X-ray movies

By Simon Young, November 23, 2006 @ 4 am

Idealog November/December 2006, page 54. Photograph by Greg Pajo. Digital manipulation by Adrian Clapperton

Bruce Ferguson and Mike Hodgson’s ideas are writ large on the video screen. Their massive video productions have wowed audiences from Auckland to New York and Hong Kong

Auckland Radiology had an unusual assignment when Bruce Ferguson and Mike Hodgson showed up. The duo came prepared with trolleys of guitars, amplifiers, a laptop, a snapper and other seemingly random stuff to the x-ray lab. The results will feature in Ferguson and Hogdson’s latest cutting-edge video production, complete with dancing skeletons and see-through guitars, to be unveiled in mid-October at this year’s New Zealand Music Awards.

Ferguson and creative partner Hodgson create awe-inspiring visual environments for events around the world. A Ferguson/Hodgson production gives an unforgettable boost to global productions for clients like Louis Vuitton, Tiger Beer and Lancôme.

Although they have separate companies and sometimes work alone or with other partners, Ferguson says the working relationship is the key to their success. The pair met in the late 90s at The Gathering music festival in Nelson, when Ferguson’s band Kog Transmissions played alongside Hodgson’s band Pitch Black.

Their working relationship didn’t start until they worked together with renowned Kiwi theatre director Mike Mizrahi on Louis Vuitton’s 50th anniversary celebrations, combining theatre and video to create an outstanding, memorable experience. “Characters came in and out of a huge screen,” recalls Ferguson. “But once the show was over, we asked, ‘What are we going to do with those big screens? Just turn them off?’”

Maybe it’s a Kiwi thing: we hate to waste something, whether it’s an opportunity or a set of giant LED screens. Hodgson and Ferguson had both, so they began their collaboration by VJing—video jockeying—through the evening. They carried on their new gig for the rest of the Louis Vuitton celebrations through New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Now Ferguson and Hodgson work to their strengths, with Ferguson doing most of the creative work and Hodgson operating as more of a manager/producer. When a job is in progress Hodgson’s job is to keep Ferguson on track and be his ‘bouncing board’ for the project’s direction. “It’s always good to have one person not trapped in the creative detail while a job evolves,” says Hodgson. “I love the producing, designing and operating of the shows while Bruce is the master of motion graphics and playback ratios.”

Hodgson and Ferguson raise the bar for each new project. Previous benchmarks include a dinner party for Tiger Beer, part of a mystery prize in a competition. “We created a 20-metre long room with a dining table down the middle of it, and all the walls were projection surfaces,” explains event organiser Andrew Dowding. “So we had a dinner for 50 or 60 people inside a room where the walls constantly moved and changed.”

Louis Vuitton shop launch party, Mexico City

Tiger Beer launch party, Auckland (left) and Louis Vuitton store, The Landmark, Hong Kong

“If you go to any post production house and say we want five hours of 5,000 by 600 pixels, they’ll just laugh,” says Ferguson. He, on the other hand, enjoys the problem-solving aspect.

Dowding, a steadfast fan of the duo’s work, hired them again to VJ for last year’s New Zealand Music Awards. “Hodgson and the technical guys decided flying LED walls would be a good idea,” says Ferguson. “For each band the LED screens changed shape and location—all behind the curtain! So each time the curtain opens for the next band, the screens are completely different.”

For the 2006 awards, Dowding is giving the boys the run of the show. “This year we wanted to have a much more integrated look between what happened to the performance and the presentation parts of the show,” says Andrew.

The look and feel is based on the awards logo designed by Republik, which this year has an x-ray theme. “As soon as I started talking to Mike and Bruce about the design, they immediately picked up on the x-ray theme,” says Dowding. “Before I knew it they were down at Auckland Radiology!” The animated x-rays will be played to introduce finalists in each category, as well as teasers on C4.

Hodgson and Ferguson are part of an ecosystem, playing to their strengths and finding help for the areas where they’re not as strong. Ferguson is quick to admit that graphic design is not his strong suit. “I’m very much a motion graphics person, but I’m not very confident about doing design for still imagery,” he says. “I even get graphic designers to contribute to the jobs.”

But that ecosystem is as much about quality as about relationships. “I only want to work with people who are really good at what they do,” says Ferguson. Hodgson adds, “The team is very important. We’re always looking around for people who get excited with ideas of how to transform a space.”