Harry the Hirer Productions Makes Large Robe iFORTE Investment

	Some of the team in Harry The Hirer's Sydney warehouse facility. Photo: Louise Stickland

The Australian rental company Harry the Hirer Productions (HTH) has invested in 80 Robe iFORTES, which have been added to its extensive lighting rental stock.

These fixtures will be used mainly for the company's touring and event-based work and will travel between HTH's three branches in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. The fixtures were delivered via Robe ANZ, part of distributor LSC Control Systems, the new distribution setup for Robe in the ANZ area, headed by Darren McLanders.

Much of Harry the Hirer Productions' work involves supplying the international artists on the Australasian leg of their tours; the company also services numerous large and high-profile business and special events.

Eddie Welsh, general manager of the New South Wales branch, says the iFORTE's IP65 rating was important, given that a substantial amount of their concert and major event work is outdoors. He notes that not having to pressurize the unit is another big bonus, helping to reduce maintenance time and increasing the pace of the turnarounds. "The lumens-per-kilo ratio is another consideration," Welsh notes, with roof weight loading often restricted in venues.

The new units have been out constantly since they were delivered by Robe ANZ. Fifty iFORTES were recently used by lighting designer Ziggy Ziegler, of ZZ Creative Australia, on a project for a major Australian bank at the ICC Sydney, as part of a lighting rig comprising 250 static and moving LED lights, primarily rigged on overhead trusses.

The event combined an environmental technology expo with plenary sessions, breakout rooms, and product demonstrations in a contemporary theatrical setting. From the bushland of Australia and naturalistic feel of the plenary to the waterfall-inspired breakout room with transparent, mesh walls allowing guests to see into the room when it was in session, it was an event that combined theatrical display with technology-driven lighting and lots of internally lit free-standing walls and set pieces, for which the iFORTES were the main workhorses.

"It was simple to assign multiple tasks to the iFORTES," Ziegler says. Some were used for a specifically focused front light stage wash using the built-in shutter system with soft focus ability, and these same units double-purposed as chair and fireside chat specials and speech spots, being repositioned and refocused throughout the day. "The brightness was amazing - we mostly ran them at around 60% -- and they worked well juxtaposed against the projection surfaces in the room," he adds.

A large group of iFORTES were used to create effects, gobo washes, set lighting and shutter specials with light colour tints to suit each stand in the expo. One fixture was bright and flexible enough to create a wide-zoned, focused gobo floor wash, and also tight focus onto signage, which made patching, system design, and maintenance simple and straightforward.

Another group of iFORTES was used as effect lights in the waterfall-themed breakout room, creating curiosity and magic in the space, together with low fog and water sound effects. The waterfall was created via projection, and Ziegler reports that the iFORTE color temperature adjustment enabled accurate and even color correction to match the waterfall.