Gearhouse Splitbeam provided the lighting gear with an MA control system, consisting of one grandMA2 light, one MA onPC command wing, one grandMA2 fader wing, one MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) and three MA VPU plus (Video Processing Unit).
For the sixth year, Joshua Cutts from Visual Frontier was the lighting designer. He was assisted by Marcel Wijnberger from Gearhouse who stepped in as the MA system technician, and Travis Yeatman, who assisted with the lighting design and co-ordinated the crew. Michael Gill was the set designer and Southern Lighting was responsible for the TV lighting aspect of the show which is broadcast for television and recorded for a music DVD.
"The lighting style was very different this year," comments Johsua Cutts. "It was not very Rock 'n' Roll and had no effects. Instead, it was beautiful lighting that washed over the stage.
"One of the key aspects of the show was that the whole MA System was triggered by SMPTE timecode from the musical director's Pro Tools system. It ran flawlessly. I find the MA VPU amazing to use, it behaves more like a lighting fixture. Its response time to video clips is fast and the manipulation of colours simple."
Marcel Wijnberger explains that the show ran with three MA VPU, one feeding the OB van. "We had two optic fibre lines, one as backup and one as the main MA VPU. Video clips were edited so they fitted pixel perfect onto the LED screens. We utilised the MA onPC command wing for full tracking backup with the lighting console."
Skouspel, with this year's theme Nostalgia, played to full houses. Popular performers included Chris Chameleon, Manie Jackson, Kurt Darren, Gerhard Steyn, Snotkop, Karen Zoid, Laurika Rauch, Flooze and many others. The show hosts were Lizz Meiring and Riaan Cruywagen.
(Jim Evans)
