The Voice Ukraine was broadcast live from the Kiev studios of TV channel 1+1 (photo: Anton Shykunov)
Ukraine - The coronavirus pandemic didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the 2020 final of singing competition The Voice Ukraine, which was broadcast live from the Kiev studios of TV channel 1+1, produced by Volodymyr Zavaduyk, directed by Tri.Direction and lit by Eugene Kostyra, also working closely with DOP Sergey Petrov.
To create an original and spectacular lighting design for this socially distanced television event, Eugene utilised Robe MegaPointes and Spikies as a key part of his lighting rig which were supplied, along with all the other lighting equipment, by Ukraine’s largest rental and production company, Alight.
It was the tenth season for the popular show and Eugene has been involved with the lighting since the fifth series (as well as two series of the ‘Junior’ edition).
Tri.Direction - directors creative team of the show developed the set design which was based around clean lines and start geometry, with a large three metre-high central riser with LED screens around the base, complemented with more screens upstage in a curve around the back and sides of the studio space.
Eugene took this as inspiration and filled the areas with light following the same clean and well-defined precision, accentuating the cube shape and the relationship between the different screen areas. By varying the screen content, the whole mood of the set could be shifted dramatically for each participant.
Eugene used 42 Robe Spikies rigged on vertical truss in between the rear LED screens for creating intense and highly accurate beam effects. He thinks these little fixtures are “perfect for this style and format of TV show, and I use them frequently in this context”.
The 25 MegaPointes on the plot were located on the overhead rig along with several 5x5 LED panel luminaires.
“MegaPointes and Spikies bring diversity and many creative options to a show like The Voice which involves expressing styles and moods from so many different genres of music. I needed as many tools at my fingertips as possible to be able to match the vibe of each song and to instantly enhance the drama and ambience as demanded by the director.”
In addition to these Robes, various other fixtures were in the rig including other beam lights, moving and static LED battens. Eugene programmed and ran all the lighting for the finale on a grandMA3 console.
(Jim Evans)

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