NEW YORK – LD Tom Kenny provided a new lighting design for VH1’s revamped morning entertainment show, Big Morning Buzz Live, broadcast from the 20th floor lobby of VH1’s headquarters in Times Square. WorldStage supplied the gear for the new season. Kenny and WorldStage worked with studio LDs Dan Kinsley and John Salzman on the project.
More details from WorldStage (http://www.worldstage.com):
VH1’s “Big Morning Buzz Live” Gets a Tom Kenny Lighting Re-design with Gear from WorldStage
NEW YORK – VH1’s morning entertainment show, Big Morning Buzz Live, returned for a third season Oct. 17 with a revamped look and new lighting design by Tom Kenny, facilitated by WorldStage (the new name for Scharff Weisberg and Video Applications, which merged in 2007).
The show hails from the 20th floor lobby of VH1’s headquarters in Times Square where host Carrie Keagan and pop culture correspondent Jason Dundas connect with the most buzzed-about celebrities and a roster of top artists to candidly discuss everything from mainstream news to the latest discoveries in film, music, fashion, food, TV and the web.
“The new studio is a really inventive way of using corporate office space,” says lighting designer Tom Kenny. “I worked with the producers, Lee Rolontz and Keisha Williams, on ‘Storytellers’ and other awards shows for the network. They wanted a clean, colorful morning show – a fresh look that wouldn’t be overlit but would match the young, vibey nature of the program and its content.”
Turning the lobby into a live broadcast studio posed challenges for Kenny’s lighting design. “The ceiling is low so we had to think of the weight and size of fixtures to get the best out of the space,” says Kenny. “WorldStage helped immensely with their knowledge of low-flying ceilings and fixtures. Power was also an issue, but with the aid of the technical guys at the VH1 headquarters, we managed to squeeze some juice from unusual places.”
WorldStage’s NY-based lighting division supplied Kino Flo’s Image 85s as Kenny’s key lights along with hidden ARRI 350’s and ARRI 650 Fresnels. There is also a combination of Kino Flo 4 and 2 bank daylight fill units as well as a few Kinoflo table mounts for under table “shoe” specials. The company also met Kenny’s low-power needs with a number of LED fixtures including the newly released Prism Projection LED Fresnels, which combines low-energy use with quality output and flexibility. In addition, Color Kinetics Colorburst Compact daylight LED Pars, Color Kinetics’ RGB ColorBlast LEDs and Color Kinetics’ I-White ColorBlast LEDs were used for set and talent lighting. Additionally, the main set is internally lit with Color Kinetics MX Powercore cove 12-inch units.
“We worked closely with the studio LDs Dan Kinsley and John Salzman on the show, to keep the spirit and look going early every morning,” Kenny declares.
Tom Lens and John Yeck at 513 Scenic designed the new studio set for “Big Morning Buzz Live.”
WorldStage Inc., the company created by the merger of Scharff Weisberg Inc and Video Applications Inc, continues a 30-year legacy of providing clients the widest variety of entertainment technology coupled with conscientious and imaginative engineering services. WorldStage provides audio, video and lighting equipment and services to the event, theatrical, broadcast and brand experience markets nationally and internationally.
