08 June 2009
Pics courtesy Cherine Viney The Premier Soccer League Awards was hosted at one of the best equipped theatres in the country, The Lyric, and broadcasted live for SABC. The AV, sound and lighting was handled by Sound Stylists with freelancer Kurt Du Preez, with his expertise in television lighting, appointed as the lighting designer.
The lighting was spectacular and Kurt’s technical knowledge ensured that the show was effective for both a live and televised audience. “The room itself was begging to be lit,” said Kurt. Sound Stylists only had to compliment the Lyric’s lighting rig with an additional 12 Robe 700 Washes and 38 LED PowerBanks. The in-house equipment comprised of 6 x Robe ColorWashes 750 Tungstens, 24 x Robe ColorSpot 700 EATs, 24 Robe ColorWash 700EATs and 2 Robert Juliat Topase Followspots, all controlled via a grandMA Full Size. It took two days for set up and to rearrange the existing theatre lighting and thumbs up to the team at the Lyric who lent a helping hand.
“Wayne Sproule from Pendragon Dezign was the set designer and his idea was to have a floating truss and floating podium coming in and out for different looks. The idea was to get the stage open quickly due to the volume of the awards,” said Kurt. “My brief was to match the sponsors’ colours for the different awards. The awards comprised of the ABSA Premiership, Telkom Knockout, Nedbank Cup and the MTN Super 8.”
The FOH balcony positions created a “big room” look where 16 x 700s Washes and Profiles and 18 x PowerBank LEDS were used. Followspots moved to the VIP boxes to do the pick-ups in the audience, and lights were also placed in the walkway for nominees to collect their awards. “It’s important to get the three Ps in lighting right…” says Kurt. “Position, position, position!”
As the lights were so bright, Kurt only used gobos on the stage floor, and for everything else he used beam work and open white. “The Robes were fine,” he comments. “I was impressed with the level we had. We were running at 30 percent and they were saying there was too much light.”
Not wanting to lose clarity of colour which can happen when lighting for television, Kurt had an entire daylight rig and did not mix colour temperatures. Because the rig predominantly consisted of moving lights, it took a bit of trouble to liaise with the OB Van to stop the flickering and get over a few technical hurdles. “The usually used Tungstens don’t flicker, and there is a risk to go moving lights only. But if the technically little issues get sorted out, like in this case changing the shutter speed of the cameras, a solely moving head light rig can work to your benefit.”
There should always be a close liaison between the lighting designer and the OB van. Kurt laughs and adds, “There were three dance numbers and usually this can mean a fight between the dancers, the client and the OB Van. Everyone wants the show to look how they imagine, but in the end it can only work for television if it is done correct technically.”
Kurt programmed on the grandMA. “I had my issues!” he smiles, with the PSL being the fourth time he has ever worked on the grandMA. “I had done the grandMA course at DWR Distribution but every desk I’ve used is defaulted. It’s all live and learn and once I got her to do what I wanted, and not what the theatre had programmed, I could create my own show. I never got a script only a running order. We did a technical step start but it was all out of sequence. I was not sure how the follow ons worked and I was a bit nervous but it worked.”
It certainly did work. The show looked great on TV and a big congratulations to all involved including Dallas Yeatman from the Sound Stylists who responsible for the blending on the screens and plasmas.
