UK - Mark Ronson’s ‘Broken Heart’ visual and lighting design concept was initiated by his creative director Jed Skrzypczak and is a combination of two mirrored silver heart set pieces which wrap the DJ booth, coupled with integrated lighting that is co-designed by award winning LD Tim Routledge and Ben Cash from Flare Lighting. Framing these scenic pieces are four ‘half heart’ lighting props, graceful curved metal stems each rigged with 21 equidistantly-spaced Astera AX3 Light Drop wireless LED fixtures - 84 in total. The artist wanted something eye-catching and cool to go match the music – a largely fluid set, carefully crafted for each show, with some centrepiece anthems and other parts inspired by the magic and vibe of the moment. He wanted the lighting and the look to be theatrical and dramatic as well as different from a ‘standard’ electro
USA - Elation sale representative companies RL Wilson & Associates and JLH Marketing have hired Grant Geiselman as a product specialist. He will assist both firms with product demos and overall knowledge of all Elation Professional product lines. Geiselman, who has been involved in the entertainment technology industry since the age of 13, has developed a comprehensive technical skill set that includes lighting design, programming, networking, software development and more. Most recently working as a freelance designer and programmer, he has extensive experience working on lighting and video design projects across Southern California. (Jim Evans)
UK - White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for the recent West End transfer of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin following its critically-acclaimed UK tour. Based on Louis de Bernières’ best-selling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is the story of romance in the face of the Second World War set on the idyllic Greek island of Cephallonia. The production marks the novel’s first major theatrical adaptation and marks the 25th anniversary since its original publication. For both the UK tour and West End run, the lighting design was by Malcolm Rippeth. Malcolm comments: “As a creative team, one of our main aims was to find the look and feel of Cephalonia and the other spaces featured across the story; the key one being the Italian soldiers fighting their way through the country. In that sense, it was creating a space of peace and beauty in pre-in
USA - Australian band Ocean Alley completed a 32-city tour of the US and Canada earlier this summer. For the mainly small venue dates, Max Baldwin, the band’s lighting designer utilised Professional Rogue R1X Spot fixtures supplied by Squeek Lights. “Our entire idea was to get looks in 400 or 500 capacity rooms with limited stage in North America that were similar to what we got at giant festivals and amphitheatres in Australia,” says Baldwin. “Obviously, we couldn’t duplicate the Australian looks exactly, but we could reflect the spirit of those shows with a smaller rig. The Rogues were essential to our plans. Working them with the various house rigs we encountered gave us a lot of options.” Although he varied the arrangement of fixtures from night to night, depending on the configuration of each venue’s stage, Baldwin typically positioned a Rogue R1X S
Germany - Robe’s new IP65-rated iPointe moving lights were prominent among lighting fixtures on the main stage at this year’s Elements Festival, a two-day showcase of house music in the amusement park at Dormettingen, 80km southwest of Stuttgart, Germany. The festival is staged in a picturesque environment landscape and built on a former mining area, complete with its own artificial lake and beach. The event features three vibrant stages of music and is known for its high production values. Lighting for the main stage - located in a natural dip in the topography - was designed by Raphael Herrmann whose company Prolite Event also co-ordinated the supply of the lighting kit which included eight Robe Pointes and 16 LEDBeam 150s as well as the 22 iPointes, plus some other lights. Raphael has lit the main stage since Elements Festival started five years ago and
USA - ADJ has announced the availability of the PAR Z Move RGBW, part of its PAR Z range. This 300W C.O.B. LED colour mixing moving head par fixture that is suitable for fixed installation in theatres, churches, concert venues and nightclubs as well as for the temporary production of concerts, theatrical performances, festivals and dance events. The PAR Z Move RGBW houses a 300W C.O.B. LED engine, which generates an even wash and extremely smooth colour mixing with no colour shadows. It also offers variable colour temperature for white light washes, making it ideal for stage lighting as both a key light and a wash. The fixture is available now in the USA and will become available in Europe from mid-August. “The whole PAR Z Series, but particularly the PAR Z Move that we released earlier this year, has proved extremely popular with lighting designers looking for
USA - The Strings Attached tour, Weird Al Yankovic’s “most elaborate and extravagant” production to date, is out with a lighting and video package provided by Bandit Lites. Each performance features the works: costumes, props and a full orchestra accompanying the Grammy-award winning artist as he brings to life his hits including Amish Paradise White & Nerdy and Smells Like Nirvana. Bandit Lites supplied lighting designer James Hergen a package that would illuminate the stage as well as each local symphony, crafting a design that would allow the production to have trusses up and out of the way as quickly as possible, affording the musicians enough time to load in and begin soundchecks. VL 3500 Washes and Robe BMFL saturate the stage with textures and hues while Claypaky Sharpys supply additional coverage as well as well-time musi
Germany - The Great Tropical House lives up to its name. Completed in 1907, it remains one of the largest and most impressive self-supporting greenhouses in the world, housing more than 1,400 exotic plant species. On Friday 19 July, the impressive structure took on another important function when it served as the centre of the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden’s Botanische Nacht, an annual one-day summer festival organized by TLT Event AG that features music, magic shows, fantastical tales and non-stop fun in the heart of the German capital. Glowing like a giant space ship, the massive domed structure that turned out for this night-time event. Outlining the building’s architectural features captivated the large crowd and adding to its stunning appearance were 110 Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures that Denny Arndt featured in his lighting design. Coordinati
USA/Europe - ETC has formally acquired the ArcSystem, BlueSystem and CueSystem product lines from UK lighting manufacturer GDS. Effective today (1 August), the US company assumes the global manufacturing and distribution responsibilities for the three ranges, which it used to manufacture exclusively in North and South America since 2015. The agreement was first announced in December 2018 and signalled ETC’s intentions to expand its influence into the architectural lighting sector. David Lincecum, ETC vice-president of marketing, comments: “Bringing these family lines into the ETC fold allows us to reach more parts of the world with ETC’s quality architectural lighting solutions and unmatched customer service. With this expansion, ETC increases venues’ access to bea
USA - Bandit Lites has announced three staff promotions at its Knoxville headquarters. General manager Giff Swart has been named client representative and production manager. Swart, who has spent over 15 years at the company, will oversee local work at Knoxville, including numerous University of Tennessee events, more than 100 annual philanthropic endeavours and all events at the high-end resort Blackberry Farm. Brad Hylton has been promoted to facilities manager where he supervises the Knoxville facility and staff. With the Knoxville location recently being transformed into a sales and installation-focused facility, Hylton will be responsible for all aspects of freight, sales inventory, coordination of project preps and the upkeep and organisation of the building. Also receiving a promotion is lighting technician Alex Becker, who becomes a sales and productio
USA - Dynamic Productions USA recently made a significant investment in the new Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Profile. “Our main reason for purchasing the Maverick MK3 Profile was to expand our inventory so we can continue to offer clients a wide range of lighting solutions,” says John Fitzgerald, the company’s technical director. “There are many ways that we will be using these fixtures. They will be on our festival stages throughout the summer, as well as with some of our A-list touring acts. We also see the MK3 Profile being a big help on our corporate side for events.” “The Maverick MK3 Profile is an exciting breakthrough product, one that is the result of a long and dedicated R&D effort on the part of our entire team,” says Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “We’re very pleased that a universally respected quality-driven company like Dynam
UK - In the late 1980s, the Theatre Royal Windsor underwent a minor refurbishment in which Stage Electrics provided new production lighting panels, moved and refurbished the existing dimmers, ensuring the theatre was operating in line with health and safety standards of the time. Nearly 30 years later, the company has returned to the theatre to upgrade their mains supply and 50 year-old dimmers. “After a long period of service, the theatre’s dimmers were finally coming to the end of their lives,” explains Saul Eagles, business development manager at Stage Electrics. “With some of the dimmers being nearly 50 years old, the theatre contacted us to discuss their options for replacement. “As the theatre is dependent on ticket sales to operate, the option of an extended dark period was unfeasible,” Eagles adds. “The project needed to be completed rapidly, wi
South Africa - Johannesburg rental company MGG supplied the full technical production package for the Africa Play Conference. Hosted at The Maslow Time Square hotel in Pretoria earlier this year, the conference is a partnership between the Lego Foundation, the Department of Basic Education of the Republic of South Africa, UNICEF South Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). Four hundred delegates from around the globe, including educators, policy-makers and researchers, joined together to share insights and come up with ideas to help equip children in Africa to become creative and life-long learners. The emphasis was to explore learning through play and how this could improve the quality of early childhood development and become an integral part of the education system. “To add an element of fun, MGG was asked to include L
UK - Lighting designer Matt Tyler used Prolights LED fixtures to provide lighting for space-age performances by Orbital, Public Service Broadcasting and The Radiophonic Workshop at Apollo 50, a one-off event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Tyler utilised his own stock of Prolights Luma 700s, Diamond 19s and StudioCOB FC PARs to create the dynamic looks. “I needed to use quality fixtures that could truly do justice to this iconic event,” he explains. Millstone Sound provided lighting and sound production, whilst Tyler purchased the Prolights fixtures from exclusive UK distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies. Held at Cornwall’s Goonhilly Earth Station to celebrate the technological accomplishment of the Arthur satellite dish, which in 1969 beamed the moon landing footage live to 200m people in Europe, the anniversary was mark
Denmark - In lighting Musicalteatret’s Jack the Ripper musical at Copenhagen’s intimate Folketeatret, lighting designer Mikkel Bedsted faced some major lighting challenges. He found his solutions in the new VL2600 Profile LED stage luminaire from Vari-Lite. Bedsted’s main challenge was the venue’s limited weight loading. With the small theatre’s fly bars able to support only around 125kg, it became essential that his lighting fixtures were lightweight and compact in size. Versatility was also a crucial factor, as the more functions a single fixture could fulfil, the fewer units would be needed overall. Next, as the show’s designer, operator and sole lighting technician, Bedsted required maximum reliability. And, of course, he needed quality performance - including high output, excellent optics and advanced theatre lighting features. Through supplier
China - Ayrton has announced the installation of its first white Ghibli LED spot fixtures at the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Eighty of the white units were recently installed into the elegant interior of the Centre’s Concert Hall by ACE, Ayrton’s distributor for China, as part of a major upgrade of its lighting inventory. The Concert Hall, designed by French architect, Paul Andrew, within a giant oval shell that includes a 2,000-seat opera house and 900-seat theatre, is distinctive in its silver-white interior with an acoustic ceiling that resembles undulating white waves. The 1,900-seat auditorium is arranged in-the-round to enable the large-scale symphonies and Chinese traditional music that are performed there to be heard and viewed from any angle. Consequently, its new lighting fixtures had to be capable of handling swift lighting
UAE - Reliability was a major factor for Middle East rental and production company MediaPro’s large investment in Robe moving lights earlier this year, according to sales and marketing manager Jinesh Nair. When it came to making a decision about expanding the moving light inventory at their Dubai HQ, the vital parameters included engineering quality and versatile features as well as an increasing demand from international lighting designers requesting Robe products. This all led to the purchase of 86 Spiider LED wash beams, 76 MegaPointes and three RoboSpot systems complete with the BMFL FollowSpot LT (long-throw) fixture with integral camera, which has been especially designed for large arenas and stadiums. These are the first of these special BMFL followspots in the UAE. MediaPro’s initial relationship with Robe dates back to 2006. Established in the UAE in
Europe - The Laserworld Group has released the tarm 2.5 laser light systems, a new generation of Art-Net/DMX-controllable lasers that can create and store artwork straight onto the device. The laser module in the tarm 2.5 has been improved by combining all laser sources in one white light module, which has professional mirror mounts allowing for precise module alignment with hex keys. Different laser software can be used to directly access the built-in DAC (digital-analogue-converter) via LAN for professional show control. Meanwhile, mobile DJs or entertainers who cannot actively control the laser during performance can make use of the sound-to-light or the standalone operation mode, which - combined with the option to load custom graphics to the mainboard - makes the tarm 2.5 suitable for advertisement projections or use in architecture illumination. The tarm 2
Hungary - The open-air theatre in Nyíregyháza recently upgraded their stage lighting capabilities with Prolights. Located in the heart of the city of Nyíregyháza, the 1,000-seat theatre has been a key attraction in the area since 1955. Previously fitted with halogen fixtures, the renovation focussed on re-invigorating the space throughout and upgrading the technology to reduce running costs, increase energy efficiency and increase light output. The new stage lighting system contains 20 Prolights Eclipse HD2 TU fixtures that were chosen for their brightness, even beam and clean shutter cuts, along with 20 Prolights full colour LED fixtures which provide a dramatically higher lumen level than their halogen predecessors. Both ellipsoidal fixtures were chosen for their versatility, broad functionality options and outstanding output levels and completed the reinvigorati
The Netherlands - Smile Licht En Geluid Utrecht BV is a busy design and technical production company based in Utrecht. The company has recently purchased 12 Robe VIVA CMYs and 32 LEDBeam 150s - to assist in the creative illumination of a wide range of events. The company was founded in its present format by Remko Vossen in 1998. The name already existed, however Remko took it from a disco based operation to a full-blown professional production facility which has become very well known locally and across Benelux. Smile supplies lighting, sound, AV, staging, and expertise to the events sector and has a reputation for imaginative flair and offering innovative technology and high standards of excellence. They have just moved into a large and spangly new warehouse and office space in Lage Weide, in the west of the city of Utrecht. These were the first Robe movin
Australia - After months of anticipation and secrecy, Halo - the light and sound experience designed specifically for Townsville, a coastal city in north eastern Queensland - has opened. Created and produced by Sydney-based AGB Events, Halo transforms Castle Hill, the natural ‘halo’ that hovers above Townsville. Presented by the Townsville City Council, Halo runs in conjunction with the inaugural North Australian Festival of Arts, and has been made possible through the support of the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund. “Townsville City Council wanted to create something highly memorable that would truly mesmerise and captivate the public’s imagination,” says Anthony Bastic, CEO and creative director of AGB Events. “We were thrilled and honoured to be asked to undertake such a prestigious and challenging project. We’re de
South Africa - Rental company MGG - the largest Claypaky stockist in South Africa - has purchased six Scenius Unicos from DWR Distribution. “We initially received the Scenius Unicos as demo units and it was love at first light,” explains Denzil Smith from MGG. “In the end, they were never given back. The punch, brightness, versatility and fantastic gobo selection make it the first choice for events (budget dependent), and my personal favourite fixture.” The Scenius Unico is able to perform in spot, beam or wash mode, and offers an assortment of solid colours. MGG’s lighting HOD, Jacques Pretorius, has test-driven the new workhorses and used them for front light and back light. What stands out for him is the full framing shutter, effective for applications like highlighting banners on stage as well as the renown Claypkay optical design. “Claypaky is re
UK - Technical production company Maestra Group has launched a scenic division. Based at Maestra’s London HQ, Maestra Scenic will offer services including CNC, carpentry and joinery, fabrication and engineering, painting and finishing as well as integration of other technical detailing - such as lighting, video or audio - into scenic fabrication projects. The new division will employ a team of 20 full-time staff, who will be led by director of production Mark Davies, former director of technical operations at the National Theatre and sales director at Stage One Creative Services. Davies comments: “The goals for good scenic companies are about meeting and then exceeding client expectations in all aspects - quality and build, finishing, being on-budget and ease of installation. It is essential to have the right people and processes all working harmoniously and with
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET), a Patron of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), supplied the event lighting for the Club's annual British Grand Prix party at Silverstone Circuit to showcase its latest product portfolio. Staged within the grounds of the BRDC Farm as part of the Formula 1 Rolex British Grand Prix weekend, the occasion attracts high-profile members and motorsport personalities. AC-ET has been a Patron of the BRDC’s exclusive Young Driver Programme for over a decade and supplied the lighting design for the event ever since. AC-ET worked closely again with the BRDC to create the event lighting. The company supplied the complete indoor and outdoor lighting systems, which utilised approximately 200 fixtures. The project was designed and overseen by AC-ET production manager, Andy Walne Smith. Featuring heavily in the marquee lighting
