The 'official' tournament Breakfast was hosted by North Melbourne and staged in hall 2 of Melbourne Exhibition Centre, with all lighting and rigging supplied by Clifton Productions. The rig included Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT moving lights.
A long day of great entertainment ended with the post match After Party, held in the Punt Road Oval (home of Richmond Cricket Club) in downtown Melbourne - with Cliftons again supplying lighting, staging - and more Robe moving lights.
Lighting design for the Breakfast was a collaboration between Alex Saad (also the event's moving light operator) and TV lighting director Don Collins (who operated the generics). Cliftons' main systems tech was Michael Parsons.
The stage set was designed by Mal Nichols, who has created looks for seven previous AFL Breakfast events, usually involving large trussing elements which are carefully lit for maximum effect. Imaginative lighting is vital to most of Nichols' set designs, particularly since this event moved to the MEC a few years back. With the Hall being so enormous, the idea is to keep scenic elements as "Bold, clean and simple" as possible.
This year, the set comprised nine trussing circles. The centre one measured 6m in diameter and the other eight were 4 at 3m and four at 4m, each with projection screen material stretched across their fascias - making them ideal objects for lighting.
The stage was 21m wide and featured three overhead trusses - front, mid and back. Onto these were rigged a total of 32 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 16 ColorWash 1200E ATs. Specified by Saad, they were used to illuminate the stage and the set with a dynamic series of gobo, colour and beam effects.
Several guest artists performed onstage throughout the telecast including 2006 Australian Idol winner Damien Leith and Irish comedian Paul Martell, plus a host of live interviews. The breakfast was also addressed by John Howard and leader of the opposition Kevin Rudd, along with AFL officials.
Alex Saad operated the moving lights using an Avolites Diamond 4 console, and has used Robe moving lights on many occasions. For this event, he only needed to run them at 30 per cent - such is their intensity. Apart from the brightness, he also likes the gobo effects and colours.
(Jim Evans)
