Lighting

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14 March 2016

Staged at One Marylebone in London, CSE was working in conjunction with Insight Lighting and production company Swim Productions.

CSE's Project Manager Fletch collaborated with creative director Brendan Clarke from Insight Lighting to create the lighting and production design for the much anticipated event, which saw several live performances from Cerys Matthews, Carleen Anderson, Ahmad Jamal among others.

The main room featured a stage and seated a capacity audience of 268 for dinner, and there was also a reception area that needed lighting.

The CSE team started with the installation of the four legged ground support system - meas

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14 March 2016

The Baxter Theatre at the University of Cape Town purchased their new Philips Strand Wallrack Dimmer units from DWR Distribution. "As time allowed and as the venue became available, the old dimmers were steadily replaced," commented Dave Whitehouse from DWR.

"We chose Strand because it is a trusted name in theatre lighting," said Patrick Curtis from The Baxter. "The linkage to Philips is a positive development, but mostly we chose the product because we are assured of 100% backup from DWR."

"We would like to thank Patrick Curtis from The Baxter for the opportunity to work on this installation," ended Whitehouse.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Lighting was designed by Richard G Jones, who was asked on-board by show director (and judge) Craig Revel Horwood last year.

Jones ensured that no-one was disappointed, creating a show awash with colour, movement, drama and pizzazz to match all the dancefloor action, energy and high jinks!

All lighting, sound & rigging equipment was supplied by south Wales based rental and production company, Sonalyst.

The 14 x MMX WashBeams together with 23 x Robe Robin MMX Spots are newly purchased by Sonalyst for their hire stock - which now contains g

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14 March 2016

Blake Augsburger, Harman executive vice-president and president Harman Professional Division, said: "As we move forward together and institute Martin Professional as a business unit within Harman Professional, our customers from both the lighting and AV disciplines will soon be able to capitalize on joint innovations, efficiencies and access to our systems portfolios. In doing so, I am confident we'll also drive growth into emerging markets and vertical markets where digital technologies are increasingly central to the commercial enterprise - specifically transportation, hospitality, retail, communications and education."

Martin is in the process of launching new products across all of its product lines including new models in the award-winning MAC Viper family

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14 March 2016

With a number of very different scenes to evoke in a single environment set, designed by Victoria Spearing, Wardle had his work cut out. Lighting works with the set and direction to seamlessly shift the mood from the claustrophobic world of the tunnels under no man's land to bright outdoor scenes and the house where main protagonist, Stephen Wraysford, falls in love.

Wardle uses the PLCycs to deliver an evocative backdrop, symbolically conveying the time, place, feeling and atmosphere of each with his clever application of colour, transition and intensity. Wardle explains: "Because this play shifts so quickly between locations and time periods, we need to help the audience understand where we

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14 March 2016

The show's narrative was based on the important natural and cultural elements of the world and how they all come together. The show was first performed on New Year's Eve preceeding the midnight fireworks for a site wide audience of 1.7m people and accompanied live by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The show then played twice nightly throughout January for the many daily visitors to the new heart of Dubai.

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14 March 2016

The venue's existing house grid did not lend itself to many lighting or house ambiance options, as it held mercury vapour fixtures with gel attached and was both too big and heavy to articulate. Additionally, the stage system was a modest 120k rig and in need of an update. Bandit gutted the entire stage and house lighting systems from rigging down, and in five days, installed a completely new, dynamic lighting system.

"The idea going in was to remove this structure and replace it with something we could use to transform the room for various events," explained Bandit's Roth Edwards. "They can lower the truss grid to close in the space and make it

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14 March 2016

''RML understand that LAMDA students are the future of our Industry and so it is imperative that they are given the tools to develop to the best of their abilities and shown the best and most recent in moving light technology. It is also a great privilege to be involved with such a prestigious institution such as LAMDA,'' says Steve Wells, operations manager, RML.

As part of this partnership RML will provide lights for their performances/productions, donate equipment for training, offer work placements throughout the year and Play Days for the students to come to our demo room and gain practical experience with things such as LED products. Such a hands on approach and opportunity compliment the ethos of LAMDA.

Rob Young, Course Director at LAMDA comments, "LAMDA

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14 March 2016

An intimate venue with a relatively large stage, the Don Powell Theatre will deploy the new followspots on the last production of the school's 2012-2013 season, the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music which opens in April. SDSU has a reputation for excellence in theatre arts offering undergraduate and graduate degrees.

"We just installed three Lucy followspots with heavy duty yokes flipping the yokes to the top and hanging the spots in our front of house beam position where they now fit perfectly," says Peter Nordyke, with SDSU's School of Theatre, TV & Film. "They are not that much bigger than a traditional zoom ERS

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14 March 2016

TVB's headquarters, which is also the largest commercial television production centre in Asia, houses 22 production studios, collectively known as TVB City.

Under a new management initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of the company, TVB's engineering department, headed by Mr. Ko Cheuk Wai, had the challenging task of finding an LED solution to replace their existing discharge lamp automated lighting system.

Their research process was comprehensive and technically thorough, to ensure that their final decision would meet the studio's requirements for the next generation of automated lighting.

Present at the tests was Michael Münz, general manager of GLP Asia, who commented, "The technical tests took place at

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14 March 2016

Giving increased realism to the friendly green ogre has been SGM's new P-5 Washlight, from the inventory of lighting rental company, Focus Amsterdam.

The technical production specialists were invited by theatre producers Albert Verlinde Entertainment to provide lighting equipment - and just as they have for one of the promoters' other musicals, Annie, found the P-5 to provide a compelling solution.

Focus account manager, Marijn Muilenburg, said that although the show producers had purchased the rights to Shrek from Dreamworks, there was enough creative freedom in the agreement for them to introduce complete new décor, light and costumes.

He explained, "About on

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14 March 2016

"I believe it may have been the largest operational rig of Patt. 23's in the country," said Andrew Tweedie, head of lighting at Canberra Theatre Centre. "But they were getting harder and harder to maintain, especially as you couldn't find spare parts, and were not as punchy as they should have been."

A decision was made to replace the Patt. 23's with the main criteria being that the replacement had to be the same size as the space they would be housed in is very small. Canberra's Sound Advice recommended the ETC So

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Andrew Voller used ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires to light Lift at the Soho Theatre, a musical by Craig Adams and Ian Watson, which explores the feelings and thoughts of eight strangers who happen to be in a lift together.

Voller was first introduced to the Source Four LED by the Layers of Light demonstration at the ETC PLASA stand in September. During the presentation, ETC's Tom Littrell explained how different types of fixtures - such as LEDs and incandescents -- can seamlessly work together, then demonstrated the power and versatility of ETC's newest lighting product, the Source Four LED.

"As I had no experience of the units before," says Voller, "I opted to use them as my backli

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14 March 2016

The sale was co-ordinated by Johannesburg based TV lighting rental and design specialist Blackmotion, with the Robe units all delivered by South African distributor DWR as part of a major technical upgrade by SABC's lighting department.

Blackmotion's MD Kagiso Tiro Daystar Moima (KG) explains that they were approached in 2012 through a tendered process when the SABC's in-house lighting directors set up a team to research into the best purchase options for the broadcaster.

SABC was about to embark on a full commissioning schedule of LE and variety programmes, so it made commercial sense ahead of this to purchase the lights required for these shows ... rather than renting i

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14 March 2016

One of the main fundraising events for these charities, By Design Day focuses attention on the various ways that individuals can support these two organisations which are dedicated solely to assisting entertainment technology professionals in need. Fundraising can be a personal donation or through an organised collection. Many designers support the day by voluntarily giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities. Light Relief assists those involved in the UK lighting industry while Behind the Scenes aids professionals based in the US and Canada working in any area of the entertainment technology industry.

By Design Day 2013 has the full backing of a host of award-winni

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14 March 2016

Late Show - Teen pop idol Justin Bieber angered parents by emerging onstage for a concert at London's O2 Arena almost two hours late. While the 19-year-old singer's young fans were kept waiting, frantic parents converged on the venue expecting to pick up their children. It follows reports Bieber's gig in Nottingham on Saturday also began late. Fans tweeting from inside the O2 said there were boos from some in the crowd almost an hou

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14 March 2016

The competition, which is now in its fourth year, invites students who are studying lighting courses from institutions all over the UK to design, install and implement theatrical lighting schemes for the museum's many historic locomotive displays in their prestigious 'Great Hall'.

ACSP played an integral role in the event, supplying a range of leading entertainment technology equipment, as well as providing first line technical support and product training for students participating in the competition.

As well as their access to a huge range of entertainment technology brands, ACSP also have extensive experience supplying industry-standard technical facilities and lighting

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14 March 2016

Support for Martin's VC-Series of creative LED video products (VC-Grid, VC-Strip and VC-Dot) driven by the P3 PowerPort 1500 has now been integrated and the Video Input section has been improved.

The Video Input Wizard now adjusts all scaling and viewport settings by itself and the preview on the P3's screen is now rendered when no fixtures are connected, making pre-programming and setup even easier.

Many more features and improvements such as automatic resolution detection, a 'Highlight Fixture' and 'Mixed Resolution Layout Wizard' are making their debut.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

"It's bigger than anything we've ever had out there," Aldean revealed to Country Weekly. "It's completely revamped from last year."

Lighting designer Aaron Swetland began working with Aldean in 2008 and received the illustrious CMA SRO Lighting Designer of the Year Award for his work on Jason Adlean's 2012 tour, meaning the expectations were a bit high, even if only in his mind.

"There's always the kind of mentality where you want to outdo yourself," Swetland said.

To achieve that feat, Swetland's lighting design consists of a basic upstage and downstage truss with a floor light compliment. The upstage side of the rig has four ladder beams co

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14 March 2016

These workshops are designed to provide useful 'hands on' experience and core skills and will be presented by some of the industry's foremost companies, says Batmink.

During the week, representatives from manufacturers such as Pioneer, Martin Audio, Cloud, Le Maitre, Shure, Audio Technica and Sennheiser will be conducting presentations on subjects including pyrotechnics, production and installed sound and lighting, signal processing, wireless regulations and providing certified training on Zero 88 lighting desks.

The Batmink team will be supplementing this with daily workshops covering subjects such as an introduction

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14 March 2016

Selecon, Vari-Lite, Strand Lighting and Showline will each be displaying the latest in lighting technology at the exhibition - one of the biggest and busiest in Europe.

Philips will also debut the latest in the LED illumination revolution, Showline. A complete range of super-efficient, feature-rich, professional entertainment LED luminaires, the Showline SL BAR 640 and 660, SL BAR 520, SL PAR 150 ZOOM, and the all new SL BAND 310 will be on full display as part of a well-planned family designed specifically for the entertainment lighting industry. In addition, a totally new Showline LED concept will be unveiled at the exhibition.

All Showline products utilise homogenized RGBW LEDs, built in effects

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14 March 2016

The fixtures were supplied by Los Angeles based VER, who has recently become a valued supporter of the new Robin MMX series.

While on the road the lightshow was looked after by lighting operator Chris Smith.

Prior to this tour, Los Angeles-based Fitzgerald had not used any Robe products however he decided to use the MMX Spots after a spectacular demo from VER.

"They were great! I love the effects and gobos and they are generally excellent lights," he comments, adding that they were also completely reliable throughout the duration of their time on the tour!

Ten MMX Spots were rigged over the stage on front and back trusses. The eleventh was set on the floor

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14 March 2016

Currently employing more than 100 full-time members of staff, working across all industry sectors, Hawthorn boasts an annual turnover of £9m, whilst the Anagram team stands at 15 and turns over £3mper annum. Anagram will now dry hire equipment from their base in Cambridge, adding to Hawthorn's existing bases in both the Midlands and London.

Hawthorn's managing director, Martin Hawthorn, said, "This is an exciting opportunity for everyone within the group, allowing us all to open new doors, pool resources and develop existing relationships. There are many synergies between the two companies, bringing them together under one umbrella increases our knowledge,

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14 March 2016

AED Distribution UK says it will provide distribution for a cohesive range of entertainment technology brands, underpinned with professional logistics and order processing, supported by the AED Group Solutions. The range will initially include CM Entertainment Technology, Prolyte (including the four complementary but independent brands of Litestructures, Prolyte Structures, StageDex and ProLyft), GLP lighting, MDG foggers, High End Systems' Hog 4 control family, Fenix lifting towers, Swisson DMX solutions and sine wave dimming, SRS motor controllers, dimmers and power distribution, plus hardware from Manfrotto and Doughty.

Formerly director of European Sales for Philips Vari-Lite a