CLAY PAKY IS TOP OF THE POPS!
ITALIAN VERSION OF BBC HIT SHOW RETURNS WITH NEW-LOOK VISUALS
Presented by Daniele Bossari and Silvia Hsieh, the Italian version of the BBC's long-running Top Of The Pops chart show, has returned on Italia Uno, and for the first time this year, on the satellite channel Italia Teen Television... with a brand new staging look.
The most important innovation, revealed LDs Riccardo Barbaglio and Massimo Cavenaghi, is the new lighting system. Last year, the Italian TOTP stood out for the quality of its lighting effects, which received compliments from the BBC. This is one of the reasons why Einstein, the Italian TV production studios which work with Mediaset and the BBC, decided to invest more in lighting effects.
For the first time, the lighting system includes the new Clay Paky Alpha moving body projectors and the wall-mounted Point MH. Barbaglio commented: "These are innovative products for our market, with an incredibly luminous output and a host of high quality effects. Alpha Spot HPE features many different rotating and fixed gobos and an animation disc which can be combined with gobos for creative effects. Alpha Wash, on the other hand, has an incredible zoom and can diffuse colour perfectly at all angles, including short distance projections: this is essential when you are working in relatively small environments like this one."
Alpha Spot HPE and Alpha Wash were positioned on battens over both stages to guarantee special effects and illuminate the audience. A grid of Point MH projectors was fitted on to the right-hand wall of the studio. "The Point MH projectors were a revelation last year," continued Barbaglio. "Using just a 50 watt lamp, they are able to create clear-cut colour beams - this is mainly because of their top quality halogen lamp which is filtered perfectly by the digital camera.
"Point MH's compact size enables easy positioning in a small TV studio; it also 'animates' the scene while being an attractive feature of the set design. This year, we decided to create an entire wall to install a series of 20 Point MHs, which are all synchronised to the rhythm of the music."
The lighting system includes Stage Color 300s and Stage Light 300s in the chrome versions, Mini Scan HPEs, CP Color MHs, CP Color 400s and Stage Zoom 1200s: a variety of products able to provide any technical solution to filming as well as giving the program that distinctive Italian style.