WORCESTER, UK – Lighting Let’s Dance for Comic Relief for the fifth year running, LD Steve Nolan of Chromatic Productions called upon PixelRange once again to provide sparkling effects lighting for this charity extravaganza. PixelRange donated 48 PixelSmart LED fixtures and 14 SmartLine 4 LED battens to provide extra pace and drama during the show’s title sequences and dance routines.
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WORCESTER, UK – Lighting Let’s Dance for Comic Relief for the fifth year running, LD Steve Nolan of Chromatic Productions called upon PixelRange once again to provide sparkling effects lighting for this charity extravaganza.
PixelRange donated 48 PixelSmart LED fixtures and 14 SmartLine 4 LED battens to provide extra pace and drama during the show’s title sequences and dance routines.
There were 24 PixelSmarts and 12 SmartLine 4s deployed on stage at floor level to demarcate the upstage and wing edges and define the performance area. “When lighting dance you need to bring in light at stage level to draw focus to the feet,” says Nolan. “We used the PixelSmarts and SmartLines to introduce animation and color changes at floor level – all of which was reflected beautifully in the shiny black floor covering – using some of the PixelSmart’s unique features.”
PixelRange’s PixelSmart incorporates 61 individually addressable channels and 40 internal chase effects across 12 high-intensity quad RGBW Cree MCE LEDs and 13 Cree warm white XPG LEDs which combine to give a vast color palette with brilliant bright white.
“Standard PixelPars can change color and intensity but the PixelSmart’s individually controllable LEDs allowed me to mix colors and intensity to create unique twinkle effects,” continues Nolan. “I was also able to animate shapes such as stars, circles (donuts) and flowers which are especially effective to camera.”
Nolan also created chases and random strobe effects within each of the SmartLine battens, rippling colors along their length. Like the PixelSmart, SmartLine battens feature individually-addressable, high-intensity quad RGBW Cree LEDs, set in a 50mm deep, slimline housing which allows the LEDs to maintain equal pitch when stacked.
Off-stage, a mixture of both PixelSmart and SmartLine fixtures were located behind the door reveal for extra sparkle during the competitors’ entrances. “Along with the video backdrop, the PixelSmarts and SmartLines predominate in the dance numbers and performed a big task in filling space and creating good background effects,” says Nolan.
For the 2013 series, Nolan was charged with the additional task of lighting the audience in a way that would draw them into the overall action of the show to stimulate viewer donations. An additional 24 PixelSmarts were therefore placed behind the audience to add the extra sparkle in Nolan’s largest use of fixtures to date.
“We really like to use the PixelSmarts and SmartLines because they are unusual and extremely versatile pieces of kit,” says Routledge. “We like their cold white light which makes good sparkle effects and the warm white which enables us to replicate tungsten lighting. To light 30 dance numbers over the four-week run of Let’s Dance for Comic Relief was a tall order so we were grateful to be able to take advantage of the huge variety of effects each unit provides.”
