Show Direction: Smith & Lyall

Production Company: Smith & Lyall / Black Dog RSA Films

Since 2015 I've been part of the visuals team for the Chemical Brothers live show. Each year is different, but it's always a mixture of editing completely new visuals and re-editing the rushes from existing visuals to suit the live sets that the band plan to perform on any given tour, or sometimes even just for an individual show.

As anyone who's seen a performance will know, the visuals for Chemical Brothers are incredibly ambitious and complicated. The editing involves cutting traditionally shot actors, dancers and extreme close-up abstractions with the additional component of motion-capture for a lot of the animated sequences. Everything is sequenced to work across (at least) three screens in precise collaboration with the rest of the team for the lighting and laser interactions, and it's all built to work in a live setting with the ability to change following the band's lead while performing. It is a beast, and I absolutely love it.

I also cut this trailer for the live shows.