One Show and Bunny Town show ELP versatility

Two recent projects with LD Dave Evans demonstrate the diversity and range of productions that ELP are able to service. Both very different in style and content, The One Show and Bunny Town feature many of ELP’s new equipment range.
The One Show, broadcast live on BBC1 at 7pm every weekday, has been getting excellent ratings and reviews. It’s now the biggest factual commission in the BBC's history and is being made by BBC Vision Studios. The audience recently peaked at 4.1 million. With its distinctive LED set, The One Show differs visually from the usual thing you might expect to see on a magazine show. The set has a more ‘light entertainment’ feel as Dave Evans explains: “LED lighting was extensively used to reduce air conditioning costs and to provide ease of colour changing at a push of a button.

Pixel pars were extremely useful fixtures with their small size footprint and punchy light characteristics.
By using LED’s, I was able to balance the internal lighting with the outside world during both winter and summer months without changing the lighting specs.”

ELP supplied 40 pixel pars, 24 pixel lines, 20 pulsar chromaflood 200TC and a new Road Hog lighting desk.

For Bunny Town, ELP supplied studio lighting at Elstree Film Studios for this 26-episode Disney production. This live-action puppet series for children follows the fun-filled hi jinks of the inhabitants of Bunny Town -- the Funny Bunnies.

Dave Evans’ equipment list for this project focussed on a selection of tungsten fresnels and cyc lights. Dave explains, “the production used an old fresnel called the Mizar. Although a lot of people disliked this fitting, I like the compactness and ease of rigging that it offers.“

He continues, “the sets on these productions were of a very small scale and this meant fine control had to be exercised to obtain accurate modelling. Chimera lights were used to give a high-quality base light effect. Source 4 fixtures with soft focus gobos were used to texture the set surfaces.”

Another new piece of kit available for hire through ELP is the MAC LC Video Panel. The LC Series is a semi-transparent, modular system of LED panels, perfect for displaying video and images. Designed for stage shows, TV studios and other commercial applications, the LC closely integrates light, video and set design, offering entirely new possibilities. The LC is an extremely bright video source. With an output of 1800 NITs (Cd/m2), the LC is clearly visible in daylight, making it suitable for large-scale and outdoor productions.

“We recently provided the panels for BBC’s coverage of T In The Park as part of the studio set and on the National Eisteddfod of Wales as a key element of the main performance stage,” comments ELP’s Darren Fletcher.

“The great advantage of the system is the speed and ease of rigging and brightness of the panels even in daylight. They can be connected to any media server via a simple DVI system.”

Brand new to BBC One for 2008 is a show called The One And Only. It’s a primetime Saturday night talent show presented by Graham Norton showcasing the cream of tribute act talent in a quest to crown the UK’s best tribute act.
Mark Kenyon is the LD and although the main programme will be based at TV centre, ELP have been providing location lighting, rigging and power for the filming of auditions around the country.
Similarly, ELP have been touring around the country providing location services for another new series on BBC One - The Big Questions. Produced by Mentorn, this live Sunday morning ethics debate show, hosted by Nicky Campbell, sees panellists discuss a range of topical moral questions with a live studio audience.

Paul Devine is the LD with a conventional lighting rig provided by ELP. The rig includes tungsten fresnels and photon beard fluorescent fittings to keep power consumption down and also to reduce the heat output in the venues which are often small community centres and school halls.

“This really is a self-contained mobile production” comments ELP hire manager, John Singer. “The whole show literally fits into one ELP truck. Lighting, rigging, set, crew and audience seating are all packed into one 45ft articulated truck”