SGM’s sleek, low profile P-5 and P-2 IP65-rated wash lights have passed one of
their biggest challenges ever — illuminating a synchronised “crane dance’ in front of
10,000 people on Bristol’s harbour side.

Laura Kriefman, one of this year’s WIRED magazine Creative Fellows and a resident
at the Pervasive Media Studio, approached Howard Eaton and Emma Chapman of
Studio Three Sixty to design the lighting for her inaugural Crane Dance Bristol.
With set designer Lucy Osborne the third member of the Studio Three Sixty team,
this was their first project and it was an unqualified success.

Faced with sourcing equipment best fit for purpose on a limited budget, theatre
lighting specialist Howard Eaton knew from previous experience that a combination
of the ultra-energy efficient P-5 and P-2 heads would be the perfect complement to
the 1km of LED rope light that would be used to outline the iconic, decommissioned
cranes, which sit outside Bristol’s M-Shed.

The harbour side cranes, normally a static fixture on the Bristol skyline, came to
life in a choreographed routine that was exquisitely lit and perfectly timed to music.
Crane Dance Bristol presented a jaw-dropping spectacle for the citizens of Bristol,
combining row boats, choirs, live music and beautifully lit cranes, all being driven
by the engineers from the Bristol M-Shed, who had lovingly restored them.

He and Emma Chapman illuminated the cranes with a combination of 18 x P-5s
fitted with 43° lens, while 28 x P-2 also used the 43° lens and another 34 x P-2
were fitted with the tighter 21° lens. “We used the wide angle P-5s to up-light
around the base and lower legs and as we got further up the narrower lens to get
right up inside the jibs, both internally and externally,’ he continued.

The show lighting was project managed by Nick Read and controlled wirelessly via a
City Theatrical network with an ETC Element DMX desk situated on the other side of
the harbour. The project was backed by Ian Kirby at SGM UK, whom Howard Eaton
says could not have been more supportive with equipment and lamp supply. An
amazing statistic about the event is that the entire show (including lights, powering
the cranes, and rehearsals) consumed used 2.4 kWh of electricity.

Following the success of Crane Dance Bristol, the Mass Crane Dance team are
already fielding enquiries from cities all over the world to create spectacles for
other cities — from harbour side cranes, to hundreds of construction cranes on
building sites.