Lighting designer was Mario Bastos and the moving and digital lights were programmed and operated by Mario Rui. The show featured performances by Portugal's top entertainers, musicians, singers and comedians. Rui and Bastos and executive producer Rita Carrelo all worked closely with the team from Backlight to realise the event's technical production in the very tight timeframe.
Avolites Diamond 4 Vision and Elites are the consoles of choice for Rui, who programmes, operates and lighting directs for many of Portugal's leading TV shows. "I use the D4 for all my major shows" he states adamantly. On TVI, the D4 was controlling a mix of Vari*Lite VL500 (700 Arcs), SGM Palco 3s and Ribaltas, JTE PIxelPARs and PixelLines.
Rui says, "I really like the instant accessibility of all the features on the D4 - the fact that they are right there in front if you, so you don't have to navigate a load of menus."
Backlight also supplied the TVI show with Avolites ART 2000 dimmers, ARRI white lights, Robert Juliat Cyrano 2.5K followspots, Barco projection and an innovative 4 x 3 metre projection screen. The latter was made from tensioned strips of industrial strength knicker elastic, which allowed presenters and performers to enter stage right through its centre.
Bastos additionally took advantage of over 100 house moving lights, integrating them into his design, and these were also patched into the show system via the D4. These are normally be controlled by the house's own Avo Diamond 2, and their new Pearl 2008 consoles that were supplied to the venue by VeryLight (the sales arm of Backlight).
(Jim Evans)
