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Martin MACs Shine on Italian Television Events
Historical backdrops provided the ideal surroundings for a pair of recent Italian television specials. ‘Dolce Italia’ and ‘La Kore’, an entertainment show and fashion show respectively, took place among some of Italy’s most treasured historical sites and in both cases Martin MAC luminaires were used to highlight not only the shows but also the beauty of the locations.
Italian lighting designer Cristiano Mastropietro designed the lighting for the show in complete respect to the historical heritage of the locations. That meant no rotating gobos or animations were used on either event.
In July, the musical special ‘Dolce Italia’, a show of Italian songs, was broadcast on television channel France 2. The show took place in one of the nation’s most picturesque and well known sites, Piazza della Signoria in Florence, a square that dates from the Middle Ages where the famous Palazzo Vecchio, built by the Medici family, dominates the scene.
Some 120 MAC 2000 Series moving heads supplied by rental company ARCO Multimedia Group of Rome were the only automated luminaires used. Lighting control was from a Whole Hog 3. The MAC 2000’s were placed on five towers of varying height as well as on some of the surrounding buildings, including the roof of the Palazzo Vecchio. Cristiano’s goal was to create "paintings" with light onto the monuments and the simple open air stage located in the middle of the square.
In order to obtain true colors for television, Cristiano balanced the white of the cameras not on the 3200°K of the common tungsten light sources, but on the much higher 5500°K of the Martin discharge lamps. This light concept, called ‘daylight’, allowed for correct color reproduction while avoiding distortion such as yellows turning to greens. “The MAC 2000’s are really the sole products on the market with such a high light output,” Cristiano stated.
In June, fashion show ‘La Kore’ was broadcast live during prime time on Italy’s state owned channel RAI 1. Held at the ancient Greek theatre of Taormina on Sicily, the fashion show featured top stylists presenting their latest creations.
Cristiano used 100 MAC 2000 Series luminaires supplied by D&D Lighting of Rome and controlled by a Whole Hog 3. The stage lighting set up was initiated one month in advance of the show in order to co-operate with the government agency of fine arts which, because of the historical nature of the setting, was required to supervise the installation.
“It was very important to use correct light in order to reveal the true color of the clothing,” stated Cristiano. “Meanwhile we used very elegant colors on the ancient ruins without the use of rotating gobos or animation. As with Dolce Italia I balanced the white of the cameras to the 5500°K of the discharge lamps while again creating paintings with light in a very smooth way.
“It was a fantastic and unique opportunity to work at such important historical places, where scenography was done at the site of such ancient buildings.”
12th August 2005
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