The video is based on our New Year's Eve New York City show.
This was only the second time this structure was fully activated at a show environment. The first one was just a day before at Tower Theater, Philadelphia.
The Shpongletron project was one of the most intense things I've ever done. I was given about a month deadline to come up with the design, 3d mapping, video, custom welded parts, screens, three-dimensional 6 foot Shpongle Mask sculpture, embedded lighting show, sourcing the dancers and transportation. But it worked - I've delivered what was asked from me.
At some point during the NYE show, Simon Posford's manager came up to me to confess something. "I didn't want to freak you out by telling you this earlier Zebbie... but I didn't think you could do it... I didn't think I gave you enough time." I had an instant playback of the previous month happen in my head right then and smiled with relief. It was done.
There was no way I could have accomplished such a feat on my own in such a short amount of time. I knew that well from the get go, and found a way to the right crew to help me bring this structure to life. Blake Courtney from BC Designs is a genius responsible for all of the custom welded parts as well as explaining to me everything I needed to know about scaffolding. Tess Lee from www.misstess.com pulled off some miracles of her own to get the crazy custom screens done on time. Dado Ramadani was the video genius that mapped and animated the Shpongle Mask sculpture I carved out of foam in 3d. Then there were some core people that answered a call for video submissions - mostly works from VJ Peter Parker and 1000Errors that really helped brighten up the show. My custom software Zebblertron got a major facelift just for this project from interim_descriptor (who's planning on releasing the software as an Apple App soon under the name DVJ). Jacob Fenwick helped code and install lighting support into Shpongletron. Katie Hayes totally covered all of our transportation needs out of the kindness of her heart. Matt (Hippie) Welch took serious charge in stage managing and rigging the structure at the shows, joined in NYC by Dorothy (Cookies) Bassett and Jon (Bonk) Macleod who also helped advance the mini-tour. Shane Martz came in at the right time - and helped us setup our critical structural/projection test at club Royale in Boston, who were gracious enough to accept us there. Thanks to Teva Macmillan for finding us the right projector/lenses and helping me figure out the projection technology. Simon Posford's management Coast II Coast came through at a few critical moments as well - helping us source the right gear for this project and leaning on the venues to give us the right amount of time to setup/test. And there were many other people along the way - that helped with their advice or physical assistance - thank you to all of you! You certainly helped me stay sane throughout December.
The hardest part is now over, but there is no time to rest. I am currently deep in designing additions to Shpongletron, editing a ton of new video content synced with Shpongle tracks and advancing our 2011 April-May Shpongle (Simon Posford DJ Set) US Tour as well as constantly working on new music videos with my a/v act Zebbler Encanti Experience. There are also talks happening with EOTO who may want a different projection-mapped stage to perform on for their March-April US Tour... which will put me right back into the second most intense month of my life - this upcoming February.
But what's done is done - and is now cached in the cyber-history.
You can find further documentation of the entire process on my facebook's photo album: http://tinyurl.com/shpongletron-creation
Or by visiting the blog you're currently reading: http://shpongletron.blogspot.com
Zebbler
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