HIVE celebrates successful summer. Over the past months, HIVE’s products, including its newly released BeeBlade series, have been deployed across a variety of projects from music festivals to interactive experiences.
HIVE’s media engines have powered visuals to accompany several big-name acts at festivals in several countries. This summer, renowned electronic artist, Eric Prydz, took to the stage at Tomorrowland in Belgium, Sonar Festival in Spain and Coachella in the USA. His show, aptly named HOLO, utilises high-resolution, high frame-rate 3D animation. HIVE products played a pivotal role in enabling the playback of these visuals, with four Player_2 media players responsible for silky-smooth playback across enormous screens. Two Player_2 units powered the main show machines, while the other two served as backups, guaranteeing a flawless performance.
“HIVE solves a problem that has plagued the AV industry for the longest time,” explains Punkette, video director for Eric Prydz. “HIVE enables perfect playback under immensely demanding conditions, without the need for huge, heavy media servers. It’s a total game changer.”
Another headline electronic artist, the duo Bicep, took to the stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals and Sonar in Barcelona this summer, as well as a performance on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival. Across all performances, Bicep relied on four BeeBox units, one of HIVE’s latest product releases, to power visuals both on screens behind the artist and on two screens on either side of the stage.
The production of the show was a collaboration between the production company, Zeal Live, and show designer Zak Norman, supported by video technician, Pesh. “HIVE has proved to be a flexible, portable and bulletproof control unit for our live shows,” confirms Norman. “By stripping away the complexity of a media server to its essential components, you are left with a product that is simple to use and easy to master – yet powerful enough to run some of the biggest shows out there.”
At Stowaway Festival, a smaller boutique event set in the Buckinghamshire countryside, Giles Mayall of IDK Productions, deployed three HIVE Player_1s to create a captivating triptych highlighting both the natural and the technical world.
Lighting professional, Otis Benjamin, has been using HIVE Player_1 to provide visuals for British band Feeder’s summer UK tour. “I needed a simple, no-nonsense system to complement my lighting show,” explains Benjamin. “With HIVE I can run lighting and video simultaneously.” Benjamin uses Player_1 to tie in Artnet visuals with a grandMA3 lite lighting console. “I like its plug-and-play approach, size and ease of use. It’s always on and most of the time, I don’t even need a preview monitor.”
HIVE’s media playback solutions not only graced the festival and live music circuit but have also been included in a range of installed projects over the summer months. At the Naturkraft Museum in Ringkøbing, Denmark, a full dome project used two Player_3 units to display captivating 360-degree immersive video related to green energy, wind farms and turbines. “We’re proud to have our products used for initiatives like this,” confirms Mark Calvert, Co-Founder at HIVE. “Not only are the end results spectacular but the subject of sustainability aligned with our own core values here at HIVE.”
Small venues have also seen the benefits of choosing HIVE. Hampstead Theatre opted for HIVE Players to run a series of digital signage screens. Here, the venue benefits from reliable and high-quality playback via HIVE players across a series of screens in the café and bar area.
“The projects HIVE has been involved in over the summer have amply demonstrated the versatility of our products, from powering visuals for huge electronic music acts to creating immersive installations, HIVE is being used by both large-scale productions as well as by everyday users, and this is something we’re really proud of.”
Mark Calvert, Co-Founder at HIVE