
PWL Gets Lucky with Wheel of Fortune posted: 05/08/2020
The series was recorded in Studio 1 at Videohouse in Vilvoorde and aired on SBS's VIER channel.
PWL's creative director Luc Peumans produced the lighting and video design and worked closely with Dries Hermans of Deusjevoo on the set design, the latter involving substantial quantities of inbuilt practical lighting. These custom LED set elements were all painstakingly installed by the PWL team working in close conjunction with Deusjevoo a complex and diligent job that paid off with vibrant, eye-catching results!
C line Cuypers designed and engineered a special wheel lighting and audio trigger control.
Luc and Dries took a brief from the show's creative director Lieven van Overbeke in terms of the aesthetic required, some of which related to the classic Wheel of Fortune style book which has been adapted and contemporised over the years since first launching in the US back in 1975!
Contestants compete to solve word puzzles and win cash and prizes and at the centre of the action is a massive - in this case 3-metre diameter - carnival wheel that contestants spin throughout the game to determine their cash and / or prizes.
Wheel of Fortune has been running in Belgium for some time in the past but this was the first season produced by SBS who wanted a fresh and distinctive look with an elegant and classy slant as well as an intimate homey' feel, so the design strategy had to be multifunctional and based on this.
Luc took a theatrical approach to this project creating a series of pleasing visual big pictures' that stood out on their own whilst encompassing the overall cosiness that was desired.
The set included a long gantry level walkway along one side of the studio. The signature LED puzzle board at the heart of the action was flanked by a set of stairs and of course, the wheel was another vital visual focal point.
The contestants sat on banquette seating around the wheel, with a socially distanced audience behind. Off to one side below the gantry were three circular shop areas - which contained plinths displaying the potential prizes.
These shops were each defined with three swirling curtains - a silk and two transparent voiles - chosen to absorb and reflect light. As with the other areas, Luc took a layered' approach so several different lighting treatments could be applied additively or separately.
To accentuate a sense of refinement, the set was edged in pixel controllable LED lighting in key places including the stairs, the banquette seating behind the contestants, and the wheel.
This was DiGiStrip product from InventDesign in the Netherlands - a regular PWL collaborator for one-off and special projects - chosen as a robust and effective solution, running wirelessly via a proprietary C4 controller, and triggered by the main grandMA2 lighting console.
The wheel was also built by Deusjevoo and packed with several RGB and white LED light sources! C line devised a laser proximity sensor system that connected the wheel's 72 handles (used by the contestants as they manually spun it) to MIDI notes that triggered cues on the lighting and audio consoles firing up multiple and different visual and / or audio effects completely harmoniously each time it moved.
The wheel lighting effects varied according to speed and position and worked brilliantly to ramp up the excitement in the studio at crucial moments. The data gathered from this operation allowed an analysis of how much the wheel was spun per episode.
One hundred and sixty-five Chauvet EPIX Strips were specified - 75 deployed on an impressive matrix grid effect behind the LED wall / puzzle-board - with the other 90 utilised inside the three shop areas behind the prize podiums.
Luc utilised ADB ALC4 LED cyc lights on the floor shooting up the cyc at the back of shot, with a quantity of COLORDash LED battens that grazed up the translucent gauze drape in front of the cyc, adding texture and depth.
A quantity of the house PAR 64s were also used, some for working light and some for the cyc, with more COLORado LED PARs and panels to pick out the various set elements and make them pop put when needed.
Overhead the general stage and studio lighting included Chauvet Maverick MK2 and MK3 profiles, Rogue R2 washes, plus Ovation E-910C ellipsoidals fitted with 15/30 and 25/50 lenses which took care of the primary key lighting. The Mavericks were also used for gobo projections onto the floor, the cyc and onto the drapes surrounding the shops, adding a subtle fluidity.
Around 150 x Briteq pin spots lit the triple-layered curving cloths which were also height graduated masking off the shops / prize areas in cylindrical columns. The pin spots were focussed on the cloths and the prize podiums themselves, selected for their small size, brightness and handy 10-degree beam angles.
The soft goods were delivered by ShowTex and specified by PWL and Deusjevoo.
Dotted across the studio for quirky contemporary back-of-shot eye-candy were 78 x Lucenti Pearl LED caged bulbs on long wires, fully DMX controlled, which produced a fabulous warm glowing tungsteny grading to the whole environment. The units have an RGB LED ring which enables the glowing filaments to be changed up with a bit of colour and funkiness.
Luc picked 62 x Robe LEDBeam 150s dotted around as eye / camera embellishment on the floor of the stairs and for back light behind the puzzle-board, also deployed on the floor to up-light the shop fabric columns.
Other special effects lights included 16 x Robe Halo LED rings, used as a special on the underside of the gantry, a striking scenic element linked to the spinning of the wheel.
Lighting was programmed and operated by Werner Dries. In total, they were running 66 universes of DMX over Art-Net into the grandMA for set and studio lighting, which
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...
07/07/2026
New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026
The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board.
Dr Tania Chamber...
07/07/2026
The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...
07/07/2026
Berklee College of Music Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...