S+H helps Children in Need telethon shine
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Featuring a star-studded line-up, the event raised over £50m for the 2018 appeal in what was the crescendo of this year’s fundraising activities for disadvantaged children and young people in communities across the UK.
The telethon production design was created by Alex Craig - working on his 10th Children in Need - and this new look for 2018 featured some threads from the previous design to keep a strand of continuity, together with some spectacular new elements including lots of LED and a large upstage LED wall, 14m wide by 5m high, which split in the middle and opened for performer entrances and exits.
“The look was modern, clean and now,” explains Alex, adding that his brief from executive producer Leanne Witcoop was to ensure the space looked integrated and a contrast from last year where there were three distinctive different performance areas on the one set.
The stage was all on one level, punctuated with curves and spheres which defined its general shape, complete with the spectacular long multi-layered curved LED screen set piece upstage, finished in gold shimmer disc material and outlined with LED strips.
This was flanked by two smaller semi-circle curved screens, also edged with several lines of LED - like a giant geometric spirograph design - and clad in chrome shimmery material. Four flown skeletal globes, which also twinkled, finished the look offstage left and right.
With this highly reflective and immersive environment, the Animation and Starcloth were a perfect compliment.
The S+H Animation cloth was used as a 180° wrap around the studio and behind the set forming the cyc.
The product has high-density, individually controlled LED pixels that can create low-to-medium images, video loops and flash animations, and on this occasion, it was under the control of lighting director Gurdip Mahal and run via one of the show’s lighting consoles.
The RGB Starcloth assisted in providing a contrasting - but related - aesthetic behind the audience, enhancing the depth of the wide audience looks and closer in-audience action shots, ensuring there were never any back-of-shot ‘black holes’ on camera.
“We love these products,” states Alex, “while they have a classic look and feel, they can be used in a totally contemporary context. I have used them every year for the most recent Children in Need telethons and they never date.”
(Jim Evans)
