Ford was introduced to Mythos at a demo held at A.C.T Lighting where he felt he "found the answer" to his need for a fixture that combined Clay Paky "Sharpy effects with a hard-edged gobo fixture. Mythos does the job of two fixtures in one light: I get Sharpy effects when I want them and great gobo beam patterns, too. I'm a huge fan."
Ford also finds Mythos easy to use on-camera for television shows. "It's not a big ugly light; it's compact and good looking. I can stick Mythos on the floor in a background shot and it blends in well with the set." Ford rents his Mythos fixtures exclusively from PRG.
"Fake Off" now in its second season on cable's truTV, is a reality competition show where contestants recreate and re-imagine moments in popular culture in 90-second routines. Ford uses a couple dozen Mythos fixtures on what he calls "a very theatrically lit show".
Contestants perform elaborately-staged production numbers, he explains. "Typically, we might rehearse an hour for a variety show or spend an hour programming the show, but for Fake Off we spend upwards of two to three hours per group. Instead of five to eight cues per number, we get 30-40 cues in 90 seconds. So it's almost like Broadway adapted for TV. It's important to have the lighting tools that allow us to be versatile in a short amount of time."
Ford uses Mythos as floor lights, aimed at the camera. "With Mythos we get a variety of gobos, an animation wheel and colour fading, which isn't available in Sharpy. Mythos is so bright that we sometimes end up dialling back the intensity to deal with other fixtures on the set that can't compete with it."
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, added, "Matt Ford is an all star lighting designer and we're honoured whenever he uses our fixtures. The Mythos combined with his designs look great on television. I look forward to following his continued success."
(Jim Evans)
