The event, which was this year hosted by Australian actor and TV presenter Mark Little, has become a highlight in the lighting and video design world, providing a platform to recognise the hard work and boundless creativity demonstrated in the industry. With over 500 lighting and video professionals attending the award ceremony, the pressure was on for Hawthorn to deliver a spectacular production, with their lighting designer Chris Green taking up the gauntlet.
Producing a lighting design that fitted the look and feel of the venue perfectly, Chris used a mixtures of Clay Paky and Ayrton fixtures. "Two sweeping curved trusses protruded from the back of the stage into the auditorium, above the heads of the audience" said Chris. "I fitted these with sixteen of Hawthorn's new-to-stock Clay Paky Scenius Profiles to create a big beam look and then placed another six on the floor at the back of the stage to add depth and detail in the dead space around the stage.
"I also used ten Clay Paky Mythos fixtures in my design, with six used for a stage wash and the other four used for fill in within the advanced areas of the auditorium."
Framing the screen and adding dynamics to the award sting, Chris incorporated 14 Ayrton MagicBlades into his design, with six Clay Paky Sharpys adding detail above the screen, utilising the vast height of the venue. Twenty-four pendant squirrel cage lamps under the screen completed the design, tying in the vintage feel of the venue whilst also adding detail and texture behind the presenters.
For video, Hawthorn used one 12m x 4m projection screen, created using their bespoke solid frame system, and a Barco S3 - 4k Screen Management System to switch the content.
The in-house sound system provided the audio for the event with Hawthorn bringing in a DiGiCo SD9 digital mixing console and six channels of Sennheiser Radio Mic.
Tom Ring, Hawthorn project manager, said, "Working on the Knight of Illumination event is a high pressure job, with everyone's work on display in front of the great and the good of the industry. We always challenge ourselves to make each year bigger and better and with this year's ceremony being held at the stunning Apollo, it enabled us to surpass anything we have done before."
Sarah Rushton-Read, creative director at The Fifth Estate, said, "This year's Knight of Illumination was bigger, better and more sparkling than ever. Working with Hawthorn is always a pleasure and this year Chris Green, Tom Ring and his team pulled out all the stops ensuring that our limited budget worked as hard as possible and creating a set, lighting and video design that befitted the beautiful environment of the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo."
(Jim Evans)
