
Marc Janowitz finds the look with Elation for Jimmy O. Yang stand-up comedy special posted: 10/06/2020
Lighting for comedy has its own special characteristics and lighting designer Marc Janowitz, who recently lit comedian Jimmy O. Yang's debut stand-up comedy special on Amazon Prime - Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal - using Elation Rayzor 760 and Fuze Z350 LED wash lights, knows all about them. In the concert industry you can end up with a thousand different ways to use a light in a single show but in comedy you work hard to come up with a perfect look that stays throughout the entire show and needs to look right from a multitude of camera angles.
Recorded last fall at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle and aired in early May on Amazon's paid subscription service, the Silicon Valley and Crazy Rich Asians star laid down a hilarious hour of comedy in a blossoming career as a stand-up comedian. When lighting a comedy special, there is typically an intro look with a bit of fanfare as the comedian walks on stage, Janowitz says, but then that settles into a look that stays for the rest of the show. It's a different way of thinking about lights. You study a bunch of different features of a light simply so you can find the one feature that makes it on camera as opposed to finding a light that has a lot of features because you need a multitude of flexibility. There is a walk-out look as well, typically similar to the walk-on look, but Janowitz says it often ends up on the edit room floor.
Chief designer at lighting and production design firm E26Design, Janowitz's extensive lighting experience includes a decade with Blue Man Group, designs for New York theatre and years working with top touring bands like My Morning Jacket and The Lumineers, among others. He has a great deal of experience lighting for broadcast as well and says there was a good rapport with the Jimmy O. Yang creative team from the start, a team that included producers Comedy Dynamics, director Marcus Raboy, production designer Tom Lenz and director of photography Dylan Sanford.
Design for the Jimmy O. Yang special started last August with the comedian heavily involved in establishing what kind of aesthetic he wanted. This was his first televised special and he wanted to make sure it stood out and had its own unique look, Janowitz said. He presented some great references and that really helped us latch on to something and come up with a look together.
We discussed the notion of light as display, using light as a scenic element, which production designer Tom Lenz took and worked with in the form of linear strips of light and beams. That allowed me to expound on the concept and find the right fixtures to support that.
Already in the house rig at the Neptune Theatre as part of the overhead lighting package were Elation Fuze Wash Z350 single source par moving heads. Janowitz had 10 of the units on two overhead electrics at his disposal. It was great to walk in and know I had a homogenized wash light to work with, he comments. There aren't a lot of companies doing wash lights with LED that look like an arc source with one beam out the front so having that in house was already a great start.
Featuring prominently in the many camera angles and a good match for the in-house Fuze Wash fixtures were 24 Rayzor 760 LED washes, placed on the deck and on booms both downstage and upstage. In keeping with the linear theme, each boom-positioned Rayzor had a single line of pixels running across its face. When shooting multi-cam, meaning any camera can be active at any time, you have to make sure that every angle has the picture you want it to have, Janowitz said. What was great with the Rayzor 760 was, even when I went down to just enough pixels to create a line, it still had decent output and created beams in the air. I knew it would have a lot of camera time where you look right at the face - you could see them in all the cross shots, closeups and wide shots. Having the ability to select the pattern with the individualized pixel control was great.
Thematically, a color reference was shown to the team early on that went from a warm amber gradient to cyan blue. A through line of cyan blue appears in the scenic and color treatment and was part of the color pallette we came up with from the start, the LD said. The floor-based Rayzors shone in the warm amber and provided a surround for the comedian to work within while the side fixtures projected a linear format of cyan with the overhead Fuze fixtures also in cyan. The upstage boom Rayzors grazed a scenic wall of liner flats while the downstage boom fixtures provided eye candy and beam effect onto the wall and into the crowd.
What actually led Janowitz to the Rayzor 760 however was an inquiry into the refresh rate of some different Elation fixtures that he had planned to use on the show. He explains: I was looking at potentially bringing in some older Elation fixtures from Christie Lites but we were unsure what the refresh rate was. When I reached out to [Elation Sales & Marketing Director] Eric Loader, he suggested the Rayzor 760 for our more camera sensitive requirements as it has variable LED refresh rate control from 1200 up to 25000. Made available to him through Chris McMeen at Christie Lites, the Rayzor 760, he says, was camera friendly with no flicker issues. We were happy with them and they performed really well.
About Elation Professional
Based in California with facilities in Florida and Mexico City, as well as European offices in The Netherlands, Elation designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of innovative lighting and video products known for its superior performance, excellent efficiency, and outstanding price:value ratio, all backed by a hard-earned reputation for Total Support. Through nearly three decades of intelligent lighting d
Most recent headlines
14/03/2025
BURLINGTON, Mass. Avid has expanded its executive leadership team (ELT) with the appointment of three experienced executives: Tom Sharma as chief technology off...
14/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. TVU Networks, a pioneer in live video production and a leader in cloud-based media solutions, is marking its 20th anniversary at the 2025 NAB ...
13/03/2025
(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...
13/03/2025
Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...
13/03/2025
At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...
13/03/2025
Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...
13/03/2025
Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...
13/03/2025
On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...
13/03/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...
13/03/2025
Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...
13/03/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...
13/03/2025
IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...
13/03/2025
NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...
13/03/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...
13/03/2025
Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...
13/03/2025
Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...
13/03/2025
We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey.
Our 2025 survey p...
13/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...
13/03/2025
Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025
Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...
13/03/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...
13/03/2025
What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....