ELP defy the elements to light a 1 km lake for The Games
Following on from the success of last years production of the Games from Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium where athletic challenges were set for celebrity contestants, swimming from the English Institute of Sport arena and ice staking from the rink at iceSheffield. The latest version of the programme saw a new venue added to accommodate water sports as part of the competition.
The Rother Valley leisure park comprises a 1km long lake which is approx 250m wide. A perfect venue for water skiing and canoeing…..or so you would think!
The Games, of course, is transmitted live at 9pm each night on Channel 4 during the last week of March. The nights are usually cold, wet, windy and always dark.
ELP project manager Martin Brenhan and Crew Chief Joe Sherno provided the practical solutions for the LD Nick Collier for this massive logistical operation.
“Endemol’s production team had a general idea of what they wanted and consulted with me during the development stage.” comments LD Nick Collier
“I drew up plans to show them how this area compared to the Don Valley Stadium in size. You can fit seven Don Valleys into this area. The whole project needed meticulous planning both for safety concerns and to maximise lighting resource, budget and crew across the 1km site.”
The other issue, Nick explained, was that you only got about 45 minutes to rehearse. “Transmission was at 9pm. It got dark just after 8pm so we only had a short period of time to see the set in darkness, reposition lamps and fix something if there was a problem. And even then it was only twilight, so not properly dark enough to notice detailed lighting defects. There were fifteen cameras trained on the water to cover all angles for the skiing and canoeing. There was so much to check in a short period of time. But we got there in the end all thanks to a great crew”
Musco magic and versatile six lamp bars
Four Muscos were used to illuminate the four corners of the lake closest to the audience and camera positions. These huge transportable flood lights support 15 x 6k hmi’s and are typically used for grandstand lighting.
Additional Super Trooper follow spots were used to fill in any dark patches not covered by the Muscos
Nick placed rows of six lamp bars around lake. They stood vertically so looked like light strips on the horizon. 24 sets of six lamp bars were spread 15 metres apart so that on the far side of the lake shots didn’t just go off into darkness. They provided some fixed depth to the shots and reflected alternating colours back onto the water.
Power and safety
Two ELP twin set generators provided power across the site. One positioned either side of the lake.
As crew chief Joe Sherno explains “naturally there are safety issues with electricity so close to water, protocols to adhere to etc. We completed rigorous health and safety checks and risk assessments. We sunk a DMX cable across the 250 metre lake but kept lamps well away from water. We came up with a creative lighting solution in that we used reflective tape on dozens of buoys in the lake. This worked very well and provided the desired twinkling effect across the water.”
Joe continued “We couldn’t for example sink poles into the water and hang lights on because the newly trained water skiers were bound to veer off course and crash into them in the darkness."
Another safety concern which soon became apparent was the tidal wake caused by the speed boats. Strong waves slapped against the bank side so rows of floor cans and 2K’s had to be well protected. Another factor was the local weather. Lots of driving rain which made working conditions very difficult. The geographic aspect of the Rother Valley means that the wind rattles through the site at gale force rates. In addition to the sheer size of the project the elements really made this a production challenge. The experienced ELP crew came through with flying colours.