The NBC reality show Face The Ace gives the average Joe a chance to beat the world's toughest poker pros for $1,000,000. Recently filmed in Las Vegas and hosted by The Sopranos star Steve Shirripa, the show debuted August 1. According to the show's lighting designer, Justin Garrone, of Innovative Show Design (based in Lake Mary, Florida), which provided the scenic and lighting design for Face The Ace, the show's set designer, Chris Runnells, wanted to "give the feel of being inside a high-class hotel kind of like the Fantasy Suites at the Palms Resort and Casino." "The director and producer wanted the lighting to be subtle and as realistic as possible, with no trussing visible," said Garrone. "But at the same time, they wanted to have movement of light and changing colors. So in order to get lighting that performed to their specifications, yet looked like it would naturally be in this hotel suite, I needed to use architectural fixtures."
The architectural fixtures chosen by ISD were LEDs from Acclaim Lighting, supplied by CYM Lighting Services, of Rancho Mirage, California. They included 11 X-Eye-HP RGBs, eight X-EYE-HP WWs; 20 X-Dot-4 RGBs; and eight X-Stick-12s.
The Acclaim X-Eye-HP RGB is a high-power focusable color-changing downlight powered by fifteen 1W RGB LEDs. Eleven X-Eye-HP RGBs were installed as recessed lights in a scenic header that goes all the way around the entire set to act as "beauty lights" for the camera. "The director [Jason Wald] wanted to get a star effect off the lights, so they put a star filter in the jib cameras," explained Garrone. "However, if we had used more conventional lights with trussing, they wouldn't have been able to get this star effect, because they wouldn't be able to show the lights on camera, since the lighting grid would be visible and this was supposed to look like a real hotel suite. So I decided to add the X-Eye to act as a permanently installed recessed architectural lighting fixture, which would typically be found in a 'suite' like this. That way, they could show the lights on camera and get the star effect, while still keeping everything very realistic-looking."
Garrone turned to Acclaim for a realistic-looking white light, as well He used a warm white 3,200K version of the X-Eye (X-Eye-HP WW) to act as natural architectural lighting on the columns inside the set.
Another of the set's main scenic features is a bar, backed by rows of shelves containing liquor bottles and assorted decorations as accents. These items were downlit with Acclaim's X-Dot-4 RGB, a lightweight 1.5" x 1.5" square fixture with four SMD RGB LEDs. Twenty of the compact X-Dots were used -- one to spotlight each individual piece on the shelves.
The focal point of the set is, of course, the large circular heads-up poker table, which sits center stage. To accentuate the gaming table, Garrone added color below its top, using Acclaim's X-Stick-12 RGB, a slim-profile linear tube containing 12 SMD RGB LEDs. "The table has a stainless steel base, so we scraped some color down there, using the X-Sticks where needed to get the light. The fixture has such a super low profile that we could tuck it up wherever we needed it to go," said Garrone. "We also put some X-Sticks on the safe where the $1 million prize is kept."
Besides fitting into the set's appearance and spatial requirements, the Acclaim LEDs handled and performed like an ace, added Garrone. "They were very bright with a quick response time, and they were very easy to install. That was one of our big concerns, because we were on a very tight deadline and we were installing all these architectural fixtures with custom wiring. But the wiring wasn't too complicated, so we were able to get it done very quickly."
Garrone says he was "blown away" by the price of the Acclaim LEDs. "I was amazed by how inexpensive these fixtures were for all that you get out of them."