Blacktown Workers is the first Australian theatre to add the Robert Juliat Oz followspot to their Venue, and not just one, but two have joined their Diamond Show room!
The Oz features a 600W white LED source and is the first LED professional followspot to deliver output comparable to a 1200W discharge model. With its compact dimension, silent operation, smooth electronic dimming and the benefits of no lamp change and powerful output, Oz is the perfect front of house spot for larger venues and full size theatre.
The Club’s lighting engineer Jake Bleier explained that they had been looking for new followspots for quite some time but could not find anything that met the venue’s eco-friendly values.
“There was nothing on the market that was bright enough for the distance to our stage or to punch through our mostly LED rig and large LED screen,” added Jake. “So when Robert Juliat released the Oz followspot it was the natural choice and as soon as Gareth Mealing from Show Technology got a demo model, he threw it into his car and raced it over to us!”
Jake admits he was sceptical as to just how bright the OZ would be but Gareth soon showed him just how punchy it could be and the purchase was sealed.
“It was a really quick turnaround from Robert Juliat which was impressive,” said Jake. “It’s great that Oz has ArtNet capability because it gives me flexibility as a lighting operator to control the master brightness. Even if the operator sets it to 100%, if I’ve set it at 80% it won’t go above that which is quite handy.”
The Club has a unique situation in that they have two followspots but only one followspot operator! Bill Cawthorne has worked at the Club for years and is really quite adept at following two people at the same time.
“It’s good to be able to assist and work together on controlling the brightness and whether they are on or off,” said Jake. “They certainly are punchy and cut through all the other lighting on stage. We also got the RJ horizontal chopper kit that turns the beam into a rectangle shape. It’s great for Bill because if there are multiple people to follow on stage, we’re able to widen the followspot but still keep it off the proscenium.”
“At Blacktown Workers Club we endeavor to give all our audience and entertainers the best experience by having quality up to date equipment and operators, such as Danny Zamor, Jake Bleier and Bill Cawthorn,” added Elizabeth Star, Entertainment Manager at the Club. “We feel that we are a leader in the industry with this concept.”
Oz features a range of 7° to 14.5° and an 8- or 16-bit dimming and strobe function. There is a six-way self-cancelling boomerang colour changer system for simultaneous use of multiple filters. Additional features include fine balance, built-in electronic flicker-free power supply, silent-running fan operation, removable fully closing iris, and an A-size glass and metal gobo holder.
