For several years the lighting has been designed and operated by Rohan Thornton in his role of lighting director at the Nine Network, however he left the network last year to freelance. Fortunately Nine realised they needed his talent and expertise and employed him on a contract basis.
On request from Rohan, Show Technology, Clay Paky's Australian distributor, rushed in the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures.
Thornton first saw the Sharpy Wash at the LDI show last October and he rated it the standout product of the show. "I thought they were brilliant," he remarked. "The speed, quality of beam, quality of colour and all the features were amazing. They have great intensity, power efficiency, and of course Clay Paky colours are always fantastic. The Sharpy Wash is simply a really good, small light with a lot of tricks. It's really versatile due to its beam range and beam shaping - a true multifunctional light."
At The Logies, Rohan positioned the Sharpy Washes above the host set from where they could wash the stage and during the musical acts they, along with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s, were the essence of the moving light rig.
"The Sharpy Washes performed great, we had no failures and the spares are still covered in dust," commented Thornton. "We found some really cool tricks to do with them such as beam chases and the consistency across the rig was phenomenal. The CTO was really nice on them too."
As well as the 36 Sharpy Washes the rig featured eighty Sharpy Beams, sixty Alpha Beam 700s, Martin TW1s, Martin MAC Auras, MAC301s and MAC101s as well as 220 Pro Shop LED MulitPARs, GLP Impression X4s and Martin Fusion Bars.
The main lighting suppliers for The Logies were Resolution X and PRG with Resolution X sub-hiring the Sharpy Washes from Chameleon Touring Systems. Lighting Lab and Clearlight also supplied a small amount of gear.
(Jim Evans)
