Every project has to start somewhere, and for us, it varies from our clients coming to us with a fully formed concept, to a fuzzy vision residing somewhere in the Creative Directors head that we need to extract and then blue-sky into existence.

Either method is fun for us, but what’s the process?

Many view a blank sheet of paper as a nerve-wracking thing, for us, it’s an opportunity. Whether that’s telling a whole new story with a show creation, or adding the dynamic Lighting, Set, and Video to a Concert Tour, that blank sheet of paper is a door to endless possibilities.

Regardless of the stage our clients are at when they come to us, everything starts with a conversation. What’s the end goal?, What story are we telling?, Who are the Audience?, Are there any guidelines?, Are there any limitations? and so on.

With our initial discussions complete we can begin working on generating our ideas. We always start by pushing any limitations like budget and scale aside (temporarily!) and then we get on with the daydreaming. Losing the limitations helps us to think big, and the big thinking is where the big ideas come from. We can always scale them back later.

From here, we start to formulate a more comprehensive plan (or plans) of what we would like to achieve, and more importantly perhaps, how to achieve it! This begins the generation of concept art, sketches, initial CAD drawings, and some ideas of equipment or manufacturers that we need to talk to to get them to perhaps start building a product that might not yet exist.

This leads us neatly on to the next stage, exploration!