“Deal or No Deal” Soars with Large Martin Package

NBC’s top rated television show, “Deal or No Deal,” is a high-energy game show in which contestants pick 1 of 26 cases which potentially contains a top prize of $1 million. Hosted by actor-comedian Howie Mandel and filmed at Culver Studios in Southern California, “Deal or No Deal” stormed to big ratings by the end of 2005.

With original designers who were responsible for the initial look of the show, Steve Cohen (pilot) and Allen Branton (first season) having moved on to other projects, Michael Veerkamp of Team Imagination took over the show’s lighting midway through its first season. For season two, which premiered in September 2006, Michael added a staple of Martin gear.

New MAC rig
The Martin lighting package includes the first MAC 700 Washes available in the U.S. In addition, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 2000 Performances, MAC 2000 Washes, MAC 550 profile spots, Atomic 3000 strobes LEDs and other automated fixtures are used while digital effects from a Martin Maxedia run floor positioned LED. Lighting control is from a pair of Maxxyz consoles which manage more than 20 Universes of DMX. All of the Martin gear for season two has been supplied by lighting supplier Cinelease, Inc.

MAC 700 Wash
Cinelease was the first in the U.S. to purchase the new Martin MAC 700 Wash and supplied 48 of them to the DoND set. “The 700 Washes have been flawless,” Michael Veerkamp states, “but the most remarkable thing is that when they came out of the box every single one was working. We have them in the rig doing set washes with a few operating from a floor position. They’re used to back light ‘the temple’ (the area where the models stand), provide color washes on scenic pieces including the set curtains and are generally always on camera.

“The Deal or No Deal set is totally white. The entire set is made of sand blasted Plexiglas, silver curtains and white tubes. All of the color is coming from lighting equipment and color changes quite often during the show. Because of the white set there is no tolerance for a fixture performing badly. Everyone sees a bad fixture” , Michael explains.

MACs and Maxedia
There are six different lighting looks to the 360 degree set that are used throughout the various phases of the game. Over the model temple are three rows of MAC 700 Profiles used for effects and patterns over the audience as well as ballyhoos in and out of commercials. They also light the set columns with the 700’s scrolling animation effect particularly effective on camera. MAC 2K Washes and Performances are mostly used for color changes onto the audience, provide background lighting and do specials on the contestant’s extended family on stage. MAC 550s are used for fills at the back of the set.

Stock graphical content from a Maxedia Digital Media Composer runs through LED tiles located beneath home base where the host and contestant stand. Maxedia is also capable of running videos and images on the temple - also made up of LED - via its pixelmapping feature.

Maxxyz
The second season was pre-programmed on Martin’s lighting and set design software package, Martin ShowDesigner, at a sound stage before moving to the DoND stage. Show control runs off of two Martin Maxxyz lighting consoles linked together, the Maxedia, and a stand alone computer which runs a custom interface. Two people operate the show and there is no conventional console required. ShowDesigner runs concurrently with the show so the designer can see graphically what’s happening. “We have 250 moving lights and 900 LED units so the control end is a big part of the whole thing,” Michael says. “We’re using Maxxyz because of my familiarity with the console and my operator’s preference. The entire DMX system is distributed via Martin Ether2DMX devices, which allows the lighting consoles to move freely around the studio for programming and focus adjustments using a simple CAT5 cable. Attached to the Maxxyz consoles are playback modules to deal with intensities and special cues. Programmers make much use of their motorized faders to access all the layers of faders instantly.

Custom interface
The second season’s lighting control and game control systems are married in a very sophisticated custom interface written by Martin’s Matthias Hinrichs in which the show control system takes MIDI commands from the gaming computer. The custom software deals with the models and runs on a Flash interface that utilizes Maxxyz Manager. Michael explains, “We tied in the lighting consoles with the gaming system so that the cueing is dead on. There is a custom interface that operates the model system where the cases light, the rest of the girls drop out, there is a moving light cue and the floor changes. Then it resets itself. The interface, developed by Matthias Hinrichs for Team Imagination, is truly amazing. It’s a graphical interface on a point and click screen and is instantaneous. Not only do you highlight the case and there is a series of cues, but then the lights restore and the chosen case is gone. To make it even more interesting, when we go to commercial the models are resorted. You don’t want to have holes in the temple where the girls were so there is a resort button where the operator can click and move a case to its new position. The output is fed to the video truck where the assistant director can confer with the board op.”

Matthias Hinrichs comments, “Due to the interface the entire show has more then 400 cues that had to be programmed, although only about 20 different ‘looks’ are visible to the audience during the show. All cues on the model temple are always changing based on the game flow - nobody knows which number the contestant will pick next. The interface triggers a lot of small things like flyouts of the MAC 700 or stopping chases on the temple LEDs. Without the interface it was impossible to get the show working without interruptions. It was a lot of fun inventing something nobody has ever done before.”

Michael Veerkamp concludes, “It’s very impressive how the whole system works. When lighting people watch the show the first thing they ask is ‘how are you doing that?’ Now, thirty shows into it there have really been no problems. The Maxxyz console and custom interface really made the show possible. It’s a thing of beauty and we don’t miss cues. The executive in charge of production and other NBC personnel are quite happy.”

Lighting gear:
48 x MAC 700 Wash
43 x MAC 700 Profile
22 x MAC 2000 Performance
5 x MAC 2000 Wash
6 x MAC 550
25 x HES Studio Beams
14 x VL3000 Spot
31 x VL3500 Spot
50 x Coemar PAR LED
9 x Atomic 3000 strobes
3 x Maxxyz
2 x Maxxyz Playback module
1 x Maxxyz Manager
2 x Maxedia Digital Media Composer
1 x Martin ShowDesigner
6 x Martin Ether2DMX
Color Kinetics LED
2 x HES F-100 Fogger
2 x Rosco Delta 3000
6 x DF-50 Hazer
92 x Source Four Ellipsoidal
61 x Source Four PAR
23 x Source Four Parnel
4 x Strand Super Troupers