Mastermind & Celebrity Mastermind

The latest Mastermind series took place for the first time in Media City, Manchester.  The series was recorded over a number of weeks between May and November and included the main competition, several Celebrity Specials and a Children In Need Show.

Mark Ninnim provided his own ChamSys MQ100 Pro 2010 Lighting Console for the show as well as a ChamSys PoE Network Switch and a 4 Port Ethernet Interface. The Network Switch also fed a Wi-Fi router that Mark used with his iPad to remotely focus the backlights on set.

“The desk behaved faultlessly and was the perfect tool for the job”, stated Mark, adding, “the clever timing functions available proved to be very useful when changing between looks,  Mastermind is not a “flashy” type  of show and needs subtle and tasteful changes”. “The ChamSys remote also proved to be a very useful tool”, Mark was quick to point out, “as it allowed me to leave the desk in the gallery and reset positions etc from the floor for each show”.

As well as all the moving lights, the desk also controlled all the LED in and around the set. “Being able to patch virtual dimmers onto the LED also proved to be a very clever feature, when using LED in TV, you need to use a lot less blue than you do any other colour as you can see it “burn out” on a picture especially when using Sony cameras, so being able to quickly adjust the level of colour with a dimmer rather than grabbing all the colour parameters makes things a lot easier.”

“What I also like about using the ChamSys system is that as a back-up to the desk all I need is my laptop and the software freely available from the website”, explained Mark “Although I didn’t need any back up during the run, it’s nice to know it’s there”.

HSL was the main lighting supplier and supplied 18 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700’s which were used as a ceiling above the set, 7 Robe ColorSpot 700E, used as backlights behind the contestants and 1 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot, the main spot on the famous chair.

Lighting Director – Andy Stagles

Lighting Operator – Mark Ninnim

Lighting Supply – HSL Group

Production - BBC

The new series is now being shown on BBC 2