Sutcliffe's choice of lighting was largely determined by the set that was designed by Marcus Blee. His original thoughts were to use rope lighting in the actual set to provide lines of light, however Sutcliffe realized this to be a great opportunity to use a large number of Pulsar ChromaBanks - 65 in total. To complement the ChromaBanks, 36 ChromaPanels (which were also rope lights in the original plans) were built into the ceiling and catwalk area of the stage. Sutcliffe says these were "perfect for using under the perspex flooring and illuminating the catwalk area of the stage, which also happened to be the performance area - an added bonus!"
Sutcliffe comments on his choice of LED lighting: "Although the mixing can be 'steppy' and there is no dimmer, I favoured the LED lighting due to its immediate response and brightness - especially in the ChromaBanks. The majority of numbers sung by the contestants were ballads, thus it was necessary to create a number of moody looks, which proves to be a challenge when you need to keep these looking different. However this is when the ChromaBanks came into their own as they can create very striking looks."
Moving light operator Ross Williams, had both the ChromaBanks and ChromaPanels running on wide mode (42-channel), using seven streams of DMX in total to control the lighting rig - this is to date one of the largest LED lighting shows. In addition to the LED lighting, Sutcliffe used a moving light rig consisting of 22 Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200s, 15 Vari*Lite VL2402s, 16 Martin MAC 600s and three Stage Colour 300s, also from Clay Paky.
Sutcliffe explains: "The Stage Zoom 1200s were used for projection and beam work on the floor cube part of set. They were useful for providing watery effects and animated beams which were good for the ballads." He continues: "The Stage Colour 300s are used for under-floor dressing and the MAC 600s are used for block colour washes under the perspex, highlighting flying pieces and colouring the sides of the set. The Vari's created refreshing looks and provided good impact. We added VL2202s as extras for some of the shows, which were brilliant for set gobos, fast colour bumping and projecting strong images. I enjoy using the Vari's for their strong colour and precision."
Although working to an extremely tight schedule, with the lighting team not having as much time as they'd have liked to play around with the lights, the team still managed to achieve a visually striking show.
(Lee Baldock)
