From a Baltimore teen working raves during high school to designing the video system for the Opening Ceremonies for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, Scott Chmielewski has been at the forefront of lighting and video technology. In this month’s PLSN Interview, we discuss digital technology from the designer’s perspective.
PLSN: How did you get started in the lighting industry?
Scott Chmielewski: I got my start in the lighting industry by being a rebellious teenager, sneaking out to nightclubs and raves. I knew I was going to go into the industry almost my entire life, but I thought I was going to go into the audio side. About the time I was exploring my options, I went to my first rave when I was 15, and, excusing the pun, I sort of saw the light. The overall process intrigued me: the technology, the operator, and the control system. The whole thing excited me and intrigued me at that moment.
From there, I made some cold phone call to the guy who, at the time, was the premier club and rave lighting designer, SuperCal. One thing led to another, and after a few persistent phone calls, he allowed me to come out and pull some feeder for him. That very same day, after we did all the dirty work — I was all dirty and grimy — I went up to him while he was teching his lights and I said, “How does this work?”
He let me run an Intellabeam controller and showed me how to record a four-step chase, showed me how to loop it, and showed me how to change colors. Four hours later, I was still going at it. One thing led to another and I went from pulling feeder to get in for free, to getting $50 to load out, to getting $100 to hang with him at the parties and learning to program, to covering him on jobs, to him hooking up my first gig with a local lighting shop. All of this happened within about six or eight months.
How old were you during this time period?
I was about 15 or 16. On the weekends, and over the summer, I was still doing raves, and, at that point, I was able to do small local concerts and I was able to do some small corporate shows.
How did you get involved in digital technology?
I was 22 and I managed to get myself to my first LDI. I was exploring the show and I walked into the High End booth and was completely taken aback by the Catalyst media server and the orbital head system. I sort of saw it as a progressive thing; I didn’t quite know what it would do but when I got back I researched it and realized nobody near me had one. Because of my constant yearning for information and education, I knew this was the newest, hottest thing.
Prior to that point, one of the local lighting companies I was working for purchased one of the first ‘Hog IIIs and from version one of the software, I was involved (with High End). They put me on the beta test system. So, from very early on, at a young age, High End knew who I was. … So when I got to LDI that year, I saw the Catalyst and learned a little bit about it. Shortly thereafter, I realized it was something that I wanted to purchase. I had no idea how much it was, but I realized that it was an opportunity to incorporate myself and explore the entrepreneurial side of things.
I called High End directly because none of the local dealers could provide me accurate information or pricing because it was still this completely unknown technology. Because of the relationship I had with High End at that point, they actually allowed me to purchase it direct. I scraped together every cent that I could — I borrowed from friends, pulled together my savings, and sold some of my toys — and they allowed me to purchase this thing. Luckily, I had a few clients that had enough faith in me to allow me try some new things on their projects. At this point, I was doing large-scale corporate events and some concerts.
During those periods, it was no holds barred; they had very large budgets and I had total creative freedom because I was working for pharmaceutical and technology companies, and they were always looking for innovative new ways to present content and make the show more interesting.
Is that how your company, Digital Media Designs, got its start?
At that point, I realized I had liabilities, in both equipment and systems sales, so when I was 25, in 2005, I incorporated my company. After about a year, Catalyst really started to catch on, and being the only person in the region who owned one and who knew how to operate it, I became a digital go-to guy. As it caught on, everyone knew that Digital Media Designs was the company to call. Even people who didn’t know what it was wanted it because it was the hottest, newest thing. Because I had a good relationship with High End, they kept me in tune to new beta software as it was released and they made sure I was trained appropriately. That resulted in my serious relationship with High End, which we’ve maintained for several years.
What type of services does Digital Media Design provide today?
Above all, Digital Media Designs is a lighting and production design company. We deal with high profile, high-end clients — like BET, MTV, Mercedes, Univision — and we get the calls for projects when the client wants something new. I’m fortunate to be the person someone calls when they want to give the designer carte blanche. Typically, a client will call and say, “This is the concept we have,” but they have no idea how to achieve it. They would ask, “Can you do this?” And at that point, the answer is a resounding yes, whether we knew how to do it or not. We invariably figure it out.
Do you still carry an inventory of products?
We have moderate rental and production inventory consisting of media servers, consoles, and niche LED products. Once again, it’s most of the things other people are unwilling, or afraid, to buy. That’s allowed me to keep that edge as the digital go-to guy.
I would think it’s really important to own your own control equipment for intensive media based projects.
Very much so. The complexity of these shows has grown exponentially. And in order to provide a sound production, those back-end controls — the networks, and media servers — are something you need to have control over. Unlike a moving light, which takes 15 minutes to fix if it breaks down — we’re now talking about high-powered computers with custom video cards and custom insides. They’re not off-the-shelf products and they’re very expensive. That’s why we need to maintain the quality of control.
In all the years you’ve been doing this, do you have any projects you are particularly proud of?
One of the most prolific projects I’ve been involved with was the Beijing Olympics. I was initially asked to design both the projection/media system and the control system. Basically, High End was in Asia at a trade show and they were asked to go to a very high profile designer’s office for a meeting. They had no idea what they were meeting about, but when they arrived at the meeting, they were shown the plans for the Olympics and asked if their products could do what was needed to achieve this concept. After few months of negotiations, they were awarded the job and they were asked who could implement their products to make the concept a reality. I was the first person, and the only person, that they recommended for the project.
The Olympic Committee, doing their due diligence, checked around as well. I’ve been told my name was on every list they got back. So I met with the IOC, and I met with Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of all the lighting and video production for the event, and I spent a few weeks in China going over the designs. And then I was then asked to design the system.
The original design was about 170 20K projectors — about a third of those had High End’s orbital heads because we were required to move video around — all of which were controlled via High End’s Axon media server with 120 units being used, which we designed. Obviously, we had some assistance — High End had a very direct hand in testing and maintaining networks and the system design — but, above all, the original design was provided by Digital Media Designs. To the best of my knowledge, they were able to use the original design and work with the photometrics, CAD plans, and ESP files and only had to make minor changes based on the on-site conditions. Overall, I was involved for about nine months prior to the opening ceremony.
Due to your experiences, you have a good insight into digital media. Where do you think we are headed?
I think the largest and biggest step to come is going to be control and manipulation of content. Consoles, the way they are today, are fine for moving lights, but now we’re talking about media servers that take up a whole universe, that have true and proper 3-D control of multiple layers. We’re now being asked to design systems that are layered and dynamic and follow no existing projection protocol. So, I believe, the biggest step is going to be control and management.
Where do you want be when it happens?
Well, I would like to think that I am on the forefront of this technology wave and have some very unique relationships with both manufacturers and software developers. I would hope to stay on that forefront with the caliber of projects getting more interesting, and, of course, larger. The line between lighting and projection is now more blurred than it has ever been. I equally enjoy the process of designing, as well as the physical programming and operation, so I would hope to continue on this path and continue to have these amazing opportunities to work with some of the best people in the industry and more unprecedented projects. I have a lot of very interesting ideas and concepts that fall right in the middle of those blurred lines and I’m just waiting on the opportunity, and the budgets, to explore those ideas.
