GIVEON AT COACHELLA 2026

For Giveon’s Coachella 2026 mainstage performance, Show Designers Douglas Green and 1826 Studio asked Dreamachine Studio and Henrique Ghersi Studio to build a hushed, analogue world contrasting with the noise of typical digital aesthetics. The challenge: achieving a convincing look and feel of analogue film in real time, with no camera rehearsal, across a show that moved from sunset into night.

To achieve this look, Henrique Ghersi Studio began with a series of design studies, which helped articulate how analogue image characteristics, such as grain, halation, and bloom, could most naturally and cohesively translate to IMAG. The team developed a system of effects that would evolve slowly and subtly throughout the performance.

The team used Notch as a real-time engine for live camera treatments and some rendered material, integrating with Disguise for show control in collaboration with Programmer Danny Purdue.

In Notch, they designed an array of highly flexible parameters that allowed the team to shape and keyframe these effects across the show. For the rendered work, Henrique Ghersi Studio created gradients and a stylised, hyperreal representation of architecture inspired by the Hollywood Bowl. With Notch’s layered, controllable system, they could apply and adjust effects live, which proved invaluable as the show transitioned from sunset into night.

As Green recalls, “We had such a specific vision for the show, we knew it would be challenging to recreate: a show with no camera rehearsal during the sunset slot at a music festival does not lend itself to ‘1970’s Soul/R&B TV show shot as if it’s a Film Noir’ at all. But Henrique and the folks at Dreamachine smashed it. I really was incredibly impressed by the team’s work and the software’s capabilities.”

The response was strong: the restrained, cinematic quality of the visuals created a clear identity that stood out within the festival context and carried through both live and online.