BLACKBURN, U.K. – HSL supplied moving lights, LED fixtures, followspots and generics for Ant & Dec's new "Push The Button" family challenge TV game show produced by independent company Gallowgate. The first of the six-part series, aired on ITV, proved a Saturday night ratings success. HSL worked with LD Tom Kinane, and the program was directed by Nikki Parsons and recorded at Pinewood Studios' S-Stage. HSL's project manager was Sean McGlone.
"It's always good to work with Tom. His shows are imaginative and interestingly lit, he chooses his lighting instruments judiciously and gets the very best out of all them," McGlone said.
The set, designed by Dominic Tolfts, was very wide with a series of gently curved Lycra fins, which also served as light-boxes around the
side wing areas.
A large "playing area" in the middle was flanked by illuminated set elements left and right, and various props and stage trucks were pushed on and off stage through a central rear opening, back-stopped with a structure of sun-strips and a Space Flower for white-out moments.
There were elements of Art Deco in the styling and some classic games show elements inspired by Britain's popular Generation Game TV show from the 1970s and 1980s.
Most of the set pieces were fabricated from vacuum formed gray plastic, colored by the light fixtures. A theatrical-style front curtain came in and out, and this was trimmed with strips of "ribbon" LED, which was also threaded around various segments of the set, working as a delineater and a shaper.
Kinane and Tolfts worked to fuse the scenic and lighting elements on the set, which used LED surfaces only sparingly to distance itself from other TV programs.
Kinane said his biggest creative challenge was making a few lighting fixtures "go a real long way" in terms of effects and treatments. Everything on the rig had to multi-task and work really hard to keep the variety, sparkle and bounciness of the show alive.
The moving lights supplied by HSL included a mix of Vari*Lite 1000 and 3000 spots and washes which were used for set dressing, coloring and texturing and floor washing. More Vari*Lite fixtures, including 2500 Spots from Automated Lighting, were positioned on the floor and used for standard beam eye-candy work.
HSL supplied 32 PixelPARs, which were used to uplight the fins on each side, and 20 i-Pix BB4s, which were rigged onto side booms for cross-stage side swipes, again very theatrical in style and positioning.
HSL also supplied some of the many i-Pix Satellites that Kinane used around the set. The Satellites were used to dress the stairs very effectively, and were able to cut through even at a 15 to 18 foot distance. "It's an absolutely brilliant tool" Kinane said, of the i-Pix gear.
Joining Kinane in the control room were Max Conwell, moving light operator, who used his Chamsys MagicQ console; and James Ashdown from Automated Lighting, who controlled all the LED sources and generics from his ETC Congo desk.
The show's line producer was Marcus McKinlay, and gaffer Richard Jarvis was assisted by Chrissie Hyde. The vision control team consisted of Steve Williams, Simon Lyon and David Griffiths, and the ribbon LEDs were all sourced by Simon Deary of LED Poison.
For more information, please visit www.hslgroup.com.
