Frank Serutto, president of Excel Lighting Services in Baltimore, developed the initial lighting design for the event with Mario Serutto then selected lighting designer Mike Lurz to fine tune the design and program the team's big evening, the first event of this scale in their training facility.
Excel aimed to create a party atmosphere mixed with a corporate environment for the dinner and ring presentation. Versatility was the name of the game, so Serruto selected 60 Clay Paky Sharpys to fill a number of lighting roles.
"We needed to pinspot 60 tables for the actual presentation of the rings, which was done simultaneously," says Serruto. "Then, with the remainder of the evening being a party, we used the Sharpys for movement and room treatment. There was even a moment when we simulated the blackout that happened during the Super Bowl. We created a cue with the Sharpys to simulate them coming on a little at a time."
To pinspot the tables, a Sharpy fixture was positioned over each group of diners. To accommodate the decorator's need to move the tables around right up to the last minute, the Sharpys were mounted on moving yokes for the ultimate in flexible positioning.
During the simulated blackout the Sharpys pinspotted each table while the players reached down to open the crystal cubes hidden in each table's centrepiece for a very dramatic ring reveal.
"The Sharpys allowed us to do so much - we were able to go from pinspotting a table to throwing gobos up around the room to create a party atmosphere," Serruto reports. "We could use them anywhere: as aerial lights, spots, with gobos for texture. They're so versatile and provide so much flexibility."
R & R Events produced the gala. At Excel Mario Serruto served as crew chief while freelance production manager Alicia Lin of Advanced Events LLC coordinated the Excel team.
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, comments, "This was a very creative use for our lights and we're thrilled to see it. There were many Super Bowl events that we were involved in but this is one of the more interesting ones. Kudos to Excel for this."
(Jim Evans)
