grandMA and Clay Paky Sharpy lighting fixtures took on a Spanish accent for the 12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards telecast live on the Univision Network on Nov. 10 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. A.C.T Lighting is the distributor of grandMA and Clay Paky products in North America.
Lititz, Pennsylvania-based Atomic Lighting provided three grandMA2 light systems with fader wings to control the show's lighting and another two full-size grandMA2 consoles to run 16 universes of Artnet for the video content. Fifty Clay Paky Sharpys formed part of the lighting inventory.
Since its debut on Univision entirely in Spanish in 2005, the Latin Grammy Awards show has consistently increased its ratings worldwide; it is also one of Univision's highest rated shows as well as the most watched and highly regarded awards event by Hispanics.
Atomic's vice president of operations Brett Puwalski, who has served as the show's gaffer for the last five years, reports that the grandMAs performed "solidly - as always." For video programmer Laura Frank, the Latin Grammy Awards marked her first big show with the grandMA2. It was also the first show that Atomic did with the grandMA2 series. "Everything went very well, and Laura loved them," says Puwalski. "This was a very video-driven show with video projection, LEDs and VersaTubes."
Lighting programmers Felix Peralta and Kevin Lawson had used grandMA2s on "Sing Off" and "America's Best Dance Crew," but the Latin Grammys were their first experience with the system's new software release. "Sometimes software upgrades come with bugs and issues," notes Puwalski. "But there were no complaints about the new software. We hope to stick with the upgraded software whenever possible since everybody loves its added features."
Puwalski introduced lighting designer Carlos Colina to Clay Paky Sharpys at the Premio Juventud awards show on Univision last summer and "he loved the tight beam and how bright it was for its small size," he says. So when it came time for the Latin Grammy Awards Colina decided to deploy Sharpys on trusses over the stage to create beam looks and place the fixtures around the audience to illuminate shots for commercial bumpers.
According to Puwalski, both the grandMAs and Sharpys are "definitely popular with our customers. People are finding the Sharpys hard to come by since they're constantly in use."
John Daniels and Darren Langer were the lighting directors for the Latin Grammy Awards; Alex Flores, Dave Hunkins and Mike Smallman the lighting technicians; and Jorge Dominguez the scenic designer.
