MIAMI – Every music festival offers fans a chance to get away from it all, but few do this quite so dramatically – or literally – as Jam Cruise and Holy Ship! Produced by Cloud 9 Adventures, these floating festivals serve up hours of live music on the decks of cruise ships playing their ways through the warm Caribbean waters to exotic ports of call like Half Moon Bay, Bahamas and Rotan, Honduras. The Design Oasis helped provide gear to create an engaging environment at both nautical music fests with a lightshow designed by Chris Kuroda anchored by 72 MVP 12 Video Panels from CHAUVET Professional.

“Jam Cruise and Holy Ship! both feature big name artists and both draw large crowds expecting to have the time of their lives,” said Abbas Ritscher of The Design Oasis, which supplied the video gear for both cruises. (Premier Global Productions supplied the lighting equipment.)  “Chris Kuroda and video engineer Ashten “Whoopi” Winger of V Squared Labs did standout work that lived up to the high expectations that people had when they went on this cruise. They created a big production look on the main stage as well as different points on the deck where fans gather.”

Jam Cruise, which drew 3,500 passenger/fans for five days at sea, featured an all-star lineup of live music bands like Umphrey’s McGee, The Word, Galactic and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. The four day Holy Ship! cruise gave fans a chance to set sail with top DJ acts like Knife Party, Boys Noize, Maya Jane Coles, Flume and A-Trak.  The same video images on MVP panels were used for both cruises, but IMAG was added for Jam Cruise.

The main wall behind the stage was 20-feet by 10-feet and we broke it into three video sections. Graphic video image were run across all three sections to create a sense of movement and depth. “Of course there are a lot of super bright aerial effects on either side of the stage as well along the top of the truss, not to mention blinders, so the output was intense,” said Ritscher. “The MVP panels more than held their own in this environment. “Not only were the panels bright enough to hold their own, but were used as blinders too.”

A high definition modular video panel with a pixel pitch of 12.5 millimeters, the MVP 12 has a transparency of 13 percent, making it well suited for temporary use in the outdoor environment of the cruise ship, since atmospheric elements can pass through without impacting clarity.  The panel’s ultra-bright SMD LEDs also served them well; helping them stand up to the bright lights on the stage rig.

There were 32 MVP panels scattered around the pool deck. Positioned on the railings of the second level, these panels were tied into an existing video wall on the pool deck to create an effect in which people were surrounded by the video images. “Chris and Jason did an amazing job with the Chauvet panels,” said Ritscher. “The whole thing had an effect of bringing everybody closer to the action on stage and made it that much special.”