Miss Italia 2008, one of the highest profile Miss World qualifiers, featured the first use in Italy of Robe's new REDWash 3Ÿ192 LED wash luminaires, which put on their own dazzling performance.
Director of Photography Fabio Brera specified over 200 Robe moving lights to be a core element of the lighting rig for the show - including 110 ColorWash 700E ATs, 55 ColorSpot 700E ATs, 27 ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 20 REDWash 3Ÿ192s.
This year's Miss Italia finals took place at the Palazzetto dello Sport in Salso Maggiore Terme, PR, Italy and were broadcast live on RAI 1 in a show directed by Maurizio Pagnussat.
The lighting rig was hung on a comprehensive network of trusses that were installed to cover the large stage and audience areas of the venue, with some fixtures on the floor.
Brera wanted as many different lighting instruments available as possible - moving lights, LEDs, conventional white halogens, etc. - from as many different positions – so he could have complete diversity and many options on illuminating the eye-catching set designed by Sabrina Fontanili. He also wanted to get a good selection of varying beam angles that looked dramatic for the TV cameras.
Central to the set was a large sweeping staircase which, when lit, produced a very nice depth of field for the cameras. In front of this was a runway lined with video tiles, and the set also featured a series of Barco MiTrix LED scenic elements.
Brera has worked with Robe products for some time on his shows, and particularly likes the Robe ColorSpot 700E AT fixtures, which he used in this instance to create special stippled effects and texturing on the floor.
The rectangular light field and manual control of the beam spreads of the Robe REDWash 3Ÿ192s were also very useful for filling large areas with vibrant colours.
He chose Robe as the majority of the moving lights because of his past good experiences, and says, “ They offer good quality, are very reliable and competitive to rent".
The Miss Italia Robe's were all supplied by leading Italian rental house Mixer from Romanengo, whose Walter Taietti project managed the operation.
Other moving lights and LED sources were also utilized for the massive rig, plus an array of generics.
The lighting control was all Compulite consoles, and involved 3 operators - Raffaele Vailati running a Vector Red and Maurizio Ranaldi running a Sabre both doing the moving lights and effects, and Roberto Corona, who utilised a Spark 4D for the conventionals and set practicals.
The set and lighting rig was all constructed by RAI's in-house team including lighting crew chief Nicola Bianchi.
Miss Italia 2008 was won by music student Miriam Leone who will go on to represent Italy in Miss World in Johannesburg, South Africa in December.