Comic Relief Does Fame Academy

Question:
What do you get if you cross…?

• 770 generic and moving lights
• 12.5 kilometres of cable
• 1 kilometre of truss, scaffolding and bundles of rigging
• 2 x 500k synched generator twin sets

With the

• Talent and creativity of LD Mark Kenyon
• Ingenuity of LD / board operator Will Charles
• Skill of board operator Roger Williams
• Experience and muscle of a six man ELP crew

Answer:
One of the most visually diverse and optically impressive television shows of the year!
Thirteen celebrities went head-to-head in the ultimate singing competition for charity and whether or not you approved of their vocal performances, you have to admit that the event was a production triumph.

Three different shows for BBC One, BBC Three and CBBC were produced by Endemol and transmitted daily. Digital viewers (or should that be ‘voyeurs’) were also able to access continuous reality broadcasts from 9am-midnight.

Everything about this production was complex and on a big scale. From a lighting point of view there were multiple formats to consider. There was the main BBC One performance stage which required the prime time ‘light entertainment’ production values one would expect. The BBC Three stage which combined performance areas with a chat show and interview set. This also incorporated the CBBC space which required an alternative fresher, youthful approach. Then there was all the ‘reality’ areas such as bedrooms, interview rooms, common room, dining area, dance studio and headmasters office.

Power, cable, cable and…more cable.

We will examine the lighting approach for each show format but first let’s just consider the infrastructure which had to be installed before anything could begin.

Gus Kid-Stanton – ELP's Head electrician and lord of dimmer racks arrived on site several weeks before anyone else to map out cable runs for the building, the OB trucks, production offices, dressing rooms and catering facilities across the production village.

“This old college building is like a rabbit warren. Corridors and staircases seem to go on indefinitely” remarked Gus. “The amount of power we had to pipe around the site was staggering. We must have laid around 12.5 Kilometres of various kinds of cable which is nearly 8 miles! We filled two large rooms just with dimmer racks.”
Two of ELP’s 500kw generator twin sets provided 24 hour synchronised power provision for the site. Due to the reality element of the programme something somewhere was always going on.

The ELP crew headed up by Joe Sherno installed extensive trussing systems around the building. Most notably in the main BBC One Studio area where a circular truss loomed over the main stage supported by seven ground support towers.

Main Stage lighting

Apart from around 60 Source 4’s the equipment list for the main stage area comprised an assortment of digital moving lights:

10 x Studio Colors
16 x Martin Mac 2000
40 x Martin Mac 500
42 x Thomas Pixel Pars

Also used were an assortment of LEDs including Chroma Pars , Chromastrips and some new LED colour blocks provided by AC Lighting for road testing.

Chroma strips were mainly used to decorate the wooden viewing gallery. The gallery encircled the stage so the LED strips provided a very useful background perimeter.

Lighting the audience was not really a priority on the show so if they needed illuminating at any stage this was typically done with pixel pars.

A video wall surrounded the stage and Catalyst generated movie loops of the Fame Academy logo were delivered onto a transparent stage floor via buried LED’s.

As Board operator Roger Williams explains making best use of technology was vital in creating a different look for each performance.

“We were working a 10 show itinerrary which, if you multiply by the number of contestants doing a turn on each show, you are looking at 96 different performances over the series. I had to programme a different look to match the mood of each song. The Catalyst system, the versatility of LED’s and the functionality of studio colors, macs and pixel pars allowed me to do something different for every performance.”

Lighting the ‘reality’ areas

A very different range of ELP kit was used to illuminate the reality areas. Included were:

16 x Arri Junior 650W fresnel
60 x Photon Beard Highlights
20 x Outdoor 500W sun flood
12 x Arri 5KW pole operated softlight
70 x MR16 birdie silver – (long nose)
100 x Black Birdies

Generally Photon Beards were deployed for the ‘daytime look’ while Birdies were used for a ‘night time’ look. Unlike the regular ‘reality’ lighting approach where a bright daytime look is the norm, LD Mark Kenyon decided upon something different.

He decided to incorporate more depth to the scenes by making use of light and shade and did away with the general white wash you normally get on ‘reality’ productions

He explains “I wanted to approach it more like a drama. The reality aspect was a fairly small percentage of the overall show output so I felt that I had room to experiment. Overall I was pleased with the results.

He continues..” In the main dining room / common room area I didn’t correct the windows in the background. I wanted to make best use of the fantastic view over Tower Bridge and the river Thames. Arri 5K softlights were used to fill out this space during the day."

BBC Three Studio – creative lighting in a versatile space

This stage had a variety of different functions. It was used for performances, interviews and as a base for CBBC. Therefore the lighting list was a combination of fixed and moving lights comprising:

18 X Arri Junior 650W fresnel
7 X Source 4
4 X Thomas PAR 64 long nose can (black)
30 X Thomas PAR64 short nose floorcan blk
3 X MR16 birdie silver - shortnose
19 X Studio Spot 575W F/F Profile spot
11 X Martin Mac 2000E
15 X Martin Mac 600
5 X Martin Mac 300

Will Charles working on a Whole Hog II console managed this area. But as Will explains the logistics of the building made life ‘interesting’.

“The building was not very practical. We were in the oldest part of the college which resembled an old village hall with a barn-like pitched roof. The only access was up three flights of a narrow spiral staircase so I felt for the ELP crew who had to do some real grunt work”

“There was no way you could hide the kind of building you were in so I tried to work with the architecture and accentuate certain aspects. For example we painted their ghastly radiators silver and shone a blue wash on them and they looked fantastic”

The ‘crazy’ set in this studio was designed by Patrick Docherty and Will helped to augment the round circular designs with MR16’s around the side wells and plasma screens in the centre. LED Chroma strips were hung around the old wooden gallery which helped to frame the set while interviews were in progress.

Will was particularly proud of the Chroma panels he engineered. Bromide transparencies with line art sketches of the contestants were placed on top of the light panels and hung up as a backdrop to the set. As each contestant was knocked out of the competition the bromide was removed.
“I did something similar on another show called Dirty Laundry once before” said Will. It worked well then so I just adapted the idea for Fame Academy. Using LED’s like this is a cost effective way to create interesting set designs”

“Budget was a crucial factor with this BBC Three set so we had to be creative. Also ELP’s MD Ronan Willson is worth a mention. Without his generosity this stage would not have looked as good as it did. He helped us make the budget go further”