"The design for Soapstar Superstar was based on the fact that thecompetitors on the show are stars of the small screen - hence the designis primarily based around screens," explains Bingemann. "The set isn'tdissimilar to last year's, with a few gaps filled in, especially whenthe camera looks back into the audience, as they tend to with this typeof show.
"TV studios always have weight limits in terms of the amount of kitwhich can be hung from the roof, and we were right up against that limitthis time round - so it's helpful that G-LEC panels are so lightweight,as well as being flexible and easy to use. We also used somePhantomFrames in the backstage area behind a frosted Perspex panel,which gave a really interesting effect. The LEDs on G-LEC workparticularly well in the background of closeup shots."
Al Gurdon adds: "We felt that the first series set a benchmark for thistype of show, but that in the ensuing year the bar had been raised, andthat the show would need additional investment in state of the arttechnology in order to move with the times.
"We put in about 20% morelighting, mainly in the audience areas, which are quite importantbecause of the way these shows are shot, but which are generally fairlylow down the pecking order when it comes to placing technology such asmoving lights and screens. For a studio of that size, it was pretty big,to the extent that it wouldn't have looked small in a 10,000 seatarena."
PRG Europe supplied the rig of moving and conventional lights,including over 200 Vari*Lite luminaires, 70 Pixel Line battens and ETCSource Four and Source Four Zooms, along with an Mbox media server, aVirtuoso console and two Wholehog IIs with expansion wings.
Gurdon says: "We needed a lighting design that would be versatileenough to produce a variety of mood and dynamics equal to that of themusical performances. Time was a challenge, as each performer would besinging something different each night, and neither the performer northe production team would know what that would be until the previousevening's show. The lighting rig was designed to work against what isbasically quite a small studio space, by creating a false sense ofperspective, everything converging toward an imaginary vanishing pointsomewhere beyond the back of the studio. The effect of this was to makethe studio look much larger than it actually was."
Gurdon is designing the lighting for theBRIT Awards, to be held at Earl's Court tomorrow, another largeTV event on which he is working with PRG Europe. PRG Europe also workedat this weekend's BAFTA awards, lit by Steve Nolan and set design byPeter Bingemann.
Project managers at PRG Europe for Soapstar Superstar were Mick Healeyand Loz Wilcox. Dancing on Ice project manager was John McEvoy.
(Chris Henry)
