24 November 2008
The Highway Africa Digital Journalism Awards 2008 was a live televised event broadcast on SABC on the 9th September and enhanced with some 36 Robe units. The awards which run in conjunction with a conference, was hosted for the eleventh year by Rhodes University in Grahamstown and sponsored by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Delegates across the globe participated to discuss issues relating to Internet governance, ICT policy ad media for democracy.
This year Sound Stylists was commissioned to handle the AV, Lighting, Rigging and crew for the awards. Lighting Designer was Andre Rossouw from SABC’s Air Time.
“The awards went very well, the feedback from those who saw the rebroadcast was positive. I was very happy with Sound Stylists, the condition of their equipment and their crew. I would like to say a special thank you to Adrian Skinner who operated the Avolites Pearl console.”
Andre, who has used Robe once before, was delighted with the brightness of the units. “I also enjoyed the gobos,” he adds. “It was a pleasant change and I thought the units, particularly the 700s were very bright. I’ll be very glad to use Robe fixtures in the future.”
The set predominantly made use of projection with a main screen, and two additional screens on either side. “The set was covered in white translucent fabric and we placed LED parcans behind it to allow for a variety of colours on stage,” said Sound Stylists’ Adrian Skinner. “On the left hand side of the stage there was a DJ Box and there were other risers scattered over the stage.”
One FOH truss was used to hang 6 x 5ks with 15” Rainbow scrollers attached, supplied by Air Time, to colour wash the stage. The rest of the equipment was rigged off the theatre’s fly bars. The Robe 700s were rigged right in front of the 5ks and also used to wash the stage. 12 x 2kW Fresnals were used for keylight positions across the stage. The rest of the equipment was spread over the remaining fly bars with 8 x Robe 575 washes placed on the floor.
The event took place at The Guy Butler Theatre. “The theatre staff were a pleasure to work with and assisted with both the load in and load out,” said Adrian. “It’s also always a great pleasure to work with Andre and his team from Air Time. Their experience and advice is invaluable and they are extremely supportive in the way they work with us on the show.”
Concluded Andre: “We always have to warrant that the production is good quality for television. I’m a television designer and have to make sure that the event not only looks good on TV but also for live audience. What I saw was very satisfying, and the feedback from those who watched the rebroadcast was positive. I am immensely happy!”
Equipment list:
2 x Jands DD6-2 Optical Isolators
2x JEM AR24/7 Haze Machine
6 x Martin Atomic Strobes
12 x Robe 700E AT Color Spot
12 x Robe 700E AT Color Wash
35 JB Systems RGB LED PAR64 Silver
6 x Robe 575 AT Wash
6 x Robe 575 AT Spot
1 x Jands 408 Lighting Console (for the generics)
1 x Jands FPX12 Dimmer
4 x Truss Milos SVT3000 Trio
8 x Truss Milos SVT2000 Trio
2 x Truss Milos QTL1000 Quatro
7 x CM Lodestar 500kg Electric Hoist
1 x CM Lodestar Controller Low Voltage Control System
1 x Avolites Pearl Expert Lighting console
