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Black Light Employees Make The Ultimate Hogmanay Sacrifice
Being based in one of the world’s most renowned cities for New Year’s Eve celebrations does have its down side, as six Black Light employees - led by projects manager Paul McGreal - found themselves resolutely sober and working hard as 2004 turned over into 2005.
Scotland is legendary for leading the UK’s celebrations, with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay events as much a municipal highlight as the city’s infamous Festival Fringe in August. So it’s not surprising that Black Light is at the heart of both. As the celebrations take place in the centre of the city, the set up has to be done during the small hours. So the Black Light team worked overnight on 29th and 30th December to install the equipment, and on 31st to run it (avoiding drunken revellers wherever possible). They began breaking down at 2am on 1st January, with all equipment and personnel safely back at the Black Light warehouse by 8am that day.
Unlike last year, when inclement weather meant the city council infamously cancelled the celebrations at just 30 minutes notice, this year it was breezy but dry. “And cold…” notes Paul.
The team installed equipment in three primary areas. First was floodlighting provided at the 10 access gates for the public, which had the primary role of maximising safety, plus ensuring corporate sponsors logos were suitably visible. Paul specified 60 500W floodlights plus custom fabricated goalposts for this job, which also required transformers to step the 240v supply down to 110v. The second area was along Princes Street, which featured 11 PA towers sporting corporate branding scrims. These were again illuminated using 500W floodlights. The third - and most creatively satisfying - area was a new plaza at The Mound, part way along Princes Street, where Black Light provided the illumination for two stages plus architectural highlighting.
Positioned in front of the Royal Scottish Academy, the Pipers Stage featured a 10x2m area of Prolyte StageDex. The pipers were lit with more floodlights as a groundrow, while the building behind was coloured with a variety of Black Light’s new 400W exterior coloured metal halide floodlights. Directly opposite one of the main entrances to the city centre party site, this was the first thing many of the revellers saw.
Meanwhile, behind the Royal Scottish Academy, the Black Light crew rigged a 10x5m Steeldeck stage on a steeply sloped plaza. Above this was a ground-supported Prolyte H30V truss, used to support 30 exterior Par64’s plus the PA system for this ‘in-the-round’ Urban Dance Stage. Also used on this stage were four SGM Giotto 400 Spots enclosed within some of the Airstar inflatable domes recently added to Black Light’s hire stock. The Academy also featured architectural lighting on its exterior, courtesy of eight Studio Due City Colors.
“As with the Fringe, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations are such a world renowned event, you have to provide something different and spectacular each year to ensure the worldwide public’s expectations are met,” said Paul. “Because we’re Edinburgh-based, we have an intimate knowledge of the city and its culture. Hogmanay is always a job we enjoy doing, because we’re ideally placed to provide the most eye-catching and appropriate visuals for what Edinburgh wants to present.”
13th January 2005
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