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| JESSICA KOLDITZ / Scroll |
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With 1,500 amps of electricity, hundreds of incandescent neon lights and 4,500 people in attendance, the Media Services staff lit up the Hart Auditorium Saturday at the Best of Guitars Unplugged.
Brent Pritchett, lighting designer for Media Services and his eight-man student crew arrived at 8 a.m. to prepare for the performance and didn‘t leave the Hart Auditorium until 2 a.m. the next day.
The team dedicated a total of 250-300 man-hours over the course of Guitars Unplugged. The majority of the planning was for a two-minute techno introduction piece to energize the crowd.
“This is like my baptism of fire,” Pritchett said. “It’s a lighting extravaganza.”
Pritchett said he loves the way people react to the tempo of the lights and how you can create a mood with light.
“It pumps them up and gives them a natural high that I just love seeing,” Pritchett said.
Both Pritchett and his crew agreed that the hardest part of the work was the amount of time they had to set up between different performances.
“We have to work around everybody,” Pritchett said.
Pritchett had his staff plug in and attach over $750,000 worth of lighting equipment — the most powerful of the lights, a 5,000 watt set of punch-lights that hung over the stage.
“This concert could have run a neighborhood for about a month … but the product is worth its weight in gold,” Pritchett said.
David Nelson, a freshman from Ogden, Utah, said he dedicated over 25 hours on wiring and setting up lights.
“I would definitely do it again next year,” Nelson said.
Katie Anderson, a sophomore from Ashton, Idaho, who is in charge of the spotlight, said she had to squeeze time in during the mornings to get all her studies completed. “This week I’ve been home twice — it’s been crazy,” Anderson said.
Pritchett also said his job makes family life a little tough to coordinate at times, but since his wife is also a performer involved in theater, they both learn to be flexible.
“We try and make the time we do have together a little bit more enjoyable. We enjoy our date nights,” Pritchett said.
Before coming to BYU-Idaho and working for Media Services, Pritchett worked in Las Vegas on shows such as the Blue Man Group and in Florida for Walt Disney Entertainment where he gained the majority of his lighting education. He has also worked on the 42nd Street Broadway Tour.
For this show, Pritchett pointed out that his focus was to test the capabilities of the equipment he already had. However, he is looking to add more advanced equipment later.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see lasers next time,” Pritchett said.
