The 2010 BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms were staged at London UK's famous Camden Town Roundhouse venue, with a production lighting design by Steve Finch and Bryan Leitch with all lighting equipment and crew supplied by Buckinghamshire-based Siyan, including a large quantity of i-Pix products.
The 3 night weekend event was headlined by Elton John, Robert Plant and Neil Diamond respectively.
The main challenge for lighting was that it had to look great on TV - the shows were broadcast on TV and BBC I-Player, and streamed live on Radio 2 - and equally as cool for the audience in the Roundhouse. It also had to cover the basic production requirements of each artist and their designers as well as those of 3 diverse TV directors! The 3 artist LD's - Andrew Pygott, Will Thomas and Marilyn Lowey - all worked closely with the Siyan team in an advisory capacity to ensure that unique elements of their respective shows were retained.
Finch used 16 i-Pix BB7s, 16 x BB4s and 20 of the new BB 2x2s. Siyan owns a lot of i-Pix kit, and the brightness, low power consumption and quality of the fixtures makes them a real favourite for all types of shows.
The BB7s were positioned in-between the venue's structural arches at the back of the stage and used primarily as camera candy, proving to be a great beamy light effect through the lens.
The BB4s were rigged as uprights to the pillars around the rear of the stage and were focussed so they actually enlarged both the stage and the room on camera. Like the BB7s, they were also used for a beamy effects.
Both BB7s and BB4s were re-focused or re-rigged for each act as required.
The BB 2x2s were positioned right up in the 'gods' of the Roundhouse, attached to the catwalks and beamed upwards to illuminate the top dome of the venue, and downwards to light the audience - a task for which they worked brilliantly.
Twenty four i-Pix Satellites were used as truss toners for 8 x 'spine' trusses running upstage/downstage and a front truss. The Satellite has almost become synonymous with high quality truss toning in a rich variety of colours. Its expedient size means it can be tucked unobtrusively into any type of trussing and used to shoot neatly along the metal span.
Finch first used the new BB 2x2 unit from i-Pix in the Radio One tent at the Reading/Leeds Festival this year, where he found them extremely versatile, great as colour changing blinders and also as a colour changing source to sweep across large zones of audience. The reason for locating them so high up in the Roundhouse was so they remained a concealed source to the cameras.
He finds fixtures like the BB4s extremely flexible - great for up-lighting cycs, especially when the source is hidden, and equally as effective when faced into a crowd for classic 'blinding' duties!
He likes the BB7s because they look amazing on camera with their distinctive petal shape, and also the fact that very complex and attractive chases can be made by programming the individual pixels.
All the stage lights on the Electric Proms rig, including all the i-Pix units, were controlled by an Avolites Diamond 4 Vision programmed and operated by Paula Trounce. The television lighting elements were run by Ewan McRobb using an Avo D4 Elite.
The 3 Electric Proms telecasts were directed by Phil Hayes (Elton John), Matthew Amos (Robert Plant) and Janet Crook (Neil Diamond).
For more info on i-Pix, please call Louise Stickland on +44 (0)7831 329888 or +44 (0)1865 202679 or Email [email protected]. Call i-Pix direct on +44 (0)161 443 4140 or check : www.i-pix.uk.com