The Awards, presented this year by popular comedian Emmanuel Sonubi, celebrated some of the best creative and technical achievements in the world of entertainment production from the past 12 months. The pressure is always on and the expectations are super high to produce something to impress the 1,795 industry professionals gathered in the room.

This year’s colourful retro-tech inspired lighting design wowed crowds and harmonised with the video content created by Observatory using some of Robe’s newest technologies.

Robe’s Nathan Wan was the lighting director, working closely with associate LD Andy Webb, programmer Jordan Tinniswood and Robe’s exhibitions and production manager, Tomas Kohout. They were supported by a crew of seven NRG (Next Robe Generation) students from six different colleges around the UK.

iBOLT Installation

A major lighting element this year was nine of Robe’s new iBOLT fixtures which were set up in the car park – showing off their scope as a modern replacement for large outdoor searchlight fixtures – searingly bright with a load more features and effects than classic searchlights!

A circle of 8 x iBOLTS surrounded one fixture in the middle, a geometric pattern that could be appreciated for its cool, precise, and powerful beam-work, and also allowed the lights to spin round and colour / texture the front of the building.

The idea of lighting parts of the venue’s exterior was first explored last year, but this year, the iBOLT installation took it to new levels, ensuring that arriving guests caught all the excitement, glamour, and atmosphere of the occasion!

The iBOLTS were tech’d for the evening by student Ben Oakey, using an Avo Tiger Touch II console.

Bar Action

As guests moved inside Evolution, they traversed the bar which was smartly lit with Robe LEDBeam 350s and PAINTES – 16 of each fixture type – plus four TetraX 360-degree rotating LED battens, all rigged on a central structure.

The bar lighting was operated by NRG student Clara Sousa-Shaheed using an Avolites D9-215 console.

Nathan explained the importance of the bar area lighting as so much socialising takes place in there over the night, both before and after the Awards presentations. “The key is for lighting to be mood setting and a bit edgy, but not distracting,” he commented.

Main Room

As you would expect, spectacle and mood were at the essence of the lighting aesthetic in this space, with most of the supplied fixtures deployed here where the main dinner and Awards presentation at the core of the evening took place. It is a vast, low, letterbox-style shaped room which is notoriously challenging to light!

Nathan had the benefit of working in the space before, knowing the parameters, and the idea with this event always to up the ante and push the envelope of imagination and style on the previous year’s show.

This year, Andy Webb produced the music track in conjunction with the TPi team – led by Commercial Director Fran Begaj, Marketing and Events Manager Alice Clarke, and Editor Stew Hume ¬– and together with the video and set design, mashed up a lively collection of 80s and 90s classics. Taking this aspect of the show presentation ‘in house’ was very helpful for continuity especially whilst Nathan was pre-vizzing the lighting in Capture.

The set, designed by Atomic Design’s Felix Nuyten, was made up of a series of Atomic Design modular architectural panels, with a nod to the famous 3D combination Rubik Cube puzzle and the classic 1980s video game puzzle, Tetris.

The Awards stings, bumpers and other sound effects were based on 1980s and 90s video gameplay which powered up / off at the start of each Award presentation sequence and then powered down again at the end.

The 2024 Awards visual aesthetic was based on video projection onto the Atomic Panels, making a refreshing change up from LED walls, and one that tied in fabulously with the historic reference points. Projection also required a precise and specific approach to the lighting, with much attention to detail ensuring the containment of light spillage.

Nathan also riffed on some well-known 1990s lighting trends from ‘back-in-the-days’ when moving lights were still only featured on the biggest budget productions!

Using such a versatile and flexible Robe rig, he effortlessly recreated some of the great classic PAR can and ACL moments – a la AC/DC and Queen – along with more contemporary, slick production looks.

Above the stage, the space was filled out with four ‘light trees’, constructed from raked 4 metre trusses each with three horizontal sections. Each tree was rigged with 8 x LEDBeam 350s, two at each end and four in the middle of the truss, plus three TetraXs and two Tetra2s also in the middle area.

This combination offered plenty of flexibility and stage coverage and looked great for back-of-camera filler.

Down below the set panels, ensconced into the back wall at different positions – via some smart rigging but not on the floor – were a platoon of PAINTES, 20 in total. Chosen for their compact size and excellent punch, from these positions these compact powerful moving lights created hi-impact aerial effects.

Out in the room scattered across 3 trusses flown above the tables were the main workhorses of the show, 30 x iFORTE LTXs, currently Robe’s most powerful LED moving light.

In addition to the big spectacular aerial effects, accents, punctuations, and eye-popping scenes of the pumping 1 minute 40 second Awards opener, the LTXs also had to light the room for people to see their meals and offer a comfortable but moody ambience for the dinner.

Another 8 x iFORTE LTXs were rigged on another truss further back in the room for specials, front coverage and augmenting the fixtures on the 3 room trusses.

Also on these three audience trusses were 10 x Spiider wash beams per truss to cover the area in great quality wash lighting. Hanging on the ends of these three trusses was an inverted T-piece rigged with two Tetra2s at each end for extra depth and retinal gratification.

Around the room mirroring the four main fixed position video cameras, were four iFORTE LTX FS (follow spot) fixtures and four RoboSpot base stations, each operated by NRG students – Becky Winrow, Louis Geard, Josh Eksteen and James Harvey.

Haze and atmospherics came from two MDG The Ones stationed stage left and right.

Nathan pre-vizzed the Main Room show using Capture and programmed it on an Avolites D9 console with Jordan, running 30 DMX universes. On the night, the main show lighting was operated by assistant LD for the evening, Harley Roebuck, who is studying an extended diploma Level 3 in Production Arts at City College Norwich.

In addition to the exacting brief of making it look good for an acutely aware peer group audience all involved with staging numerous amazing world class shows, events and tours with incredibly high expectations … time was tight!

The lighting bump-in took place on the Sunday morning for a Monday night show leaving one night of on-site programming time to finesse everything.

The 2024 TPi Award for ‘Lighting Designer of the Year’ award was again sponsored by Robe and this year presented by Ian W Brown, sales director from Robe UK to Tim Routledge – the fourth time he has won the trophy. Tim and his team delivered the impressive production lighting design for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest which was staged in Liverpool, UK, and the event also won the coveted TPi Awards ‘Outstanding Event Production of the Year’. It was one of many interesting creative projects in which Tim was involved throughout the year.

Photo Credits: Paula Duck, Joseph Okpako