Up until the final series of 2011, Watson was lighting the Australian productions of The Biggest Loser and My Kitchen Rules on a series of LSC maXim consoles. With the shows growing in size, The Biggest Loser saw the largest maXim XXLP console loaded to its limits with moving lights and dimmers.
With the need for a platform upgrade in mind, Watson was able to assess Clarity software on his Mac notebook and realised just how easy it was to use in the 'live' environment most of his productions demand. Rarely are the shows shot in a broadcast studio with some being produced in disused military buildings and naval dock yards, agricultural sheds, community centres and bare walls studios.
The key to this style of operation and its success has been off-site planning. The Clarity LX series cross platform inter-operability with the PC and Mac software has allowed Strauss to create shows on Clarity software on a laptop while the LX Consoles are in use elsewhere and then bring the show file to site on a USB stick. This has minimised the time required onsite doing patching etc and maximised resources available for rigging truss and luminaires, and running the power and data distribution that these locations and sizeable rigs demand.
(Jim Evans)
