Project Update
PHOTO : LOUISE STICKLAND
For the past 17 years , LD Paul Miller has directed the lighting for the televised New Year ’ s Eve Celebration from Times Square , and over the last four years , he has worked with Christie Lites as his supplier . The show is a live , six-hour gig across two stages and the production team must contend with winter weather , the ticking of the clock to the midnight hour , and the knowledge that billions are watching the worldwide broadcast .
This year ’ s rig included a fair amount of Elation gear , including Platinum Beams and the ELAR 108 RGBW pars . There was also a large quantity of GLP fixtures , including impression X4s and the X4L bars , which allowed Miller to keep the stage view open for cameras and the crowd . Other gear included Martin by Harman ’ s MAC Viper AirFX Quadrays , MAC Viper Profiles , MAC Axioms , and MAC Quantum Washes . There were also Chroma-Q ’ s ColorForce , Martin Atomic 3000 LEDs , Clay Paky Sharpys , some High End Systems Showbeam 2.5s , as well as lots of conventionals and three grandMA consoles from MA Lighting .
Jeffrey Goes from Amsterdam-based creative design practice Live Legends designed the lighting and visuals for Holiday on Ice ’ s Time show . The producers were looking for a new integrated design that would encompass lighting and video , and Goes ’ lighting rig featured over 170 Robe moving lights , including 71 CycFXs , 46 Pointes , and 54 BMFL Spots . As well , there was a large inflatable that wrapped around parts of the trussing mother grid and a moving bridge that ran up and down the ice .
The CycFXs were arranged in clusters above the ice and all around the perimeter of the performance area at ground level and were used to wash the ice in blocks of intense colour . The Pointes were dotted around the overhead network of trussing – fitted into the spaces left by the inflatable – with some rigged on the bridge . Goes says he picked the BMFL Spots because they could do several jobs to cover the range of music and moods of the show segments .
For the Christmas season , the 123 m tall Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp , Belgium was illuminated by 50 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1-Quad IP fixtures . Supplied by S2 Rent , the LED wash fixtures were positioned on the balconies of the tower , which is a UNESCO-protected site that has stood in the centre of Antwerp since 1521 .
“ The COLORados were placed on the four facades of the tower to create an all-encompassing fairy tale-like illumination , both on their own and when used along with video mapping shows ,” says Joery Gysen , production director at S2 Rent . “ The COLORado fixtures produce extremely vivid , powerful , and equally displaced lighting .”
For Guns n ’ Roses ’ Not in This Lifetime world tour , LD Phil Ealy of West Coast Visuals used large quantities of GLP ’ s impression X4 and X4 Bar 10s .
“ I love the way you can get so many different looks out of the fixture and the output is great ,” Ealy says . “ I knew they would be a perfect fit for the pods [ on this tour ].” He used 19 impression X4s with 19 cells per fixture in each of the seven hexagonal pods in the lighting design . These were sourced from Upstaging , who had them custom built to fit . “ This gives us 361 individual beams of light from each pod at 45-ft . trim — which looks pretty cool . Also , using the X4 Bar 10s rather than the original concept of X4 Bar 20s , I can get a bit more movement out of those fixtures as well .”
46 • PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING & PRODUCTION