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TECH PROFILE
“Safety of the athletes was a very high priority. If the lighting position that even slightly dazzled the athletes, they could misjudge the dive which could result in serious injury.” PRG Gearhouse, Dave McCulloch
commitment to positive health and safety culture is infectious. We at HSAFE Risk Solutions look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with Unusual on future projects.” A SIGHT TO BE SEEN With the event taking place at night, it almost seems trivial to emphasise the importance of the lighting department. Responsible for ensuring the athletes and spectators didn’t miss a single flip or twist was PRG Gearhouse, providing a complete lighting package for LD Florian Schreiter. Dave McCulloch from PRG took on the mantle of Lighting Crew Chief. “The event certainly posed an interesting challenge,” he began. “The first of which was logistical. Dubai Marina is a very popular area with a number of bars, restaurants and residential buildings in the immediate vicinity of the dive area, some of which formed our lighting positions for this event. As such, a great deal of planning with all involved parties was required, and much of the work taking place overnight or in the early hours of the morning, before business opened for the day.” The fact that this was the first time the Red Bull divers were competing at night meant several adjustments were inevitable: “During the focus sessions and test dives, there was much dialogue between the LD Florian, the broadcasters, and the athletes themselves to
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ensure that the best solution for all parties could be found,” commented McCulloch. “Safety of the athletes was a very high priority. If the lighting position that even slightly dazzled the athletes, they could misjudge the dive which could result in serious injury.” As such the PRG crew spent a lot of time adjusting the lighting positions, especially on the jetties around the dive area, to make sure this didn’t happen. Aiding McCulloch in this process were PRG Lighting Technicians, Mohammed Tariq, Robin Stute and Matt Logan. The rig that PRG supplied had already been specified to Schreiter prior to the event. McCulloch talked through some of the standout elements of the rig. “The Martin by Harman MAC 2000 XBs gave us a solid fixture to build the wash over the main dive area over the course of the event. These Martin fixtures are an older model but the consistent beam field and high output of the units gave Florian the even wash he was looking for to satisfy the requirements of the athletes, the judges and the broadcasters.” The rest of the rig made extensive use of LED for architectural and crowd lighting, with the Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash units filling in where a higher, more punchy level was required. Also making an appearance on the rig were 10 Claypaky Sharpys and 10 Sharpy Wash along with 52 GLP impression X4 Bar 20’s,
eight SGM P5’s and 30 Q7’s. Also present on the spec were 18 Space Cannon Ireos 7kw, an outdoor searchlight for special events and other productions where high output, full articulation, full programmability, and precise colour control are required. McCulloch concluded: “The end result was an successful event that looked good live, on broadcast and was safe for the athletes, and I hope we’ll be seeing more of these night dive events in next year’s cliff diving series.” PRG Gearhouse’s also provided LED screens for the event deploying a hanging LED screen Lighthouse R16, 7x5 Tiles and 7112mm x 3810mm being rigged onto a scaffolding sub construction. The screen was used to show a live feed of the event along with various sponsor loops for the audience who were watching the event in front of the Marina Mall with the signal being directly delivered by the broadcast van. PRG was not the only company providing LED solutions for the live audience. Austrian base AirMotion provided its unique floating LED Video Wall. Robert Steininger from AirMotion commented: “Our floating LED Video Wall is a completely new product for the in industry. We were first brought into the project by Red Bull’s Bernd Krainbucher and the whole team were great to work for. We were very proud to be involved with the event. Our company is still