Bryte Design’s Lighting Director Cater, Lighting Designer Mike Smith and Visual Producer Pablo Beckett have been employing the talents of Specialz to realise its design concepts.
Carter commented: “I think it was back in 2011 when we needed to adapt a piece that we rented for an Elbow tour. It had originally been made by Specialz so, on a recommendation, we went back to them and they did a magnificent job creating a chandelier from the original set piece. Since then we have returned time and again with a wide variety of projects, from backdrops to bespoke lighting fixtures and the huge metallic fan set pieces currently gracing the Editors’ stage they have never let us down.
“We were originally commissioned to build 6 large fans. The intention was to use them for lighting effects with lamps positioned behind for rotating gobo-like effects and more fixtures in front to play onto a theatrical drape behind. Additionally, the fan frames themselves would have strobes built into the corners with some moving lights on top of each unit.”
Specialz constructed dollies that housed SGM Strobes and rows of German Lighting Products X4 Bar 20s with a removable top row to allow for efficient truck loading. “Quality of construction is a given with Specialz. Their eye for detail and a real recognition of what the dollies have to withstand is what sets them apart. Anything I have ever had from Specialz has worked just as well on the last date as it did on the first show,” Carter explained.
“We were careful to ensure the finished design would sit three across in a standard truck trailer,” added Smith. “Samples of all the lighting fixtures were used to ensure a tight fit was achieved without comprising any fixture’s functionality. Everything was modelled in 3D and we employed some rather creative fixing solutions to make everything fit. A rear locker provided a cable store. We also ensured that the finished dollies were flexible enough to refit in the future if required.”
“The process with Specialz goes something like this. We have an idea and an image of how we want something to look and what we want to be able to achieve with it. Nothing is ever ridiculed as silly or impossible! The collaborative effect is that we sometimes end quite a long way from where we started but the end result has never been less than perfect for the job. The Specialz team bring such a wealth of experience to the table. There is such an eye for those details that can often mean the difference between an end product that is OK and one that is brilliant – special, in fact!” Carter concluded.
www.specialz.co.uk / www.brytedesign.co.uk