2009 Brownlow Medal

The Brownlow Medal Count is the most prestigious annual award on the Australia sporting calendar. Staged at the Palladium Ballroom at Melbourne’s Crown Casino complex, the 2009 Brownlow dinner was attended by over 1000 sporting celebrities and VIPs, broadcast live on Australia’s Channel 7 TV. Clifton Productions supplied a large array of equipment at this years 2009 Brownlow Medal event. Robe moving lights, Anolis LED fixtures, VuePix P6 LED Screens and iLEDpro fixtures were all in full force, used on stage and throughout the venue.

The art direction of the Brownlow’s was by Designer Mal Nichols of Mal Nichols and Associates. “The design elements had to be 3 dimensional to allow lighting and texture to the back drop of the talent”, says Mal. “And the lighting had to be flexible to allow for subtle changes within the presentation incorporating the background. We also utilized LED down lights in the base of the 3D boxes to create a textured feel behind the talent”, says Mal.

In the Atrium of the Crown Casino 10 x Robe REDWashes, 8 x Robe ColorWash 1200AT’s and 4 x Robe ColorSpots 1200AT’s were used as guests entered the red carpet area. Lighting Designer Rob Coia says “This years telecast of the Brownlow was a great success for Channel 7 on the tail end of a huge year in AFL Broadcast. It was the first time that I had used the new Robe REDWash LED fixture that Clifton Productions have as part of their inventory. I was very impressed with its performance, I used the REDWash to dress the walls and columns in the Atrium for the red carpet arrivals to provide some colour and shape for the background surfaces which appeared in most of the camera shots.”

Rob continues, “They worked especially well in the Atrium , we usually have a great deal of difficulty getting the dark walls in this area to read on camera, but this year it was the best look so far, rich colours and bright! Richard Grenfell, who knows that space very well, programmed the lighting for the Red carpet arrivals and created a great balance between faces and walls. The REDs have an incredible light output, as well as a vast array of colours from full chroma saturation through to more subtle pastels, I found it a great tool for the task, especially when available power is an issue”

In the main Palladium room, Robe moving lights were used to accomplish the room looks, set and stage dressing. 48 x Robe ColorWash 700EAT, 44 x Robe ColorSpot 700EAT, 4 x Robe ColorSpot AT along with 18 x REDWash fixtures were used. “We are really happy with the newest additions to our Robe inventory – being the Robe REDWash. The feedback we are getting from clients is amazing!, says System Tech Aaron Humber from Clifton Productions. It was vital that the Robe’s provided even coverage across a large area as there were a number of wide camera shots within the broadcast. The ‘RED’ in the REDWash is short for Red Emitted Diodes, a unique LED lighting concept developed by Robe.

The Brownlow lighting was controlled by two GrandMA consoles, operated by Alex Saad and Andy Edis. A third “house” GrandMA was operated by Andrew Killengray to control the 140 Roboscans for tables,pin spots, and all the “house” architectural LED .” the lighting system was substantial in size and quantity , it proved to be extremely reliable with next to no faults“

One large VuePix P6 display was used on stage to run content through in conjunction with a second VuePix P6 screen behind the lectern for guest speakers. Andrew Edis from Impact Media Images supplied and operated Catalyst Show and custom images. The Catalyst was controlled via the GrandMA. This was incorporated in modules within the set of allowing direct vision on stage. Over 100 Visio color tubes were used for illumination on the set and stairs.

As early as Round 20 in the vote count, Gary Ablett Jnr had an unassailable lead and finally won the 2009 Brownlow Medal, finishing with a total of 30 votes.