tba* gets the Martin treatment at Ravensbourne College.

Martin lighting has been used for a new TV pilot show as part of students’ final college degree course. The show was called “tba*” incorporating a new format where the audience text and phone in to decide the content each week. The show was lit by Ed Riley and James Lloyd who are freelance LDs and students at the college.

The look of the show was quite industrial and basic with lots of truss and was filmed in a large warehouse with very little set. Most of the dressing and decoration had to be done with lights.

Ed Riley ran through the layout, “Due to the warehouse not having a fixed lighting rig, we had to suspend limited amounts of truss from the roof and therefore had little space for lights. This is why we went for the MAC 250 Washes, which were highly versatile and allowed us to cover most areas of the set from one position. We were really impressed with the high light output and the optics. They illuminated all areas without any problem and have an exceptionally smooth dimmer. The colour temperature filter was great for switching between set dressing and lighting the action to match the regular tungsten lights in use elsewhere.”

Ed explains further, “We chose the MAC 550s for dressing the blank grey walls of the building, the animation wheel was perfect for livening up the dull interior and the prism gave us a great spread to cover the large area at a relatively short distance.”

The MAC 250 Entours were used mainly for gobo projection all around the set. Due to the nature of the show, action would quickly switch between areas, requiring the gobos to be moved. Ed comments, “The Entours are probably the fastest moving head unit of that size I’ve used and are perfect for applications where quick repositioning is needed.”

To complete the effect they were looking for they used; MAC 550s, MAC 250 Entours and MAC 250 Washes.

Ed Riley’s background is predominantly in theatre and live performance with credits as lighting designer on NET productions of Return to the Forbidden Planet and A Midsummer Nights Dream as well as being selected as lighting director for a showcase of Nottingham’s art and talent performed in front of the Royal family for the Queen’s jubilee celebrations. He has just finished his degree in Broadcasting Operations at Ravensbourne College and is hoping to move into television lighting and moving light operation.