Once again, the eye-catching lighting was designed by one of Mexico's best known LD's Tiffy (German Castellanos) with over 100 Robe fixtures on the rig, supplied by top rental company LED Project. Both are based in the pulsating capital city, CDMX.
It was Tiffy's ninth year of lighting the event which was broadcast live on four National TV channels Télévisa, Azteca, Channel 22 and Canal Once as well as being streamed live on You Tube.
To create a spectacular televisual and live experience, Tiffy worked closely with the rest of the FOH team that included video content director and producer Ivan Trujillo and FOH engineer Rudy Gonzales together with the venue's head of lighting Jorge Rios who operated the large conventional rig on one console, while Tiffy concentrated on the moving lights and other technology on a separate console as well as calling follow spots.
They - and monitor engineer Gustavo Zertuche - enjoy a great creative chemistry. "It is all about teamwork, sharing information and bouncing creatively off one another," says Tiffy, a process that gave TV director Marco Flavio Cruz all the looks and excitement he needed for a premium broadcast.
The stage aesthetic was originated by Salvador Patino and comprised a large central 5mm pitch central LED screen flanked by three curved 6mm screens a side, with two 2.4 mm presenter screens downstage left and right. Further out to the sides to cover the Auditorium were left and right IMAG screens.
Tiffy designed three 5m diameter circular trusses to fill the central over-stage void, with a straight back truss and both the front truss and a further back 'advanced' truss on the audience side of the proscenium.
With all that LED onstage he also knew he needed powerful fixtures and chose Robe's BMFL Spots and Pointes as his main workhorses.
Fifteen BMFL Spots were positioned on the circles, the front trusses and the advanced / audience truss. "The intensity of these fixtures is incredible, I love the gobos and the colour mixing" he enthused, further commenting that it was important to the overall design to use similar fixtures to light the onstage action and the audience, bringing a visual harmony to both areas which juxtaposed well on camera.
The 42 x Pointes were distributed around the trussing circles and above the most onstage pair of curved screens, on the front truss and the floor, and used for a wide range of colour and movement effects and WOW factor looks. "Having used Pointes for three years now I never tire of them or run out of visual ideas," comments Tiffy.
For general stage and crowd washing, he specified 24 x LEDWash 600s, 12 on the circles, six on the front truss and the rest on the audience truss.
The 12 Robe ColorStrobes were completely new for him. They were all rigged on the audience truss to assist with capturing the substantial audience interaction and animation throughout the event. "These strobes are totally crazy," he declared. "Capable of very beautiful effects with the big advantage of also being able to use them as floods". This was ideal for augmenting the audience illumination.
Six CycFX 8s on the front truss added to the arsenal of available audience luminaires. All this Robe technology was augmented with around 200 generics, supplied from the house rig, a mix of Moles, PARS and Lekos.
(Jim Evans)
