L-R: Alexander Bognár, Zoltán Ősz (PDF Production), Csanádi Csaba (AVL Trade) and Attila Tóth (PDF Production) Photo: Louise Stickland
Hungary/USA - Budapest-based PDF Production (Perfect Design Factory) was started by Peter Paricska in the 1980s. The company has grown into one of the leading and most successful rental companies in Hungary, specialising in the television and film lighting / production sectors as well as live events.
PDF was among the first rental companies in the country to have moving lights, and Paricska used the equipment to help establish and build his name as a creative lighting and production designer for a myriad of high-profile bands and music tours, before turning his expertise to the worlds of television and film.
He’s also been a distributor for several leading brands, and most recently, has steered PDF in the direction of Robe, purchasing 16 RoboSpot systems in 2017, followed up this year with 40 MegaPointes, all delivered through Hungarian distributor, AVL Trade.
PDFs RoboSpot systems - comprising the 16 RoboSpot BaseStations and their associated BMFL FollowSpot fixtures - have been used extensively on several TV shows and film shoots. “In so many cases remote follow spotting is a much easier, safer and more practical option than having an operator up in the rig,” says PDF’s head of technical, Attila Toth.
Twelve of the systems are currently at a newly established US venture - Redburn Productions - which Peter has set up in Las Vegas and were on the recent Bruno Mars tour as a dry hire. In the US, they have also invested in nine BMFL Follow Spot LTs. This is another new fixture from Robe which is a brighter, long-throw version of the standard BMFL FollowSpot, offering the same features as the standard BMFL FollowSpot, and benefitting from a different reflector and optics with a tighter beam spread which is optimised for extra brightness over long distances.
The plan is now to increase the four systems currently in Budapest to 12 standard and 12 LT (long-throw).
Hungarian shows on which these have been used include Alomutazo, a festive musical extravaganza and children’s fantasy show staged at the BOK Arena, Budapest, for which PDF supplies all lighting, staging and rigging.
They were also in action on The Pyramid, a games show for commercial channel TV2 which is recorded in two locations with lighting designed by Peter, and for Ninja Warrior, also for TV2, an obstacle / endurance show based on a Japanese concept, which has around 1,500 lighting fixtures in total, and is shot in a massive 6000sq.m space at the Origo Studios.
(Jim Evans)

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