UK - People arrived at the Bethel Convention Centre in Birmingham early for Zimbabwe-born gospel worshipper Eleana Makombe’s Grateful Concert in June. Coming from across the UK, they waited outside in line for over two hours. For them, patience was a virtue, something that would make the time pass easier.
Blessing Bero, production and lighting designer for the African star’s widely anticipated show, was still sourcing gear just two days before load-in due to circumstances beyond his control.
Bero, who is a Zimbabwean based lighting designer with Events Evolution, responded to this pressure-packed situation with calm. Working his industry contacts, he was hooked up with SJ Grevett of DMX Productions.
“DMX Productions did an amazing job under pressure,” said Bero. “Their people were extremely helpful, as was the crew at the convention centre. We had a great technical support from the in-house technician. In the end, we had a production that all of us could take pride in.”
The rig provided by DMX Productions had over 40 Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 10 Rogue R3 Beams, 12 Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWashes, five COLORado PXL 16 motorised battens, 12 STRIKE Array 2C blinders, and four Ovation E-910FC colour rendering ellipsoidals.
Bero and his colleague technical project manager Tatenda Gaylord Rushwaya, along with the rest of their Events Evolution team used this rig to create a seamless flow of engaging looks that supported Makombe and the 10 guests who joined her on stage in a rousing uplifting performance.
For the LED video wall, Bero collaborated with his colleague Rushwaya. They reshuffled the apparent configuration of the video wall, blacking out its centre, so at times it looked like two distinct walls, instead of one. The images displayed on the wall were as varied as the lighting. Often, those images were reflected in the patterns of the lightshow. For example, at one point when Bero had a celestial-like matrix pattern displayed on the screen, he echoed them with bright whitewashes and beams.
