TV lighting design and studio consultant Angus M. Clarke sheds some light on
the South African and African TV lighting design industries, and touches on what
we’re doing right and what we lack.
As a lighting designer and consultant with more than 40 years’ experience in the
television industry, I can say that I have seen an amazing amount of change in
the multitude of working environments I have been exposed to in this field.
I have seen all the TV technologies change around about me, and the most
interesting thing of all is that in the lighting arena, we still make use of the
oldest technology of all. In fact our technology, the use of the visible light
spectrum to enable others to see things, dates back thousands, some would
believe millions, of years. Don’t believe me?
Well, of all the technologies in TV who can lay claim to the fact that theirs is
mentioned in the Bible?
Remember: “And God said, let there be… light!’ And the best part of it? “And He
saw that it was good.’ Well, it’s certainly been good for me.
So this statement set us up on a long path; a realisation that without light, life
(and TV) we can and could not exist.
Television is the same: without light, it’s just radio.
TV lighting in South Africa
The South African lighting industry, covering film, TV (studios and OBs) and
events, tends to be very up-to-date with all parties using the latest technology,
be it on a limited scale.
Visiting the overseas trade shows, you are sure to bump into familiar faces from
South Africa, all endeavouring to be at the forefront of new technology when it
hits the market place. Besides the suppliers, many of the events and broadcast
people are to be found browsing through the myriads of brand new
technological offerings that the clever chaps in the laboratories have been
dreaming up for years, and now are finding a place in the studio or on the truss
at a big event at Soccer City, the Dome or Ellis Park, all in Johannesburg.
The hire companies looking after big events are forced by both the artists as
well as the public who see big budget specials overseas on TV, to have the
latest and best stage and effects lighting as well as video walls and computer
generated special effects technology included in all the productions they cover.
So the trade shows are our shopping centres to browse, test and of course to
network. It’s amazing how many long-term friends you make visiting such
events, as you all have one thing in common: a serious love of the art of making
light work, whatever the medium you work in.
Twilight phase
The South African film environment, while in a twilight phase, as more and more
big feature stuff moves across to be recorded (not FILMED) in a VIDEO
(electronic) environment, mostly makes use of existing lighting stock from hire
companies. They are able to use a whole raft of high-powered lighting gear
across all technologies, from Kine-flos to smaller Tungsten and HMI luminaires of
two, five and six Kilowatts; via 10W and 12kW units to massive 20kW Tungsten
and 18kW HMIs (that turn night into day on a location shoot). When a mega-
hectare location is your stage, size does not matter.
Due to the way the feature movie is shot – set-up by set-up; shot-by-shot, it
allows the lighting director or DOP to meticulously light, shot-by-shot, to get the
best and most beautifully composed shots possible.
So, by their nature, the film equipment hire industry only really invests more
money in product, when a big feature comes up that makes it worthwhile,
especially when Euros, Dollars and Pounds are involved. They will obviously top
up with small items and more so now with the LED lights coming onto the scene.
The television recording environment is by its nature almost immediate from
manufacture to transmission, considering the live and direct nature of the
medium. By using a multi-camera set-up to produce programmes, with shots
immediately screened as camera angles, giving no chance for specific lighting for
each and every camera angle, means that many lighting composition elements
are compromised.
It obviously costs a fortune to set up a TV station, so by implication it costs a
small fortune to upgrade the equipment as well, when technology changes. This
inhibits their ability to quickly acquire funding to upgrade the equipment unless
there are very compelling reasons.
Compounding this is the fact that there is very little expertise in the TV lighting
environment to construct the right arguments that enunciate the problems in a
convincing way, to persuade cash-strapped managements to spend money on
more modern and efficient lighting upgrades.
Most of the current staff members employed in these realms in all branches of
broadcasting, are pure users at a basic level. They do not actually get into the
design of new productions, or research of more suitable equipment to
constructively motivate the reasons for acquiring the new products.
One-eyed monster appetite
In the 80s and 90s we had so many challenging dramas, variety and music
shows, that it kept us on the edge of innovations as each one tried to learn
from, but also out-do his colleague on every demanding show that came our
way. The research and innovation, of trying out different effects on your off day
to be sure that the next show would be better has disappeared from the TV
environment today. Once-off set-ups of soapie dramas become very boring for
lighting designers, as production needs to churn out episode after episode day
after day to ensure that the broadcaster renews the contract to feed a
voracious one-eyed monsters appetite.
This lack of challenge to innovate by LDs on the ground presses their engineers
and management to increase the quantity of equipment or even change the
technology for more efficient and versatile equipment that assists in climbing to
higher creative levels, and is borne out in the way which many studio lighting
tenders are issued.
Currently, non-descript, technology information is bereft and lacks detail as
tenders are put into the public domain in pursuit of merely conducting a facility
upgrade. It’s obvious that the actual people working in the environment are not
consulted on what would work for the environment.
When information to stop them making fools of themselves in the industry,
opening ways of misusing the tender for self-gain in publishing such useless
tender data, is fed to them, it is obviously not understood, not acted upon and
subsequently ignored.
An example is the recent request put out by a high profile company for new
monopoles, pantographs and lights with 20m cables for a studio upgrade. The
first issue was that they had done no research before issuing the tender or they
would have known that new generation monopoles and pantographs are
equipped with in-built power cables. This obviates the need for 20m cables on
the lights as all that would happen is that the excess would be coiled up,
hooked on the light and with 20 to 30 of these magnetic resonators across the
studio, life would become hell for the studio audio operators.
Lighting in the SA studio environment
In the TV studio environment, the main players such as M-Net / SuperSport and
e.tv tend to keep pace with the changing environment. While the SABC-TV
division has attempted to do so, they do not have the expertise or finances
available to quickly update to the latest available technology.
Over the years they have updated some of the equipment, such as the lighting
consoles and the dimmers in some of the studios, but not in others. Most of their
equipment dates back to the 70s when it was first installed.
There also seems to be some reluctance on their part to request outside advice;
when they do it’s from product suppliers who tend to convince them to buy a
product instead of offering expertise that identifies equipment fit for their
purpose.
Of all the studios in Africa, the SABC-TV studios are still the best laid out and
most functional, especially from a lighting planning, rig, set-up, execution and an
acoustic point of view. Today no-one could afford to build a new complex as
efficiently built as theirs was. It’s such a pity that they lost one due to a fire and
they will now be forced to introduce new lighting suspension technology when
they re-build it, as the old lighting grid system will cost a fortune to reproduce.
In Africa: general
However in greater Africa in general, especially for big concert events, all
technology such as lighting, audio and TV equipment, is usually brought into the
country, lock-stock-and-barrel, along with the artists and their back-up crews
and removed after use. The local hire companies in most African countries do not
have the available finances to afford modern equipment for these new
technologies.
In Africa: TV shortcomings
Most TV stations in Africa are part of the communications and broadcasting
departments of their governments and to this end, most are hamstrung by
masses of red tape and bureaucracy both in maintenance spend as well as new
capital acquisition. This inhibits the broadcaster firstly from maintaining their
equipment, as all items being very expensive, are tied into tenders for the
simplest repair job. In addition, the expertise available locally to offer advice on
what the real problems are and how to solve them is non-existent.
So it’s very frustrating for staff as, with limited knowledge and expertise, they
always invent and work around problems. Unfortunately, these temporary fixes
become institutionalised and as a result, they stop complaining and
management think the problem is fixed.
Meanwhile the work-around is, in effect, a dangerous practise as they are
opening hi-voltage power areas and by-passing safety measures to get the
system to work. Only when someone has a serious injury will questions be
raised, but often, to protect those higher up in the organisation the mishap is
blamed on something else and covered up.
TV studio maintenance
It’s an indictment that some studios I have visited in Africa already look more
than 35 years old, despite only being built 15 years ago. This is due to poor
housekeeping and not having a functioning, fault reporting and maintenance
routine. Some studios floors are highly dangerous, as often only one functioning
light is working in one corner of the studio and who knows what lurks in the
darkness waiting to trip you upwith others one can see they are old, but the
staff take care of them and small faults are repaired quickly.
In another studio, lighting hoists taken out for repair were not returned for two
years. In the same one, the dimmer’s blown fuses were bypassed with pieces of
wire because no-one would order new ones. The management would then
wonder why they experienced fires and dimmer coil blow-ups
.
The experience of not reporting faults come about because it made them lose
face with superiors and were often told that there was no money available for
the repairs. When talking to officials in management, they indicate that
maintenance finance is budgeted for, but that the staff never request any for
maintenance purposes. In most instances there is not a culture of maintenance
reporting in place. Some serious communication issues need to be addressed
here.
In a few studios I have also experienced instances of 5kW spotlights being
rigged, but having no plug-tops. When queried, the operator happily produced a
pencil and proceeded to push the bare wires into the socket.
In other instances, in a TV studio this time, the lighting console failed and
instead of simply replacing it, because it would have to go out on tender, they
overcame the “problem’ by simply pulling the fuses out to switch lights off. The
scariest thing was that they would often be barefoot or only be wearing beach
thongs when effecting these changes! This while removing the fuses of hi
powered 5kW dimmers!
Events lighting for TV
One of the areas which I notice has been causing many problems for TV in the
vision control and camera area is the realm of the events lighting brigade. They
are often brought in to cover major outdoor events that are televised, but have
not been trained on lighting for television with all the limitations in the systems.
Many of the habits used for lighting non-TV events, are evident in the lighting of
broadcast TV events.
The area where many of the events companies, who do not employ TV lighting
design specialists, fall down is that a lack of understanding of the basic lighting
requirements for lighting the a correctly for TV.
Their comprehension is limited by the fact that the generalised, wide-vista
lighting they employ for the majority of big arena productions, while looking
spectacular in the stadium, overlook the fact that they are not only lighting for
the 2 000 people in the auditorium or the 90 000 in the sports stadium. When
televised, their work is possibly being seen by one to two million people and
more, worldwide.
What they tend to forget is that the face is a critical element in any TV
production, and the artist’s close-up interaction with his or her fans is as
important to the TV audience, as it is with the stadium audience.
Somehow the thought seems to be that the TV camera and its control systems
are magic boxes and it does not matter what rubbish is put in front of it, all will
be alright on the night, because the vision controller will take care of it. This is
totally untrue. We have a saying in TV that applies to the computer world. It’s
applying the GIGO principle: Garbage in – garbage out. The camera reproduces
exactly what it sees, warts and all. It’s not a magic box to cover all lighting
blemishes and shortfalls.
Where are we lacking?
Besides the broadcasters being unable to keep up with maintaining and
modernising their equipment, we have a major problem in lighting training. At
present there is no proper lighting training being conducted that I’m aware of.
Most of the trainers are in the industry, kept busy by lighting variety productions
or magazine programmes. None have reported doing training for a long time.
The SABC Training Division and M-Net Studio Operations ran some training
events a few years ago, but nowhere else is actively involved in the art of
lighting training for TV. This is seen by the flat, miscoloured and misdirected,
unbalanced lighting that is often put on air, across all channels. Actually it
cannot be considered as lighting. It should be rather seen as illumination – the
same as what is found at sport stadia.
Check out next month’s issue for part two of Angus M Clarke’s feature.
