Italy - La Tana del Lupo (translated literally as the Den of The Wolf) is a popular Italian TV talk show, broadcast live three times a week by CTS (the Sicilian Television Company) from the Panastudio Productions facilities in Palermoon Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons.

DoP Massimo Tomasino has specified lighting for the current series, which includes six Robe Robin 300E Beams and two Robe DigitalSpot 3000DTs, which are positioned on the studio floor and on an angled truss around the studio's perimeter.

The lively 60-minute interactive show is directed and presented by Francesco Panasci. It covers topical and often controversial issues with an invited panel of studio guests exchanging views, opinions and thoughts with the audience.

The set design is deliberately minimal, so attention remains focussed on the guests, the dialogue and the studio action, f

UK - ELP returned to the tower Ballroom in Blackpool for the fourth Strictly Come Dancing special to come from 'the home of ballroom dancing'. The regular journey north for the contestants, show producers and viewers has gained a special significance, second only to the final itself. Consequently the pressure is on the production team to ensure that this show is every bit as good as the BBC TV Centre output.

So how do they achieve a seamless transition for this one-night-only show? "The first call I make is to ELP," says lighting director Mark Kenyon. "There are certain lights which define the look of the show such as the Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300s with their tight, narrow shafts of light. And I know ELP have the stock levels I require for an OB job of this size. They have all the rigging and trussing ready to go and can provide the complete package." M

Australia - Originally released in 2004, the Jands Vista introduced a new approach to constructing light shows, with 'think visually, work visually' as the core concept. The upcoming Vista 2 Byron release of the application takes this innovative approach to a new stage, introducing a true second generation of software, completely re-written from the ground up, says the company. The lighting crew at Brisbane City Church has been a long time Vista user and was one of a select group to beta test Byron.

Everyone involved in the production team at City Church are volunteers, yet at City Church's Bowen Hills auditorium the team executes two 'shows' per Sunday to a congregation of up to 2000 people.

"I am a non-professional lighting guy", said Scott Bernoth one of the Church's longest serving lighting volunteers. "So the ease of use that is provided by the visual inter

UK - The Rory Peck Trust supports freelance news gatherers and their families worldwide in times of need and promotes their welfare and safety. It was set up in 1995, two years after Rory Peck was killed filming in Moscow. The trust relies on income from grants, sponsorship, and charitable donations. Richard Martin Lighting provided lights for the annual awards.

Lighting designer Malcolm Reed chose a mixture of LED and moving heads for the awards, held in London's BFI National Film Theatre. PixelPar 90s, GLP Impressions and Alpha Spot 300s created a classic design.

"The reasoning behind this choice of lighting is quite simple," says Reed. "The theatre has very little power available as the normal use is a cinema and I was limited to a few 13 amp sockets scattered around the auditorium. For me LED's are just the thing, the GLPs enabled me not only to create vario

Hong Kong - Lighthouse Technologies has completed the share acquisition of its Huizhou factory, giving it full ownership of Lighthouse Technologies (Huizhou) Limited, one of the largest LED display factories in the world.

The investment brings a number of advantages not just to Lighthouse, but to China and the Huizhou area as well, says the company. With RoHS compliance, the manufacturing facility is an eco-friendly investment, well aligned with the Chinese government's low carbon development policy put forth in 2009. It's also an investment that brings some of the most advanced technology and management experience to China.

For residents of Huizhou, the facility has also been an important source of economic growth, bringing more jobs to Chinese citizens and contributing to Huizhou's GDP and government revenue. And, following the acquisition, factory employees can now receive

UK - London-based design house Renegade produced and supplied all the technical design and equipment - lighting, video and visuals, set and scenic elements plus sound - for the SHINE 2010 Benefit Dinner, staged at The Boiler House, a new temporary structure located inside the shell of London's Battersea Power Station building.

The event featured a 'greatest hits' performance by Bryan Ferry, and raised large sums of money for the charity, which supports additional educational initiatives encouraging children and young people to raise their achievement levels.

Renegade has worked closely with SHINE for the last seven years, producing all their live events. The high profile 2010 Benefit Dinner was project managed for Renegade by Mike Fidler working closely with Nick Gray as lighting designer. Andy Cobb filled in with conceptual designs along with technical production manager, Cha

UK - For the BBC's annual charity fundraising appeal show Children In Need, Richard Martin Lighting (RML) supplied the lighting and crew for the ninth year running, whilst the event, filmed live at BBC Television Centre (TVC), was celebrating its 31st anniversary.

This year the show had a new set and a new lighting designer. Mark Kenyon stepped up to light the star-studded Friday night. David Bishop assisted as moving light operator.

The live show from TC1, hosted by Terry Wogan, Tess Daly and Fearne Cotton, featured Alpha Beam 700s, Chroma Banks, VL1000TS, Nova Flowers, Pixel Brick kits, VL3500s and LC2140 panels plus P3 Controller.

TC6 again played host to the hospitality area where the VIPs and event organisers were entertained with a live performance Heaven 17. Lighting designer Lee Allen used MAC 600s, MAC 500s and LED 12 Lights.

(Jim Evans)

Ireland - Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied lighting and video equipment for the An Appointment With Mr Yeats show by The Waterboys - a concept musical performance set to the poetry of the Irish poet and dramatist, WB Yeats - which has just finished its first Irish tour.

PSI's Sean Pagel was asked to create a lighting and visuals design following on from Belfast based PSI's supply of equipment to An Appointment show earlier in the year, a one off at Dublin's Abbey Theatre,

Say's Pagel, "It is a great honour for us to be involved something as original, interesting and special as this show. Mike Scott knows exactly what he wants and his attention to absolutely every detail is impressive."

Pagel's brief was to design a complimentary theatre show for the performance that was practical to tour in a rock 'n' style, and fitted nicely into all the ve

China - The Shanghai World Expo opened with one of the most ambitious live events ever undertaken - a spectacular display of lights, lasers, fountains, boats, music and fireworks along a 3.4km stretch of the Huangpu River in central Shanghai.

The event was designed to cement Shanghai's status as one of the world's great cities, by showcasing the latest technology in outdoor spectacular events. Clay Paky formed a core part of the event, with over 300 Alpha 1500 spotlights supplied through its Chinese partner ACE Professional Sound and Lighting.

Production was by David Atkins Enterprises; outdoor lighting was designed by Bob Dickinson and Ted Wells. Paul Collison was project lighting manager and Sha Xiao Lan was lighting designer for the indoor show.

The outdoor performance spanned both sides of the 300m-wide Huangpu River, extending along a 2.7km stretch of the river. The eno

France - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced the appointment of CSI as the new distributor of W-DMX for entertainment in France. The agreement was made official during the JTSE trade show in Paris on 24 November 2010.

Paris based CSI-France has been established for over 43 years, representing brands such as Vari*Lite, High End Systems, About Show and Green Hippo, in addition to managing many projects around the world.

"CSI is clearly the team to join," says Lotta Schiefer, business development manager for Wireless Solution, "Our products fit in very naturally with the CSI portfolio and we highly respect the company's strong presence in France with both sales relationships and special projects. We consider this a very successful step forward."

Arnaud Leschemelle, CEO for CSI adds: "In addition to our goal of supplying some of the best brands on the

UK - Lighting designer Paula Trounce is a firm fan of the Avolites Tiger Touch and Pearl Expert consoles and the latest Avolites TITAN software, having used both Avo products on tour with UK singer/songwriter Kate Nash.

Trounce is also the house LD at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire venue, where the house desk is an Avo Diamond 4.

The first show that she designed and programmed for Nash was done on a Pearl Expert running TITAN after which they asked her to tour with them. So she had a show everyone was really happy with, but an expedient budget meant the decision was taken to utilize house rigs rather than tour a production.

The opportunity arose for Trounce to try out the Tiger Touch whilst on the European leg of the tour. Above all, the ability to pluck her original design straight from the Pearl Expert and plug it directly into the Tiger Touch proved a great solution. Por

USA - ETC lighting and control products are key to illuminating the diverse exhibits, offices and architecture in the California Science Centre's new 15,300sq.m Ecosystems wing.

Nearly 10 years in the making, the new permanent exhibition in Los Angeles allows visitors to experience a blend of live animals and hands-on science experiments in 11 distinct ecosystems - each illustrating an ecological principle. The wing nearly doubles the exhibition space at the California Science Centre and is expected to raise visits above the average annual attendance of 1.4m that the facility had previously welcomed.

ETC's Unison Paradigm control system, Sensor+ dimming, SmartSwitch relays and Source Four luminaires were all part of the lighting and control package for Ecosystems. The Paradigm system provides simultaneous control of all the architectural lighting in the public areas, including

Egypt - Mobinil, Egypt's leading mobile service provider, invited over 6,000 of its employees with their families to a concert at Cairo's Smart Village, to celebrate their 12th anniversary.

Top Lebanese superstars in the Middle East and North Africa, Elisa and Fadl Shaker headlined, along with soft rock band, Wust El-Balad - all performing under 24 PR Lighting XL Beams, supplied by the company's local distributors, Hi-Lights Egypt.

CEO Hamed Arafa confirms that lighting designer Mohamed Fathy selected these as the main moving heads, suspended from the overhead truss.

These 300W moving heads offer three beam angle options while the fixture itself uses the Phillips Fast Fit MSR Gold lamp and superior optics to provide an output of 22000 lumens. The result is a versatile, variable speed projector, producing a bi-directional rainbow effect - keeping the atmosphere changing spect

Arena News - The Royal Ballet is to perform a series of shows at London's O2 Arena in June. It is the first time the ballet company has performed in a UK arena. Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg will dance the principal roles in the production of Romeo and Juliet. A filmed introduction will be shown on giant screens in the venue at the beginning of each act.

Director of the ballet company, Dame Monica Mason, said she was "thrilled" about the production being shown in such a huge venue as it would "introduce our work to so many new people". The 17-19 June performances are being staged in association with impresario Raymond Gubbay, who staged the first opera at the London arena earlier this year.

Half Time - The Black Eyed Peas are to perform during the interval at the Super Bowl next year, organisers have said. The Gr

UK - Paul Sadler, founder of Delstar Engineering, part of the Stage Technologies Group, and now a senior engineering consultant with the operation in Suffolk, has recently been incorporated as a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Sadler is a chartered engineer who specialises in modern theatre hydraulics and is actively involved with the running of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Eastern Area, acting as treasurer for the organisation. He is also a technical associate of the Royal National Theatre and received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Association of British Theatre Technicians in 2009.

Since 1978, Sadler has been closely involved with many industrial and theatrical projects including the stage settings for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express and The Phantom of the Opera. He is currently working on the hydraulic systems for

Australia - For over 16 years Austage has built a reputation as one of Australia's premier corporate event companies. Managing director Joe De Abreu knows it is important to be able to offer his clients the best in lighting technology.

With this in mind, Joe began scouring the market for a new LED cyc light and when he came across the Chroma-Q Color Force LED batten he knew he had found what he was looking for.

The new Color Force LED batten is super bright and can easily wash up to eight metres. In addition, it's advanced ColorSure RGBA colour and control management technologies deliver a radically increased colour palette, enhanced colour consistency, a high CRI of 92 and theatrical grade dimming.

"They are so powerful they can turn black drapes into any colour you want," says De Abreu. "After having a good look at what is available in LED cyc lighting, I ha

France - AVAB France and LumenRadio AB launched the CRMX product portfolio in the French market at the JTSE trade show in Paris.

"France is an important market for LumenRadio and we are proud to announce that AVAB France, who has served their customers with excellent products and services for over thirty years, has been appointed distributor for the French entertainment and architectural market," says Anders Ardstål VPO at LumenRadio.

"LumenRadio has together with AVAB France installed a complete wireless CRMX system on the 270m aquaduct Pont Du Guard in southern France. The installation was a success and pioneered the use of RDM in architectural installations. We have over the last year completed several other successful reference installations with AVAB France and it is now time to offer the benefits of the award winning CRMX products to the entire French mar

Singapore - Located with magnificent panoramic views, 71 floors up on top of the luxury Swissotel The Stamford in Singapore, the New Asia Bar is one of the most exclusive club and night venues in town.

Two years ago when it re-opened after a two-month renovation, the 500 capacity venue was kitted out with Robe ClubScan 250 CTs, ColorSpot 250 ATs and ColorWash 575 ATs, to add all the necessary glitter, glamour and excitement needed for guests to fully enjoy the ongoing top DJ line up, which includes regular international artists as well as slots by the best local talent.

The moving lights were specified by Steve Rawlings of Intelligent Lighting Design, and supplied by Louis Teo from Lighting & Sound Distribution (LSD), Robe's Singaporean distributor. New Asia's manager Steve Ignatiadis was also involved in formulating a brief for what he wanted to achieve and see in the lightin

UK - UK-based A.C. Entertainment Technologies has announced the resignation of Glyn O'Donoghue from AC-ET and its sister companies.

AC-ET managing director David Leggett commented: "I would like to thank Glyn for his important contributions over the past 19 years and I wish him well and all the best for the future."

O'Donoghue himself comments: "I have a massive respect for AC-ET and am proud to have played a small part in helping it become one of the premier companies in our industry. The team at AC-ET are incredible and I have no doubt that they will handle my departure without any loss of service to customers. I would like to thank my industry colleagues for their great support over the years and look forward to meeting them again socially in the future."

Following O'Donoghue's departure, the new Chroma-Q contact at AC-ET is Thor-Andre Saether (Spantax

UK - displayLED's digiLED TILE system continues to be the screen of choice for Queen Productions Limited, with a total of eight displays being shipped for the Italian and UK tours of We Will Rock You.

The UK tour starts at Manchester Palace on 3 December 2010, with the Italian tour opening at the Palacreberg in Bergamo on 20 January 2011.

The digiLED TILE is suited to the futuristically themed production, with the screens being used to compliment the stage show, projecting a dramatic mixture of video, animation, graphics and lighting effects.

Each of the Ti10S 10mm SMD pixel pitch screens measures 2.4m wide x 2.7m high, configured from 3 x 3 'fast-rig' digiLED frames measuring 800mm (w) x 900mm (h). The same specification is applied to each We Will Rock You tour to enable productions to display uniform content without adjustment save for some localisation.

"The

Italy - Florentine singer Irene Grandi has completed her latest tour, playing material from her latest album Alle porte del sogno (At the gates of dreams) in town squares and theatres, illuminated by Coemar projectors. More than 30 Infinity series moving heads featured.

"The design of the lights in the squares was a transposition of the show in the theatres," says lighting designer Adriano Sanson. "With the addition of 12 Infinity ACL to convey the dreamlike atmosphere, taken from the album title, easy to create in the theatre, but much more difficult to communicate in an open space where, however, it is easier to express energy."

The installation was also characterised by the Infinity XL series designed for large concerts and events in open spaces. Twelve Wash XL were used, with an output of 1450 W that illuminated the stage with an infinite range o

Vietnam - Vietnam celebrated its 1000th anniversary with a 10-day party that culminated in a grand ceremony at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on 10 October. The elaborate event illustrated the history and beauty of the country using over 1000 performers and large scale lighting visuals that included 120 Martin Professional MAC 2000 Wash XB fixtures and 30 Martin MAC III Profiles.

Showtec Group provided the design and build solution for the event and appointed Mac Chan of Stage Centre Line Associates to create a lighting design befitting such a notable occasion.

Chan chose to use the MAC 2000 Wash XB, Martin's extra bright 1500W wash light, a fixture he used on Singapore National Day Parade events in 2009 and 2010. He comments: "With such a project, where I need to cover a huge area and deal with long throw distances, the MAC 2000 Wash XB gives me the flexibility to program mult

UK - Lightfactor, distributor for Italian manufacturer Novalight, has sold more Nova-Flower 2K high powered 'flower' effect units to STL, doubling the Kent-based rental company's hire stock of these popular 'specials'.

STL first invested in Novalight products last year, when Lightfactor supplied them with both Nova-Flower and High Ground units. These have proved an enormous success, both for use on STL's own shows and as a cross hire item, necessitating the purchase of more Nova-Flowers. These were delivered just in time for the annual Fireworks Spectacular at Leeds Castle.

STL's Phil Parsons designed an environmental lighting scheme located around the main Leeds Castle building which was a vital component of the multi-layered visuals for this acclaimed event. Lasers were also involved in supporting the central pyro extravaganza designed by Alchemy Fireworks.

The soundtrack

Hong Kong - Vivienne Tam, one of Asia's most renowned fashion designers, has completed installation a new LED display by Lighthouse Technologies at its 1881 Heritage shop in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The screen, comprising eight R4-S 4mm SMD LED panels in a 1 x 8 configuration, forms an impressive floor-to-ceiling display that attracts visitors with its vivid, rich visuals of the latest Vivienne Tam creations at fashion shows from around the world. The 4mm pixel pitch delivers sharp visuals, important for close-distance viewing, while the 2000 nits brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio and wide viewing angles guarantee crystal-clear visibility from anywhere.

"Vivienne Tam loves transforming traditional styles to appeal to modern consumers, and the addition of our new Lighthouse screen helps deliver that unique look with much greater impact," said Mr Scott Crolla, Vivienne Tam. &quo

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