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| Sunday, 16 March 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Golden Clef Awards 2002 : The guys behind the glitz by Vimukthi Fernando
Glitter, glamour, fireworks... music, dance and rhetoric... lights - blue, yellow, cyan, magenta... changing moods... deeper shades of red, silver and gold encapsulating the background.... It was the night of 'stars'... How did all this glitter and glamour came upstage, on Colombo's most happening day in the Western Music arena? Let's take a look... The day was Wednesday March 5, the time 4.00 p.m. and the venue, BMICH. The sound of hammering and tinkering is heard as the music stops, at intervals. Two young men, toy with the most prized item - an oversized replica of the 'trophy.' This replica is to be rotated and they go through the mechanical motions, over and over again. The stage sports black, yellow, red and silver. Contrasted, balanced and blended so not a colour seemed too prominent. Use of red is to "bring about a feeling of exuberance," says Jayantha Bibile, the designer architect who was in charge of the backdrop. And the mirrors, in addition to silver, lining part of the stage with a 'crushed look' was enhancing the effect.
On stage is a mix of tradition and modernity. "Three or four different concepts are used on stage for variety, keeping in mind the larger audience who will watch this time and again on television." When it comes to creating backdrops, "planning is the most important element" says Jayantha. "And for good planning, stage management, lighting and special effects teams have to have very close coordination. Also important is the attitude of the client," Jayantha points out adding, "If we are given a free hand - we often give them delightful surprises." Delightful indeed were the "pyro techniques" used at the beginning of the show. The audience was surprised at the indoor 'fireworks' whizzing up from each corner of the stage. And it was "for the first time in Sri Lanka that the technique is used," says Nisal Caldera of Cool Tempo, in charge of stage lights. Nisal and his team set up 24 moving heads and 24 scanners with the capacity of projecting 16,000 colours, a mix of cyan, yellow and magenta (CYM) on stage for effect lighting. Another 16 lights were used for back lighting and 40 more for general lighting. "The show could last only two hours. But, to programme lighting for this kind of an event it takes a minimum of 12 hours," says Nisal, poised to work through the night with Dian and Earny his two programme assistants. The total programme is performed as a dry run (a performance without lighting) and "Each and every motion and sequence is noted and documented," on a digital camera he carries everywhere. The positioning so captured, plays a vital role in lighting. The other task accomplished by lighting is creating the correct atmosphere, be it song or dance. This is achieved by a mix of variables, including strength of lighting, colour and pace of change.
There was a sound matching every mood generated with lighting. Soft whispers as well as dance blasts... Sohan Weerasinghe and the X'periments were the team in charge of overall music and audio. "For the first time for a show of this nature, we used a full JBL speaker system and 40 channel sound craft mixer", says Sohan. He was supported by a sound engineer and nine technicians backstage and members of X'periments on stage. "Except for two songs which used tracks, live music was provided for the rest" says Sohan. The team was also responsible for selecting the artistes, songs and song rehearsals. Ready to capture everything on their cameras was Upali Ranjitha, Executive Producer, ITN and his team. Televising a show of such magnitude is "not an easy task," says Upali, pointing out that it was a month back that he started attending coordinating meetings. He uses a pre-plan, a rough sketch of the backdrop, lighting and sounds, to place his team mates in charge of eight cameras. While some cameras are stationery, others will move about taking all the more interesting images. The images from these 8 cameras "will be mixed and edited" at their record rooms. Even though 'Golden Clef' is not being telecast live, on the dot planning is necessary for maximum efficiency of the eight cameras. And, "knowledge of the subject matter is a must," says Upali for it is the very best that is presented to their audience. Bringing all these together, were the 'stage managers' Ravindra Guruge and his young and enthusiastic team from TVT (The Video Team). Armed with walkie-talkies, different coloured and textured tape, measuring tapes, scissors, coloured chalk, pens, papers... you name it - they carried every little necessity to make the presentation 'orderly and on time.' Each of the team's 12 members carried event sheets - listing the items, duration, contact persons comments in addition. The young men and women dressed in casual clothing, sprawling on stage, back stage and on the pews, taking notes, marking positions, counting the minutes and seconds meticulously... were busier than bees. "Each member is responsible for a different part of the performance" says Ravindra. "The full programme is rehearsed placing dummies for award winners. You could compare the coordinating process to manual execution of a computerised programme. We have to carry out a 'live edit' on stage, and ensure that no blanks are left. Even a simple act such as bringing a microphone on stage, could be made pleasing to the audience and be dramatised. We treat the final rehearsal as the event itself". The team meets with all participants at the final rehearsal to make sure that they know exactly what they have to do and what their responsibility is. Coordinating everything in minute detail - the backdrop, lighting, sound, televising and stage management was Sohan Weerasinghe, Producer of the show. It was a "daunting task," he says "it took 40 days to plan out the show. The biggest problem was to select the artistes and to get them for rehearsals. Planning the finale, was another difficult task which took a lot of time and coordination. Seeing that there was no gap between the events and starting the show on time was equally demanding. On the day of the show, the team was calling all the artistes individually from 4.00 p.m." Was it worth all that trouble? "Wow, Golden Clef 2002 looked like the Grammy's" a friend who watched the award ceremony on television comments. Need one ask for more? |
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