Ben Williams Freelance

Live Event, Theatrical, Corporate & Film/TV Technician

Working within many entertainment sectors, from Stage to Screen I have developed myself into a Lighting Engineer who oversees the whole process for lighting productions and can either work as a creative, focusing on the concepts, designs and structural/electrical plans or being a technician in the venue physically installing, programming and operating the lighting for the performances. I enjoy everything surrounding live performances and how my work can impact an audience and what new and exciting ways I can achieve this. 

Working on Live Events I have a motto to never do the same design twice, I like to experiment and produce different looking backgrounds created with lighting fixtures (and sometimes video wall) to make a unique but effective design that works perfectly with the music, and can create the bright flashy moments all the way to a single spot, low light, peaceful environment. My past live event experience has ranged from Sporting Events, Music Events (Bands, Singers, DJs), Raves/Club Parties. I've created new and exciting designs for all of these events (and changed it up annually), and have then followed the  process through to operating for the Live performance.

I also have a love for theatre and story telling, working mainly within Musical Theatre and Abstract Plays, I enjoy the challenge of lighting people, set and creating moods all within one playing space. I'm passionate about immersing an audience into the story on stage and creating capturing moments that produce shocked faces or smile of happiness. I find that working with a directors vision and using my experience and insight produces the perfect concept, where I then move onto installing and focusing the lighting system, and finally programming and operating the shows personally.

Creating a Slick and Stylish stage for a Corporate Client is a highlight project for me. I find it rewarding when I eventually sit back behind the console and look at what I've designed and built, where everything is angled to the degree, the haze density is perfect and there are zero cables in sight. I find that I can make unique and professional looking stage with a balance between Lights, Video and Set, where the room has a stylish theme wash and I generally create a walk through tunnel which results in seeing the wow factor of your stunning venue captivated with light.

A special moment I get to share with people is Wedding Ceremonies and After Parties, where I balance a formal, classy daytime look which transforms into an eye catching, bright and colourful set up for bands and Wedding DJs in the evening. I find these events joyful and fun to work on, speaking with the couple for a relaxed and professional looking wedding venue which centres around the ceremony stage and what the evenings performance vibe will be to match a fun and upbeat 80s band to a relaxed acoustic set.

Working within camera environments combines lot's of my experiences and knowledge to accurately light the subjects whilst having effective lighting for the specific Musical Performances, TV Game Show or Dance Video. All having a starting Concept, Key Lights and thinking about Camera angles/movements around the space. I find that using a lot of my musical theatre and music qualification knowledge means that I can successfully design for a music performance and allow the lighting to interpret specific moods, instruments and builds throughout a performance, while directing camera movement and seeing it from a studio audience view. Another area I have worked in is TV Game Shows and Reality Shows where their may be a panel of guest in a Reality Chat Show or Game Show activity's, for this I will make a concept that has a background matching the pace of the show whilst accurately lighting the subjects in front of the camera. Something that is also fun to work on for me is Dance Music Videos, whether this is a single basic back light creating shadows of the dancers or full lighting production with movement and intensity effects I enjoy matching the stories atmosphere and making the dancers look as great as possible.