South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa has taken stock of two Robert Juliat Merlins purchased from DWR Distribution. “It’s a pleasure for the crew to work with the Merlins,” commented Peter Abrahamse, acting lighting workshop manager. “No longer do you need four people to lift a big, bulky followspot as it is totally possible to move it around with only two people, saving us time on load in and load out. “I have also had numerous reports from our crew saying they had to run the spots at a lower intensity as they were just too bright. This is unbelievable as we generally struggle in some venues to throw over 100 meters. While the Merlins cover the distance, they still deliver a bright output on stage.” Designed by Robert Juliat with touring in mind, these compact fixtures have been a pleasing addition for Gearhouse. “In the past, we would have had to
USA - grandMA2 consoles and switches played a key role in networked lighting and video control for SAP’s Sapphire NOW/ASUG Annual Conference at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando. Lighting designer Paul Palazzo and programmer Paul J. Sonnleitner have worked on the event since 1999 and have been using MA consoles for the last 12 years. The conference has grown to encompass three days of keynotes, workshops and an exhibition floor. America’s SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) helps customers connect with each other, understand SAP products and services better and learn how to get the most from their investment. “The conference has become exceedingly large attracting some 20,000 participants,” says Sonnleitner, “and spans the entire convention centre. We need solid network technology to handle it, and it’s nice that we can stay within the MA family to do so
UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) supported lighting designer David Gibson in lighting the BBC coverage of the General Election, Election Results 2017, aired on BBC One. Lighting designer David Gibson was called upon to light the BBC coverage that ran from when the polls closed last night all the way through to this morning. The overnight coverage was presented by David Dimbleby, who has anchored the BBC’s coverage of every General Election since 1979. Huw Edwards took over this morning as lead presenter recapping what had gone on through the night and leading the viewers through the day’s events, including the formation of a new government. A vast rig was employed going into the Elstree Studio D in two parts, and David chose a mixture of strong and stable units including the Claypaky Sharpy, the Martin MAC Aura, James Thomas Engineering Pixel Par 90 and Pu
Croatia - The Spaladium Arena in the Croatian coastal town of Split was the venue for the 2017 Porin Music Awards (AKA 'the Porins'), a glamourous, high profile evening which honours the achievements and talent of Croatian artists across a diverse mix of genres and 30 categories and is broadcast live on the national HRT network. Lighting designer for this year was HRT's Marko Foretić who chose to work with a moving light rig over 160 Robe fixtures, supplied by one of the leading Croatian rental companies, Promologistika. He worked closely with Promologistika's Miro Hrg who designed the set and video elements. Marko's ideas for the lighting were developed following in-depth conversations with Miro and the event's director, Danko Volarić. The set was based on a series of circles – originated from the idea of spinning vinyl records – six round trusses of diffe
UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians Theatre Awards 2017, took place on Tuesday evening (6 June), after the first day of the ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace, London. With drinks in the venue’s Palm Court, followed by a ceremony in the Londesborough Room, the event provided the perfect opportunity for exhibitors and visitors alike to gather and celebrate good technology and excellent technical practice. In a break with tradition, comic Tim Fitzhigham warmed up proceedings with his observations on technicians, gigging and awards with ‘Widget’ in the title. Introduced by Tim, ABTT CEO Robin Townley then enlightened those gathered with the judges’ deliberations, relayed their commendations and announced the winners. ABTT Chairwoman Louise Jeffreys, the Barbican’s director of arts, presented each winner with one of the coveted hook-clamp troph
USA - ADJ will showcase 11 brand new products at this year’s InfoComm trade show in Orlando, Florida, with a particular emphasis on new products with WiFLY DMX, battery-powered, and IP-rated fixtures. Alongside the rest of the company’s range of professional lighting, video, and effects products, the ADJ team will introduce show visitors to a new IP-rated video panel, a new IP-rated UV Par, a new series of battery-powered up-lighters, two classic par cans powered by LED, and a new collection of professional effects generators. ADJ will introduce the latest new addition to the AV range, the AV4IP. Designed for outdoor or indoor applications, the AV4IP offers the same build quality, reliability, and affordability as the other models in the AV series but with an IP rating (IP65 on the front, IP54 on the back) that makes it suitable for use in any weather conditions. <
USA - Karen Zacarias’ Destiny of Desire, An Unapologetic Telenovela in Two Acts is aptly subtitled. The raucous, freewheeling “play within a play” makes absolutely no apologies as it follows the lives of two Mexican woman (one born to wealth, the other to poverty) who are switched at birth. Parodying the telenovelas commonly seen on TV, the play unabashedly takes audiences on an emotionally charged journey that is at turns, harrowing, hilarious and ultimately thought provoking. Intensifying the myriad of moods that runs through this fast-paced play is a richly textured lighting design by Pablo Santiago that features Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures. Santiago is using 16 of the 285W RGBW moving heads to light the show during its current successful run at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. He positions the Rogue R2 Washes over the stage in four differen
The Netherlands - The Aus Berlin techno festival set the night on fire at Spoorzone Tilburg, Holland, enhancing the post-industrial scenarios of the old railway depots with the modernity of the 'blades of light' projected by Katana. "In our projects, we use a large number of DTS fixtures, with which we are fully satisfied,” - said First Impression, the rental company that installed the lighting infrastructure for Aus Berlin. “Katana's performance was exceptional; nothing compares to its ‘blade of light’.” Aus Berlin's line-up included the best of the new generation of Berlin DJs, such as Adana Twins, Mandy, Wankelmut, Egbert and Yetti Meissner. The upgrading and expansion works of the Tilburg railway station in Holland have transformed the vast old buildings into multi-functional structures, suitable for a wide range of spectacular events. (Jim Ev
USA - Three hi-energy sold out shows at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium launched the new Martin Garrix live show which will tour around the world for the rest of the year as the young Dutch superstar DJ and music producer continues to wow crowds. Equally hot in appearance is the lighting and visuals show created by production designer Gabe Fraboni which features 138 Robe moving lights – 90 x Spikies, 20 x Pointes and 28 x BMFL Spots. The main goal of this design is to take Martin Garrix out of a purely DJ context and take a more rock / pop approach. Fans at this year’s Coachella festival received a sneak preview of what was to come with the plus-shaped video screen and surrounding grid of 90 x Spikies tight at the heart of the performance environment. Now the power and impact of this and the full new production design has been unleashed to the
UK - After 40 years as the leading British advertising awards, this year the British Arrows combined their Craft and Awards shows into one big ceremony –The British Arrows. Held at Battersea Evolution on 31 May 2017 and hosted by TV comedian Rob Delaney, over 72 Campaign Arrows and 32 Craft Awards were handed out to the cream of the advertising crop. Hawthorn was on hand to deliver the full technical production for the evening. Hawthorn has delivered the technical production for the British Arrows Awards since 2011, with the design and production values increasing in specification and complexity each year. With this year seeing the two events combine into one special show, the team at Hawthorn worked closely with the British Arrows producers to deliver a stand-out experience for the 1000 guests. With the concept for the evening following an open room format, guests h
USA - Bandit Lites returned to the ocean for another spectacular weekend at the Hangout Music Festival, where the beach provided a picturesque backdrop for the thousands that made the trek to the sandy shores. This year’s line-up boasted a wide range of artists, such as Mumford & Sons, Chance the Rapper, Phoenix, Major Lazer, Weezer, MGMT, Sigur Ros, Band of Horses, Franz Ferdinand and Charli XCX. While the musical acts coupled with a weekend at the beach were reason enough to attend Hangout, festival goers could also experience a host of activities ranging from beach volley ball, an ocean side Ferris wheel, beach club, arcade, puppy kissing booth and even a legitimate wedding chapel. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the festival’s main stage, rightfully dubbed the Hangout Stage, Fitz’s Stage, along with the Surf Stage, which flanked the main stag
Poland - Gamers from around the globe gathered recently once again in the International Conference Centre in Katowice, for the world’s biggest annual online gaming event: the Intel Extreme Masters. With this year’s event seeing gamers compete in various games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II, the task of designing a suitably impactful staging concept fell for the second year in a row to Polish production house, Aram. This year’s secret weapon came in the form of 16 Chauvet Professional STRIKE 1 and 16 STRIKE 882 strobe fixtures, which Aram incorporated within a spectacular visual production including live video gaming and pyrotechnics. “With the event expanding so dynamically in recent years, the pressure was certainly on to create new looks and breath-taking visuals for 2017,” commented Michal
UK - David Atkinson Lighting Design (DALD) recently completed the lighting design for the Robots exhibition at the Science Museum, London. This intriguing exhibition features a unique collection of over 100 robots, from a 16th century mechanical monk to robots from science fiction and modern-day research labs. Set in five different times, Robots explores how religious belief, the industrial revolution, popular culture and dreams about the future have all shaped society through the different robots on display. Recent developments from robotics research are also on show, allowing the visitor to explore how and, more importantly, why roboticists are building robots that resemble us and interact in human-like ways. The exhibition encourages the visitors to imagine what a shared future with robots would be like, with the latest humanoid robots in action.
India - During the Palm Expo Mumbai trade show, MA team members kept a keen eye on companies offering and selling MA copies. Says the company: “In a couple of cases, these copies were identified and MA successfully ensured that they were immediately banned from the booth of the offering company. “Furthermore, MA made it extremely clear to these companies that it will not tolerate anyone selling or distributing copies, and that MA reserves the right to take legal action against anyone engaging in this practice. “Additionally, all companies offering MA copies were prompted to delete all catalogues, brochures etc. displaying or referring to MA copies. MA Lighting products are protected by a wide range of patents, which include software, hardware and design, whether used on Linux or Windows platforms. MA Lighting really appreciates the support given by the org
Ireland - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) have been appointed as the exclusive distributor in Ireland for the Luminex range of high performance networking solutions, following a successful partnership with the brand since being appointed as their exclusive UK distributor in 2014. Over the past three years, AC-ET have employed their extensive industry knowledge and experience to grow the adoption of Luminex products to their large customer base of entertainment technology dealers and end users. Neil Vann, AC-ET’s brand manager for Luminex commented: “Luminex have built a great reputation and client base here in the UK, with their high-quality products and fantastic customer service. Their products are innovative and user friendly. We were delighted when the deal was confirmed for us to be their exclusive distributor for Ireland as well.” Sales manage
UK - Last weekend UK d‘n’b duo Sigma became the first drum and bass act – complete with full band - to play London’s Royal Albert Hall. Creating a very special visuality for this ground-breaking gig in the world-famous venue was show designer Andy Hurst. He used a combination of lighting equipment supplied by Blackburn rental company HSL and the in-house rig, and worked alongside a crew of three from HSL. Lasers - fast becoming a Hurst show signature – were delivered by ER; LED screens, cameras and projection were from Video Illusions and BPM supplied the pyro. The pressure was on for Andy to produce something amazing in the short timeframe. The get-in was 7 a.m. on showday, so the rig had to be quick and practical to install as well as looking great! While some elements of a show can be pre-visualised, there is still a lot of programming that can’t b
UK - Big Box Digital Media has lent added colour and sparkle to two of the UK’s most popular tourist attractions. The company has installed powerful colour changing LED fixtures from Chauvet DJ at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Blackpool and at several Sea Life Centre locations. At Madame Tussauds, the Intimidator Spot 255 IRC LED moving head positioned at the museum entrance creates a colourful and exciting welcoming atmosphere for guests. With its built-in automated programmes, selectable pan and tilt, dimming, split beam, three-facet prism and gobo effects, the Intimidators provide the museum with an endless variety of engaging looks for its entrance area. At Sea Life Centre, Big Box installed a variety of fixtures including the Abyss LED 3.0, COREpar 40 USB and Intimidator Spot 255 IRC. The installation comes as part of a wide-ranging visual overhaul to provide re
USA - Luke Bryan lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of Align Design Group used 100 of Elation Professional’s compact ACL 360i fixtures in a spectacular upstage wall of lighting effects on the artist’s 2016 Kill the Lights tour. For the country music star’s current Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day tour, the designer again turned to the narrow-beam LED lights, deciding to add an additional 80 units in his new design. “We used the ACL 360i as a feature on last year’s tour so I know what they are capable of,” comments the LD, who is entering his seventh year with Luke Bryan. “I was blown away by them. The beam can punch through, even with the other lights on. They are lightweight and low profile and worked out really well.” The Kill the Lights tour played a final string of dates in February and March with the newly designed Huntin, Fishin' and
UK - The latest release of DMX-Workshop - a powerful, free software package for managing Art-Net networks - is now available for download from the Artistic Licence website. Developed by Artistic Licence - the company that invented Art-Net - DMX-Workshop is a network management, analysis, configuration and diagnostics tool. The latest version has some new features, and is optimised for Windows 10 (although it remains compatible with Windows XP, 7 and 8). Based on customer feedback, the designers have added automated configuration the first time DMX-Workshop is run. This application will detect whether you are running on an account with a high enough privilege level and warn if not (DMX-Workshop needs administrator privileges). It also automatically opens routes through the firewall for ICMP and UDP messages. Additionally it will search all available network interfaces a
UK - Philips Lighting has announced the launch of its new Philips Vari-Lite VL1100 LED luminaire for stage and television applications. The global launch will take place at the 2017 ABTT Theatre Show (6-7 June 2017, Alexandra Palace, London). The new Philips VL1100 LED has been designed as a seamless, low-energy replacement for the popular VL1100 ellipsoidal reflector spotlight, a favourite tungsten moving head fixture for many lighting designers. High quality, high-CRI light output, consistent colour reproduction and a perfect 'tungsten' colour shift emulation are therefore key to its design. These characteristics are all delivered by an exclusive new 3200K Philips LED light engine, which succeeds in making the Philips VL1100 LED the first moving head fixture to offer a true alternative to the traditional tungsten source. In addition, the Philips VL1100 LED offers the
Denmark - Popular Danish R&B and pop singer Burhan G is on the road with a new set and lighting design by Theis Wemuth of Aarhus based creative visual practice, Create This, with Robe Spiiders, BMFLs and Pointes right at the core of the aesthetic. Theis started his lighting design career 12 years ago and is well known in Denmark for his imagination and thinking ‘out-of-the-box’. He was asked by the artist to produce a design for the tour which promotes his latest album Pas på pigerne (Beware of Girls) which features a big band sound and style bringing a new dimension to his diverse repertoire. This set the tone for the lighting and scenic design proposed by Theis, for which he specified 18 Robe Spiiders and 25 x BMFL Spots, which are being supplied to the tour by rental company Comtech. There's no video on the tour, so it’s down to music and lighting to enha
USA - Lighting designers all have their own individual styles, and they go about the business of reflecting their clients’ music in slightly different ways. As a designer himself, John Garberson fully appreciates that, which is why “flexibility” was one of his primary goals when he put together the West Stage lighting rig for the 2017 Pot of Gold festival at the Rawhide Centre outside Phoenix. Helping him create a festival rig that could support the different styles of a very varied mix of nine visiting LDs was a collection of Maverick, Rogue and STRIKE fixtures from Chauvet Professional. “We have been doing the Pot of Gold festival for a number of years,” said Garberson of Creative BackStage. “This year, we decided to go from an old school 120K system to a mostly LED and moving light rig. The move saved on generators, gas, labor and rigging costs. Going be
USA - The summer is off to a full swing, with massive tours hitting the road, meaning Bandit Lites has again invested in increasing its already expansive touring inventory, this time purchasing Robe PATT 2013 fixtures. While harkening back to vintage, broadcast lighting looks, the elegant design of the Robe PATT 2013 provides a new element of mood and stage lighting, all the while considering the need for lighting designers to utilize fixtures that will not only meet the booming retro-style trend, but also provide warm tungsten eye-candy looks. “The Robe Patt 2013 brings a cool, sleek, retro conventional fixture to our inventory,” said Bandit’s director of technical services, Jake Tickle. “Robe has done a great job bringing this style of fixture back to the market, with more offerings in this range on the way.” These fixtures have been most recently uti
UK - Avolites' trailblazing lighting and video integration system is 'heaven sent' for lighting designer James Bawn on his latest large-scale project, live arena spectacular Heaven on Earth, which will be touring UK arenas between 4 December 2017 and 12 May 2018. The large-scale musical, produced by Eden International Productions, is a classic re-telling of the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. Written by Sara Jeffs and directed by Racky Plews, the musical boasts an original musical score and arrangements by Geoff Alexander. "The story is fantastic," says Bawn, who has been developing the production's lighting and video design for the past year. "Creatively, the production has really demanded that we all push the boundaries of our own area of expertise." Bawn, who worked closely with stage designer Jacqueline Pyle on the production, describes the creative pro
