Lighting

Details

14 March 2016

White Light, which supplied the lighting equipment to the ceremony and many of the nominated shows, as well as sponsoring the Lighting Design Award, would like to congratulate all of this year's winners.

In the lighting category, the award went to Bruno Poet for his work on Frankenstein at the National's Olivier Theatre. A central part of his design was a dramatic wedge-shaped light bulb ceiling made up of 3100 assorted light bulbs driven from just over 1000 dimmers allowing the creation of spectacular waves of light over the heads of the audience. White Light was proud to be involved with creating this effect (with a number of the exposed filament lightbulbs supplied by

Details

14 March 2016

JET by Ohm is a range of British-made speakers at affordable prices, which can be seen at PLASA Focus on the Ohm/Impact stand RA-A17. To celebrate the partnership, Impact is running a competition throughout the show to win five pairs of Ohm BR-5 loudspeakers, requiring visitors to answer a simple question correctly to enter.

Impact, which has just announced the opening of six new branches across the UK, can arrange auditions for trade customers anywhere in the country, and will be happy to arrange demos of the entire Ohm range.

"We had been looking for a very special distributor to spearhead our UK sales activities for some time," says O

Details

14 March 2016

They have been lit by lighting designer Steven Bewley of Box Fresh Lighting, ably assisted by MA's grandMA2 desk, and a host of Clay Paky Sharpys.

A long time user of MA consoles, Bewley explains his reason for his desk choice. "I've progressed through the ranks of MA consoles, and the grandMA2 is easy to use, and allows you to programme a spectacular show quickly. It just works, and it does it seamlessly alongside the other kit we use on the show - for video and for sound. It's powerful, and the size of the desk makes it adaptable to smaller venues as well. It's a console I'm falling in love with as it's so configurable."

Bewley specified 40 Sharpys for the lighting

Details

14 March 2016

It stood out among a large suite of innovative LED based products on the stand of the Chinese manufacturer, where visitors praised its brightness, its speed of execution and the sleek design of the housing.

XLED 336 is a 36-LED fast moving, compact and economically priced head, with 18.15° dispersion angle. It generates its power and RGB colour mix from 36 x 3W Osram Oslon LED's (12 red, 12 green, 12 blue). With a power consumption of just 140W it outputs close to 250W.

The spot has a beam angle of dispersion of 18.15° and lens angle of 8°. Head movement includes 540° pan and 270° tilt, with auto position correction, pan and tilt swap and invert function. It also offers 12 DMX control channels (16 channels in extended mo

Details

14 March 2016

When it came to choosing moving lights for the students to train with, Philips Vari*Lite was the fixture of choice.

"We wanted to give the students experience of moving lights but they had to be good ones," commented Marcus Kelson, technical manager at NIDA. "Consequently we purchased four Vari*Lite VLX Wash Luminaires. These are used for student productions and also as a training tool within the lighting classroom. Plus, as they are a popular fixture we can also hire them out to users of our venues and thus generate an income.

"The VLX is very punchy, easily con

Details

14 March 2016

HSL's project manager was Mike Oates who says, "It was great to work with Tim and production manager Neil McDonald on this, especially as it was a bit different. It both contrasted and complimented all the other music tours in which we are currently involved with a classy design that looked great and was completely appropriate."

The show was smaller in scale than Jenkins' last outing which played arenas. This was a deliberate move to return to playing more intimate spaces like theatres and concert halls, with the focus totally on Jenkins' vocal performance, rather than lots of additional razzmatazz.

She was accompanied by the 32- piece National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis, and the t

Details

14 March 2016

The entry that is deemed most in need of, or having faced the biggest issues in their lighting, will be awarded the prize at the PLASA Show in September.

Entrants are encouraged to explain how the Coemar products will benefit them in their day to day use. The lighting package on offer includes Coemar's Reflection LEDko Full Spectrum, Reflection LEDko VariWhite 3000/7000 K and Reflection LEDko White3200 K with an option of one the following optics: Reflection Soft profile12/30° F Lens, Reflection Soft profile 12/30° PC Lens, Profile zoom 18/40° HDLens.

Submission deadline is 17Augu

Details

14 March 2016

At the centrepiece of this visual display are 38 Platinum Beam 5R moving head beam fixtures from Elation Professional. The Platinum Beams occupy a central position in the defining structures on the Brit Floyd set: a 16.5ft vertical circle of truss, flanked by a gigantic 84ft truss arch. Sixteen Platinum Beam 5R units are mounted on the truss circle, while anadditional 22 units hang from the arch. With this positioning, the Platinum Beams can shoot white or coloured beams in all directions, project gobo images, multiply their effects with the prism, or even wash the stage with the application of Frost. A dozen units of another Elation fixture, the Design Spot 1200C compact moving hea

Details

14 March 2016

Arlette Gruss promises its audiences a spectacle like no other with a top of the range show that encompasses trapeze artists, clowns, magicians, motorbikes and animals. With a six-month tour that takes in the towns of Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Rouen, Arras, Lille, Boulogne, Dunkerque, Valenciennes, Thionville, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Colmar, Reims and Troyes, lighting designer Arthur Oudin needed a followspot that was small and tough enough to tour and versatile enough to be controlled with pin-point accuracy, as well as deliver top notch performance.

"The ideal unit proved to be the Robert Juliat FLO with a DMX controlled dimmer, shutter," says Oudin.

Details

14 March 2016

The lighting rig featured 24 PixelSmarts and 10 SmartLine4s which were used to design five different themes over the five week series. The flexibility of the SmartLine4 luminaires created both wash and effects - and the PixelSmarts were mainly used for graphics and rotating icons.

Lighting designer Tim Routledge states, "The SmartLines were a fantastic addition to the previous year's use of the PixelSmarts. The integration of the cold white in the units gave us some fantastic sparkle on camera which we use by randomly chasing the cells within the units.

"We were able to create unlimited chases and looks with the units and we

Details

14 March 2016

The director of photography Massimo Pascucci reports, "The concept of the lighting design stems from the need to strike a fair balance between the purely theatrical setting of the sets designed by Gaetano Castelli and the need to transform them into a sort of concert stage, in order to achieve spectacular effects during dances, acrobatic exhibitions and conjuring tricks."

The lighting consists almost entirely of Clay Paky units. In detail, 70 Alpha Profile 1500s are used for the orchestra, backstage and audience backlighting. Fifty Sharpys have been positioned vertically in mid-air on eight tubular structures behind the orchestra,

Details

14 March 2016

The venue has an eclectic programme of arts and entertainment including live music of all genres, dance shows, corporate events and parties and is both a producing and a receiving house. The average performance rate is about six shows a week throughout the year.

The venue recently made a large investment in Robe moving lights at the instigation of technical manager Charles Konings. The Robes were supplied by the Dutch office of Benelux distributor Controllux, which has had a healthy and happy working relationship with De Effenaar for some time.

The first delivery of Robes into the venue

Details

14 March 2016

Lighting designer Baz Halpin added 30 Sharpys tothe US leg of the tour after having used them for Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum shows.

"Katy's tour was very theatrical. It was set in a 'Candyfornia' world that was very colourful and thematically-inspired, very much like Katy herself," he explains. "The show was divided into five acts with different colour schemes for each, ranging from pastel to dark to monochromatic."

Halpin found that he needed "very small but punchy" fixtures on the floor upstage and along the perimeter of the stage. "Since we didn't have rehearsals, I wanted a light I already knew abou

Details

14 March 2016

Kurt du Preez, owner of Pan Tilt, admits that he was a little concerned when he saw the size of the fixtures. This soon changed when he turned the VL880s on. "They were so bright," said du Preez. "The size of the beam is incredible."

He finds the gobos refreshingly new and different "for a change" and is loving the effects beam offering rings, multi-rings, lines, dots.

Pan Tilt have used the lights on some corporate gigs to wallpaper the venue with gobo designs and rich colour. The fixtures were also used recently to light an audience. "They were phenomenal," commented Kurt. "What speed, and even at full wide, they were quite bright."

(Jim Evans)

Details

14 March 2016

"I was really keen to give it a go on this show," he commented. "It allows you to have hard buttons, knobs and faders to control grandMA2 onPC software which is basically grandMA2 on your computer. Now, rather than trying to put in a 'large' console in a control room where there is no space, I've got the compact MA onPC command wing."

Wherever it is physically difficult to use a grandMA2 console, the MA onPC command wing, in conjunction with the grandMA2 onPC software, enables the customer to program or playback within the grandMA2 world.

Collison used a grandMA2 light to programme the show, switching to the MA onPC command wing for replay. "It's not too dissimilar to using an actual console and I was surpri

Details

14 March 2016

DB has bought the Sharp LED screens due to demand from clients and because it is this year phasing out its LCD and plasma screen stock. This latest investment takes DB's current screen inventory to over 1,500 screens of various sizes, from 22" up to these 80" models.

The Sharp screens are True HD 1920x1080 screen and, despite their size, weigh just 65kg, which is half the weight of an equivalent plasma version.

Oliver Richardson, DB's sales & marketing director, said, "LED technology is definitely the way forward for 2012. LED screens are lighter and thinner than the standard LCD and plasma screens, and have the added advantage of being more energy efficient. We expect this product to be in the 'what's hot' list for 2012.

"Our clients

Details

14 March 2016

For greater options in design and brightness, VC-Dots are available with one, four or nine LEDs per pixel (VC-Dot 1, VC-Dot 4 and VC-Dot 9) and come in an RGB colour mixing version or cool, medium, or warm white single colour versions. They are designed for integrating LED video technology into façades, stage designs, ceilings or any other structure (indoors or out).

Driven by Martin's family of award-winning P3 System Controllers, this is the first family of video dots to combine an incomparable level of simplicity with such a high level of quality, says the company.

The VC-Dots are sup

Details

14 March 2016

Pacific Lighting director Hugh Chinnick comments, "GLP is a growing company, with a track record for innovation and quality. We have been very cautious in entering the moving LED fixture market, but are confident that GLP will successfully fit into our existing bespoke product range."

Michael Münz, general manager GLP Asia, adds, "I am very happy to have Pacific Lighting on board with us. They are a very experienced and well known player throughout Asia and the perfect match for GLP. Together with them we are looking forward to maintaining our rapid growing in Asia."

Since the opening of GLP's Asian Office little under two years ago, sales in the region have increased dramatically. "Recent

Details

14 March 2016

The one day course focuses on how - and why - the IET Wiring regulations and BS 7909 apply to temporary events and delves a little into why they are relevant and more importantly how compliance is not necessarily difficult. As well as looking at how to implement them correctly it also examples where current practice is not always best practice, showing where potential dangers exist in a typical event. It will also be of particular use to rental companies as the course gives the delegate a sound understanding of the importance of portable appliance testing.

The content is aimed at those with a reasonable appreciation of electrical systems and covers areas such as multiple sources of supply, RCDs, earthing and bonding, i

Details

14 March 2016

The event re-telling of the Crucifixion of Jesus was instigated by Preston Guild, directed by Mark Murphy and hosted by Fern Britton for the BBC on Good Friday at Preston Bus Station. The outdoor and live mass participation elements of the event were produced by innovative arts / performance company Walk The Plank,

Each crucifix was 9m tall with a 4m cross piece, and was constructed on the top floor of the multi storey car park above the Preston Station.

The crosses were clad in wood, painted black, and erected one at a time using an electric chain hoist and self-climbing tower methodology. This was choreographed to happen while three short sections of pre-recorded drama

Details

14 March 2016

This is following busy trading for the last two years and a healthy order book for the upcoming months. It's also part of an on-going commitment to providing greener and more eco-friendly lighting rigs to its varied client base.

This latest purchase involves six of Robe's Robin 600 LEDWash units to complement the 12 Robin 300 LEDWashes bought last year, plus 12 of the new Robin 100 LEDBeams - just launched at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt in March and already proving popular. Also new are six Robe Robin DLX LED Spots.

Says UEP's Steve Butcher, "Many events are becoming a lot more carbon-conscious, and, apart from that from a rental perspective, there are all the advant

Details

14 March 2016

Playing venues such as Alexandra Palace, MEN Arena, plus a raft of vast spaces in Europe and the USA, Bushell's lighting skillfully pulls the audience focus to the centre of the stage without losing the essential theatricality of the early Florence shows.

Lighting is ethereal with Bushell using it more as a statement than for big effects. He discusses, "The overall theme is based around 1920s Baroque fashion and architecture. While a great deal of thought and planning went into the set, I also wanted the presence of the lighting to complement and exploit the space around the set piece. The VL3000 Spots were perfect for this. With their wide angles and long th

Details

14 March 2016

The Company's technical director Niall Black explains: "ETC's associate regional manager for UK & Ireland, Jeremy Roberts, brought a range of different fixtures to Scotland in February to provide a demonstration to our technicians and others, including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, freelance technicians, designers, and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

"Jeremy let everyone just play with the fixtures. We compared a 750W tungsten Source Four to the new LED version in a shoot out; inserted gobos; and got a chance to get a good all-round look at them. It was obvious that the Source Four LED is a fantastic unit.

"We've previously invested in some LED lig

Details

14 March 2016

White Light's sponsorship will support Julie's Bicycle's UK-wide theatre programme. Julie's Bicycle and White Light have already jointly promoted events for theatre professionals specialising in lighting, and have identified the challenges and opportunities presented by low carbon solutions for front o house and auditoria lighting.

White Light's sponsorship has contributed to the development of a new IG Tool for Production - the latest carbon ca