FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – There was grace and glamour everywhere on the stage of the Parker Playhouse, as 70 attractive contestants vied for the honor of becoming Miss Florida USA 2015 and representing the Sunshine State in the Miss America Pageant. Accenting the beauty on stage was a dazzling bejeweled lighting design anchored by columns of diamond-shaped videos created by The Design Oasis of Davie, Florida, using PVP S5 LED video panels from CHAUVET Professional.
The Design Oasis positioned the columns of video panels downstage to create a stylishly elegant background during the contestant appearances, while not competing with the activities on stage. Along with the columns, the company created a vertically oriented video wall to display logos and messages.
“We were very happy with the performance of the PVP S5 panels,” said Abbas Ritscher, co-owner of The Design Oasis, who served as the lighting designer on the project. “In addition to displaying images and sponsorship names, which is what you expect from a video panel, they created very rich warm colors. That was obviously very important to our client, since you want to create a sense of intimacy and elegance at a pageant.”
Adding to the richness of the stage’s background colors were COLORado 1-Quad Tours from CHAUVET Professional, which were used to warm the truss columns that were positioned between the diamond video columns. Powered by seven Quad-Color LEDs, this compact par-style wash features five dimming curves. It also creates a rainbow of hues, from vivid bold colors to soft pastels, all of which seemed to have been used during the Miss Florida USA pageant.
“Having the truss alternating with the video columns added a nice sense of depth to the look downstage,” said Ritscher. “It was nice that the video panels and truss were able to be tied together by the same changing colors.”
The 5.2 mm pixel pitch of the PVP S5 panels was essential to the Miss Florida USA design, said Ritscher, since the panels produced clear sharp images even when cameras zoomed in for close-up shots. Equally important for video coverage was the rapid refresh rate of the panels, which meant that they didn’t flicker. Ritscher also singled out the interlocking hardware features of the panels for allowing The Design Oasis to build a seamless vertical video wall, which looked good on camera.
The winner of the Miss Florida USA Pageant was Ashleigh Lollie, a law student from Florida State University in Tallahassee. Everyone agreed that she has a bright future ahead of her. The same could be said of the fixtures that were used to illuminate this first-rate pageant.
