The debate took place at the Curb Event Centre in front of 125 undecided voters chosen by the Gallup Organization. Tom Brokaw, of NBC News, moderated the debate between Republican Senator John McCain and recently appointed United States of America President-elect, Senator Barack Obama.
Lighting designer Chris Lisle was asked to create an architectural lighting design for Belmont University during the debate broadcast. The design consisted of lighting the three major focal points of the evening. "The east entrance of the Curb Event Centre was the most important area because this was not only the media entrance to the debate, but it was also the primary external camera shot for the network stand-up positions," Lisle explained. "Second, we lit the Belmont Boulevard entrance, which was primarily used by the debate attendees as well as the VIPs that were invited. Finally, we lit [Belmont's] Bell Tower, which is the highest point on campus and was also used as a background for several major network stand-up shots."
Lisle said a challenge of this design was the placement of cable paths. "The Secret Service carefully oversaw all aspects of security for the event - not just from potential human threats, but from trip hazards as well. We had to make sure that cables crossing walkways were at an absolute minimum, even if that meant pulling 200ft of extra cable to go around the walkway rather than over it."
The biggest concern when making gear choices was the possibility of rain, so Lisle chose to use conventional fixtures powered directly from distros rather than dimmers. He used 6-lamp bars to light the majority of the buildings and used ETC Source Fours to light the signage that hung on the structures. Source 4 Pars were used to light the columns and illuminate the dark areas of the buildings.
(Jim Evans)
