Although New Yorkers were distinctly feeling spring feverish it was time for Mercedes-Benz Fall 2009 Fashion Week recently where G-Star Raw showcased its Fall 2009 collection with lighting and audio support from Scharff Weisberg.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, G-Star hired Dutch company Sightline Productions to handle the technical direction for the show with New York City's Dizon Inc. acting as the onsite production company. The star-studded runway show was held in the Hammerstein Ballroom where Scharff Weisberg was tasked with getting the rig up and working in just one day without disrupting the venue's house rig. The lighting complement featured more than 100 moving lights.
"Scharff Weisberg has done the G-Star show for two seasons," notes Gayle Dizon, of Dizon Inc. "Once again, it was a very productive collaboration between G-Star and the Scharff Weisberg team."
When Scharff Weisberg received the show's lighting plot from Amsterdam, "We quickly learned that there was no way to make it happen all in one day 'as is,'" recalls Scharff Weisberg's Andy Muller. "Project managers John Healy and Erik Perry worked for weeks redrafting and reworking the plot to provide the flexibility everyone needed to pull off the show, keep the designers happy and minimize costs."
By redrafting the truss rig Scharff Weisberg was able to go into the Hammerstein "seamlessly and totally independent of any house rig," Muller says. "That permitted us to have our rig up throughout the weekend while the Hammerstein opened for weekend business. That's not an easy feat to achieve while keeping everyone happy." Scharff Weisberg's rig was fully functional by the end of the load-in day; all nine universes and 106 moving lights worked without troubleshooting.
The main lighting rig for the G-Star show consisted of 93 VARI*LITE VL3500 framing spots, 13 VARI*LITE VL3500 washes, 12 Martin Atomic Strobes and three Robert Juliat 2.5K Aramis HMI followspots. Scharff Weisberg also supplied a Whole Hog 3 with expansion wing and six Hog 3 DP200s for lighting control. The entire rig ran off of three 400A PD 48x20A L6-20 dimmer racks and nine universes of data.
In addition, the show's hair and makeup used an array of ARRI 300, 1K and 2K HMIs, Chimeras and S4 Parnels on scissorclips and 60-inch double riser C-stands.
Scharff Weisberg also provided technical coordination for all of the show's audio, which this year included live music by two pianists.
Erwin Rintjema was Sightline's technical director for the event; Nancy Hagen Ethridge produced for Dizon Inc.
Scharff Weisberg's Drew DeCorleto was the lighting crew chief, Phil Alfieri of Local One Stagehands was lighting head, and Barrett Hall and Jeff Wong lighting assistants.
Scharff Weisberg and Video Applications, firms with extensive histories in the presentation and staging markets, recently announced a co-ownership agreement. While continuing to operate independently the two companies work together strategically to provide clients with state-of-the-art audio, video and lighting equipment and services. With a strong presence on both coasts Scharff Weisberg and Video Applications are able to deliver a large array of cost-effective services on a national level. For more information, call 212-582-2345 or visit our website at www.scharffweisberg.com. For more information on Video Applications, visit www.videoapps.com.