MAC 550 a Reality on Swedish TV’s Fame Factory

Lightland AB of Stockholm may be the first production company in the world to employ the new Martin MAC 550. Lightland was specified by one of Scandinavia’s largest TV production company’s, Strix Television, to create unique lighting looks for reality TV series Fame Factory. Lightland has designed lighting for various stages for the new season of the popular show, and is also responsible for the lighting in the school and other facilities.

Fame Factory sees a group of young musical students compete for the chance to be the country’s next star. When the new season premiered on Sweden’s TV3 recently the school had expanded, adding a semester with twice as many contestants vying for the grand prize. Big news too was a slight change in format with finalists selected weekly and monthly, with an overall winner crowned at year’s end. Weekly finalists are chosen on a large stage in the town of Skövde with monthly finalists selected at Annexet, part of the famous Globe Arena in Stockholm. The Grand Finale will be held in April 2004 at the Globe Arena before 16,000 visitors.

The new format meant that two lighting rigs would need to be operational. Lighting Designer Pelle Larsson was given the lighting design responsibilities and jumped at the chance to use Martin’s new 400-watt moving head, the MAC 550. “We started to look for new fixtures and when the opportunity arose to be the first in the world with the new Martin MAC 550 we thought it would be ideal as the main instrument on the stage in Skövde in combination with MAC 250s and MAC 300s,” he stated.

“The MAC 550’s main task is to create new, exciting projections. The animation wheel is an excellent tool for producing a lot of different effects like water, fire, clouds, northern light effects and many others. Apart from that, the light output is magnificent and it works great with the 250 and 300 fixtures.” The stage at Skövde is rigged with 20 MAC 550, 16 MAC 250 and 16 MAC 300.

The monthly finals at Annexet demand a bigger rig however so Pelle added 16 MAC 2000 Wash and 16 MAC 2000 Profile along with extra MAC 250 and 300 fixtures for a bigger look. “Annexet is where the MAC 2000s come into the picture. The MAC 2000 Profile and Wash work out perfectly and the MAC 550 fits in flawlessly alongside them with a light output that is superb. The MAC 250 used to be my all time favorite light but I must admit that now the MAC 550 has taken its place.”                                                                              

Crew:
Lighting Designer: Pelle Larsson
Lighting Operator: Patrik Lekengård         
Dimmer Operator: Mattias Oslak/John Karlsson
Lighting technician (moving heads): Robin Larsson
Lighting technician (generic): Q-lan /Anders Larsson
Rigger (Skövde): Rigg Olle
Rigger (Stockholm): Sören Durango/”Kryddan” Amberg
Motors (Stockholm): Robert Kelber
Local crew (Stockholm): Iscen