KRCA TV's Don Cheto Show, a pop-culture phenomenon in California's Latino community:
For CUE2CUE
Visual Designer
Greg Cunningham,
the challenge of updating and upgrading the television studio that once played host to The People's Court – and a solution that required a system redesign "from top to bottom." |
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Source: Warwick Price uses MACs, Atomics, and Maxxyz on major corporate event, www.maxxys.com |
Excerpts:
Each year the company’s wholesalers and... employees gather for a few days of valuable inspiration.... an undertaking that is certainly one of the biggest corporate shows in the US. As far as lighting, a huge 275-foot wide stage set and 90-foot wide stage required color and pattern projection with key speakers requiring spotlighting and individual lighting looks. The set-up also featured a large 60 x 20 foot video screen with lots of video modules and speaker support. The visual look was video heavy - high quality, high definition - with automated lighting used as support.
Warwick Price
Warwick Price has been lighting designer for the event for 9 years running.
“All speakers have certain backgrounds as far as support,” stated Warwick. “Since the screen is so big you can’t afford to have a color clash so I get the basic backgrounds for the speakers, whether it be red or blue or orange, and typically I match the look so it makes sense.”
Warwick designed 12-15 different speaker looks with each speaker having up to three different looks – one when the speaker first comes on stage, a speaker look, and sometimes a video look. “I get into pretty saturated looks which are fixed and settled. We play the speakers on with lots of chases and then settle down into the look. Some speakers talk for half an hour so the biggest challenge is putting something up there that looks good for extended periods of time.”
Some special moments required a different look, for example, a sports marketing segment when Dale Earnhardt Jr. came on stage to sign a sponsorship contract. “Once the speaker is on, the look can’t be distractive so we can’t use rotating gobos,” Warwick comments. “The only time we changed a color during a talk is when, for example, the head of marketing talked about the various brands... [for one label] we used a red and white look for brand reinforcement; [for another] we dissolved into a blue and silver look. Typically though, the color doesn’t change.”
Opening and closing modules (video) required special looks, explains Warwick. “Sometimes they wanted the video to do everything, at times they wanted the video module enhanced, and at certain points there were lighting changes, strobes. We also used the M-Box as video support running on low res LCD screens. It’s a very large canvass on which to come up with looks.”
"I was able to create all kinds of motion across the set, big moves from center outwards, diagonal motion, mirage effects. There were a few people who thought the flats looked digitized. It did not look like they were lit with moving lights and gobo patterns."
Warwick is a Lighting Designer, Director, Programmer & Operator in all aspects of conventional & automated lighting, including TV, Video, Corporate and Concert. Warwick’s previous lighting credits include the Yanni Tribute project from the Taj Mahal and Forbidden City; tours for Luther Vandross, Journey, Diana Ross and many others; and has been involved in many other lighting projects over the years.
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Source: KRCA-TV's Don Cheto Show, www.prg.com |
Excerpts:
Challenge:
Turn a haphazard array of lighting fixtures into a smoothly functioning system
Solution:
Since 2005, KRCA-TV's Don Cheto Show has been winning fans in Los Angeles' Latino community with its daily mix of talk, music and variety programming. Few viewers guess that the show's Burbank, California studio last was home to The People's Court — one of daytime television's most enduring franchises.
Updating the venerable studio from courtroom to variety venue required a top-to-bottom transformation, recalls lighting designer
Greg Cunningham, of CUE2CUE, Inc. Under the previous management, there had been no continuity in maintenance, and much of the equipment was in disrepair. "We needed to make it a bare studio and start all over again."
To execute the makeover, Cunningham called on PRG... "I asked PRG to broker everything: all the new moving lights and other equipment, all the parts for repairs, all qualified personnel and everything else we needed."
Working with a master electrician supplied by PRG, Cunningham stripped out the old set, drapes, cable and fixtures, inventoried existing equipment, and brought wiring up to current code. Then he designed and hung the lighting for the incoming production.
With the new show up and running, the station asked Cunningham to install new systems for three more studios. Again, the designer chose to work with PRG. "I have a very good long term relationship with PRG. They have always been 100 percent helpful in everything I've ever needed."
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Source: Luther Vandross' New-Wave Look, www.livedesignonline.com |
Excerpts:
Your client wants to go out for a one-off concert event. It makes sense to use last year's set for financial reasons but you need to spice it up a bit. What do you do? If you're designer Warwick Price and your client happens to be Luther Vandross, you look for just the right element to set off the show. How about a little water, a little fog, and some Plexiglas® truss? That's exactly what Price did for Vandross' recent four-night set in February at Radio City Music Hall.
Price, of Las Vegas-based CUE2CUE, who has been designing Vandross' shows for more than five years, likes to build on the base set that he designed for recent tours. “Slowly, over time, I add pieces,” says Price. “It's an evolving thing.” Vandross has four backup singers that Price placed on a platform upstage left. He wanted to add some visual excitement behind them and to highlight the performers as well. The designer thought that a water effect would be just the ticket.
“Luther loved it just as a set piece without the water,” says Price. “We use it as a feature in four songs and through one entire song during the encore. It will tour as well as being great for one-off shows and ballroom events.”
Price also has some other clever uses for gear. At the upper rear portion of his rig he hung LSD hexapods, mounted on an angle. “They were designed to hold 12 PAR cans. They haven't had 12 PAR cans in them for a long time,” laughs Price. He added six LSD wash lights inside each one for a unique look.
Price not only designs his shows but he also programs the Icon Console™ and runs it for the show as well. “Luther is really comfortable with me at the helm,” says Price. “His effort keeps you on your toes. Everything starts from Luther, who gives 150%. I have a great crew, the nucleus of which stays together. It is a nice bunch of people, very talented, and they love working for Luther.”
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