Comic Relief is a UK-based charity that, for the past 25 years, has held high profile annual events that have raised £650 million for various good causes. Its focus each year is ‘Red Nose Day’. This year, a special variant of a well-known UK TV show helped to raise funds – and Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, in which famous faces perform some of the world’s most well-known dance routines, featured PixelSmart LED lighting fixtures from PixelRange.
Lighting Designer Steve Nolan and associate Tim Routledge had previously debuted the PixelSmart on the Royal Variety Performance, and were happy to use it again for the popular ‘talent’ show for Comic Relief. “We loved them on Royal Variety and they’re really good point sources because you can generate different shapes with them,” said Nolan. “It just gives you a little more versatility and movement in the background.”
“We’re using them a lot more on this show than on the Royal Variety Performance,” added Routledge. “They’re in most of the show and they’re great eye candy for us to give us some sparkle. As this is Comic Relief we’ve made them into rotating red noses, using red with the cold white as the ‘shine’!”
Twenty-four PixelSmart fixtures populate the back and sides of the studio stage. “They’re only being run at 20% as they’re way too bright – they’re an incredible light,” continued Nolan. “On this show, they’ve become a little shape generator for a few of the signatures in the show. When people walk down from the back, they’re always on – and they do something different for each part of the show: there’s a blue ‘spooky’ motif for when acts are being voted on and off.”
“The PixelSmart lamps are just so versatile”, Routledge concluded. “They add twinkle and detail but we add them as solids too. Last year we had PixelPars, so this year we have the same quality of light but with so much more added to it!”
