The five participating teams were given a piece of music chosen in advance by the judges, and a pre-determined rig of High End Systems' Fixtures. Their challenge was to release their full creative talent combined with good programming skills and to program a light show.
Colin Wood, freelance lighting designer, programmer and HOG4 Family trainer and product specialist, was onsite for coaching the teams during their preparations.
The Jury comprised some of the most respected industry lighting professionals: Ross Williams: Emmy Award winning lighting programmer and designer; Oli Metcalfe who works with some of the world's biggest music acts, and Frank Schotman: currently the High End Systems and HOG4 Family product specialist for AED Distribution who has worked across the World as Hog support for major international shows like the Turin Olympics.
Team 'Hogwarts' from Rose Bruford College and Team 'LXUSW" from the University of South Wales were selected for the Semi-Final. It was eventually Joe Lott, Harrison Routledge, Matt Kemp & Josh Palmer from Team Hogwarts who were believed to have the HOG Factor and were handed over the prize - a HedgeHog 4 console - by Nick Archdale, the original founder of Flying Pig Systems and inventor of the HOG consoles.
High End Systems kindly donated a second HedgeHog 4 to the runner up, Team 5 LXUSW, after showing great enthusiasm during the competition.
The Winning team 'Hogwarts' team captain Joe Lott shares, "All of us in the team have broad knowledge of different lighting consoles but none of us had every used a hog. The opportunity to use it programming physical lighting fixtures, rather than work in a visualizer was really valuable. Being able to get feedback from the judges is definitely an experience that we won't forget quickly.
"We all really enjoyed the experience in taking part in the HogFactor. The opportunity to learn the Hog4 system and programme lighting on the AED stand at PLASA was very valuable experience for us all. On the day of the competition our 30 minute pre-programming session was very intense with lots of button pushing. Though we managed to get everything done in the time and even managed to run though the show once.
"When it came time to run the show in front of the judges it was a bit nerve-wracking but show ran perfectly and we were all very happy with how it looked. It was great to finally see out show with real fixtures rather than staring at the screen of a visualiser.
" While there were a few small disparities between our final show and what we programmed in the visualiser we were pleased with the overall look of the show especially considering the complexity of the ShapeShifter fixtures. We were surprised and delighted when we won the competition and are enjoying using our new Hedgehog console. We would like to thank the Judges and AED for this great opportunity."
Judge Ross Williams comments, "It was a pleasure to be involved. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity for the participants under some fairly difficult circumstances, who all did very well. I'm sure they will have learned a lot from the whole experience and it was nice to see them rising to the challenge. Hopefully it will be the start of a number of such events, which are sure to inspire the next generation of programmers and designers."
Oli Metcalfe adds, "I was encouraged to see such willing to deliver under the pressure of a the situation they were faced with, which i might a
