Chats Palace

Concept and Video Treatment 18th June 2026 Mim Houghton and Dan Light

Chats Palace

The Brief

TODO: the overall concept for the show in one or two sentences - what the visuals are doing across the night and the feeling they carry.

Look & Inspiration

TODO: a sentence framing the shared visual language before the song-by-song breakdown.

Inspiration · 01

Dot to Dot.

TODO: what the dot-to-dot reference is for - the technique, the texture, the way it reads from the back of the room.

  • Grey editorial poster scattered with fine black ink strokes, like a dot-to-dot taken apart
  • Orange dots scattered across a smoky charcoal column on white
  • Four posters joining black dots with red constellation lines over a concrete texture
  • Multicoloured confetti dots clustered loosely on a cream ground
  • Black stippled dot clusters drifting into shapes on white, with a single green dot
  • Black dots linked by thin lines into a network, with one orange shape and one red node
  • Hand-drawn numbered connect-the-dots sketch, points joined into a loose figure
  • Animated scattered points drifting across a grey field

Dot to Dot.

Inspiration · 02

Halftone.

TODO: what the halftone language brings - grain, dot density, how it sits over footage.

  • Iridescent halftone grid over a distorted figure, oily rainbow sheen on black
  • Black-and-white halftone dots resolving into clouds over a dark horizon
  • Sparse grey halftone with scattered ink-blot clusters on white
  • Coarse black-and-white halftone of a blurred photographic image
  • Vivid CMYK colour halftone dots in overlapping rainbow fields
  • Black halftone dots resolving into a portrait of a face on white
  • Blue halftone dots of varying size forming an image against white
  • Blue blobby halftone pattern with a stippled face inset, shown in a design tool

Halftone.

Stage Plan

TODO: a sentence on the screen configuration and how the design wraps the stage.

TODO: describe the stage plan
Stage Plan

Stage Plan - TODO: describe the stage plan

Song 01

Lift Me Up

Artist Brief

“Written off the back of being reconnected with old fans and feeling energised by their enthusiasm. An Ode to Hackney, a Friday evening walk where the buzz from strangers and the good weather was enough to lift me up”

Interpretation

Filmed footage walking through Hackney. Vibrant silhouettes in a warm evening orange glow.

Palette

Moodboard

  • Warm amber and orange bokeh circles glowing out of darkness
  • Blurred figure walking, silhouetted against a vivid orange-red ground
  • Soft grainy spectrum haze with golden bokeh hexagons
  • Grainy gradient glowing from red into warm yellow
  • Dark frame streaked with pink and amber light leaks

Warm amber and orange bokeh circles glowing out of darkness, Blurred figure walking, silhouetted against a vivid orange-red ground, Soft grainy spectrum haze with golden bokeh hexagons, Grainy gradient glowing from red into warm yellow, Dark frame streaked with pink and amber light leaks

Halftone-dotted black profile silhouette on a coral ground
Style Frame 01

Style Frame 01 - Halftone-dotted black profile silhouette on a coral ground

Style Frame 02

A rough render, based on some footage of people walking through Barcelona. The footage is put through our halftone print process, but then the dots are thrown out of focus. This potentially gives us a slightly dreamy, heatwave feeling.

Style Frame 02 - Halftone-treated footage of people walking, the dots thrown out of focus

Song 02

Good Morning

Artist Brief

“A greeting which seeks to connect all those who feel isolated. The lyrics illustrate strangers, each uniquely detached from one another, but connected by isolation.”

Interpretation

A simple gradient background, stylised in our halftone texture. Sat on top is an abstract animation of moving dots, symbolising people moving around each other but never connecting.

Two possible ideas. Idea 1: dots swarming and moving almost like insects or animals. Idea 2: dots moving around the screen mechanically and digitally, like train signal boards showing commuters moving on a map.

Palette

Background Moodboard

  • Soft grainy gradient drifting from pale lilac into deep purple
  • Grainy aura gradient blending blue, violet and aqua on grey
  • Curved soft gradient of cobalt blue into pale lavender

Soft grainy gradient drifting from pale lilac into deep purple, Grainy aura gradient blending blue, violet and aqua on grey, Curved soft gradient of cobalt blue into pale lavender

Swarming Moodboard

  • Numbered ink-stamped dots scattered and clustering across paper
  • Dense swarm of black, navy and red dots clustering at a poster centre
  • White dots swarming and dispersing across a black ground

Numbered ink-stamped dots scattered and clustering across paper, Dense swarm of black, navy and red dots clustering at a poster centre, White dots swarming and dispersing across a black ground

Signal Moodboard

  • Metro map drawn as coloured beaded dot lines on cream board
  • Transit lines crossing through circled station nodes that mark out words

Metro map drawn as coloured beaded dot lines on cream board, Transit lines crossing through circled station nodes that mark out words

A blue and lavender gradient rendered in our halftone dot texture
Style Frame 01

Style Frame 01 - A blue and lavender gradient rendered in our halftone dot texture

Swarm Demo

Swarm Demo - Dots gathering and swarming together in an abstract animation

Signal Demo

Signal Demo - Dots moving mechanically across the screen like a transit signal board

Song 03

Alight

Artist Brief

“The lyrics were inspired by ‘The Little Match Girl’ - the story of a young girl trying to sell matches on a freezing New Year’s Eve. She’s afraid to return home empty handed, so she stays out in the cold, lighting her matches for warmth. She experiences visions of comfort, food, and her deceased grandmother before ultimately dying in the cold. It’s a dark metaphor, but one with hope inside it: that tragedy can illuminate the mind, and become a source of resilience, comfort, and transformation.”

Interpretation

The background takes inspiration from fire: little orbs of glowing light, rather than large, vicious flames. Softly out of focus, and processed as normal. In the foreground, an abstract dot pattern forms at the chorus to make up a face, singing along with Josh, his third man.

Palette

Background Moodboard

  • Soft out-of-focus orbs of orange and amber fire glowing on near-black
  • Warm amber and orange bokeh circles glowing out of darkness
  • Bold black type on a vivid orange poster ground

Soft out-of-focus orbs of orange and amber fire glowing on near-black, Warm amber and orange bokeh circles glowing out of darkness, Bold black type on a vivid orange poster ground

Dot Face Moodboard

  • A profile of a face built from a regular grid of black dots
  • A figure emerging from white dots scattered across a black grid
  • A seated figure rendered in dense ASCII characters

A profile of a face built from a regular grid of black dots, A figure emerging from white dots scattered across a black grid, A seated figure rendered in dense ASCII characters

Glowing orange fire orbs rendered in our halftone dot texture on black
Style Frame 01

Style Frame 01 - Glowing orange fire orbs rendered in our halftone dot texture on black

Dot Face Demo

Dot Face Demo - An abstract dot pattern resolving into a singing face

Dot To Dot Face

Dot To Dot Face - A dot-to-dot pattern connecting up into a face

Song 04

Loving You Last

Artist Brief

“It’s about mourning joint memories you still inhabit, while the other person has left them behind. There’s anger and a sense of betrayal mixed with a small amount of objectivity and joint accountability for the downfall.”

Moodboard

  • Grey halftone dots massing into figures on a pale ground
  • A sequence of walking figures rendered in navy halftone dots on cream

Grey halftone dots massing into figures on a pale ground, A sequence of walking figures rendered in navy halftone dots on cream

Song 05

Borrowed Time

Artist Brief

“This is about living in blissful denial. The walls around you are closing in and you’re going to make the most of every second until they do. Insecurity is replaced with bravado, rationality with delusion.”

Moodboard

  • Soft grainy gradient of lime and emerald green
  • A ring of white dots forming a countdown clock face on black
  • Herbert Bayer poster with a soft green glow behind a horizontal bar

Soft grainy gradient of lime and emerald green, A ring of white dots forming a countdown clock face on black, Herbert Bayer poster with a soft green glow behind a horizontal bar

Song 06

How Long Will It Take

Artist Brief

“The delusion has faded, this is the come down. And all you’re left asking is how long will this period of discomfort last? External results are nowhere to be found and internally you’re reaching empty.”

Moodboard

  • A dense stippled black void dissolving into white at its edges
  • An animated halftone dot field with a dark centre drifting across it

A dense stippled black void dissolving into white at its edges, An animated halftone dot field with a dark centre drifting across it

Song 07

Thrown It All Away

Artist Brief

“This is rock bottom. Written at the point of collapse of an old identity, without the refuge of a new one to hide inside. At my rawest and most exposed. This is where the blueprint for resilience was born.”