Professional Lighting & Production - Spring 2018 | Page 46

46 PL&P
The Robe-heavy lighting package for the first production of The Little
Mermaid in Belgium was designed by Luc Peumans of Genk-based
international design practice Painting with Light, with lighting,
audio, and rigging equipment delivered by Phlippo Showlights.
The RoboSpot system was operated by Ilse Witlox, who says
precise follow-spotting was crucial to the complex and visually
rich production. There were 11 BMFL Blades together with the 11
RoboSpot MotionCameras, which were positioned on a front truss,
an advanced truss, and on two side trusses. The two side BMFLs were
specifically utilized for spotting lead character Ariel as she flew out
from the stage to FOH. The RoboSpot systems were used to control
the pan/tilt, dimmer, and iris functionality of the BMFLs via the
handles and two programmable faders. The operator’s movements
were instantly transferred to the luminaire via DMX with no lag. The
rest of the parameters were run from the MA Lighting grandMA2.
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Inspired by the light show Illumination at the Morton Arboretum
outside of Chicago, lighting and visual design group Lightswitch
was asked to create a new winter nighttime experience at the
historic Descanso Gardens in Southern California in 2017. This
year marked the second year for the one-mile Enchanted
Forest of Light, creating visually captivating and memorable
experiences using a range of Elation Professional fixtures,
including the company’s IP65-rated Proteus arc-source moving
heads. 4Wall served as the preferred lighting vendor.
“The fixtures were open to the elements so they had to
be IP65,” says Lightswitch Principal Chris Medvitz. “It was also
a long duration installation; the fixtures were outside for three
months, so they had to be able to withstand the outdoors for a
long period. The Proteus fixtures did that. It was a great benefit
to use automated lights without having to use enclosures and
they were a great addition to the installation.”
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Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting and crew to the
most recent U.K. and European leg of synth pop duo Hurts’ Desire
tour, which included shows in many less-common touring stops,
such as Moldova, Siberia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
The set and lighting rig were designed to be adaptable as the
band played anything from 12,000-seat arenas to 600-capacity
clubs. There was a chandelier made up of 36 Martin Sceptron
LED battens attached to three concentric aluminium rings. It was
flown on a truss with two Kinesys motors so it glided in and out
to different positions, controlled by Kinesys Vector software. Six
Robe BMFL Spots on the front truss were used primarily for front
projection and downstage washes. The mid truss was rigged with
four Robe BMFL Spots and four Chauvet Rogue R2 washes.
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“For The Killers’ Wonderful Wonderful world tour, LD Steven
Douglas has been exploring new dimensions and challenging
perspectives by introducing GLP’s hybrid JDC1 strobe to his
toolbox, along with the GLP X4 Bar 20 battens.
“With the large amount of video surface in use, I went for a lot
more beam orientated fixtures, so we built the pod structures and
lined them with X4 Bars. They are extremely versatile so I knew I
could get a full wash from them as well