BERGAMO, Italy – LD Carlos Colina specified 50 Clay Paky Sharpy lighting fixtures and grandMA2 lighting systems for the 12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, telecast live Nov. 10 on Univision Network. Atomic Lighting of Lititz, PA, supplied the equipment for the second consecutive year. This year’s show took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
More details from Clay Paky (http://www.claypaky.it):
BERGAMO, Italy – Atomic Lighting of Lititz, PA, the exclusive lighting equipment supplier for the second consecutive year to the Latin Grammy Awards, recently provided the show with 50 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures along with three grandMA2 light systems with fader wings to control the show’s lighting and another two full-size grandMA2 consoles to run 16 universes of Artnet for the video content.
Latin music’s most prestigious awards telecast, the 12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards was telecast live Nov. 10 on Univision Network from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Since its debut on Univision entirely in Spanish in 2005, the show has consistently increased its ratings worldwide; it is also one of Univision’s highest rated shows as well as the most watched and highly regarded awards event by Hispanics.
Atomic’s vice president of operations Brett Puwalski, the show’s gaffer for the last five years, introduced LD Carlos Colina to the Sharpy at the Premio Juventud awards show on Univision last summer. “He loved the tight beam and how bright it was for its small size,” says Puwalski. “Carlos has said he can never have enough of them.”
Colina deployed the Sharpys on trusses over the stage to create beam looks and also placed the fixtures around the audience to illuminate shots for commercial bumpers.
Sharpy is a 189W moving head fixture. At 16 kg., Sharpy produces a parallel, laser-like beam with an output of 5,100 footcandles at 65 feet. Sharpy produces a sharply defined beam, free of any halo or discoloration around the edges. It offers an interchangeable color wheel with 14 fixed colors and an interchangeable gobo wheel with 17 fixed gobos, allowing users to change the shape of the beam and create an array of mid-air effects. Sharpy can perform rapid and extensive pan-and-tilt movements.
Puwalski reports that Sharpys are “definitely the hot light to use right now. But people are finding them hard to come by since they’re constantly in use.” He says, “Clay Paky pretty much innovated the beam light, and Sharpy is by far superior to similar fixtures on the market. For a fixture that small and lightweight, Sharpy performs like a lamp that’s way brighter.”
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, adds, “We’re pleased with the way our lights have been used for the Latin Grammy Awards. Atomic Lighting has always been a great customer and continues to find innovative applications for our lights.”
Atomic’s vice president of operations Brett Puwalski, who has served as the show’s gaffer for the last five years, reports that the grandMAs performed “solidly – as always.” For video programmer Laura Frank, the Latin Grammy Awards marked her first big show with the grandMA2. It was also the first show that Atomic did with the grandMA2 series. “Everything went very well, and Laura loved them,” says Puwalski. “This was a very video-driven show with video projection, LEDs and VersaTubes.”
Lighting programmers Felix Peralta and Kevin Lawson had used grandMA2s on “Sing Off” and “America’s Best Dance Crew,” but the Latin Grammys were their first experience with the system’s new software release. “Sometimes software upgrades come with bugs and issues,” notes Puwalski. “But there were no complaints about the new software. We hope to stick with the upgraded software whenever possible since everybody loves its added features.”
John Daniels and Darren Langer were the lighting directors for the Latin Grammy Awards; Alex Flores, Dave Hunkins and Mike Smallman the lighting technicians; and Felix Peralta and Kevin Lawson the lighting programmers.
A.C.T Lighting is the North American distributor for Clay Paky.
