The Sky Italia Olympics Studio
When Sky Italia went looking for studio space for its coverage of the Winter Olympics, the Italian rightsholder thought the office building with expansive windows looking out on the Vancouver skyline would be perfect.
The space provided a striking cityscape both day and night — but the small rooms with 10' ceilings would be a challenge to light, provide power for and to ventilate.
To address the lighting issues, Sky Italia, working with Trans Audio Video Srl, turned to Litepanels LED lighting fixtures.
According to Sergio Brighel, Trans Audio Video technical director, “It was really not practical to use traditional lighting fixtures with those low ceilings. Litepanels LED Bi-Focus fixtures have many unique features, like their ability to vary the beam angle from flood to a 30-degree spot, and dimming from 100 percent to zero, with no noticeable change in color temperature. And, they generate no heat.”
To use the studios 24/7, Sky Italia installed Rosco View polarizing sheets to the window behind the Presentation desk. This allowed them to control the outside light the camera sees by rotating a Rosco View polarizing filter. Daylight Litepanels fixtures were used to color balance the set.
Control of focus and dimming for the lights was via DMX control with a Strand Lighting MX console.
As for the power required to light each of the Sky Italia Vancouver studios, Litepanels fixtures in the larger studio drew a total of 600 W, and the smaller studio lighting package drew just 300 W.
Sky Italia crews at the Winter Games also used a Litepanels 1x1 Bi-Focus fixture, operated off a rechargeable battery pack, and Litepanels on-camera MicroPro LED fixture, which operates off six AA batteries.
