Wholehog in Poseidon film

10 May 2006

USA - Poseidon, the new remake of the 1972 film, stars Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, some High End Systems Studio Spot 575 automated luminaires and two Wholehog 3 consoles. The Warner Bros. Pictures release promises to make a big splash in movie theatres and IMAX theatres starting 12 May.

Studio Spots were specified in the upside down nightclub set for various reasons, says programmer Scott Barnes. "I went with the Studio Spots because I needed the lights to be fairly small and I wanted to do a Gobo Shake (a special effect in Studio Spot) to simulate that the head is jammed or broken. John Seale, the director of photography, loved this feature.

"For the nightclub we just used three Studio Spots. It was a small rig. Before the ship rolls over, there are a number of establishing scenes. One of these scenes is in the nightclub on the ship. This was shot in the VIP bar at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. I guess they thought the décor of the bar matched that of the Poseidon. So, at this location we rigged the dance floor with the Studio Spots and additional lighting such as par cans.

Even so, the Studio Spots never got wet, he adds. "The Studio Spots worked perfectly. The gobo shake effect was most fitting for the scene -- helping to sell the fact these lights had just been 'damaged' in the club."

Except for a couple of tiny sets, two Wholehog 3 consoles ran the entire movie, with Barnes on the first unit crew and John Crimmins on the second unit crew.

"Besides the small amount of moving lights we had on this show, there were numerous lighting effects needed throughout the movie. Flickering fluorescents, alarm beacons and fire effects were constantly called for on every set filmed. The Wholehog 3 handles it with ease. The console's working great," Barnes says.

Next up for Barnes and his Wholehog 3 is Dreamgirls, set for December release, while in June he starts work on another Jim Carrey movie. His past Wholehog 3 films include The Island, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Van Helsing and Soul Plane.

(Chris Henry)