Interview mit Roland Greil - Light Design von Rammstein

You’re responsible for the light show of the RAMMSTEIN stadium tour – is this the biggest production you’ve been involved in so far?
It was certainly one of the bigger, but not the biggest.

„Lighting design“ is a very abstract profession for the layman – how is it done at all? At first only in your head or on paper or do you program visualizations as you imagine them to be?
Like almost every creative work, everything starts with ideas in your head. Most of the ideas for this production came at the beginning of the design process, when Florian [Wieder, Production- & Stage-Design] and I started talking about the first design ideas for this show, after we got him on board as a partner in crime for the set part. The next steps are the first sketches, followed by more and more detailed technical plans. The light and video part is visualized together with the set design in order to show the band the work as early as possible.

Do RAMMSTEIN even have an opinion on this, or do they leave it to the experts?
The band clearly has an opinion, which is very important. The development and design of such a show is teamwork from the beginning and a collaboration with the band members. That’s why it’s very important to understand each other and speak a common language. A good portion of trust in our work is also necessary, of course. In any case, it was a very pleasant and friendly as well as productive collaboration: The whole collaboration was and is more than positive.

And how closely do you have to work as a creative team?
The development and work on such a production is 100% teamwork. It starts with the fact that all the visual elements in such a show must go hand in hand to achieve a harmonious result. But teamwork with the crew and production is just as important, because they have to serve the result of our work every day and transport it from A to B in the shortest possible time. Only with a team that plays together perfectly can we produce shows from RAMMSTEIN.

Where do you get involved in the lighting design process? Do you start with the design of an „overall concept“ or do you go directly to the individual songs?
Basically everything starts with an overall concept, which is based on a sound understanding of the band, their music and their background, but above all for the people in the band. The detailed elaboration of individual songs then follows in the next steps. Of course, the requirements for special looks, which one imagines for some songs, can also be incorporated into the overall concept beforehand.

Can you please explain how you proceed, what you pay special attention to, where you set the accents?
In the first step you deal with the song: What message does the song have, what mood does it convey? Is it more of an up-tempo song or a ballad? These factors result in an overall look you want for the song. The next step is to break down the song. So analyze the musical parts, which then form the basis for accents and different looks. It is also very important that the respective design for a song fits into the overall dramaturgy of the show.

What are the biggest differences between an indoor and a stadium show in terms of lighting design?
The biggest difference, apart from the size, is that from a design point of view you have to deal with daylight. This means: on the one hand, you don’t have full darkness, like in an arena, on the other hand, the audience sees the entire stage from the very first moment – and usually also considerably longer in daylight than in darkness. That’s why it’s very important that the stage design itself is interesting and good. It’s about creating an architecture that doesn’t need to hide in the dark. As far as lighting is concerned, the prevailing brightness must be incorporated into the overall design and dramaturgy of the show.

Do you have a favourite moment in the set from the light designers point of view?
Every time I saw the show after finishing the design work, I had a new „favorite moment“. So it can’t be limited to one particular moment. What I think is the best result you can get because the show never gets boring.

And more generally: What do you want to achieve with the light, when is a lightshow a good lightshow?
Our work, the lighting design, the video design as well as the set design created by Florian, should only ever create the perfect picture frame in which the band performs. Even at RAMMSTEIN, where the focus is clearly on the overall staging, the band must always be the center of attention. Furthermore, a show should always be varied, contain a good dramaturgy and never repeat itself. If then all trades play together, it is a harmonious result for me. That’s definitely what we achieved with the RAMMSTEIN show from my perspective.

Are there any creative limitations to a mega-production like this?
Projects like RAMMSTEIN certainly come close to the dream of every creative. Nevertheless, of course you have given limits here too. On the one hand there are technical limits and specifications like the size of the stadiums … and unfortunately the physics can’t be bypassed yet. Due to the outstanding cooperation with our creative team, the band and the production we were able to master all challenges quite effortlessly.

Can you tell us a little bit about the lighting technology used here?
In total, we use over 1,000 (exactly 1,070) intelligent and computer-controlled spotlights, 674 linear metres of LED tape, 36 fog machines and five light consoles, which together require 2.4 megawatts of power.

How long did you work on this production, how much time is in the light show?
All together certainly about a year. After a design phase lasting over seven months, which started with the first joint designs with Florian, we programmed the show in about 370 hours.

Was your work finished with the creative part, or are you standing at the lighting desk during the shows?
I’m purely responsible for the creative and political part. Behind the desks we have a great team at RAMMSTEIN: Marc Brunkhardt, who also programmed the show, and Faren Matern, who has been on tour with RAMMSTEIN since the beginning, take care of the daily implementation of our design and operate the desks. During the programming and rehearsal phase we also had Tim Hornung on board, who programmed the video according to our ideas.

Is such a show then pre-programmed completely digitally with time code, so that the lighting technician on site only has to press start, or is there still room for „creative play along“?
A large part of the show runs automatically with time code. However, parts of the show are still controlled manually, so a good understanding of the music and the show as well as a certain basic musical talent is indispensable for the two colleagues at the desks.

Are you a RAMMSTEIN fan yourself, or is this just one of many jobs for you?
It is clearly not just one job among many. Although I might not call myself a fan directly, I find their music very appealing – and it represents a wonderful basis for our activity.

At the end a question about your vita: How did you get into the profession of lighting designer, what career stages do you take to get into this profession?
The whole story would probably go beyond the scope here, so just a very brief summary: I turned the hobby of my childhood and youth into my profession after graduating from high school. At first I started to work as a lighting technician on tours and then gradually continued my education via „learning by doing“. After working as an operator at various ever larger shows, I ended up where I am now and have the great honor of working with various international artists and colleagues.

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Publiziert am 17. Juli 2019 von Moritz Grütz