Legacy Production Group, a Minneapolis based corporate event production company and AV equipment supplier, has taken delivery of 12 Robert Juliat Dalis 862 variable white footlights.
“Minneapolis is a unique market: there’s no single, big lighting house here,” notes Legacy President, Tom Gorman. “We try to keep an inventory of what we can use for our primary corporate event clients as well as what other people in town want for music, touring and theatre. I’ve been hoping to stock the Dalis 862 footlights since I first saw them – they’re an amazing, cool and unique piece of equipment. When we did our first social media post announcing that we had the Dalis 862s we heard from a lot of people who told us they were very glad they were now available in Minneapolis.”
Robert Juliat’s Dalis 862 footlight incorporates 48 patented asymmetric reflectors arranged in a double row. Each row can be controlled independently offering long or short throw capacities and creating upstage or downstage lighting.
Gorman points out that with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating virtual and hybrid production, many corporate clients are now using cameras to record events for streaming or online access. So the need to light for broadcast has increased.
“The Dalis footlights are very good for that,” he says. “The footlights can add dimensionality to a set without washing out LED videowall backdrops or projection. They’re great for chin lights instead of the old conventional strip lights. And when you put on live high-end corporate shows the fixtures really enrich the stage wash and add a nice glow.”
He likes the ability “to separate the two rows of lights in the footlights so I can control the top or bottom row independently. If talent is standing close to the edge of the stage I can turn on just the top strip. If someone is standing back from the stage I can turn on just the bottom, or I can mix both. I love that flexibility – the fixture doesn’t wash out the stage with white light but lights the areas you designate and makes the set pop.”
Gorman says that ACT Entertainment, Robert Juliat’s exclusive distributor for North America, helpfully provided Legacy with Dalis 862 demo units, “which we loved more each time we used them. We placed our initial order for 12 and definitely plan to get more by this autumn since our calendar is starting to fill up.”
No sooner had the footlights been delivered than Legacy took them to a medical industry taping that recruited newly-graduated doctors to a hospital. “There were executives on stage in a small room with no space to fly trusses, so it was going to be lighting on a stick or with truss towers,” Gorman recalls. “People always complain that lighting on truss towers shoots straight into their eyes, so the Dalis 862s were super useful for bringing down and filling in with their bottom lights. They were able to bring down the main front light while still providing key light for good recording.”
Gorman says that Legacy hopes “to stock a robust inventory of Dalis 862s. We’ve done our fair share of Netflix specials and are excited to be able to offer the fixtures to lighting designers coming in from NY and LA. Once people see what the Dalis 862 can do the lights will sell themselves – they’ll be requested for every show.”
Robert Juliat is distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Entertainment.