Renowned lighting designer Luc Peumans, founder of
lighting design company Painting with Light, is debuting the spectacular
effects of the Clay Paky B-EYE during rock sensation Clouseau’s nationwide
tour.
Peumans is known for his large-scale, innovative
designs for TV and musical theatre. For this show, however, the lighting
designer went back to basics. Tasked with creating a rich, ‘large-looking’
design with minimum fixtures, Peumans designed a highly versatile rig that
could deliver a varied amount of lighting states.
“The idea with this tour was to really strip back the
lighting and show design elements,” explains Peumans. “This meant cutting back
on video and really pushing the lighting to deliver those big, impressive, rock
looks. I saw the B-EYE last year at PLASA, and they had been on my wish list
ever since. They inspired a lot of looks for this show.”
In total, Peumans specified 12 x Clay Paky A.leda
B-EYE K20s for the tour, sub-rented from hire house AED Rent Belgium as part of
the overall lighting package provided by hire outfit Coruna.
“I wanted to create a fully flexible rig that would
look great in a variety of venues,” explains Peumans. “The rig needed to be
quick and easy to assemble and needed to pack down really tight – we had to fit
the entire production into one truck. Because of this I had to be very mindful
of what fixtures I used. They had to be lightweight and extremely versatile
with a low power draw yet be bright and punchy enough to give a good show.”
Peumans rigged 8x B-EYE K20s in a row above the bands
cloth backdrop, which featured eight columns. The lights provided powerful wash
and graphic effects drawing the eye across the stage. A further four B-EYEs
were rigged in between the band members to provide interesting eye-candy
effects.
The Clay Paky B-EYE K20 offers lighting designers the
choice of three operating modes; Wash, Beam and FX. For lighting designers like
Peumans who are working with limited time and budget the B-EYE K20 provides a
formidable lighting solution combining the power of three traditional fixtures
in one cutting edge piece of kit.
“The B-EYE is a very powerful fixture,” finishes
Peumans. “It has vast creative beam possibilities and can provide everything
from backlight washes, distinctive multicolour effects and of course its ‘beam
breaking’ kaleidoscope effects.”
