61st Annual Primetime Emmy® Awards
PRG provides control for the 2009 Emmy® Awards.
Challenge: Provide forward thinking control solutions for lighting and screen automation for a live television event.
Solution: For the 61st Primetime Emmy® Awards, Production Designer Steve Bass and Lighting Designer Bob Dickinson created a cohesive, clean design that reflected elements of the television industry. The event was broadcast from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
Dickinson’s Lighting Director/Programmer was Andy O’Reilly, who programmed the show on PRG’s V676® console. “This is the third show that I have done with the V676 and it is working very, very well,” said Dickinson. “I had used the Virtuoso® console since its inception, on projects like the Academy Awards, the Olympics and the Grammy Awards. The V676 has taken the Virtuoso platform and added a lot of features that the operators have been requesting. It is an ideal console for television work without question.” Dickinson was also pleased with PRG’s performance, saying, “PRG does most of my large projects and they were—as usual—completely professional.”
O’Reilly agreed. “The V676 did great. It was rock-solid. It is extremely fast to make changes, which is just what television is all about. The V676 lets you make those changes and have them track through your show really, really quickly. Television is all about time so you need a console that is not only fast to use, but is fast to edit and the V676 is really built for that.”
Dickinson’s team, from his firm Full Flood, included Lighting Directors Jon Kusner and Travis Hagenbuch and Associate Lighting Designer Dave Thibodeau.
Bass asked PRG to provide the automation for the two large moving LED screens. Two 60ft overhead tracks supported the two 3,000lb LED screens, allowing them to precisely move back and forth. PRG’s Mini Commander™ automation control console, which provides the same reliability and repeatability as the PRG’s Commander™ console but in a smaller package, was the automation control solution. The Mini Commander’s full acceleration and deceleration features managed the inertia of the screens allowing for more fluid control than chain hoists as well as a controlled hard stop.
PRG provided the automation for two 3,000lb LED screens, which tracked forward and backward. Automation control was via PRG’s Mini Commander™ automation control console. Mini Commander provides the same reliability and repeatability as PRG’s Commander™ console, but in a smaller package. The Mini Commander’s full acceleration and deceleration features managed the inertia of the screens allowing for more fluid control than chain hoists, as well as a controlled hard stop.
This year’s Emmy Awards broadcast, helmed by Executive Producer Don Mischer and Director Glenn Weiss, was among the highest rated and best reviewed; a credit to the efforts of the entire production and creative team.