(15/05/2014) For the second year running Pretoria South Africa based Blond Productions are supplying full technical production lighting, video and sound including Robe moving lights and design for the popular South African TV talent competition, Clash of The Choirs.
The 10 final' performance episodes this year involve seven hand-picked choirs performing several different pieces of work each week. The show is being recorded in the Victory Theatre, Orange Grove, Johannesburg and is broadcast twice weekly by Mzansi Magic. It is again expected to be one of the most watched' series on SA television and highlights the country's propensity for vocal talent.
Lighting for this year's show is a co-design between Peter Rieck - who did the first series and Ryan Lombard, both of whom specified the Robe ROBIN MMX Spots and ROBIN LEDBeam 100s.
The Victory Theatre, built in 1929 is a much smaller space than last year's new Soweto Theatre which was not available this time around, and this change of venue is a major challenge for lighting. The majority of the rig is flown on a house bar system which has limited weight-loading and so smaller and lighter fixtures like the MMX Spot and LEDBeam 100 are ideal.
Blond and Dream Sets designed and installed the stage set which is based on last year's very successful creation, but adapted to fit the different space.
Each episode is themed musically e.g., late Great Musicians, Pop, Choirmasters' Hits and so on and also visually, with each one receiving its own look, treatment, video, etc. This aesthetic approach is at the essence of the show and this entails an amount of ingenuity with the lighting.
Above the stage are six Robe MMX Spots, 14 x LEDBeam 100s, 10 x 2K fresnels and six beam lights. On the floor are another six MMX Spots, 24 x LEDBeam 100s and another six beam lights.
In addition to these, there are RGB LED panels dotted around the auditorium for both front / back light and camera fill, and either side of the stage at the top of the main steps are two 6 mm LED screens showing graphics, stings and VT play-ins.
It is a basic rig, but it has to be made to go a long way!
The MMXs are used for powerful back lighting from top and bottom, and to create the mood for each song with bold gobo looks and brightly coloured beam-work slicking through the haze.
Some of the LEDBeam 100s are used to internally light the set columns, while the others fitted with the 20 degree diffusers are used for set washing. Their small size and light weight are ideal for rigging on the house bars.
All the lighting is programmed and operated by Lombard using a grandMA2 light.
He receives a brief for each episode and theme and then considers other related elements like costumes, etc. and programmes live' to create the scenes and looks required. It is an intense way to work but the spontaneity involved also produces some really gratifying results.
Series director Valentina Jelani Mathibela comments, Lighting is absolutely fundamental to this show. It helps set the scene and mood of the theme and provides a dynamic backdrop to the individual pieces of work being performed .
Blond's is delighted to be involved in Clash of the Choirs once again. It's really taken off as a concept and makes great TV. Making the performances work in a completely different space has been interesting and challenging and produced some great teamwork!
copyrighted by liveProduction.tv Blond Productions a leading SA rental company specialising in the television sector - has a large stock of Robe moving lights and has been investing in the brand for over eight years, supplied by Robe's SA distributor DWR Distribution.
Clash of The Choirs
After the regional auditions, during which each choir or singer performs an acapella version of a song of their choice, seven choirmasters select the best choir or assemble the best singers to create their own unique choir. With expert coaching to develop the singers and guided by choirmasters, these seven choirs compete in the televised section Clash of The Choirs and are eventually whittled down to three for the grand finale.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
(15/05/2014) For the second year running Pretoria South Africa based Blond Productions are supplying full technical production lighting, video and sound including Robe moving lights and design for the popular South African TV talent competition, Clash of The Choirs.
