Wearing a 60m long banner on her hull sporting this year's campaign message 'PledgeForParity', the Queen Victoria took on a purple hue as dusk fell in the city, reflecting the internationally recognised colour for women's rights, which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women.
The event was managed by Event Emporium with lighting designed by Ziggy Ziegler and operated by Ben Ronczka. Chameleon Touring Systems supplied 31 x Martin MAC Quantums, 16 x Clay Paky Mythos, and two MA Lighting grandMA2 light consoles.
The ship was lit from both sides as well as from the bow. Ziggy required a punchy light that could reach the distance from the Sydney Opera House across the water to the port side of the ship. Lasting until midnight, the illumination was a striking tribute to International Women's Day
"The Clay Paky Mythos was perfect for the long throw plus they were bright enough as we were not only lighting the ship from quite a distance, we were lighting it in purple, one of the darkest colours you can use," explained Ziggy. "A whole row of Mythos gave us the punch we needed. We worked with Cunard's photographer who wanted to take photos of the ship as the sun was going down and the purple needed to change slightly over that time to make his photos work. So we needed a bright fixture with a narrow beam and colour mixing - Mythos was ideal. Also, they're quick to set up and are not a big unit, we just popped them on the roadcases and off we went!"
The starboard side of the ship was lit at a close distance from the Overseas Passenger Terminal so a light with a fairly wide angle that drew little power was required. Ziggy had come across the Martin MAC Quantums at Sydney Town Hall and had found that he could light the entire Town Hall from their 14 metre trim with just four Quantums. He knew they would be ideal for this project.
"The MAC Quantums are very bright and cover a large area as their zoom is quite wide," he said. "Plus they're low powered and also emit little heat which was important as there was public in the area. They also do a good purple. They're very impressive and tiny compared to their output."
A total of 24 x MAC Quantums lit the starboard side of the ship whilst a further 10 Quantums were situated on the bow of the ship uplighting the front of the ship.
Control was by two grandMA2 lights; one for the Mythos and one for the Quantums with added Wireless DMX to control the Quantums on the ship.
(Jim Evans)
