NEW MAC VIPER - STAR OF MISS SA PAGEANT

The winner is announced: Marilyn Ramos claiming her Miss South Africa 2012 title (Image by Bruce Schwartz)

In an age where programmes featuring Kardashians, Playboy Bunnies, and manufactured Idols are screened daily on pay television it was a fair question when a December newspaper headline asked: Miss SA ... does anyone still care? The answer is a resounding YES! At the very least the participants cared and each of them has friends, fans and relatives who cared. Besides, if major companies like Volvo, Sun International and Nashua get involved as sponsors you bet someone cares.

The Miss SA Pageant stretches back to 1956 when winner Norma Vorster took the first title. Since then both Penny Coelen (1958) and Anneline Kriel (1974) went on to also be crowned Miss World. Apart from them ten other Miss South Africa's have had top 3 finishes. Whether people care or not, six of the twelve 2012 finalists are graduates, three have professional careers and only 3 are full time models. Former Queens Cindy Nell, Jo-Ann Strauss, Basetsane Makgalemele, Suzette vd Merwe and Amy Kleynhans have seized the opportunity offered by the title and made their marks as public figures and as members of the business community.

Disregarding naysayers, the Miss South Africa Pageant is BIG and every year the show director goes flat out to create a bigger and more glamorous spectacle than the year before. Electrosonic's Bruce Schwartz realised that it was the ideal big-stage opportunity to showcase Martin Professional's new Mac Viper. Launched in 2012, it is the follow-up to the reliable Mac 2000 - the industry workhorse which has been the backbone of the live shows of top-flight artists like Madonna. The Mac Viper is smaller, lighter, brighter and more advanced than its predecessor: just the thing to get a show director excited!

Bruce said: "It was important for us to get the new product onto a prestigious gig as soon as possible and get as much mileage out of it as possible". So Electrosonic approached Dreamsets, the event technical supplier to Miss SA, and offered them the use of six Mac Vipers. "A real world application is always better than a demo room or warehouse test " added Bruce.

Vivid Vipers

The Miss SA Pageant is televised live and this means that stage lighting has to compete with television lighting. Beams and washes tend to fade into insignificance as a result of all this TV Lighting. This is where the 'brighter' characteristic of the Mac Viper comes in. Mauritz Jacobs of Dreamsets wasn't hard to convince. "Lighting designers like new toys," laughed Bruce "and the Viper's gobos can make a show look new and stand out from other shows". The fact that the show is televised live also meant that lighting and set designers all over the country could see the effect of the Vipers.

Mauritz who collaborated with the set designer, Dewet Meyer of JDM Unlimited, said "The main objective was to project gobos on the floor, but our 700 Spots couldn't cope. In this respect the Vipers were great because of their very bright output".

Another test that the six Mac Vipers passed successfully was the relatively subdued nature of the pageant. "Most big shows are rock 'n roll type shows with lots of quick movements and flashes," said Bruce "but with the Vipers a theatrical quality with slow transitions was made possible". This meant a very stylish production in a Sun City Superbowl that was done up in banquet style with fabulous chandeliers overhead. Mauritz who has been involved in seven Miss SA pageants added: "The set was better than previously, with no LED screens it had a clean stylish appearance". The organisers had a whole week to set up and programme the show - a rarity for live events.

Apart from the six Vipers there were also 32 Martin Mac 101s. Bruce gets very excited about these little marvels "When I first saw them I laughed, because they looked like mobile disco toys, but I've had to eat my words" he concedes. The 101s have the advantage of size, speed and price point and have been used by artists like James Blunt, Enrique Iglesias and more recently by The Prodigy because of their narrow beams and lightning fast movement. "It was great to see them among the beautiful sets at the Miss SA Pageant"

So ... does anyone still care about Miss SA? Hell yeah, every single lighting designer in the country wants to work that gig!