General

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14 March 2016

"Point Source Productions has always serviced its own hire equipment and, in the past, we have serviced our customers' equipment on a more or less ad hoc basis, fitted in around our existing work schedules," says hire manager, Ian King. "But a large increase in demand over the past year has shown us there is a distinct need for a dedicated service department."

Equipment servicing can take place either at the client's own premises or those of Point Source Productions and can be tailor made to suit each customer.

"Many schools, for example, have their annual Portable Appliance Testing done by electricians who have little knowledge of theatre equipment,&

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14 March 2016

The new site has video content, showing the PSCo technical team in action as well as details of the company's upcoming showcase events, product information for the 108" Sharp LCD, Orion Infinite Plasma and Samsung large format display range and an area to contact the training team directly for details of upcoming courses.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Scenic designer Douglas Schmidt has created an elegant stage waiting to be brought to life by dancing snowflakes, while colleague Beowulf Boritt's card is a challenge for theatre lovers, filled with props to identify from some of the many shows he has designed.

Photographer Andrew Hefter is back for a third year with a card featuring the ghostlight as a beacon of hope against a brilliant night sky. Tim Hunter Design has used a large canvas with the Behind the Scenes ghostlight to remind us that the holidays are the time to care for each other and for those less fortunate.

There are several ordering options. Meeting the minimum order of 250 cards, you can personalise your card with a company logo and a

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14 March 2016

A packed crowd assembled to see a programme of exhibition tennis, and were at the same time treated to songs by Katherine Jenkins, Faryl Smith and the four-man classical/pop group Blake. Jenkins and Smith performed Amazing Grace as the opening number to coincide with the roof inching its way across to full cover position for the very first time.

RG Jones worked with production company 360 Events to stage the production, which was broadcast live on BBC2.

RG Jones' Tim Speight, who had joint project managed the installation for The All England Lawn Tennis Club with Jon Berry, explained, "When the requirements of this system were first set out three years ago, it w

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14 March 2016

The championships, which took place in March this year at Stratton Mountain, Virginia, were to be televised, so a bright, sharp image was called for to ensure the logo of the world's leading snowboard manufacturer, and founder of the championship, was presented to best advantage, for both broadcasting purposes and to the surrounding audience.

"I needed a fixture that would project a sharp image at a distance of 500ft," explains Gruber, who was project lighting manager for the event. "My research indicated that a Robert Juliat Lancelot 4,000 watt HTI followspot would be the best choice, and that

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14 March 2016

The truss, all powder coated with a specific texture of black, varied from straight 20.5" square Element 20, fitted with steel fork-ends for maximum strength, to 12" square Element 12 nut and bolt connection truss, custom radiused to match the architectural lines of the newly completed building.

The truss, which was designed, fabricated and delivered to site in less than three weeks from date of order, was supplied with specific California stamped engineering reports to provide the 2,300 capacity, 59,000sq.ft venue with accurate loading capabilities of their new s

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14 March 2016

Overt MD, Malcolm Burlow says, "Ryan is the final piece in the jigsaw that we have been looking for. He is a young dynamic guy who will fit very well into our sales team. We now have the whole of the UK & Ireland covered by on the road sales managers.

"I do believe that a good strong on the road sales team is still a very important tool for a sales distribution company in 2009. Being able to support our dealers with demos both at their premises and on site is pivotal to maintaining good relationships. After all, sound & light needs to be seen and heard."

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14 March 2016

The Blackbox Recorder is a multi-track capturing device aimed primarily at the live music market. It records 24 channels of hi-res audio directly to a USB2 drive. It can be plugged into the insert points on any console and can also provide Virtual Sound Checking facilities. Recording to standard external USB2 disks formatted with FAT32 in Broadcast WAV file format (BWAV), any material can be instantly used in a studio Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) without any need for time-consuming file conversions or transfers.

JoeCo Ltd and the Blackbox Recorder are the brainchild of Joe Bull, who last year relinquished the reins at SADiE, the company he founded two decades ago.

Bull comments, " It's great that we've been able to team up with such a professional distributor a

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14 March 2016

Since then Scrob has been requesting the Adamson systems on a regular basis. Adamson partner Omnitech in Romania purchased a 16 box Y10 & T21 sub combo in the fall of 2007, and followed it up with an additional Y10 and Spektrix order in 2008, thus facilitating Scrob's requests. The recent first Artmania event with Omnitech's Adamson system took place at the 4060 seater, Sala Pala

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14 March 2016

Simon Phillips has been appointed as the commercial director for Europe, Middle East and Africa for the lighting business. He has 10 years experience in GE Lighting in Europe and prior to this 12 years with Thorn Lighting, holding a variety of European sales, product and marketing management roles. Phillips is based in the UK.

Christophe Pomeon is the new commercial leader for power protection business. He has worked with GE since 2003 and is based in Germany.

Supporting Phil Marshall's strategy for growth, GE Consumer & Industrial has also appointed new human resources and communications

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14 March 2016

The idea was the brainchild of RSC head of lighting, Vince Herbert who says: "When I first suggested the bike ride, the instant reaction from my colleagues was laughter - for some reason they don't think a 50-something like me will be able to manage it. But Holland is very flat, so it can't be that hard, can it?"

The Stratford group will be joined by an additional four cyclists, including representatives from lighting equipment suppliers, White Light, who will begin their expedition in London.

After a journey that includ

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14 March 2016

The party was titled The Odd Ball and held in Buckinghamshire as a celebration for employees and friends of the company. The Odd Bal broke the norm of a traditional ball with a topsy turvy theme and a dress code of Black tie - but a bit odd!.

On arrival guests were greeted by serving staff disguised as 'living paintings' who served canapés through ornate frames dressed as Andy Warhol's Marylyn Monroe, The Laughing Cavalier, Botticelli's Venus and The Mona Lisa.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Designed for stage floors and drama studios, Stagefloor 100 is priced at £10.95 per square metre. This flooring product comes with a high level of specification, fire-rated for safety to NF P 92-507 class M3, is quick to roll out and suitable for permanent installation, or for portable use, says the company.

When permanently installed it can be either hot or cold welded. There is a colour choice of black, dark grey, light grey or hazelnut - all highly tear resistant and tough enough to stand up to props, equipment, street footwear - in fact most normal wear and tear encountered on stage. Stagefloor 100 is in stock now - ready to ship in 2m wide rolls with lengths from

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14 March 2016

Around 90 students and tutors from RADA, LAMDA, Central School of Speech and Drama, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Rose Bruford got a first-hand look at how the latest automation technology works at one of the most recent performance venues to be built in the UK. The exceptional environment of Curve Theatre allowed Stage Technologies experts to demonstrate the versatility, precision and capability of the hardware and software systems. The programme f

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14 March 2016

At the Creative Arts Awards, a special ceremony held prior to the main event and broadcast online at www.tonyawards.com, British theatre talent continued to shine as Billy Elliot won in six categories - including Rick Fisher for Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Paul Arditti for Best Sound Design of a Musical. The award for

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14 March 2016

This week's ABBT Theatre Show - the 31st - will host a full-house of over 100 exhibitors. Show director Roger Fox notes: "Exhibitions are so important in our seemingly faceless world of E-commerce, as they offer an opportunity to get face to face with customers. We're looking forward to another successful year, highlighting the true potential of theatre technology and its impact on the West End, in regional theatres, education and retail."

Meanwhile, over in Orlando, Florida, Infocomm 2009 (14-19 June) is being billed as the largest and most comprehensive pro-AV event in the world. According to the organisers, more than 30,000 p

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14 March 2016

Transport for London (TfL) has said it will bring in a taxi-sharing scheme at all major rail stations, escorts to lead cyclists across the capital and additional parking for cycles as part of its contingency plans. Oyster cards will be accepted on all trains, 100 extra buses and a f

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14 March 2016

The 50-year-old facility was established by the United States Government to promote understanding and education between Asian and Pacific countries and the US.The East-West Centre continues to work toward these ends on its 21-acre property adjacent to the University of Hawaii's main campus on the Island of Oahu.

The new Bosch DCN Next Generation digital discussion system replaces a 25-year-old system in the Centre's 1,400sq.ft Asia Room, which seats 64 people. Each DCN interpreter station is configured to translate Korean, Japanese, and Chinese - the system can be configured to translate up to 10 languages.

AVCO project manager Wade Higa

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14 March 2016

Originally planning to teach primary school mathematics, 'Tappy' (as he is affectionately known) was enticed to switch direction to the theatre, after a visit in 1996 to see Phantom of the Opera at Manchester's Opera House, and being bowled over by the technical wizardry.

He cut his teeth at the Middlesbrough Little Theatre, before joining Basildon Towngate Theatre as a general technician. Work quickly followed, including a Belgium ice show, Open Hand Theatre Company, Liverpool Everyman (chief technician) and a stint on Eclipse at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach.

A move to Stoke-on-Trent's Victoria Hall proved fruitful, when he was also offered the chief electrician's job at the city's newly opened Regent Theatre, where he remained for four years b

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14 March 2016

With HD broadcasting now common, Cover It Up has found that by exploiting the variances in the opacity of their fabric stock, draping and soft goods coverage can be maximized to provide more acutely defined edges, bringing greater depth to the set design, along with other production solutions.

Each textile has its own texture, light transmission and reflection quality which is much more noticeable with HD. Cover It Up's Elliot Sennett says, "We worked hard with the WWE production team to ensure that our grey and black wool serges work together. It's amazing how even a different

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14 March 2016

John Metcalfe, Isle of Wight Council's assistant director for economic development and tourism, told BBC News: "The festival is hugely important to the island, especially to Newport. We estimate it is worth at least £10m spent in the Newport shops, and that is just from people from off the island visiting for the festival. If we put on top of that the money spent by the organisers with island businesses and or

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14 March 2016

A key supplier over recent years, Hawthorn has now been awarded the contract to provide all of the in-house rigging service to Millbrook Events. The development continues the growth of Hawthorn's venue rigging service packages which offer a combination of design, support and full equipment testing to their clients.

At the same time Hawthorn will replace the existing truss in Concept 1 with a bespoke curved section following the shape of the building and the feature lighting throughout both Concept 1 and Concept 2 is currently being upgraded to LED fixtures. This will allow the structural elements of the buildings to be lit to suit the client's requirements without the cost and time involved in replacing gels.

Martin Neale, head of events and marketing at Millb

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14 March 2016

Goboland UK has introduced the 'Credit Crunch Custom Gobo'. For the next six months, customers can take advantage of this offer which aims to help with customers' production costs in this difficult economic climate. The 'Credit Crunch Gobo' is made from an alternative, non-coated, metal to the high grade Black Steel of Goboland's existing gobos. It is easier to etch and retails at £27.00 for the first gobo with copies at £6.00 each.

"The idea has been met with great enthusiasm," says Goboland UK director, Vicky Fairall. "Customers appreciate the additional option to our Black Steel custom gobos and see it as an extra facet to their - and our - production capabil

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14 March 2016

Creative & Cultural Skills feels that there is an urgent need to align this with the existing government targets for Apprenticeships, and this now looks possible, with subsidy available to support wages through the Future Jobs Fund, and the Learning and Skills Council continuing to support the cost of training. Creative & Cultural