Elation highlights BYB Extreme Fighting series
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With BYB’s three-sided triangle cage, known as the Trigon and the smallest ring in combat sports, there is plenty of that. “It’s the most exciting franchise I have ever been involved with,” states Mooney, a man who has worked on boxing and mixed martial arts projects such as ESPN’s Friday Night Fights (2008-2015) and Combat America MMA Fights. “I’ve worked on all the major networks but I feel more excited about this show than anything I’ve ever worked with in my life.”
Although the fights take place indoors, Mooney uses a multi-environmental IP65-rated rig as a peace-of-mind layer of protection. “To have most of the rig LED and then have the IP rating on top of it, it gives me a greater level of confidence and comfortability,” he says. “If it’s not going to fail outdoors in the rain, it’s not going to fail indoors.”
The latest BYB event - BYB Extreme 5 - took place at the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Centre on 15 May with an in-person audience in attendance and bouts broadcast worldwide via pay-per-view. Mooney’s rig consisted of six Proteus Hybrid and six Proteus Rayzor 760 moving heads, 54 SixPar 200 IP and 10 SixPar 100 IP Par lights, four DTW Blinder 350 IP and two DTW Blinder 700 IP white light effects, and two TVL 2000 LED panel lights. He also incorporated 18 12PX HEX and eight WiFLY EXR HEX5 IP lights from Elation’s sister company ADJ. Master Sound Productions of Miami supplied the lighting gear.
There is an art to treating and focusing the ring for boxing and mixed martial arts events, Mooney says, and the triangular Trigon ring is especially tough. “The angles are different than with a typical square ring. You need to avoid light spillage outside of the ring but you also need to avoid casting shadows in the ring so it’s not easy.” They are techniques he has mastered and something he says he learned from working with television lighting consultants Frank Gatto & Associates.
For ring lighting, SixPar 200 LED Pars at full white give a balanced coverage at 5800K and running about 140ft candles. Mooney diffuses the SixPars using Rosco filters to break up the individual LED look. He comments, “In TV, if I take a camera and shoot the face of an LED fixture, like the SixPar, I get too many starbursts. By using the Rosco filters, I soften the light so it shows up as a parcan with a single starburst on camera.”
Mooney uses the Proteus Hybrid moving heads between rounds for spots, ballyhoos and breakup wall art while the Proteus Rayzor 760s run ballyhoos as spots and washes across the audience. During the action, being careful not to flash light through the ring, the Hybrids go to wall art, while the Rayzors keep the audience lit for the camera shot and depth of view. “By using wall art with the Proteus Hybrids and wash onto the audience with the Rayzor 760s it gives a depth of field to the camera that adds dimension to the room and makes the room look bigger than it actually is,” he says.
Having worked in concert touring for years, most notably for Southern rockers Molly Hatchet, Mooney has a long history in the lighting industry and taps into that experience and relationships for the BYB events. “In my history, I have learned that trust and reliability are key in any relationship. I find them in the Elation and Rosco products, and in Laz Soto of Master Sound Productions.”
