Futuristic MGG

26 September 2013

Photos courtesy Janco Photography

MGG Productions supplied the full technical for their client, Eventworx, for a corporate event hosted at the Sandton Convention Centre earlier this year, one which absolutely shouted sci-fi. Having over 160 Robe fixtures, Kevin Rieck created a thrilling lighting design using timecode on grandMA2 for the first time.

Eventworx were responsible for the initial concept of the set design and liked the idea of incorporating the Large Haldron Collider, the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. Along with MGG’s Mark Gaylard and Wayne Sproule, they put their heads together to come up with an attention-grabbing set mostly consisting of trussing. It included a stage in the centre front of the room. Above the stage was an enormous octagon shaped structure which comprised of 8 screens bordered by Prolyte H40V trussing. A huge square shaped truss hung above the octagon shape. Eight arms of trussing protruded from the centre structure. Six additional screens were placed near the audience.

While the main conference was lit by generics, moving lights complimented the live acts and video.

Kevin Rieck from MGG stepped in as both LD and programmer. This was the largest gig with the most amount of kit he had ever worked on. Lighting fixtures included 48 x Robin 600s, 48 x Robin 100 LED Beams, 24 x Robe 700E Wash AT , 40 x CitySkape 48s, 32 x LEDForce 18s, 8 x ClayPaky Sharpies, 8 x Alpha 1500 Profiles and 12 x ADB 2ks. The show also incorporated Martin 2140+ led panels. Needless to say, load in took some time. “We had all our vehicles loaded, including a 20 ton and 12 ton truck, and we had to do more than one trip,” said Rieck.

For control Rieck used a grandMA2 light, a grandMA2 on PC, grandMA NPU, grandMA NSP, grandMA VPU with power via an Avolites 48 Rack.

“The introduction of the video was my favourite,” said Rieck. “I used timecode for the first time. It was awesome seeing the faders go up and down by themselves and to stand back and watch everything working.” The only real challenge about working on this system is having enough time to program.