The popular seminars covered various current themes and issues concerning the industry such as production, lighting, digital vs. analogue sound, the new legislation on electrical colour coding, timeline programming, plus the art of rigging - using a case study of We Will Rock You. Of the above,
I managed to see two. First up was Rob Halliday's fascinating description and historical overview of how Mary Poppins came off the pages of a book of short stories, into a Disney film and ultimately onto the West End Stage. The seminar was mainly delivered from the technical perspective, however, there were some intriguing insights into the creative and legal challenges too. In the afternoon, LD Durham Marenghi took us on a fascinating journey through his career as a lighting designer. He explained what lay behind the drive that has seen him become one of the most prolific lighting designers of today.
Karl Christmas of Yamaha reportedly presented a fascinating seminar on the applications of digital or analogue audio in theatre and live entertainment. Yamaha is undergoing some changes this year -initiated at Frankfurt with the launch of its installation speakers and power amplifiers (see Frankfurt report).
With such popular content and such a diversity exhibitors, it is easy to forget that this is not an independent trade show, but a showcase for most, if not all, of the products A.C. Lighting distributes. Although it clashed with the PALME exhibition in Dubai (of which more next month) the event still maintained a very social and productive atmosphere.
A number of new products were introduced to the UK market. In the lighting and staging sector, Clay Paky demo'd its Alpha Wash Halo halogen moving yoke washlight and Color 400 SH separate head scroller. Robert Juliat showcased its Ginger and Alex 2/2.5K tungsten followspots. New accessories for the Chroma-Q Color Block LED fixture including a 30-unit power supply and angle hinge kit for connecting multiple battens together in varying shapes. WYSIWYG Perform, the unlimited channels version, was available.
Also highlighted was the Spotlight digital media server Video Performer XT, software and Evolution high performance profile spots. The Jands Vista console range launched its software version. The Compulite Dlite console range and Vector Green console also launched software/hardware versions.
Zero 88 introduced its Jester console and the Frog 2 console software version. Anytronics/Anyscene demo'd its infra-red DMX scene capture unit, Anycolour infra-red memory unit, and Anylight 64-channel dimming control system along with new functional switch plates. More colour was to be found courtesy of Pulsar's steadily increasing range of LED lighting fixtures, hosted by Jon Petts.
City Theatrical showcased the PDS-750 TR power/data supply for the Color Kinetics ColorBlast, ColorBurst and iColor Cove intelligent solid-state lighting fixtures. Scene Change promoted a big step forward for the company - the Dual Output Hippotizer Stage media server, from Green Hippo.
Also of interest was the symbiotic relationship that has developed between ETC and City Theatrical when it comes to ETC's Smart Bar and City's wireless DMX unit. Lighting rigged on a smart bar on ETC's stand was run from a controller and transmit
