Gfinity Esports Australia will deliver Australian gamers and fans, a clear and structured competitive framework within Australian esports. The Elite Series presented by Alienware will see 6 city-based Clubs competing weekly in front of a live audience at the state of the art esports arena within the Hoyts Cinema Complex at Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter, with local gamers competing for some of the biggest prize pools in the history of Australian esports, with $450,000 on the line this year.
With each event being broadcast live for thousands on Twitch and Channel 10, Gfinity needed some lighting to highlight the competitive aspect and drama surrounding the players going up against one another. Sydney based production company Intense Lighting headed by Ian Garrard were contracted by Gfinity to provide the lighting for the weekly events and came to Showtools International early in the year with the concept, design and budget. With Intense Lighting already owning a large inventory lighting fixtures, Ian knew exactly what was required for the gaming set especially and that was the CHAUVET Professional brand of fixtures.
A critical factor in going with the CHAUVET Professional fixtures supplied by Showtools is the availability of the fixtures against crucial time constraints as was the case with the production of the Gfinity series. “The availability of the CHAUVET Professional is outstanding,” stated Ian. “Showtools was able to call upon one of Chauvet’s overseas warehouses to get over 45 fixtures into Australia in time for the show, all within 3 days.”
The CHAUVET Professional fixtures used included:
45x Epix Strip Tour
3x Epix Drive 900
18x COLORdash Par-Hex 12IP
18x Rogue R2 Wash
8x Rogue R1 Wash
4x Rogue R1 Beam
6x Rogue R3 Wash
8x COLORdash Batten-Quad 12
The Epix Strip Tours controlled by the Epix Drive 900 is a pixel-mapping 1-meter 50 x 1 LED strip that was used with Perspex diffuser. Ian deployed the LED Strips throughout the set including in the dome where players make their entrances which all added depth and desirable on-camera looks to support the competition on show. “The saturated LED color rendering abilities of the ÉPIX Strip Tour fixtures set the visual tone for the players entering.” “Not only do the colors look excellent on camera, the fixtures produce intense and flicker-free lighting,” commented Ian.
The Rogue fixtures were used for their rich colour and zoom capabilities, “The Rogue washes provided wall-to-wall color,” said Ian. “I was really impressed by the ability of the washes to create such a wide spread of light and the zoom range was great.” “The R3 Wash has 9 zones of LED control for pixel mapping effects and unique lens design offers excellent colour mixing.”
“The R2 and R1 washes also provided fast pan/tilt movements and realistic colours with the R2 wash providing a standout zoom range of 12° to 49°, theses bright and versatile moving wash zoom fixtures features a unique “bubble” lens design for excellent colour rendering and stunning visual effects that were used for the show.” In addition, the Rogue R1 Beam narrow-beam fixtures offered two layerable, independently controlled prisms for stunning split beam effects.
To complete the CHAUVET Professional aspect of the lighting rig, Ian positioned the COLORdash Batten-Quad 12’s on the steps after the dome to highlight the competitors walking down for their respective matches to give the event a more complete production look. “The Batten Quad 12’s did their job as the fixtures had individual pixel control and were silent flicker free which was perfect for the filming of each episode broadcast,” stated Ian.
Ian concluded, “Everyone involved the Gfinity series were super impressed from the Lighting Designer Peter Rubie to Director and Producer. From delivery time to performance, the CHAUVET Professional fixtures have done it again from movers to battens and enabled us to give Gfinity the great looks plus atmosphere for the thousands watching on Twitch and Channel 10.”
