JOHANNESBURG – Lighting designer Mauritz Neethling of LCD Productions used Robe moving lights at the core of his rig for the finale of Survivor South Africa Santa Carolina, which was broadcast from M-Net's Studio 6 in Johannesburg. The brief was to recreate the "rustic" feel of Paradise Island in Mozambique, where the bulk of the action took place, complete with a technical team and equipment from sister company Blond Productions who were supplying lighting for the location episodes of the series.
The studio measures 18 meters deep by 30 meters wide, with 10 meters of headroom, and the Robe fixtures used were 12 ColorSpot 700E ATs, 12 ColorSpot 250 ATs and 12 Scan 575 XTs.
The 700s were used as front light for the "tribal" area, and to create realistic fire effects. Neethling also uses the 700's animation wheel for water effects.
The Scan 575 XTs, corrected to CT blue, were used as back-light over the audience, which proved effective for the wide camera shots.
South African pop band Freshly Ground were the guest artists, so for the performance area, Neethling sought to create a classier and more subdued feel. This is where the 12 ColorSpot 250E ATs came in.
They were positioned on the floor, primarily to create beam looks into the jib camera. Eight additional ColorSpot 700E ATs were rigged on the grid over the performance area, with much use made of the glass breakup gobos.
The band, who also wrote the series' theme song, performed two songs to camera and entertained the audience in the commercial breaks.
All the lighting – which also included 1 and 2K fresnels, Softlights, PARs and LED fixtures off a grandMA full size console operated by Kevin Rieck.
Neethling, who has used Robe products since 2004, spoke favorably of the gear, noting, "I would definitely say that the zoom function is far superior than some of the competitor units, especially in certain studios here in SA, where roof height is often challenging."
The Blond crew dealt with a short time for load-in – on the Sunday before a Wednesday live telecast, and since the set was already built, only half of the moving trusses could be lowered and much of the rig had to be hung using scaffolding and step ladders, adding to the challenge.
Along with the crew and gear, however, all the cast members survived, and the contest was won by GiGi, an exotic dancer.
For more information, please visit www.robe.cz
