AUSTIN – Cornerstone AV has invested in High End Systems’ Sola series of automated LED luminaires, adding 50 flagship SolaFrame 3000s to its rental inventory. The HES gear was deployed immediately, illuminating three nights of ‘A Kurt Bestor Christmas’ in nearby Salt Lake City. Michael Frantz, lighting department supervisor of the American Fork, UT company, said their third time to light the Christian singer’s holiday show was “the best ever.”
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LD Matt Endicott, Cornerstone’s lighting designer for the Kurt Bestor shows, agreed. He enjoyed using the SolaFrame 3000’s package of features along with its bright output. “It is the total package: shutters and the even output, along with its primary function of color temperature consistency for key lights. That is what aced it for us: the uniform field, shutters and ability to light a big arena show. Everything else was icing on the cake.”
The SolaFrame 3000s were used for all purposes, for key light, floor light, “wispy” aerial beams with prisms and dual gobos and graphic effects. ”I found one spot in each song to use each feature of the fixture,” Endicott notes. “The feature set was awesome – we got a lot of cool looks out of them. I’m psyched that we got them. I don’t see a need for any other light.”
Frantz also supplied Endicott with 16 HES SolaWash 2000s. The show’s three nights at the Eccles Theatre were captured on camera – and the SolaFrames came through with flying colors. “The colors just read,” Endicott enthuses. “With arc lights everything would turn purple and blue and ambers muddy. This was nice and crisp and the fact that you’re not getting color shift … it’s awesome.”
He adds, “I love the SolaFrame 3000s so much that I forget that it’s not arc, it’s an LED engine – it has that level of punch. It punches. The system works nicely together. I can’t wait until the next show to use them again.”
A Hog 4 console ran the show, while a Road Hog 4 controlled a media server backstage. The LD declares himself “a Hog guy since the beginning.” He says, “We are a Hog house. We love them. HES has caught up if not surpassed on features for programmers. The GUI itself is a friendlier, happier GUI. The color coding and features that have been implemented recently really streamlined it.”
Endicott says the combination of SolaFrames with Hogs was “state of the art meets state of the art.”
Photos: Matthias Busche
