Tungsten Projects deliver sci-fi dystopia with 80s rock undercurrents

We Will Rock You premiers in Wellington

Tungsten Projects, a Wellington-based company specialising in lighting design and systems as well as event production and management, was founded by Will Smith in 2020. He joined forces with Sam Lovell, who had returned to New Zealand from Macau, following the closure of renowned production The House of Dancing Water, “As with many in the industry, we lost our jobs due to the pandemic, so we combined our strengths and passion for lighting technology and systems, and we haven’t looked back.”

Recent highlights for Tungsten Projects have included heading up lighting and video at the New Zealand Arts Festival in Wellington and associated lighting design on the spectacular digital light show Gumbuya Dreaming in Melbourne, running through June and July this year. Just as Gumbaya got underway, Will got the call from Director David Adkins about designing the lighting for Capital Theatre Trust & G&T Productions’ first production of the Queen musical We Will Rock You, and its premier in Wellington.

The brief was interesting, “The lighting design needed to support the very dramatic and futuristic story which traverses numerous different locations, and also be able to transform the stage into what is essentially a Queen tribute concert for the last 20 minutes of the show. We wanted the set to look theatrically beautiful whilst ensuring we still did the end justice with a punchy rock ‘n roll style lighting rig.”

David and Will took their inspiration from the songs, “We felt we had to include a nod to the Pizza Oven style PAR Can rigs of the Queen era and also encapsulate the stark corporation dominated future that the show is set in.”

Will’s Wellington based lighting supplier MJF Lighting duly pulled an almost fully LED rig together using primarily Ayrton Perseos, Eurus, Aura XIPs and Chauvet Colorado PXL16 Bars, “I was keen to include Ayrton’s new Perseos moving heads, having used them recently and being impressed with both the speed and power. They are really versatile and I knew I could quickly shift from a dramatic moment to a powerful rock ‘n roll set.”

The set comprised a proscenium archway with four trusses, three flown verticals and the horizontal flown independently, “I feel we took full advantage of this flexibility and created a whole range of different shapes for the different locations, using silver toned trusses to achieve the look we wanted. All the truss moves were undertaken by a team of three sometimes very busy operators.”

For once, time was not of the essence, “We had two weeks to pre-vis the whole show in our own studio, so we had eighty percent of the time coding done prior to accessing St James Theatre. Then we had the luxury of a full week onsite. Control was fully in the grandMA3 system and Jordan O’Neil from Reflex Lighting Systems did an amazing job as our Head Electrics and Show Operator.”

Opening night bore witness to the hard work and time spent in production with minimal refinement required, “All the time coded stuff was spot on alongside the live band lead by Musical Director Zac Johns. It was wonderful to see the audience getting so into it.”

A standout moment? For Will it was ‘Now I’m Here’, “All the trusses come down into a steep stagger, creating a rear wall to work with. We used the Chauvet Colorado PXL 16 bars and a deep red to create the first big impactful moment of the show.”

The musical received rapturous reviews and with most of the cast, crew and production team being the capital’s own, this was proudly and frequently remarked on, “It was a highly talented local team. With input from Vicki Cooksley as Stage Manager and Andrew Gibson as Technical Manager, alongside MJF Lighting, I do think we achieved that late 70s rock feel without losing the essence of what is essentially a sci-fi story.”

Next up for Tungsten Projects is the Upstage Festival in the Bay of Islands, with a summer season that is looking strong.

Photo Credit: Josh Apperley, Simpel

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Gear list

• Ayrton Perseo
• Ayrton Eurus
• Chauvet Colorado PXL 16
• Martin Mac Aura XIP
• Martin Mac Viper Wash DX
• FusionPar Q XII
• FusionPar H XII
• eProfile FC
• Molefay 4-Ways
• Unique 2.1 Haze
• ZR45 Smoke
• Control – grandMA 3 Mode 3

• Fixtures Supplied by: MJF Lighting Ltd
• Control Supplied by: Tungsten Projects Ltd
• Designed and Programmed: William Smith, Tungsten Projects Ltd
• Head Electrics and Show Operator: Jordan O’Neil, Reflex Lighting Systems

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