Last year lighting designer Stuart Anderson used Martin LC Panels for the grand final of Channel Nine’s Australia’s Funniest Home Videos and he was mightily impressed by them! Fortunately, so were the show’s producers who requested that they be used for the latest series of the show. With a new look and a new host, the show is as popular as ever.
“I was so glad the producers liked the LC Panels because I really wanted them for this series,” commented Stuart. “The graphics that run through the Panels are designed inhouse at Channel Nine, although the graphics people are still learning the best way to do the graphics. For example you have to have a lot of contrast in the graphics but the Panels can’t be too bright as they’ll compete with the lighting of the host.”
However, Stuart usually runs the six LC Panels on full sometimes adding extra colour into them to tone them down. Each show has one lot of graphics to keep a continuous theme through the recording with the next episode having new graphics. The back cyc always has a lavender wash at the top and an amber wash at the bottom. The colour of the graphics is closely matched to whatever the host, Shelley Craft, is wearing for that particular episode.
“The LC Panels are great although it’s a totally new way of doing things,” said Stuart. “It’s like going back to the first moving lights that came out or the first DMX, it took a while until everyone was up to speed with the new technology.
“I’m also using six Martin MAC700’s and six VL500’s to add a different layer of lighting particularly between the gaps left by the LC Panels. I’m using a MA Lighting grandMA for control with an ArKaos media server off an iMac. Paul Collison helped me out a lot with the grandMA and ArKaos and of course, Super Vince has always been there for me.”
Feeding the LC Panels took a bit of working out due to the fact that they need less than ten metres between runs however a DVI fibre to the first batten, then a variety of splitters worked out fine.
Lighting up the plinths that hold the screens are several Pro Shop LED Honeycomb fixtures.
“I looked at heaps of gear that Chameleon owned but nothing was bright enough as the light level can be quite high in here,” remarked Stuart. “Eventually they showed me the Honeycombs which are great and they’re now permanently mounted in the plinths.”
Stuart pushed hard to get the shiny, black floor which is made of slightly convex tiles that reflect the LC Panels nicely as does the gloss on the risers.
“It’s quite a simple show to do with only three positions for her but multiple angles so basically I have a ring of lights all the way around and every angle with about thirty memories in the console,” said Stuart.
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