The Moving Light Company illuminated the Royal Crescent for the opening of the Bath International Music Festival. Combining high-tech with low-tech: that was the approach taken by The Moving Light Company’s Alex Murphy to produce a stunning display of lighting coordinated with pyrotechnics for the launch of the recent Bath International Music Festival.
Murphy and The Moving Light Company were working alongside pyrotechnic specialists Rocket Pyro, who were providing fireworks for the night. Murphy’s challenge was not just to light Bath’s famous Royal Crescent, but also to co-ordinate the lighting with the fireworks in the sky above.
Photo: Photo Business Imaging
To achieve this, he opted to use The Moving Light Company’s StudioDue CityColor color-changing exterior floodlights. “Originally the plan was to use the CityColors just to light the central block of the Crescent, then use Mac2000s to project onto the outer sections,” Murphy explains. “However, during the focus we just kept pulling the units back and back until we ended up lighting the whole of the Crescent with just six CityColors - these still being bright enough because we were using MLC’s 2500W units rather than the standard 1800W unit.”
The show was then programmed using a Flying Pig Whole Hog 2 console, with an Artistic Licence Micro-Scope providing backup. “All of the color fades across the face of the royal crescent were co-coordinated to the firework display, fired from a golf course a couple of miles away,” Alex Murphy explains. “I’d love to tell you it all used high-tech time-code, but in fact we were given a radio signal which started the clocks followed by pyro and lx!”
Assisting Murphy with the project were White Light’s Simon Jones, who installed the equipment, and Bright*, who ran the operation and de-rig. Most importantly, the lighting designer notes that, despite the fact that “it rained like hell for the whole fit-up and gig, the equipment performed flawlessly.”
Further information about the StudioDue CityColor range, and the rest of the Moving Light Company’s diverse and extensive hire stock, can be found at the company’s website or by calling 020 8254 4700.