Hidden Road Studios on Crafting Big, Bold, & Boundless Shows
Hidden Road Studios was formed in 2018 by Video Director Tom Kirk and Motion Designer Rowan Glenn. Since then, they’ve designed elements for Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Imagine Dragons, Muse, and many more.
For this instalment of the series of interviews we’ve dubbed Behind the Pixels, Jake Triola from Notch sits down with Rowan Glenn of Hidden Road to discuss their artistic approach.
Jake: Tell us about your studio. How many people work there, what are people’s roles, and how has Notch helped unify your team’s work?
Rowan: Hidden Road Studios was founded by Tom Kirk and me in 2018. While we both carry the role of creative producer, Tom typically directs the team while I manage the design elements. It gives us a great platform to hire talented freelancers and work with a wide range of individuals. We always pursue new collaborators and find artists with a particular spirit that fits the current projects.
I started learning Notch in 2017, just before we formed the company, and it became a vital tool for the future of Hidden Road. It allowed us to expand into other projects, and we no longer felt restricted by pre-rendered content. It wasn’t long before we worked in extended and augmented reality. Plus, the virtual reality projects we’d been doing in the past now looked better with Notch.
Jake: You’re known for playing a role on stadium-level music tours, huge broadcast events and productions involving augmented reality. Large scale is a clear throughline for Hidden Road, even when it comes to the looks themselves. You go for big movements in big contexts. How did you get started making such monumental work?
Rowan: Hidden Road is very lucky to have begun in the world of Muse. Tom and I individually started our careers working for one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Muse are well known for putting on live shows that are full of grandeur. When that’s your stepping stone into the industry, it’s bound to rub off. Hidden Road likes to go big, we like to be bold, and most importantly, we want it to be memorable for everyone.
Jake: How did you initially come together as a team?
Rowan: Tom and I met in 2012 during Muse’s tour for The 2nd Law. He was producing a large portion of the video content for that tour and asked me to work for him. It was the first time I’d ever seen a pixel map, a server or worked on anything of that scale. Looking back on it now everything seems so simple and outdated. After that experience, Tom and I became frequent collaborators and close friends.
Jake: Do you have a lot of various backgrounds on your team? For instance, have you all worked in different industries in the past?
Rowan: Tom has been a live video director for 25 years. My first ever job was doing visual effects on independent feature films. When we began working together and discovered Notch, we realised that our individual skill sets allowed us to be a perfect IMAG effects team. It was like two pieces of the puzzle. Tom understood the cameras, staging and engineering while I could focus on the creative design. Honestly, it was an ideal partnership.
Jake: Has there been an instance where Notch helped you overcome some sort of specific creative challenge?
Rowan: Notch is an endless lifesaver. We use it on almost every project. If we are making video content, we use it to speed up the render times. For live shows, it’s the only software we rely on for quick adjustments. Notch has allowed us to push the envelope of creative and technical potential.
For example, when we designed augmented reality for the VMAs in 2022, we had a creative meeting with Creative Director Paul Caslin and Screen Producers Visual Noise in a conference room. We connected Notch to a large TV screen and adjusted elements live within the software as we discussed the design. It was a speedy and intuitive way to work with the creative team. They could see — in real time — the changes they wanted to make.
Jake: What other software do you use regularly in your workflow? Likewise, what hardware can you not live without?
Rowan: We use Cinema4D in tandem with Notch whenever we need 3D objects. Some of my favourite IMAG designs incorporate 3D elements to give the design depth. A set piece, like a billboard in the city or an array of televisions, is always effective.
As Cinema4D and Notch are compatible, you can easily adjust the C4D scene and update it within Notch. This workflow makes everything easy and turns Notch into the perfect tool for quickly rendering traditional content.
Jake: Expanding on that, could you walk us through your creative process?
Rowan: It always starts with an amazing phone call from someone asking us to be involved in a project. We then discuss the creative with all the team members and outline a treatment that showcases all the concepts in one document. From there, we open our Notch template with all the necessary parameters pre-exposed: global colour correction, video loaders, and specific effects controls. Then, we start translating the agreed designs into actual Notch layers that can be controlled within the server.
Jake: Who are your greatest inspirations?
Rowan: As artists, we’re constantly inspired and influenced by everything we see. Instagram is a constant inspiration; it helps us see the overwhelming talent worldwide, and that’s very encouraging. Personally, there are a handful of artists that really inspire me. I’ve always been a fan of surrealism, so the legendary Salvador Dalí has greatly influenced me. The dark, haunting, and omnidirectional lighting of a Caravaggio painting is another inspiration. More recently I’ve been drawn to abstract paintings by artists like Jason Wright, Alexey Adonin and Isaak Feldman.
Jake: So, what are you currently working on?
Rowan: This year, we’ve been fortunate to work on some incredible projects. We are always collaborating with and supporting colleagues in our field, and this Spring, we were fortunate enough to assist Silent Partners with the Notch designs for Harry Styles’s Love On tour and P!NK’s Summer Carnival tour. We’re also very excited to design all the Notch IMAG for the Jonas Brothers on their upcoming Five Albums, One Night tour. I can’t wait for us to tell you more about that.
Jake: Tell us about your developing VJ concept. How did you come up with it, and where do you plan to take it in the future?
Rowan: Notch is an incredibly powerful tool that has a wide range of platforms. Recently we’ve been working on a modular VJ package that benefits up-and-coming artists. Essentially, it’s stock video content but for Notch layers. You can choose pre-designed animations and adjust the colours, lighting, and speed. Furthermore, you can influence musicality through BPM, manual triggers, or even an exposed sound modifier. It’s a great way for newer artists to save on the creative side while keeping the spectacle of the tech side.
Jake: Before using Notch, were things more restrictive? Does Notch give you some kind of ability to break free and improvise more?
Rowan: We don’t see Notch as just some software. It’s more than that. Notch is its own industry. It has changed the game for everyone in live events. It’s our bread and butter. People call us to discuss our Notch looks and live effects approach. It’s not about making “content” anymore but, rather, about creating a mixed medium that uses everything we’ve learned over the years.
Jake: How much of your content is produced on-site? I assume this varies per project. What effect does this have on the creative team?
Rowan: The majority of our work is done in the studio during the approvals process. However, we love working on-site because it allows us to really dial in the IMAG designs with the right conditions. Everything that’s going on tour is in that rehearsal space, so it’s the definitive moment to make final adjustments. That moment teaches you a lot and informs your decisions going forward. It’s the moment everything falls into place.
Jake: Have you ever had a creative breakthrough in using Notch and implementing your process? What did that entail technically? What were the artistic/emotional implications of that?
Rowan: I think we are always trying to find breakthroughs that separate our work from others. I’m constantly searching for ways to add depth to our IMAG designs. Everything we do ends up on some sort of screen and is, therefore, naturally flat, so when you find methods of adding to the Z space, it’s an effective illusion.
The most recent and memorable breakthrough was at the 2022 VMAs. We added all the AR elements for the introductions of the categories. To make the 3D objects more realistic, we suggested using a live 360 camera as an HDRI input. This camera was placed in the centre of the venue and became a live feed into the environment map. It immediately gave us accurate lighting and reflections within our Notch layers. This is a perfect example of using all technology at hand to create a successful live-rendered scene.
Jake: Any audience reactions you’ve been particularly proud of?
Rowan: We created all the Notch IMAG for Muse’s Will Of The People tour. The very first song features a design that depicts the band on fire. It’s created using particles, fields and a bunch of post-fx nodes. The result is very convincing.
Recently, I was at a show where I overheard the audience exclaim “look, they’re on fire!” One glance at the stage, and you see everyone is, indeed, not on fire. However, those moments make this job so fun and rewarding.
Jake: Where do you see this industry going in the next five or ten years?
Rowan: I’m expecting that IMAG effects will only become bigger and better. Concerts exist to be memorable spectacles that entertain people. The new Notch 1.0 is coming soon and will provide a whole new range of tools for designers. And as technology progresses, we will see new platforms and mediums to showcase these creations. It’s a really exciting time to be in this evolving industry.
Jake: What’s your best advice for someone new to Notch or motion graphics, 3D art, etc. in general?
Rowan: I think any time you learn something new, you’ve got to make it a routine to become familiar with the tools and techniques. It should become a daily exercise.
Give yourself time to work on your own passion projects. That’s the best way to become experienced because it’s you against yourself.
A special thanks to Hidden Road Studios for taking the time to sit down and talk to us about their journey as a studio. You can follow them on Instagram and Vimeo.
