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Lighting designer Atul Sonpal
specified an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite console for control at a
massive event in the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai,
celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Mumbai Police.
Appearing onstage were a glittering array of over 20 Bollywood
superstars including Salman Khan, John Abraham (recently voted
the ‘Most Desirable Man in India’), Sarf Ali Khan, Paryanka
Chopaq and Shilpa Shetty. In attendance were the Chief
Commissioner of Mumbai Police A N Roy and assorted Mumbai Police
top brass, various signatories and VIPs plus 15,000 members of
the public, who came to see the stars performing. |
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Sonpal, one of India’s premier
LD’s, works regularly with all the Bollywood glitterati,
designing spectacular shows for their Awards ceremonies and
other shows, so he was a natural choice as LD for the Police
Welfare Show. He worked closely with set designer Varsha and to
create a highly visual backdrop for show producers Cinerug
Entertainment.
The show was also recorded for broadcast on India’s national
Star TV channel, so Sonpal was lighting for camera as well as
for the live audience.
Sonpal always uses an Avo D4 on his large shows. “I knew I would
have very little programming time” says Sonpal “And that’s one
of the main reasons I chose the D4 for this one – because I
could work really quickly and efficiently on it. It helped me
fully utilise the one full night – and only about 3 hours of
optimum darkness - I had to programme for over 20 guest
appearances, plus looks for all the other speakers and elements
of the show.” |
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He specifically likes the D4’s
palettes and colour pickers – which have been developed to make
this aspect of building a show straightforward and very fast for
operators, programmers and users.
The lighting get-in commenced on Friday for a Sunday show, with
all equipment supplied by Mumbai-based Jagmag Electric, plus a
crew of seven.
The lighting rig featured an 120ft span front truss (suspended
off two giant cranes) containing 60 PAR cans plus 4 Clay Paky
Alpha Washes and four CP Alpha Spots. On two side-stage
scaffolding pods were another 120 PAR cans. A third scaffolding
structure at the back of the stage featured 16 SGM ColorLab 250s
and 12 Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs, with another six Robe CS 1200s
upstage on the deck.
All these fixtures were run through the D4, and all the moving
lights had data run via a
radio DMX system.
The steps of the stage set were illuminated by over 700 40Watt
light bulbs, which were also run through the console, and there
were also a series of DF50 hazer's dotted around the stage, also
controlled from the D4.
“It’s a great console” continues Sonpal “I can do everything I
need with it – it allows me to be very creative very quickly”.
He adds that Avolites desks generally – he is also a regular
Pearl 2004 user and his company Jagmag owns several different
Avo consoles - also stand up well to the tough climatic
conditions of outdoor shows in India at this time of year,
include penetrating heat and high humidity.
Sound for the Mumbai Police welfare Show was supplied by
Sound.com and pyro by
Morani Fireworks. |
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