IT ALL STARTED WITH A SPOON...
Not a dream ? Well, sorta, but not quite exactly. Let us explain :
In the beginning of the 20th century artists and writers consciously attempted to use the experience of dreaming as a source of inspiration for their work.
“For instance, surrealist Salvador Dali would lie down and place a glass on the floor. He would then put one end of a spoon on the edge of the glass and hold the other end between his fingers. As he drifted into the first stage of sleep, Dali’s fingers would naturally relax and release the spoon. The sound of the spoon crashing into the glass would then wake him up, and Dali would sketch the odd images that were drifting through his mind.” *
With the creation of Drop The Spoon we aimed to explore this boundary between sleeping and waking, a boundary which touches on the indefinite and the infinite, the surreal and the mysterious, the abstract and the methaphoric.
With the silent use of imagery we wanted to portray beauty, meaning and inspiration; opening doors to other worlds, dimensions and comprehension.
* From “Night School, The Life-Changing Science of Sleep” – Richard Wiseman
But who's behind that spoon ?
Drop The Spoon was created in 2015 by creatives Patrick Neys, Jean-Luc Gason and Dirk Decloedt. All three were educated and inspired by the work and artistry of Franco Dragone, the visionary director who’s influence has transformed live entertainment for the last 30 years.
During those years working we together we accumulated a lot of experience in world class permanent shows, but also on smaller scale events, either corporate or gouvernmental, and we learned a lot about what doing theatre actually is. This might be our greatest force, on top of being “video guys”, we were drowned into the whole creative process behind a show, closely working on the pre-production with the director of course, but also with the technical director, costume designer, FX designer, props designer…
But even more, we learned (the hard way) to get out of our offices and computer comfort and discover the sometime harsh but fascinating world of the venue.
We came to it by chance, and we never left…
So you are from Dragone then ?
While we learned a lot and are very proud to have been part of it for a long time, we decided to part from Dragone and create Drop The Spoon as a complete standalone company in November 2015.
Of course we still have friends at Dragone, and we are honored to have been contracted by them for several project since then, but we are not more part of them anymore.
It was time for the spoons to leave the nest !
But what do you actually do ?
We could start enumerating things like architectural mapping, live show content, corporate event, editing… But all that is explained in details in our services page.
No, instead let’s get to the core of what we do :
WE.ARE.TELLING.STORIES
Either ours, when given a wildcard for a project or a mapping, or yours with your help and following your vision. This is what drives us, because this is what drives emotions. We strongly believe storytelling is at the heart of what we do, more than any technical gimmic our will is to help carrying the story and emotion thru the video in your show/event/concert (strike uneeded) while always keeping in mind the delicate balance of the show. And even more than just video, during our journey we learned to use and design sound, music, fountains, scene FX, lighting… We became art directors on top of all this, meaning we can easily either take responsability for all these creative parts or communicate with the people in charge and work as a team.
But we always integrate with the scene, never taking over it (unless needed). It’s one of the most important legacy we acquired from our time on all the shows we worked on : we learned to listen to the needs of the show, of the scene, and to respond to it in a delicate whisper rather that shouting out loud.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t always looking for the edging technology to achieve this, but for us technology serves the content, not the opposite.