21 May 2009
By now it’s public knowledge that both Jason Hartman and Sasha Lee Davids are joint winners for the 2009 South African Idols competition, hosted by M-Net and FremantleMedia. It would appear that the competition remained vibrant right to the end, as did the superb lighting using 36 Robe units, created by Strike Productions.
With the South African Music Awards (SAMA) held at Sun City on the Saturday evening, and the much anticipated Idols finale, broadcasted live for M-Net on the Sunday evening, the first weekend in May was jam packed for Strike Productions who catered technically for both major events.
This was the fifth season of the popular Idols music contest and the third year that Strike Productions had been called in to provide the lighting and AV aspects of the show. Mauritz Jacobs, who has been with Strike for the past eight years, was the lighting designer, operator and helped with set up. “I love the show which also travels to Africa with the same team,” said Mauritz. “It’s like one big family with the same people, same cameraman and everyone knowing how to work with each other.”
This year’s Idols was held in the Mosaïc Teatro, in actual fact a church in Fairland, Gauteng. “I had big plans for the lighting but we had to adapt because of the size of the venue,” explains Mauritz. With the venue more like a school hall, the stage had to be smaller and was on four different levels to add interest and to work around the limited space. That said Mauritz believes this was probably the best Idols in SA to date and the audience at home would certainly agree.
Mauritz used three trusses over the stage, two of which hung lower than the other and Robe 700s hung from them. “The Robes were awesome,” said Mauritz. Of course to add a bit of drama, however, it was the first time in 18 months that Strike experience any problems with the fixtures. On the final day a shutter on one of the units malfunctioned, but Bruce Riley from DWR Distribution arrived at the venue with a spare unit. The fault, a problem with a chip, was rectified within a couple of days. Mac 300s were used on the floor to light up columns and LED Tubes certainly added effects.
“We used a lot of haze,” said Mauritz. “We used a CO2 Haze machine, the MDG. They’re amazing… you should have seen all the empty smoke bottles. It’s the best hazer we’ve ever used.” In addition, an Oval Screen was designed by Dream Sets and worked effectively for projection. Dream Set also created the transparent floor, and a star cloth which always works well for television, was supplied by Joy Design.
The shows, besides the live broadcast for the finale, was pre-recorded on a Friday, with Mauritz programming on the Thursday during sound checks. His team from Strike Productions comprised of followspot operators, Paul Modise and Jomo Mhlanga, as well as Marco Duvenhage, the AV Operator.
Everyone needs a favourite, someone to cheer on. Being a music lover himself, Mauritz had his money on contestant Graeme, who would often play cards with the crew during rehearsals. And believe it or not, lets out a secret that his favourite judge was Randall!
Equipment List:
12 x Robe 2500 Wash
12 x Robe 700
12 x Robe 250s (only used for the final show)
12 x MAC 300
48 x Source Fours
48 x Parcans
1 x Atomic Strike
1 x MDG Smoke Machine
72 x LED Tubes on floor, with a total of 96 used on the finale for both the floor and set
1 x Whole Hog 3
