NICK & SIMON: 10 YEARS

Since 2006, the Dutch singers Nick Schilder and Simon Keizer have been known as the duo Nick & Simon. Originating from the iconic village of Volendam, they sing songs about love and life. Over time, it has become a tradition for the duo to host a big concert at the end of the year, which turned out to a sold-out week of shows in Ahoy. For these shows, Ad de Haan has become an essential part of the team, supplying beautiful images to enhance the vibe of the performance.

The team's vision for the Nick en Simon shows entailed making an environment to situate the scene, using small changes and additions to set the mood for each song. For instance, in 2015, they created a snowglobe to fit the Christmas theme. For the 10th anniversary of Nick en Simon in 2016, the team envisioned a virtual theatre. To set the base for this project, they designed a 3D model of the theatre. With the d3 visualizer, this model was tested to see if it would work at the venue from all angles.

The show consisted of a lot of songs which all needed their own mood with their own changes and additions. The team gave each content creator brought on their own song to help with. They all worked from the same 3D model, with the same camera specifications, so in the end, all different elements would line up and match in style.

This year, they added real-time content generated by Notch. This was used to fulfil an everlasting desire to do something different with live camera than having it as a flat PIP. The content creators made 3D models of screens which matched the moods created for the songs. That model was loaded and textured in Notch, so the live signal would stick to the virtual screens. This could additionally be mixed with the original video clips, selected by a MIDI controller. The position and orientation of the screens could be sequenced on the d3 timeline. Proper masking inside Notch would make it look like the screens were actually coming from an opening in the ceiling of the theatre.

De Haan claims he always likes seeing the work of so many people come together in shows like these, "but with Notch this was brought to another level. I’ve actually had (even technical) people who had seen the show, who afterwards wanted to enter the stage to see that it was just a flat LED screen. I’ve heard audience members were impressed, by how we were able to bring that many stage pieces down from the roof."