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SoftLED for Queen Elizabeth
The custom SoftLED drapes were manufactured in 22 oz cloth with 1900 Color Kinetics tri-colour LED nodes and fibre optics sewn into them. They were fed by four Broadway Box power/data supplies hung behind the drape. For control, the Color Kinetics Video System Manager maps the video image across the drape, fed by a Hippotizer Media Server.
“I had worked on Belinda’s shows onboard the QM2 and at that time we had a starcloth manufactured that had various images sewn into it. Having seen a brief video clip of the SoftLED I thought that this would be ideal for the QE2 projects and this was proven in a full scale mock-up provided by Architainment Lighting,” explained Tim.
“The stage itself is a lot smaller than the previous project and there wasn’t a lot of room for large pieces of scenery for all of the shows - so lighting became a massive part of two of the productions,” he continued. “The cloth was bought mainly for the first of the four new production shows – ‘Hit Me with a Hot Note’, which is a major music show based on the history of Soul Music from gospel through jazz bars, Ray Charles, Tamla Motown and Disco.
Tim commented: “I was at first concerned by the distance of the audience from the drape but this was not an issue so we opted for the Medium-X resolution, with the LED nodes on 4” x 8” spacing, which has been very successful. By combining the SoftLED with the powerful control of a Hippotizer Media Server controlled via a GrandMA, I was able to make fast changes to the look of the drape. Simple images were manipulated to create stunning variable images. I had the opportunity to create simple textured backgrounds or fast moving backdrops to match the look and feel of the show. As the shows were time-coded I could make the video cuts hit the exact beat of the music and stop frames on musical pauses.
“The opening of the show was a simple gospel scene with a reveal of a gospel choir behind a gauze. The drape had a simple cross relayed to it which became a funky neon chasing across once the music broke down into a full dance number. Also certain numbers such as the signature number displayed and scrolled key lyrics in the number – simply stunning!”
Routledge also specified Colour Kinetics ColorBlast 12’s LED wash fixtures to provide a flexible method of lighting the whole cyclorama and rising voile at the rear of the stage. A number of new fixtures were also added to supplement the ship’s rig, comprising High End Studio Spot CMY zooms, Studio Color 250’s and Chroma-Q scrollers.
This is the first time the QE2 has had full production shows on board and a full refit of the Grand Lounge has been necessary to make the shows feasible.
The shows’ director and producer Belinda King is a keen advocate of the technology “The SoftLED was simply magnificent and totally transformed the venue. ‘Hit Me with a Hot Note’ demanded major music lighting on a small stage. This was made possible with this new technology and gave us unlimited looks to punctuate the action on stage.”
New Video projection with a Barco G5 was designed by Alex Leinster as well as creating some graphics for the SoftLED.
A revolving lift, scenery automation and edge lighting installed into the stages rostra were part of the scenic refit designed by Jack Tripp.
The shows have been fully automated and controlled by MIDI by a brand new Dataton Show control system programmed by Andi Pygott.
8th June 2005
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