VITAL STATS
VITAL STATS 168 Nick Whiteoak & Dave Whiteoak Profession: Directors, Video Illusions Date & place of birth: December 7 1983 & July 2 1982, Chatham, UK Was it always your intention to work within the live production industry? We started out as audiovisual engineers based in London, involved in the design and installation of video conference suites, lecture theatres and training rooms for large corporate institutions. Live music was always our passion and we started out working with our friends ‘Inside Us All’ at electronic dance events around London, where we would install custom video designs. We began to build up contacts in the industry and before we knew it, our live production gigs outnumbered our installation jobs, which became the forefront of the business that we have today.
“We always aim to ensure that production managers have full trust in our service and we pride ourselves on leaving no stone left unturned in terms of the schedule and kit being 100% reliable...”
Was there a catalyst that prompted you to create the company? It was a natural progression. The knowledge we gained from designing audiovisual systems for the corporate institutions stood us in good stead when it came to starting our production hire company. We’d started collating our own kit, by this point, we were subbing for a video company and this brought us to Reading Festival, where we installed the LED screens and projectors and operated the cameras. It was around this time that we found ourselves heading in the live production direction. We gave our VJ and underground music guise the name Video Illusions, which we registered as a company in 2006. There’s been a huge leap in terms of what has become technologically possible with show design in the last two decades. Has this progress altered how you work with live events? Certainly, having so many new products available and the technological advances in control / mapping systems means the possibilities are continually evolving and setting new challenges and possibilities. The LED solutions we invested in have allowed us to create custom formations. This changed the parameters of what’s possible for us. Though a large amount of our work involves installing large screens on many of the most well-known UK / European events, having the ability to make bespoke show designs with our kit sets our stock apart from many of the other LED products on the events circuit. How critical do you feel relationship building is in the live events and touring industry? It’s absolutely essential. Over the years the relationships that we’ve built with production managers, tour managers and other hire companies has kept us growing and expanding. It’s these relationships that help bring in repeat work and new opportunities. We always aim to ensure that production managers have full trust in our service and we pride ourselves on leaving no stone left unturned in terms of the schedule and kit being 100% reliable. Over the years we have had the pleasure of working with amazing acts such as Frank Turner, Chase & Status, Knife Party, Skrillex and Rebel Sound. A great relationship with the legends that are London Warehouse Events keeps us busy in the electronic dance sector too. We also 118
have a strong relationship with ADI.tv, a specialist in mobile LED services and high-resolution VIP installations which we can help provide, along with our experienced support. Video Illusions supplied video to the TPi Awards, and won ‘Production of the Year’ in 2014 for the Arcadia stage at Glastonbury. There must be a great sense of achievement that comes with being part of such a unique production? It was a huge honour to be part of the Arcadia project and it is certainly our biggest achievement to date. Pip and Bert and their whole team are visionaries. Dave had been proposing ideas to them for a number of years to get video involved on the stage. Eventually they gave us the green light and the result was incorporating SMPTE time code to bring all the elements for the landing show together. Our LED modules were added to their art piece to bring the spider to life using video. VI and Blinkin Lab added the mouth, brain and body section and also created a skin texture for the spider with custom mapped video content. It’s difficult to do to something this unique and original and we’re really proud of it. We’re really busy working on additional ideas for them, exciting times! What have been some of the most challenging and rewarding events you’ve worked on to date? Gravity in Thailand with Arcadia was rewarding - having to make the video design manageable with less crew, we designed and manufactured brackets for quicker installation Alicia Keys at the MTV EMA in Glasgow was very rewarding moment as it was going out on live TV. Another standout event was the Knife Party’s LED Haunted House with Nocturnal Touring last year, across two events in one weekend, we installed 60 sq metre of our LED with a custom built four-metre high, three sided LED rolling DJ booth seated in the centre on the screen to be rolled out without fault in a 20 minute change over - a truly great show to be a part of. Where can we expect to see more of Video Illusions’ work in 2015? The festival season is coming up, so in fields mainly! We’ve secured some great contracts with large IMAG and backdrop screens on many of this year’s leading live events. Our camera and projection systems can be seen with Clean Bandit and the Prodigy. We will also be collaborating with Matt Evans (Nocturnal Touring) on some exciting new projects...