USA - Canadian singer producer, The Weeknd, was one of a number of artists performing at unusual outdoor settings in Manhattan to mark the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards. His designated location was the rooftop of the new Edge observation deck at Hudsons Yard, 387m high, and consequently the highest in the Western Hemisphere. This presented challenges for lighting designer LeRoy Bennett and his long-serving collaborator, Jason Baeri; but with the help of GLP’s X4 Bar 20s, The Weeknd gave a dynamic rendering of Blinding Lights, the song which earned him gongs for Best R&B Video & Video of the Year. Bennett worked closely with La Mar Taylor, The Weeknd’s creative director, to come up with the concept. GLP’s award-winning battens not only lit the stage platform but also lined the perimeter of the building’s triangular balcony architecturally. Wearing h
USA - Lighting design bridges gaps, connecting sometimes widely different elements, and fusing them into a unified whole. Jason Patsel of 81 Productions demonstrated this recently at a socially distant outdoor benefit show at the Five Points Music Sanctuary in Roanoke, VA, where he melded different eras and expanded space with help from a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures. For the Five Points benefit, Patsel lit a concert by the popular Pink Floyd tribute band Darkside Experience, a quintet that captures the essence of the British band with their evocative and challenging sound. Patsel‘s design reflect the quintet’s music and onstage persona with its bold colours and unsettling light angles. However, with this being the third decade of the 21st century, and the band including its own contemporary flair in their performance, Patsel also wanted to add
UK - Born from a disused china clay mine and a need for environmental sustainability education, Cornwall’s Eden Project was created in 2001. Eden has two large geometric bubble-like biomes, the Rainforest and the Mediterranean. The rainforest is the world’s largest indoor rainforest at 50m high and 16,000m2 and the Mediterranean houses some of the world’s rarest horticultural specimens. For the second year, GLX Productions has designed and delivered the biome lighting for Christmas at Eden, using over 300 lighting fixtures, 3km of cable and 5km of fairy lights. The dramatic landscapes of the biomes were lit in rich colours to create a compelling world of shadows and light. The crowning centrepiece of the Mediterranean Biome this year is a giant mirror ball casting a blizzard of snowflake-like points of silvery light across the giant structure. The bi
UK - Lancashire-based LED lighting manufacturer CFE Lighting has taken on its first apprentice as it looks to accelerate growth and build on its strongest ever trading performance over the last 12 months. 16 year-old Jack Davies has started an 18-month long LEAN Engineering apprenticeship with the company, with the aim of becoming a qualified engineer and securing a permanent role within the rapidly growing business. Over the course of his apprenticeship, Jack, who lives in nearby Nelson, will be working across a variety of different areas within the company, which specialises in bespoke LED luminaires and lighting solutions for commercial, industrial, and public sectors. His role will see him work with the manufacturing team to learn how to assemble a vast range of light fittings and controls, as well as being involved with both the sales and customer services te
USA - Responding to the current trend for streaming and videoconferencing, necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic and social lockdown, GLP has designed Streamer. This is a small, versatile LED light source whose sole purpose is to present hosts, interviewees and collaborators in professional, studio-type lighting with the ability to be fully remote controlled by a lighting designer, if required. UL-listed, the spec includes flicker-free high intensity output, with a colour temperature range of 1900-5600K, provided by three different colour sets of LED’s. A ‘prosumer’ product developed by GLP’s North American operation, it is tailored to both the professional and general consumer markets. GLP Inc president, Mark Ravenhill, commented that their new solution is both easy to use and transport thanks to the robust yet compact case, that at just six inches l
Portugal - João D'Oliva Monteiro Cine-Theatre in Alcobaça is considered one of the most beautiful in Portugal. The work of Swiss architect Ernesto Korrodi, the building is also of historic importance in Portuguese architecture, combining elements of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism and Functionalism. Its varied programme covers all forms of international and local music, dance and theatre productions. Commercial and independent cinema also makes up an important part of the venue’s programming, ensuring the Cine-Theatre has become the main focus of the social and cultural life of Alcobaça and its surroundings. Following a period of enforced closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, João D'Oliva Monteiro Cine-Theatre joyfully reopened its doors at the start of October for the R'B & Mr.SC concert that marked the opening date of Novo Palco, a festival exclusively ded
USA - Hosted by Ana Brenda Contreras, Victor Manuelle and Yalitza Aparicio, the 21st Latin Grammy Awards were celebrated in late November to honour the cream of the Latin music scene. This year saw a rather different format from the usual star-studded occasion due to the dictates of the COVID-19 pandemic: to ensure the safety of the artists and the production team, the nominees were showcased to the world in a remote, live broadcast by Univision from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, with breakout performances streamed from other cities throughout Latin America. Despite the lack of a live audience, this year’s performances were no less glamorous, and the line up - which included the likes of Bad Bunny, Camilo, Kany García, J Balvin, Jesse & Joy, Natalia Lafourcade, Ricky Martin, Fito Páez and Carlos Vives all competing for Album Of The Year - were presente
UK - The technical team at the National Theatre have been working tirelessly since August to re-purpose its venues in the face of COVID-19 restrictions. A COVID-secure performance of Dick Whittington in-the-round in a newly-configured Olivier theatre opened on 11 December - only to be closed shortly thereafter due to London’s tier three restrictions - whilst the Lyttelton Theatre has been temporarily transformed into a film studio for the upcoming Romeo & Juliet original film. In both instances, Martin MAC Encores from the theatre's in-house lighting resources proved highly flexible core fixtures in the respective lighting rigs. "Our investment in MAC Encore units has proven invaluable over the last few months as the National Theatre has adapted to the current restrictions for live indoor performances.” commented Paul Hornsby, lighting resources m
UK - Seen from a distance, the Steam Illumination Christmas Train appears like a rolling band of moving light cutting through the dark night as it rolls past the farms and fields of the Hampshire countryside. To those inside, the experience is even more magical, as they find themselves immersed in a rotating tunnel of brilliant colours and patterns. Covered entirely by LED lights, this special 120m-long train seems like something out of a fantastical Hollywood Christmas movie suddenly come to life in South East England. In reality, however, it was the result of extensive of planning and hard work by the non-profit Mid Hants Railway's Watercress Line and a creative team that includes Simon Horn. The owner of Purple Lighting in West Sussex, Horn was responsible for designing and programming the 78-universe Steam Illuminations lightshow with the help of his ChamSys Magic
Australia - Hollywood heartthrob Channing Tatum’s popular dance show Magic Mike Live opened in Sydney on 17 December, with a dynamic all-new lighting design created by Philip Gladwell, using a rig supplied by TSL Lighting. In contrast to its runs in London, Las Vegas and Berlin, the Australian production takes place in a specially-designed Spiegeltent named The Arcadia. For the Sydney dates, The Arcadia has been constructed in the city’s entertainment quarter in Moore Park. Within this ‘circus-like’ venue, the production team has created an immersive lighting experience that complements the energetic, exhilarating dance routines performed in the show. All of the action is performed in the round, facilitating acrobatic routines and synchronised 360° dance spectaculars that envelop the audience. Gladwell, who has designed all versions of Magic Mike Li
USA - The 2020 E! People’s Choice Awards (PCAs) was again staged at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, and lit for the third consecutive year by Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design, working for production company Den of Thieves. Tom utilised 154 x Robe MegaPointe moving lights - all supplied by Felix Lighting - as part of the lighting package which helped create a stylish super-clean architectural aesthetic for this year’s live broadcast. The popular online-voted awards show that recognises achievements across multiple fields of entertainment took on a different format this year, with a digital live audience replacing a real one in the venue, all requiring a novel approach by camera director Ryan Polito, creative director Paul Caslin and production designer Florian Wieder. The two-hour show hosted by Demi Lovato included two live performance segments -
USA - Chroma-Q has announced the launch of a new Pole Operated Pan & Tilt Yoke accessory for their Space Force Octo and Space Force onebytwo fixtures. Over the past few months Chroma-Q says it has seen a large increase in demand from their film and TV customers, particularly for its Space Force range of fixtures. “The development and launch of this new accessory came about due to customer demand. We are delighted to be able to give our customers what they want and endeavour to respond to their needs to ensure our products tick all the boxes,” comments Chroma-Q’s global brand manager, Paul Pelletier. “In such a fast-paced industry, having the ability to make changes quickly and easily is essential. Thanks to the pole operation, operators will now be able to make adjustments whilst keeping both feet on the ground - removing the need for ladders on set
Sweden - Wireless Solution has announced the release of its new generation of BlackBoxes with the introduction of G6. The G6 models include some new functionality and communication protocols, including Art-Net and Streaming ACN via WiFi, RDM support in all models, Bluetooth connectivity for configuration and software updates, and full compatibility with LumenRadio’s CRMX technology. Michael Karlsson, product development manager, at LumenRadio and Wireless Solution, comments: “With the new G6 models, we are taking wireless DMX to a whole new level by introducing official support for both WiFi and Bluetooth as well as support for LumenRadio’s CRMX technology. Especially the question of a common wireless DMX standard within the entertainment lighting community has been an ongoing discussion for many years and with the introduction of compatibility between W-DMX an
South Africa - The University of Johannesburg has recently upgraded its track lighting system used in its SARChI Art Gallery, as a direct replacement to the old system that had no mode of controlling, dimming, or shaping the light, all essential aspects to lighting their art as more demanding exhibitions required. South African lighting specialist Movievision was contracted to upgrade the system to Prolight. “Our suggestion was to get a lighting solution that would not only light the gallery in a more professional manner but also to give them the option to be able to upgrade, remove or add fixtures anytime they would feel the need to,” said Ruan Marais, sales executive at Movievision. The wide variety of EclMiniProfile fixtures offered by Prolights made the solution very easy. The team chose the cool-white LED variant as the best for their upcoming exhibitions - th
USA - Colorado production house Brown Note Productions was hired by long-time client Danny Wimmer Presents to provide audio, lighting and video production for a special online performance by alt-rock band Puscifer from experimental town Arcosanti in the high desert of Arizona. Called on to create evocative visual atmospheres for the shoot was lighting designer Sarah Landau (A Perfect Circle, Childish Gambino, M83), who turned to an IP-rated rig of Elation lighting to brave the desert elements. Landau has designed for Puscifer since 2016 and handled production design for the Arcosanti event along with Puscifer guitarist and producer Mat Mitchell. Puscifer, known for their eclectic live productions, performed their new album Existential Reckoning across a three-day shoot in September from the arcology site, a one-of-a-kind lifestyle project that is a fusion of ar
Germany - MA Lighting has answered user pleas for solutions that connect grandMA3 lighting control systems with existing visualisation platforms with the introduction of grandMA3 viz-key. grandMA3 viz-key provides a stable and safe connectivity between third-party visualisation tools and grandMA3 lighting control systems, says the manufacturer. Users can simply connect the grandMA3 viz-key with the visualisation computer and the new tool will enable all necessary parameters for visualisation. All compatible third-party manufacturers are MA-Net3 members on the network and can visualize all granted parameters instantly. grandMA3 viz-key also enables all non-granted parameters for visualization. MA Lighting has reached agreements with several visualisation solution manufactures to co-develop an integration between the grandMA3 viz-key and their specific pre-vis pro
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has announced that Martin P3 System Controller Software Version 5.2.0 is now available as a free update for the entire family of Martin P3 System Controllers. Martin P3 System Controller Software Version 5.2.0 comes with a range of new features and improvements that benefit newer products such as the MAC Aura PXL and VDO Atomic Dot, as well as long-time Martin favorites like VDO Sceptron, VDO Fatron and Exterior PixLine. New features include: P3 Switch: Instantly toggle individual fixtures between video control and DMX control; PixelMap Input: Receive PixelMap input from a lighting desk for up to 128 universes, drive fixtures with a video feed from a media server or dynamically switch between the two; Art-Net to P3 Bridge: Create an Art-Net to P3 Bridge using the PixelMap Input functionality to visualize lighting designs in realtime.
UK - The exterior of the Southampton Mayflower Theatre brings an extra dazzle of warmth and vitality to a usually busy city centre, illuminated with an Anolis lighting scheme which was installed by Lighting Technology Projects (LTP). Built in 1928, the venue is a Grade II listed building with a prominent central location and seating capacity of 2300, making it the largest theatre in the South of England. Anolis products were recommended for the architectural installation to the theatre’s Chief LX Neil Kingston and their head of technical operations, Rachel Fox, by several people, including those running the O2 Guildhall, another leading Southampton live performance venue - which is also externally lit with Anolis - as well as by contacts at cruise company Carnival UK which is headquartered in the city. With these references, Kingston was confident that Anolis
France - Nestled 50km southeast of Paris in Maincy, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is famous for its beautiful gardens dating back to the 17th century and its place as the largest private estate listed as a historical monument. For the last 15 years, the estate has hosted a Christmas show, named Vaux-le-Vicomte’s illuminations, which sends guests on a festive exploration around the 100-acre grounds. In the previous two years, the estate has featured video mapping in its celebrations, and ends the event with a projection on the front of the Château. This year, the team behind the expansive illuminations, French integrator and rental stager BS Technology, chose to rely on Digital Projection’s M-Vision Laser 21000 WU for the projection mapping of Vaux-le-Vicomte’s façade. “Digital Projection’s recent ground-breaking technologies, like the remote laser
UK - West End theatres must once again close their doors as London moves into the highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions from midnight tonight (Tuesday 15/12). Many shows – including Pantoland at the Palladium, Six and Les Miserables: The Staged Concert – had only just opened and were following strict COVID-safe measures. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said the move would cause “catastrophic financial difficulties" for venues, producers and thousands of workers.” Andrew Lloyd Webber issued a statement saying: “I feel devastated for all those in theatre who have tried so hard to provide entertainment for the Christmas season. Theatres have worked tirelessly to make themselves as COVID-safe as possible. It does seem arbitrary and unfair that people can jostle uncontrolled in crowded shops yet orderly socially-distanced theatre-going is banne
UK - SLX Hire and Events, a Bristol-based technical event supplier, has designed and installed over a dozen festive events across the UK already this winter from Swanage to Scotland. Says Alastair Currie, CEO of SLX, “This year has been beyond challenging for the event industry, but we were lucky enough to have maintained, or in some cases procured, winter project contracts. These are mainly outdoor events, where a wonderful immersive light trail is installed to bring a bit of magic to those who visit – and importantly revenue to historic buildings and estates who have had a similarly difficult year. “When the second lockdown was announced, we were slightly anxious about what that would mean for these projects – including the Trains project that sees five heritage steam railway lines and the trains illuminated for immersive rides across the Christmas pe
UK - For Adam King, Shakespeare’s Macbeth was a welcome opportunity to jump back into lighting design after seven months of being idled by the pandemic. “My work calendar for the entire year was wiped out because of the lockdown,” said King. “I missed doing the thing I love.” Eager to get involved in theatre, King approached Mountview Drama School and asked if he could be of any use lighting shows for livestreams, pointing out that he had experience in lighting for theatre and as well as the camera. Much to his delight, Mountview responded by offering him the opportunity to light a series of shows starting with Macbeth. “This show was a new experience,” recalls King. “There were only eight people in the theatre due to social distancing, so our main audience was online. We did three days of normal tech rehearsals and then three days of came
Italy - Luxury car manufacturer Maserati launched the MC20, the first super sports car of its Trident brand, in an event format powered by disguise xR. Milan-based Feelrouge Worldwide Shows staged a two-day hybrid event held at the Autodromo di Modena race-track, and broadcast live around the world. The setting included a huge open-air, installation stage with 630 square meters of LED video screens on three different axes, which hosted a series of anamorphic visual effects and augmented and mixed reality content, powered by three disguise gx 2c media servers. The visual narrative was complemented by a live performance, light show, sound system and original soundtrack. A fleet of 50 Maserati cars from across the years were showcased in the grandstand, creating an evocative drive-in theatre setting for over 500 live guests, accommodated in socially distanced sea
Portugal - The Cultural and Congress Centre (CCC), the leading performance and conference venue in Caldas da Rainha, has announced it is one of the first venues in Portugal to acquire specific technical equipment to sanitise its performance and public spaces, by installing new, fully-certified UV products from GoldenSea UV in an effort to ensure maximum safety for its spectators, artists and employees. The CCC has invested in two types of GSUV sterilization and disinfection products, after careful consultation with Portuguese distributor, NAN of Lisbon. The venue procured four units of UVL150, a high-powered mobile UV lighting fixture for the sterilization of large interior spaces. These are rigged on stands and therefore easily transported to any desired location within the CCC’s auditoria and performances spaces. The resident team also chose a compact UV4C-H ultraviolet
