New Film Embraces YouTube’s Launchpad Community
Novation have released a new film entitled Pad Culture // The Story Of the Launchpad Lightshow, showcasing the community of YouTube artists who make Lightshow videos, which often garner millions of views from around the globe. Profiling six prominent Lightshow creators, the film unmasks those who have built, and continue to grow, the scene. Beginning with what is regarded as the scene’s catalyst — Madeon’s Pop Culture video (from which the film derives its title) — it follows the chronology of the Lightshow movement, from creators getting their first Launchpads to their first million video hits, and what it actually takes to be a Launchpad performer.
The film features in-depth interviews with Exige (AUS), Kaskobi (UK), Madeon (FR), M4SONIC (AUS), Nev (US) and R!ot (US). Each artist contributes to guiding the narrative, as they recall their personal milestones and give their perspective on the scene. They recall the early days of the Lightshow, the inherent limitations of the original Launchpad, and how Novation’s technical advances allowed them to make ever more complex performances. They also discuss the tensions in the scene — the accusations and implications of people ‘faking it’ by miming to or pre-programming their LED shows — but also the shared goal of moving the scene onward for the mutual benefit of the entire community of creators and their audiences.
As a brand, Novation has supported the Lightshow community in various forms over the years. In 2014, they invited Australian Launchpad artist M4SONIC as a resident artist on the Novation booth at Winter NAMM. More recently, collaborations with creators Nev and Kaskobi showed cutting-edge applications of the Launchpad. This latest project with the Lightshow community finally breaks open some of the secrecy surrounding the scene in a story of hard work, limitless imagination, extreme technical prowess and tremendous personal triumph.
Pad Culture // The Story Of the Launchpad Lightshow was produced in-house at Novation and was directed by Chris Mayes-Wright, whose 2014 film about the Focusrite Studio Console captured the imagination of many music professionals. The aim for this latest piece, says Chris, was “To look at Lightshow creators from another angle, both metaphorically and literally — I didn’t want a single overhead shot in the piece! My goal was for the audience to actually meet the creators and find out what inspires them.” .
