In October 2019, two official NBA basketball games were played for the very first time in India. One was an exhibition game for 2000 children who have been part of the first-ever NBA clinic to train young basketball players in India. They got to watch some of their heroes play and see all the entertainment and excitement that goes with an NBA game, from the mascots with T-shirt guns, to stunt players on trampolines to dance numbers and music acts, as well as the wild music and vibe in the room.
The second game was a professional game for the elite fans of basketball in India. The game was sponsored by a local Entrepreneur, who owns a team in the USA and has a house nearby that is 41 stories high with three helipads. There were five days of bump-in including building an entire basketball court brought from the USA and converting an old unused arena that had been left to squatters for 20 years. They also had to build dressing rooms and backstage areas, create a broadcast area and install back up power systems. Using five large film generators from Bollywood, the backup power units ended up being dozens and dozens of car batteries on Ikea shelving with lots of fans around it to keep it cool. Now and then a goat or a dog would wander through.
“There was also a guy that would follow you around with an axe and stare at you for about 30 mins,” added Ziggy Ziegler, lighting programmer and assistant onsite LD. “We think he might have been the safety officer.”
Including the two teams, there was a party of about 300 people that travelled as NBA staff and crew. The game travelled with its security, doctors, counsellors, advisors and admin staff as well as live performance and entertainment crew and all the game and sports crew.
“I have never seen so many shuttle busses and transport schedules on a sports event before, it was eye-opening into just how big the NBA is, said Ziggy.
The rig was designed by Rob Baxter from the NBA in the USA, an amazing LD and a fantastic character and all-round good guy according to Ziggy.
The rig included 128 x Martin MAC Quantum Washes in extended mode and 76 x MAC Aura XB units also in extended mode to create the broadcast lighting. Sixteen hours of focussing and a further six hours the next day of double-checking this was required to meet the NBA broadcast standard.
“On top of that, we had several hours of programming for the entertainment of about 15 different performance acts and ceremony moments, plus general moving sweeps with music during the breaks to keep the vibe in the room very live and exciting,” commented Ziggy. “We reused parts of the broadcast rig for these moments with an additional 12 large locally sourced moving profiles the equivalent of a Claypaky Unico type unit.
“Getting the broadcast lighting right in this space was tricky as the roof was much lower in this arena than most other arenas so coverage was a challenge. Added to the that was the 50 degrees celsius heat with extremely high humidity for the first four days till the air conditioning was built, plus some rooms in the venue where the roof fell and we had to repair it. Then there were the animals wandering in and the very strange security check and metal detector checks everywhere!”
All equipment and lighting crew were supplied by Star Dimensions In India with an amazing crew headed up by Joyden Anthony James.
“It was one of the most amazing shows and adventures I have been on,” concluded Ziggy.
Ziggy is a Sydney-based lighting designer and owner of https://www.zzcreative.com.au/
