A studio built around show night
PhotonPhase Studio is 34 environment artists, lighting technical directors, engine engineers, and show operators. We were assembled out of live events and games, not advertising, which is why our work is measured in frame time and cue accuracy rather than mood boards.
How we work
Every project runs on the same spine: a feasibility read, a previs pass you can walk through in headset, an environment and lighting build against a locked performance budget, then technical rehearsal in the actual room. Nothing gets approved from a still frame — approvals happen in motion, at the target frame rate, through the camera that will be used on the night.
We publish a weekly performance report from the first build week onward. It lists GPU time per scene, the heaviest twenty draw calls, and what we intend to cut if a scene drifts over budget. Clients tell us it is the least glamorous document we produce and the one they forward most often.
What we hold to
Opinionated by default
We arrive with a point of view on the stage and defend it. If a lighting idea won't survive the broadcast grade, we say so in week one, not in rehearsal.
Performance is design
A scene that misses frame is a scene that doesn't exist. Budgets are set before the first asset is modelled and audited every week after.
We sit at the console
The people who built the stage run it on the night. No handover to a crew who has never seen the project file.
Dates are fixed points
Show dates don't move, so scope does. We plan cut lines in advance so a slip never lands on air.
Where we've been
- 2019
Founded in a rented volume with three artists and a single tracked camera. First job: a 400-seat streamed album launch.
- 2021
Built our first tournament pipeline, driving stage state from live match data. 58 automated transitions across a nine-day finals.
- 2023
Opened the in-house previs suite so clients can walk a stage in headset six weeks before load-in.
- 2026
34 people across environment art, lighting, technical direction, and show operations. 214 live shows delivered.
Work with the studio
We take on a limited number of shows per quarter so the people who design a stage can also run it. If your date is inside the next six months, tell us early.
Contact the studio