MGG were called upon to supply the full technical for the SAPOA Annual Convention,
which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary at the Sandton Convention Centre’s Pavilion
Venue in Johannesburg. For this top-notch occasion, MGG asked lighting designer
Francois van der Merwe from Wizardry Group to design both the conference and
banquet styled show.
The South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) is the representative body
and official voice of the commercial and industrial property industry in South Africa.
As they wanted something extraordinary for their golden celebration, MGG
incorporated the largest VuePix configuration they had ever built comprising of
some 200 x Q3 3.91mm panels. The show also included 8 x Robe BML Blades, a
range of Robins, Clay Paky Sharpys and Mythos and control on a grandMA2 full size.
The event kicked off in the conference room where a 28m x 4.5m VuePix L6 Series
6.67ml Blend screen was erected. “I designed this site but Rianda van Burick from
MGG ran the actual show on a grandMA2 light,’ said Van der Merwe. He used 17
Robin 600 LEDWash for an effective backlight, 12 Robe ColorSpot 700s, 11 Clay
Paky Alpha Spots for front light, 16 Clay Paky Sharpys and 12 Philips SL Nitro 510C
for the house lights.
For the actual show, a themed event took the audience through a journey starting
off in the 1960s with four singers presenting a medley for each decade. Van der
Merwe adapted the lighting accordingly, from a touch of flair creating mood to a
lively rock and roll look.
The lighting gear comprised of 5 Clay Paky Alpha Spots at FOH and 8 Robe BMFL
Blades positioned above the stage for back gobo effects.
There were 12 Robin 1200 LEDWash for back light on stage and 30 Clay Paky
Sharpies. On the dance floor were a further 12 Robin 1200 LEDWash and 12 Clay
Paky Mythos for side angle beams. “I then used the Robin LEDBeam 100 for truss
toning, which later during the night I was able to drill down into the audience. I
again used 12 Philips SL Nitro 510C for audience lights.’ Robert Juliat Aramis were
the designated followspots.
MGG used this event to showcase the 200 x Q3 3.91mm panels from VuePix. “The
greatest challenge was the weight and hanging the actual panels. The back truss
with the screen on it came to 2.6 tons.’ For ensuring a uniformly distributed load
MGG used the Libra load cell system from Kinesys, which gave the exact weight
ensuring all safety, requirements were met. Van der Merwe had also written
formulae in Vectorworks in order to know what the weights would be in advance
and for the first time, he was also able to do a live test on this. “We were only 1%
out,’ said Van der Merwe. The screens created the spectacular effect the client was
after.
