Robe Show Lighting’s ColorSpot 1200 AT fixtures were integral to LD Tyler Littman’s eye-catching design for the 32nd International Emmy Awards Gala, staged at the New York Hilton and hosted by British personality Graham Norton. Lighting design and consultancy for the event and TV broadcast was supplied by Littman’s NY-based company Sholight. See Factor supplied the equipment.
Littman specified 18 ColorSpot 1200s–Robe’s top-of-the-range most powerful fixtures–for the Emmy Awards, combined with assorted generic fixtures that he programmed and operated via a MA Lighting grandMA console.
For the show, he utilized the ColorSpot 1200s for the dual roles of accenting the set and for washing the whole stage, where the variance of the ColorSpot 1200‘s zoom allowed him to shift the units from hard-edge fixtures to washlights.
To create an even softer beam, he used the frost filter, "by far one of the best I have seen to date" he comments, adding that its smooth transitions are "a real plus in a television environment where fast transitions can be seen as shifts in luminance." He likes the "incredible" light output that holds up well on camera.
Littman also enjoyed the ColorSpot 1200’s standard gobo selection, which he used to create "nice breakups and beautiful graphic beams" for the show. He placed two units upstage on the floor to help create atmospheric effects on camera. "On camera, the fixtures beams looked solid rather than almost imperceptable splotches–an issue I‘ve had with other fixtures in the past, " he notes.
The 1200s were also employed to back light the presenters. Again Littman says that "the intensity, the strong color system, and the fantastic zoom" allowed him to generate the ideal type and quality of rear light needed for a large televised event.
Littman was impressed with the ColorSpot 1200’s performance, stating, "Robe’s will become the new work horses of my designs."