Avolites has supplied film and television lighting specialists Lee Lighting with a large control system - fourteen 48-way ART dimmer racks and three Pearl 2000 consoles - for use on the upcoming new ITV soap Night & Day – scheduled for a prime time slot in the autumn.
The Avolites kit was specified for the job by lighting consultant Dave Oldroyd of
Art Lighting Ltd. One of his primary concerns was to find a quiet system as the dimmers are in close proximity to the studio sets – so he’s delighted that ART dimmers are proving “the quietest system I’ve ever used”.
The lighting demands for Night and Day - being recorded at Bow Studios in east London - are different from those of conventional TV productions.
The three Night & Day studios have identical lighting control systems, and between them accommodate 34 sets featuring 78 different rooms – from the pub to the church and everything in between.
Lighting crew on the set of Night & Day.
Left to Right :- Jason Fletcher, Jamie Fletcher, Dave Oldroyd & Pete Brimson
Timescale is extremely tight. Production company LWT/United Films are intending to produce a stockpile of episodes recorded over the next 6 months, and the series is due to screen three episodes per week, Director of Photography Nigel Walters is under intense time pressure and needs to produce 20 minutes of recorded material per day … which entails working at a ferocious pace.
This is why Oldroyd suggested the Avolites system for this unique, semi-permanent installation situation. It was essential that lighting control was flexible and capable of exceptionally fast change-around. “Avolites was the system that fulfilled all my exacting requirements” he emphasises.
Lighting crew on the set of Night & Day.
Left to right Jamie Fletcher, Dave Oldroyd and Jason Fletcher
with one of the Avolites Pearl consoles
The Bow Studios set-up amalgamates many elements more akin to rock ‘n’ roll lighting with those of traditional television lighting. A fast-access memory board with disk backup and a fully dimmable studio lighting set up which switches instantly between daytime and evening/night settings was vital to maximise every minute of the working day as well as providing lighting continuity.
Doing it this way was the only way the crew could make their deadlines in a scenario where re-lights need doing in seconds ….. and there’s no time for faffing around!
Oldroyd has worked with Pearl consoles in the past. He thinks the desk is one of the best and most versatile on the market. Avolites customised the Pearl 2000 software for Night & Day, increasing the desk’s intensity channel quota to 450.
The Pearls are controlling a miscellany of tungsten lightsources including 1 and 2K fresnels and space lights of all types and intensities across the various sets. The desks are programmed with a series of night and day ‘modes’ which are highly controllable, and are set up for different camera positions giving a 360 degree capability around the rooms. Additionally, hard feeds around the various sets allow individual DoPs (there are several working on the series) to add their own fixtures - like Kino Flos, Pups, etc - for key-lighting if desired.
Oldroyd believes in clean sets. He and best boy Pete Brimson worked hard to create the lighting environment at Bow, making a big effort to drop all cabling from the ceiling, ensuring the floor stays clean and safe. The rigging period was 6 weeks which included fine lighting the sets and programming the ‘modes’ into the desks. He has also employed moving light experts Jamie and Jason Fletcher on the series to look after the Avolites desks and dimmers. All lighting equipment for Night & Day is being supplied by Lee Lighting.
