India - Ananta Stagecraft called on a total of 172 fixtures from the PR Lighting catalogue to provide dynamic illumination for the recent Gaana Bollywood Music Project. This two-day event was held in the Indian capital of Delhi, and according to Ananta Stagecraft’s Jay Joshi, the spectators were mesmerised by the spectacular lightshow. Local company Ananta Stagecraft had recently invested heavily in PR Lighting, and as the official lighting partner for the event they were able to field 60 x PR XR 330 Beam II; 50 x PR XR440 BWS; 38 x PR XR480 BWS and 24 x PR XLED 4022RZ to achieve impressive brightness and versatility. These fixtures populated two massive stages, both expertly designed by house lighting designers Jay Joshi and Sohail Mansuri to provide maximum bang for the buck. The lighting designers themselves were hugely impressed. Said Sohail Mansuri, “
Czech Republic - For the 2017 edition of the Transmission Festival, the Spirit of the Warrior, staged in Prague’s O2 Arena, the organisers of one of Czech Republic’s most popular dance events promised their guests “an unrivalled visual and sonic experience” delivered by a creative team including lighting designer Bas Kemper, Dutch VJ collective, Vision Impossible and Rudo Tucek, owner of Slovakian rental specialist, Ministry Rental Service. Ministry had just taken delivery of 24 new Robe MegaPointes in the weeks before the event and these multi-purpose fixtures took centre stage on the lighting plot, positioned prominently around the DJ booth at the suggestion of Rudo. “I was really keen to get MegaPointes right at the epicentre of the event” explained Rudo, “so deploying them around the DJ booth was an obvious place.” Two rows of eight
UK - Theatre design associations and trade unions have formed a working group to address workplace issues affecting professional lighting designers. The Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD) and the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) have for the first time joined forces with Equity and BECTU to “evaluate and unpack the complex nature of current working terms and conditions for designers” and address fair pay, career paths, workplace abuse, harassment and bullying. The aim is to “work towards fair, clear and robust models of engagement”, increase diversity and ensure transparent career paths and address concerns about fees and contracts “within the wider context of fear, bullying and harassment that we are now beginning to evidence has been endemic across the whole of our industry”. In a joint statement, the organisations say: “If a profe
USA - The studio of Vermont Public Radio (VPR), a network of state-wide public radio stations, recently underwent a renovation to enhance its web broadcasts and live performances. The network required a lighting design that could operate within its strict ambient noise guidelines and appointed Dark Star Lighting and Production to provide a complete LED solution with Altman Lighting PHX 150W Profile and Spectra Star Par luminaires. Wolf Wallace, general manager, Dark Star Lighting and Production, explains: “This was a new studio space for both live performances and web streams, so they needed a new lighting system, but they were very sensitive about the sound levels in the studio environment. After they brought in an acoustic company to ensure the room was as purely contained for sound as possible, we knew we needed quiet LED luminaires in the lighting design for soun
UK - Beauty and the Beast enjoyed a six-week run at Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Scotland, as a pantomime produced by Bard in the Botanics. To accent the twists and turns of the story, lighting designer Rory Beaton relied on the vivid colours and bright output of four Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot and four Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures. “The Mavericks provided the subtle ‘theatrical’ element to the lighting whilst simultaneously supplying flashy, showbiz looks to make the big numbers feel like a large-scale musical,” said Beaton. “The colour mixing ability of the MK3 Washes was what allowed us to switch between the pastel world of the story and the bright, vivid saturated energy of the musical numbers. I was really impressed by their sheer punch - in fact, I’m not sure we ever had the washes at full output.” Whereas the wash fixtures p
Taiwan - The opening of the Silks Club, a five-star hotel in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, was marked with a launch party spanning across various venues within the hotel. The main lighting focus was on the entrance lobby performance area, with further abstract performances at the pool deck. Roger Sansom Productions masterminded this, commissioning experienced Malaysia-based LD Steve Nield, who specified 40 GLP X4 atoms. The lighting designer has a long relationship with GLP Asia’s Søren Storm, who met up at GLP’s Hong Kong office late last year where Michael Muenz, general manager of GLP Asia, demoed the units. “At the same time, we also discussed some mounting options for the X4 atom,” remembers Storm. In keeping with the Japanese-themed design, the lighting at the entrance lobby was designed to reflect a very stark and linear concept while at the same time havin
The Netherlands - With seven Grammy Awards and more than 100m albums sold worldwide, Gloria Estefan is one of the most successful Latin crossover artists of all time. The superstar’s latest smash hit, however, came in the form of a sell-out Broadway musical, On Your Feet, which depicts her moving and inspiring life story. Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Kenneth Posner utilized the Chauvet DJ Intimidator Beam LED 350 on the show’s original Broadway run. Now the fast-moving fixture is enjoying an encore in the musical‘s current run at the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht, courtesy of Stage Entertainment Netherlands. New York-based Dutch LD Gertjan Houben, who functioned as the Associate LD on the Utrecht show, has specified 48 Intimidator 350 Beam fixtures, supplied by Ampco Flashlight. Although the décor and scenic elements of the Dutch production were id
USA - Former One Direction band member Niall Horan has gone solo and is on his current Flicker Sessions tour, with Special Event Services supplying the lighting for a string of North American tour dates last autumn, including 16 pixel bar wash luminaires from the Elation Professional Chorus Line. Production, lighting and scenic design for the tour is courtesy of UK-based production design company Okulus with lighting direction by David ‘Bickie’ Lee. Creative direction for the tour was by Modest Management and Okulus. The Chorus Line 16 pixel bar fixtures, 42-inch long (107 cm) colour-changing pixel bars, played a special role from static positions behind the risers. Projecting high and low through the band or aligned to shoot above musicians’ heads, they gave what lighting director Lee describes as an unbroken blade-like look. “From behind the risers th
France - Airstar has announced the release of Bulbs, the company’s latest lighting balloons. The inspiration behind Bulbs came from Pierre Chabert, president and director of innovation at Airstar. The Bulbs are named after great inventors and are inspired by vintage bulb shapes appreciated by the general public and the Airstar network. “The event market constantly needs to renew itself to provide new ideas and solutions for its customers and the general public”, explains Airstar sales director, Xavier Ponson. “Traditional light bulbs are popular shapes that you can find in most design stores and interior decoration outlets nowadays. We believe it can have a similar success for events, so we decided to turn it into an Airstar innovation.” With their original shapes, Bulbs replicate giant models of traditional bulbs. Available in eight different shapes an
UK - The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has upgraded its lighting fleet, adding seven new Martin by Harman MAC Encore Performance moving heads to its shared stock. Commissioned by Paul Halgarth, lecturer in lighting, electrics and programming at LIPA, and supplied by Martin by Harman dealer Stage Electrics, the new fixtures will enable students on the Theatre and Performance Design and Technology degree courses to access the latest technology. Halgarth says: “We always need the latest technology and we pride ourselves in having industry standard equipment. It’s vital as students can go from our course straight into employment. “I specifically wanted units with framing shutters because we didn't have any,” he continues. “Stage [Electrics] were extremely helpful and I looked at all the leading [competitive] brands as well as the Martin M
UK - Thanks to songs such as You Raise Me Up and Have I Told You Lately, Russell Watson’s blend of classical opera and catchy pop has succeeded. On the road recently with Watson’s latest tour was LD Ollie Wilkinson of Arranpaul LTD, who treated Watson’s show to an all-encompassing visual spectacle with a selection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures. Wanting to provide a stunning set of visuals for the Manchester-born opera singer, Wilkinson worked together with Production Manager Dan Tiley to produce a show of grandiose measures. To provide illumination for one of the defining features of the stage - a wraparound curtain behind the band - Wilkinson utilised the 19 (15W) RGBW quad-LEDs of the Rogue fixtures to excellent effect. “I wanted to wash the entire backdrop with colour,” commented Wilkinson. “The saturated colours of the Rog
USA - When Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas presented its annual The Gift of Christmas show in December 2017 design collaborators UVLD took control to a new level employing Claypaky Scenius Profiles and Mythos2 fixtures for the spectacular, 90-minute multimedia production. The production featured Santa and his workshop in Act One, a choral interlude in Act Two and a living nativity in Act Three. This season, new music and a new script opened the show; two-thirds of the lighting cues occurred in Act One and five days were devoted to programming them. “In the past we’ve had 10 or 12 dedicated follow spots to cover people flying and various audience activities,” says UVLD lighting designer Matt Webb. “We discovered a new follow spot system and decided to give it a shot. It allowed us to utilise moving lights as follow spots.” “We could
USA - US entertainment laser projectors manufacturer X-Laser has become an official dealer of Avolites lighting control hardware in the United States. At LDI 2017, the company worked with the Avolites team on a setup which featured Avolites lighting consoles used to demonstrate and unveil the X-Laser Mercury laser control system. Adam Raugh, president of X-Laser USA, says: “The team at Avolites were extremely helpful both on site at LDI and especially in the run up to the show while we were finalizing the necessary fixture profiles as we prepared the launch of our Mercury laser control system. Now that we’re on board with Avolites, we can provide our clients turn-key laser fixture packages including projectors equipped with our Mercury laser control interface, as well as powerful Avolites control hardware that’s pre-loaded with our laser fixture profiles.”
Belgium - Luc Peumans and the team from Painting with Light created a lighting design and supplied media servers for the production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid staged by Marmalade Content at Flanders Expo in Ghent, Belgium. Luc had worked in the same role on Marmalade’s 2016 Beauty and the Beast productio and was delighted to be reunited with set designer Stefan Haudenhuyse and director Frank Van Laecke, with whom he collaborated on 14-18, a Spectacular Musical. The technical director was Bart De Coensel from The Production Box. The creative process began with a brain-storming session between Luc and the producers, Frank and Stefan, from which this basic aesthetic framework emerged and Luc started to develop the lighting concepts. An underlining theme was to make it properly ‘spectacular’ in both impact and presence, so the audienc
UK - Lighting designer Nathan Wan, who designed the light show at last year’s Autosport International, returned for the show’s 2018 edition at the Live Action Arena in Hall 5 of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. Wan utilised over 250 Robe moving lights, working for the Live Arena’s equipment suppliers and technical consultants Network Productions. Network Productions’ Nick Halliday looked after the Live Arena’s technical direction and management aspects, with Dave Beel as production manager. Nathan introduced the power of Robe BMFLs into the mix last year for the first time, which enhanced the dynamics he could create with the rig. Apart from getting enough brightness in there, other parameters to consider include not blinding drivers as they belt round the short track at supernatural speeds, so fixture placement was crucial. In
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) 's specialist film & TV sales team will be showcasing their choice of LED solutions designed to work in image capture within the studio or on location - at BVE 2018, Excel London, UK, stand L41, 27 February - 1 March 2018. Chroma-Q’s range of LED solutions is becoming widely used for various broadcast, TV and film applications. Products on show include the 2016 Cine Gear Expo-winning Space Force tuneable white soft source, which delivers an output and performance comparable with a traditional 6kW fixture in an energy-efficient, lightweight, convection cooled, ultra-quiet design. Also showing is the 2016 LDI and ESTA award-winning Color Force II colour-mixing wash light range, the award-winning Studio Force Phosphor compact soft source, and the Color One 100X colour-mixing LED effects PAR. Also on show will be the late
USA - The recently-opened World Club has quickly become popular among visiting LDs for artists like Hardwell, Tiesto, Alan Walker and Armin Van Buuren. The spacious 21,000sq.ft venue at the south end of Charlotte’s famed Music Factory complex provides designers with a broad, colour-neutral canvas to work on. And, with eight universes of lighting hung from its ceiling, they can let their creative impulses scream out in wild, eye-shattering explosions of patterns and colour. “The space really gives the LD creative freedom to set the mood,” said Eye Dialogue’s Travis Pagels, who used a collection of Intimidator fixtures from Chauvet DJ to anchor his rig. “All the walls and furniture in the venue are black or metallic silver, so there really isn’t a colour scheme restricting the lighting designer. Then with all those universes in the ceiling, it’s easy to turn the
USA - Internet singing sensation Jacob Sartorius is wrapping up his second headlining tour with a lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites. With 1.5m Twitter followers, 9m Instagram followers and 2.7m YouTube subscribers, the multi-faceted artist released his second EP Left Me Hangin’ in the fall of 2017 before hitting the road in 2018 to bring his infectious energy and hit songs to fans in person. Bandit Lites supplied lighting designer Lenny Sasso with Martin MAC III Profiles, MAC Viper Profiles, Martin Sceptrons, Solaris Flares and a grand MA 2 lite console for control along with 60 Clay Paky Mirage Panels. Sasso designed the lighting to be a modern twist on the classic cabaret and big band styles, putting the band up on a raised platform with eight feet wide steps at the centre, giving Jacob the option to utilise both the downstage edge to connect with th
UK - Sculptor Andy Scott has created a five-metre high galvanised steel leopard - Poised - as the centrepiece of the newly developed Marischal Square urban quarter in central Aberdeen, Scotland. The work was commissioned by Muse Developments and Aviva Investors and was inspired by the City of Aberdeen’s ancient heraldic coat of arms, which features two leopards. The majestic beast is five metres high, with another five-metre reach for the tail hanging below. It weighs two tonnes. It is internally lit by 11 x Anolis ArcSource Outdoor 4MC LED fixtures. The leopard’s lighting design - to bring it alive after dark - was created by Scottish based lighting and environmental design practice Atelier Ten, also responsible for lighting all the Marischal Square commercial, retail and leisure spaces for Muse Developments. For Atelier Ten’s Peter Kerr, th
UK - Depeche Mode’s Global Spirit world tour kicked off in Stockholm in May 2017 and is currently scheduled to continue until the third quarter of 2018. Blackburn-based HSL is the worldwide lighting vendor for Global Spirit working with a travelling crew headed by production manager Tony Gittins. The asymmetric lighting design was created by Sooner Routhier and Robert Long of SRae Productions in Nashville and is being directed on the road by their associate LD, Manny Conde. The industrial production design was imagined by the band’s creative director Anton Corbijn, who has always pioneered video as an essential vehicle of live production. This is no exception with a large video screen upstage. HSL’s project manager looking after the tour is Jordan Hanson who comments, “It’s brilliant to be working with Tony, Sooner, Manny and an amaz
USA - Since 2015, event production company Showcore has been providing Elation Professional lighting to Minneapolis’ multi-purpose sports facility Target Centre that recently underwent a $130m renovation. Home to the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, the lighting system is a major contributor to the pre-game atmosphere. Showcore recently added Elation Paladin hybrid LED strobe/blinder/wash lights and compact Rayzor 360Z LED beam moving effects to the arena lighting rig to complement other Elation lights installed in 2015 and 2016, namely Arena Par Zoom and SixPar 300 LED Par lights, Rayzor Q12 LED moving heads, Protron 3K LED strobes and Cuepix WW2 LED blinder/strip lights. “We’ve had Elation products in the arena since 2015 and have had a lot of success with our client using Elation,” said Josh Wabaunsee, lighting designer at S
UK - Star Light, Star Bright, an award-winning installation created by Bailes and Light and Hellion Trace, is that’s taking place in Oxford throughout January and February. Bailes and Light designed lighting and digital electronics for the seven ‘constellations’ that make up the installation. The constellations are part interactive lighting spectacle, part social experiment. They bring people together, encouraging them to play with light and learn more about the stars above their city. Star Light, Star Bright launched in Oxford January 2018. Bailes and Light have worked closely with Hellion Trace to ensure Star Light stays fully functional throughout its stay. As Ben Bailes, director of Bailes and Light says: “We’re proud to think we helped bring Hellion Trace’s interactive installation to life. It was fascinating to explore how technology ca
UK - All or Nothing, the mod musical that follows the rise and fall of the Small Faces, features a range of the band’s classic hits, including Itchychoo Park, Lazy Sunday and All or Nothing. Following its initial run at The Vaults in 2015, followed by a sell-out UK tour, the show opened last week at London’s Arts Theatre. Having supplied the show since its very first production, White Light has been called upon once again to provide the West End run. The lighting designer for All or Nothing is Peter Small, who has worked on the show since it first opened in 2016. He comments: “It’s fair to say the show has definitely grown and changed over time; so much so that it’s now a completely different production than the one seen at The Vaults. Every time we’ve remounted it for an extension or a new tour, w
Europe - Laser presentations specialist Tarm Showlaser has launched Lasergrid, which combines a number of single laser units with one single-coloured laser source, one or more power supply units and accessories. The single laser units are flexible to install and can be utilised on a ceiling, wall, on a truss or daisy-chained in a horizontal and/or vertical line. Each laser module generates a linear beam and all modules together form a laser grid with parallel laser beams. Each laser unit can be individually controlled by DMX (dimming). Number and design of the single components can be individually customised. The power supply provides the necessary supply voltage for all connected modules in one chain as well as the DMX interface for DMX control. The connection of daisy chained emergency stop systems is possible. Approximately 10 laser modules with c
