Mavericks support Megan Three Stallion party
- Details
“We scouted the Los Angeles Convention Centre as a possible location,” said Rose, who began lighting Dick Clark New Year’s Eve segments back in the ‘par can days’ of December 1984. “Normally we’re on a soundstage for the Hollywood Party, but as it turned out, most of the TV shows that went down for the pandemic left their sets on their stages. Between that and production starting up for some new shows, there were no stages to be had. A venue was finally confirmed in October with production ‘tweaking’ the layout to make it more COVID compliant.”
The prolonged quest for a stage was one of many issues Rose and his associates faced this year. Still, it wound up being “entertainment-as-usual” for the 10m-plus TV viewers who tuned in to watch the Hollywood Party, as it delivered all the fiery punch that fans have come to expect from the programme.
This was readily apparent when Megan Thee Stallion dominated the stage with her “red-hot sound and dance moves”. Supporting her performance was Rose’s bold and dynamic lightshow, which featured 12 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures, supplied by PRG.
“As soon I saw the art director’s layout for Megan Thee Stallion, with its series of 6ft 6ft dancer risers, I envisioned using the Maverick Pyxis with them,” said Rose. “I knew the risers would offer a perfect place to use these fixtures, both from a layout and musical perspective. Their outer LED ring and the intense pencil thin beam from their centre pixel, gave us great movement and animation that really complemented the dance moves and music.”
Rose positioned three Pyxis units on the camera-facing side of the deck on each of the four dancer risers, which were located to either side and behind Megan Thee Stallion. From these positions the fixtures animated the area around the superstar with chases from their outer rim of pixels, 360ﹾ pan and tilt movements, and sharp beams directed across the stage from their 60W RGBW centre pixel.
In addition to Megan Thee Stallion, the Hollywood Party featured 34 other musical performances. Providing each act with a design that reflected its music and personality was a challenge that Rose and his team met by balancing all the fixtures in their rig, including six Rouge Outcast Hybrid 1 units, along with their video displays.
“The versatility of our rig allowed us to generate supportive looks for different artists,” said Rose. “My programmers Andy O’Reilly and Patrick Brazil also did a great job, contributing to and expanding on the multitude of lighting looks based on basic direction from me.
“I am very fortunate to work with such a great group of people on this programme,” continued Rose. “Aside from Andy and Patrick, there was also content producer Nick Militello, media programmer Martin Phillips, our line producer Kathy Erickson, chief lighting tech Tony Ward, my lead tech Steve Oleniczak, my assistant lighting designer Cameron Pieratt, and video shader Mark Sanford. I am also really grateful to Hollywood Party director Barry Glazer and for the support I received for last 36 years from our producer Larry Klein.”
