When offered eight High End Systems SolaSpot Pro 1500s, he accepted, but when offered eight High End Systems Shapeshifter C1s, he wasn't so sure. "I'd heard of the Shapeshifters, but my first reaction was I thought they were a bit of a gimmick,' explains Rohan. "But Sean McKernan at CCP convinced me to give them a go. Well, I'm glad he did, because they're an awesome light and they've just gone to the top of my 'must hire' list."
"The amount of flexibility I had with those fixtures was astounding," continues Rohan. "With just 16 lights, I was able to create enough versatility for the show with minimal programming time. I was overlaying the split beams from the Shapeshifters over other lights to create interesting things really quickly. I looked deeper into the Shapeshifters and really, really enjoyed them. I got so fascinated with the Shapeshifters that I programmed through our meal break, realised it was doors in five minutes, and didn't get dinner because I was so engaged with the lights!"
"APIA is a hard show because you've got four distinct artists and 30 odd songs, and you're trying to make them all look different and give each artist a distinct identity," explains Rohan. "I used the Shapeshifters for both washes and beams. I found being able to split the beams gave a really interesting texture to the shows. In 35 years in the industry, the Shapeshifter was the first light that I've had the star performers ask me questions about after the show. They all made a comment about how awesome those lights looked and felt. I've never had that from a fixture. Ever."
Backing up the flexible theatricality of the Shapeshifters were eight SolaSpot Pro 1500s. "The 1500 is extremely usable and versatile," says Rohan. "Optically, it's really consistent in colour temperature; it's one of the things I really notice. Eight lights side by side that completely match each other is joyous. It really complemented the colours coming out of the Shapeshifters. I would have quite happily taken those 16 lights on the whole tour."
"We've had Shapeshifters for in our inventory for two years and SolaSpot Pro 1500s for 12 months," says CCP's Sean McKernan. "With the ShapeShifters you can send a single unit and have the effect of seven units. What we then found was that same philosophy can be applied to any show - send out eight fixtures and have the effect of 56. The bang-for-buck is really there - all seven beams are fat and separate in their own right."
The High Ends Systems fixtures are fully supported by Australian distributor Lexair Entertainment. "I'm a Lexair fan," admits Rohan. "It's great to see people in the industry selling that have a passion for what they're doing. Yes, it's a business, but it's also a calling."
(LSiOnline)
