SMODE powers visuals at La Femme’s iconic arena show

SMODE powers visuals at La Femme’s iconic arena show. Image Quentin Brard

SMODE has successfully delivered the real-time visual engine behind La Femme’s biggest show to date, celebrating their latest album and relationship with fans

Media server platform, SMODE, has played a central role in delivering striking visuals for French rock band La Femme. Having started in small Parisian clubs, the band recently conquered one of the biggest stages in France, the Accor Arena.

Quentin Brard, the SMODE operator on this tour, helped shape the show’s artistic direction using real-time video workflow. Working alongside long-time collaborator and lighting designer Rémi Deschamps and film director Ilan Zerrouki, the team created the stunning visuals behind the show.

At the heart of the design stood a dramatic eight-metre inflatable head fitted with LED strips. This facial centrepiece was brought to life through projection mapping using two Barco projectors, with a semi-transparent 40mm pixel pitch mesh LED screen on the back of the stage.

To power all the content to this wide range of video elements, the team relied on two SMODE servers. The flexibility of this technology allowed Brard to manage and encode the entire system. Additionally, all content for the LED strips on the head and camera effects was generated directly within SMODE’s compositing engine.

Similar to the feedback given after by other users of SMODE, Brard praised the creative possibilities unlocked by this technology. “On a show with this level of creative freedom and such a substantial video kit, it really made the impossible achievable.”

Find out more at smode.io/en