Kimberley Girl is about pathways and leadership. It is about giving young Aboriginal women the tools to realise their potential, to empower them in their endeavours, to give them the confidence to dream big and reach for the stars. The brainchild of Kira Fong Chief, Operations Officer, at Goolarri Media Enterprises Broome WA, Kimberley Girl started 18 years ago in a small shed covered in Pindan Soil.
Nationwide there is no other “modelling competition” that contributes to the well being and expression of identity for a cultural group as does Kimberley Girl. Focusing on the Indigenous background apparent in many people within the region, each year they aim to find a young lady between the ages of 16 and 25 who can proudly show her heritage and be a valuable role model and spokesperson for young Indigenous women of the Kimberley.
The stylish, contemporary event is held at the Goolarri Outdoor Venue in Broome with additional heats being held throughout the Kimberley region.
“I first started working on the event about four years later while working for Troppo Sound the local production company supplying lighting and staging,” commented Rick Turner, lighting designer. “After securing more funding it wasn’t long before Kira also employed the services of Chris Hill local set designer and builder. We’ve been putting on this event ever since.”
Rick and Chris were aiming for a 3D look which at first seemed a challenge for Rick until Chris told him about the fans he was constructing.
“I simply took a piece of paper and folded it back and forth to create a fan, took it out into the sunlight to see how the shadows fall and straight away I knew I had to light it on the opposite direction in different colours for it to work,” said Rick. “I think getting the correct position for the moving heads to project the gobos on the facing surface of the fan was my biggest challenge. I didn’t want the audience to see gobos but slices of a pattern and I think it worked quite well.”
The four no-name 100-watt profile movers used a 5-way prism which helped to achieve a large image from a short distance. White strips of material across the roof were lit with two RGB PARS. The two vertical multi strips were lit with one RGB PAR each.
“I also think the white strips helped to create a 3-dimensional stage set,” added Rick. “Eight no-name 100-watt beams lights created a complimentary fan of light beams – the only downside was that they had to get rigged and wired after the set went in and one at a time from a ladder!”
Also in the rig were four RGBW fresnels, four 8way cob battens, seven 150 watts LED white fresnels and four ETC S4 Zoom Profiles 575W. for the front towers/catwalk front wash, there were six ETC S4 Zoom Profiles 575W, four narrow Par Cans 1000 watt and at the FOH position, there were two ETC S4 long-throw zoom profiles.
Lighting control was an Onyx Obsidian Control PC/NX WING+NX TOUCH running two universes via sACN /CAT5 and 1 x universe DMX cable.
Suppliers: Unbound Sound, Troppo Sound, Goolarri Media Enterprises
