In its second consecutive year broadcasting in HD on primetime television, the Miss Florida USA 2013 pageant again featured grandMA lighting consoles behind the scenes. This time lighting director Stefan DeWilde also selected a complement of Clay Paky Sharpys for the event boosting the impact of the lighting rig. A.C.T Lighting in the exclusive distributor of both grandMA and Clay Paky fixtures in North America.
Staged in Davie's Bailey Concert Hall on the campus of Broward University, the pageant featured more contestants than ever before and was televised live to fans across the Sunshine State. Michelle Aguirre was crowned Miss Florida and moves on to the national Miss USA competition.
"We had twice as many moving fixtures as last year," reports DeWilde. "I used Sharpys around the floor for aerial beam effects. They were a prominent part of the program - every scene was tightened by Sharpy. Although we only had six of them, they cut through 85 other automated fixtures."
DeWilde also deployed an expanded grandMA system, which featured an NSP and eight universes. "It was very important to have the NSP," he says. "It was essential to have everything networked on the show."
The Orlando office of stage lighting rental and production company Christie Lites furnished the grandMA and Sharpy fixtures. "CEO Huntly Christie really came through to pull together this equipment," says DeWilde. "The partnership between Christie and A.C.T is just great."
"This pageant was the first time I'd used the Sharpys, and they were so phenomenal that I'm going to use them in the New World Center," he says. DeWilde is director of lighting for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. "The Sharpys are small and lightweight, and their output and speed is amazing."
He also gives kudos to the grandMAs. "The consoles were fast with no lag in network communication. Shows like this always come down to flexibility, speed and consoles. We have a ton of equipment and very little time to put things together."