Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey Win at Knight of Illumination Awards

The Knight of Illumination Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of experts in Lighting Design, Video and Graphic Display along with Projection Design. Now in its tenth year, this year’s ceremony took place on Sunday 17th September at the Eventim Apollo in London. Among the 24 designers ‘knighted’ on the evening were Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey who won The Altman Lighting Television Award for Small Production for their work on ITV Sport’s coverage of Euro 2016.

Last year, Chris and Andy were commissioned by ITV as Lighting Designers for the interior and exterior sets used on the broadcaster’s coverage of the Euro 2016 tournament. Working closely with the sets, designed by Paul Sudlow and Paul McNamara, Chris and Andy had to create a lighting design which would replicate these as well as be practical for on-site use, with the coverage being broadcast live from the Arab World Institute in Paris. White Light’s role on the project was to provide the consultation for the technical design of the studio sets, which included providing the lighting, video, power distribution and crew.

Chris comments: “For both sets, it was essential that they had a consistent theme and could be enhanced by the city lights twinkling in the background. The equipment choice was essential to deliver this look throughout the tournament, day and night; whether it was the vintage tungsten bulbs festooned around the outdoor set, the MAC Auras that enabled us to match the colour temperature and levels as the weather changed or the waterproof SGM G-Spots that could be left outside for the duration and used to illuminate the trees”.

The indoor studio used moving head lights, which were a mixture of Martin Professional MAC Auras and ROBE 800 LEDWashes. One of the key features was an 8K resolution video screen, created by mapping two Christie Boxer 30K projectors onto the curved studio set. This was all driven by a d3 4x4pro server.

Bryan Raven, WL’s Managing Director, comments: “We are absolutely delighted that Chris and Andy have been recognised for their brilliant work on the Euro 2016 coverage. It truly did look stunning when broadcast and, as a company, we are delighted to have played a technical role in helping bring their design to life”.

More than 500 entertainment technology industry professionals gathered together to celebrate the achievements of the many international lighting and video designers at this year’s KOI Awards. As is now tradition, the final Award of the evening was the Enrico Caironi Lifetime Recognition Award, which was presented to Rick Fisher – the prolific and talented lighting designer who has won multiple awards and critical acclaim in the West End, Broadway and around the world.

Rick was recognised not only for his achievements in lighting design, but also for his altruistic contributions to industry charities, from his help starting Light Relief to his current work with the technical entertainment charity known as Backup, for which WL Chairman John Simpson is Chair. Rick has also helped guide the Association of Lighting Designers to its current position as the largest body of lighting designers ever assembled. You can read an exclusive interview with Rick here as part of our Leading Light series.

Photos courtesy of Knight of Illumination Awards.