
Innovative Show Design's Elation rig at 2019 College Football Awards on ESPN posted: 13/02/2020
Updated design includes use of Rayzor 760 to fulfill multiple lighting roles. Lighting vendor was CYM Lighting Services
On December 12, college football's most talented student-athletes were recognized at the 2019 Home Depot College Football Awards presented live on ESPN from the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia. Justin Garrone and production design firm Innovative Show Design (ISD) have been involved in the show since 2012 and again produced outstanding visuals for the 2019 edition, employing a setup that featured 90% Elation Professional products.
This was Innovative Show Design's 8th year doing the College Football Awards and 5th year since it moved to the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. ISD served as a one-stop-shop for ESPN for the production, handling every aspect of the show from the first truck's arrival to the last truck's departure. Not only did they create and manage all lighting, scenic and graphics, ISD handled complete fabrication and installation of the set and was also responsible for all logistics involved with the production inclusive of project management.
Asked by ESPN to update the design and modernize it scenically, as well as help with the reverse shots into the audience, ISD changed the sets configuration, and added 36 linear light boxes to accommodate the request. As the years have progressed, one of the things I always enjoy is that this event is a type of one-off but because we do it every year we have the ability to go back and improve on it for the following year, stated Justin Garrone of Innovative Show Design. Lighting supply for the event was by CYM Lighting Services of Thousand Palms, CA, a full service lighting production company that ISD has worked with for years.
Functional and flexible
The Awards show took place in a long yet narrow windowed room in the Hall of Fame, a turfed area scaled to nearly the size of half a football field and used by visitors to throw and kick footballs. It is a space Garonne says was never designed for a large amount of production but ISD and CYM found creative ways to hang fixtures and relied on multi-use lighting fixtures like the Elation Rayzor 760 wash LED luminaire.
The most important task for the rig was to be functional and flexible for multi-point / multi source TV light, he says. Secondly, fixtures were strategically placed throughout the rig and venue to add beauty and sparkle to the camera shots enhancing the award show feel. All these lights played together to transform the cues to take on school colors for the winner cues. Lastly, we enhanced and illuminated the natural architecture of the venue to give it vibrancy as well as make it look larger on screen.
Rayzor 760 - multiple roles
With the scenic change came a lighting change and this is when Garrone says he took the opportunity to incorporate the Rayzor 760. Kevin Swank with CYM Lighting believed in the Rayzor 760 and purchased 50 of the fixtures to add to his inventory, he explains. He convinced me that these lights would be a great addition to the College Football Award rig and I'm sure glad I listened to him! I streamlined the rig and reduced the amount of fixture types because I was confident the Rayzor could take on the multiple roles necessary of the light. These roles consisted of beauty lights to beam effects to lens effects and audience front and back light.
Color and sparkle
ISD created custom sparkle effects using the Rayzor 760's SparkLED technology, a unique twinkle effect of 28x 2W white LEDs inside the fixture's lenses that give designers a fresh way of creating layers of effect on stage. Garrone comments, I was extremely impressed how we could add these effects on top of the primary duties of the light. The SparkLED effects added to the celebration of the win cues and added to the beauty of the camera shots when you could see the lens of the Rayzor 760 on camera.
Lining the tunnel entrance and main staircase of the stage, the Rayzor 760s projected a team color with the sparkle effect rotating around the fixtures. Garrone also created custom pixel chases for the team wins. I was extremely impressed with the brightness of the individual 60-watt RGBW pixels. At 30+ feet from the ground we were able to read saturate color on the audience during the team win cues.
Garrone says that with the amount of options the Rayzor 760 provides, it felt like the 58 fixtures in the plot were multiplied by three. We could use them as a broad even wash light, a narrow and bright beam light and or a direct lens effect light with individual pixel control. Depending on the camera shot, we could always add the SparkLED on top of whatever mode we were using the fixture in and the effect would read on camera. Now the rig has been multiplied by six! With this amount of options, I was able to minimize quantity of fixtures to accommodate the budget but still provide the lighting systems necessary for an award show look.
Full Elation lighting and video package
The Rayzor 760s were just one of several Elation lights utilized in the design. Used for main key lights both front and back, audience specials, as well as main key lights for talent standups were Elation Satura Profile LED movers while Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads provided beam lights for air effects and team win ballyhoos. Elation's tiny ACL 360i single beam effect lights were incorporated as background beauty lights with SixPar 100 LED Par lights used for architectural lighting highlights. CuePix Panels were used to cap the end of trusses that were in camera shots. A large 60' wide x 19.7' tall LED wall covering the room's glass windows was made up of 261 Elation EVLED 1024 SMD 20mm blow-throu
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
22/09/2026
From Malaysia to Mexico and from DR Congo to Ukraine, this year's 12 finalists for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year award tell extra...
22/09/2026
The annual preseason content-gathering event brought 36 NHL players to Las Vegas, where ESPN used 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and a motion-control camera syste...
22/09/2026
Neumann has introduced the KK 104 A (cardioid) and KK 105 A (supercardioid) wireless capsule heads, succeeding the KK 204 and KK 205. The new capsules are compa...
22/09/2026
The NFL and TMRW Sports have announced a new annual Pro Flag Showcase to be held during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles. The event will feature top flag foot...
22/09/2026
Washington State University has unveiled a new end zone video display and audio ...
22/09/2026
Disney's SVP of Live Operations and Engineering details the technology behin...
22/09/2026
Cosm has announced two senior promotions. Mazen Alawar has been promoted to SVP,...
22/09/2026
Mississippi State University's University Television Center has purchased four KOKUSAI DENKI SK-UHD7000-S2 cameras since 2024, with plans to add two more, a...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced that Christine Kjellvard will assume the role of interim Chief Financial Officer on November 1, 2026. Kjellvard has previously held in...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced Zyntai TimeNode Access, a compact PTP Grandmaster designed for distributed edge sites. The product carries secure, precise time across...
22/09/2026
Sam Hazeldine, Austin Amelio, Padraic McKinley, Julia Jones, and Ethan Hawke attend the premiere of The Weight at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park...
22/09/2026
Second high-gain tone plug-in released
Following on from their debut release, Chainsaw Suite, Avalanche Tones have announced the launch of their second plug...
22/09/2026
Uncompressed audio with below 6ms of latency
Lewitt's have just introduced their first pair of headphones which, despite being aimed primarily at studio...
22/09/2026
Two new capsule heads for Sennheiser wireless systems
Neumann have announced the upcoming launch of the KK 104 A and KK 105 A, a pair of new premium condens...
22/09/2026
Apogee Plugins Are Moving to Plugin Alliance We're excited to share an important update about the future of Apogee plugins.
Apogee plugins are moving to Pl...
22/09/2026
Parkland, Florida, US, September 22, 2026: SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, has been honored wit...
22/09/2026
VanityFilter 3.1.5 adds project files and adjustable protection around lips, bro...
22/09/2026
Chile's TV Modernizes Broadcast Operations with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
URSA Broadcast G2 brings versatility...
22/09/2026
OWC Shares Sneak Peek at Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Pricing
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
Image courtesy of Deposit Photos
Business and ...
22/09/2026
Berklee's First Homecoming Block Party Brings Alumni Home for Global Music F...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
From Academy Award-winning Passion Pictures and BAFTA-winning director Marian Mo...
22/09/2026
Tuesday 22 September 2026
Portrait Artist of the Year returns to Sky Arts with ...
22/09/2026
Whether it be from the sun or from our phones and other devices, we are all exposed to electromagnetic radiation in some shape or form. With the dramatic growth...
22/09/2026
Comscore's latest AI Intelligence Report Shows Competition Intensifying as C...
22/09/2026
The Factory-X Project Sets Standards for Data Sovereignty in Industry
Arvato Systems Brings Digital Sovereignty to Industrial Practice
Factory-X Successfully...
22/09/2026
LONDON Apple today announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a brand-new state-...
22/09/2026
RT , Creative Ireland and Shared Island Initiative ask young artists
to respon...
22/09/2026
To build and deploy sophisticated robotics applications that can perceive, reason and act in dynamic environments, developers need new physical AI models and to...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...
21/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...
21/09/2026
Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...
21/09/2026
Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...
21/09/2026
United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...
21/09/2026
SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...
21/09/2026
The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...
21/09/2026
Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...