7 minute read
SPOTLIGHT•SUMOLIGHT
SOMETHING SPECIAL
By Dylan Bruce
The kettle’s always on, there’s always biscuits”, was one of the first things Simon Evans, CEO of Sumolight GmbH’s UK subsidiary explained to me as I arrived for my visit. He wasn’t wrong!
It wasn’t long after having worked my way through the historical site of Elstree Studios, that I found myself sitting upstairs, cup of tea in hand, chatting about everything Sumolight with Evans. It became rapidly apparent that this welcoming attitude is part of an intriguing, wider philosophy, that has launched the company into rapid success these last few years.
For a brief history, Sumolight was founded by gaffers and photographers in 2011, with the mother company residing in Berlin. Germany is home to Sumolight’s manufacturing base, and as Evans explained, is where the engineers carry out the complex work. Tim Zur, the global MD, is based in Berlin, with Malcolm Mills in LA and Evans in the UK.
Sumolight Inc. in Los Angeles has been running for the last five years, and Evans explained that this is an integral part of the company today. “Hollywood gaffers were very instrmental in the original foundation of Sumolight. It was gaffers and DPs working with engineers in Germany to create the product they wanted.”
The company first released the Sumo100, a popular bi-colour LED panel lamp. In 2015 this evolved into the SumoSpace, quickly followed by the SumoSpace+ in 2018 and Sumosky. Then the SumoMax arrived in 2021’s flurry of activity for the company.
In the process of bringing out some fantastic LED fixtures, Sumolight has come to serve a variety of high-end television productions including Netflix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal, HBO’s Westworld, Disney’s Obi Wan Kenobi and HBO’s Game Of Thrones, as well as feature films such as The Northman (2022, DP Jarin Blaschke, gaffer Hugo Wilkinson), Death On The Nile (2022, DP Haris Zambarloukos BSC, gaffer Dan Lowe), The Matrix Resurrections (2021, DP’s Daniele Massaccesi & John Toll ASC, gaffer Jarred Waldron) and The Midnight Sky (2020, DP Martin Ruhe ASC, gaffer Julian White).
Evans provided a little background about his long and impressive history in lighting. He worked as an electrician on a mixture of theatre, rock ‘n’ roll
shows, opera and film productions, and also spent several years in management positions at Panalux and Universal, at which point he met Patch Cave, a fellow lighting technician. Together, Evans and Cave now run the UK branch, providing a homegrown, welcoming atmosphere at the Sumolight studio.
Evans exclaims, “Yes, in the UK, we are the show!” And quite the show it is, with the Elstree branch having only opened this year. The 2,000sq/ ft demo space offers a 54-ft throw from one wall
We’re always going to harness the feedback we get from gaffers and cinematographers to create and deliver the tools they want
to the other (the “standard” UK grid height) and just under 16-ft floor to ceiling measurement. The branch functions to both push the brand and work as customer support, as well as selling the products to either resellers or larger companies directly.
Evans was keen to explain the significance of the UK branch’s premises. “Elstree, geographically, is a great location, as it sits in the middle of so many other areas where production takes place. Sky Studios, Warner Studios, the approved Broxbourne studios, Pinewood and Dagenham, and many others, are all close to us.”
Consequently, the company attracts a lot of cinematographers, gaffers and lighting technicians that are working nearby. And, with Sumolight’s UK branch being run by Evans and Cave, both experienced lighting technicians, their focus on feedback from the crew members is immediately apparent.
As Evans explains, “We’re always going to harness the feedback we get, we’d much rather the company work closely with gaffers and cinematographers to create and deliver the tools they want.”
When DPs and Gaffers come into the studio to pick the equipment for their next production, Cave will often join them to rig it, providing Sumolight with first-hand feedback.
Evans elaborates, “We need to work with the riggers because they put the equipment up in the air. We need to work with the gaffers and electricians because they’re the people operating it. And, we also need to work with the DPs because they’re the
ones who will say what they want the light to I look like when it’s going through their lenses.”
I have to say that this multi-faceted approach, of Sumolight’s effort to hear and learn about the experiences of all crewmembers, really stood out to me.
Evans summed-up the important philosophy very simply, by saying, “Everyone here pushes a broom, and everyone picks up the heavy boxes.” This encapsulates the family value of Sumolight and the focus on a collaborative environment, not just for the customers, but within the company itself too.
Our talk was briefly interrupted by a host of SumoSky units being returned from a shoot. We took it upon ourselves to head down to the studio to play with some of the kit.
Illuminating the Sumolight UK studio with rippling effects and vibrant colours, the SumoSky is certainly an eye catcher. It was inspired by a conversation between DP Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC and gaffer Dan Lowe, who were looking to create the effect of a wall of light that can equally be used as a roof or animated ceiling fixture, in a car shot for example.
The SumoSky interactive lighting system is an expandable 160W per unit, LED wall with reduced rigging time compared to other LED solutions. The system is highly-customisable, for both vertical and horizontal use. It supports pixel mapping, RBGWW, 16-bit colour and a smooth background for keying. It can be built up to a massive 100-meters wide and more than 15-meters high. The UK branch is currently the exclusive provider for rental of the SumoSky, with the aim for other rental companies to adopt it by the end of the year.
Evans went on to show me the SumoSpace+, one of the original bi-colour units with the option to change optics through a system of “pizza-slice” shaped modifiers. Developing on this, the new award winning SumoMax is a high output LED RGBWW lamp with a clever hexagonal design. Constructed with versatility in mind, it can perform as a key-light, hard-light, space-light, or soft-light due to its modular shape and having 19 controllable pixel zones, IP65 rating, fan free silent operation and up to 31,000 lumens at 5m.
There was one particular fixture that Evans was eager to show me, the SumoLaser. A world first, this 175W, 6000K fixture, has absolutely no fall-off and an unbeatable throw, with a tiny beam angle of three degrees. Evans aimed the SumoLaser at a sunny spot on the ground, and it put up a good fight in broad daylight!
Looking ahead, Evans puts a lot of emphasis on Sumolight’s desire to become a carbon neutral organisation by 2024, saying “We want to be a sustainable, efficient, environmentally-responsible company”.
For a manufacturing company, this can be an immense challenge, but steps are already being taken to achieve this. Evans explains transport can be the hardest thing to clamp down on, but Sumolight has ensured that everything is made within 45km of the Berlin HQ, cutting down massively on the carbon footprint. As well as this, Elstree Studios itself is already operating on 100% renewable energy, one of the reasons Evans chose to set up camp there.
Without a hint of slowing down, launching two new operating bases and three new products in a year, as well as plan for expansion in the UK operating base, German HQ and product line, Sumolight’s future looks promising.
As Evans concludes: “It’s all happening during the global pandemic and a recession. So we must be doing something right?” The answer to his musings are clear. An exciting company with an intrinsic philosophy for listening, Sumolight has the makings of something special.
