HANGZHOU, CHINA – JSTV’s 99 Juhuasuan Shopping Day Show is big by any measure. The sheer volume of sales generated by the event sponsored by this Alibaba subsidiary leave no doubt about that. Neither does the spectacular lighting design by Ghent, Belgium-based Arf & Yes.
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Hovering over the 40-meter wide by 45-meter deep stage like some giant extraterrestrial craft, the stunning show transfixed the audience at this high-profile happening by directing intense, colorful beams of light outward, downward, and in every other conceivable direction to create an immersive matrix of effects that was balanced beautifully against a captivating pixel wall.
Featuring 1,533 moving heads, 800 RGBW scenic lights, the show involved 148 universes and 49,515 parameters. This massive design was controlled by four ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium consoles without the need for any distribution nodes.
Amazingly, the entire show was programmed on-site in a matter of days. “Because of a delay in the building of the rig, we had to program the show while some parts of the lighting rig were not finished,” said De Mets. “Our multi consoles allowed us to program songs and offset at the same time. While I was programming songs, Michiel Goedertier from our team was offsetting a group of lights on stage with a third console. Fortunately our entire team, including LD Ignace D’haese, Philippe Vanderheeren, Tijs Coene, and Joeri Pluym did a great job handling everything.”
De Mets also praised the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 for making a vital contribution to the success of this impressive show. “Given the scale of this project, it involved a great deal of teamwork and reliable performance from our consoles,” he said. “There were three moving screens, two moving risers, and two catwalk elevators to give you an idea of the show’s size. We worked with four consoles on the same network on the same show, and the MagicQ performed extremely well. The Replace Pallet, Offset Patch, Group FX and Page Holdover were all very helpful in this application.”
The Arf & Yes lightshow was more than just grand in its scale. Its power to move the audience also emanated from the artful balance of its design. Brilliant shafts of light that rained down on the stage endowed the show with an evocative translucent quality. The triangular configuration of lights on three levels positioned over the stage, created a sense of depth. As these mesmerizing looks were being created, deft key lighting seamlessly supported each of the 36 songs from the north and south of China that were performed at the event.
A highlight of the design, and one that gave the show a magical, transcendent quality, was the 26-meter by 10-meter pixel wall that the Arf & Yes team created with the inbuilt MagicQ Pixel Mapper. “I used the Pixel Mapper with many layers with the addition of extra normal FX on the duplicated heads,” said De Mets. “What’s more, I added sometimes extra normal FX on the duplicated elements”
The dreamy pixel wall played off well against the overhead lighting elements. At an event fueled by excitement and tinged with anticipation, this balance between raw power and evocative imagery fit the mood to perfection.
