Gold was everywhere at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony last month in Hollywood: Gold glitzed from the red carpet, gold Oscars were handed out to lucky winners and gold Sharpy lighting fixtures from Clay Paky helped illuminate the telecast for millions of viewers around the world. A.C.T Lighting is the North American distributor for Clay Paky.
Lighting designer Bob Dickinson specified 12 Clay Paky Sharpys to add pop to the show. The powerful yet compact lights were supplied in a newly available gold housing, which blended seamlessly with the décor and set design of the auditorium. Dickinson is known as the go-to lighting designer for major international events, including previous Oscar, Emmy and Grammy Awards shows, the opening and closing ceremonies at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and events at Expo 2010 Shanghai China.
Sharpy is a 189W moving head with an unprecedented brightness usually achievable only with far greater wattages. Tipping the scales at just 16 kg, Sharpy produces a perfectly parallel, laser-like beam with an incredible output of 5,100 footcandles at 65 feet. It is also groundbreaking in the purity of its beam, which is sharply defined and free of any halo or discoloration around the edges. It offers an interchangeable color wheel with 14 fixed colors and an interchangeable gobo wheel with 17 fixed gobos, allowing users to change the shape of the beam and create an array of spectacular mid-air effects.
The complement of gold Sharpys for the ceremony was supplied by VER. A.C.T Lighting President and CEO Bob Gordon commented, "Having Bob Dickinson specify these fixtures is an honor. He is such a consummate professional that his choice of the Sharpy says so much about the fixture. Susan Tesh at VER was integral in this process and we certainly owe her our gratitude."
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, adds, "We're thrilled to see our new gold Sharpys at such high profile event. They really helped make the awards ceremony shine."
