
Streaming Home for Christmas in Belgium posted: 24/01/2021
The Belgians definitely didn't let the pandemic dampen enthusiasm for the festive season, and while it was different in every sense with a lockdown in place and none of the usual round of parties and celebratory shows theatrical musical producers Deep Bridge created a special streamed Home Edition' version of their 2020 Christmas Show, with appearances and special Christmas collaborations from a host of celebrities and music stars, all presenting unique festive musical moments.
The event was recorded over three days at Deep Bridge's HQ in Antwerp with lighting designed by David Smeets of event design and production company The Creative Factory, (TCF) based in Meerhout.
David specified Robe moving lights including T1 Profiles, Spiiders, LEDBeam 150s, Tertra2 LED bars and BMFL WashBeams all of which were supplied by rental company L&L Stage Services.
The action-packed artist line up included a star-studded cast of Belgian singing and dancing talent.
The challenges of the project included an incredibly tight turnaround time - just 10 days from when the idea germinated to the stream being recorded across 10 different locations at the Deep Bridge HQ including offices, dressing rooms, corridors, and foyers as well as their dance studio and rehearsal room and outside the building.
That meant that any lighting kit must be portable, versatile, low power and - for the exterior scenes - able to deal with a bit of wind and rain!
David and his team frequently use Robe products in their work which includes theatre, music, and touring shows and in the more recent months since the pandemic, there's been a steady flow of livestream / broadcast recording production work.
Deep Bridge's fabulous 15-piece house band was used for backing all the vocalists. For logistical reasons and for Covid-compliance - which restricted the amount of people allowed in the building and in the filming areas at any one time - these tracks were pre-recorded in the studio, with the singers then going live-to-track playback.
The 24 x T1 Profiles were deployed on the floor of the various spaces or rigged on wheeled stands which could easily be moved around. T1 Profiles were picked for their output and colour mixing they easily and authentically reproduce the vivid colours needed for TV work and are also ideal for front and key lighting due to their excellent range of CT whites, explained David. In addition to many other refined advanced features, they also consume very little power.
The 24 x LEDBeam 150s were perfect for their small size, zoom, colour mixing and ideal to light the smaller spaces like dressing rooms and corridors. They are compact, light and portable enough to be used literally anywhere, enthused David who also ran them as a set of linked up-lighters daisy-chained through one unit's power supply, as well as for back light, camera candy and even wall washers. They are a must-have on a project like this! he stated.
David included 18 of his current favourite Robe products, the Spiider LED wash beam. I use Spiiders on EVERY show I do, he pronounces, reckoning they are the most versatile fixture with their central flower effect, individual LED ring control and excellent zoom which means they can work equally well as a beam or a wash luminaire.
The eight BMFL WashBeams were used for the outside shots, primarily for illuminating the building and gobo projections, while the Tetra2s were utilised on the floor in the walkways and corridors as an effect. It was the second time that David had used these on a show.
All the lighting was run via a grandMA3 console programmed by Stijn Vanholzaets and operated by David assisted by Christophe Hellinckx making up a talented and fast-working FOH lighting team.
Enforcing the social distancing rules and ensuring that the site was fully Covid compliant meant that everyone needed 4 square metres of space around them, something that presented both logistical and psychological conundrums for artists and crew!
For example, to stage a 15-piece band with this in mind ... you need a large space, explained David, and they have to very quickly get comfortable with playing together whilst being much further apart than normal.
All the lighting was operated blind' by observing the action via screens as the control position was in a sectioned off room behind walls and with no direct line-of-sight.
We needed some time to ensure that everything looked just right for the 3-camera shoot, but we also all had to work fast and ensure it was a safe working environment for all. As always with our industry, the technicians, crew, and the artists all learnt and reacted very quickly to make it happen.
The Christmas Show Home Edition was available as a pay-per-view for 2 weeks over the festive period and has proved extremely popular.
David and the TCF team have been lucky enough to have a steady trickle of work for the latter half of this year, mainly streaming and TV shows, but it's enabled them to stay afloat and working at least some of the time, getting other companies and freelance crew involved as much as possible.
Like everyone, David is glad to see the back of 2020 and is looking forward to the industry getting a chance to recover and start re-building as vaccine programmes roll out across Europe and further afield. TCF already have some theatre tours on the calendar for the second half of 2021 and everyone has their fingers crossed that this will go according to plan.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
COW Jobs: Editor de V deo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Editor(a) de V deo (Direct Respon...
12/03/2026
Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist delivers premium cinematic color across 2D, 3D...
12/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Timoth e Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera Boston Conservatory at Berklee students and faculty respond to the actors recent comm...
12/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
12/03/2026
GeForce NOW is bringing the game to the Game Developers Conference (GDC), running this week in San Francisco. While developers build the future of gaming, GeFor...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...
11/03/2026
Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...
11/03/2026
Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...
11/03/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...
11/03/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...
11/03/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...
11/03/2026
Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...
11/03/2026
The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...
11/03/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...
11/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...
11/03/2026
Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...
11/03/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...
11/03/2026
Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...
11/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...
11/03/2026
As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...
11/03/2026
Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Foundry releases Nuke 17.0
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...
11/03/2026
Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...
11/03/2026
I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster
Graham Quince March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...
11/03/2026
Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
Registration is now open for Cine Gea...
11/03/2026
La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...
11/03/2026
SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...
11/03/2026
Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 5, 2026
0 Comments
The facility provides production and playo...