LAVAL, QUEBEC – No path is ever closed by an obstacle; at least not when that “roadblock” is seen through the eyes of a talented resourceful creative like Piere L. Roy. Called upon to light the Governors Ball, a prestigious charity event that features Quebec City celebrities, Roy encountered a host of steep challenges at the function’s venue.

For starters, the 200’ x 80’ ballroom at The Mount Blanc resort has very low ceilings, making it impossible to mount lights high enough to cover the spacious area. Making this challenge even more daunting, no rigging was allowed anywhere in the room. To top it all off, given that this was a charity event, Roy had a tight budget, which limited the number of fixtures in his rig and the amount of time he had to set up.

“Mount Blanc is beautiful and elegant — the perfect setting for a glamorous event such as this one,” said Roy. “However, there were challenges when you light something here, at least if you wanted to light it with the style an event like this deserves. The most notable challenge is the very low ceiling. You can’t hang lights high enough to cover this room without directing beams directly into the faces of guests. Complicating matters, we can’t have any rigging here.

“We got around this limitation by positioning fixtures on the floor and aiming them directly at the white ceiling. Reflecting light off of white surfaces to create brightness is a time-honored trick in TV lighting. Anyway, we were able to light everything up beautifully without blinding guests.”

Of course, it couldn’t be just any moving fixture that Roy specced for this task. Given the scope of the project and demands on his budget, it had to be one that was not only powerful, but versatile enough to allow him to do the job with fewer units. This led him to choose the CHAUVET Professional Maverick MK2 Spot.

“The Maverick MK2 and MK3 are my go-to fixtures for this type of application,” he said. “It’s not only a matter of their quality, but they’re also tremendously flexible, which allows me to do more with less.”

At the Governors Ball, Roy used 12 Maverick MK2 units as a FOH Wash, providing TV camera crews with supportive lighting, as well as lighting for site washing and audience engagement. Drawing on the fixture’s “excellent CTO,” Roy also relied on his Mavericks to add a glamorous aura to the event by creating a texturizing effect on the ceiling with a variety of intricate gobo patterns.

“The Mavericks have very nice gobos,” he said. “The prism is very useful too. In a setting like this, when you’re limited in the number of fixtures you can use, it’s a real-life saver to have one fixture can do a such a very wide range of textures.”

Given the demands of the event, Roy not only had to work with a limited number of fixtures, but he also has to work within a tight schedule. “Everything had to be done the same day and be ready at 5pm to open the doors to guests,” he said. “So, a very good coordination had to be done here. Dominique Leblanc president of Temoin Productions, Bruno Martel, Producer and manager, Louis Dupere, and the entire team deserve a world of credit.”

A clever design strategy, flexible fixtures, and a committed production team… when they come together as they did at The Governors Ball, even the toughest challenges don’t stand a chance!