Hippotizer Powers Hecht's Live

Swiss band HECHT lit up Zurich's Hallenstadion with an energetic visual production that mirrored the group’s spontaneity, placing video at the centre of the performance.

The show leveraged Hippotizer media servers from Green Hippo, an ACT Entertainment brand, to fuse live cameras, real-time Notch effects and pre-programmed content across a sweeping LED canvas.

The creative concept, devised by Roger Staub, Creative Director at Leap of Faith, unified lighting, video and performance into a single, highly responsive environment. Rather than a static backdrop, video elements were designed to react to on-stage moments, giving the team the freedom to manipulate imagery in real time.

"I find the technical aspect of a show so exciting because it forms the foundation for the creative, musical and artistic parts," said Staub. "Ultimately, we can only execute what is technically feasible. That is precisely why I am fascinated by using modern technology to continually push the boundaries of what is possible."

Central to the set-up was extensive use of live camera feeds. Four operated cameras and multiple fixed units captured the action, which was routed into the system and enhanced with real-time Notch processing.

On stage, a 16 x 7m LED wall delivered a 2048 x 896-pixel canvas using 224 AR7.8 panels. Two 4 x 7m LED IMAG screens, each built from 56 AR7.8 panels, expanded the visuals throughout the arena.

Behind the scenes, two Hippotizer media servers ran in main and backup configuration, with Barco S3 systems providing redundant switching. The Hippotizer package was supplied by menzi ebz ag, Green Hippo's Swiss distribution partner, with Product Specialist Michael Kuhn overseeing network and technical support.

Kuhn's long-standing collaboration with HECHT helped align the production's ambitious requirements, which leaned heavily on live video processing and real-time effects. "Since we rely heavily on live camera feeds for this production and use Notch as well as real-time effects, we needed a media server with immense processing power to keep the latency as low as possible," said Staub.

The workflow blended pre-programmed cue lists with live inputs, using Hippotizer and ZooKeeper to trigger looks and dynamic backgrounds, adjust colours and apply effects. Crucially, operators could override cues instantly to follow the band’s lead.

That flexibility underpinned HECHT's in-the-moment stagecraft, enabling the visual team to respond to spontaneous interactions rather than strictly following a predetermined timeline.

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