SLE Post 4: Lighting Designers

Leroy Bennett is a production and lighting designer who has worked with Prince, Queen, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson, Tim McGraw, Paul McCartney, Guns 'N Roses, Kelly Clarkson, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Josh Groban, Big Bang, and many other artists. He has also worked on other productions such as award shows by VH1, MTV, Parnelli, and Sundance, as well as Disney on Ice productions and television programs. He has been in the industry since the 70's-80's, and continues to work on some of the best productions.

This year, Leroy Bennett designed the stage and lights for Big Bang's Alive Tour. An amazing crew worked on this production, organized by Live Nation Entertainment. The director was Laurieann Gibson, and the FOH engineer was Ken "Pooch" Van Druten, who has mixed Linkin Park, Eminem, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Kiss and many others.

Mark Workman has been touring for 29 years as a lighting designer and tour manager. He has worked with Slayer, Megadeth, System of a Down, and many others. He does many metal and rock shows, and the artists he work with appreciate his understanding of the music.

Travis Shirley has worked with Enrique Iglesias, Smashing Pumpkins, Rufus Wainwright, Linkin Park, and many others. He was a student at Full Sail University.

Stephen Pollard is a lighting and set designer who has worked on tours with Simple Minds, U2, Linkin Park, Adele and many others. He has also designed architectural lights, and lights and sets for television, corporate and industrial events. He has collaborate with other designers, for example on the Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight World Tour 2008, he worked with AJ Pen and Mike Shinoda on the set design.

Five Stealth video screens with motion control hovered above the set, which itself was floating over a rolling platform that housed monitors and back line. The way in which the set design worked with the lighting and video made the visual experience really interesting.

Looking at the works of the many designers is not just to "draw inspiration", but to study the way colors, positions, movements and other parameters are used. Lighting is used to support the performance and the music, to create the emotion and enhance the experience. Design cannot really be taught, but by observing and analyzing the work of others, the experimentation process has a direction from which to begin. Also, lighting, video, set design and many other aspects have to work closely to create the entire visual experience.