Robe MegaPointes light American Idol
- Details
Award-winning director Phil Heyes approached Tom to bring his fresh modernist style to the bigger picture and he came in with a rock ‘n’ roll-style design carefully balanced for television.
He worked alongside creative director and co-executive producer Brian Burke - with whom Tom also collaborates on pop phenomenon Westlife - and set designer Florian Wieder, plus a trove of other smart and creative individuals including art director Steve Morden.
Season 4 of the show on ABC was the first time American Idol has been run without an audience - due to pandemic restrictions - although 50 COVID-tested members of the public were allowed in for each live show broadcast, seated in club-style booths which add a touch of ‘classic ambiance’ to the aesthetic.
The video-based set was fully automated on 37 moving points. The architecture of the space could be dramatically shifted at the touch of a button, and Tom’s main challenge was to accentuate the overall feeling of space and make the studio look as big, impressive and rock star-like as possible!
The lighting rig was designed at maximum width, expanding into the roof and right out to each side - above what would normally be the audience - with transformed the venue’s visuality.
The MegaPointes, all supplied by Felix Lighting together with around 1300 other fixtures, were rigged in eight large trussing pods forming a ceiling above the performance area. Then there were two rows of MegaPointes all around the perimeter (back and sides) of the upstage LED screen in a ‘goal post’ configuration.
Sixteen MegaPointes per side were positioned behind the left and right band risers onstage, with a final row of these workhorse moving lights running along the front truss.
Frank Dawson from Kish Rigging and Jesse Sugimoto from SGPS Showrig coordinated all the production rigging and automation elements. Automation was programmed by Daniel Sturman, and all the motion and lighting cues worked in unison.
The substantial upstage LED screen split horizontally and vertically into four segments and flew up into the roof, so more lighting was needed during these moves to fill the voids, especially out to the sides. Behind the back screens was a massive cross-shaped wall of light.
The MegaPointes in the pods were used to ‘wrap’ the room in a layer of stunning lighting, cross-referencing with the fixtures around the screen and on the deck.
Six Robe BMFL Spots on six RoboSpot systems were also utilized, three for back spots, three for fill spots and one positioned at FOH for low-level spotting when the ceiling pods were in / down.
grandMA2 was the lighting control platform. Tom’s FOH included associate designer Hunter Selby and media server programmer Scott Chmielewski. The gaffer was AJ Taylor and the best boy Danny Vincent, both working closely with lighting techs Dom Adamé and Brian Karol.
Nicole Barnes was the account handler at Felix Lighting. She stated: “This was the first year Felix Lighting has been involved with the American Idol Production. Tom’s designs presented us with exciting opportunities to grow and ride along with someone who we admire and respect.”
