The recent edition of Polish Idol featured a distinctive style that emanates from the
visual influence of renowned local lighting designer (LD) Artur Szyman.
Szyman has been an LD for 17 years and was a celebrated film and TV DoP for ten
years before that. He is known for taking creative risks and delivering new and
invigorating designs. For the Polish Idol series – returning to Polish national TV prime
time after a 13-year break – his mission was to ensure that the lighting and
scenography worked consistently from all camera perspectives.
This approach informed every aspect of the lighting, video and scenic design, bringing
a cool cinematographic ambience to the studio.
A reasonably open brief by producers, Freemantle Poland, meant that the show did
not have to be a replica of prior seasons. The opportunity to design both the set and
lighting brought a slick, streamlined default visual harmony to Studio 1600 of the
Polsat complex, in Warsaw.
“It is a big space, and so I wanted a multi-layered set, but with a lot of transparent
elements that could be through-lit. I definitely did not want any solid walls,’ he
explained.
The headroom was relatively low, at 9.5m. Therefore, a spherical and curved layout
was adopted to maximise the space. Szyman examined this from all camera angles.
He anticipated their moves, static positions, viewing angles and elements such as
Steadicam path. As a result, director Konrad Smuga, was able to get all the shots
needed, from every angle.
Eighty-two of the Spikies were positioned on ladders on either side of the oval shaped
upstage LED screen, effectively forming a wall which could be twinkling one minute,
full of solid razor-sharp beams or bursting with flower effects the next. The other 14
were stationed around the back of the stage.
Szyman is a “big fan’ of this product, as having these neat, lightweight fixtures at his
disposal offered plenty of options for the multiple new songs that had to be created
each week. He maintains that the LED sources of the Spikies match the LEDWash
800s well, and all are uniform for the cameras.
The LEDWashes were dotted around the studio on different roof trusses and were
used for lighting the set and audience; for texturing and illuminating the main screen
surround; as well as for back-lighting the judges. “They are a great very solid all-
around wash light,’ he comments.
The Idol series’ lighting equipment was supplied by ATM, a leading Polish rental
company and the first to invest in Robe’s Spikie, which was launched last year.
LEDWashes have become well established in the Polish market as a result of Robe’s
highly active distributor Prolight. Currently, all the major rental houses have stock of
LEDWash 800s. Szyman started using Robe during between 2010 and 2011 when the
game-changing LEDWash 600 was released. He states that having Robe on a spec
adds value and a level of gravitas to any production.
