the stage, was sufficient. Even on a rig that size, just 24 JDC1s create enormous impact.”

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Photos © Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan