JOHANNESBURG — A concert staged for South African singer/songwriter Juanita du Plessis at the Big Top Arena in Carnival City used Robe DigitalSpots to project images onto a screen just upstage from an 18-piece band, using onboard keystoning to avoid shadows by beaming the images above the musicians’ heads. “The DigiSpots are amazing units,” said Francois van der Merwe from MJ Event Gear, the company contracted to supply all the lighting and AV equipment. Van der Merwe designed the lighting for the event, which was also recorded for DVD before the live audience of 3,000.
The over-stage lighting rig was based on three trusses — front, mid and back — and the four DigitalSpot 5000DTs were placed on an additional V-shaped truss, positioned center stage front. Video footage ran for every song, so it was a key part of the look and feel of the show.
Du Plessis herself played an active role in the overall show design, supplying 60 percent of the images projected with the DigitalSpots.
The content was stored on a Maxedia digital media server and uploaded directly to the DigitalSpots via an Ethernet system. It consisted of a mix of abstract wallpaper effects, graphics and music videos.
The DigitalSpots were run via DMX from a grandMA full size lighting console. On the back truss, two Robe Media Spinners were used for the stage entrance and exit.
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