MA Lighting’s grandMA console played a key role in the lighting of the DVD shoot for hit contemporary Christian recording artist Amy Grant marking the release of her new CD. The production was shot over two nights in full concert mode at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, TX. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor of grandMA.

The goal of lighting the DVD was to provide an upbeat, theatrical, yet calm atmosphere to the living room set where Grant performed. “It had a very ‘MTV Unplugged’ feel,” says lighting programmer Demfis Fyssicopulos of New York City and Florida. “Lighting designer Sparky Anderson had to light for the concert audience as well as for the film cameras. In addition Anderson accentuated the breath-taking architecture of The Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, TX, where the shoot took place.”

Gemini Productions supplied the lighting complement, which had grandMA controlling 20 Vari-Lite VL2500 spots, 10 Vari-Lite VL3000 spots, five Vari-Lite VL3000 washes, 16 High End Systems Studio Commands and some 200 conventional fixtures.

Fyssicopulos, who has provided automated lighting design and programming services to the likes of Elton John, Green Day, Disney, Hurricane Katrina Relief Concert and HBO amongst others, has extensive experience with grandMA. He found it invaluable on the DVD shoot where things often changed by the minute. “As usual, grandMA gave me the flexibility to do things at the last minute,” he says. “When Amy added new songs and arrangements I could layer on the fly on top of the established look.”

“The grandMA is built to allow the designer and programmer to take a tightly cued show and play it back with the “on-the-fly” flexibility and hands on style that Rock & Roll designers love. “This certainly worked for Sparky and Demfis,” commented Bob Gordon, president and CEO of A.C.T Lighting.

Fyssicopulos also found grandMA to be “incredibly reliable and very stable. When I’m working on grandMA I am working with a console that is not in its infancy. The console is mature, solid and as proven as it can be. Moreover, with every software release it keeps on offering more and more useful features.”