Spain - LightShark, Equipson's range of multiprotocol control products for the entertainment industry, are being given their own brand identity to reflect their growing popularity and the impact they are making on the entertaiment industry. With LightShark, hardware and software control of up to eight DMX universes and 4000+ DMX channels is completely integrated via smartphones and tablets, while full compatibility with other manufacturer's equipment is assured because the products work with industry-standard DMX and Artnet lighting protocols, as well as any operating system (Android, Linux, Windows and macOS). Equipson originally included LightShark in its Workpro range, which features a wide variety of products aimed at the installation and live sound markets. But as the LightShark products have evolved, the company has decided to make this a stand-alone brand with i
Spain - Audiovisuales Canarias, part of AVC Group, has recently purchased 16 Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr to their rental fleet. The AV service provider decided to invest in these units to continue offering their customers equipment with reduced energy consumption thanks to its LED technology. “Our decision to acquire the Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr came after an exhaustive comparison with similar products on the market and, after some last tests of brightness, colour temperature, features, etc., we made the final decision to go ahead with the Italian brand. All the characteristics of this fixture were exactly what we needed to add to our list of equipment for our rental market,” said Alex Labao, commercial director for AVC Group. “The ECL Panel met our needs, completing our increasingly extensive list of equipment with reduced energy consumption.”
UK - Based in Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a world-leading conservatoire of music, drama, dance, production and film. Founded in 1847, it now has more than 1,300 students studying undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and, pre-COVID, staged over 600 live performances across its professional venues throughout the year. It recently opened a new rehearsal and performance space for its students and approached White Light (WL) to provide the lighting equipment. As part of its COVID-19 response plan, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland realised that building occupancy numbers and social distancing were going to play a key part in ensuring it could continue to deliver technical training and support to all its students. The decision was made to transfer a rehearsal studio into a new, fully-equipped performance space that would allow both performance and productio
The Netherlands - Lighting, audio and rigging for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was delivered and co-ordinated by leading Netherlands rental specialist Ampco Flashlight, and for lighting control, this included 14 grandMA3 light consoles and 32 active grandMA3 processing units (PUs) used by production lighting designer Henk-Jan van Beek of visual design practice Light-H-Art and his team. Henk-Jan created a spectacular design that enabled each of the 39 entries participating in the 2021 contest - which also included two televised semi-finals - to have a distinct and dynamic look utilising over 1,800 (main show floor and key) moving lights and LED luminaires from multiple brands, plus over 500 universes of LED tape running via two Green Hippo media servers. In addition to the real lights in the space, some augmented reality elements featured in the broadcast invo
Spain - Integrated Systems Events managing director Mike Blackman marked the opening of ISE Live & Online yesterday with a presentation at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via in front of a gathering of representatives from government, local executive boards and agencies, ISE’s owners and the media. ISE Live & Online is a hybrid event, livestreaming from the Fira and broadcasting to a global audience via the ISE Digital platform. The opening of ISE’s first show in Barcelona represents a significant milestone in the development of Integrated Systems Europe, and a personal and professional triumph for Blackman, who launched the event 17 years ago with a staff of three. Along with representatives of the Fira, ISE co-owner AVIXA and ISE exhibitors, Blackman made a symbolic trip by motorbike from ISE’s office in Munich to Barcelona, stopping en route in Geneva
UK - Philip French and his team from Peachy Productions lit Guildford Cathedral resplendent green - using Robe Pointes and LEDBeam 150 moving lights - to mark Surrey Day 2021, one of several celebratory events happening around the county led by Visit Surrey and their media partners BBC Radio Surrey and Surrey Life magazine. It was the second Surrey Day in which Peachy Productions has been involved. The company has many strong ties to the city and the area, and was keen to participate in promoting Surrey, which is known for its natural beauty, woodlands, and wildlife habitats among many other attributes. Having lit the Cathedral on several occasions last year, including in support of the National Health Service and other frontline workers battling the pandemic and also to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the Peachy crew were delighted to be back on top of St
UK - Technical solutions distributor Visualization will distribute the VUE2 product line in the UK. VUE2 offers a range of 3LCD laser-based projectors across a range of brightness and resolutions. With a complement of 21 products that cover installation, portable, and Ultra Short Throw (UST) series, the VUE2 range addresses the corporate, education, house of worship, and rental staging markets. Visualization managing director, Nick Pidgeon, comments: “The VUE2 product line fills a gap vacated by a number of manufacturers. With a range of resolution and brightness at extremely competitive price points - and backed up with a reassuring seven-year warranty - we believe the VUE2 product range will be very well received in the UK.” Mohammed Sajjad, product manager at VUE2, adds: “The UK market - via Visualization - offers us a tremendous opportunity to g
Poland - The debut of the new Mercedes-Benz EQA vehicle in Poland took place in April, with Kukoni and Robimy Live supplying sound and lighting equipment, cameras and streaming systems. Kukoni supplied a range of Prolights equipment, including 16 Air5Fan, 12 Stark 1000, eight Ruby, 20 Lumipix 12QTour, six Sunblast 3000FC, one Mosaico, 18 SmartBat Plus, 18 TrussPod3 Bat and 18 Solar 27Q, with design by Kuba Czarnik. “Our main goal was to create a spatial effect to win the emotions of our viewers watching the event online,” says Miłosz Łapiński, manager at Kukoni. “We placed the Air5Fan on all sides of the stage area, where the car would drive in. We then placed the Sunblast 3000FC fixtures behind the car, proving a powerful colour punch as it would come in through a mist of smoke.” The Stark 1000 washes provided front white-light to the presenters and
Zimbabwe - Blessing Bero, Tatenda Gaylord Rushwaya, and the rest of the Events Evolution team faced a formidable task recently when they worked a noon to 8pm pay-for-view show by platinum Epic Records star Benjamin Dube. A noted South African gospel singer (he performed at Nelson Mandela’s Freedom of the City Award presentation), Dube was joined by a large group of other performers on stage. This helped the Events Evolution team achieve the diverse looks they were after. Also contribution to the variety, was a flexible lighting rig that included 11 Maverick MK2 Spot, four Rogue R2 Spot and four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, plus a Net-X node from Chauvet Professional. “We created a wide range of backgrounds with our videos and the rainbow of colours we were able to get from our lighting fixtures matched them all,” said Rushwaya, who programmed the show and ran the vide
UK - The team behind A Light Walk, a charity walk set to take place across 20-24 September, has announced details of the fundraising mission and the ways in which everyone can get involved. A Light Walk will see Chauvet’s Sam Bowden and ALD Lumière working group chair Charlotte Burton walk from The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon to the National Theatre on London’s Southbank, a total distance of over 101 miles (160 km), which will be completed in just five days. Members of the ALD’s executive committee and other members of the Lumière Scheme working group will be joining the walk for individual days or remotely. Departing from The Royal Shakespeare Company on day one, the walkers will complete a distance of 24 miles. Day two starts at Bloxham and ends 19 miles further at Bicester. With day three, the walkers will pace the 23 mile
Saudi Arabia - Jeddah provided the start and finish lines for the 2021 Dakar Rally, while its King Abdullah Sports City Stadium - 30 kilometres north of the bustling port city - was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies which included a special show complete with soundtracks by Daft Punk, other cultural performance segments and a host of media events and live broadcasts including the winner presentations. Each of the two events comprised around 10 hours of consecutive airtime in total. French creative lighting practice Concept K was invited by Paris-based Leap Creative Studio and Blink Experience’s Dubai office to create a production lighting design for the two ceremonies. Their brief also included direction of lighting for the cameras and integration of the set and scenic elements and video screens into a single visual picture for the events which were attende
The Netherlands - ESC official technical supplier, Ampco Flashlight of Utrecht, supplied a large number of Ayrton Huracán-X, Karif-LT and MiniPanel-FX LED fixtures for the 65th Eurovision Song Contest at the Rotterdam Ahoy Arena, at the request of ESC head of lighting, Henk-Jan van Beek of Light-H-art. With some 39 countries and 55 scenes to create and programme different looks for, van Beek needed fixtures that would give him a lot of variety and used the ‘trilogy’ of Ayrton fixtures for three different purposes. “Huracán-X is our workhorse,” says van Beek. “We chose it because it gave us all the power, possibilities and creativity in one fixture and we used every feature of it.” 180 Huracán-X were rigged over the main and B-stages where 40 of them were mounted on extendable drop arms, and on three levels around the auditorium from where they wer
USA - Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress Miley Cyrus performed between games of the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament Final Four, which was aired on the CBS network. Her performance paid tribute to frontline workers and their continued service and sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lighting designer Otis Howard called on over 500 light fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment in a design that used modern technology to create a dazzling, elevated 1970s rock & roll show for the superstar. Included in this mix were close to 200 Chauvet Professional COLORado 2 Solo fixtures. The par style wash units, which are fitted with three 40W RGBW LEDs, were positioned directly behind Miley Cyrus along with 44 LED panels. The creative inspiration for the Miley Cyrus team for the lighting design was from early rock shows like Queen and Led
USA - Families from across Georgia watched in in May as a spectacular firework display and 180-strong drone show by Verge Aero lit up the sky to mark Armed Forces Day. The annual Thunder Over Evans event returned for 2021 following the relaxation of COVID restrictions, offering an opportunity for the community to come together to honor members of the armed forces. Event producers were keen to go the extra mile and supplement their traditional firework display with drones, ramping up the visual spectacle using Verge Aero’s sophisticated control capabilities. The result was a choreographed vision of colourful and dynamic firework explosions and drone imagery as Verge Aero’s fleet flew the US flag, spelt out ‘U-S-A’, and military logos from all five services, all synced to an accompanying soundtrack. “We've been doing our Armed Forces celebration for over
USA - Christie Spyder X80 multi-windowing processors are helping to deliver a new fan experience at the Phoenix Suns Arena. As part of a massive renovation of the entire arena, the new lobby area has been outfitted with 7,000sq.ft of LED displays, with the Spyder X80 driving content to engage and educate fans as they enter the building. The 29 year-old venue underwent a significant $230m modernisation with improvements that allow the Suns to deliver ‘a world-class guest experience’. The transformation included upgraded fan amenities, technology and more. Stranger Production, which specialises in sports and broadcasting video processing and automation, commissioned the Christie Spyder X80 processors that are used to drive content to the LED walls in the new lobby area. Two custom, curved LED displays welcome fans to the arena inside the reimagined Phoenix Suns Arena
USA - Robe’s Forte LED moving lights have been purchased and installed at the extensive main campus of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. The Baptist Evangelical mega-church in southern Orange County is the largest in California and one of the biggest in the US with several campuses in California and worldwide, complete with a busy worship schedule inspired by senior pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren. For now, the 24 new Forte luminaires - the Church’s first Robe investment, specified by lighting manager Jacob Olson and supplied via integrator Amplio Systems - are rigged on trusses above an impressive temporary tented structure, custom-designed and erected during reconstruction of their church’s main auditorium. The structure was erected when the California COVID tier system enabled the church to start holding limited capacity worship
Hong Kong - Widelite Technology Limited has installed Zero 88 FLX range lighting control consoles and Chilli dimmers in over 30 schools for the government’s Education Bureau (EDB) department which is tasked with overseeing state-wide education and learning. Widelite is a stage engineering company founded in 2009 to provide stage and studio lighting for multiple sectors, incorporating equipment sales, system design and installation services plus audio and video systems for the broadcast world. Zero 88’s FLX range and the FLX S48 in particular, together with their practical and robust Chilli dimming systems have proved a good choice for several reasons, explained Widelite’s Charlie Mak, one of the sales engineering team. “They are perfect for schools where staff and students can learn the console quickly and easily. Usually, a half-day training is suffici
Germany - Schwarzkaue Herten is an event space that was once part of the now closed Schägel & Eisen colliery. Although outfitted with the latest modern amenities, the facility pays homage to its industrial past through its traditional architectural flourishes. The team at Schallmeister balanced these classic features with a contemporary lighting design to create a memorable livestream event for a tech-drive industrial client. “It was absolutely essential that the set for the livestream retain the historic architecture of the building,” said Tim Jansen, owner of Schallmeister GmbH. “Special features, such as the baskets on the hall ceiling, give the room an interesting texture. Our task was to integrate a modern and professional television studio into an old industrial location.” Helping Jansen and his team meet this challenge was a collection of Chau
Germany - Dry hire company CGS GmbH, based in southern Germany, has chosen Prolights EclPanel TWC and EclPanelTWCJr, widely expanding its dry hire inventory in TV and film lighting. Christian Geyer, managing director of CGS, comments, "With the Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr we have a very mobile solution in our stock. The fixture impressed us with its high light output and its excellent source quality. In addition, the panels include several features that make our everyday work easier, such as an integrated power supply and W-DMX. This makes these fixtures a no-brainer for many projects where exactly these requirements for quality, mobility and performance prevail." The EclPanel TWC and TWCJr were designed to ‘meet extremely high colour rendering values’. They also come with various pre-programmed and customisable effects.
USA - An awed and reverential silence descends over the 4,000 seat amphitheater as audiences watch the events of Jesus Christ’s last days unfold at The Great Passion Play. It has always been this way at this outdoor production nestled in the Ozark Mountains, which has attracted over seven million visitors since it debuted in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in July of 1968. This year, the power of this story has become even more moving, thanks to a balanced and richly coloured lighting design by Chandler Mann and Cameron Edwards of Momentum Lighting. “Having grown up in Eureka Springs, I have a special attachment to The Great Passion Play,” said Mann, who now works out of Houston. “The production has captivated visitors season after season, but its lighting needed to be upgraded. Our previous system had no LEDs or color mixing and was operated from an old
Germany - For many years Thomas Gerdon from Gerdon Design has been in charge of lighting the German TV show Verstehen Sie Spaß (Do You Understand Fun?), in which unsuspecting people are victims of pranks and filmed with a hidden camera. Kimmig Entertainment produces four editions a year in the Bavaria Studios in Munich, two of which are broadcast live. The first live edition on 17 April 2021, provided the space and opportunity for a world premiere of the new Fusion Stick FS16 Z from Fusion by GLP which was used for the first time. As lighting designer and lighting cameraman, Gerdon used the new LED battens on the show stage during the performance by Sarah Lombardi and Luca Hänni as an effective show light.. Six towers were placed on the stage, each of which had two horizontally hung FS16 Z LED battens in addition to further spotlights. "Our goal i
UK - Founders of the global #WeMakeEvents movement feature in the fourth episode of The Meister Series, Jägermeister’s project celebrating “the mavericks and innovators in the music and events industry.” In April 2020, #WeMakeEvents was launched by PLASA in response to the impact of the pandemic on the live events ecosystem. What started as a single UK campaign soon grew into a global movement now spanning 40 countries. Since then, through fundraising, mental health support and campaigning, the organisation has worked tirelessly to keep the music industry alive and support those impacted by the crisis. In this fourth episode, founders and board members of #WeMakeEvents - Nicky Greet and Peter Heath from PLASA, Koy Neminathan from Avolites and James Gordon from Audiotonix - join Jägermeister in a passiona
UK - Collaborative Creations (CC) has announced that its centrally located, London studio space is open and available to companies and individual members of the events and event technology industries. With restrictions now coming to an end, booking is no longer essential though for specific product viewings is advisable. Less than a minute’s walk from London Waterloo the CC Studio is a multipurpose environment available for use by the events and event technology industries. Newly refurbished, the CC Studio can welcome up to 60 people standing, up to 30 in a theatre-style configuration or 12 in a training room seating arrangement. Operational as a boardroom style meeting room, the studio can seat up to 14 and features an engaging 70-inch interactive touchscreen for presentations. The space is equipment ready with Chamsys controlled Martin Professional lighting
South Africa - Mellow Yellow Entertainment, producers of South African music games show Musiek Roulette wanted a new look for the 2021 season, so called on the services of Ryan Lombard, head of show lighting at Blond Productions and Michael Gill, owner of Michael Gill Designs to design lighting and set respectively. TV lighting specialist and rental company Blond Productions supplied all the lighting equipment, while the set was built by Dream Sets. Ryan needed a highly adaptable lighting rig and used 72 x Robe moving lights to assist him in lighting the series, which was recorded at the Urban Brew Studios in Johannesburg. The idea with the new aesthetics was to retain a casino vibe but offer a more streamlined and modern feel, with the studio floor featuring a striking stylised central roulette wheel and three large LED screens around the circular-shaped
