Strictly Robe in South Africa posted: 26/10/2015
After yet another dazzling display of Camera, Lights Dance! Strictly Come Dancing has just concluded its 8th spectacularly successful season on our local screens.
Broadcast on SABC 3 and produced by Rapid Blue, South Africa's leading independent production company, this international format, is produced in nearly 50 countries around the world and sets the ballroom floor alight every week with a sparkling display of dancing and lighting.
The series was lit by Gearhouse's Robert Grobler primarily using a selection of Robe moving and static LED lightsources - nearly 150 in total - all supplied, together with other lighting and rigging elements by Gearhouse South Africa. Strictly SA was recorded at SABC's Renaissance Centre in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.
Robert was extremely keen to continue using mostly LED fixtures, a path he took when lighting the show the previous year. He was given a free rein to create appropriate lighting by the producers based on certain givens, like the fact that the dancers needed to stand out at all stages of the competition and their impressive array of eye-catching costumes should also be prominent in the visual picture.
Taking that and Michael Gill's set design into account, he crafted the look and feel for each episode and within that, each of the individual dance sequences thoughtfully, utilising 24 x Robe DLX spots, 24 x DLF washes and 27 x Pointes for moving lights, together with 48 x Robe LEDForce 18 PARs and 16 x CitySkape 48 LED floods for base illumination.
The studio is an empty warehouse space into which all the production infrastructure had to be installed. Gearhouse South Africa constructed and flew a mother-grid and sub-hung a network of production trussing on 60 points, which facilitated all the drapes and masking needed to make the space workable for Strictly, the flying of some set pieces as well as providing the lighting positions.
The DLF washes - a popular choice from Robe's DL LED theatrical range for replacing 2K fresnels due to their power and excellent colour temperature emulation characteristics - fulfilled that exact role once again. Rob thinks they are an ideal and far more flexible replacement for the classic studio light source in this context.
Trimmed at approximately 8 metres for the Strictly run, he was consistently running them at between 50 and 80% depending on the zoom, leaving plenty more headroom still had he needed it!
As a television light they are quick and versatile, he commented, adding that he also mixed his own custom colour temperature whites. The DLFs are a must-have for all my TV work .
The DLX Spots were new for this season and definitely proved themselves, replacing the previous 2500 series lightsources.
Eight DLXs lit, coloured and textured the famous Strictly upstage set arches, with the band positioned behind, while the rest were deployed as floor specials. For the elimination rounds, these floor based units also provided dramatic back-lighting on the dancers.
He found that gobos projected onto the floor crisply without interfering with how cameras were reading light levels on the dancers.
They are well powerful - even in the darker saturates they have great punch, says Rob, adding that he finds the gobos new and fresh!
The Pointes were positioned behind the audience seating for effects across the audience and on the floor behind the judges, mainly to act as fillers from these different angles when cutting to reverse shots from two specific cameras. There were also a few scattered across the floor of the main stage and the rest around the set arch for fluff, eye-candy and some general beam-work behind the performers.
Rob had initially introduced 12 x Pointes at last year's final show for additional bling.
These went down extremely well with everyone on the production team so they decided to integrate them into the main show this year, together with an additional 15 around the second arch further upstage.
The LEDForce 18 PARs were dotted liberally all around the stage and set, ultimately useful for multiple tasks including - with their beam flattening - as a general profile source.
Robert used a grandMA2 console for control, and his main challenge was in comprehensively and effectively lighting the big production numbers, intricately choreographed by various choreographers for each of the 10 episodes which features the full cast and used every millimetre of the dancefloor!
Using a careful balance of short throw lensed follow spots and the DLX Spots, they were able to reduce light levels for the cameras during these, reintroducing more colour and enhancing the richness and vibrancy of the look.
Being LED driven - apart from the Pointes and follow spots - also enabled the lighting department to reduce its overall power requirements from the previous series, dropping from a 450 KVA to a 200 KVA generator, which impressed everyone!
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Strictly Robe in South Africa posted: 26/10/2015 
