ELP provide lighting and power for key stages of Papal visit

Three of the key event locations in the Pope’s itinerary were lit and powered by ELP as part of the BBC’s broadcasts and coverage of this historic occasion.

The Pope celebrated Mass in Westminster Cathedral which was lit with a mixture of ELP Fresnels, ETC Source 4's, and par cans. The LD was Bernie Davis and his design made the most of accentuating the splendid architecture in the cathedral. The area where the congregation sat was dimly lit and atmospheric, and this contrasted with brightness of the main alter area.

The Celebration of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey the day before was lit in much the same way by Bernie again using an assortment of ELP Fresnels, ETC Source 4's, and par cans. Highlighting the architecture was again paramount in the design ‘look’. Mark Gardiner was the Gaffer for both the Cathedral and the Abbey.

A third, slightly different event took place at Westminster Hall where the Holy Father delivered a televised speech to the UKs Civil Society. The audience included politicians, academics and business leaders. Bernie was the LD again but this time assisted by ELP Manchester gaffer and production manager Darren Fletcher. This venue is not so architecturally rich and so the lighting focused less on the surroundings and more on the main podium area where the pope delivered his speech. A simple but effective mixture of 1k and 2k Arri Fresnels plus par cans, all controlled by an ETC console did the job admirably.

“It's worth noting the magnitude of the logistics involved in these projects” remarks ELP Production manager Tony Slee.  “We loaded in all jobs within one day of each other, which during a very busy summer schedule, stretched our fleet of trucks and drivers to the maximum.  While co-ordinating these three jobs, we also had to be sensitive to the services and operations of the Cathedral and Abbey, which were continuing as normal throughout the rig and derig. For security, we had to provide full accreditation for all crew and drivers which involved liaison with multiple departments within each of the Abbey, Cathedral and Hall.  We also had to do all of this to The Pope's schedule, which was tight and occasionally changed.”

Within all three locations, ELP were praised by venue staff for how they carried out our work whilst paying full respect to the historic buildings and re-instating everything neatly afterwards.

ELP were especially proud of the power supplied to all three venues, by way of 6 x LitePower Generators.  Each LitePower can provide up to 110KW of power, and they are super silent units which can be synched together.  They look unobtrusive and it was noted by the cathedral staff how quiet and “nice” they were!