ADJ transforms ancient theatre for charity
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More than 70 high-tech ADJ lighting and atmospheric fixtures were positioned around the theatre, which has stood on the site for more than 2000 years, creating a juxtaposition between the old and the new.
Based in the city of Limassol, Sound & Vision by DJ Nick has over 30 years of experience in the AV industry, having served customers on Cyprus since 1989. It provides technical production, as well as organisation and entertainment services, for events of all sizes. The company has relied on ADJ exclusively for all its lighting equipment for several years and has built up an extensive rental stock of ADJ fixtures.
The idea for the Dreaming Hearts event came from DJ Nick himself, who has a passion for increasing awareness about autism and wanted to help raise much-needed funds for the Cyprus Autism Association. To ensure that the livestream was as visually stunning as possible, Nick and his team approached the Cyprus Department of Antiquities for permission to film in the Kourion Ancient Theatre, which was granted free of charge due to the charitable nature of the project. This impressive stone-built, open-air theatre is a stunning location with a rich cultural heritage.
“The venue is used for lots of live concerts by famous performers from around Cyprus and Greece,” explains Dimitris Nicolaou, the lighting designer for the project. “But the audience usually sits on the ancient stone tiered seating, looking towards the stage which has the sea as its backdrop. Since we wouldn’t have an audience, my first idea was to reverse this and allow people to see the historic venue in a way they have never seen it before. We positioned the DJ in the centre of the main floor, with the control position where the stage would normally be, and then used the tiered seats both as a backdrop and as a canvas for the lighting.”
Dimitris’ design involved positioning four lines of Vizi Beam 5RX moving heads spread across the arc of the tiered seating. Each line comprised four fixtures, which were spaced equally, starting a few rows from the front and ending on the very back row. This allowed for the creation of impressive aerial effects involving piercing beams that shot up into the night sky and also down to the DJ booth – an ADJ Pro Event Table – positioned in the centre of the theatre’s ground floor.
In the very centre of the curve of tiered seating, directly behind the DJ position, Dimitris added a line of seven UB 9H linear LED fixtures. These were then flanked, between the lines of moving heads, by two lines of seven 12PX HEX LED pars. These static fixtures not only provided rear colour washing but were also used for a variety of colour chase effects throughout the broadcast. When all illuminated at the same time, they gave the impression of airport landing lights, an effect that was very effectively captured using drone footage at the beginning of the live stream.
Down on the main floor of the theatre, a semi-circular arrangement of eight Vizi Beam RXONE moving heads was placed at the bottom of the tiered seating, fanned out behind the DJ position.
In addition, COB Cannon Wash fixtures were placed between each adjacent pair of RXONEs.
Key light, to ensure that the DJs could be clearly captured by the cameras, was provided by a pair of Encore FR150Z LED-powered Fresnel fixtures, positioned on tripods offset to either side of the DJ booth. Meanwhile, a single Inno Spot Elite moving head was positioned directly behind the DJ position to serve as a rear spotlight.
The final aspect of Dimitris’ lighting design was to augment the beam moving heads spread throughout the theatre with wash and hybrid fixtures rigged on T-bar stands positioned on the concourse that runs around the top of the tiered seating. Raised up to a height of 2.4m, these stands were used to accommodate four Vizi Wash Z19 moving head wash fixtures. The stands were also used to support six Vizi Hybrid 16RX moving head fixtures
A pair of Entourage touring grade ‘faze’ machines, which use water-based fog fluid dispersed by high power fans to create a large amount of evenly distributed fog, were positioned at either side of the theatre floor. In addition, a pair of Fog Fury Jett Pro LED-lit, high-power vertical fog machines loaded with F4LD QD quick-dissipating fog fluid, were positioned at either side of the DJ booth to create high-impact effects.
The event engaged a large audience when it was originally broadcast, both online and via local radio station MIX FM, and is still available to watch on YouTube. A substantial amount has already been raised for the Cyprus Autism Association, while donations are still being collected (until the end of the month) from: www.soundandvisionbydjnick.com/donate.
