IN THE SPOTLIGHT: PRG
PRG’S GROUNDCONTROL FOLLOWSPOT SYSTEM THE RECENTLY LAUNCHED GROUNDCONTROL FOLLOWSPOT SYSTEM AIMS TO REVOLUTIONISE THE TRADITIONAL MANUAL FOLLOWSPOT, ALLOWING LIVE PRODUCTIONS EVEN GREATER CONTROL IN KEEPING TALENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT. TPi ATTENDED A PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION DAY AT LONDON’S O2 ARENA FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
In many ways, the GroundControl Followspot System is a very simple idea; it’s a remotely operated followspot controlled by an on-the-ground interface. Yet the real world application of this latest release, from a live production standpoint, really is a game-changer. No longer does a member of the lighting crew have to scale to the rafters and manually control a telescopic sized followspot, allowing their feet to stay firmly on the ground. Product Manager Chris Conti explained that 118
the idea behind the GroundControl product had been in the works for some time: “It was something we had on our minds for several years but the technology either wasn’t where we needed it to be or the costs were not realistic. Then, early last year, all the planets aligned and once we started to progress, it took around four months from white board to initial prototype.” At the time of publication, patents for the GroundControl Followspot system have been applied for and are pending.
The primary objective of the GroundControl is to solve the safety issues that go hand in hand with having to physically get an operator in the air to run the truss spots. Conti explained: “We wanted to get them out of the truss area and on the ground. That ended up being the easy part. The hard part, and the main design brief, was developing a control solution that was simple, intuitive, and able to mimic the look, feel, and experience of operating a regular followspot. We wanted a solution that anyone could walk up to and, with minimal instruction, confidently