On the last weekend in November, Arcadia landed at Elizabeth Quay in Perth. Presenting three incredible audio-visual shows over three days with performances by amazing acts including sets by Leftfield, Shy FX and Alison Wonderland, Arcadia was one mind-blowing event.

SAE Perth students from Audio, Design and Film, were on the ground and behind-the-scenes, assisting the event's production company to develop the event's design collateral, film the shows and manage the sound.

Built in Bristol, UK, and born at the world-famous Glastonbury Festival, Arcadia developed a range of structures, stages and installations ranging from the mammoth 50-tonne Spider, to the mobile amphibious Bug.

Having appeared across UK’s leading festivals over the years, Arcadia has already circumnavigated the globe in 2016 with city centre shows in Bangkok, Miami, and is set to announce a series of international dates.

ARCADIA PERTH

At the heart of the event was the union between the Arcadia spider and the sacred Wadjuk spider of Garrgatup - the Aboriginal name for Kings Park. To commemorate the show, Barry McGuire and his family performed the Yallorr Keeninyarra (Dance of the Wadjuk Nyungar/ People), in its traditional form.

SAE students, with the support of Sam Cutri (SAE Perth Audio Facilitator), had the opportunity to record the audio on the C75 Neve Console, a Neuman U87 Microphone sent through a LA76 compressor, all completed in the SAE studios prior to the night's performance with Barry and his son.

“Recording {Barry and the McQuire family] at SAE was a culturally enlightening experience.  The Yallor Song has not been performed in public since 1901, so to be part of this historic production was a real honour. The feedback about the Yallor song and Welcome to Country performances was that it was one of the best people had ever seen,” said Sam.

SAE Behind-the-scenes at ARCADIA

Five SAE design students engaged and worked on projects in the lead up to the Arcadia event. These projects included designing the site map, programs, and infographics for social media. 

Ten film students were on the ground to capture the spectacular event, filming and editing on-site over the 3-day period. The SAE media team also included four audio students were also on the ground to capture all the sound on location. The hours the students spent working at the festival will now count towards their work placement modules.

Therese Ellis, a Trimester 4 Bachelor of Film student, was part of the media team at the event. Briefed by Arcadia's event's team, Therese recorded the acts and captured the crowd's response.

"Going up in the cherry picker [and filming] was amazing – especially as I have a fear of heights!  Studying film at SAE has provided me with so many great experiences in camera work. It's great how the film lecturers always encourage me to try new things with the camera, which really helped at the festival," said Therese.

In addition to this, SAE staff worked closely with Arcadia to create this opportunity for our students.

SAE student performs at ARCADIA

SAE audio student and producer, Luude, was also lucky enough to secure a performance slot at the 3-day festival. Luude creates Trap and Future Bass sounds with a massive following online. 

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