USA - Philips Entertainment, representing Philips Vari-Lite, Philips Strand Lighting, Philips Selecon, and Showline, has announced the realignment and consolidation of its Americas commercial group to provide better service to their authorized dealers, sales representatives, and all lighting professionals throughout North and South America. The realignment includes changes in the management, sales, and support teams within Philips Entertainment, and will focus on continuing technology innovations while creating a streamlined customer experience.
"The realignment of the Americas commercial group truly represents an exciting time for Philips Entertainment," said Julie Smith, commercial general manager of the Americas. "We have great brands with great histories and this consolidation will better allow us to grow the resources within each brand while refocusing on tec
USA - Video equipment rental company Pete's Big TVs is providing the video equipment, cameras and d3 media servers for the new 2013 production of the Dreamgirls tour which kicked off in late December 2012/early January 2013. It tours North America until early June, followed by Japan, with more dates expected.
Working with MB Productions, Pete's Big TVs is providing the main set of the show, comprised of 400 digiLED MC15 (15 mm) LED video panels in three screens, which all track and fly in different configurations. They are also supplying two d3s from d3 Technologies. More than a media server, the d3s serve as a 3D stage simulator, combining a timeline based sequencer, video playback and video mapper all in one.
Howard Werner of Lightswitch designed the media content and the show system in 2009 when an older production of Dreamgirls began an eight-month run in Seo
UK - For a while now the Mercury Music Awards have been seen as one of the most credible and prestigious awards that a musician or artist can receive. The award is for best album in the UK and Ireland and is chosen by a panel of fellow musicians, executives, journalists and other key Industry figures.
As part of the build-up to this and to keep those who are really into music involved, Barclaycard now sponsors the Mercury Prize Sessions - a celebration of the best live music in the UK now. Acts in include Tom Odell, Suede and Johnny Marr. Each session is filmed at the Hospital Club, Covent Garden.
Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support lighting designer Nigel Catmur for the show. The cool and urban look is achieved simply with Sharpys and smoke. The Sharpys create such a strong and recognisable look, that in some situations, they are all that you need. Various lengths of truss
South Africa - American electronic musician, Skrillex entertained South African fans in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban at the start of March 2013. The main technical supplier in Cape Town was Gearhouse, while in Johannesburg it was supplied by CES and in Durban by Insane Sound.
At the Wavehouse in Durban, lighting and video freelancer Thomas Peters assisted with the lighting.
"Reading through the Skrillex rider and adjusting accordingly for Durban, Vimal Rawjee (Insane Sound) and I came up with what we thought would be a viable rig for the show, which the production's management (Skrillex's Production Manager is Baptiste Chavaillaz) quickly approved," explained Thomas Peters. "While we did not have most of the first-choice fixtures available in the quantities requested, the substitutes we offered were all perfectly acceptable. The MMXs blew the touring LD aw
Sweden - The charismatic Stora Teatern in Göteborg is one of Sweden's second largest city's most active receiving houses, hosting a wide variety of entertainment - bands, theatre and dance shows, comedy..
The theatre has recently taken delivery of its first Robe moving lights - 10 Robin 800 LEDWashes - which were specified by Joel Karlberg, the venue's chief lighting technician. They also happened to be among the first of this new fixture off Robe's production line in the Czech Republic.
The spectacular neo-Renaissance building designed by Carl Malmberg was originally opened in 1859, and from 1920 to 1994 used to stage opera, operetta and musical productions. Stora Teatern is run by the City and stages up to two or three shows per week in a very lively programme as well as accommodating longer running touring productions sometimes lasting several weeks.
USA - Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s are lighting up The Joint, the concert venue for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas where 16 fixtures were recently acquired and hung above the stage.
The Joint is an intimate 4,000 capacity space known for delivering unforgettable live music experiences. With a commitment to remarkable sound, it has earned a reputation as one of the most authentic venues in Las Vegas.
"We used to rent lights then decided to buy them. When we started looking at fixtures we had three lights in mind, including the HPE 1500," says Christopher Lose, lighting designer for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. "We're a rock 'n roll venue and need all the bells and whistles and versatility we can get. We have 10 lighting designers a month who come in wanting different things. So the more tricks our lights have the better."
Australia / UK - Sydney will once again be immersed in light, music and creative ideas as Vivid Sydney returns for a fifth year from 24 May to 10 June. For the first time the programme will be streamed live from the web address below. The live streaming will take place 11pm Wednesday 20 March (GMT) / 10am Thursday 21 March 2013 (Australian Eastern Standard Time).
Vivid Sydney highlights include: the lighting of the iconic Sydney Opera House sails; 3D mapping projections on Customs House and the Museum of Contemporary Art; interactive light sculptures and installations; public talks, debates and workshops from innovative global creatives and thought leaders in collaboration with Vivid IDEAS; and performances from local and international musicians at Vivid LIVE and Vivid MUSIC.
The 18-day event, the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, is a major celebration of the cr
UK - The Phoenix School in Peterborough recently hosted their annual charity ball. The theme this year was Spencer's Red Velvet Ball and the evening was supported by Pearce Hire with a striking production and stage set, designed to create the perfect atmosphere for an evening of entertainment and fundraising for this important special needs school, which is recognised as an outstanding Ofsted school.
The black tie event took place at the Atrium at Peterborough Arena, a venue in the East of England recognised for its excellent access, facilities and flexible approach from its staff. The occasion had a number of different areas including a formal sit down dining and stage area, a casino and dance floor. Pearce Hire produced the event with a complete audio, lighting, draping and effects package for the main room and pre and post dinner reception area.
Brazil - 55 years ago, Scania - the Swedish heavy truck maker - began operations in Brazil. Today, Brazil has more Scania trucks than in any other country in the world, with around 40% of all heavy trucks operating in Brazil known to be by Scania.
The company celebrated its successful 55 years of operations in Brazil, at HSBC Brasil. Located in the south zone of São Paulo, the venue is a renowned music hall featuring a high-quality technical infrastructure. Over the years HSBC Brasil has played host to a number of high-calibre musical and theatrical events, and top international artists.
Several shows took place during the event, including an exclusive concert by famous Brazillian artist Jorge Ben.
The performances were lit with a light rig including XR3000 SPOT CMY moving heads and the new high-power compact LED moving heads NRG 1201 from D.T.S.
Saudi Arabia - A squadron of Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 700s and Clay Paky Sharpys lit up Jeddah's Laylati Hall during a celebration to observe International Civil Aviation Day.
Egyptian lighting designer Mohammed Gafar created a lighting rig that emphasised the aerial agility, precision and speed of aviation today, which comprised fast moving, super-bright Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 700s and pure beam Sharpys.
"I chose to use the Alpha Spot HPE 700s and Sharpys for this particular event because we wanted a discreet light source that would deliver maximum effect when required" explains Gafar. "We were keen for the event, which was a sit down dinner and presentation, to look dramatic and exciting and reflect recent achievements of civil aviation. Lighting was used to set the mood and atmosphere of the room but also to enhance and punctuate the video presentation. In
Belgium - The Killers Battle Born tour, which has so far crossed the US, Australia and Europe to promote the band's fourth album, has taken ArKaos MediaMaster 3 with its new VideoMapper extension along for the ride.
Show designer Steven Douglas has worked with The Killers before and has this time created a spectacular show, making an advanced use of live camera feeds from various sources, mixed with visual content in real time.
Taking advantage of the multi output capabilities of the ArKaos VideoMapper, Douglas has setup an upstage video wall composed of Pixled F-15 NT, which splits into two separate video screens with the top section measuring 4.6m x 14.6m and the lower section 1.8m x 14.6m, revealing a wall of moving lights and lasers behind it.
On stage, Douglas incorporates more video screens into some of the set elements. Three band risers are covered in a total
UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) has purchased its first batch of Robe's Robin MMX WashBeam fixtures which have gone into hire stock.
RML is one of the UK's favourite independent hire facilities and a specialist in the worlds of television and live entertainment production.
The company has been renowned for its expertise and authority on moving lights for almost 30 years, and has been right at the forefront of this technology throughout. The purchase of the latest Robe products for its already extensive inventory is no exception.
RML started buying Robe products in 2012 and now already has over 100 fixtures available, including LEDBeam 100s and LEDWash 600s as well as the 24 new MMX WashBeams.
Says RML's marketing coordinator Gemma Jaques, "We feel that Robe has really taken the time to listen to end users and 'got it right' with the current Robin range."
Italy - Italy's X Factor 2012 aired from September to December on Sky, with the show broadcast from Teatro della Luna, next to the Forum of Assago in Milan. The winner was declared as Chiara Galiazzo of the Over 25 category, who was awarded a recording contract with Sony Music Italy worth 300,000 Euro.
Italian lighting manufacturer D.T.S. contributed to the success of the show with its new LED moving heads. 82 NICK NRG 1201s, provided by DiBi Technology, were installed in the Teatro della Luna. 36 NRG 1201s were integrated into the setting for a 'particularly incisive visual quality', arranged in six vertical rows in the wide spaces between the LED walls.
Two further parallel rows of NRG 1201s were installed along the sides of the stalls, using all the features of the projectors - colour quality, zoom, strobe - to create a dynamic lighting look.
UK - Stage Electrics supplied a full Martin Professional lighting solution for The Yonex All England Open Badminton Championship games which took place at the NIA, Birmingham earlier this month.
Recorded and broadcast live on Sky Sports 4 and to over 37 countries around the world, the latest Martin MAC Vipers complemented with over 100 additional Martin MAC 2000 Washes, MAC 700's and MAC Aura's, all controlled from an Avolites Tiger Touch. In addition Stage Electrics' scenic division built scenery elements which included a revolving door complete with sponsors branding used to reveal each star player.
Stage Electrics' live events technical project manager, Mike Jarvis commented, "This is the fourth year we have provided the lighting for the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships. The Martin Professional lighting used worked superbly in achieving what was required
Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the launch of the new VC-Strip family of narrow LED video strips. VC-Strips are suitable for integration into stage and set designs, as well as interiors like bars, ceilings and walls. Fully compatible with Martin's VC-Grid LED video module, they can be used together for more creative LED video designs.
VC-Strips are fully pixel-level calibrated on brightness and colours for optimal uniformity and quality and are driven by Martin's award-winning P3 System Controller family for smooth playback that outperforms any DMX-based system.
These flexible video strips feature a pixel pitch of 25 mm and are available in lengths up to 400 mm. They can even be cut to required length on-site.
VC-Strips are available in RGB, warm white, medium white and cool white variants. The RGB version has a calibrated brightness of 4000 nits while the warm/m
UK - Nick Gray of London, UK-based creative lighting design practice Renegade designed lighting for the main British Fashion Council (BFC) Courtyard Show Space at Somerset House for London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2013.
Offsite, he lit a variety of leading shows including Vivien Westwood, L'Wren Scott, Rocksander, Mark Fast, Kinder Aggugini and Pringle.
It's the seventh season that Gray has lit the BFC space, featuring up to five or six shows per day for a plethora of leading designers including Marios Schwab, Issa, Emilio de la Morena, Bora Aksu, Jasper Conran and numerous others.
Working for show producers Bacchus, Gray's lighting design featured a three truss format overhead - centre and two sides - running the full 25m of the catwalk.
The set this year featured a wider entranceway for the models and an elegant chevron-shaped wood / black carpet runway, all of which r
Germany - Win, design, share - connect and be the first to experience Martin's new RUSH range of affordable effect lights.
You could be the first worldwide to get your hands on Martin Professional's new range of affordable effect lights - RUSH by Martin.
Martin will be giving away some of the very first RUSH effect lights to a few lucky winners via a competition at the upcoming Prolight + Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, 10-13 April, Stand A93, Hall 9.
All visitors need to do is get a RUSH badge from the RUSH area of the Martin stand and wear it around the trade show floor. One lucky participant will be stopped and announced as the winner each day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Martin is also offering RUSH fans a chance at design stardom. Send Martin a unique design for a new RUSH t-shirt and if your design is a winner, Martin will splash it on a t-shirt for the world to se
USA - Rosco Laboratories, Inc has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Los Angeles-based GAM Products Inc. The addition of GAM's widely regarded products such as GAMColor, GAM Patterns, Blackwrap and TwinSpin, among others, will dramatically expand the creative solutions Rosco offers to designers, technicians and artists, the company says.
GAM has provided high quality lighting products to the theatre and film community for more than 35 years, and Rosco says it will continue to market and promote them worldwide through its extensive global distribution network. "For existing and loyal GAM customers, it will be business as usual with GAM's entire catalog of products available through Rosco. But we're especially looking forward to leveraging our world class dealer network to expose these excellent products to new clientele," said Mark Engel, CEO of Rosco.
UK / Sweden - Working in collaboration with the production team at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, PLASA is pleased to announce plans for a unique event: PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö, taking place on 7-8 May, one week prior to Eurovision's live broadcasts, in Malmö, Sweden.
As one of the world's most-watched live music productions, attracting in excess of 100m television viewers each year, the Eurovision Song Contest has become a major annual showcase for the technologies at the cutting edge of the show production industry.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest, produced by the European Broadcast Union (EBU) and SVT, the national broadcaster of last year's winning nation, Sweden, will be preceded by PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö - an opportunity for industry professionals to take a first-hand look at these technologies in context.
USA - Country singer Luke Bryan's 20-city Dirt Road Diaries Tour may have a down-home name, but its lighting inventory includes some pretty cutting-edge equipment, including Clay Paky's new A.LEDA Wash K10 and K5 LED moving heads provided by Elite Multimedia Productions.
The tour is using 12 K10 and 36 K5 fixtures as part of its "big, powerful rock 'n roll rig," says lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of Fadeup Design Group. He was introduced to the A.LEDA Series at LDI 2012 where he was "looking for the next generation moving light." After seeing the A.LEDA fixtures, "We feel we found the best the industry has to offer," he says.
The A.LEDA Series is the first professional Clay Paky product line to use LEDs as light sources. An alternative to discharge lamp wash lights, it offers all the benefits of LED technology: low energy consumption,
Egypt - Clay Paky's powerful pure-beam Sharpy luminaires dazzled fans as they enjoyed top-selling Arab singer Amr Diab's sell-out concert in Cairo recently. Lighting designer Walid El Hariry specified 66 Sharpys for the show at the 75,000-capacity Cairo Stadium where Egyptian singer Amr Diab - known as 'the Father of Mediterranean Music' - performed.
"My entire rig comprised Clay Paky fixtures," says El Hariry, "The Sharpys performed brilliantly. The strong beam they deliver give a really contemporary feel to the show. Also, by playing around with the prism, we created a variety of very distinctive looks for Amr."
Clay Paky distributor for Egypt, Cairo-based Audio Technology, which is well respected for its service and product knowledge in the Egyptian market, supplied the Sharpys. Audio Technology managing director, Emad Adly comments, "At just 189W t
Canada - The CAST Group of Toronto, Canada and Rushworks of Dallas, Texas have announced the integration of the award-winning BlackTrax Solution realtime tracking technology with Rushworks' VDESK Integrated PTZ Production System, adding the extra dimension of robotic camera tracking control to the arsenal of BlackTrax tracking solutions. This integration creates a cost-effective, fully automated realtime video tracking solution for just about anything from live entertainment to houses of worship.
PTZ cameras (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) are typically controlled remotely by an operator using a joystick to "frame" a shot or follow the action ... although "following" is, in reality, more about reacting than truly tracking. Some controlling devices support the creation of presets associated with user-defined positions. Most hardware controllers allow the user to position
Germany - Clay Paky has a formidable line-up scheduled for ProLight+Sound 2013.
Sharpy Wash 330 is an extraordinarily compact, lightweight 330 W washlight, with the luminous efficiency, graphic and optical performance of a 1000W fixture. It is extremely silent and quick, and fitted with a complete CMY color system, special colors, 6.5°-48° zoom, mechanical dimmer, beam shaping filter and motorized top-hat. It is an eco-friendly light, allowing considerable running and consumption cost savings.
The Alpha Profile 800 ST is the most modern moving beam shaper in existence today for use in theatres and studios. Clay Paky used highly sophisticated micromechanics to obtain a compact, light, silent unit with an extremely bright light and a zoom capable of producing an extraordinarily sharp, perfectly uniform beam.
Germany - Czech Republic based moving light manufacturer Robe lighting is set to launch six new products at the 2013 Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.
Topping the list is The Pointe. This and four other innovations are from Robe's multi award-winning Robin range and also new is the latest in Robe's DigitalSpot series - the DigitalSpot 7100DT.
The Robin Pointe is a new dynamic beam, spot and wash fixture from Robe - a small, super-bright and very fast 'signature' unit with an intense and sharp parallel beam .... plus a host of features making it a truly unique and versatile lightsource.
These include a 5 - 20 degree zoom with full focus control, variable frost, two separate prism effects, a rotating and a static gobo wheel and inbuilt colour wheel.
The lightsource is a 280W Osram discharge lamp making the Pointe a dynamic, fixture for using to create WOW factors on a