Unlimited Productions Teams Up with JS Productions and CHAUVET Professional at Elements Festival

	"Our goal was to create an immersive feel once you are in the octopus without closing it off," says Luijnenburg.

There's a reason octopuses capture the imagination. They embrace unlimited possibilities with all those arms and flowing motions. It's no wonder they served as the inspiration for the Water Stage at the Elements Music and Arts Festival, a preeminent event on the electronic and crossover music scene.

The Unlimited Productions team was asked to take on the production direction for all stages. The team was led by production director, Jan-Maarten Luijnenburg and together with productions manager Moshe Baskin, CAD designer, Gijs Mulder and John Strycharz from supplier JS Productions they made the octopus-inspired stage come to life with help from 32 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes and 14 COLORado PXL Bar 16 battens from CHAUVET Professional.

Since no fish swims alone in the sea of imagination, the Elements Festival also featured a free-flowing Air Stage, located in lush Pocono woods located on the festivals spacious grounds. Enhancing the mood at this site were more CHAUVET Professional fixtures six Color STRIKE M units and 24 COLORado 2 Solo RGBW wash lights.

About half of the artists who appeared at the festival brought their own lighting designers. The Unlimited Productions team working with overall lighting director Renzo Cubas and other LDs ran shows to the other acts. "The result at all stages was a combination of detailed pre-viz work, and our team delivering programming," said Luijnenburg. "There was close collaboration between the artist LD's and our LDs in the advancing process."

Looking at the Water Stage in particular, Luijnenburg says, "We were asked to elevate the original design from last year and take it to the next level. We kept the head with projection mapping on the circular truss, but re-designed everything else, both the staging, LED as well as all lighting.

"Our goal was to create an immersive feel once you are in the octopus without closing it off," continues Luijnenburg. "With a bigger center screen we kept a canvas for artist teams as a lot of their content needs a bigger space. By making sure we have the correct spacing between the vertical panels it can feel like one massive screen, but it also allows more creative usage of the panels with specific content. By alternating the panels with the PXL pixel lines we were able to create the unique vibe we were aiming for."

As is fitting for a festival that thrives on originality, the Unlimited Productions team worked hard to ensure that all stages had unique vibes. "The entire aura is really different for the Water and Aire stages," says Strycharz. "The Air stage needed to be mystical, minimal and intimate in the woods, while the Water stage needed to be in your face once you are in the octopus."