Brigidine College St Ives is an independent catholic girls school committed to challenging young women and inspiring them to follow their motto by acting in the world “with Strength and Gentleness”. Founded in 1954 by the Brigidine Sisters, the College provides a holistic education for girls combining the spiritual, academic, physical and cultural dimensions of learning. The College is non-selective and delivers a broad choice of curriculum options but also has a strong reputation for cocurricular opportunities.
As a key part of developing and realising their students’ opportunities, the College offers Drama and Dance to Higher School Certificate level. Students from Brigidine College feature strongly each year in the HSC Showcase selections which spotlight outstanding performance and creative arts works from the HSC. The College plays hosts to various productions and events in their outstanding performance facilities across the year and subsequently were looking to upgrade their lighting rig. Led by Multimedia Specialist Gareth Edey, the College came to Showtools International and was very impressed with the CHAUVET Professional brand of fixtures. After seeing CHAUVET fixtures be a success for various other schools, Brigidine College acquired a range of fixtures from Showtools including: Maverick MK1 Spots, Maverick MK2 Washes, Ovation C-805FCs, Ovation SP-300CW and Cloud 9.
Maverick MK1 Spot has an extremely flat field, CMY colour mixing, a 5:1 zoom and multiple control options. “Powered by a 350 W LED engine, it features one static and one rotating gobo wheel, a 7 position + white colour wheel, variable frost and 3-facet prism,” stated Gareth. “The MK1 fixtures are punchy and versatile fixtures with the CMY colour mixing of the Mavericks was a particularly desired feature, since it opens up so many design possibilities and creates such realistic colours. The fixtures allow a rich variety of looks by overlaying spot and wash light in different patterns, expanding and contracting coverage areas, varying colours, and texturizing the room with gobos. In addition, the MK1 also comes equipped with 16-bit dimming of master dimmer for smooth control of fades and 7° to 33° zoom angle for variable beam sizes.”
Complementing the MK1 Spots, the College also acquired Maverick MK2 Washes. “The MK2 Washes are great for creating aerial washes,” stated Gareth. The Maverick MK2 Wash rewrites the rules on wash fixtures with its flawlessly even output, custom designed optics, full pixel mapping, virtual gobo wheel with background colours, pre-programmed colours and 7° – 49° zoom range.
Gareth continued, “The output from the Maverick’s 12 40W OSRAM RGBW LEDs provides a level of intensity that will play off well against the Maverick MK1 Spots. The versatility of the fixture will also enhance the impact of our lighting rig. Having a multitude of macros on the MK2 Washes for effects allows you to do both wash and effect with this machine. Because the beam can be very tight with nice power, the MK2 Wash can be placed right next to the MK1 Spots. This creates excellent possibilities. Another positive is the fixtures runs very quietly which is perfect for our productions.”
In addition to the Maverick fixtures, the College also added Ovation-805FC Cyc fixtures, Ovation SP-300CW Followspots and a Cloud 9.
“Ovation C-805FC uses its RGBA-Lime colour palette to render nearly any colour with tremendous realism and saturation,” explained Gareth. Its superb optics ensure an even output as it displays a full spectrum of hues with RGBAL LEDs great for our productions and is theatre-ready with 16-bit dimming of master dimmer and individual colours. It also allows better coverage with two individually adjustable heads, gives the ability to project split colours.”
The Ovation SP-300CW is a quiet, medium throw LED-powered followspot that projects a crisp cool white beam. “The Ovation SP-300CW comes with onboard manual dimming and a full-blackout iris which are standard for beam control along with smooth manual sliders for zoom and focus to adjust from a spot to a flood,” said Gareth. “A 6-slot manual boomerang is attached to the front of the units which allows us to add our favourite gel colours and provide quiet colour changing.”
Gareth also explained the choice to go with the Cloud 9, “Cloud 9 is an impressive, low-lying fogger that creates thick, cloud-like effects with a high-impact output ideal for our school. The robust unit has a best in class heat-up time of 4 minutes and no dry ice or CO2 is needed, which means no special licensing/training is required. Because it works without a special coolant or compressor, only water and fog fluid is needed for continuous output with continuous operation produces fog to cover 3,230 ft2 (300 m2) area. On top, the unit ships in rugged flight case with locking casters with hinged top cover to allow for operation even when closed.”
To conclude the acquisition, the College also acquired a Smoke Factory Tour Hazer II haze machine. “The great aspect of the Smoke Factory Tour Hazer II is its extremely quiet operation. The air pump regulates itself automatically during operation, and depending on the amount of fluid consumption the Hazer will operate much quieter,” said Gareth. “The Tour Hazer II is controlled by two DMX channels. So, it is possible to control the internal fan and the Haze-Output independently. With the help of the fan of the Haze produced, it can be widely distributed in the venue, and it does not require C02 or anything similar for operation.”
With the acquisition of the CHAUVET Professional and Smoke Factory fixtures, Brigidine College now has the tools equipped to handle any production or event held at the College.
