The evening ceremony dazzled 450 invited guests with a lavish dinner and elegant vintage-themed surrounds that highlighted the eight award categories. Tasked with creating an equally striking stage design to complement the evening's proceedings, Derby-based Presentation Design Services enlisted the support of their recently acquired Chauvet Professional Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to provide the necessary lighting backdrop for the ceremony.
"All in all, we employed six Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to uplight the custom-covered set panels as part of the main awards set," said James Johnson, project manager, Presentation Design Services. "The uplighters on the stage needed to be low profile, have a warm white glow and also have a high light output due to the size of the panel. The Nexus panels were the best fixtures for the job. They looked great."
As PDS regularly takes care of lighting design for entire shows and ceremonies such as the Neff Master Partner Awards, for Johnson and his crew it became necessary to invest in their own inventory of lighting fixtures to support their lighting designs. "We try to keep all lighting design in-house so we can tailor our shows to kit we have on the shelf," he said. "This means that, ultimately, we're having to purchase lighting fixtures rather than having to sub hire the latest kit to keep a designer happy."
Given that the entire technical production for the Neff Master Partner Awards had to be in and out of the Roundhouse within a tight 24-hour window, the Nexus panels not only had to perform flawlessly, but also provide maximum efficiency for the strict load in-out times at the venue.
"As soon as we had a demo of the Nexus panels, we were instantly drawn to them, especially because they are so simple to rig and address, making them a perfect companion for a show like the Neff Master Partner Awards, where time is of the essence."
(Jim Evans)
