BROOKLYN, NY — LD Tom Kenny used an array of Coemar lighting fixtures supplied by Atomic Lighting to lend a theatrical look to the sixth annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2009, taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.
Tracy Morgan hosted for the third consecutive year, sharing the stage with Eminem, Ludacris, Mary J. Blige, Method Man, Public Enemy, Ja Rule, DMX, Redman, and Ashanti. The show marked the first time Hip Hop Honors saluted a record label, Def Jam Recordings, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Kenny used an array of Coemar Infinity Wash XLS and Infinity ACL S moving heads as well as ParLite LEDs. His goal was to “make hip hop elegant without losing the dynamics of the music,” he said. “I wanted to give hip hop a beautiful and grand look befitting the opulence of the opera house location. The Coemars fit perfectly with the artistic direction I was given.”
Kenny hung 98 Coemar Infinity Wash XLs as a “massive wall of lights” upstage where they serve as a backdrop for the performers, taking advantage of the fixtures’ brightness, CMY and RGB color mixing, effects wheel for texture and aerial effects with wash light as well as a beam shaper rotating and indexing at 360 degrees.
To give a shape to the stage and pit, Kenny used 24 Infinity ACL S units. “They graphically drew the whole stage out into the audience and gave it that classic beam look,” Kenny said.
Coemar’s ParLite LED, with standard lens with 12 degrees, meanwhile, can be used as a digital substitute for the analog PAR can. It provides a 75-82 percent energy savings compared to traditional technology at the same brightness and is light in weight, quiet and flicker-free. Its features include RGB color mixing and electronic strobe plus synchronized, random and pulse effects.
Lee Rolontz executive produced Hip Hop Honors for VH1 with Jac Benson of Blacjac Entertainment. Nelson George and Fab 5 Freddie were co-executive producers; Louis J. Horvitz directed.
For more information, visit www.icd-usa.com.
