Untitled

i've been to a stupid number of shows in the last eighteen months and the shape of them has changed. i don't think people are clocking it

the stage isn't at the front anymore

in-the-round used to be a novelty. now it's everywhere and once you've been you can't go back. no "bad side", no paying extra for the front because there isn't a front. the performer works all 360 degrees, so they move differently

related: satellite stages — the catwalk into the middle of the floor. sounds gimmicky, isn't. it's the only way anyone past row 40 sees a human at human scale

everything moves now

kinetic rigging. the whole lighting grid on winches, so the ceiling descends and tilts through the set. i saw one drop to about four metres during a slow song and the room went quiet

a ceiling moving hits something primal — your body registers it before you do. launches got good at this too, the oppo reno 8 launch is basically gig staging applied to a phone

drones ate pyro's lunch (partially)

not fully — nothing replaces the concussion of pyro, you feel it in your chest

but drone swarms do things pyro cannot. hold a shape. spell something. build a slow image over three minutes instead of one bang. silent, which is either the best or worst thing about them

smart shows use both. drones for the reveal, pyro for the hit

they finally started designing for the screen

the one i find most interesting. for years the screens just showed a camera feed. now it's composed — treated feeds, cameras cutting into pre-rendered environments, the performer dropped into a rendered world in real time

anamorphic is the extreme end. this ADIPEC breakdown explains it better than i can — content built for one viewing angle so the image looks like it's leaving the screen

so the person 90 metres back isn't getting a downgraded front row. they're getting a different, better-directed one

less sold on

phone pouches. i get the argument, i've had a better time at pouched shows, still find the enforcement grim

"immersive zones" that are just a tent with fog in it

silent disco as a main-stage format. great at 2am in a field, weird at 9pm

outdoors it scales absurdly — the national games opening in goa is a build where the screen is the venue

anyway: the best seat is no longer a fixed location. it used to be dead centre, twenty rows back. now it might be the side, the round, or the raised bit at the back where you see the whole rig doing its thing

go stand somewhere weird at the next show. the view from the back with the whole rig in frame does something the front row completely misses

ok so i went to an expo last week and i need to talk about this for a second

look at that thing ↑ it's a circle. a circular display, hanging above a booth, with light bars fanning out underneath it like a sunburst. and you can see it from basically anywhere in the hall because it's up in the air where the crowd isn't

that's not signage. that's set design

genuinely the thing that shifted for me is realising exhibition stands aren't graphic design anymore, they're closer to theatre. you're not making a poster, you're making a room that people walk into and feel something in for about ninety seconds

some things i noticed once i started paying attention:

everything is curved now. flat rectangles are kind of over? the good stands are wrapping the image around a cylinder or a ring or the corner of a wall. curves have no edge for your eye to escape from, so you just… keep looking

the floor counts. saw a setup where the wall image continued down onto the floor — floating lanterns above, their reflections below, all matching. and the room just kind of vanished. for as long as you stand there you're not in a convention hall anymore, you're in the picture. that's the whole trick and it's so simple

height is everything. by hour two of any expo the aisles are packed and you literally cannot see anything below head height. the only things still visible are the ones hanging from the ceiling. so all that gorgeous eye-level branding? gone. invisible. the ring above the booth is the only reason anyone knows you exist from three aisles away

also — and this is the practical bit — printed backdrops can say one thing for four days. a display can say a different thing every twenty minutes

morning: brand film midday: live demo afternoon: the session schedule evening: thanking whoever just signed a deal

same square footage. like five times the content. it's just a better use of the most expensive wall you'll ever rent

the failure mode is real though. i saw so many enormous beautiful surfaces running a logo animation on a nine second loop. for four days. that's an incredibly expensive lamp

and the stretched content!!! someone made a 16:9 file and put it on a wall that is very much not 16:9 and everyone just… let it happen. the type was ovals. i think about it a lot

if you're gonna do this: make the content for the actual shape, keep it under 90 seconds, make it readable with no sound (halls are LOUD), big type, high contrast. that's it. that's the list

anyway. next time you're at a trade fair, stop looking at the products for five minutes and just watch where people's heads turn. it's always toward whatever is moving and lit. every single time

we are extremely simple animals and i find that kind of comforting honestly