ROBE STARS AT EMMY AWARDS
ColorSpot 1200 AT FIXTURES MAKE MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO TYLER LITTMAN'S DESIGN
Robe Show Lighting's ColorSpot 1200 AT fixtures were integral to LD Tyler Littman's eye-catching design for the 32nd International Emmy Awards Gala, staged at the New York Hilton. Lighting design and consultancy for the star-studded, high profile event and TV broadcast was supplied by Littman's New York based company Sholight, and See Factor supplied the equipment.
It was the first time that Littman had used these Robe moving heads, which came highly recommended by several people including Emmy crew colleagues, Ed Duda and Eric Perry, who had both worked with the fixtures on Deep Purple's 2004 Bananas world tour.
Littman specified 18 ColorSpot 1200s - Robe's top-of-the-range most powerful fixtures - for the Emmys design, combined with assorted generic fixtures which he programmed and operated via a GrandMA console. He was highly impressed with the ColorSpot 1200's performance, stating, "Robe's will become the new workhorses of my designs".
For the show, he utilised the ColorSpot 1200s for the dual roles of accenting on the set and for washing the whole stage, where the exceptional variance of the ColorSpot 1200's zoom allowed him to shift the units from being hard edge fixtures to wash lights. To create an even softer beam, he used the frost filter - "by far one of the best I have seen to date" he commented, adding that its smooth transitions are "a real plus in a TV environment where fast transitions can be seen as shifts in luminance."
Littman likes the "incredible" light output which holds up exceptionally well on camera, and also the standard gobo selection, which he used to create "nice breakups and beautiful graphic beams" for the show. He also placed two units upstage on the floor to help create atmospheric effects on camera, where once again the fixture's intensity came into its own. "On camera, the fixtures beams looked solid rather than almost imperceptable splotches - an issue I've had with other fixtures in the past."
The 1200s were also employed to create back lighting for the presenters, including host Graham Norton - and again, "the intensity, the strong colour system and the fantastic zoom" allowed him to generate the ideal type and quality of rear light needed for a large televised event. Littman added: "Finally here's an affordable lighting tool with all the top components needed to become a new industry standard."