The Television Academy announced on July 28 the 72nd Emmy Award nominations, with honors to be presented Sept. 20 on ABC. For Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Series, PLSN congratulates these nominees: America’s Got Talent Live Results Finale (NBC): lighting designer Noah Mitz; lighting directors Michael Berger, William Gossett, Ryan Tanker, Matt Benson, Scott Chmielewski and Patrick Brazil. Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Brooklyn (ABC): lighting designer Christian Hibbard; lighting directors Bill Peets, Kille Knobel and James Worman. Saturday Night Live with host John Mulaney (NBC): lighting directors Geoffrey Amoral, Richard McGuinness, William McGuinness, Tim Stasse and Trevor Brown. So You Think You Can Dance Finale (FOX): lighting designer Robert Barnhart; lighting directors Matt Firestone, Madigan Stehly, Patrick Boozer and Pete Radice. The Voice Live Finale (NBC): lighting designer Oscar Dominguez; lighting directors Daniel Boland, Craig Housenick, Samuel Barker and Johnny Bradley. Good luck, all!
Clue-less in L.A.
Col. Mustard with the Candlestick in the Conservatory? No, it’s LD/co-producer Andrew Schmedake at Los Angeles’ Pixel Playhouse for the digital theatre performances of Definitely Not Clue. Based on the popular board game Clue, the interactive musical mystery theater was developed for livestreaming on the online gaming channel, Twitch. “We shipped lighting and home studio packages to seven remote actors, and did a live audio and video mix to level, chroma key and color correct them,” Schmedake explains. “Then we broadcast a mix of live theatrical performances with prerecorded ensemble musical numbers that we similarly recorded remotely and edited to create an online interactive musical.” The ending changed every night during its run in July. “Our in-chat audience had the opportunity to solve custom puzzles to identify the secret accomplice. I’m real proud of the technical workflows that our team prototyped for this one,” he adds. Catch a Video On-Demand of the show at twitch.tv/videos/684834201.
Festivalsalive Honors Canceled Concerts
Beams of light are piercing the nighttime sky to honor canceled festivals during this Covid-19 crisis. Twelve temporary installations have already sprung up, mostly in Germany, on the date and site of where the festival was set to happen. It’s a way to keep festivals “alive.”
Like many, Germany-based LD Rolf Wenzel had a slew of summer festivals planned. Determined to draw attention to the absence of all these events (and the crew out of work because of it), Wenzel channeled his passion into this #FestivalsAlive non-profit movement, encouraging the temporary installations.
The idea is this: On the original site and on the original show dates pre-cancellation, those suppliers, lighting designers and crew who are out of work might set up a lighting installation of a single, still beam of blue light to mark the event. Tagging the photo with #festivalsalive across social media shows how many festivals will be missed this summer.
Wenzel estimates about 12 installations — with support from manufacturers and some co-op’ed with Night of Light — have happened since kick-off in May, most in Germany. “We did this installation so far for cancelled shows of Robbie Williams, Lionel Richie, Bryan Ferry, Nick Mason, John Cale and festivals like the Orange Blossom Special, Katzensprung Festival and ART&More, to name a few.” For more info, including “how-to” instructions, go to festivalsalive.com.
Bauman and Barnes Back at the Movies
As Hollywood slowly gets back on its feet, Lux Lighting’s Mike Bauman returned to production on the feature film, Macbeth. (Joel Cohen is directing, with actors Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.) “It’s an unusual product because it’s shooting in black and white and is lit almost entirely with automated fixtures,” Bauman notes. Lux also helped launch AIRE (Association of Independent Rental Entities), a small rental house group that offers networking, community and resources for rental companies in California. Finally, after delays since April, Lux Lighting is opening the doors Aug. 3 to a new office in Brooklyn’s Industry City complex.
In some semblance of normalcy, LD/programmer Scott Barnes also headed back into the studios in late July to finish up the Netflix musical feature film, The Prom. Based on the popular Broadway musical, the movie is directed by Ryan Murphy (creator of Glee) and shot by cinematographer Matty Libatique, ASC. It’s scheduled for a December release.
“Principal photography happened at the beginning of the year and led right up to when the pandemic began,” Barnes explains. “We actually shut down production with one day of filming still to go. Once filming was allowed to happen again, and Netflix came up with a plan to safely do so, the crew came back to finish the movie. During the pandemic, Ryan and the editors were able to get almost the entire movie cut together. Netflix has done a very good job keeping the set safe and Covid-free. Next up for me is back to quarantine and to prep for the next Spiderman movie.”
New Studio Opens in Austin
More studio news, this time from LD Phil Weinholts of ATX Event Systems, which is launching a new virtual studio in Austin, TX. The 10,000 square-foot soundstage is completely tricked out for virtual concerts with arena-style audience interactivity, hybrid conferences, films and brand activations. A full-service production warehouse is ready right next door. More details at atxes.com.
A Template for Gigs
LD Tony Caporale of Infinitus Vox discovered a way to help a local production company get some gigs. When he found Event Sound Production LLC owner Tony Flores online, “randomly scouring the internet for some kind of work during this trying time,” Caporale went into action. He designed a production template with lighting and media server programming to enable live streaming and webcast services of artists, performers and companies in the Nashville area. “Finding Mr. Flores was complete luck, and I feel very blessed to be brought in to do what I love and have his trust to help put a neat thing together,” the LD says.
In the Groove
LD Ed Warren is ready to let the music play. He’s rebuilt the outdoor lighting rig at Dreamland Margate — the oldest surviving amusement park in the U.K. — for socially distant shows in August/September. And as house LD for London venue Lafayette (owned by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons), Warren’s preparing the space for live streaming performances this fall. He’s also creating DJ mixes for Margate Radio. The LD stays fueled with java and music from his reopened coffee bar/record shop called Cliffs, where he recently held a virtual in-store performance. His vinyl sales, by the way, have hit a happy high groove during the pandemic.
Home Work
LD Eric Cathcart has been set-designing his outdoor living space. “My deck is mostly complete, and I now have a pond complete with aquatic plants and fish. On a lighting front, I now have a full size console and media servers along with all of the latest and greatest pre-visualization software in my office with the intention of learning all of the stuff that I’ve never had the chance to learn because I’m always too busy working.” Although he does admit, “When it’s time to go back to work I’m not going to want to leave my house, because I’ve finally gotten everything fixed up and nice.”
Quick Cues
LD Mike Lurz reports in with some installs, a couple of church programming gigs and a couple of virtual concerts, including the USAF Band on July 4 and Harlan County Kings on Facebook.
LD Tom Kenny can’t tell us who he’s working with because of NDAs. “Just say I’m busy with an NDA project that will give us all a big chill when they happen,” he promises.
Stay safe out there and keep Debi informed with news of your vocational and avocational endeavors at dmoen@plsn.com.
