On the evening of March 23, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its annual awards – the Oscars – for the 75th time.  Amid the specter of conflict in Iraq, celebrities gathered to witness a pair of upset victories, a few surprises, and an unusually bright flood of colored light coming from the ceiling of the Kodak Theatre.

On a slightly out of the ordinary award’s night - a fugitive from U.S. justice won Best Director; Best Documentary winner Michael Moore unceremoniously used the Oscar podium to denounce the war in Iraq - the glitz and glamour of the event was nevertheless preserved in part thanks to 100 Martin MAC 2000 Wash specified by award-winning lighting designer Bob Dickinson (Grammy Awards, Super Bowl half-time show).

California-based Production Lighting Systems (PLS) of the Fourth Phase/PRG lighting group, and specialists in television and televised award shows, supplied the new 1200-watt MAC 2000 Wash for the event.

Scenic color wash
Lighting Director for the event was Bob Barnhart of Full Flood, Inc. of Los Angeles, a lighting design and production company. Bob, who first used the MAC 2000 Wash on the Grammy Awards a month earlier, commented, “The main purpose of the Wash fixtures for the Academy Awards was for scenic color wash - scenic enhancements. We attacked the scenery at the best angle possible. There was a lot of white and silver velour, not what you would call scrims, but canvas put in place as scenic elements that received a lot of color wash. Another area that received a lot of color was the large flute, the oval shaped object that dominated the middle of the stage. It was roughly 8 feet wide at the bottom and 25-30 feet wide at the top and made of a translucent material.”

“I can’t think of a scene where the Wash wasn’t used,” Bob continues. “ It’s a great light. It has a good reliability rate and in general, we’re very happy with it.”

MAC 2000 Wash “storm on through the show”
“The MAC 2000 Wash was an integral element of the full lighting design, really about a third of the show,” added Assistant Lighting Director Dan Reed, also of Full Flood, Inc. “The MAC 2000 Wash were used theatrically and were used for everything from illumination of the Oscar statues to skinning and lighting of the large scenic cone (flute) on stage. They held up great and stormed on through the show.”

The awards ceremony was held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, the crown jewel of the Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex. Some 1,500 journalists were in attendance along with over 3,400 guests.

The MAC 2000 Wash is a powerful Fresnel moving head fixture quickly establishing itself alongside the MAC 2000 Profile and MAC 2000 Performance as industry standard. It features extremely high light output, full CMY color mixing, the flexibility of multiple front lens options and much more.