The company's Francois van der Merwe oversaw the installation and reprogramming of the show on a dummy rig set up in the M.J. Lighting premises a week before the load-in to the Gallagher studio. A variety of fixtures was used on set, including six High End Systems Studio Colors, 13 High End Studio Spots, 11 Martin MAC 2000s, 11 custom-made Zip Strips, 2k Fresnel units, 5k softlights and eight 1k spots or 'Pups'. ETC Source Fours were used as key lights on each contestant, as well as on the quizmaster, Fiona Coyne. M.J.'s back-up Wholehog 2 was also supplied as a back-up facility to the studio.
The production required a front-of-house lighting position in a location where no fly bars or rigging points were available. As a solution, M.J. Lighting provided a 6m high by 15m wide free-standing structure, consisting of Thomas S-Type truss legs and Thomas A-Type truss cross braces. This structure played a critical part in the production as it provided the base for all the front light for the show.
Crew boss Theo Rood and rigger Dudley James ensured that van der Merwe had maximum programming time by orchestrating an efficient set-up of the lighting system and structure. Technical director Mike Jones commented: "The pre-production planning and a 110% team effort was what made The Weakest Link such a technical success."
(Lee Baldock)
