Red Pepper's CEO Cecil Barry and facilities manager Marius Maritz joined forces with Gill, Cutts and van der Merwe to come up with a revolutionised set design and optimised LED lighting rig, including 14 x Philips Selecon Studio Panels, six Philips Selecon PLcyc1 luminaires and eight Philips Selecon SPX Zoomspot luminaires, supplied by DWR Distribution, for their studios in Linden, Melville and Braamfontein.
"I was very surprised with the Philips Selecon Studio Panels," said Maritz. "They perfectly lit the entire virtual rig, which is 112sq.m, and are amazing. I don't think we need any other lights for chroma key (green screen), and as a plus, the fixtures have variable colour temperature correction."
The Philips Selecon Studio Panel's variable colour temperature works from 2700K up to 6000K using a mixture of amber and white LEDs. In addition it is ideal for studio and location lighting as it can be easily transported around for a broad range of uses, and can be powered on location by the camera alone. It is also highly intuitive and easy to use, with three onboard buttons and a wheel, enabling the user to quickly adjust the colour temperature and dimming intensity.
The Red Pepper upgrade project began in 2013 when the studios gained a new client, Connect, who planned to produce three new game shows. Red Pepper therefore needed a cutting-edge LED rig to deliver quality lighting for the new shows and so turned to the versatile and powerful Philips Selecon PLcyc1 and SPX Zoomspot luminaires.
"The game show lighting needed vibrant and energetic colours which I achieved through the Philips Selecon PLcyc1 luminaires' simple but effective colour mixing," says Cutts. "I use them daily to flood certain confined areas of the set with their powerful, colour changing wash."
(Jim Evans)
