They were used to light up the Capitol Theatre in Offenbach in front of an audience of 400 for a Saturday night series on the RTL network called Mein Bestes Jahr - a retrospective in which Germany's top comedians showcase the best and weirdest moments of their own favourite year.
The versatile Gerdon has worked extensively with RTL, and with some of the country's favourite comedians such as Mario Barth, regularly sourcing GLP LED solutions from Felix Sandmann at PRG.
It was Sandmann who accompanied Gerdon on the first site meeting to this old theatre with its circular ceiling when they undertook a survey of the venue which is increasingly being chosen for television productions.
But as the lighting designer noted, "Whereas in a dedicated studio you have lighting bars, tracks and rigging points, and you can rig endless lights, you couldn't hang 100 moving lights or 1K fresnels from the bars at the Capitol - it would have been too heavy." It was at this point he had his 'lightbulb moment'. "I just stood in the middle of the venue and said 'We need these Atoms'."
Having frequently used the original impression X4 and X4 Bars - which he now describes as "a standard in TV studios", he knew he could depend on the same engine, output and colour mix.
"I wanted to produce a lot of little stars, 'blinking' lights, without having to run an enormous amount of cable. Since there was also a limitation on available power, I thought that if Atom was as good as I had been told, then I definitely needed this fixture. In such a small venue it was important to have the right fixture in the right place."
(Jim Evans)
