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City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

Video and AV

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UK - Award-winning event production company, AVC Productions, has just added to its already impressive portfolio of presentation solutions by investing in the very latest indoor LED screen technology.

The ultra slim 36-panel system allows screen sizes of up to 12sq.m and facilitates the relay of both video and data imaging. Patrick Hill, Group managing director told us: "We have always driven our business forward by looking for ways to improve the service we offer. By investing in this product, we can now provide clients with an innovative solution where more conventional projection alternatives just don’t work."

The LVP0630 purchased from Lighthouse, has a pixel pitch of 6mm and a very high brightness of 3000 Nits. It incorporates Lighthouses proprietary fourth generation M4 Technology that has been developed to ensure that the colour balance of every pixel, a

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UK - ARB is preparing to move into new premises in Buckingham this April, consolidating its nationwide operation into one site. Pictured (right) taking tenancy of the empty 35,000sq.ft premises are directors (left to right) Adrian Jones, Paul Gardiner, Peter Boot, Steve Kilby and Nick Brooks-Ward.

The move is part of the company’s ongoing restructuring since it became part of the CSS Stellar Group PLC, and all its regional branches will be transferred to the new facility. The move coincides with the launch of a new corporate identity and significant restructuring of the procedures and team approach. Commercial director Steve Kilby commented: "The move is one of several significant changes that will improve our efficiency and the service we can offer clients. The events marketplace has changed a lot in the last decade and it is time to bring some long-established ARB p

City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

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UK - Screenco joined forces with screen manufacturer Unitek to provide a groundbreaking new graphics display which revolutionized the information scoreboard definition at this year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics, at Birmingham’s NIA. Screenco had initially won the contract to supply sports presentation suppliers, Fast Track, with big screen reinforcement following their success at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Fast Track had been contracted by the IAAF to stage manage the prestigious three-day event, and their production manager, Bob Capel, was soon in conversation with Avesco’s business development manager, Dave Crump, discussing ways in which the somewhat antiquated scoreboard technology might be improved. Crump called LED display manufacturers (and Screenco suppliers) Unitek. They debated the feasibility of a colour LE

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UK - Projectionist Pod Bluman has recently set up Pod Projects Ltd - a company specializing in large-format projection work.

Bluman is an experienced projection designer: he started his career with Labyrinth, a company which specialized in ‘Guerilla-style’ projections, probably the most famous of which was the image of a naked Gail Porter projected on to the Houses of Parliament in London. He went on to work on numerous projects, including projections onto Buckingham Palace, MI6 and the Tate Gallery, as well as being involved in the River of Light project for the Millennium celebrations in Liverpool.

In the last two years he has been the video crew chief for a number of large projects, including the Vodaphone Ball 2002, the New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Millennium Dome and the launch event for the Birmingham Bullring. More recently, he has taken on the p

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Germany / Portugal - Barco announced today that it has won orders for Slite LED screens to two major European football stadiums - the brand new Estadio das Antas Stadium in Porto, Portugal, which has been chosen to host the European Football Championships in 2004, and the Stade de Genève in Switzerland, which will be used to host the Euro 2008 Football Championships, co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria.

96sq.m of Barco’s SLite 10 LED screen will be installed at the Estadio das Antas Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 50 00. The opening game of the championships will be played in the stadium on June 12, 2004.

Commenting on the project win, Marco Bruines, Division Manager, Barco Media said: "Barco’s LED display solutions have long been regarded as the reference in the rental & staging and major events industries. Reliant Park in Houston was our first maj

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UK - A Charity Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, London, drew together a glamorous line-up of acting and musical talent in support of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Among the stars helping to raise money for the cause were Alan Bates, Terence Stamp, Nicholas Grace, Dame Eileen Atkins, Michael Palin, Rula Lenska, Sinead Cusack and Jeremy Irons. Among the musical line-up were Bryan Adams, Brian May, Alessandro Saffina and the Operababes.

Production manager Robbie Williams brought in White Light Events to take care of lighting, a duty overseen by lighting designer Mikey Robertson, with Jason Larcombe as associate LD. Robertson says: "The stage was too big for our purposes, even with the number of performers who would be appearing on it, so we halved the depth by putting in a back projection screen. This freed up some of the side lighting fixtures which we used for back-

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UK - Power Gems is currently previewing the latest product in its Xenon Ballast range, the XE200/2, suitable for leading brands of Xenon 2kW followspots. Electronic ballasts offer extended lamp life over magnetic ballasts and they are much, much lighter.

The CE-approved ballast is 35cm x 17cm wide x 24cm high and weighs 8kgs. Its supply Voltage range is 185– 265V a.c and its supply frequency is 47-63Hz. It has a power factor of 0.65 and lamp current up to 85A, with a lamp voltage range of 19.2-28.8Vdc.

(Ruth Rossington)

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USA - Mondiale, the publisher of Total Production magazine, have announced a licensing agreement with new American publishing company, Austin Burbank Media Productions LLC. The agreement will see the launch of a new magazine - Total Production US - in March 2003 serving the lighting, audio and staging industries in the USA. The magazine will reflect the values of its European sister but be dedicated to US events and news.

Austin Burbank founder and editor is Bruce Jordahl, formerly the editor of the US-based Pro Lights & Staging News (PLSN) magazine. He commented: "Total Production has long had a great reputation over here for its editorial values and commitment to the industry. A US version will give us the time and space to fulfill those same aims specifically for the American market. By bringing the title over, the industry already knows the style and quality of magazine

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USA / China - Barco’s Media & Entertainment division has acquired the assets of US-based Trans-Lux West and China-based Beijing Leyard Electronics Technology Co Ltd, in order to further strengthen its position in the full-colour LED (Light Emitting Diode) display market.

Trans-Lux West Corporation, based in Logan, Utah, is a manufacturer of full colour and monochrome displays, message centres and scoring systems for sports applications; Leyard Electronics Technology Co Ltd is a privately-owned company that designs, manufactures and installs LED displays for the Asian market, with strong focus on China. The two investments confirm Barco’s strategy for continued growth in the full colour LED display market by consolidating and expanding its presence in the key North American market and entering the fast growing Chinese market. The two investments are expected to delive

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USA - Creative Technology North America provided high performance display technology for the recent 75th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, which aired on ABC and was seen in 150 countries around the world. The celebration, thought somewhat subdued, took place at the Kodak Theatre in the Hollywood and Highland Complex and was hosted by comedian and actor, Steve Martin. Presenters included John Travolta, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ben Affleck and Halle Berry, to name a few.

Creative Technology provided 17 Digital Projection Lightning 28sx projectors to project video images onto a variety of projection surfaces throughout the venue. The most interesting surface was a 30ft tall ‘flute’ that sat centre-stage and also served as a scenic element. The flute, approximately 40ft in diameter at the top, narrowing down to 7ft at the bottom, was created out of wh

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UK - Projected Image Digital showcased a RADlite visual manipulation system with television lighting director Will Charles, who utilized it in a new and innovative way on the Carlton TV series ‘Starfinder’. The show, shot at Black Island Studios, Park Royal, north London for transmission as a series this autumn, is produced by Justin Scroggie and features a spectacular set designed by Richard Drew.

‘Starfinder’ is a children’s games programme, set on a space station, with elements from both Crystal Maze and Big Brother. Each episode sees four ‘astronauts’, aged 12 - 14, who won their places via the internet, engage in a series of games, and battle for popularity with the viewers who vote them on or off the space station. The simulator part of the programme - where the contestants whiz through space, playing games, in their special vehicl

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UK - Leading lights and newcomers to the entertainment industry turned up to see what the future holds for lighting at the launch of Scene Change on March 25. The new company, sister to DHA Lighting, is taking DHA’s 30 years of experience in gobo creation and large-format projection for the performing arts forward into the video age. It offers a huge range of video effects, from abstract animations to bespoke footage. It also provides royalty-free video clips from its own libraries and those of Artbeats, Digital Juice, The Digital Vision Motion Clip Library and others.

The Open Day at the MacOwan Theatre, Earls Court, was staged in conjunction with High End Systems, whose Catalyst system has proved ideal for replaying Scene Change’s video footage, and Flying Pig Systems, who provided control of the lighting and projection through the new Wholehog III. It took place o

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UK - Stardraw.com has added powerful new functionality to its suite of software design and documentation packages in the form of URL links within attributes. Each symbol within Stardraw can contain an unlimited number of ‘attributes’ which are data fields representing numbers, text or database links. Attributes are used to describe a real-world product and can indicate, for example, the manufacturer name, product model number, price, etc. These attributes now support URL (Uniform Resource Locator) links which will be familiar to most people in their simplest form: as website addresses.

All of the products in Stardraw applications now have at least one link, to the manufacturer's homepage, while other product ranges within Stardraw - BSS for example - already have links to dynamic pages on the manufacturer’s website that use a script to give users instant and sp

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UK - Large format projection specialists E//T//C UK were called in by the London Tourist Board to help launch their high-visibility ‘Totally Lond On’ advertising campaign. E//T//C’s Paul Highfield supplied a single 6kW PIGI projector, slide artwork and his technical expertise for the event, staged in the fabulous new glass roofed Great Court of the British Museum.

Keystone correction was by Wyatt Enever at DHA, and the projection was beamed onto the new limestone arch in the Great Court. It consisted of a simple slide, pastiched in the style of a London Street sign, emblazoned with the words ‘Totally LondON’ and ‘www.visitlondon.com’.

White Light supplied architectural lighting and LD Simon Jones for the event. Both E//T//C UK and White Light were approached for the project after their highly successful illumination of the Tower of Lon

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UK - AutoPatch Europe is offering transmitter/receiver modules to provide point-to-point transmission of signals including Y/C with stereo audio (up to 300m), composite video (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) with stereo audio (up to 300m), RGBHV (up to 100m), for cost-effective routing and distribution of video and stereo audio throughout a facility. In addition, there is a modular CAT5 Matrix System, up to 32 inputs x 32 outputs, providing true flexibility in a CAT5 installation.

CAT5 cabling with RJ-45 connectors provides a convenient and cost effective alternative to coaxial cable: CAT5 is lighter, more flexible, and a fraction of the cost of coaxial video cable. The result is an all-in-one solution for routing and distributing professional quality video and audio that reduces installation and cable costs in less rack space, say AutoPatch.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Avesco plc have announced a major sales and marketing restructure following the integration of Creative Technology and Screenco into a single resource. As sales director, Mike Walker will head up the consolidated team which has relocated to Chessington, and which sees the return of Adrian Offord who, prior to his last position with General Location, previously worked at Screenco.

The team also includes Alex Davenport, who joined MCL two years ago, and sales and marketing coordinator, Emma Houlden, from CT’s Wandsworth office. Also joining the team from CT is Charlie Whittock, who has recently returned from the US where he has been working in event and production management, having worked closely with Creative Technology since the company was founded in 1985.

Said Walker: "In centralizing the sales team at Chessington on the Silverglade Business Park, we will be

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South Africa - South Africa’s Standard Bank Stars event on 29 March was an incentive awards evening held to honour employees throughout the country who are part of Standard Bank’s retail arm. Gearhouse South Africa was contracted by Jenny Lenahan Productions to provide the technical equipment and skills for the event, which took its theme from three decades of television and featured music, celebrities and television personalities from each of those eras.

Heading up the Gearhouse SA team was Ian Watts, who is operation’s manager of the Johannesburg branch’s audio-visual department. Ian was project manager of the Standard Bank Stars and comes with 15 years’ experience in the broadcast industry - at the SABC, and M-Net as well as Gearhouse Broadcast on an international basis. What made the Standard Bank Stars so unique was that the event took place si

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UK - Blink TV launched a new theatre-sized visual package on the recent six-week Liberty X UK tour, along with the supply of video project management, specification and hardware. The package is a new, highly flexible Blink format designed to bring high production values to tours playing theatres, town halls and other smaller-sized venues.

Blink’s project manager for the Liberty X tour, Adam Walton, worked in close consultation with lighting designer Jvan Morandi. Morandi is extremely specific about the look and style of all the shows on which he works and used a High End Catalyst video system as an integral part of the show’s visual aspect. Morandi and Walton chose an innovative format for Blink TV, with two Fast-fold video screens onstage for the opening and support band slots, onto which the Blink programmes could also be projected. Aesthetically, this has resulted

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UK - Cheltenham Ladies College has had its presentation infrastructure boosted with the installation of a new state-of-the-art projection system. Designed and installed by AVPS - who have serviced the college’s requirements in the past - the larger contract to fit out the multi-purpose assembly hall was put out to three companies. AVPS tendered successfully and their Christie-based proposal was accepted on the strength of the product specification, obviating the need for an on-site demonstration.

AVPS’ Jules Deakin believes that it was his preference for the Christie Roadrunner L6 LCD projector which won them the contract. He recommended the L6, offering 1024 x 768 true XGA resolution, as the best solution in view of its superior brightness and its dual lamp facility. "It allows the college to run both lamps to achieve 5200 ANSI lumens during the day when the am

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USA - Barco Media is pleased to announce that it has provided state-of-the-art display technology to the new Quiksilver Boardriders Club store in Times Square, located on the corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue in New York City. Quiksilver designs and manufactures a diverse line of products for young men and women catering to the surf, skate and snowboard riding lifestyle. Quiksilver brands offer a range of products including clothing, swimwear, accessories, eyewear and wetsuits.

Barco installed three of its DLite 10 LED displays above the entrance to the store. Each display measures 5' 11" high by 13' 3" wide and are used to show surf, skate, and snow video. All three displays are controlled by Barco's Signam!cs content management system, which allows Quiksilver to schedule the right message at the right time.

"The installation of our total display solution in

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Hong Kong - The tourism industry is one of the major pillars of Hong Kong’s economy, which is why its Government has initiated plans to upgrade the major tourism clusters of Hong Kong.

Sydney-based Laservision Macro-Media was commissioned by the Hong Kong Tourism Commission last August to draw up a harbour lighting report. The report was wide-ranging, and covered the architectural lighting of Hong Kong’s landmark buildings (as well as opportunities for regular lighting shows in Victoria Harbour), the inclusion of a night-time attraction, and an assessment of current lighting pollution. As a result of the report, the Hong Kong Tourism Commission promptly decided to showcase some of the lighting techniques to be employed under Laservision’s plan during the Chinese New Year holidays. China Light and Power agreed to offer sponsorship to ensure the trial became a r

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UK - Students in the third and final year of their acting course at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts recently performed a production of The Tempest at the Academy, under the direction of Debbie Seymour, head of Mountview’s Directing course.

The technical crew were students on the two-year fast-track BA Honours Degree in Technical Theatre, which is validated by Middlesex University. The production brings the action of Shakespeare’s play forward to the 1920s, using the period’s developments in the fields of quantum physics and genetics as the background for Prospero’s grasp of ‘magic’. It was also decided to use moving projection to visually characterize the ‘masque’ aspects of the play.

Mountview strives to give its students access to the latest technology, and this production has taken them to the leading edge of stage projectio

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UK - Specialist AV company Blitz is supplying sound equipment for a new theatre production Jus' Like That! celebrating the life of comedian Tommy Cooper. It has just opened at The Garrick theatre in London's West End for an open-ended run. As the show contains many of Cooper's original routines, it was essential not only to select the right sound equipment, but also to ensure that it remained unobtrusive and did not overshadow the star of the show.

Mike Walker, sound designer, explained: "Initially we carried out some rehearsals without any vocal reinforcement with the intention of seeing if we could maintain the intimacy of a play. In order for the comedy routines to fully work we found the reinforcement was necessary. We reconfigured the speaker system and added two Sennheiser SK5012 radio mics."

The production has four musical numbers and the music was spec

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UK - The recently downsized S Club are out on the road again, as part of a major UK arena tour. Working with production director Chris Vaughan of CV Productions, LSD/Fourth Phase is providing the lighting (Pete Barnes is again LD), Britannia Row the sound (including an EAW line array speaker system and flown subs) and XL Video the video equipment. The sets were designed by Hattie Spice and the set construction was a collaboration between Brilliant Stages, Total Fabrications and Hangman Backdrops, whilst the spectacular inflatable for the cave scene was built by Air Artists.

The tour features an integrated show performed by both S Club Juniors and Seniors, with the Juniors’ high-action set kick-starting the evening’s entertainment. The live camera mix is directed by Blue Leach, working with an XL team of five. Leach was also involved in creating most of the Seniors&r

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  3. Lucid Visions for Metropolis
  4. RADLite for Ronan
  5. SiP plasma screen flightcases from Amptown
  6. Digital Projection appoints Singaporean distributor
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