Robe lights Sun Arena beauty pageant
- Details
The show was staged for the first time at the new Sun Arena venue at Times Square in Pretoria, and Cutts chose to illuminate the show – produced by Entertainment and directed by Gavin Wratten for live broadcast on M-NET (DSTv channel 101) and Mzansi Magic (DSTv channel 161) – with a substantial Robe moving light rig of 170 fixtures.
Josh is a leading South African lighting and visual designer and has used Robe products extensively in his work for some time, however this was the first time he had the chance to use MegaPointes on a live show.
The event’s overall lighting and technical vendor was Dream Sets, and their production manager Eben Peltz ensured that everything ran smoothly on site. The production also used elements of the Sun Arena’s house lighting system, which also includes a large Robe rig and is facilitated by MGG.
Cutts used 18 x Robe BMFL Blades for all his key lighting across the main and thrust stages with the fixtures rigged on FOH trusses for maximum reach.
Twelve BMFL Spots were used for producing breakup and other effects down the ramp from the stage to the presenter stage at the end of the thrust.
Four V-shaped trusses were installed above the stage for the overhead lighting positions, and 18 x BMFL WashBeams were rigged on these and used for dramatic beam work and texturing the stage and set.
On these same LX trusses were 28 x Spiider LED wash beams which bathed the stage and set in a rich array of colours and the individual LEDs were mapped to give some funky into and back-of-camera looks, and to vary the beam shapes during the aerial scenes.
The house’s two Robert Juliat follow spots were used for the show.
The video playback content – including VT play ins and sponsor logos, graphics and stings – were stored on three Green Hippo servers, and all the lighting was run from two grandMA light consoles with an ultra light as a technical desk backstage.
(Jim Evans)
