USA - ARRI Rental has announced two additions to the team at its Atlanta facility. Peter Fodero, who has joined as operations manager, will oversee day-to-day management of the rental operation, while new client contact Kyle Baggett will focus on excellence in customer service. Fodero began his career as a production freelancer before joining another equipment rental house in 2011 where he held many roles, most recently as general manager. “I’m delighted to welcome Peter and Kyle to the team,” says Peter Crithary, President ARRI Rental US Camera. “Their extensive knowledge and close connections within the creative community are a tremendous asset.” Regional marketing executive Kelli Bingham will continue to focus on managing the company’s relationships with production and crew in Atlanta, as well as seeking new business opportunities. Working alongs
The Netherlands - Highlite International BV will be present during Integrated Systems Europe 2019, hall 7, stand Y190. At the Highlite stand various installation solutions from DAP Audio, visuals from DMT Premiere LED screens, effect lighting from Showtec and Infinity with the Furion and Signature series will be showcased. DAP Audio supplies an array of installation mixers equipped for zone control with multiple inputs. Amplifiers, like the analogue HP-series, the digital QI-Series or the 100V PA- or ZA-series offer possibilities for multi-roomed venues. In combination with the Celestion-powered new XI-MKII installation speaker series are ideal for fixed installations. Infinity will show the Furion Series, very fast and powerful LED-based moving heads, equipped with Wireless DMX. The Infinity washlight iW-720, the pixel controlled washlight iW-1915 Pixel RGBW Wash and
USA - When Elation Professional showed the new Rayzor 760 LED luminaire with SparkLED technology at trade shows in Europe and North America last fall, the response from LDs on both sides of the Atlantic was overwhelmingly positive. Elation has now announced that the compact wash light - the first to feature Elation’s innovative SparkLED LED pixel effect system – will be available from February in the US and Mexico and from March - in Europe. Driven by seven independently controlled 60W RGBW LEDs with a 5° to 77° zoom, the Rayzor 760 can produce a well-defined mid-air beam of over 8000lm that stands out on any stage and then spread exceptionally wide for even wash coverage. The fixture’s seven oversized front lenses create a large surface that is enhanced by SparkLED technology, 28x2W white LEDs strategically placed inside the lenses themselves to create a uniq
USA - BayPort Credit Union’s 25 Nights of Northern Lights is an annual holiday event held from 1 to 25 December in the City Centre at Oyster Point in Newport News, Virginia. Situated by the lakeside with its 400ft fountain, a 50ft tall pixel-mapped Christmas tree forms the focal point of the festival which includes seasonal events, vendors and street performers as well as a light show that is tied to the tree and includes elements surrounding the fountain. The sound system for the 2018 festival was designed and supplied by Washington Professional, a full service AV systems integration specialist. Designed by Austin Wydrzynski of Washington Professional, with installation by RWS Entertainment, the loudspeaker system was installed inside the Christmas tree to provide sound reinforcement for the synchronized light show. The system designed by Wydrzynski employed Communi
France - Every year around 4m visitors come to the Fête des Lumières in Lyon and every year this festival surpasses itself. It began in December, 1852 as a spontaneous, religious gesture: During the procession of Mary, the inhabitants of Lyons put candles on the window. In the meantime, Fête des Lumières has become France's largest art festival, attracting millions of visitors every year and offering 40 light installations spread all over the city. For four days, international light artists illuminate highly complex light projections on the historic buildings of Lyon. For four nights, the courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville becomes is made accessible to the public. People can cross the building from the Place de la Comedie to the Place des Terreaux. Walking becomes a contemplative experience of pure light, the laser sources are multiplied and compose a spectacular sce
Hong Kong - Clockenflap Music and Arts Festival, which takes place annually on Hong Kong’s Central Harbourfront Event Space, once again proved a major success. This year’s headliners included such names as David Byrne, Erykah Badu, Jarvis Cocker, Interpol, The Vaccines, Khalid and Wolf Alice, which delighted the crowds of more than 60,000. GLP’s X4 Bars were pressed into action by event management and production company, A-Team Plus (HK) Ltd, who had made their first investment in the German manufacturer’s LED fixtures. They had added eight impression X4 Bar 10 battens and 16 of the longer X4 Bar 20 - all of which were specified and deployed at Clockenflap. A-Team Plus has been the main stage supplier for a number of years. Although the stage structure this year was shipped in 15 containers from Megaforce in Germany all AV for the main stage was provided by A-T
UK - White Light is welcoming in 2019 by supplying a range of theatre shows in London’s West End as well as touring productions across the country. Over the course of 2018, WL supplied the lighting for a variety of hit shows including the critically-acclaimed Company, The Inheritance, Young Frankenstein, The Jungle, The Pinter Season, The King and I, True West and the Oscar Wilde season. The company also continued to supply long-running hits including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Matilda, Aladdin, Tina The Musical, 42nd Street and Les Misérables. WL’s MD Bryan Raven comments: “We had a fantastic 2018 which was one of our busiest yet. As we progress into 2019, we have hit the ground running and are looking to repeat the success of last year. Our expert Customer Service teams continue to work with designers, both established and emergi
Lithuania - The Lithuanian agency Baltas Daznis put their trust in Goboservice to create a highly evocative scenario in collaboration with the Creative Dock agency. The municipal administration of Vilnius last year announced a competition reserved for innovative projects which aimed to embellish public zones of the city. 30 proposals were submitted, from which the Commission selected the top four. One of these is the Vilnius Illuminated Legend Park, based on an idea by Simonas Eismontas. At the Pasaku Park (the fairytale park), Divum projectors were used to revive 10 legendary figures in the national history of the Baltic country. The architectural projections were used to give new life to an urban-suburban area that risked degradation in a territorial marketing operation with a strong cultural value. This was a difficult test for the new architectural projectors
Columbia - Arbol Naranja (Orange Tree) is an event organiser and creative agency that more recently also became an equipment rental company called Circuito Naranja, initially to service their own shows and clients, then expanding into a proactive new division of the business. They are young, ambitious and passionate about their work which is primarily music orientated, and the new rental element has also become a bit of a disruptor on the lively Bogota event production scene. The rental side of the business is managed by Luis Burgos, also one of the owners and founders of Arbol Naranja, which kicked off in 2006. Their two main areas of business are complete event organization and equipment rental, and there are currently 70 full time staff working across two nearby sites in the Chapinero area of Bogota, servicing around 200 events a year of different sizes and complexi
Germany - The Brandenburg Gate has seen New Year’s Eve come and go over 225 times, but the historic structure has never shined quite like it did this 31 December. An estimated one million NYE revellers gathered along a two-kilometer route that culminated at the landmark for New Year's Eve in Berlin. There, in the shadow of the famous gate, international stars like DJ Bobo, Alice Merton, Bonnie Tyler and the Village People appeared on the Genesis Stage. Providing visual support for their performances was a dazzling lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures deployed by TCL Event AG. Designed by Denny Arndt of 666 Veranstaltungstechnik and Helge Rabethge of TCL Event AG, the lightshow used 160 of the 1-meter ÉPIX LED strips. With over 50 different acts from a wide variety of genres taking to the stage, the designers’ main challenge was to underli
USA_ Visitors to the NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Centre will be able to see some of Elation’s latest lighting innovations at Booth #11542 in Hall A. On display – and shipping from February – will be the much-talked-about Rayzor 760, a compact yet powerful LED wash effects luminaire with SparkLED technology. SparkLED consists of 28 individual white LEDs inside the front lens that creates a unique additional layer of effect. Driven by seven, independently controlled 60W RGBW LEDs, the Rayzor 760 with wide zoom projects well-defined mid-air beams as well as an exceptionally even wash. Continuous pan & tilt rotation adds another layer of dynamic effect. Featuring alongside the Rayzor 760 will be the Smarty Hybrid, a full-featured spot/beam/wash fixture and the most compact CMY colour mixing hybrid Elation has released to date. Also on show will be
UK - Stage Electrics has announced it has won a £2m contract for the supply and installation of specialist production lighting and audio-visual infrastructure for Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. The broadcast, arts and entertainment venue closed in 2014 for demolition and redevelopment and is scheduled to fully reopen its doors again in 2019. The new 90,000 sq. ft. Riverside Studios will comprise three studios, small, medium and large, as well as public and community spaces including a two-screen cinema, rehearsal space and a number of restaurants and bars. The design of the medium studio is particularly flexible allowing for the easy alternation between theatre, music, events and television. During the consultancy phase of the project, Stage Electrics advised on the supporting infrastructure to allow it to function as a multipurpose space. The smaller studio is int
Italy - Audiolux is one of the first Italian rental companies to stock up with a large number of Axcor Profile 600s. Claypaky has recently launched this LED spot profiler on the market and it has been an immediate success among industry professionals and workers. The Lodi-based company has purchased 100 standard version Axcor Profile 600 units, in order to add a successful reliable light to their stock for use in the numerous shows and theatrical, musical and television events it is involved in. Ettore dell'Orti, owner of Audiolux, told us that a lot of thought went into choosing the Axcor Profile 600. He analysed and discussed it with his employees right down to the last detail. "We set up our showroom with all the most competitive models on the medium-high power LED spotlight market. After that, we invited the biggest names in Italian lighting design in the theatre,
UK - Lighting and visuals rental specialist HSL supplied lighting equipment to 32 Qdos pantomime productions across the UK for their 2018-19 season, together with a full rigging – truss and motors package – plus Kinesys automation for Cinderella at Glasgow’s SEC. Lighting the colourful fantasy environments that characterise this genre of comedic melodrama is huge fun for lighting designers, and this year HSL worked with 17 LDs and liaised with 25 production LX’s who made it happen on the various sites which included Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. HSL’s 2018 panto team was led by Jordan Hanson, assisted by Emma Turner, and included account handlers Sean McGlone and Mark Shakeshaft, all well-known for their multi-tasking and number-crunching abilities. Jordan comments: “Fluid communication, having a cool head for logistics and being orga
UAE – For over 10 years, an ETC Eos Classic has been used to light the broadcast studio of leading TV news channel Al Arabiya, 24 hours a day, seven days a week live on air without any technical faults. Al Arabiya is the chief news station in the Middle East, based in Dubai. ETC dealer, Oasis Enterprises has been in partnership with Al Arabiya since 2008, supplying and installing technical equipment to the TV channel. The news studio commented positively on the relationship with Oasis Enterprises, remarking that their “reliability and support’ influenced the decision to choose ETC for their broadcast studio”. “They offer us a great service and are always available whenever we need them,” comments the head of news resources, Mahmoud Issa. This year, Al Arabiya was upgraded to ETC’s flagship lighting control desk Eos Ti, bringing the latest technology and m
UK - Beautiful beaches, tasty Caipirinhas and soulful music: probably enough reasons to justify why over 2m people travel to the Rio de Janeiro carnival in Brazil each year. When the team at Vivid Experience decided upon this exotic South American festival atmosphere as the theme for the Athena Christmas party in the cold East Midlands region of the UK, they knew that recreating this warm-weather carnival atmosphere was not going to be a simple task. Responding to this challenge, production manager Jake Moore and production engineer Chris T-Smith devised an ingenious plan to support Vivid’s creative concept of a carnival-like atmosphere at the Athena event, complete with a makeshift street filled with various pop-up bars, Brazilian artefacts and Samba dancers on stage. Contributing to this immersive environment were colourful lighting displays from 12 Chauvet Profess
South Korea - Seoul Dragon City is Seoul features upscale accommodations, fine dining and world-class entertainment. The hotel complex wanted its luxurious facilities to benefit from a new lighting solution suitable for a wide range of upscale events. To achieve this, Seoul Dragon City hired lighting specialists Hansam System, who deployed a comprehensive Martin lighting solution comprised of RUSH MH 5 Profile, RUSH MH 6 Wash, RUSH PAR 2 CT Zoom, RUSH PAR 2 RBGW Zoom, MAC Aura XB, MAC Quantum Profile, MAC Quantum Wash and MAC Axiom Hybrid fixtures. “Seoul Dragon City wanted to build their facilities with cutting-edge LED fixtures to create more versatile and dynamic lighting effects,” says Sun-Gyun Kim, sales manager at Hansam System. “The biggest challenge was protecting the Mac Axiom Hybrid and Quantum Wash fixtures on the Sky Beach’s rooftop lounge from exte
USA - Over the past year, Emmy Award-winning designer Oscar Dominguez added significantly to the selection of Solaris fixtures used on his many projects, including NBC’s The Voice, and World of Dance. Recently, up to 124 Solaris Flare Rayzrs were added to the main stage of The Voice, for featured artists’ guest spots, as well as for contestants’ live, final rounds performances. Oscar also used up to almost 1,000 Solaris Mozart fixtures in unique, innovative ways on various sets. “I’ve been a Flare fan for years, both the original Flares, and then the LR,” says Oscar. “Now, the new Rayzr ‘blade of light,’ which has all the Flare features, benefits and brightness in a super-thin linear form factor, has given us a radically different design element. It’s a terrific tool for creating unique light patterns and shapes. For some sets, I tact
UK - The future of DJ exhibition BPM has been secured with the launch of a new limited company, BPM Shows Ltd. The show, previously organised by Marked Events as BPM | PRO, was initially cancelled following Marked Events' liquidation in the summer of 2018. But a joint effort led by some of the affected companies who worked closely with Pete Williams of Mobile DJ Network (MDJN) ensured BPM 2018 took place last October in a less costly, more business-friendly environment at Cranmore Park, Solihull. BPM Shows Ltd is led by show directors Steven Boys, an experienced mobile DJ/sound and lighting engineer with a background in weddings and events organising, and Jack Wilson (Kent Media Group). They will be supported by a team of well-known industry figures including Mark Parkhouse (FBT Audio) and Kris Dawber. Wilson comments: “We are very proud to officially a
UK - Alexander Production Services (APS) has strengthened its in-house stock of entertainment technology through delivery of Elation’s all-weather Proteus Hybrid moving head and multi-functional Smarty Hybrid moving head. Located near Reading, with roots in the entertainment technology industry that go back to 1996, APS focuses on event management and power, lighting and sound supply for private and corporate customers, as well as architectural lighting. “Because we do a lot of lighting work outside and within marquees, having high quality IP-rated lights is key to our success in delivering these types of installations,” says APS’s Richard Alexander. “With its exceptional power, IP rating and flexibility, the Proteus Hybrid will be invaluable for architectural and entertainment lighting, and we believe these fixtures will be attractive as part of our dry-hi
Belgium - The massive art deco building bordering the Ixelles Ponds at the edge of Place Flagey Square has been at the heart of Belgium’s rich musical and cultural history since it opened in the 1930s. Originally called Maison de la Radio, but now known simply as the Flagey, the building provided a suitable setting for the 2018 edition of the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards, an all-Belgium annual event honouring rising stars and outstanding achievements in the country’s burgeoning music scene. Thomas Boets created a lighting design for the popular event that paid homage to its 2018 venue, while still reflecting the contemporary artistry of its honourees. Helping him in this endeavour were 380 pixel-mapped ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures from Chauvet Professional, supplied by L&L Stage Service. “The Flagey is iconic, and our show took place in the building’s Stu
UK - It’s panto time again in the UK with the slapstick, craziness and innuendos flying as fast as a foam pie in the face. At Blackpool Grand this year, putting both beauty and some beast attitude into the show, lighting designer Andy Webb specified 81 x Robe fixtures - 98 per cent of them LED sources - for a brand-new version of the classic tale produced by UK Productions for the 2018-19 season. It’s the fourth consecutive year that Andy has lit the famous UK seaside resort’s panto, which was directed by Damian Sandys with whom he also worked on the 2017-18 production. This was a huge advantage to the fluidity and creative flow of this year’s show, together with knowing the venue, a beautiful original Matcham house that is notoriously tight for space when installing the complex modern productions of the 21st century. Andy chose Robe as his main lighting
Europe - High End Systems has announced that entries are now open for Hog Factor 2019, taking place at Prolight + Sound on 3 April in Frankfurt. Open to all aspiring lighting practitioners, university students and apprentices, the competition is back on a bigger scale than ever before, welcoming entrants from across Europe, Africa and the Middle East regions. Hog Factor was first held in the US (2015) and has grown its reputation in the industry for being the chief lighting programming competition across the globe. In the first phase of the competition, entrants are invited to program a light show on a Hog console to a specified song via a visualisation file. The deadline for submissions is 26 February 2019. Following this, judges will select three shortlisted teams who will receive free travel and accommodation for Prolight + Sound 2019 (2-5 April). The teams w
UK - St Mary’s Church in Standon, Hertfordshire is a Grade I listed building. Bequeathed to the Knights of St John in the 12th century, this processional church has experienced many architectural embellishments over the years, all of which have served to add to its character as a significant link to a rich historical past. In continuous use for hundreds of years, St Mary’s remains a community hub where alongside congregational worship, it’s used for concerts, recitals and events, attracting local audiences as well as visitors from further afield. The church is supported by an independent charity, which works to preserve and restore the ancient building, as well as by a host of local volunteers who keep its extensive churchyard in good order. In recent times, the church authorities had concluded that significant improvements were required to its internal facilitie
