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Corona: The Creative Factory lights “Christmas Show Home Edition” with Robe

Confronted with the pandemic, Belgian theatrical musical producers Deep Bridge created a special streamed ‘Home Edition’ version of their 2020 Christmas Show, with appearances and special Christmas collaborations from a host of celebrities and music stars.

The event was recorded over three days at Deep Bridge’s HQ in Antwerp with lighting designed by David Smeets of event design and production company The Creative Factory (TCF), based in Meerhout. Smeets specified Robe moving lights including T1 Profiles, Spiiders, LEDBeam 150s, Tertra2 LED bars and BMFL WashBeams, all of which were supplied by rental company L&L Stage Services.

The challenges of the project included a tight turnaround time - ten days from when the idea germinated to the stream being recorded across ten different locations at the Deep Bridge HQ including offices, dressing rooms, corridors, and foyers as well as their dance studio and rehearsal room and outside the building.

Deep Bridge’s 15-piece house band was used for backing all the vocalists. For logistical reasons and for COVID-compliance - which restricted the amount of people allowed in the building and in the filming areas at any one time - these tracks were pre-recorded in the studio, with the singers then going live-to-track playback.

The 24 x T1 Profiles were deployed on the floor of the various spaces or rigged on wheeled stands which could be moved around. The 24 x LEDBeam 150s were selected to light the smaller spaces like dressing rooms and corridors. Smeets ran them as a set of linked up-lighters daisy-chained through one unit’s power supply, as well as for back light, camera candy and wall washers. He also included 18 of his current favourite Robe products, the Spiider LED wash beam. “I use Spiiders on every show I do”, he says.

The eight BMFL WashBeams were used for the outside shots, primarily for illuminating the building and gobo projections, while the Tetra2s were utilised on the floor in the walkways and corridors as an effect. It was the second time that Smeets had used these on a show. All the lighting was run via a GrandMA3 console programmed by Stijn Vanholzaets and operated by David Smeets assisted by Christophe Hellinckx.

Enforcing the social distancing rules and ensuring that the site was fully COVID compliant meant that everyone needed four square metres of space around them, something that presented both logistical and psychological conundrums for artists and crew. “For example, to stage a 15-piece band with this in mind, you need a large space”, explains Smeets, “and they have to very quickly get comfortable with playing together whilst being much further apart than normal.”

All the lighting was operated ‘blind’ by observing the action via screens as the control position was in a sectioned off room behind walls and with no direct line-of-sight. “We needed some time to ensure that everything looked just right for the 3-camera shoot, but we also all had to work fast and ensure it was a safe working environment for all. As always with our industry, the technicians, crew, and the artists all learnt and reacted very quickly to make it happen.” The “Christmas Show Home Edition” was available as a pay-per-view for two weeks over the festive period.

(Photos: Steven Hendrix)

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