11.07.2018 | Elation Broadcast Lighting for Cwmni Da Studio, Wales

Lumio Media chooses energy-efficient LED lighting package for production company’s new studio.

When independent Welsh production company “Cwmni Da” converted their open plan office into a new studio earlier this year, in the town of Caernarfon on the northwest coast of Wales, the award-winning television producers sought to minimize their carbon footprint by installing a more energy-efficient lighting system. Lighting company Lumio Media obliged by suggesting, specifying and installing an LED lighting package of TV-optimized Elation Professional luminaires.

One of Wales’ foremost production companies, Cwmni Da produces a variety of television content for Welsh-language broadcasters S4C and C4, as well as the BBC. The company’s highly talented workforce excels at storytelling and entertaining with national and international productions that span the gamut of television programming from comedy and entertainment to sport programs and children’s shows. The company is also environmentally conscious and sought a lighting solution for their new studio that was not only high quality but eco-friendly as well. “Cwmni Da is a green company and they were keen to use all LED lighting in the new studio,” stated John Penny Williams, Lighting Director at Lumio Media, who supplied and installed the full lighting rig, as well as scaffolding and all the distribution electrics and data for the project. “Once I explained the benefits of LED to them and suggested the Elation LED lighting system, they were on board.”

John first saw Elation’s new KL Fresnel™ line of warm-white LED Fresnel lights at 2017’s PLASA trade show in London, later demoed the KL Fresnel 8™ and liked what he saw. He subsequently ordered six KL Fresnel 8 and four KL Fresnel 6 fixtures for the new Cwmni Da studio. “I was impressed by the power of the KLs,” he said, noting that it’s the first Fresnel key light he has used in which the barndoors actually work. “They give a nice, clean cut which lets you control the light much better.”

Also specified for use in the studio, and another white light luminaire that John says he has been impress with, are eight Elation TVL Panel DW™ softlights, a dynamic white luminaire with 480 cool white and 480 warm white LEDs and linear color temperature control. Used in a white-out set for a show called FFIT Cymru, a lifestyle program filmed over an 8-week period, the TVL Panel DWs were used for peak-white soft fill from behind while the KL Fresnel fixtures provided warmer key light from the front. “The color temperature-adjustable TVL Panel DWs are superb and the output is brilliant,” Penny comments. “The change from a warm tungsten look to daylight is absolutely crucial and they do it well. They give a nice and soft light. Also for the price, they’re amazing really!”

When more colorful looks are required the studio has 10 TVL CYC RGBW™ cyclorama wall wash luminaires at its disposal to provide floods of seamlessly blended color or variable white color temperature looks. Also available for ample color possibilities are 14 SixPar 200™ LED color-changing Par lights and 16 SixBar 1000 Battens™, both of which are used to light a zany satirical comedy/game show (Dim Byd) that required lots of color. Both the SixPar and SixBar house high-power, single lens, 6-color (RGBWA+UV) LED multi-chips for a wider spectrum of chromatic options. 
The Cwmni Da studio conversion from an open office space to a television studio occurred from January to March 2018 with the lighting install completed in late March. John Penny says that the installation started as one studio but has since expanded to two studios with the Elation gear moving back and forth as needed. According to the LD, cost savings as well as the power savings of the LED were key factors when choosing to go with the Elation products, and the fact that no dimmers are needed was also a great benefit. “The dimmers would have cost more than the fixtures!” John exclaimed. “The LED also produces much less heat and because of that they had no need to upgrade the HVAC/air con system.”