SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA – South African lighting designer Denis “Hutch” Hutchinson joined creative forces with Robert Grobler from rental company Techrig to produce a masterpiece of imagination and style for a Gala Dinner event. Robe added ambiance to the night.
More details from Robe (http://www.robe.cz):
Robe in Clover at Sun City
SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA – South African lighting designer, Denis “Hutch” Hutchinson joined creative forces with Robert Grobler from rental company Techrig to produce a masterpiece of imagination and style for the Gala Dinner event at food and beverage brand specialist Clover’s Annual Conference. This was staged in the Royal Ballroom venue at the Sun City resort in the Pilansberg Mountains, South Africa.
Robe moving lights – including 24 ROBIN 600 LEDWashes – were the key fixtures of the design, supplied by Johannesburg based Techrig, who provided lighting equipment and crew to the entire Clover event for the first time.
Acclaimed set designer Michael Gill produced a large and innovative scenic design for the Gala Dinner. Grobler initially gave Hutch a basic show brief, which included several high profile live performances, plus an idea of the look they wanted to achieve, to which Hutchinson soon added ideas of his own and produced the lighting plot, all based around Robe fixtures.
The challenges were getting sufficient height and lighting positions in the right places above the stage, while also avoiding a series of large and prosaic chandeliers which couldn’t be moved. The lateral solution was to install a series of short trusses hung in an up/downstage orientation ensconced as much as possible into the ceiling coves, which maximized the available height and avoided the chandeliers.
The Robin LEDWash 600s were hung on these trusses, together with 16 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs, with a few other moving lights, plus a selection of profiles, PARs and some LED fixtures hung on FOH trusses.
It was the first time that Hutch has used the Robe LEDWash 600s, which Robe claims is their fastest selling luminaire.
Hutch said he was “well pleased” with the wide beam angle of the LEDWashes, which enabled him to cover the entire stage and set with ease when needed for the large production numbers. The 15 degree narrow beam angle reminded him of classic beam projectors from his theatrical roots, and he said he enjoyed playing with their “fat beams.”
Robe LEDWash 600s were specified because of their light weight, which helped in dealing with the venue’s weight restrictions. Added to that was the 15-60 degree zoom, the light output and smooth color mixing – and also because it was the first chance that Hutchinson has had to have a good play with them. Grobler’s first time seeing them in action impressed him as well.
Robe CitySkape48s were used to internally light seven black-and-white fronted light-boxes, which broke up the walls and stairs of the streamlined, “televisual” set. Grobler describes these as “Little Killers.” In fact, so much was this the case that the black vinyl fronting turned grey, and so they ended up pulling them right back and running at low levels.
Hutch programmed and operated all lighting on a grandMA console.
The entertainment line up included live performances in the colorful, dramatic setting for the 800 guests.
