In todays rapidly evolving industry, new technology can become almost
obsolete within a few years. Administrators at Nottingham New
College decided to take a pro-active approach to overcome this.
Technical Course Leader, Lucy Greaves, explains,
Our FdA Theatre Arts (Acting) students were preparing a performance of
Terrorism by the Presnyakov Brothers and the FdA
Theatre Arts (Technical) students were providing the technica
l support required for the play.
The director of the performance, Phil Green who is the course
leader of the FdA Theatre Arts (Acting) course requested a lighting effect that could foc
us on an actors face. The technical tutor, Andy Atkin suggested that ideally we would require something like a Clay Paky Sharpy for its narrow beam
–
however, this would be way too bright for our needs and
and too rich for our budget!
After doing a bit of research for possible solutions, I decided to contact Glyn O
Donoghue at Ambersphere Solutions. Although the website appeared very approachable it was with
some trepidation that I made what was literally a cold call! However, Glyn was veryaccommodating and interested in helping us; from there the collaboration began.
ODonoghue put Thor Andre from the Technical Sales team in charge of the project and
he liaised directly with technical tutor, Andy Atkin.
Thor suggested that the Ayrton MagicDot-RTM
and the Ayrton NandoBeam-S3TM
would be most suited to the needs of our production
and that he would drive up and demo the equipment. He also o
ffered to bring a MA dot2
Core console to give the students the chance to
get handson with a board that opens a
whole range of programming techniques and technical advantages not available on our
current control desk. It was wonderful to give the students the opportunity to be working
with newly developed equipment and software, enabling them to be
experiencing current industry technology. Thor was very generous with his time
and advice; his enthusiasm
towards the product and the production was exceptional
–
the students had a fantastic experience working with him.
Rosie Whitehead, the Lighting Designer and a FdA Technical student
in Yr2 comments, The workshop with Thor enabled me to be able to use the technolo
gy in a correct way for theatre and has given our production an extra professional ed
ge. It was a great opportunity.
Lighting Operator, Georgia Boichi-Giovarni is in full agreement,
The dot2 was a wonderfully simple desk to learn and use. The inclusion of the touch s
creen colour mixer made choosing the perfect colour for each scene so easy and quick.
Andre himself clearly relished the experience,
I was delighted when Glyn asked me to look
after this project. Working with the next generation of up
and coming lighting designers and programmers is incredibly rewarding. After having spent the ent
ire day training on the console the final words from Rosie and Georgia made it all wo
rth it. As I was packing up to leave, I heard them say to Andy that they wanted to stay for a
further couple of hours to get to know the console even better. That kind of commitment speaks v
olumes and really makes me enjoy my job! The dot2 had enabled them to shave almost a day
of theprograming time compared to what they normally need. It speaks
volumes for the dot2 and also meant none of the overnight programming sessions that
we all love so much!
The plays director, Course Leader Phil Green fully appreciates the extra di
mensions that the inclusion of the MagicDot-Rs and the NandoBeam-S3s afforded.
The provision of the technology from Ambersphere was an invaluable addition to the crea
tive process. For student designers it opened so many options that would oth
erwise have not been available to them. As a director it was a joy to have those possibiliti
es presented that helped define the presentation of the piece. As a consequence of this it was al
so a fantastic learning tool for the actors
–
and it looked amazing! Andre concurs wholeheartedly,
I was lucky enough to go up and see the show and the
design and execution of it was beautiful. Had I not known they were using moving lights, I would not have been able to tell. Moving lights used as repositionable specials instead of effects lights, is a very powerful tool for a lighting designer when it is done right, like it was here.
New College Nottinghams production of Terrorism was performed on 9th and 10 th December.
Technical tutor Atkin has the final word:
Myself and the students found great pleasure in
working with the new and exciting technology supplied in
kind by Ambersphere. The collaboration with Ambersphere has created a fabulous opportun
ity for learners to work and experiment with leading edge technology from Ayrton and MA. The
NandoBeam S3 moving head LED wash is capable of integrating into our gener
ic rig seamlessly. The range of features built into the fixture were easily accessible by the l
earners on the MA dot2 Core console. When we are granted any new investment we would certainly
be looking to Ambersphere for advice and guidance."