USA - To kick-off the holiday season, World Outreach Church, Nashville, created Give Thanks, a celebration designed to repurpose this season with hope and thanksgiving held at the Bridgestone Arena. Filled with inspirational speakers, a musical performance by Martina McBride, plus an energetic percussion display by Stikyard, production designer Scott Moore, Go Live Productions, needed a video backdrop that could highlight the unique performances onstage, but also capture the essence of the message being delivered. So working with Nashville-based Elite Multimedia, a PixelFLEX rental partner, Moore created a video design using 140 FLEXCurve 8mm LED video tiles.

"I've been involved with Give Thanks for the last three years, and each year the design process is entirely dependent upon what the programming material is going to be," began Moore. "I knew I

USA - Elation Professional is a new sponsor of the AV Alliance (avalliance.com), a network of the world's leading event technology rental specialists.

Active in 47 countries on six continents, the AV Alliance acts as a quality seal with AV Alliance members involved in over 100,000 projects a year. The AV Alliance is committed to professional service at the highest quality and is devoted to creating synergies among members to further professionalize the industry. Of the many sponsor benefits is the opportunity to network with AV Alliance member companies, which includes AV rental companies from all over the world.

"We are pleased to have Elation Professional on board as a sponsor of the AV Alliance," stated Nico Ubenauf, member of the AV Alliance Board of Directors and CEO of German production company satis&fy. "Elation continues to become a more visible player

USA - Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma has chosen an ArKaos PRO Stadium Server running ArKaos MediaMaster 4.0 software to handle the environmental projection mapping at their church. Lighting director, Tim Ottley, uses it to present some stunning visual backdrops across their 300ft wide/30-60ft tall walls to enhance both modern and traditional services.

This Christmas season sees the interior of the church awash with imagery, produced by Jason Yang of Invisible Element, based on the Christmas story and depicted in colourful visuals reminiscent of stained glass. Advent is a season of anticipation and Ottley's theme is to present a beautiful and welcoming environment as the congregation enters each week in the build-up to Christmas.

"Our aim was to create a short video clip as an opening sequence to the services over the five week period of Advent,"

Europe - Panasonic is set to launch a new HD LED video wall display series, equipped with the industry's narrowest bezel.

Aimed at digital signage applications in public spaces with high environmental light levels and the rental and staging market, the TH-55LFV60W and TH-55LFV6W displays are set to be launched in December 2015 and January 2016 respectively.

The LFV60 has a brightness of 700 cd/m2 is finished with a glossy anti-reflection treatment and is aimed for applications like fashion retail, it complements the existing TH-55LFV70 which has the same brightness and treatment.

The LFV6 has a brightness of 500 cd/m2 and comes with an anti-glare treatment. Thanks to the industry's narrowest bezel of 3.5mm, video wall images on both are virtually seamless. The video wall also has a wide viewing angle of 178?, thanks to an IPS panel.

Enrique Robledo, marketing manager a

UK / USA - d3 Technologies has appointed Matthew Cotter as Technical Sales Specialist based on the US West Coast. Cotter has been a lighting director and media programmer for the past 15 years, primarily working in television and on theme park spectaculars. He shared an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Series" with his colleagues for Dancing with the Stars in 2014.

Cotter joins a growing US team representing d3 nationwide. "Matthew is a very strong addition to the team, and we're excited to welcome him," says Hans Beijer, Vice President of Sales for d3 Americas. "Matt came highly recommended by mutual friends in the industry and I fully understand why. He's bright, quick, committed and very much hands-on. His start with our team has been both impressive and very pleasant. I'm looking forward to a strong

UK - PRG XL Video, the UK division of Production Resource Group, is expanding its team specialising in corporate events.

The company has announced the addition of Nick Knowles, who joins as a senior account manager, based at the company's Hemel Hempstead location.

Knowles has worked with PRG XL Video on numerous occasions on a freelance basis, having specialised as a Technical Producer and lead Video Technician on a range of high profile projects including conferences, meetings and brand activations.

Prior to his time as a freelancer, Nick worked at Spirit Design as a lighting designer. His expertise in both lighting and video make him the ideal addition to the newly combined team.

Knowles comments, "After a long productive relationship with XL Video they approached me and asked if I wanted to come on board as part of the team. For me the time was right, and I cou

USA - A group of broadcast and media industry suppliers including Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo and Snell Advanced Media have collaborated to form the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS).

This new, independent trade association's mandate is to bring IP solutions to market that offer complete interoperability, are based on open standards, and integrate seamlessly into media workflow environments to foster industry innovation and efficiency. The group's efforts will be focused on promoting the adoption, standardization, development and refinement of open protocols for media over IP, with an initial emphasis on VSF TR-03 and TR-04, SMPTE 2022-6 and AES67.

As broadcasters and other media companies look to use IP workflows to speed and streamline the movement and management of increasingly complex content and adapt their businesses to better compete with other con

UK - Sometimes the most original solutions are formulated from the most haphazard moments of abstract thought. Take Steven Douglas, LD for the Killers frontman, Brandon Flowers: "I had a weird thought while we were in Las Vegas for rehearsals of the promo leg of the tour way back in March. I was looking out of the window at the beam coming from the top of the Luxor Hotel and was wondering how much brighter and more defined it would be if we could switch off all the other ambient light coming from the rest of the strip. It got me thinking about how I used wash lights on stage to light the band members; how I can lose impact sometimes from the all spot and beam fixtures.

"So I started thinking if I could find a way to light the band members from really close up. Then I wondered, 'Would I need so many wash lights?' And, as a resuIt, I would also have a whole lot of black

USA - Christie answered the call Monday night to bring a special experience to guests attending the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by providing spectacular red carpet displays.

"Disney and Christie have been sharing projection and display ideas and innovations for several years now to provide audiences with unparalleled movie-going experiences," said Michael Kern, Disney's VP, special events production and technical services, "so there was no question regarding who we would enlist to provide spectacular red carpet displays to make this a special night for everyone attending."

The Christie team provided technical consultation at every stage of the installation, from concept creation, to pre-staging, onsite setup and delivery. To ensure this specific live setup went well and faced with an aggressive timeline, Christie pre-configured a

Australia - TDC - Technical Direction Company is bringing Sydney-siders their large-format video projection technology to two prominent events this year.

Lights of Christmas 2015, St Mary's Cathedral: Once again, TDC has used its expertise to turn the façade of St Mary's Cathedral into a huge 75m backdrop of an imaginative representation of Christmas and what it means to Sydney. TDC created giant 17,640,000 pixel animated images using 264,000 lumens of projected light to illuminate the facade.

To manage the full HD content images, TDC's hardware needs massive processing power - two terabytes of content management, 48 cores of processing and 144 gigabytes of RAM.

"TDC projection video designers created special code and electronics so that the entire system is 'virtually wired' and controllable using an iPad device," says Michael Hassett, managing director at TDC

USA - Electrosonic recently provided audio-visual equipment and integration services for the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame when it remodelled its first-floor gallery and added a stunning interactive mobile in the Grand Rotunda. The additions are part of a two-phase renovation of the museum's galleries and public spaces.

Located in Fort Worth, Texas, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is the only museum in the world dedicated to honouring women of the American West, past and present. Its archives house more than 4,000 artefacts and information about more than 750 remarkable women; the Hall of Fame has 220 honourees, including author Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hollywood's Dale Evans, and Lewis and Clark's guide Sacagawea. The 33,000sq.ft museum is part of the Will Rogers Memorial Complex in the heart of the city's cultural district.

"Even though the museum

The Netherlands - Panasonic will, for the first time, launch a high brightness laser projector for large venues that exceeds 20,000 lumens, at ISE 2016.

Panasonic is promising to bring new perspectives and possibilities to the show, "opening up high brightness permanent installations virtually impossible before". The compact laser projector will provide rental and staging companies with a maintenance free alternative for permanent installations and live events.

Panasonic will also use the Amsterdam show to introduce its new System on Chip solution. This enables any third party software, especially Content Management Systems, to be installed on Panasonic display screens without any specific development.

In addition, the company is "promising to wow audiences yet again, with a stunning showstopper".

In 2015, the Panasonic booth drew big crowds as the

UK - A.C. Video, a division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd, has been appointed as the exclusive UK distributor for Draper Projection Group's new StageScreen and FocalPoint projector screen solutions - bolstering the company's line-up of leading-brand complementary video system technologies.

AC-ET has been a reseller for Draper's popular Ultimate Folding Screen systems for three years, but following the introduction of the StageScreen and FocalPoint systems, Draper appointed the company as their exclusive distributor for these flagship product ranges, due to the A.C. Video division's specialist knowledge, expertise and infrastructure in place to support their brand.

Based in North America, Draper has been manufacturing quality projection screens since 1957. Well-known for their innovation and build quality, Draper produces a wide range of manual and motorised

UK - London-based projection, digital art and son et lumiere specialists, The Projection Studio (TPS) has produced two high profile festive installations this year - at Windsor Castle and in the Welsh seaside town of Barry in Glamorgan.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council invited TPS back to rock the town of Barry again this year following the massive success of last year's inaugural festive son et lumiere created from scratch by Ross Ashton and the TPS team and marking the town's festive light switch-on.

The humorous, fun and spectacular 10-minute large format video show - with seasonal artwork and an array of animated images like dancing penguins and Santa Claus' elf-powered present factory production line - was beamed on to the front of the municipal library building in King Square, Barry, getting everyone vibed up for Christmas.

The biggest physical challenge was dealing wi

Australia - Gladstone's multipurpose Entertainment Convention Centre boasts a flat floor event space that can service 1,700 standing, and an auditorium seating 674 for theatrical productions, concerts and presentations. Situated 100 kilometres south of the next major centre, Rockhampton, the GECC services community and business groups from the coast to the hinterland, and is equally at home staging a musical or a trade fair.

With a busy end-of-year schedule ahead in the theatre, operations supervisor Simon Mai was looking for ways to create unique stage effects and looks quickly and easily. Adding a media server to the GECC's arsenal looked like a solution, but choosing the right product was the challenge.

Graeme Hicks of Entertainment Production Supplies provided Simon with a Green Hippo Amba to evaluate, and the GECC liked what they saw. "Simon and the crew are using

India - Digital signal processing specialist Symetrix has furthered its commitment to the Indian systems integration market with the appointment of Miyakawa Drives & Controls Pvt Ltd as sub-distributor for the Maharashtra region, working under the aegis of main distributor AWAN India Pvt Ltd.

Home to more than 110m people - 18m of them alone in the capital city of Mumbai - Maharashtra is India's third largest state and is located in the western region of the country. Going forward AWAN will work with sub-distributor Miyakawa Drives & Controls Pvt Ltd to optimize the reach of the Symetrix range in this pivotal area.

Established in 1999, Miyakawa Drives & Controls has matured into one of India's most in-demand distributors and importers of pro-audio products and control technology. Alongside Symetrix, its distribution portfolio includes Belden, Neutrik, Community Professional,

UK - Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting and LED screen to a series of recent UK concerts by Public Service Broadcasting, supporting the release of their Sputnik/Korolev EP via lighting designer Francis Clegg.

Francis, part of creative visual design and programming collective MIRRAD, produced a lighting design for the short but popular and much anticipated UK tour which followed on from summer festival work. A completely new live show concept was evolved for this, with production based on the Brixton Academy gig and adaptable to fit the other venues.

The band plays instrumental music, taking samples from classic public service information films, archival footage and propaganda material to (in their own words) "teach lessons of the past through music of the future" with a satirical and humorous edge.

Visuals are fundamental to the performance, and wi

Belgium - d3 Technologies has named FACE, Foundation for Audio-Visual Commerce & Engineering, in Boom, Belgium, as its new reseller in the Benelux region. FACE recently supplied an exciting 3D mapping project in Bokrijk, Belgium with d3 gear and hosted a d3 open house last month.

A full-service provider for the entertainment industry, FACE was formed in 2010 to supply audio, lighting and video hardware, software and services.

"d3 and FACE share a lot of the same values - We both believe in innovation through technology," says Karel De Piere, CEO of FACE. "d3's solutions are a great addition to our existing portfolio and fit right into our catalogue of professional solutions. We are confident that both parties will benefit from this new partnership, and we look forward to working with d3. With our established sales and installation team we expect to create some

UK - S+H Technical supplied 360m of their ShowLED animation cloth, 20m of 1 and 2m Pea-light strings and 2000 x 4-channel DMX controlled Pea-lights - used to decorate three Christmas trees - for The Abba Christmas Party, a TV special produced by Thames, part of FreemantleMedia UK at the London Studios on the South Bank. The show was broadcast on Christmas Eve's ITV 1 prime time.

Production designer Joshua Grace created the 'Abba Lodge' - a super Christmassy, fun-filled Scandinavian inspired environment - in a nod to Abba's Swedish roots - and Festive Cabin for presenter Paddy McGuinness, who was joined by a host of music, TV and theatre stars.

They performed a wide range of Abba songs and shared their own personal Abba memories in a series of chat-style session, all celebrating of 41 years since Abba released their Greatest Hits album in 1975. An exclusive inte

USA - AV service provider LCD Vision works with many high-end clients, notably the aircraft manufacturer Airbus that entrusted the company with the organisation of several of its national and international events. One such event includes the recent International Congress of Airbus' Suppliers in Alabama.

The congress took place at the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center and welcomed more than 300 guests. For video live production, LCD Vision opted for Analog Way's Ascender 48, a powerful multi-screen seamless switcher with soft-edge blending capabilities.

Laurent Puget, founder of LCD Vision explains this choice: "We used to set up our events utilizing several Analog Way devices simultaneously: Di-VentiX II, Pulse and Orchestra; but control room started to become too complex, especially in terms of cabling. Thanks to the Ascender 48 we were able to easily achieve a demanding

Brazil - Panasonic Corporation has signed an agreement to become an 'Official Ceremony Partner' with the Rio 2016 Olympic Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Rio 2016) and provide turnkey visual operations for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Ceremonies.

Panasonic will provide more than 100 high brightness compact 20,000 lumen projectors (PT-DZ21K2), multiple Broadcast Grade 2-M/E Live Switchers (AV-HS6000 Series), and other visual equipment.

Panasonic, the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category, will help to enhance the quality and excitement of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies by delivering impressive images to the audiences around the globe watching the world's greatest ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro, says the company.

Under the partnership, and utilising Panasonic's state-of-art technologies and lon

UK - LSi magazine has teamed up with Production Park, Nitelites and RCF to give readers exclusive access to a tour of the largest facility of its kind in the UK. This brand new, £2.5m Phase One development is a cluster of live event production resources spanning over 300,00sq.ft and incorporating five LS-Live rehearsal studios, three of which are mega-sized spaces, each over 17,000sq.ft.

The park is also home to a variety of other industry brands including: Brilliant Stages, Perry Scenic Creative, Litestructures, LS-Live, The Music Consortium, Knight Rigging Services, Tek LED, J&C Joel - and, of course, the renowned live events university centre, Backstage Academy.

Across the three open days, from 1-3 March, you can also meet the Nitelites team, who (using LS-Live's 17,500sq.ft Studio 001) will demo their new turnkey arena touring package from the specialist Italian lo

UK - Audio visual event supplier Smart AV, part of The Incredible Pixel Group (IPG), has announced an official partnership with LED manufacturer Shenzhen Eastar Electronic Co., LTD (Esdlumen) as its first LED distribution partner within the UK.

This follows a recent expansion into the permanent LED installation arena from Smart AV, which has served the events and exhibitions industry as a rental partner for over 10 years. As a distributor, under its new Smart LED division, Smart AV will offer quick turnaround and more direct support on a range of LED products including indoor, outdoor and creative LED. This will allow the company to offer training, servicing and technical support on the full range of Esdlumen products.

The partnership, confirmed during Smart AV's recent LED research and development tour in China, will strengthen Smart AV's position including the development

UK - When India's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, visited the UK in late 2015, PRG XL Video were asked to supply lighting, video and rigging for a special celebration event at London's Wembley Stadium.

The show combined the best of British and Indian culture and included dancing displays, musical performances, and speeches from both Modi and UK PM David Cameron.

To compliment the festivities, a team from PRG XL Video, working with production stage manager, Trish McGlenaghan, lighting & production designer, Mark Cunniffe, and production manager, Tim Hudson, specified all the lighting, rigging and video technology and expertise to ensure the production was a success.

Rigging for the event incorporated many different elements both on stage, and around the stadium, and included a Kinesys system on stage for the automation. The rigging team were led by Q Willis, with Yose

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