HOG FACTOR 2018 With the exciting news that the UK round of the Hog Factor will be hosted at this year’s Production Futures, TPi speaks to High End Systems’ Regional Sales Manager for Central USA and Canada, Paul Hancock, about the history of the event.
Officially launching in 2015, the Hog Factor has become an internationally renowned competition being held in conjunction with major trade shows across the globe. The goal; to bring a selection of promising lighting students to showcase their talents, competing against one another to program a lighting show that demonstrates mastery of show design under pressure. Since its creation, the Hog Factor has gone from strength to strength. With the UK iteration of the competition being held at a selection of tradeshow over the years, 2018 marks the event making a new home at TPi’s own Production Futures. “The objective of the Hog Factor is simple and has remained the same over the last 3 years,” stated Paul Hancock, High End System’s Regional Sales Manager for Central USA and Canada. “To cultivate the next generation of Hog users.” Having been involved since the beginning of the event, the idea to make the Hog Factor a global event came from the UK. “The first competition was run at trade show in 2014 and the reaction was overwhelming,” stated Hancock. “It sparked several discussions for us to adapt the competition for the US and LDI 2015.” For the uninitiated, the competition has 2 phases. The first is open to all university students who can register a team for up to 3 people along with a sponsoring professor. “Each team is then provided with a special demo of Light Converse with a pre-designed lighting rig in the visualiser,” explained Hancock. “The teams pick from 1 of 3 pieces of pre-selected music, for which they will collectively choreograph and program the lights.” From there, the teams submit their work for the internal judges at High End Systems and ETC to pick the top 3 submissions, who are then brought along to one of the regional competitions. For Americans it’s LDI and this year for UK participants the competition ground will be Production Futures. “The UK leg joining forces with Production Futures means ETC/ HES are successfully growing the competition,” explained Hancock. “More importantly, it is giving more students the opportunity to learn an industry-leading lighting console in a fun and unique way.” He went on to explain during the first year of running the Hog Factor Competition at LDI, all students reported it was their first experience using Hog 4 Software - and they all taught themselves with the Hog 4PC version of the console. “This speaks volumes on how easy it is to learn and run a Hog 4,” enthused Hancock. “It also means that the students’ work will get more recognition - by getting in front of the face of the industry. We’ve already seen how the contest has helped launch some careers!” Along with the title, each winning team member of the UK round of the Hog Factor will receive a High End Systems Hoglet 4 - the compact wing, designed for tight spaces and small productions such as clubs, churches and small concert venues. “At the end of the day, this competition is about giving students the opportunity to learn a lighting console they may not have been exposed to,” concluded Hancock. “I would like to see the incentive expand in a way that put more Hogs in the hands of students and their institutions. Personally, I would be thrilled to see the competition grow into a World Hog Factor Finals, but I think we still have a way to go before that point!” There is still time for those keen to enter the 2018 event. You must be a student enrolled at a college of university level institution and can be applied via www.highend.com/hogfactor. TPi www.productionfutures.co.uk
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