South Africa – A team of cleverly placed Clay Paky Sharpys provided the pure-beam light power for South Africa’s Innibos Festival 2012.
Lighting designer Johan Ferreira of Pretoria-based JSF Productions was responsible for lighting for the seventh year running, and provided production company – Sound Headquarters – with an equipment wish list.
Ferreira specified a number of Clay Paky Sharpys, which he positioned on totems at various levels on stage, lighting performers including: Juanita du Plessis, Steve Hofmeyer, Snotkop, Theuns Jordaan and Riana Nel on the main stage.
“After the show I told my colleagues I could never do another Innibos without the Sharpys,” laughs Ferreira. “I particularly like the prism and extra beam effects they offer. When I started my design for Innibos 2012 I’d actually never seen a Sharpy’s in action. I had however seen a YouTube clip which demonstrated the power of this incredible little fixture and I knew right away that I wanted to incorporate them into my design. I placed 12 Sharpy’s on the stage deck, rigged on truss totems. Lighting is the only effects that we use on the Innibos stage and the Sharpy’s really delivered. I was able to create beautiful background and aerial effects with the fixtures, which took the shows to the next level in terms of design.”
Ferreira was amazed by the brightness of the fixture and what he describes as the ‘breathtaking beam effects’ that enabled him to create with the gobo’s and prism. “The biggest surprise for me was having great mid-air effects even when using the darker more saturated colours. I truly believe that there is no other fixture on the market today that can be compared to the Sharpy.”
“The great thing about Clay Paky Sharpys is that they are lightweight and small enough to be fitted almost anywhere,” comments Pio Nahum, chief commercial officer for Clay Paky. “They are also incredible robust so outside environments where heat and dust are abundant are no problem for the Sharpy. Also, in spite of their compact size, the Sharpy offers 14 different colours and 17 gobos, enabling lighting designers to adjust the shape of the beam and create an array of spectacular mid-air effects.”
Earlier this year Innibos was acknowledged as the most popular festival in South Africa and received KykNET’s Fiesta Award. With this feather in their cap, the Afrikaans festival went full steam ahead to present their ninth successful Innibos held from 26 – 29 June 2012 in Nelspruit and attended by 120,000 people.
“If you haven’t attended Innibos before, be sure not to miss next year’s tenth celebration. The entertainment value is amazing,” concludes Ferreira.