All posts by : Super@dmin

CLEARWATER, FL – You can learn from mistakes, or you can learn from testing, according to the time-honored business adage. John Conrath and the other members of Floyd Nation wisely chose the latter. A leading Pink Floyd experience band, they wanted a bigger and bolder rig to support their performances now that they’re playing at larger venues. Rather than simply add fixtures, they asked The Design Oasis to provide them with a rig that they could test for a three show-run through Clearwater, Jacksonville and Charleston.

When it was over, they and their lighting designer, Justin Kern, were so convinced that the rig, which is anchored by CHAUVET Professional fixtures, was a winner that they decide to build on it for their upcoming show at the State Farm Center in Illinois.

Kern explained the results this way: “The music of Pink Floyd is so diverse that it allows us to get creative with our color palettes – and since Floyd Nation allows us to free hand, our lighting can be fluid to vibe with the audience and tell an exciting story of the music as the night progresses. On top of that, Floyd Nation’s shows are pretty intense; the band always hand out creative challenges to production. The band pushes the production bar higher and higher each time they perform. That’s what makes it exciting to work with them. From a gear perspective the new rig is excellent. Chauvet makes their equipment easy to use right out of the box.”

The PXL Bar 16 fixtures in the rig helped Kern achieve his vision by allowing him to create a wide array of special effects, in addition to defining space on the set. “The PXL Bars were mounted in front of the spots on multiple sticks of pre-rigged truss,” he said. “The guys over at The Design Oasis came up with a unique way of mounting them to the front side of the truss. Being pre-rigged, it really cut down the setup, load in and load out time. Besides having fully mappable capabilities, the wide zoom range and tilting ability of the PXL Bars allowed for some pretty cool effects throughout the show. Very few other light fixtures can deliver the effects these can”

Key contributions were also made by the rig’s Maverick Force S Spot fixtures, which were mounted on the cross bracing on the top of the pre-rigged truss, directly behind the PXL Bar 16 units. “Just like the PXL Bars, the Force S Spots give me full control over color mixing with a wide zoom range,” said Kern. “I tapped into most of the abilities of these fixtures during the shows. They definitely have power, and can create a wide range of effects.”

Adroitly working these fixtures along with some totem mount lasers Kern created a show that never quit, moving from deep, blue monochromatic looks one moment, adding blinding white light the next, before then moving on to multi-level crossing patterns of brilliantly colored light. “We were really happy with the looks we got out of this rig,” he said. “Abbas Ritscher and the people at The Design Oasis were great to work with and I also got a lot of help from Sean Populorum, one of the best laser techs in the industry.”

As Floyd Nation keeps laying out tight tracks and Kern keeps conjuring up a plethora of such bold looks, it’s a safe bet that the band, it’s designer, and its new lighting rig will continue to showcase their stuff before bigger and bigger crowds.

SUNRISE, FL – At 46, Floyd Mayweather still packs a punch, even five years after the former champ retired undefeated from professional boxing. This was plain to see during his recent exhibition bout against John Gotti III. But the Boxing Writers of America’s “Fighter of the Decade” wasn’t the only one flashing impressive firepower at the sold-out FLA Live Arena. Also displaying its prowess was a collection of CHAUVET Professional Rogue Outcast 1L Beam fixtures from The Design Oasis that were used to rev up excitement during the exhibition.

“The 1L beams really created an impact throughout the arena,” said Abbas Ritscher, of The Design Oasis. “They were small, which allowed our lighting designer John Hollingshead to bunch a lot of them together, keeping the cables clean but still creating impact by directing beams of lights across the entire venue. They have a very tight (1.4ﹾ) beam angle, so they looked thick and bright even when their light was a hundred feet in the air. We used these fixtures very effectively during fighter intros and for background lighting during the fights, as well as for effects with the musical acts.”

Capture Studio Group had a vision of more than just lighting up the fight, they wanted to light up the arena, and have depth and excitement in all the camera shots. The lighting became a way to take the event to the next level, adding production value to the live shots and revving up the excited crowd.

Also creating a suspenseful air of expectation during the walk-ins were the rig’s Maverick Storm 2 Profiles. The 580-watt profiles were used to focus tight light on the fighters thanks to a shutter system that reduces their beam angle to 5.5ﹾ.

Doing double duty at the exhibition boxing match was the Maverick Storm2 Wash, which was used as a color wash for the event’s musical acts, as well as a background effect for the camera during the livestream broadcast on the Zeus Network.

“We purposely put the Maverick Strom 2 Washes right in the camera shots,” said Ritscher. “They worked great as eye candy. Their tight beam looks set a very camera-friendly background.”

Another camera-friendly feature of the event was the truss crown behind the performance stage/boxing ring, a tribute to the many titles in different weight divisions that Mayweather has held in his illustrious career.

“Our goal with the lighting was to amp up the excitement, from before the fighters walked out until they were fighting and then in between rounds,” said Ritscher. “This event was definitely about bringing the excitement.”

About CHAUVET Professional
CHAUVET Professional offers innovative professional lighting fixtures for the production and touring market as well as permanent installation in theaters, hospitality venues, cruise ships, clubs, television and architainment applications. For more information, please visit www.chauvetprofessional.com

As Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas steamed out of port December 7 for the Welcome To Jamrock Reggae Cruise, Nesta Garrick, Abbas Ritscher, and the entire team at The Design Oasis were grateful that they would be able to do something, they’d never done before: leave all their fixtures unbagged overnight. “This was the first time we didn’t have to worry about putting bags over our fixtures at the end of a long day,” said Ritscher, who oversaw the installation of the lighting rig on the ship. “That’s a tremendous time saver.”

Ritscher and his team were able to avoid the hassle of wrapping fixtures in plastic bags, because for the first time, since the cruise began in 2012, the entire rig was made up of IP65 rated units, most prominently the Color STRKE M, Maverick STORM2 BeamWash, and Rogue Outcast 1L Beam from CHAUVET Professional.

“Welcome To Jamrock goes from Miami to Jamacia and is out at sea or in port for five days,” said Ritscher. “Even when the weather is good, you get a lot of moisture in this ocean environment. Having the IP65 rated fixtures is really important.”

The lighting rig for the cruise was designed by Garrick, who also ran the lights for Damian and Stephen Marley, as well as many of the other headliner acts. Kenny Gribbon served as the LD for the other artists. (The cruise featured an array of  stars, such as Burning Spear, Ding Dong, and Shabba Ranks.)

Garrick and his team used the IP65 rated rig to cook up a variety of dynamic looks on the open-deck stage, each one reflecting the music and personality of the performers with plenty of aerial beams aimed at the ocean sky, powerful back and audience lighting, and some dazzling pixel effects. The stage was brilliantly colored throughout the five-days of music, sometimes in intense monochromatic palettes, and at others in vivid Rastafarian red, green and gold.

Helping Garrick create his bold looks were 32 Color STRIKE M fixtures, which were flown on upstage truss and positioned around the audience area for side lighting. Drawing on the intense output of the motorized strobe’s tube elements, he was able to cover the entire deck with bright white light at times. During other moments, he relied on pixel effects from the fixture’s face to create captivating  and colorful visuals.

Also key to the rig’s visual potency were its 18 Rogue Outcast 1L Beam units, which were positioned at low and high levels on the downstage truss as well as on the downstage deck. Drawing on the fixture’s tight 1.4˚ beam, Garrick was able to use it to create  stunning aerial effects from a variety of positions.

From an installation perspective, Ritscher was impressed with fixture’s lightweight compactness. “I really wanted the Outcast 1L for this installation because of its combination of performance and light weight, he said. “We had to rope up these fixtures into position, so the weight was important.”

Adding an extra level of depth and flexibility to the stage were the rig’s 12 Maverick Strom 2 BeamWash fixtures, which were positioned upstage and used as a traditional wash when they weren’t crisscrossing the stage with bold beams and backlighting performers. Personally, I was really impressed with some of the looks created with the Storm 2,” said Ritscher. “This was especially true when Nesta coordinated different reggae colors on the face and the two rings of the fixture.”

Although working the Jamrock cruise is loads of fun, lighting an event on the high seas is not without its challenges, according to Ritscher, who thanked Brian Milligan “for keeping everything working” during the memorable journey. “On a ship there is always wind and weather to contend with,” he said. “There’s not much you can do about that.” That’s true enough, but with a reliable IP65 rated rig , meeting these challenges has become a whole lot easier.

Further information from CHAUVET Professional: www.chauvetprofessional.com