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Resolution X play their part in historical event
 
A century of nationhood was celebrated in
Melbourne when about 7000 people packed the Royal Exhibition Building to witness
the centenary joint sitting of Federal Parliament. But while the venue was just
as magnificent as it was 100 years ago, this was a very different occasion,
reflecting a transformed nation with new priorities and challenges unimagined
100 years ago.
The opening of the first parliament was preceded
by a royal procession and Aborigines were banned from staging a corroboree.
This one began with the paying of respect to the original owners of the land,
the Wurundjeri people.
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The original was held without power.
The speeches were unamplified and many of the guests struggled to hear
them, even the reading of a telegram from the King consenting to the
creation of a new nation. There was only natural light and very few
cameras. This one was broadcast live on TV across the country.
Supplying the lighting for this historically
important event was Melbourne company Resolution X.
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"Basically we were providing light for the
television coverage as well as enhancing the room give that it was a daylight
event," said Tim Hall, Managing Director of Resolution X. "We used about forty
5K fresnels and fifty 2K fresnels, all colour corrected to daylight to match
the light coming through the windows."
A simulated 'fire' effect was required for
the indigenous welcome and this was done with the aid of Jem Stage Hazers, AF-1
fans and Combicolors. Six Combicolors were in placed beneath metal grilles on
the stage floor so that they could shoot light up to create a fire effect.
"We used the AF-1 fans to push the haze through
which gave us control over the thickness of the smoke for various parts of the
performance, said Tim. "The Combicolors shot through the same grille providing
the flickering red and yellow light of the fire. It came up surprisingly well
given that it was daylight. The metal grilles cut back the intensity of the
light but because the Combicolors are so bright it didn't matter."
 
The exterior northern façade of the Royal
Exhibition Building was bathed in colour for one night only as part of the Gala
Dinner held at the Melbourne Museum. The brief was to provide a fixed colour
wash to the building and Resolution X did not hesitate to use CityColors to
successfully achieve this requirement. Six CityColors were used along with eighty
Par 64s.
"The CityColors were great although, as it
was a fixed colour wash, we were only utilising their brightness rather than
their colour changing ability," said Tim. "We had a very limited set up time
with no ability to set up the night before. Consequently we had to have as few
fixtures as possible so that we could focus them quickly once it got dark but
before guests arrived. The CityColors provided that really well and also had
the added benefit of being waterproof. The output of the CityColors was fantastic
as was the width of coverage they provided."
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