USA-Fox TV's American Idol 2012 season finale on 22 May declared contestant Phillip Phillips the winner.Then it was time for the after show bash at the Event Deck at L.A.Live in downtown Los Angeles.Kinetic Lighting was in charge of the party ambience,providing a rig that included 200 lights and a half-dozen effects fixtures,controlled with a High End Systems Road Hog console.
The Event Deck at L.A.Live is a 106,000 sq.ft.space that includes a 42,000sq.ft tent.Kinetic's Project Manager/LD Rachel Miller and Programmer Eric Barth worked together as the lighting team for the night.
Their choice of console began with the design brief,Miller says."The Idol finale party called for dark,moody effects.The ability to physically see every color on the screen in front of us on the Road Hog was helpful in creating my palette."
Miller chose the Road Hog console because of"its ease of use,"she says."My programmer is very comfortable on it,and is in turn able to create fun effects quickly."
For the American Idol after-party,Barth describes his console setup,"Many of the fixtures were placed into the Road Hog's faders set up to'tap sync'for an instant color BPM(beats per minute)match-it really set the party off.It was a great party from the first semi-truck door to the last,thanks to the Road Hog."
Barth has been programming on Wholehog consoles throughout his 10 year lighting career."To me,the board feels like home,"he says."I started on the Hog 500 and Hog 1000,and then to the Wholehog 2 and Wholehog 3,now to Road Hog.I have enjoyed being a part of the evolution and really enjoy all the help some of the members of the High End Systems online Forum have given me over the years."
