X-Factor goes out live every Saturday night from Fountain Studios in Wembley. Lighting director Dave Davey, moving light operators Bill Peachment and Russell Grubiak chose Compulite Vector Blue and Vector Green consoles to control not only the moving lights, but also the LED fixtures and video content plus some of the house dimmers (also from Compulite). Peachment says: "X-Factor is a big live show with over 500 cues on my console alone. The Vector has taken everything we have thrown at it and been a joy to use throughout the show."
Strictly Come Dancing, presented by Bruce Forsyth, and co-hosted by Tess Daly, goes out live on BBC 1 every Saturday night from the Television Centre. Lighting director is Mark Kenyon with moving light operator Roger Williams using a Vector Green system. Williams comments: "The Vector has performed very well - I'm able do to all the things I need to easily, the touch screens are very accurate and being able to customize the displays is fantastic."
The whole rig is controlled via Ethernet through two Compulite E-Mix boxes, making it very easy to re-plug when we move from the studio floor for rehearsals to the Gallery for the live shows. I use six universes of DMX to run everything including a Catalyst and the dimmers for the VL 1000s."
Millionaire Manor is the new Saturday night entertainment show incorporating the National Lottery draws. Set in a Victorian country house, families play for the right to live the millionaire lifestyle for a week. The lighting is a mix of traditional light entertainment and careful, sympathetic illumination to show the lifestyle on offer. A ground supported truss hosts Martin MAC250s, MAC2000s, and Vari*Lite VL1000s, along with a mix of tungsten, LED, and broad source discharge lamps.
One interesting feature of note is the Barco MiPix wall - not set in the far distance as is so often the case, but a few feet upstage of the action. Fed by a Catalyst media server, the graphics don't overpower, as the wall is integrated into (and behind) translucent set elements. The action spills out from the main hall into the rest of the house, while the National Lottery Draw is set in the Basement, where more LED luminaires keep things at a sensible temperature, along with providing a rich colour palette.
Lighting director is Will Charles with moving light operators Andy Dobbs on a Compulite Vector Green and Oliver Lifely on a Hog 2.
(Lee Baldock)
