Wembley Arena was the setting for a gig filmed by the BBC for the third series of Brian Pern: A Life In Rock.
The performance marks the second time that Entec Sound & Light has supplied the venue for a Brian Pern gig shoot. Lighting designer Simon Tutchener was asked back to create the lighting scheme, bringing his own fund of experience to the party. Audio comprised primarily of a playback system for director Rhys Thomas – as it was recorded in an empty room – which was co-ordinated by Entec’s James ‘Kedge’ Kerridge.
The series is written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day, with the latter playing the lead character, and in addition to being directed, is also produced by Thomas. Pern’s claims to fame include having ‘invented world music’ and being the first musician to use Plasticine in videos.
In keeping with the character’s fading career, Simon Tutchener – who also lit last year’s ‘live’ Wembley show recording – took the request of a budget-looking and not-quite-latest technology lighting rig as his starting point.
Tutchener worked closely with the production’s DOP John Record on crafting the look and feel of the lighting that the production wanted to replicate, together with the moving light cues required for the one-day shoot. The band played two different musical numbers that will feature as a gig scene within an episode of the new series. Participating band members included Paul Whitehouse on guitar and Dennis Lawson (from New Tricks) on bass.
While the Entec crew were busy setting up for the gig onstage, the film crew were recording other scenes backstage and in the dressing rooms, and everything was completed in a day. For sound, a standard playback rig comprised d&b audiotchnik J8 speakers and J-Subs for the director and camera crew, together with a foldback system for the actors comprising seven d&b M4 wedges. A Midas Verona sound console was operated by Kedge, running left and right playback channels and one live vocal mic. The instruments were also all mked up just as they would be at an authentic gig.
Close-to-the bone and entertaining, the Brian Pern series parodies an aging rock superstar and this third edition, ‘Brian Pern : 45 Years of Prog Rock and Roll,’ will be broadcast in January 2016 on BBC Four.
