An all-Italian success story, by Antonio Ricci, “Veline”, the TV show that debuted in 2002 quickly become a national hit. The purpose of the show is to pick two girls from the thousands who auditioned to accompany the famous hosts, Greggio & Iacchetti, on “Striscia la Notizia”, the Italian TV cult show.
The 2008 show was hosted by Ezio Greggio on a summer tour through 12 Italian cities, shooting several episodes in each. The aspiring “Veline” who won each episode made the final , held at the Mediaset studios in Cologno Monzese (Milano) on September 18th, with record viewing audiences, topping 45% share.
The final lighting system was fully built with Clay Paky material: 50 Alpha Spot HPE 1200, Stage Color 1200 and Alpha Beam 300. Photography director Massimiliano Cavenaghi stated: “I mainly used effects and spot lights on the public and backlighting for the girls’ performances. The nature of the show favoured close-ups on the “Veline” so we had few wide angles. Consequently, stage lighting needed to be white and restricted”.
The stage was simple but alluring, the same as the tour, made up of concentric rhomboidal structures: the Clay Paky color-changers coloured them from the base, alternating color predominance from yellow to blue to purple. Mauro Marinello’s direction often pausing on shots from the bottom up that enlivened the performances while enhancing the play on lights.
Massimiliano Cavenaghi is one of the first photography directors to use Clay Paky moving beams in television production: “They are special projectors and must be used sparingly but they always give the show a unique feel. I find them great for backlighting and side lighting. They give added value and are incomparable with other products”.
The Alpha Beam 300 were placed along the edge of the runway that led from the stage to the public and underlined the switches between the various performances. “They are the new millennium ACLs – continued Cavenaghi – and I think they will soon become irreplaceable, especially for both studio and open air music shows”.
The two monographs on the new “Veline” were recorded on the same set and broadcast the two nights following the final. These included interviews with the two winners mixed with video clips that traced their young show business careers. The friendly, almost intimate tone of the monographs led Massimiliano Cavenaghi to choose soft lighting, with dimmed stage lighting and colourful background settings.
The lighting system for the Veline final and the two monographs was supplied by Eletekno. Lorenzo Bassani LD and console operator, Mauro Rigoni head electrician.