Sahara Desert 2006

The choice of the Moroccan Sahara was a natural one. Apart from the fact that I have a strong attachment to the country, its welcoming people and its rich culture, HRH King Mohammed VI shares my preoccupation regarding the global problem of scarcity of soft water and advancing desertification.

My role as UNESCO Ambassador is to highlight, when possible, key world programmes and attract the media and general publics’ attention to certain global issues tackled by the UN. 2005-2015 is a dedicated Water for Life Decade; where better to raise the alarm than in the heart of the desert…

I think music and artistic creations can certainly help raise public consciousness because they attract audience and media attention, giving artists a platform to voice their opinions. Musicians and artists can therefore have a political role given their exposure.

Things have evolved so quickly in the last century on our planet; we went from one billion people to six billion people in such a short space of time. Everything went so fast that we must now urgently take a little time to assess and to be conscious of the problems caused by our evolution and progress. I believe for a lot of issues that are at our reach as citizens, that instead of waiting in the sidelines for governments or others to take care of us and our future generations, we should take action ourselves as responsible occupants of this beautiful planet that we will hand-down to our children.

Concerning this crucial issue of scarcity of soft-water, we can, each of us play a huge active role immediately to contribute to bettering the catastrophic situation; saving water on a personal level is quite simple actually. It only requires a different way of thinking and adopting new good habits day-to-day; by rationing the resources that we take for granted - only because we have never been informed of the damage we are creating by waste - collectively, we can really make a difference.

We are all dependent on water to survive – a child dies every two minutes in the world from lack of clean drinking water … while wars are waged in the name of petrol.

This concert was called “Water for Life” and it was part of a very important programme spanning over a decade and driven by the United Nations. The problem of scarcity of soft water is probably the number one problem on Earth today and the Kingdom of Morocco has been very active on this crucial issue. The problem of desertification is intimately linked to this situation and also requires urgent action.

My interest here in the cultural context of Morocco is the same as whenever I have the opportunity to work in different countries, to merge the local traditional music with my electronic music. The result, I think, reflects the spirit of Morocco today: anchored in its rich cultural heritage while open to welcoming influences and harmonising with other cultures. I, for my part, have always been an amateur when it comes to the musical abundance of Morocco and this concert was a possibility for me to make an innovative musical and video creation.

Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts at the time were produced by the company Créations Productions Management (CPM), which is based in Paris, France, working alongside Jean Michel Jarre’s management company, Aero Productions. They have been producing his concerts since the historic show in the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China in October 2004. Since then, they have organised events for Jarre both large and small, ranging from the huge concert in the Shipyards of Gdansk through to the small, intimate concerts in Monaco in 2005.

Alain Bilowus is the director of the company and has been the producer for all of Jean Michel Jarre’s shows with CPM. We caught up with him on one of the rare moments that he was not jetting off to countries around the world, investigating the next projects for Jean Michel Jarre.

How was CPM first formed?

I created the company Créations Productions Management in 1991, specialising in the creation, production, and direction of events and concerts of a cultural nature with an international dimension, using the most advanced techniques.

Aside from Jean Michel Jarre, what other projects do CPM produce (both historical and present)?

We have produced many projects in the past. Notable projects include the Emir Cup Final in Doha Qatar (2005); Eiffel Tower, Paris, France (2004) - the architectural lighting for the French Presidential Office; Janadriah Festival in Saudi Arabia (1994 – 2000); Pyrotechnic Show in Jeddah (2001); Madinah Show in Saudi Arabia (1999); Summit of African Heads of State in N’Djamena Tchad (1998); African Festival in Niamey Niger (1997); G7 Summit in Lyon, France (1996); the French-African Summit in Benin (1994); and the Indian Ocean Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies (1993).

In the future, we have a number of projects planned. These include projects in Stavanger, Norway for the Opening Ceremony of the Capital of Culture Year in 2008.

We are also currently working on a project due to take place in Beijing in 2008, in honour of Pierre de Coubertin [founder of the modern Olympic Games], as well as on the Heads of States Summit in Dakar, Senegal and other confidential events that I can’t divulge, I’m afraid.

Where did the link with Jean Michel Jarre come from?

As we share the same artistic values, meeting Jean Michel Jarre was inevitable sooner or later. The occasion arose at the end of 2003 through Fiona Commins when the artist expressed the wish to light the Eiffel Tower in red.

Can you explain precisely what the role of Concert Producer entails?

The role of Concert Producer is a complex one. He or she manages the following fields; research department, artistic conception, technical aspects, logistics, human and financial resources that change depending on the event.

The producer is supported by an important administrative department which includes lawyers, chartered accountants, insurers and banks.

According to the artist’s requirements, the producer chooses the suppliers who will take part in the event. He/she obviously works closely with the artist on the preparation of the project and accompanies the artist on location to manage unforeseen events.

What do you think makes Jean Michel Jarre’s productions unique?

I believe Jean Michel Jarre’s productions are unique because he endeavours to stage the shows with the following unique parameters - the specific locations where they take place; the unique artistic content of each concert; the high-tech technology for each event; and the message that Jean Michel Jarre wishes to communicate.

The first show CPM produced for Jean Michel Jarre was the Beijing show and it drew together a fairly new team for the production. How was it composed?

The team is composed of ‘key people’ like Charles Lambing – Technical Director, Rodolphe Lejeune – Production Director, Claude Samard – Musical Director, Roland Bréand – Stage Manager, Patrick Gérard – Material Logistics Director as well as several crew members who have all been working at CPM since its creation.

It has therefore acquired a professionalism and an international dimension which attracted Jean Michel Jarre.

Was Beijing a baptism of fire for the new team?

Yes, for part of the team. But the team’s ability to adapt, together with the experience of the leaders, enabled the creation of a perfect osmosis between the different nationalities.

Can you tell us how the approach for the concert for Water for Life came about?

Jean Michel had devised the project of a concert in Morocco in 1985 with the late King H.M. Hassan II. “2006 – Year of Desertification” as well as the current environmental issues linked to the lack of water, were at the heart of the production of this concert.

Were other locations considered for the event?

We also considered Laâyoune in the south west of Morocco but for numerous reasons, the original site of Merzouga was chosen.

Jarre’s shows, such a Merzouga, are very complicated projects. Do you have to negotiate with Jean Michel Jarre in terms of what he wants and what is actually possible?

Negotiate is not the right word. I work with Jean Michel Jarre in a permament exchange of ideas. I know that his creativity is overflowing, and so my role is to channel his ideas.

How do you manage this relationship with Jean Michel Jarre without too much tension and how do you manage Jean Michel Jarre’s artistic vision versus the inevitable budget constraints?

Both his and my experience makes our relationship easier; and as I am a rather realistic producer who speaks frankly to the artist, everything runs smoothly.

Why do you think that foreign governments trust Jean Michel Jarre with these types of events?

Each of Jean Michel Jarre’s concert projects are unique and are adapted to the individual country and each site. He respects the social, political and ecological environments of the host nation.

Do the local governments ask to review the content of the show during the preparation?

Yes, some countries do, like China.

What was UNESCO’s involvement in the Merzouga show?

As Jean Michel Jarre is an Ambassador of UNESCO, the organisation supported us and advised us on the content of the concert’s message.

How long does a show like Merzouga take to prepare?

Pre-production for such a concert requires three months of preparation.

What are your worst and fondest memories of the event in Merzouga?

The worst memory: the final sand storm which made five screens collapse, one week before the concert. It almost postponed the event.

The best memory: the show itself – bringing the latest technology into the desert to serve Jean Michel Jarre; and the total success of the concert with a team that once again proved its professionalism.

Was a lasting legacy left in the area and Morocco itself ?

The concert enabled the installation of roads and public lighting from the village to the dunes of Merzouga, as well as bringing five wells into service in collaboration with ONE (Office National d’Electricité de Maroc).

It brought high media exposure to this exceptional and little known site. We have also opened an office in Casablanca, managed by Romain Bilowus. This office will work with big international firms and with government cooperation in order to develop a series of training courses in Morocco in order to prepare and train professionals within the entertainment industry.

Jean Michel Jarre is globally recognised for large scale-events. With the numerous requests you must receive, which do you investigate?

The selection of the requests is done according to the political context, the geographical location of the site, the theme dealt with in the concert and the financial means.

For a true insight into the planning and angst that goes into staging any big show, you should talk to the Production Director. And Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts are a scale in magnitude bigger which makes the Production Director a definite “must talk to” person in any account of the concert in Merzouga.

So we caught up with Rodolphe Lejeune in London at the beginning of February, in order to talk at length about the show in Merzouga and what the future may possibly hold for Jean Michel Jarre’s concert productions. It turned out to be a fascinating insight.

What does a Production Director’s role entail precisely?

I must ensure that when the technical and artistic teams arrive everything is ready for them and it is as if they were working in France with everything they need.

So my role includes ensuring that everybody has good accommodation, security and can do their job. I must ensure that all the material gets to the site and organise anything they need during the production with my team.

When was the first visit to the site to determine the possibilities for the show?

Alain Bilowus, our concert Producer and Fiona Commins, Jean Michel Jarre’s Manager and our concert project manager, visited the site in August to decide if it was possible to do a show. After the show was signed, the first main visit to Merzouga was in September with all the technical and artistic directors, about 12 people. The purpose of the visit was for all the key directors to review the site and undertake a review of the various possibilities for the design and also review the technical problems there may be in order to create the show. All the key directors travelled including the artistic director, the video director and of course, Jean Michel himself.

What did you think of the ambience of the location?

The Merzouga location was perfect as the area is very flat for 20-30 kilometres and then suddenly these magnificent desert dunes rise out of nowhere. In fact, they are moving objects as the wind moves them around. As you drive towards the Sahara, there is nothing for miles around and then suddenly these “mountains” appear. If you travel into the dunes, it is completely silent - apart from during the concert production, of course!

But without any infrastructure?

Yes, that was our challenge! When we did our site reconnaissance, we had to decide how we could stage the production. Not just from a staging point of view and what material we needed to bring, but also the basics for a few hundred people to allow them to work together for a month. Logistics such as accommodation, meals and transportation were among the first things we had to organise before even thinking about the creation of the show itself.

So even hotel accommodation was a difficulty in this location?

Normally I always do a single mass hotel booking and I believe it is important for everyone to stay in the same hotel. This allows for the crew to continue to work and share information during meals and time off. However, on this occasion, most of the hotels were full in the area due to a Spanish holiday in the first week of December. We were obliged to scatter the crew across 17 hotels! So I had to work out how to keep the various teams together – video in one, lighting in another, my direct production team was split across three hotels. Jean Michel Jarre, his entourage and close artistic crew had accommodation about one hour from the site.

How do you approach the logistics on a show as complicated as this?

I mainly use my experience. I’ve been working with Alain for 17 years now and it is always a big challenge to take about 120 people with trucks and material outside of France, and ensure they can work effectively for one month - for a two-hour show, in one place, one time, for one day. There’s a lot of stress involved, especially for this Merzouga show.

The organisation was perfect though, as we were working with people that we’ve known for around 15 years and we all know each other well. It is important to understand the personality of each person involved.

Did you set-up the show in France before you travelled to Merzouga?

For a tour, yes, you would normally. For this show, we couldn’t so I would describe the whole thing as “live”! Jean Michel and Alain really created this show in just three months from September through to December and so there was no time for such a luxury! We changed major aspects probably three times. We changed artistic director and lighting designers through the process and so the show had to change in big ways. Jean Michel was hands-on, as usual and it went really well. Jean Michel always knows precisely what he wants…

Surely the short production time meant that some of your key personnel were obligated to other projects?

Yes, it was a big problem. In this case, I missed out on two key people as they were involved with other productions. So, we had to find other people and we were lucky given the very short timeframes. The problem is it is hard to find new people that understand the way that you work and to integrate them into the team.

With new faces in the team and quite harsh conditions, how was the team atmosphere during the production?

In the end, it was a show where we had no problems with the atmosphere within the team. Sometimes you must wake everyone up in the middle of the night because you have a problem that needs to be solved and it is important that everyone is co-operating together to get the show right.

Even if it is difficult and we’ve been working for 25 days, Jean Michel Jarre is the boss and if he wants to change something the day before the show, the team must be willing to say, “ok, we’ll do it”.

The site itself required much more preparation than perhaps any other event, as an example to even build a stage. Can you explain what was involved?

One of the technical assistants arrived ten days before I arrived and arranged for a big bulldozer. They arranged for all the sand to be moved to the side and believe me, there were dunes everywhere. It took all ten days to clear the sand and get the site ready to build the stage. We have never done this type of thing before. The aim was to allow a big truck onto the site to start building the stage. You can see the scale of the task on the overhead images. I have to say that we didn’t know what would happen to all the sand if there had been a big sandstorm though …

What are the first few steps involved when you arrive on site?

We arrived with the first production team, five in all – myself, my two assistants, the technical director and his assistant. I must ensure that the production area is ready for the other key teams to arrive.

I must prepare the site to receive and accommodate the tons of equipment and the rest of the production crew. Power lines, the backstage areas and the technical tent and storage are the main headaches. In terms of set-up, the first thing you start with though is the power. This is always the longest and hardest job on the site, as you have so many cables to lay everywhere, to get all the power points set-up.

We are always independent for the main power. Even if we arrange some spare generators from the local country, we always bring our own power. So we have 80% of the power we need from our own generators. We had one trucked twin-pack 2x900kW generator synchronized with “UPS” (an uninterruptible power system) plus a truck with 500 KVA auto-inverter - the biggest ones you can get in the world.

The second team who arrive are the lighting team and it all starts from there.

How did you transport the materials around the desert?

We had four four-wheel drive “Rhino” vehicles which can travel anywhere with three tons of equipment or six persons on the back, and which are normally used for movie productions in the area. A specialised Moroccan company supplied them with four drivers, including two women, who would drive these vehicles for eight hours a day, transporting all our equipment around. It was the first time they had worked on a “live” concert, and we found them via the local production crew. They were perfect for our needs.

I also had an agreement to only drive the vehicles on marked tracks through the desert, so we didn’t destroy anything; one lane on either side of the concert site. It was a real obligation.

You built many tents to house catering and the like. But you also commandeered the hotel on-site for the production?

On my first recognisance trip, I decided that we would rent the entire Hotel Merzouga [the only “hard” building on site] because if there was a sandstorm we had to have somewhere secure to go and it was the only place close by. It was perfect. In fact, on the first day when the main artistic crew arrived, we had to stay in this building for the entire day due to the high winds. So, we had about 100 people stuck in this small building!

How was the staging sourced and the screens constructed on such an unstable base?

We never bring our staging from France. It costs too much; we always source the scaffolding from a local company. The stage itself was installed on the only rock surface available.

However, we had a challenge to erect the screens on the sand. Charles Lambing [Technical Manager] decided with Jean Michel to set-up the screens in the Sahara itself, some on top of dunes, and of course, we couldn’t dig away the sand there. We had to find another solution.

The sand changes its consistency throughout the day. During the day it is very dry and fine from the heat and blows around. During the night when it is cold and damp, it forms a harder surface. It is kind of like skin, changing with humidity and heat. We used some water to compact the sand initially and then all the screens had a lot of ballast stacked on the base, which was simply sandbags, no concrete at all.

We know sandstorms posed the biggest issue for you. Can you explain what happened?

For the first 10-15 days on site, it was all proceeding too well. We then had sandstorms… Up until this point, the technical set-up was complete, all the technical elements had been working for a couple of nights and we just had to get everything working together artistically – sound, light, video and lasers. My responsibility was to give Jean Michel and Alain the green light that everything was ready, and we were ready to start the artistic process.

On the Saturday before the show, Jean Michel arrived in Morocco, and he was delighted that everything was ready. However, that day the winds started. We really didn’t know if the screens would crash in high winds. We knew that if there was too much wind, there was a possibility that everything would be destroyed, but we didn’t know at which wind speed.

With the budget for show, the nine material screens were fixed and not retractable in high winds. The wind started picking up and several of the crew came to me and said, “We have a problem”. It went from 25-30km per hour which was already dangerous and increased to about 45km/hour. The lighting designer wanted to continue to work as Jean Michel was arriving and he wanted to show him the progress he had made. We had two lighting riggers who were the only people allowed to climb the structures, and I asked them to prepare themselves in case I needed them to protect the lights. The wind kept increasing and got to 50km per hour non-stop and so I had no choice but to clear the stage and cut the power as it was too dangerous. We tried to secure the screens with more ballast, but we really didn’t know what they would take.

The wind continued, it was raining and there was even a little bit of snow! The main screen behind the stage then crashed at 2am in the morning; we were very lucky there wasn’t too much material on top. And then at 5am the screen to the right of the stage tore and was destroyed. We stayed on the site until 8am to be ready for anything else that may happen but then the wind died down.

Unfortunately, we had no replacements and so we had to call around many places in order to try to find alternatives. Everybody in the production crew searched through their contacts to find where we could get replacements. In the end we found someone in Casablanca, and they were able to cut new screens to size for us and put the one ton of material on a plane. Within three days we had our new screens. We were very fortunate.

However, afterwards it got worse. The winds started again and they were higher than before. They got to 80km per hour and the actual frames were now bending in the wind. It was impossible to remove the frames in such high winds. We thought the entire structures would crash again or break. My two riggers were ready with their knives to cut the screens, and it was my responsibility to decide whether to do this. In the end, I took the decision to cut and destroy the screens. I was really worried the riggers would be injured but it was clear that it was impossible to climb to the top in the wind anyway. So they started cutting the screens from the bottom. Luckily, everything went well and it took the tension out of the screen frames and they stopped bending. The wind peaked at 88km per hour. So, we were lucky we took the decision when we did.

It was the first time in my career that I’ve had to take the decision to destroy such a screen, especially without having a solution to replace them afterwards. But we had to save the show.

The other problem was that the wind dried out the sand under the screens and it started to blow out. So, during the night, we had to shovel more sand under the screens to secure them. We then had to work again to get the new screens onto the scaffolding!

When you left the site after the event, was it a big task to return it to the local people?

We had to make sure that when we left, there was no lasting impact on the environment. When we did leave, it was like we had never been there. We didn’t have to do anything dramatic; we just took away our equipment and material and thanks to nature, within a few days, the sand had blown back to re-create the dunes. I had noticed that for two days during the sandstorms during our preparations, the dunes moved at least 3-5 metres alone!

We paid about two hundred local people to assist us in the preparations and de-construction. In fact, I believe as we cleaned up the surrounding desert before the show, it was cleaner when we left than when we arrived. The desert around the site had quite a lot of rubbish in it beforehand, old bottles and the like, perhaps left behind by tourists.

What was the local company Rezo Production involved with?

We always must involve local production crews. We always need a crew in the country of the production. They can source local people and organise things like forklifts, scaffolders, security men and things like that. Rezo have worked on productions like the Casablanca Festival and so they had experience in building stages - not as complex as in Merzouga, but the same kind of techniques.

At the beginning of any Jean Michel Jarre concert, it is always difficult explaining to the local production company why we need such a huge production, cars for 24 hours a day, food for 200 etc. They normally look at us as though we are crazy. After a few days though they realised why we had asked for what we did and Rezo worked really well with us.

The local company is important as they know the local customs and working attitudes and how to source things.

During the preparation of the show, Jean Michel Jarre was completing his studio album. Did this conflict with the show planning?

We finalised the budget and the contracts in the summer, but Jean Michel was heavily involved in his album and we almost took the decision not to do the show. The album though was delayed and the show went ahead. The show was originally planned for mid-November and then we moved it back three weeks. Jean Michel Jarre wants to control all the artistic content, which is normal, and so he wants to be able to dedicate the right amount of time to any of his creations.

What technology do you use to make communication with the teams more streamlined?

During preparation, we have a special FTP site that the crew can use especially for the concert which has 20GB of space and this is very important for sharing information.

When I arrive on site at a concert, which was the same in Merzouga, I always have the same set-up as at the office. I ensure I have connectivity to the Internet, a special routing system for everybody working on the production, Wi-Fi as far as possible, 2-3 colour printers on the network and a special network-attached hard drive so that everyone can have access to upload and download the latest plans.

I tell everybody that their obligation is to save their latest information on the server so that it is available for everyone else - which I repeat every day. Technology makes it much easier to share information, and it is a key element during the creation of such shows. We must be able to predict as many problems as possible.

In the future I want to increase our use of technology. I want to have Wi-Fi everywhere around the site so that we can use Skype [free telephone calls over the Internet] for our communication, which will help reduce our production costs. Of course, I need to then try to convince everyone to use this technology!

Did you have any predictions on how many people would turn up for the event?

We really didn’t know, it was impossible to predict. We were in the middle of nowhere with no subway nor buses and most of the local population didn’t have cars. I was hoping we’d get at least 3-5,000. In the end it was a big surprise to get 25-30,000 people. Where did they all come from?!

Did you get any reactions from the locals about the show?

The official representatives were very happy. A lot of things happened in the region - a lot of tourists stayed during the event and there was a lot of work for the people in the region. We are even speaking about a possible show in Marrakech very soon.

I understand the event was filmed by two different sets of cameras for broadcast?

It was impossible to record the concert using the same cameras for the DVD as well as the TV production, so we had two teams with two directors. One team was for the live TV broadcast with five cameras and one for the later DVD with fifteen cameras. This was due to the live TV being broadcast in 4:3 and the DVD being widescreen at 16:9. So the DVD will be completely different from the TV broadcast. I think the DVD will be much better. It was also unusual that it was not a local director. The television company normally wants their own director, as they are important for the budget.

CPM are responsible for Jarre’s concert production. What determines which of the many approaches you must get are investigated?

The smallest show we believe we can do, such as the two shows in Monaco in 2005, need a minimum team of 34 persons due to the techniques used, plus the musicians, orchestra and Jean Michel himself.

So the budget is very important in deciding whether a show can go ahead. We haven’t found a solution yet to produce a show for the smaller towns. Each show is unique and there is always a minimum cost. So before we even travel to a location, we try to explain the potential cost and the obligation on them in terms of the time it takes to organise such shows.

We plan to do between 1-2 shows per year and are normally following up on 10-12 projects at any one time. We are travelling all the time, although sometimes for nothing. At this precise moment, we’re following up possible projects in Morocco, Miami, New York, Dubai, Brazil, Mexico, a big one in northern France and Stavanger in Norway next year. We’ll see though!

Do you think you will produce another “city-scale” concert with Jean Michel Jarre, like Houston or Paris La Defense?

Yes. Jean Michel Jarre has many demands. It is just a matter of time. To light a city is a major project. I would think in the next five years, he will do at least another two; there are too many possibilities in the pipeline for one not to happen. We have already been to Istanbul twice to investigate something like this.

This feature is scattered with complex technical plans on the various structures and supports that were necessary to stage this concert in a location with no hard structures to rely on. They were all the work of Technical Director Charles Lambing, who has been generous by supplying a stream of technical and concept drawings for this book. We caught up with Charles to reflect on his work and discover exactly how the various elements were brought together.

What exactly is the technical director responsible for in a production like this?

In every production, the technical director is responsible for all of the various temporary constructions that are included in the design by the artistic direction. The responsibilities then extend to the cabling of the entire location and ensuring that all the various security standards are taken into consideration. So I am involved in all the planning and then overseeing the construction until the end of the show. Moreover, I am in charge of the various technical requirements from everybody involved in the making of the concert, such as the lighting, the sound, the video and the fireworks teams.

What skills do you need for this role?

The technical director needs general skills regarding temporary constructions, such as the structure of the stage and the towers, and a good knowledge of electrics. They also must have a basic knowledge of the different lighting, sound and projection materials as well as a thorough knowledge of all the latest security standards for concerts. Mastering of certain software tools like spreadsheets, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is a must as well as the capability to analyse and solve problems that are specific to each concert, before and during the set-up on site. It is not necessary to have a degree in engineering or architecture though. Often the constructions and installations are developed by external companies and are provided together with technical notes.

When was your first experience with Jean Michel Jarre’s production?

My first experience of working on a Jean Michel Jarre concert with his current production crew – Créations Productions Management, lead by manager Alain Bilowus - was in Beijing in 2004. I’ve collaborated with Créations Productions Management for a wide variety of productions in countries as far and wide as France, Africa, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for almost 12 years, including festivals and some big shows that have required the implementation of technical infrastructures.

Were you aware of Jean Michel Jarre’s previous concerts and are there any in particular that you would have liked to have been involved in? Are these types of event something special to work on in the industry?

Everyone is familiar with Jean Michel Jarre in this business and it would have been a pleasure to work on any concert he has done in the past. What is so special with these events is the use of the latest technology, which is of great interest for every person that is involved day-to-day in the concert industry.

How did the preparation for this show compare to that of Gdansk and China?

It is difficult to compare, as every concert has different requirements to work towards. For the concert in Merzouga we were confronted with problems linked to the environment of the site and the geographical location of the show – such as the nature of the ground and the limited transport access – whereas in Gdansk, without wanting to minimize the technical constraints, we encountered more traditional/classical problems. In China the problems were linked to compatibility between the Chinese and European equipment and it was difficult to find high quality equipment there, which we usually rely on in order to reduce the costs of transporting our equipment. But the worst was to navigate through the jungle of bureaucracy more dense than the most remote parts of the Amazonian jungle!

When you heard about Merzouga, initially did you think it was really possible in such a remote location?

It was only after a very elaborate study by the team that was in charge of logistics that we concluded that it would be possible to make a concert at Merzouga.

Given the unusual landscape, what site recognisance was required for the show at Merzouga?

We visited the site three times to prepare for the show in Merzouga. The first was undertaken by Alain Bilowus and Fiona Commins from the Jean Michel Jarre production crew in August 2006 and it was an initial view to decide whether it was possible to do a concert within the given timeframes. The second trip was during the month of October 2006 and was undertaken by the CPM Production Crew who were accompanied by various technical members of staff in the fields of light, sound, fireworks, video projections and members of the Moroccan Rezo Production crew. During this site recognisance we decided the location of the main stage, the work that was necessary to the location itself and to start planning the specific technical requirements.

The third trip was made in the beginning of November 2006 by Alain Bilowus and myself from CPM, Chris Demeulemeester (HD TV Production Manager) from Alfacam, Toufik Zenasni (Local Technical Director) from Rezo Productions and William Colaiemma (Video Technician). This recognisance made it possible for us to adjust the position of the different screens in accordance with the plans we had designed and to detect problems linked to the positions of the structures in the sand.

You prepared the various technical drawings for the stage and screens – did the reality match well with your vision?

This was my most important challenge. The reality must match up precisely with the plans. All the artistic and technical implementations - whether it is power, light, sound, video or the TV recording - are defined according to the plans and the error tolerances must be within an absolute minimum. This is especially true at a location like the one in Merzouga where any missing equipment would take a lot of time and cost to transport to the site. The reality was fairly close to the one described in the plans, which can also be seen on the picture taken from the helicopter during the afternoon of the day of the show and the 3D drawings, which was our working plan produced a month before the show.

What tools did you use for preparing the Merzouga show?

The two most important tools I used for designing the technical elements of this concert was the CAD software which enabled both 2D and 3D views for the design and the preparation; as well as a telemeter laser that has an accuracy of +/- 5cm from a 150m distance. It is placed on a rotating tripod with an angular graduation for calculating the positioning of the different structures on the site (such as the supports for the screens, spotlight towers, towers for video projectors, camera towers etc). Another more basic yet necessary tool that was decisive for this location was the shovel – sixty people were digging day in and day out for three weeks!

Can you outline exactly what technical plans had to be drawn up for Merzouga?

The following plans were put together. A plan of the stage and the surrounding screen and sound towers; a plan of all screen supports; a plan of the seating; a plan of the spotlight towers; a plan of the video towers; and a global map of all the previous items together with the trenches for the cables between the different systems.

Separate plans were also made by all the different crews for lighting, positions of cameras and cranes, fireworks and they were then integrated into the global plan.

What special provision did you have to make for the location – remote and potentially harsh conditions?

The major difficulties that we encountered were due to the nature of the ground and the complicated transportation of the construction equipment to the stage and beyond. The problem was solved by the local government who provided us with a group of public workers with large trucks. Under the direction of my colleague, Technical Director Toufik Zenasni of the local production team, the ground was flattened and strengthened from the Auberge Chez Saddoq to the stage. In order to respect the environment, which is always essential for Jean Michel Jarre’s productions, it was necessary to use natural materials from the region of Merzouga.

Then to the rear of the stage, for the structures to support the screens, the fireworks, and the different light projectors to illuminate the dunes that were about 900 meters behind, we worked closely with Gilles Gautier and his four-wheel motor bikes with trailers, which were able to carry a very heavy weight over the sand.

How did you line up the screens (they appeared at disparate angles and positions, but were actually positioned perfectly with the line of sight)?

The concept of the vertical screens symbolising the doors to the desert was an idea conceived by Jean Michel Jarre. The size and shape was decided by Jean Michel and Marie Jeanne Gauthé. My job was to suggest a number of solutions for the placement of the screens in the dunes whilst ensuring the absolute right alignment with the axis of the stage. We solved this problem, which was essentially a geometrical one, by using the 3D CAD software, placing the screens according to their front alignment. The choice of angles and field of view was then tweaked to optimize the view for the audience and of course also the cameras. The final decision on the precise placement of the screens was made by Jean Michel himself.

How did you work with the various artistic / technical teams to ensure that their requirements were all met?

The production team is in contact with all the various crews during the design phase of the project and every change in the project is systematically brought to everybody’s attention and the implications discussed. This enables us to prevent problems in advance and solve problems before they impact. The rest is a matter of experience.

Are safety procedures nowadays making concert technical production more expensive?

Security arrangements are an integrated part of a concert preparation and are getting more and more drastic, which is a positive development for protecting the audience. However, this does naturally increase costs at the technical production level.

How do you manage any conflicts between the ideas from Jean Michel Jarre versus what is technically possible?

The production team works in perfect understanding with Jean Michel who is a very professional artist and we have always been able to exchange views and come to an innovative solution.

How do budget constraints effect your planning decisions?

I have been fortunate to work with a production that is not trying to push us to do the impossible!

When faced with a production like Merzouga, is this a dream come true for a technical director, or a living nightmare?

For a technical director every production of this scale seems like a nightmare to begin with. Being a professional, the challenge is to be able to transform the nightmare into a dream and then make the dream come true… Who in this business would not like to be confronted with this kind of challenge?

What do you have planned for the future?

Créations Productions Management has existed for a number of years and does not intend to give up. The magic formula seems to be working and we hope to be able to enchant you in the future. Like any gift, any future project should be a surprise! 

Belgian lighting designer Ignace d’Haese is based in Ghent and took up the challenge of lighting the Forbidden City in his first project with Jean Michel Jarre in 2004. He specialises in lighting design and lighting direction for complex projects, and you can’t get much more complex than the Saharan desert...

How did your career in lighting design begin?

I started playing with lights when I was about 14 years old. My older brother had a DJ installation, and I always enjoyed working with him to mount the lighting system. A few years later, we worked on a lighting set-up for our first band and then it all started for real for me! I decided to stop my studies in architecture before I finished, because the opportunities I got were so fantastic I couldn’t turn them down.

Over the years, I did a lot of touring with different bands, and I was also a stage draughtsman for Stageco when they started up. I had the opportunity to experience how big bands create their productions.

Then in 1989, I began my own design company Arf & Yes with partner Giovani de Schampheleire, which is still growing at this moment.

You appear to split your time across different types of media, such as concert type-projects and television – what is your preferred medium and why?

My roots are with concerts, and I still love these the most. However, it is very important to me that I am constantly challenged and therefore I love to do a lot of different things. This includes things such as one-off spectacles, TV shows, architectural projects and fashion shows. Throughout the years, we have worked on the set and lighting design for a lot of shows, which are wonderfully creative to work on.

You have worked with Jean Michel Jarre now on a few projects, including Beijing and now Merzouga. How did you first get introduced to Jean Michel Jarre?

I had a phone call from the production manager of Jean Michel Jarre, and he asked me to come to a meeting in Paris. I thought it was a joke from one of the people I work with in Paris. It transpired that Gabriel Fehervari, the owner of Alfacam, spoke about me while they were searching for a Lighting Designer.

When did you start getting involved in the Water for Life project?

I didn’t visit the location before the actual event. The production team contacted me when the production was on location, and I decided it was something I had to do!

How do you approach “designing” the lighting for a show in such an extraordinary location?

First, you have to analyse all the different factors contributing to the overall concert and make an image for yourself of the resulting picture. You can divide the process into three parts.

The first element is everything on the stage - how the stage is split up with all the musicians – and you always must be aware of how the event is being filmed.

The second element is the audience. It is very important to “feel” the atmosphere of the audience during the film, both sound and lighting wise.

 Finally, the third element is the background and around the stage, which in this case was an enormous landscape of sand - the desert. This was the most difficult part, because you must find a solution which fits in with the budget. With Jean Michel Jarre and the director, we decided upfront which parts of the background that we wanted to see and those that we didn’t want to see.

How involved does Jean Michel Jarre get with the lighting design?

We spoke quite intensely several times about the feel of the show during the preparation of the concert. Jean Michel is an absolute professional, not only in musical terms, but he also has an incredible vision of how the complete picture should look. For me this is a big advantage, because we get a lot of feedback about the visual look of the concert. Under normal circumstances, the artist will leave this to the lighting designers, but I remember being extremely impressed about the things that Jean Michel Jarre wanted to discuss. I have never had this before.

The lighting in Merzouga seemed to be less about “beams” of light (as seen at traditional large rock concerts) and more colour blends across the desert, sky and stage (as can be seen in some of the photographs). Was this is a deliberate design approach and if so, why? It worked very well.

Yes, we wanted to give the show a look that wasn’t “bombastic”, but huge in a minimal way! You can quickly end up with a chaotic result when there are too many elements which you can play with, as there are lights, fireworks and many other special effects. I think it is very important to give a concert a certain character and continue it throughout the performance.

The location must be one of the most difficult ever to stage such a large-scale concert. Did this pose any problems to you as the lighting designer?

It’s always a challenge! The biggest problem you end up with is to fit all the ideas into the budget! First, you have the complete fantasy carousel, then you have to filter the ideas to fit them into the budget. In this kind of event, it can make a huge difference what decisions you make during the planning part of the process.

With Jean Michel Jarre’s shows, you must worry about not only the actual stage lighting but also the surrounding landscapes too?

This is THE biggest challenge there is with this kind of concert!

How would you rate the Sahara Desert as a canvas for your lighting designs?

It was a nice surface to play with. Not only is the colour wonderful, but together with the shapes and the infinity of the dunes, it is an impressive landscape. To see the sunset over the desert is so beautiful for the eye. That’s why Jean Michel started the concert at sunset, because it’s impossible to imitate this in an artificial way. And why shouldn’t we use the sun when it’s there!

The audience was contained in a kind of amphitheatre with dune banks on each side. Was the audience therefore part of your lighting design for the show?

The audience is always a very important element in the result, as I said before. The “feel” of them is necessary all the time, even when there is no light on them.

When designing the lighting for the show, do you work closely with the music?

Of course, the music is the leading element of all the artistic elements. When designing the production, you always think of the general mood of the show, the character, I guess. The finer detail comes later during the final phases, when the complete picture becomes clearer. We tend to leave things open until the final rehearsals on-site, because some decisions are better made when we see them in reality.

However, the design itself of where the various light installations will go cannot change too much on-site. In this kind of concert there isn’t time to shuffle around the equipment. Maybe a few small modifications were made on-site in Merzouga. The result correlates to what I had in mind before we mounted everything on-site, it had to!

How do you decide which colours to use between your lighting, the pyrotechnics and the video images?

After every rehearsal day, Jean Michel holds a meeting with all the creative directors and teams, and we discuss each track in detail. We discuss what worked best, what looked the most beautiful, and what we should adjust. So it is not unusual to change colours or moods after these meetings.

What memories do you bring back with you from Merzouga?

I have a very warm feeling about this show. The complete team was wonderful to work with and everybody collaborated, which is very important. The local Moroccan people were very friendly and the location was fabulous, so what more can I ask for!

Jean Michel Jarre’s visual imagery is one of the cornerstones of the various techniques that he uses to create his magnificent, city-stopping concerts. From the stunning “punk” images in London’s Docklands, through the African patterns in the Lost City, to the fabulous opening sequence at Gdansk, these are all creations coming from the imagination and direction of Jean Michel Jarre and taken from the storyboard through to reality on the giant screens by art director, Marie-Jeanne Gauthé. She even lived through the disappointment of a wonderful set of images being “fogged in” at Jarre’s Millennium show in Egypt.

We spoke with Marie-Jeanne to find out more about her work on the Merzouga concert and how the progression of technology has changed the way she works, moving from still art to video art.

Can we start by asking how you first got into this unique industry?

I did my Higher Education Studies at the Arts Deco in Paris with a thesis in Audio Visual for my final project. Then I was lucky enough to be chosen for my first job as a designer in a company called E.T.C which was dealing with the technical projection of images at Jean Michel Jarre’s concert in Houston in 1986. Since then I have remained a specialist in high power projection.

How did you first get introduced to Jean Michel Jarre?

It was during that first job that I created the projected visuals for the concert in Houston and met Jean Michel Jarre through the concept designer who was Jean-Michel Quesne at the time.

Where do you get your inspiration from for Jean Michel Jarre’s shows, in particular the one in Merzouga and can you talk us through how the design process works for the preparation of Jean Michel Jarre’s show?

The conception work is always done with Jean Michel; he is very much in touch with the meaning of visuals. For Merzouga, we had several messages to communicate - on the theme of Water and of its contrasts when it comes to consumption and also on the dangers threatening our planet etc – all this inspired by the music, which is the first foundation of our creation.

So we started with key sentences and I suggested visuals as a storyboard, which without literally illustrating the theme, supported or enriched it. This was done essentially through the strength of juxtaposition: for instance a woman walking in the desert slowly looking for a well for the entire length of a piece and next to it, the fountains of Las Vegas, excess in the middle of the desert!

We also wanted to make space for the live video input and we chose a VJ who would only ‘perform’ that live video injection, ‘mixing’ the video with the pre-conceived visuals. The idea was not necessarily a flood of images, like in a music video, but the strength of the still image, which takes on a meaning thanks to the juxtaposed image; the contemplation of the sky, of fire or the sea is also a respite in the middle of a concert where one out of two pieces triggers thought.

What technology do you use to create the effects?

Once the concept is approved, the 3D images, the special effects, the coverage and editing are created according to the message we want to communicate. We had computer graphics artists working on 3D Max, Maya and After Effects, cameramen and editors creating the concept with the help of my storyboard.

When did you start getting involved in the Water for Life project and how long does such a project take to create?

I started getting involved in the project ‘Water for life’ about four months before the concert and I had several concept meetings beforehand. The work of producing the images started six weeks before the show, which was late and we had to work frantically but in a focused way.

What did you think of the location in Merzouga?

I visited it a long time beforehand, to work with the creative team on the scenography. The idea of doors in the desert, 10 vertical screens, was of course Jean Michel’s, but I worked on their distribution in space, taking into account the video frames as well.

How do you work with the other directors to ensure the show is integrated?

Once again during the conception phase, Jean Michel is the only one who has the global vision of his concept, he co-ordinates the various show techniques and overall artistic direction. Then on location, the entire artistic crew - sound, lights, pyrotechnics and images – come together to share, adapt and think together about the potential changes. It is a small team but there was a real symbiosis for the show; it was wonderful!

When designing the video for the show, do you work closely with the music and if so, how do you approach this part of the design process?

Yes, I use the music as a base to set up the various image-parts, and I play with the rhythm or the choice of an instrument (for example, the trumpet on Space of Freedom to set up a phrase graphically). Or I can go voluntarily against a rhythm to shift the meaning of a visual.

What challenges does a show like Jean Michel Jarre’s in Merzouga bring to you?

The disturbance caused by weather conditions made us lose time in the technical set up of the machines but all went well in the end. Otherwise the work in Paris and on location took place in an atmosphere of trust and the expectation of regular progress, as is customary with Jean Michel Jarre.

How closely do you work with Jean Michel Jarre on the design for your work on the show?

I have been working with Jean Michel for twenty years. From Houston onwards, I have produced the images for all his concerts; his humour and our complicity are always present in our work meetings. He also shares his global approach to the show with me as a whole, and the scenography he has in mind.

How has technology changed the way in which you work on these concert projects?

In the last 20 years the image projection technologies have evolved greatly and I have had to evolve with them. In Beijing we were still using the large projections from E.T.C, the projection of rolling visuals but not animated, which was my specialisation when I started. However, what a pleasure it is to be able to create art with video - the expression is open and the constraints almost non-existent; only financial!

But the school of still image and its constraints taught me to infinitely respect the strength of a static image and I often use it instead of video. But now it’s a choice and not a constraint…

With technology advancements, do you agree that the expectation of the audience increases with the progression?

Yes absolutely, the audience is more and more exposed to video visuals, music videos, adverts, films and they are all very advanced in quality especially with special effects. It could become even more demanding!

But you know the strength of the giant image (ranging from a 45m base in Gdansk through to 250m in Paris, and more if the projectors are multiplied) guarantees emotions if it is well managed. It is not the multitude of special effects that guarantee the success of a show but the content of each image and its strength, which is fortunate as the budgets of these shows are not those for an advert or a film (per minute).

So technologies evolve, which is good, one has to use them wisely and not overuse them. What we are waiting for in particular is the faster calculation of the rendered video images!

Is there a size of projection beyond which the “traditional” slide projection is still the only option?

No, really today video can cover the same surfaces as slide projection. It’s just a question of the number of sources and their distribution. And it’s still going to improve in power! What makes the difference is the price.

How much does the design evolve in the final few days once you are on site with the installation? Was the end result accurate to how you envisaged it “on paper”?

As I said earlier, the conception evolves until the date of the show. However fewer and fewer changes are possible nowadays with the progression to video because of the lack of time for the rendering calculations - High Definition [HD] calculations still take a very long time!

However, in the end we stayed very close to the initial storyboard. What changed most often was the distribution of the media on the different screens, to give more or less importance to either one or another subject, and sometimes the privilege of bringing back a fixed image produced on location (the face of a Tuareg child) to give a badly expressed idea its power back.

Do you keep an archive of the physical slide projections you created for Jean Michel Jarre ? If so, do you have any plans on exhibiting them?

No, I do not keep anything physical except for all the computer image files … and no I have never thought of an exhibition. That could not be done without Jean Michel’s agreement and I think that it should come from him; these visuals are his brainchild ...

You have been working with Jean Michel Jarre on almost all of his concert projects. Can you tell us which is your most memorable and why?

The most beautiful is maybe Merzouga and maybe the most memorable thanks to the unity of the creative team. But maybe I lack distance … so for now I would choose Moscow, for the exoticism of what we lived there and the emotion that came out of the visuals. Of course, Egypt and its pyramids were exceptional … if only the gods hadn’t got angry and drowned us in the fog!

Claude Samard joined the Jarre “tribe” in 2004 for the Beijing concert, and he has been a regular companion throughout the past two years as Jarre’s musical director.

Claude is a studio musician (guitars of the world are his speciality), a composer and producer with several gold and platinum credits to his name, including Midnight Oil (with Gaia), Patricia Kaas, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Supertramp Roger Hodgson and Rita Marley to name just a few. Now he shares his time between composing and producing, as well as leaving some room to work as a musical director for major live projects – with Gaia as well as Jean Michel Jarre.

He released a solo album “Unplugged Journey” that features a lot of his acoustic world guitars. This album has been used extensively all around the world by musical illustrators (both commercials and movies).

Claude enjoys mixing lo-tech and hi-tech recording approaches in his own Paris-based studio (Studio 124, which is also the name of his own publishing and production company). Claude has composed and arranged several award-winning projects, including movies (“Bo Ba Bu”, voted best music at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2001), video games (“Rayman”, the famous worldwide hit by UbiSoft and Jim Henson’s “Bear in the Big Blue House” CD-ROM) and many others.

Claude spent just under a month in Morocco preparing for the Water for Life concert, arriving on November 19th and was accompanied by Patrick Pellamourgues. We caught up with Claude after he returned from Morocco and was fresh out of Jarre’s studio, assisting in the production of Jarre’s latest album.

Your role was Musical Director for the show in Merzouga. What exact responsibilities does that entail?

My role is to put Jean Michel Jarre’s musical wishes into practice. This time in Morocco it was a bit more difficult because we were finishing the new studio album at the same time. As in Beijing and Gdansk, I had to help produce new arrangements of the concert pieces, programming the score, meeting and co-ordinating with the Moroccan musicians, helping them to adjust to Jean Michel Jarre’s music and spotting the right places with Jean Michel for them to feature. This was with both the traditional musicians and groups and the classical or popular-trained artists. I then worked with them all during the rehearsals off-site and finally, adjusted the whole process to the real thing in Merzouga itself, having Jean Michel decide what really works in a “live” situation. Patrick [Pellamourgues] helped during the recordings and mixing and Francis [Rimbert] helped with the programming.

When you heard that you would be travelling to the tiny village of Merzouga for a large-scale Jean Michel Jarre concert – what was your first reaction?

My reaction was that of curiosity, but I trusted Alain Bilowus. I knew he had the experience and energy to ensure it became a reality despite the difficulties.

Can you tell us about the approach you took for the music for the concert?

We tried to differentiate this concert from the one in Egypt, using the specifics of the location, the unique culture and the rich musical traditions. I think that this concert in Morocco had a more “rootsy” edge.

Jean Michel is known for his specific ideas on how he wants to present his music (and visuals). How does the musical direction work between yourself and Jean Michel Jarre?

A show by Jean Michel is a total performance. Jean Michel is at the heart of the whole performance, and he has got the complete vision of how things should look and sound. For each area of expertise (video, music, fireworks etc), he has one person in charge to achieve his goals. I oversaw the musical side. Jean Michel gives his directions to the directors and now as we know each other well enough, we understand what he wants after a few meetings. After a lot of brainstorming, I understand what the set list will be, which songs have to be rearranged, which songs should have new bass and drum parts, where we should have “features”, which kinds of “features” (such as vocal or instrumental), orchestral parts and what any new original songs will be like.

You travelled to Morocco several weeks before the actual concert to prepare. Between that time and the show must have been a very creative period. Can you tell us what that part of the preparations entailed and what direction Jean Michel Jarre gave as you embarked on the preparation?

Jean Michel decided on the concert set list and so once I had the precise idea of what should be prepared, I was then able to start work on the new arrangements.

I travelled to Morocco and visited the local musicians, giving them the CD’s that I had prepared with special mixes so that they could train with them. This allowed them to imagine the concert situation as closely as possible. I also gave them scores to work on their parts and of course, discuss the improvisations with them so that they could perform them if they didn’t read music. In addition, I also helped them understand where they should play ... which would have been agreed with Jean Michel Jarre in advance.

This show included quite a few local artists, giving it a wonderful feeling of integration with the environment. How were the artists chosen?

They were introduced by the local producer Rezo Productions based on our requests for the types of artists we were looking for. They were chosen from among the best professionals in Morocco. I personally suggested the four women (B’net Marrakesh) after having seen them at the Satellite Café, the best World Music club in Paris.

Did the Moroccan artists appreciate the music that they were accompanying? I can imagine it was a very different style for most of them?

We all appreciated working with each other. Saïd Aloui (who was the leader of the oriental orchestra) was of great help to me.

The track listing for this concert contained several classics and also some re-orchestrations. Can you tell us about the overall musical score for the concert and how this was chosen?

Jean Michel decided on the set list and wanted to include some tracks played in Egypt of course. I liked it and aside from a few alterations over the first few days of brainstorming, it was pretty much the actual set that was performed.

Oxygène 7 contained some wonderful new beats between the laser harp sections. Can you tell us how that came about?

It was very interesting to re-arrange that piece. We developed the 6/8 aspect of the original rhythm to such a point, that in the studio everybody was dancing, clapping their hands and they even said it was just as if the song was written there in Morocco. I wrote an oriental string orchestra part, Saïd added his touch and the song was very well accepted by the crowd, thanks to the addition of four local percussionists (two darbukas, bendir and tambourine) who gave the real Moroccan 6/8 rhythmic feel.

C’est La Vie was being continuously practiced during the last couple of days during rehearsals. Was there any reason for this?

Yes, unfortunately the original singer was sick, and Saïda Charaf had just three days to work on it.

Were you influenced by Jean Michel Jarre’s previous concert in the desert in Egypt for the Millennium?

Not that much. I just had a few mixes. And of course, I skipped to Morocco very early in the process! I had some raw material to arrange and on the other hand a bunch of wonderful players, who were all very enthusiastic and so I had to create and combine it all together.

What were the highlights of the show for you, both musically and visually?

I haven’t seen the show as I was on stage! I believe it was emotional, with songs like Miss Moon and a lot of good oriental electro groove in songs like Education. The live ethnic/electro blends in the UNESCO theme were great, with the Gnaoua group together with Jean Michel on bass and of course a great flute duet during Oxygène 2. All that and the fabulous scenery and of course the videos. Jean Michel had a lot of input in the video screen idea, the placement, the choice of images and the underlying text; he worked like crazy on that. Marie Jeanne [Gauthe] did a lot of great work on that too.

 How did you find the local audience reaction in Merzouga – they were not your “normal” concert audience?

They were great. They like music, it is part of their culture in Morocco. Music is everywhere, for weddings and a whole variety of celebrations.

Did you bring back any local instruments with you or any other souvenirs?

Some sand in my broken camera, as well as some sand in bottles too. I returned with a bendir (a percussion instrument) and I bought a great gimbri - the bass of the desert - a three-string home-made instrument made by the leader of the Gnaouas who performed with Jean Michel.

You’re now a regular in Jean Michel Jarre’s team, are you looking forward to the next concert?

I’m ready for the next surprise. I’ve been lucky until now. Each place is amazing and it’s our job to make it an unforgettable musical and human encounter and one more unique, awesome, crazy Jean Michel Jarre show!

You had a very flash guitar on stage in Merzouga - where did that come from?

I think you’re talking about my Johnson metal dobro. It is an electro-acoustic instrument that resisted the sandstorm!

And finally, have you contributed to Jean Michel Jarre’s new album ?

Yes, it’s finished now. I contributed on most of the tracks, some contributions were minor additional overdubs and some were more important arrangements. I played some guitar, did some programming and also arranged the strings. Jean Michel gathered a team of five around him (including myself and Francis) who contributed to different extents. Jean Michel worked like crazy on that album, sleeping at night in the studio most of the time ... after finishing at 5am, he was ready to start again at 11am! It was a lot of work, but you’ll feel the energy not the pain when listening to it!

Francis Rimbert has a long history of working with Jean Michel Jarre for more than 20 years, both in the studio and on stage with millions of people in the audience worldwide. From Rendezvous Houston in 1986 onwards, he has been a constant companion of Jarre’s in his global adventures.

So, you’ve performed at most of Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts around the globe. How did this location compare with the others?

Compared to other concerts this is the first time we had to perform outside of a town, far away from the entire infrastructure you need for a show of this scale. I was very preoccupied by the damage the sand was causing to our synthesizers.

The last two large-scale concerts with Jean Michel have been in two locations which are not renowned for “rock concerts” – Gdansk and Merzouga. The audiences though have been remarkable. Do you agree, and if so, why do you think this is?

Jean Michel Jarre pioneered a new format of outdoor performance, closer to land-art than rock festival. He attracts a larger, crossover audience as he creates a total sound and vision experience in the most improbable landmarks … his trademark is to break boundaries and shake opinions; the public love his audacity.

Having travelled to this show ourselves, we know that the travel and accommodation was most unusual. Were special arrangements made for the team?

Arriving on the site was quite a tough experience as it was raining heavily, the roads were flooded and damaged, and as incredible as it should sound, we had some hail. We were lodged approximately 40 km from the concert location, and our producer Alain Bilowus’ team had to take care of all the logistics in order for us to commute back and forth to the venue.

You were cold up there on stage, how did you cope?

There was a freezing wind on the stage and although we were wearing several layers of clothes, I was very cold. I managed to get some small packs of “instant heat” which gave me some comfort though!

Can you tell us about the technical side of the show’s music – such as the keyboard sets you all travelled with and why you chose the ones you did?

I had the same set of instruments that I usually have. My two samplers Roland S760 and SP700 were linked to an enormous hard disk where I save all my sounds, my Roland JD800 and for this first time I brought a FANTOM. I also had a Roland TR909 and an E-MU XL7.

We rehearsed the basic musical compositions in Bougival, in Jean Michel Jarre’s personal studio. We merely had to adapt our performance to incorporate our Moroccan musician friends.

For the audience, this show was almost a 180-degree “amphitheatre”, encircled by the dunes and pyrotechnics. How does this concert compare to the other concerts you have performed with Jean Michel?

From the stage, I normally only see my synthesizers and the audience. It is only when the concert is broadcast that I get a chance to see the global vision. Therefore, it was a new experience for me to be facing the back stage! Normally I see Jean Michel Jarre and the audience; this time I was facing the screens and, of course, the beautiful dunes, which was in fact rather destabilising.

The track listing for this concert contained several classics and some re-orchestrations. Are there any tracks which you’d like Jean Michel Jarre to include?

I really would like to hear tracks like: Fin de Siècle (Calypso Part III), The Emigrant or why not the whole of the first album Oxgène.

Given the remote and harsh location, did you have to make any musical decisions to compromise to your environment?

No, we did not have any major problems; it was much easier to play this concert than Docklands London under the heavy rain.

What memories do you bring back with you from Merzouga?

The incredible energy of the immediate audience, who were really over-excited, the magic of the Moroccan percussionists, the great and happy mood of my friend Claude Samard who was hitting the pads while dancing and Jean Michel Jarre who, for the first time played a bass guitar, whilst having fun with the local musicians.

Your working relationship with Jean Michel Jarre seems to have evolved over the years from being one of a few musicians in his “band” to now one of his sole accompanying musicians alongside Claude Samard. How has this evolution taken place and does it place more responsibility on you?

I have now worked with Jean Michel Jarre on his projects for more than 20 years. I started out by lending him my own instruments and little by little I started working on his albums and concerts. After years of working alongside him, there is a strong mutual trust and often no need for words to understand each other… 

Whilst Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts are full of the latest technical effects and pyrotechnics, the focal point is always the stage where Jarre himself and the musicians perform. Therefore, we felt it important to speak to the man in charge of this element of the show, Roland Bréand.

Stage manager for Jean Michel Jarre since the Forbidden City show in China in 2004, Roland also expands his role into artistic direction, choreography and designer for other artists.

Can you describe exactly what the stage manager is responsible for in a show like Merzouga?

The stage manager for Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts has various responsibilities. I am the link between the different technical and artistic teams and therefore I have to focus on coordinating and making sure that everybody is looked after and able to undertake their job both on stage and backstage.

The priority of a stage manager in a production like Jean Michel Jarre’s is to ensure that the concert is executed successfully and in addition to that, to always be at Jean Michel Jarre’s service for whatever he might need. In Merzouga I had two assistants with me on stage and backstage. I put my confidence and trust in them and so they worked extremely hard to ensure that the stage area ran like clockwork.

Everyone that surrounds Jean Michel Jarre during these events feels responsible for each other and for making the concert a success. Jean Michel Jarre is a great artist and a great professional with a very clear vision of the whole show and the entire production team is like one big family.

Jarre’s show in Merzouga was very complex - how important was the rehearsal schedule for the event and did the outdoor nature of the show impact the schedule?

The concert in Merzouga was certainly not one of the easiest, especially for the technical director Charles Lambing. Jean Michel Jarre and the Moroccan artists had to run through stage rehearsals for four days. Thankfully I already had an idea of the difficulties we were going to encounter because I had participated in the preparations and visited the site earlier, and so I was able to fully prepare myself and my team.

The rehearsals are run to a schedule, and we always rehearse the lighting, sound, video images and other special effects before Jean Michel Jarre starts rehearsing on stage. This allows Jean Michel to fine tune the visual elements before concentrating his focus on the stage performance. The final dress rehearsal is then very important for everybody and we made several changes and modifications to ensure the quality and success of the actual concert.

Sometimes backstage areas for concerts can be small due to the constraints of the building or location. Thankfully in Merzouga we had no restrictions and so the backstage area was comfortable and big. We only had to deal with the cold of the desert, which we did by installing a lot of heaters!

Could you tell us how you use the cue sheets to manage the stage?

I am backstage during the show communicating with the control room (tent). The entrance and exit of the artists on stage is my responsibility and I use the cue sheets to “run the stage” during the concert. These cue sheets are very large and precise, just like Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts. I ensure that the show is progressing to the overall schedule by using a time code on the control screen that I have.

The atmosphere backstage has to be and is very concentrated. The guest artists wait for their cue to be called to enter the stage and the cue sheets are the vital element here to allow me to manage this and ensure the right artists and guests are on stage at the precise right time.

You have several performers who won’t have performed in such a big show - what special allowances do you need to make for this?

Some of the artists who performed in this show had never performed to such a large audience in such an important event, without even considering that the show was broadcast live all over the world. It was therefore very important to help lift the artists’ confidence by working with them during their rehearsals before rehearsing with Jean Michel Jarre himself. I also found it helped to talk through their performance with them several times and generally try to be as friendly and helpful to them throughout the process.

What did you take away with you from the show in Merzouga?

I was very happy to work with my friends in the production team and all the artists on this great adventure in Merzouga. One should not forget the people that work behind the scenes. I am always grateful to be able to provide my help in the realisation of Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts, because he realises millions of people’s dreams and defends human values all over the world.

Lacroix-Ruggieri have been working with Jean Michel Jarre for a number of years, providing the direction and team for the pyrotechnics for some of his biggest shows around the world. Its mission is to conceive and produce emotive pyrotechnic displays and has a team of what it describes as “sky artists” that have been built from various artistic disciplines. Major public bodies and international agencies have commissioned Lacroix-Ruggieri and thus some of the world’s most prestigious sites have been the venues for their inventive pyrotechnic displays

Alongside the sites they’ve worked with Jean Michel Jarre on, they have produced spectacles in countries around the world, including Buenos Aires, the “Longship of Fire” in Denmark, the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York, the inauguration of the world’s longest and highest aqueduct at Millau in France, and a spectacular multi-media show on the ocean in Tahiti to name but a few.

Fireworks can produce changing scenes that light up the heavens, thrill the senses and delight the audience. Their motto is “Fire fascinates, it knows no limits, and absorbs our souls”.

We spoke with Claude Devernois from Lacroix-Ruggieri, who designed the fireworks for Merzouga and has worked with Jean Michel Jarre now for a number of his concerts.

Can we start by asking how you first got into the pyrotechnics industry?

I started handling fireworks towards the age of 14-15 years old with my father who was a fireman. He occupied himself by putting on fireworks shows for the 14th July and 15th August within the local community.

From around the age of 18 years old, I worked as an outdoor fireworks expert, which became my passion. It was an era that easily allowed me to work with fireworks. I participated in some very big shows in France and abroad in Australia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Canada and Japan. For 12 years, I also organized the Nights of Fire at Chantilly and the Night Parties at the Château de Versailles. In 1989, the management of Ste Ruggieri offered me the post of technical and artistic director.

Are there any projects you have worked on that you are particularly proud of?

Yes, I am particularly proud of certain festivals that I carried out in Montreal, in Japan and some very big spectacles in France, such as the Fête du Lac in Annecy, Bastille Day in Paris and the Nights of Fire in Chantilly

Can you tell us how you approach designing the pyrotechnics effects for such a show in Merzouga? Did you get to visit the location before the show?

Yes, two months before the concert, we visited Merzouga to choose the setting of the concert site and stayed there for three days. From that moment, we were excited by the concept of installing the stage in the dunes and from my own perspective, I had the idea to surround the stage with fireworks.

I know Jean Michel Jarre very well as I have already worked on five concerts with him - Moscow, the pyramids of Giza in Cairo for the Millennium, Denmark, Poland and now Morocco. The design is architected based on the wishes of Jean Michel at the level of the colours, lighting, video caption and especially the music.

There are numerous techniques involved in Jarre’s show, such as video, lighting and of course, sound. How do you work with the other designers to ensure the show is integrated?

For this concert, we worked in perfect harmony with the teams responsible for the sound, the light, the projection of pictures and the video. We had preparation meetings directly on site. Each person conceived his or her effects and then we debated the overall design in a kind of committee with Jean Michel Jarre, who gave his agreement on the chosen effects. The night before the show, we did some test shots for the light so the video team could appreciate the different colours used, the degree of luminosity and the different heights of the projectiles for the movie cameras.

How closely do you work with Jean Michel Jarre on the design for the show?

One month before the concert, I received the soundtrack of the concert; this gave me some ideas where I could intervene during the musical pieces. Jean Michel and I discussed the design together twice. I proposed a few different concepts to him and as he knows fireworks well and I know which types of effects and colours please him, we work well together.

From there I was left with a free reign on the design. I hope the result was a sensitive and emotional pyrotechnic display, integrating with the music, the light and the image projections.

What challenges does a show like Jean Michel Jarre’s in Merzouga bring to you as the pyrotechnics designer?

There were no particular obstacles for my team, except for a couple of days in the week before the show we suffered a sandstorm that slowed down the preparations on site.

As soon as the exact location of the stage was chosen, the collaboration and logistics with the assistant directors worked very well and on time, including the construction of the structures. We normally adapt ourselves well to all the risks linked to the environment, the weather and the security constraints around both the artist and the public. The aim is to stage an artistically successful show but at the same time ensure the total safety of the audience and crew with the fireworks.

Can you tell us about how the pyrotechnics are technically synchronised with the various effects to ensure it all runs in unison?

We work with computerized systems that synchronize the fireworks with the soundtrack, thanks to a time code specific for each launch. The computer also has some design software that can reproduce the desired effects so that we can review the show beforehand.

I need about one week for the planning and preparation of the concert, and then three days for preparation of all the documentation. For the Merzouga show itself, I worked with my team - composed of six explosives experts - for six days on the site.

Did the location itself influence the design of the show? For example, the fireworks at ground level were spectacular and blended very well with the stage.

The setting lent itself very well to the spectacle in three dimensions since the stage was surrounded by fireworks. The height difference of the dunes allowed us to create surreal moods and shadows of lights in perfect harmony with the music.

This is the first concert where the audience has experienced an almost 180 degree-effect created by the pyrotechnics. Was this is a first for you? It encapsulated the show very, very well.

Yes, that was an innovative effect in the design of the spectacle, I’ve only used this technique of 180 degrees once before - on a spectacle in France, and I re-used it for this concert. The landscape there lent itself very well, with all these sand dunes, which contributed to the beauty of the show.

Pyrotechnics are a very traditional form of art. How is technology assisting in the progression of the art form?

I believe that the ultimate technology has been attained for the design of the products, ballistics, colours, fizzing effects etc. There isn’t much else to invent on these products! The final visual success is based more now on the manner with which one can implement the different products, the mixing of the colours, the arrangement around the concert site and the geometric features which we are able to create with the fireworks.

The future research nowadays for pyrotechnics focuses more towards the impact on the environment, bio-degradable products, reducing the levels of smoke and for concerts, less noisy products.

And finally, what does the production of such spectacles mean to you?

I have great memories of this concert which in my opinion has been the most successful one of all those that I have worked on with Jean Michel Jarre. There was a very good ambiance between the artists, the musicians, the sound technicians, lighting, video pictures and the local authorities.

I could talk about pyrotechnics for hours - it is a true passion of my life. I am often on the move through the world, and nothing is more beautiful than to give happiness to the millions of people that come to attend firework spectacles.

Philippe Barguirdjian has been working with Jean Michel Jarre since his ground-breaking 5.1 audio outdoor performance at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2004. This performance was a world-premiere event for this type of 5.1 sound and as Jarre proclaimed at the time, “To test [5.1] in the oldest country in the world which is on the road to modernity is a symbol in one-self.”

In Morocco, Christophe Dupin was responsible for the sound concept and was the coordinator with the technical team. Alain Courieux worked on the sound design and Philippe Barguirdjian was the sound system and network engineer.

Philippe is the Sound Production Manager at Arpege-Son-Lumiere and he was more than happy to discuss his work in Merzouga, as well as divulge more about how he, along with the rest of the team, achieved the amazing sound in Beijing.

How did it come about that you started working with Jean Michel Jarre?

During the summer of 2004, we were contacted by the sound designer working with Jean Michel Jarre, Christophe Dupin. He asked us to study the possibility of running a 5.1 PA system in China for about 18,000 people.

Can you tell us about your role during Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts in Beijing, Gdansk and Merzouga?

I was in charge of providing all the audio equipment, studying the different network configurations that were possible (digital audio and data) and designing all the redundancy solutions that were necessary – this is critical as Jean Michel Jarre’s shows are always broadcast live for television, no failure in the sound broadcast at all can be tolerated, so the redundancy solution is always very important. The redundancy system allowed any one of the three mix systems to fail without interrupting the show. Also, the entire sound digital network was automatically secured in case of failure. Then as in Gdansk, I was also in charge of the final mix for the various media outlets in Merzouga - the international and local TV stations and radio stations.

The Sahara Desert is a very unusual location. Can you tell us more about how the planning and execution of the sound for this project in Merzouga came about?

Well, you need to anticipate all the various problems when working in the Sahara Desert that you may encounter and will have to work with throughout the project. Sand and dust can cause you problems that can interfere with the show’s audio broadcast. We had to create a protection system for our equipment, and Jean Michel Jarre’s production crew had to take charge of the construction of a hermetically sealed room for our expensive and sensitive audio equipment.

How did the conditions in Merzouga influence your preparations?

The first measurements we took during the advance technical visit in early autumn 2006, made us realise that the temperature and humidity can change and swing by a huge variation in a very short period, so we had to fix that to keep the equipment conditions constant. Also, the sand and low humidity needed an unusually high power for lower frequencies.

We also realised that no backstage structures could be built behind or around the stage due to the constraint of the location, so the media mixing desk had to be located about 400m from the stage, as shown on my plan [see over page]. We ended up implementing a fibre optic solution to allow a remote mix with no delay.

How long did it take to set-up the sound system in the Merzouga location?

The build of the sound system took about five days to complete, longer than planned due to the sandstorms, rain and difficult weather.

Jean Michel Jarre’s concert in Merzouga featured some unusual instruments, such as the Theremin. Are these difficult to make provision for?

Those old instruments need constant servicing, and Patrick Pellamourgues was the guy for this! He has worked with Jean Michel Jarre for many, many years, and knows all his “antiques” by heart now, so he could resolve any problems!

The concert you worked on in Beijing featured 5.1 surround sound. How did you achieve this in the Forbidden City?

Well, this is a long story, but I’ll summarise! As you may know, fifty metres is the maximum that our ears can support between two sound sources without making your brain crazy! About 18,000 VIP guests were invited into the area which was about 200m x 300m. So, we divided the area into six zones to keep within the maximum limit, each with a dedicated L’Acoustics DVDOSC 5.1 sound system. All the audio distribution was digital by cat-5 network cables, and the 228 speakers were Wi-Fi touchscreen controlled.

Do you think that as more people bring 5.1 sound into their homes, then the expectation of the experience at public concerts increases?

Home cinema sales are increasing year after year, and I think therefore audiences will appreciate 5.1 live performances. However, due to the human hearing process (as I have already explained), the 5.1 sound area cannot cover more than 1200 square metres (approximately 3,000 people). That is not at all convenient for a huge audience except, as in China, where you duplicate areas for the sound, and that costs money.

Also, real true 5.1 is not an updated stereo with effects at the rear of the area. Real 5.1, as we experimented with Jean Michel Jarre in China, is when you have different sounds dispatched all around the audience to different speakers, so the music has to be composed this way from the ground up.

Was there any consideration to broadcasting the Merzouga concert in 5.1 to the audience?

Many special musical arrangements were worked on with the Moroccan musicians, and Jean Michel Jarre did not plan to perform 5.1 this time. This also helped to reduce the mountain of problems that already had to be worked out by the production. We decided - let’s do it simple, with only 130 French technicians and the Moroccan crew!

The shipyard at Gdansk was a large area, with an equally large audience. That must have been an unusual sound design to execute?

You are right, yes. In fact, it was vast, 140,000 tickets and then the guests in addition to that! The sound design took us a long time because of the extremely complex organisation of the various audience areas and the VIP zone too. We solved that problem with a “classic” front line with four towers of V-DOSC, one first delay line with eight towers of DVDOSC in an arc, each tower was GPS marked, and a second delay line with local PA about 240 metres from the stage.

How closely do you work with Jean Michel Jarre on the sound design for the show?

Jean Michel Jarre is very involved in all the elements of his shows. Designing a picture is the key starting point of each production, so once the stage set design is completed, we then discuss how the PA can fit into it. We try to find a solution that works with the initial design and gives us the possibility to rig our PA in a state-of-the-art way. Also, during the sound check, Jean Michel Jarre spends a lot of time with us working on the exact mix and getting the precise sound that he wants.

What future do you think lies ahead for audio at concerts?

Over the last ten years, the Christian Heil revolution (the creation of V-DOSC and cylindrical wavelengths) has changed professional PA systems all over the globe. Since this revolution, digital equipment and computers have given us the opportunity to predict, be precise and to produce sound of a much higher quality. However, computers have also given audiences MP3, which is very useful but doesn’t educate the audience to high-quality sound. So, we have to consider all these new technologies but only use the state-of-the-art parts of them.

What will you remember most from Merzouga?

Primarily I will remember the incredible colours of the sand and the amazing sunrise. And of course, my sand surfing …

The Water for Life concert was Jean Michel Jarre’s fourth performance which was filmed and produced by Alfacam. In 2004, Alfacam filmed his spectacular concert in the Forbidden City in Beijing (China) and in August 2005 the company recorded the Solidarnosc Concert at the historical Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, Poland. A few weeks later Jarre gave a stunning performance at the opening night of the Eurocam Media Centre in Belgium, where Alfacam is based.

One Outside Broadcast vehicle (OB22) and one assistance truck (A14) were shipped to the Sahara, and the concert was recorded in full High Definition with 14 cameras and transmitted live via satellite. Euro1080, Europe’s first HDTV media company that belongs to the same group as Alfacam, broadcast the concert in January 2007 on HD1.

Before the show, Chris Demeulemeester, operations manager of Alfacam, noted that this concert was not to be an easy task: “Merzouga is just a small village. The concert stage will be set up amongst the Saharan dunes itself. Apart from some small grocery and carpet stores there is practically nothing. The surroundings are quite different than those which most of our crewmembers are used to. After sunset, it becomes rapidly pitch dark and temperatures descend below zero. Although the winds and sand are omnipresent, our team is well prepared, and we look forward to completing this prestigious job successfully.”

Alfacam are again post-producing the film of the concert, just as the company did for Jarre’s Beijing and Gdansk concerts. We caught up with Chris after the show, just as the film master of the event was being edited and prepared for mastering.

How did it come about that Alfacam started working with Jean Michel Jarre?

Jean Michel Jarre is always aware and curious about new technologies. For a couple of years we have been introducing the High-Definition recordings into Europe and therefore we were the first company ever to be able to record in a multi-camera environment.

Can you tell us specifically about your role during Jean Michel Jarre’s concerts in Beijing, Gdansk and Merzouga?

I was the unity and operations manager, so I set-up the budget, introduced it to Jean Michel Jarre’s management, advised the optimal way of recording the shows introduced the director to the management and advised on the logistics and production crew.

Can you tell us more about how the planning and execution of the video production for this project in Merzouga came about?

It all started with the creative idea of Jean Michel Jarre. We then did a “freewheel session” somewhere in a rainy Paris bistro - on how and with what kind of equipment we could work and use. Then we all planned a technical visit with the lighting designer, the riggings/staging company and the projection company.

Travelling to Merzouga was always going to be difficult. However, heavy rain showers blocked the road to the site and even our Land Rovers got stuck in the mud. We all visited the venue for two days, sat in the sand and ‘invented’ the plan on the spot.

The main recording is a standard HD multi-camera recording, but the way we build and work is very different.

The Sahara Desert is a very unusual location. What challenges did it bring you?

The wind and the sand are the natural enemy that will always win the battle. It was very difficult for the crew to set-up grips and cranes in a windy environment.

With all the sand and harsh conditions, did you have to take out specific insurance against damage to your equipment?

All our equipment is normally insured for the various risks for transporting to locations. It is not the first time we have worked in Africa though, as we produced the Judo World Cup in Cairo, the Handball World Cup in Tunis, the Mediterranean Games and Coup Africa des Nation. However, we did take out special risk insurance for this event. The biggest problem of transporting equipment via a roll-on, roll-off ferry to Africa is theft on the vessels. Very often we arrive with computers and loudspeakers stolen from the OB truck.

Is a Jean Michel Jarre concert different from the normal productions that you work on?

It is a pleasure to work for Jean Michel Jarre. He is hands-on throughout the production and wants to know everything - you really get a team spirit; he is Director, Artist and Executive Technical Team Lead, all wrapped up in one. A lot different from filming Oasis in Manchester Stadium …

How did you decide on the number of cameras that this production required and the location of each?

Well, the decision was made by me, the director and Jean Michel Jarre. It is a function of the set, stage, the number of scaffoldings that we could bring in with trucks - the total weight and load was limited due to the distance and environment. Apart from a couple of special placements of camera angles, it was all straight forward, you cannot re-invent TV.

We just tried to be as precise as possible and work hard on the basic shots - they should be clean with exact lens type, have the right background and with only one goal - tell the right story.

Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘canvas’ was huge for this show – how do you ensure you capture the show in its entirety?

The biggest challenge was the amount of power we needed for the pyrotechnics. If fireworks explode too high, you don’t see them in the shots. So we launched a couple of pyrotechnics during the rehearsals to check the height and played with different lenses and zoom ranges.

How closely do you work with Jean Michel Jarre on the television production?

Very close – he is very accessible; we eat together, rehearse together, we brainstormed together in Paris. Let’s say that Alfacam and Jean Michel Jarre have a very good relationship together.

Can you tell us about the live broadcast and how that is organised?

I rented a digital SNG truck from the public Moroccan TV broadcaster [SNG provide satellite uplinks]. We up linked the signal on satellite, and we also played out a news package for dedicated news stations after the concert.

The Jean Michel Jarre concerts you’ve filmed are single one-off events. Do you treat the filming of the dress rehearsal as a back-up for the “live” event?

We recorded the full-dress rehearsal with all VTR’s and with a different camera set-up. We had the cranes on the stage, and we also had more close-up cameras on stage between the dancers because there was no public to worry about so we could also tape more close-up shots. The next day we re-built the camera positions and moved a couple of cranes to the sides. Each camera is recorded on an ISO HDCam VTR.

When filming on location, do you use local cameramen or your own crew?

We used a full Belgian camera crew for the show and film recording. I also hired three local Moroccan EFP cameramen to shoot atmospheric shots, the video screens shots and the backstage shots.

The images that you captured were stunning and a great representation of the event. Were you pleased with the result? Is technology improving how you can capture these types of events?

Well, simply the more detail in the picture, the more information. Shots are steady. We were really pleased by the pre-recording [on the concert day] at 5pm. We started the show with the first three songs during the sunset in order to capture this light on film. The live show started at 8pm in the dark, but on the film master and future DVD you will see a great sunset and light effect in high definition.

You are producing a DVD of the event. How important is post-production on events like these?

The post-production is even more important; you must give the director the right tools and time to create a well-developed film master for posterity and of course eventually DVD. We are editing this show on Avid Nitris at Alfacam’s post-production centre in Lint, Belgium.

Jean Michel Jarre has already made his selection and provided a recommendation list for the editing process. We are working to this and then we plan some viewing and cleaning-up sessions. Finally, we’ll colour grade and master it with the right audio tracks.

You have also worked on Gdansk and Beijing. How were these shows different for you from Merzouga? Was the bureaucracy in China a challenge for you?

Working in China or Russia is so different. You don’t understand the local crew, you don’t understand the rules - why cable X or Y cannot run a certain way, but others can. You need a big flight case of extra time and a box of nerve-pills. But thanks to our Belgian diplomacy we succeeded in the end.

But sometimes the impossible is simpler … we filmed the Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow. The Russians insisted that cabling ourselves was not possible, so not a problem, I made a cable-plan weeks before the event, I shipped our fibre cables and when we arrived the local security had taken our cables and installed them very professionally in the drainage pipes under the Red Square.

Is high-definition recording important for Jean Michel Jarre?

Very, he wants top technology and top quality as a tool for his message and that was: Water for Life!

You seem to have a very close partnership with Jean Michel Jarre. What is next for Alfacam and Jean Michel Jarre?

Well next month again, I’m invited to Paris to his studio to brainstorm about some ideas, again it will be a challenge to accept this assignment.