NRL Grand Final Footy Show

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The footy season has finished with the Channel 9 guys once again staging a magnificent production at the Sydney Entertainment Centre for the NRL Grand Final Footy Show.

The lighting was designed by Andrew Veitch and Stuart Anderson with Paul Collison taking care of the visuals on the thirty-four Martin LC Panels via an ArKaos media server.

The LC Panels were arranged in strips either side of the central video screen thus helping to expand the performance area. All video used on the stage was run by three ArKaos front of house.

Paul used all the standard holding graphics on the main LED screen, such as logos for the footy teams, and for the LC Panels dove into his wide supply of stock footage from around the world.

“I was very happy with the way the LC Panels turned out and I really liked the way they framed the stage,” said Paul. “There were absolutely no problems – the new software worked a treat and was easy to use so we’re happy with it and I’m looking forward to seeing it on the market soon.”

Andrew Veitch explained why he chose to use so many LC Panels.

“To put a set into a venue as large as the SEC you’d need a set with six metre high walls and things like that so it’s actually cheaper for us to use LC Panels and get a look that we want to do as opposed to getting a set designer to design and build a set that is destroyed at the end of the show.

“We decided to place ladders in between the strips of LC Panels to break up the LED visuals with lighting and I think it came up well.”

The main lighting rig consisted of forty-eight Martin MAC2000 wash, thirty-four MAC700 profile and some Vari-lites. On the ladders were some of the twenty-four GLP Impressions used on the show as well as MAC700’s. The rest of the Impressions were used on the floor.

“The Impressions were great,” said Andrew. “They really kick and are fantastic for television. Their colour snaps are fantastic.”

More LED was used in the form of twenty-four Pulsar ChromaBanks and sixteen Martin StageBars situated around the back of the audience.

“The StageBars gave a really nice wash over the audience and worked out very well,” said Andrew. “I also had twelve Studio Due CS4 fixtures for audience lighting. Most of the ChromaBanks were placed up in the grid and were used mainly for the music segments although there were a few on the main stage too.”

During the show Andrew controlled the moving lights out front with a couple of MA Lighting grandMA consoles whilst Stuart took care of the analogue lighting from the OB truck.

“We put a lighting console in the OB truck which is a good concept as it meant Stuart was sitting next to the CTV guys and it’s a good way to operate,” remarked Andrew. “Instead of having to communicate via talkback you can discuss things and get nice pictures happening

“It all went extremely smoothly, it was fantastic and I was really happy.”

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