Robe Lights Miss South Africa

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Intelligence, personality, beauty and independence in abundance were de rigueur for the 2010 Miss South Africa final at Sun City Superbowl - and that was just the lighting - which featured Robe moving lights supplied by Johannesburg based Dream Sets for a design by Mauritz Jacobs.

The show was an up-tempo megamix of colour, movement and entertainment, with the 12 contestants vying for the title appearing onstage for the different sections of the show and alongside a variety of guest artists and dancers. The stage and set was designed by Dewet Meyer, featuring gently layered steps and an upstage portrait LED screen flanked by 6 columns of LED graduating out to the full width of the stage. Jacobs took this as his starting point for the lighting design, which had to be dynamic, interesting and individually themed of the various sections of the pacey show.

This was the fourth consecutive Miss SA that Jacobs has lit for production company Cap Events. Broadcast live on MNET, the pressure was on to produce a show perfectly balanced to replicate the contestants' skin tones on camera, whilst also dishing up the requisite razzamatazz and spectacle. There was also a live audience of 3500 people, with a gala dinner downstairs for VIPS and invited guests and the public up in the balcony - who enjoyed a prime view of the stage.

The lights were positioned on 6 trusses of varying lengths rigged above the stage, the longest being 30 metres.

The moving lights were exclusively Robe, with 16 x ColorWash 2500E ATs, 16 ColorSpot 700E ATs (including 6 on the floor), 6 x Robe ColorWash 700E ATs and 6 ColorBeam 700E ATs.

In addition to these, the rig contained LED PARs, 2K fresnels, profiles and strobes - it wasn't a massive lighting rig, and the Robes in particular had to work hard to produce a plethora of effects and looks needed to keep the show pumping along - and looking different - for the 2 hour telecast.

Jacobs has been using Robe fixtures since 2006 and likes the brand very much, "They are completely reliable," he says ... "I know they will just work continually with no problems, and they have all the functionality you need for any show".

He adds that the service from South African distributor DWR - who supplied all the Robes to Dream Sets - is "Absolutely amazing", which is another good reason for anyone in this territory going with Robe for their moving and digital lighting needs!

The 700 Beams are a new addition to the Dream Sets inventory - "Awesome" Jacobs declares. On Miss SA, these were utilised to produce bold, striking aerial effects, along with the ColorWash 2500E ATs, which also provided powerful beam-work and back lighting.

The gobos in the ColorSpot 700s made fabulous patterns on the high gloss stage floor, looking so authentic that at times it resembled an actual embossed stage.

He controlled all the lighting from a grandMA2 full size console. The end result was a close programming collaboration between him, media/video operator Jason Cole who was outputting all the screen content - to which the lighting was also matched and contrasted - and show producer David Hickson.

DWR's Duncan Riley comments, "It was one of the best designed Miss SA's I have seen in terms of the combined visuals - lots of thought went into it and everyone worked very hard over an extremely tight timescale to make a memorable and fun event".

Miss SA 2010's executive producer was Mark West.

Miss SA 2010 was won by 24 year old Bokang Montjane from Johannesburg, who runs a modeling and confidence school and is PR officer for the ABZ Community Foundation.

For more press info. on Robe lighting or Anolis, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679/+44 (0)7831 329888 or Email ‘[email protected]'. For more product and general info, check www.robe.cz or call +420 571 751 500.