Fight Hub

Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Hannah Kate Kinnersley

HydroFlex HydroPars and Robe Lighting Anolis 36 LEDs handle the pool illumination. NBC Photos: Trae Patton

Another large feature of the American Gladiators' set is a pyramid made of huge, padded steps (guarded by gladiators) that contenders attempt to climb. Dominguez outlines the structure with eight Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72s on each side to bring some light and movement to it. McLachlan comments that the scenic design/lighting design overlap seems to be so common these days that scenic designers ask for certain LEDs by name.

Despite the bold colors and intense moving lights, there were surprisingly few safety issues where lights were blinding people, McLachlan says. “We had a couple of stuntmen guinea pigs who did the stunts first, but they almost never had a problem with angles and beams.” One area where they were particularly careful, because contestants were confined to one place, was for the joust. “We used 7kW Xenons from Xenotech, but we angled them so they weren't blasting into people's eyes,” Dominguez says.

In the center of the space, the rig has a three-ring configuration where Dominguez hung Morpheus PanaBeam^™ XR2+fixtures for “when we need a frenetic, big, all-hell-breaks-loose look.” Dominguez adds, “What's cool about the light is that it can just spin and has no stop, and instead of just moving from side to side, they all fly up and spin back into themselves. It has a unique light quality and looks funky, so it creates a different look.”

Once the lighting team created the big event atmosphere around large set pieces and filled the huge expanse of the arena, they almost had to backtrack to avoid swamping the gladiators and contestants. “We would set up these cool looks and then think, ‘Oh, the humans are here now. We have to carve out a space so we don't annihilate them,’” jokes Dominguez.

The contestants are primarily lit by followspots, as McLachlan points out. “My job is to create a space around them with a background but eliminate splashes of color on their faces so that the cast look human,” he says. Dominguez strategically placed 10 Strong 2kW Xenon long throw Super Troupers around the sound stage and, where they couldn't get a good angle, ellipsoidals at varying degrees.

Director Thompson used handheld cameras for some close-ups to give the show intimacy in the huge space, and for those occasions Dominguez says, “Where we couldn't get a good angle, say for a handheld interview, we'd have a guy run in with a Chimera on a stick to get good light on a face.”

At its largest, the crew totaled around 25, including six followspot operators and a diving electrician from Local 728. The show returns later this year.