This fundraiser was held by Beyond Pink, a non-profit dedicated to early breast cancer detection . As part of its Old Hollywood theme, the event featured 12 different humorous fashion show vignettes, such as Bra Wars, which showcased Star Wars-inspired characters dressed in custom-designed bra costumes.
A collaborative design by the women of Beyond Pink, the fundraiser provided those in attendance with a fun-filled evening. Creating a show-time feeling around the proceedings, which raised roughly $160,000 (in part by auctioning off the bras seen on the runway), was a lighting and video rig designed by Justin Haas of AMP'D Entertainment that featured a collection of fixtures and panels from Chauvet Professional.
"We used Rogues and Ovation ellipsoidals to engage the audience and highlight some of the cool scenic elements in the room," said Haas. "The video panels were used to create three walls, one of which was designed to look like a theatre marquee."
Haas positioned six Rogue R2 Spot fixtures equally on a pair of downstage truss towers, which were located on either side of the video wall marquee. He used the high output from the 240W LED fixtures as spots during the bra auctions. At other points during the evening, he used the fixture's two colour wheels (with split colours and 7 colour capabilities) to energize the room with vividly hued aerial effects. To give the runway added depth, he also created gobo projections with the fixture's two gobo wheels.
"The versatility of the Rogues allowed us to create a lot of different looks without using a lot of fixtures or taking up a lot of space," he said. "Of course, since they're LED fixtures, we generated very little heat, which I'm sure the models appreciated."
For stage lighting, Haas relied on 12 Ovation E-190WW ellipsoidals, positioning them in the ballroom's grid. "We used the Ovations as a front light and center stage wash," he said. "They gave us a nice even field of light on the models and auctioneers as they were walking out."
Also contributing to the excitement in the ballroom was the video wall located in the centre downstage area. Created with PVP S5 LED panels the wall was designed to resemble a theatre marquee.
Founded in 2010 by friends Charlie Brewer and Karla Porter, Beyond Pink is dedicated to raising awareness of early breast cancer detection through thermography and funding exams using this technology for women and men. By helping to fund this effort, the event was not only funny - it was seriously good too.
(Jim Evans)
