GLP's X4 atoms shine in Russian projects
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It was Leonid Poznyansky - a lighting designer who frequently uses compact GLP solutions in his lighting plots - who was responsible for their arrival in Moscow. He first saw the X4 atom at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt in 2017, and immediately urged rental company Laser-Kinetics to invest in it. The LD also promptly placed an order for various mounting accessories, since he knew it was the entire package that would allow him to realise his vision.
"When I first saw the X4 atoms, their power impressed me immediately,” he said. “These devices are unusually bright, given their small size. But what is even more interesting is that I can control the zoom remotely and change the beam angle, from the narrowest to the widest, very quickly. This means that I have so many options when creating different effects with a beam."
One of the largest X4 atom manifestations in Russia took place on 29 March 2018. Leonid Poznyansky developed an original lighting design using 144 fixtures for Vladimir Presnyakov, who celebrated his 50th anniversary on the stage of Crocus City Hall. Based on his idea, 12 X4 atoms were used to assemble 12 non-standard panels. In order to realise this idea, the rental company Laser-Kinetics produced welded frames that allowed the atoms to be assembled in a 4 x 3 group. Each of these panels was installed on a simple 1.6m tripod.
"In this instance I did not use standard mounting accessories, because I wanted to be able to turn the fixtures in all directions and not limit my movements," explains Leonid. "We put the panel behind all the musicians. This gave us the opportunity to illuminate the scene for medium shots and close-ups of performers. Small groups of X4 atoms were the best fit for our concept.
"During Vladimir Presnyakov’s concert the atoms delivered everything that I had expected. I had the required geometry of beams at a minimum zoom and the light flicks at a wide-angled one," explained Leonid, summarising the results of his experiment with the X4 atoms.
Since the panels were located behind the musicians, it was not possible to turn them off during the performance, as the whole space would have plunged into darkness. At the beginning of the concert, the designer allowed the X4 atoms to operate independently, to prepare the audience for a stream of bright images.
The original functionality of the X4 atom also helped Leonid when he was working on the project for NTV Channel, You're super! Dancing. The idea of a distributed suspended structure, which also used GLP impression X4 Bar 10 battens, came to the designer as soon as he saw the studio decor. More specifically, the massive set structures forced limitations pertaining to the dimensions of the equipment used.
"The design of the stage set left me very little space for mounting lighting fixtures, so I could only work with fixtures of minimum size and weight,” explains Leonid. “Therefore the choice of X4 atoms and X4 Bar 10s was an obvious one. When I turned them on, I was surprised with the result. In the end these fixtures were used in 99% of the project shows."
(Jim Evans)
