ITALY – TV show designer Francesco De Cave’s production credits include Calzedonia Fashion Show, the Music Summer Festival series and Io Canto, which airs weekly on Italian national television. He also designed Laura Pausini’s World Tour, which commences in November. Over the years he has relied upon products from High End Systems, most recently the company’s Hog 4 range of control solutions.
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AUSTIN, TX — As one of the most prolific show designers in Italy, Francesco De Cave has had a long and successful career with High End Systems Hog control products. Following the introduction of the Hog 4 console line, Francesco has used the flagship desk on numerous high profile live and filmed events. His recent television work includes the Calzedonia Fashion Show, the Music Summer Festival series and Io Canto, which airs weekly on Italian national television. He also designed Laura Pausini’s World Tour, which commences in November.
Francesco’s passion for the entertainment world started at 14, when he attended his first concerts. “My story begins with a small local rental company”, he says, “and goes through national television work to 1999, when I landed my first Italian tour as a lighting operator. I began to create lighting for other artists, and in 2001 I ‘officially’ started my career as a lighting designer. Around 2005 I started focusing on production design, i.e. designing the entire show for my artists: scenic, lights and video.”
That same year Francesco met Vince Foster, who was working an Italian tour with the Whole Hog 2 desk. “Vince introduced me to a whole new world with the Hog 2, and showed me how to optimize its power,” says De Cave. The LD continued to use the Hog 2 and Hog 3 exclusively through the release of the new desk.
“The Hog 4 has everything that a lighting designer could desire,” he enthuses. “Speaking for designers that used Hog 3, we needed more power, improved speed and networking capabilities, and High End Systems delivered. And believe me, with 18 buttons that you can model for your individual needs, well, we are in heaven!”
Francesco finds that the Kind buttons are invaluable during programming, allowing him to easily reach all the fixtures parameters. During the show he normally uses them as flash or small cue lists for specials and effects. The designer says the enhanced screen real estate is another major advantage of the new desk. “I love the new screens, because they give me the chance to work with more palettes while programming; during shows my left screen is always on the cue list, and the right screen is on the page list. The central screen becomes the ‘group’ page, allowing me to quickly intervene in case I need to change some aspect of the show.”
De Cave (http://www.francescodecave.it/) is at the forefront of designers using the Hog 4 platform in Italy. “In our country it seems the masses tend to use other products, but High End’s assistance and customer service has been amazing 24/7. For really large scale shows and events, I’m confident because I know its advantages and reliability.” The LD typically employs a back up Hog console, and uses Catalyst media servers to control video content in his productions.
