The 5th season of the popular music TV show was recorded at Banijay Studios in the Guarulhos area of Sao Paulo, and Alê collaborated closely on the design side of this project with another of Brazil’s leading lighting designers, Serginho Antonio. Both are keen users of Robe moving lights and LED products.

Prominent on Alê’s lighting plot were 20 x TetraXs – the first in Brazil as Alê also likes to be a bit of a trailblazer with new tech when possible – which were rigged on a shaped and automated truss which moved in and out to create different architectural looks in the studio.

He used MMX WashBeams for key lighting the judges and 6 of Spectrun’s 24 new PAINTES which replaced bulkier spotlights - from another brand - as ‘deck candy’ on the floor behind the artists, and often visible in shots.

Alê has lit The Masked Singer since it started in Brazil, but the 2024 series was the first in this specific studio.

Alê and Serginho worked with set designer Ludmila Machado and director Marcelo Amiky to create Brazil’s own look for the Masked Singer franchise. Alê, Ludmila and Marcelo regularly work as a creative triumvirate, and have designed some of the highest-profile shows on Brazilian television.

Lighting needed to be big and pop-tastic, fitting to a sumptuous glossy-floor production with plenty of theatrical twists. Flexibility was the cornerstone of the lighting design for Alê, who endeavours to make each series look different and within that, each of the individual artist performances.

Time is always the challenge with this show, with four weeks of recording sandwiched in between 8 rehearsal sessions to produce the 12 episodes … from which one winner emerges from 16 finalists.

“Combining the moving lights (including others on the rig) with the automation, enabled a set of completely unique structural looks to be achieved for each performance.

Positioning the TetraXs on a moving truss meant Alê could get far more out of the fixtures than them just being effects in their own right. He leaned into the potential of the pixel and flower effects and the continuous pan, “This gave me so many choices - it was really incredible,” he enthused, adding, “it is a very special fixture.”

The PAINTES – also recently delivered by Robe’s Sao Paulo-based distributor HPL – were on the floor, set up close to the many LED screens that made up the set structural elements.

Used for back lighting the artists, they were in shot much of the time, so he had really wanted something compact and ergonomic for the role. “PAINTE is perfect, and packs such a nice punch for its small size!” he declared.

He likes the PAINTES’ zoom and the fact that you can go wide with them and drop in a colour with no detriment to the brightness. He appreciates the pureness and precision of the colour mixing, which also does not affect the impact of the output. He noted that the output of the previous fixtures in this position almost disappeared as soon as a colour went in, “It is vital for the cameras that we don’t suddenly lose intensity,” he notes, and, apart from that, the previous units were large and not so elegant in shot!

The MMX WashBeam is a fixture he likes very much. Ten were rigged to come in from the front with three from each side to nicely key the judges, with the framing shutters being extremely handy here as some of the fixtures were around 30 metres away.

Alê worked on programming the show with operator Kelton John, also known as “Ere” – the pair have worked together on it for two years. Taking on the DOP role as well as lighting designer meant that Alê looked after the key lighting, while Ere took care of programming all the moving and effects fixtures.

Alê has been a lighting professional since 2006 and started working at Spectrun in 2014. The company was originally founded in the 1980s, and he has been the sole director of the company since 2020, when his then-business partner retired.

Spectrun’s first Robe acquisitions were MMX WashBeams and LEDWash 600s around 10 years ago. The PAINTES and the TetraXs were purchased new for this Masked Singer show, and they currently have totals of 24 of each fixture, so this was a substantial investment. It was also part of Spectrun’s drive, going forward, to purchase only LED fixtures.

Robe’s TE (TRANSFERABLE ENGINE) is interesting to Alê in many ways, specifically for the flexibility and long-term value it brings to the table, and this also helped him decide to go with Robe for this latest purchase.

“I believe Robe is the most truly innovative and forward-thinking manufacturer right now!” he says, and he particularly likes their fixtures with Flower effects and also the IP rating of all the new Robe product ranges. In Brazil, there are plenty of indoor and outdoor projects and work.

Local support is another major factor for continued investment in Robe, as he enjoys an excellent working relationship with Sao Paulo-headquartered HPL.

Having the first TetraXs in Brazil was a big thing! As a designer, apart from these being tools of his trade, his skills also put him in a great position to know what others will enjoy using and find invaluable in their own imaginative endeavours!

Soon after he started designing shows, Alê bought some kit for specific specials that he wanted, a trend that continued to facilitate his TV work in particular. Based in Brazil’s frenetic commercial epicentre of Sao Paulo, Spectrun works all over Brazil as a rental house and currently has 8 full-time employees and around 30 regular freelancers helping co-ordinate numerous design and rental projects.

Other recent jobs for Spectrun’s PAINTES have included lighting the 21st edition of the Red Bull BC One World Final breakdancing championships staged in vibrant and beautiful Rio de Janiero, an event which also featured two Robe iBOLTS, and the Prêmio Multishow 2024 (2024 Multishow Awards) at the Riocentro venue, also in Rio de Janeiro.

Photo Credit: João Pedro Martins