LOUISVILLE, KY – Sam White of MSI Production Services used 12 Chauvet Professional Q-Wash 560Z-LED fixtures at Senator Mitch McConnell’s victory celebration here on Election Night 2014. And although TV networks rarely see things eye to eye on election night, when it was over, virtually every TV crew member from NBC and ABC to CBS and Fox came over to thank him for making their jobs easier.
More details from Chauvet Professional (http://www.chauvetlighting.com/chauvet-pro/):
TV networks rarely see things eye to eye on election night, but they did this year when they witnessed the performance of the Q-Wash 560Z-LED at Senator Mitch McConnell’s victory celebration. Sam White of MSI Production Services used 12 of the moving LED washes from CHAUVET Professional at the event; and when it was over virtually every TV crew, from NBC and ABC to CBS and Fox, came over to thank him for making their jobs easier.
“They all remarked on how great they thought the light and color looked, and how the lighting played really well on TV and made it a more rewarding job for them,” said White, whose Lexington, KY-based company has handled lighting and production for multiple political events. “Typically, the lighting at these post-election events is very basic with no design element, but in this case the client made an investment in lighting and it showed. It’s unusual to get this many comments on a lighting rig from the press.”
White used 12 Q-Wash 560Z-LED fixtures, positioning them as curtain warmers and on upstage truss. “The curtain warmers were principally for television,” he said. “We didn’t want the standard hotel curtains in the background. (The event was held at the Louisville Marriott.) Hitting the curtain with the rich colors of the Q-Wash made the backdrop look much more inviting, both in person and on TV.”
An RGBWA fixture, the Q-Wash 560Z-LED produces deeply rich colors across a broad spectrum thanks in part to its use of amber. The fixture also features a wide zoom range, quick smooth movements and an intense output of 13,100 lux at five meters. All of these features came into play at the McConnell post-election event, thanks to the senator’s victory.
“You never know how things are going to turn out in an election,” said White. “So, we had the Q-Wash fixtures on the overhead truss to light the stage, but in the event that our client won, we were ready to rouse the crowd by using the units as audience lights.”
McConnell did indeed win; and true to his word, White pumped up the crowd by shooting red, white and blue light across the jam-packed room at the Marriott. “The Q-Washes have the punch and the color to create a festive atmosphere,” he said. “We liked the way they performed, plus we appreciated their low power draw. This was obviously an important Senate race and there were a lot of TV crews with cables running, so power was always a concern.”
On the subject of media coverage, White notes that the room had a three- tiered 48-foot long press box that was filled to capacity. The assembled journalists undoubtedly had different takes on the political campaign, but it’s safe to assume that all of them agreed that the Q-Wash 560Z-LED was a real winner this election night.
