UK - The Mission's recent farewell tour brought much of its own to the stage, but it also gave many nods to some of the highlights of the band's touring past. The rig was structurally reminiscent of some of the first tours they did, with a custom Pre Rigged Truss Arch from the 80s containing a backdrop with an album's cover art on it. The only problem was however, that the original canvas backdrop no longer existed. So instead lighting director Adam Stevenson from Entec turned to Martin's LC2140 for the solution.
"We really wanted to have the album artwork in the arch, and we thought about projecting it, but there were some limitations for projections, especially with the shape of the arch we used. So we thought; how about a screen instead?
"The LC screens were perfect and the audience and band loved it. For the last four nights we used the first four albums, so one
UK - When Sky News was looking to create a new visual dynamic at the end of its Westminster studio, it was suggested that a wall of LED strips would not only be a modern replacement for their ageing projection video cube system but would also be low on maintenance and power requirement. In short it would radically reduce the studio's carbon footprint.
The broadcaster has occupied the Millbank Media Centre (No. 4 Millbank) since 1993, since when it has carried out systematic technology upgrades. In addition to presenting down-the-line interviews to its main studio in Osterley, the studio houses a weekly PMQs show and covers breaking news from around Westminster.
Sky has an open policy when it comes to third party vendors, but during a visit to last year's PLASA Show at Earl's Court, Mark Fowler, who manages Sky TV's lighting department, saw the LED strips on the stand of
Eire - Barco has installed a large-scale, visual decision-making environment in the main auditorium at Google's Irish headquarters. The Barco display is equipped with advanced imaging and multi-windowing capabilities, and is used to magnify auditorium presentations and create an information-rich, engaging forum for collaborative discussions.
For years, Google was using complex switching and cabling setups, as well as multiple remotes to connect and operate its projectors in order to show various presentations. Google AV/IT staff found this arrangement costly and time consuming. As such, Google decided to replace its existing projection equipment in its auditorium with an up-to-date visual system that offered only the best in terms of ease of use and projecting various types of content simultaneously and flexibly. After an extensive review of display solutions, Google narrowed do
Germany - Following a year of preparation, Lightpower has opened the 'LED Competence Centre Germany' in time for the official announcement during last week's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany. Through this centre, the company will offer sophisticated LED products and low-res LED systems from Barco, Element Labs, Schnick-Schnack-Systems and Ayrton - all under one roof.
For this reason the generic term 'Creative LED' was borrowed from Barco to give the variety of solutions one name, say Lightpower, adding that the term will soon become the internationally accepted term for this product field.
The new centre will focus on close co-operation with the professional end-user, expertise in all disciplines within the sales team, and will offer a synergy of product solutions covering controllers, network components and media serves.
Azerbaijan - With the spectacular live show Land of Fire 2008, broadcast live in several countries and on Eurovision.tv's esctv, Azerbaijan searched for its first ever Eurovision Song Contest entry. Three artists - Unformal, Aynur and Elnur - took part in the show which was held in the sports concert complex named after Heydar Aliyev in Baku. Lighting designer Per Sundin relied on one grandMA full-size, one grandMA light and one MA NSP for lighting.
Timo Kauristo explained the choice: "Actually I insisted on the grandMA once I knew the variety of lighting that the rig would contain - 100 movers, LEDs, conventionals - plus the fact that we would have to programme the show in a short time frame. In an unknown situation like this, I need to know I can rely on my desk." The two-level stage was 24m wide and 18m deep. 100sq.m of LED screens were used in the show with
USA - Bandit Lites recently lit the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce bi-annual Governor's Luncheon at the Knoxville Convention Center. Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen spoke to a crowd of around 600 business and community leaders.
Lighting Designer Jason Workman chose to use Martin MAC 600s, 500s, 300s and Color Kinetics iColor Accent 4ft tubes to light the event. Lighting was controlled by two High End Systems Whole Hog IIs.
Workman used the MAC 600s to spread general colour throughout the room. Six towers with Color Kinetics tubes on them were used to fill in gaps between the video screens.
In addition to Workman, Bandit crew for this event included Giff Swart and Jeff Archibeque.
UK - HSL and XL Video both supplied a specials package to LD Rob Sinclair for Roisin Murphy's show at London's Roundhouse.
Sinclair has been working with Murphy since January, and this high profile London showcase was a continuation of her ongoing Overpowered tour which visits Australia later on this month. Sinclair brought a new design to the Roundhouse which was based around the house rig plus additional visual elements.
HSL supplied four i-Pix BB 16s - which were used on the floor as massive LED washlight sources. These were joined on the deck by four Martin Professional Atomic strobes along the back.
Front and back of stage were some Lowell Omni Floods on stands, and at the sides, also on Manfrotto stands, Source Four profiles were positioned to provide tightly shuttered beams of light focussed precisely onto Murphy's head.
France - Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes is renowned throughout France for its varied and bold presentations. Home to the European Centre of Theatre and Dance Production, the theatre recently received a thorough renovation completed in December by a dynamic lighting scheme for the theatre's facade.
The city of Rennes sought to animate the front of the building in order to 'announce' the various activities going on inside the theatre. Lighting designer for the exterior illumination was Jean-François Touchard who, with his design team, worked directly with the city on the concept's details.
Touchard proposed an eight-hour per day lighting programme, from 5pm to 1am, in five phases: evening, theatre and cinema opening, beginning of play, during play, and, afterwards, when only the bar and restaurant is open.
Ireland - Dublin-based High Resolution Lighting co-ordinated the supply of all video, digital and visual control elements for the 2008 final of You're A Star, Ireland's popular quest to find new singing talent.
The final was staged in the Helix Theatre at the City of Dublin University and the contemporary video-based visual design combined ideas from the creative team of lighting designer Andrew Leonard, set designer Molly Malloy and moving light and Catalyst programmer/operator Peter Canning. Sound was engineered by Paul Ashe-Brown using the house rig.
The show was produced by Screentime ShinAwiL, directed by Pat Cowap and broadcast live on RTE 1 where it consistently topped the Saturday night ratings. The 2008 final was won by Limerick singer Leanne Moore, who beat Wicklow singer Robyn Kavanagh on the results show, with the other finalist, Deidre Archbold from Cork vo
USA - American DJ's new Mega Pixel LED is a long, thin colour bar with 384 red, green and blue LEDs that "produce eye-popping moving patterns and chases for a truly one-of-a-kind visual display".
Measuring a stretched-out 1m in length, the Mega Pixel LED is designed for adding drama, colour and movement to a nightclub or band performance, as well as highlighting a display, retail area or trade show booth. The elongated effect has 128 red, 128 green and 128 blue 5mm LEDs, which are arranged in 24 color banks of 16 LEDs each. Along with this massive militia of LEDs, the Mega Pixel LED has strobe, chase and colour-mixing effects that run at speeds from fast to slow, as well as 0-100% electronic dimming.
Using a DMX controller, operators can go a step further and blend their own custom colours via RGB colour mixing. The Mega Pixel LED can be operated in a variety of DMX
USA - ETC's Net3 Radio Focus Remote, which was released recently, provides an advanced, wireless solution for remote control. Designed for use with ETC's Eos, Ion, Congo and Congo jr lighting control systems, this handheld device allows users to work away from their control desk, easily accessing frequently-used desk functions, such as dimmer and channel checks, as well as update and record functions, says the company.
The RFR and its receiver unit feature a high-frequency (HF) link providing bi-directional communication with the connected ETC control desk. Users are able to view their lighting system's status, including completed commands, on the RFR's convenient built-in graphic display.
In addition to the high-resolution display, the RFR features two encoders for quick menu navigation and easy focusing of moving lights, as well as 24 buttons, six of which are soft-keys prov
USA - Lighting designer Scott Warner put his grandMA to work on Grammy Award-winner Queen Latifah's nine-week Trav'lin Light tour which supported Queen Latifah's new jazz CD of the same name. Warner had previously used the grandMA to control LED lighting for the Pussycat Dolls, but this was the first tour where his grandMA controlled moving lights.
"Having used another console for eight years I was initially reluctant to give the grandMA a try," Warner recalls. "But after using the grandMA with the Pussycat Dolls and Queen Latifah, I would never considering working with anything else."
Warner gave Queen Latifah's tour a vintage look with Vari*Lite VL3000s, 5Ks and Pixel Par LEDs, the latter used to change the colour of the singer's logo. "We had a lot of saturated colours but not a lot of movement with the moving lights," says Warner who al
UK - An Avolites Diamond 4 has been in control of lighting for the latest UK leg of The Editors world tour, featuring a design by Bryan Leitch, with the show being operated by Chris Steel.
The End Has A Start tour has been ongoing since 2007, and the basic concept of a very contemporary lighting and video show design is modified and morphed slightly between legs as the venue sizes also vary. The UK leg played a selection of arenas, theatre and concert halls.
Running off the D4 were a variety of moving lights and generics positioned on four overhead trusses - a straight front truss, two mid trusses running diagonally along the sides and a back truss that flew in and out to reveal the screen at the appropriate moments.
The core moving lights were 16 SGM Giotto 400 Spot CYMs, six Giotto Wash 400s and 12 Martin Professional MAC 2K Washes distributed between the front and
Australia - Christian City Church in Oxford Falls held its Awakening Conference for young adults in the first week of February, and Mandylights was there to design the lighting and visuals. Richard Neville came up with a design that used a mixture of lighting, projection and the new Martin LC Series LED panels to create a spectacular backdrop to the three day event.
Ten LC Panels were hung 'randomly' around the church's stage, with eight Vari*Lite VL2500 washes behind them to take advantage of the panels' transparency. The lighting and vision was programmed and operated on a full size MA Lighting grandMA console which was networked to an ArKaos media server.
Also in the rig were four Martin MAC 700 Washes, four MAC 300 wash lights and two Look Solutions Unique Hazers. During programming, equal attention was given to both lighting and audio so that each visual medium com
Liechtenstein - Oerlikon Optics, a leading supplier of precision optical components to entertainment lighting OEMs, is now providing GoboXtreme Dark blanks to OEMs for imaging by laser ablation or chemical etch processes. The high performance black and white blanks provide improved long term temperature stability and extended lifetime compared to conventional gobos - critical for the increased output of today's luminaires, the company says.
A highly reflective surface faces the lamp, transmitting light only where coating has been removed to reveal the gobo image pattern. Facing the lens, a highly absorbent multi-layer coating absorbs incidental light to maximize contrast and prevent image ghosting. An enhanced version is available to provide maximum optical performance, say Oerlikon: "The increased output and demanding thermal management of today's luminaires are putting go
UK - The University of Glamorgan has recently teamed up with MA Lighting to offer training on the grandMA range of lighting consoles. This new relationship allows MA to offer regular free training sessions to users who are unable to easily travel to MA's London offices. Level 1 and Level 2 training courses are to be held at the University's facility in Treforest during May.
Level 1 training (12 May) is designed to give new users the ability to move around and work with the grandMA, grandMA light or grandMA ultra light consoles. Level 2 training (13-14 May) is designed to bring existing moving light and conventional lighting console operators to a competent level on those consoles.
"We are very excited to be able to work with MA Lighting in this way," commented Glamorgan's Stuart Green. "The University recognise the importance of training industry technicians and
USA - Elation Professional has introduced LED fixtures based on tri-colour LEDs. Instead of each LED lamp being a single colour, the new tri-colour technology makes it possible for each lens to contain a combination of three 1W LEDs - red, green and blue. This advanced three-colour innovation gives users advantages over single-colour LEDs, including improved RGB colour mixing, the elimination of multi-colour shadows, and a much brighter, more even field, says the company.
Elation is introducing its first LED fixture to utilise the tri-colour technology, the DLED36 Tri-Brick. An RGB colour mixing brick, the DLED36 Tri-Brick features four heads, each containing three of the new tri-colour LED lamps for a total of 12 tri-colour lamps. With a 1W red, green and blue LEDs per lamp, there are a total of 36 1W LEDs in this high-output, compact fixture.
Italy / USA - LDR (Luci della Ribalta) the Italian lighting manufacturer and Strong Entertainment Lighting, the leading American followspot manufacturer, have jointly announced an exclusive, multi-year distribution agreement for the whole LDR range in the United States.
Under the terms of the agreement, Strong will market and distribute the extensive LDR product line of theatre, television and architectural products in the US using their existing distributor network.
"The US market is very significant market for us," said Fabiano Besio of LDR. "Strategically, Strong is the right partner at the right time. They are very well established and have significant distribution skills in the US. Together, following the success of the Canto followspot line, we look forward to expand our sales in the theatre and architectural market sectors."
Australia - Viewed by over 300,000 spectators, the 30th Annual Sydney Mardi Gras Parade was held in Sydney's Darlinghurst on 1 March. The massive 4km procession travelled over a 1.6km route and was made up over 150 floats and 10,000 participants.
Produced and designed by Wayne Mulder of Sydney's Action Sound, the Wireless Solution system was featured on the Surf Life Saving Australia's float themed Whatever floats your boat. W-DMX was used to communicate between the two float trucks that travelled anywhere from 150 to 200m apart. Dancing between the two trucks was a contingent of life savers, illuminated by four City Lights that were required to change colour on cue.
"It was very important that the lights on the two trucks were in sync without the need to have two lighting controllers and two operators," says Mulder. "Through the use of W-DMX we were able
Germany - The Kosmos, located close to the famous Alexanderplatz in Berlin was the largest most modern and popular cinema of the former GDR. In the old times it had more than 1000 seats. The building now stands under landmark protection, and since 2005 has been operated by Kosmos KG Berlin, which offers made-to-measure entertainment concepts for all kinds of events.
Kosmos offers five different halls plus a summer terrace and a lounge. The entrance hall has a capacity of approximately 600 people, in addition to two conference areas and a theatre auditorium.
The oval main hall extends over 1000sq.m. More than 10% of the space is reserved for the main stage with a 18x9m cinema/video screen and two 4x3m screens on the stage sides. Halls 2 to 4 are mainly used for seminars and theatre performances. The main hall is designed for big events and club dancing.
Germany - Robert Juliat's presence at ProLight & Sound,Frankfurt, proved considerable with the company "clocking up impressive sales across its followspot range". Foremost amongst these were the Lancelot 4K HTI image projector and the latest followspot model, the 1800W MSR Victor, both of which attracted many orders on the stand, says the company.
"We were extremely pleased with the interest generated by our stand again this year," comments Lionel Garraud, international sales director. "The Lancelot has really come into its own now with customers grasping the concept behind its motorised, modular design. They are now using it in ways which exhibit its full potential beyond that of just a followspot.
"The Victor is winning fans rapidly following its launch at PLASA last year. This is the first time it has been shown in Germany and the response has
Denmark - Martin Professional's Magnum line of fog effects is now complete with the introduction of the mid-range Magnum 850.
This replacement for Martin's popular Magnum 800 fogger, upgraded with new electronics and a new design to match the rest of the Magnum family, is Martin's latest fog solution for small clubs, mobile DJs, bars, bands or any venue where a mid-air projection canopy or atmosphere enhancing effect is needed, says the company.
The compact Magnum 850 uses a 750W heat exchanger together with a piston pump to punch out a full 200m3/min of dense fog. The delivery of a continuous and even level of fog and the incorporation of soft-start electronics means that the Magnum 850 operates at a very low noise level.
"This new series of Magnum fog machines has been created with the ambition to capture new technology and solid performance in a new design," sta
UK - Event and entertainment lighting solutions provider MattLX is inviting industry professionals to a Meet, Greet and Scenic LED event to be held on 24-25 April 2008.
"The open days will give an opportunity to get a hands-on demonstration of Scenic LED - one of the newest and design elements to hit the event and entertainment industry and we are one of the few full service lighting companies specialising in this technology," said the company.
There will be four sessions across the two days at 11am and 3pm each day.
The event will take place at Essential Lighting's premises - Unit F, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BY. Due to the limited number of places at each session, those wishing to take part are asked to confirm their interest with Debby Clutterham at the MattLX office: email admin@mattlx.com or telephone 01580 8803
UAE - Special awards recognising the outstanding and creative use of light in the Middle East are to be sponsored by Philips. The Middle East Lighting Design Awards (known as MELDA) celebrate the creativity of the world's leading lighting designers who are enhancing the region's built environment through the power of light.
With climate change, Kyoto targets, rising energy prices, energy shortage and pressure to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are major issues in today's world. However, Philips has been taking a lead in lighting technology that makes a significant difference in terms of energy and CO2 savings.
The company points out that more than 90% of the total cost of lighting is energy and prices of energy are rising year by year. "Switching over to energy efficient lighting systems can save on running costs," said Vikash Banwarie, Philips ME.