The Netherlands - High End Systems' Showgun automated luminaire recently made its debut on Dutch Television. Het Beste Idee van Nederland (The Best Idea in the Netherlands) is a live show in which people compete on the basis of their own inventions, with a selected jury and the viewing public voting on who has the best idea. The show is broadcast on SBS Channel 6 in Amsterdam.

Flashlight Rental supplied 15 Showguns. Part of the Ampco-Flashlight Group, the company is one of Europe's biggest rental houses and the first in Europe to purchase HES' new automated luminaire.

Lighting designer Jeroen Jans said: "For this new high-level TV show I was looking for a fixture that was both new and fit well cosmetically into the scenery with a high LED and lamp output. The choice was easy: Showgun. All 15 units did a job well done for two months, with nice slow and smooth moveme

Italy - For the 2007 Miss Italia pageant, lighting designer/DoP Fabio Brera specified over 250 Robe moving lights - including ColorSpot and ColorWash 575E ATs, ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E ATs and the workhorse ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E ATs - all supplied by rental company Mixer di Taietti.

The show was staged at the Sport Palace in Salsomaggiore Terme (PR) which was transformed into a large studio for the show that was presented by Mike Buongiorno and Loretta Goggi. It was produced by RAI Milano and broadcast live on RAI 1, watched by 6.2 million people - about a 32% share of the viewing public - jumping to nearly 60% as the winner was announced.

Brera has lit Miss Italia since 2003 and also used Robe on many previous occasions. He works very closely with the set designers on these large projects, and in this case it was with Sabrina Fontanini and also with choreographer

France - Lighting designer Nick Jevons of Electric Fly Productions used 60 i-Pix Satellites to create a spectacular effect for the Paris launch of the Adidas "Predator" PowerSwerve football boot.

Electric Fly was working for brand experience agency Slipstream who brought them onboard to provide all the specialist lighting and effects required for the high profile event.

Staged at the Trocadero, in front of the Eiffel Tower, the set - built by Stage One - consisted of a large 6 x 8m 'shoe box' which was set up two days prior to the launch and acted as a count-down monitor. Three LED strips were installed along the sides of the box that flashed every second.

England's Steven Gerrard and Liverpool team mates Dirk Kuyt, Andriy Voronin and José Reina were joined by a host of international football stars for the box opening event.

When the time came for this to

UK - Entertainment technology supplier A.C. Lighting has been welcomed as a BRDC Rising Star Patron of the British Racing Drivers' Club. Formed in the late 1920s, the BRDC is the champion of British motor sport and owner of the Silverstone Racing Club, the home of British motor sport and centre of international motor sport.

Regarded as the most prestigious racing club in the world, the exclusive membership includes F1 World Champions and those who have obtained international success over a number of seasons, or made a significant contribution to the sport. Every British or Commonwealth World Champion is, or has been in their lifetime, a full member of the Club.

As part of the scheme, promising young British drivers will benefit from A.C. Lighting's BRDC patronage. With its emphasis on cutting-edge new technologies, the sport provides a natural affinity with A.C.'s own product

USA - GE Consumer & Industrial says that its ultra energy saving T8 linear fluorescent lamps (F28T8, F32T8/XL/HL and F32T8/XL/WM) now pair with the company's UltraStart multivolt (120-277V) programme-start ballasts (offered in .60, .71, .89 or 1.15 ballast factors). These ballasts significantly extend lamp life and reduce energy use compared to standard ballasts, says the company.The UltraStart ballast matches instant-start high efficiency energy savings and performance benefits, while protecting lamp life in frequently switched applications (five or more switches per day), the company says.

When used with the UltraStart programme-start ballast in settings such as office and industrial buildings, warehouses, retail chains, schools, hospitals and government buildings, the GE F28T8 lamp can deliver a 15% reduction in wattage compared with a standard three-lamp F32T8 system. It als

USA - Bandit Lites recently lit nine shows for long-time client Garth Brooks. The nine-performance event took place at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Brooks' wife, country singer, Trisha Yearwood opened for him for a majority of the shows.

Lighting designer Dave Butzler chose to use 18 VL 3500 Washes, 43 VL 3000 Spots, 55 Martin MAC 2000 Washes, 22 MAC 2000 Spots, 18 Coemar Halos, 33 Coemar Infinity Washes, 39 Coemar ParLite LEDs and five Lycian M2 Spots to light this event. Lighting was controlled by three grandma full-size lighting consoles, with a single grandMA Lite and four grandma NSPs (Network Signal Processors).

The fundamental design concept is similar to what Brooks has done in the past- a wide rig with all moving lights. The rounded truss structure featured a custom-built centerpiece, surrounded by VL3500 Washes. Coemar ParLite LEDs were used as truss illuminator

Germany - As well as the productions in New York, London and Los Angeles the production of Wicked at Stuttgart's Palladium Theatre is controlled via grandMA consoles. One grandMA full-size and one grandMA light are used. They control the show in connection with three MA NSPs (Network System Processors), one dimMA rack and 13 MA DMX booster/splitter.

During the pre-programming overall three grandMA full-size, two grandMA light as well as one grandMA replay-unit, all in a multi-user session, were used.

Each new production of Wicked is based on the original lighting design by Kenneth Posner.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The 14 November opening event for High Speed 1 at London St Pancras International station - one of the biggest corporate events of the year - saw PRG Europe supply some seven 45ft truck loads of lighting equipment, including searchlights, smoke machines and over 250 moving lights. The event was produced by Flux Events for London & Continental Railways (LCR) under the technical direction of John Farquhar-Smith, with lighting design by Durham Marenghi.

Durham initially began work in January, having been brought in by John Teeman, executive producer for LCR, who had seen his work on The Queen's Golden Jubilee and the recent Winter Olympics in Turin. "My brief," continues Durham, "was for a theatrical reveal of the station. The main challenge was that it's been beautifully restored and architecturally is already very well lit. Having decided that an orchestral an

USA - Nexxus Lighting has announced that its SV Lighting business unit has sold over 600 linear feet of interior solid-state LED products for the new Capitol Visitor Center in Washington D.C.

The Capitol Visitor Center has been conceived as an extension of the Capitol building to welcome visitors to the seat of American government. At nearly 580,000sq.ft, the CVC is the largest project in the Capitol's 212-year history and is approximately three quarters the size of the Capitol building itself. When it opens, the Capital Visitor Center will provide a variety of amenities, including an exhibition gallery, orientation theatres, a 550-seat cafeteria, and gift shops all within a secure public environment.

SV Lighting's Savi LED Flood Strips and low voltage power supplies are being used to light over 600ft of cove and step lighting in the main exhibition gallery where significant C

France - ETC France enjoyed an exceptionally busy Heavent 2007 show in Paris, launching two innovative new products - OnlyView 3D and the Focal Triple.

The stand was the result of a collaboration with three other international companies - UK-based Stage One, specialists in automation systems, stage machinery and set creations; Anglo-French draping and material specialists Blackout and lighting, LED screen and sound rental house, Lumière et Son Paris.

The stand and the live show presentation on it were designed by Fabien Martineau of Scenographism, who was also integrally involved in the R&D of the new OnlyView 3D product launched by ETC at the show.

The show centrepiece was a revolving cube, projected onto with video controlled by OnlyView 3D. This was Martineau's brainchild for demonstrating the versatility and scope of the system, on which he collaborated with ETC France'

UK - A.C. Lighting's Northern sales office has supplied the complete inventory of entertainment lighting, rigging and associated equipment for STS Touring Productions Ltd's new lighting hire division.

The launch of the division was timed to coincide with the10th anniversary of trading for STS, and is a natural progression to complete the full hire package that STS can now offer clients. PA, lighting, backline and staging equipment are all available in-house from STS.

The STS inventory includes Robe moving lights, the new Jands FPX dimming system, ETC and Avolites control, as well as Litec trussing and Manfrotto Grip equipment supplied by A.C.'s new dedicated Rigging division.

A.C. Lighting's Cable Express manufacturing department also played a key role in pulling the order together, producing all the made up cable, internally wired lighting bars and customised dimming system

France - Rental company MPM was the first in the country to acquire Martin Professional's new LC Series of bright, semi-transparent LED panels. Seeking to diversify and strengthen its rental inventory - already stocked with Martin product - MPM chose the LC Series because of its power, modularity and value for money, among other assets, says the company.

Marc Morosini, general director for MPM, commented on the new possibilities the LC Series offers, "The image is an inescapable element in the conception of any set design today, naturally in television but also for a tour, festival or any show. It is obvious that the use of multimedia systems is largely facilitated by the strong development of digital and LED technology by our profession. Martin's LC 2140 video screens allow us to propose to our customers the integration of image as well as sound and light.

"Besides

Singapore - Traffic Jam is thought to be the biggest-ever street party to be held in Singapore, a carefully-collaborated event staged by Sony Ericsson and SingTel at Connaught Drive. This exclusive street party was open to only 2,500 partygoers and, with well-known American hip-hop/R&B group Arrested Development headlining the party, the event was the most sought-after ticket in town. Alongside Arrested Development were a few of Singapore's own bands like Electrico, Mystroe, Inquisitive, adding their own spice to the mix.

The events company taking care of the show was LTM Productions, one of the lighting and sound industry's most experienced operators, known for their expertise in setting up large-format PA systems for major events.

Sound engineer Justin Tan specified some of LTM's new Nexo Geo D10 arrayable loudspeakers, purchased a few months ago from Show Company. For the m

UK - The Sudell Cross and Northgate area is a major transport route and an important pedestrian gateway, linking Corporation Park, the College and Strawberry Bank areas to Blackburn town centre. It was identified as a priority area for improvement and is part of a £1.1 million revamp organized by Blackburn Borough Council.

The Braid, a modern light feature soaring 32ft into the air, forms the centrepiece of the Sudell Cross and was unveiled in April of 2007. The feature was designed by renowned UK artist Simon Watkinson and built by the specialist bespoke metal fabrication and stainless steel architecture company, M-TEC of Darwen, part of the WEC Group.

This bold feature is now lit throughout the day and night in a changing array of colours. The lights used were 3M Martin Architectural Light Pipe with Color Kinetics ColorBurst 6 LED source fittings. The lighting w

UK - Show organiser PLASA Events reports that interest in PLASA08 is running high, with over two thirds of exhibitors having already rebooked their stand space and further applications arriving at the PLASA Events' offices daily.

On the back of the success of PLASA07, many companies have increased their stand size and several have doubled their space, setting PLASA08 on course to be the major industry event of next year. The success of the 2007 show has also been a catalyst for drawing back former exhibitors and generating strong levels of interest from new exhibitors, impressed with the professionalism and energy of the event.

The show management team has identified a range of new initiatives to develop and strengthen visitor attendance and is also focusing on a number of key areas for further development.

"One of the key messages that came across very powerfully from

Ireland - Beacon South Quarter - situated in Dublin's southside - incorporates upmarket retail outlets, luxurious apartments, leisure facilities and Ireland's first children's Museum, Imaginosity. Situated next to the museum, the water feature brings a splash of colour to the exclusive surroundings. Conceived by Fountains Direct Limited, the fountain consists of directional jet arrays built as three squares (one inside the other), with water jets reaching up to 3m in height.

Each square is programmed via a computer to produce water jet sequences of different heights at set times. The concept that Fountains Direct designed consisted of a number of lighting fixtures which run parallel to the jet arrays, allowing unlimited colour mixing. As there were no systems available which could achieve this whilst submerged in water, a new scheme had to be purposely designed to their specific

USA - Nexxus Lighting reports that it has been issued a new patent related to its LED lighting technology. US patent number 7,303,301 is for a unique method of heat-sinking an LED light engine in a lighting fixture when it is submerged in a body of water.

"As solid-state lighting expands its penetration into white light illumination, submersible applications such as fountains, pools and architectural water features are being transformed by digital technology. In order for these new high brightness LED arrays to achieve their promoted 30,000 to 50,000 hour rated life, we are developing new thermal management techniques to provide proper heat sinking," stated Mike Bauer, president and CEO.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Elation Professional has added a new model to its Opti Series of LED stage PAR cans. The new Opti 30 RGB is a high-output RGB colour-mixing PAR can with 12 powerful 1W LEDs which can be combined via DMX to create virtually any colour in the spectrum. Additionally, this fixture comes equipped with smooth colour changing macros, and manual control option, says the company.

A compact version of Elation's popular Opti RGB, the Opti 30 LED is billed as an ideal colour-changing stage light for smaller spaces and also fits easily into 12" box truss for truss toning. Its 1W LEDs produce more vibrant colours than the typical truss toner, casting "a dazzlingly brilliant glow on stage productions" the company says.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Avolites has announced that Lighting Partners will be its exclusive partner for the sale of used Avolites equipment.

Continuing its commitment to quality used equipment sold through usedlighting.co.uk, the Avolites collaboration will see consoles serviced and refurbished at Lighting Partners South London base by Avolites trained technicians. This will ensure the exacting standards customers have come to expect from Avolites will be upheld as the consoles enter their second life, says the company.

David Morgan of Lighting Partners commented: "We are thrilled to be able to work with such an esteemed manufacturer as Avolites. The optional addition of a cost effective Avolites- backed one year factory warranty and other upgrades, pushes further the quality of used equipment from usedlighting.co.uk".

Avolites' Phil Blue added: "Our new collaboration with Light

UK - A.C. Lighting's Audio division has supplied a comprehensive array of equipment to the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton. The supply of audio equipment followed the recent £15 million re-development plan for the main venue for arts and entertainment in Northampton.

Equipment included a Yamaha M7CL 48 channel digital mixing console with Ethersound based networking hardware, a Meyer Sound line array system and a full range of Shure and AKG microphones along with various other items.

David Reeve, technical manager of Royal & Derngate remarked: "In the tendering process, A.C. Lighting very quickly proved themselves to be competitive and efficient. They managed to arrange gear demonstrations at very short notice and ensured all the kit was on site quickly with the minimum of fuss."

A.C. Lighting's audio sales manager, Peter Butler, commented: "We we

UK - Bespoke Lighting, which recently merged with LEDtronics, a Los Angeles-based LED lighting company, combined their skills in developing a unique method of illuminating chandeliers using light emitting diodes (LEDs).

The project was undertaken at the request of The Royal Household, in an effort to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs.

The centre room chandelier was nominated and all 32 25 watt tungsten lamps were removed, and a low voltage system controlling 2.8 watt light emitting diode lamps (Queens Chandelier STL610-48-XIW-024M) were installed, initiating an energy saving in excess of 80%. The next re-lamping will not be needed to be scheduled until 2020.

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa has invested in 24 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E AT fixtures which made their debut on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw at the International Convention Centre in Durban.

The new units were an integral element of Tim Dunn's lighting design for the event, which was broadcast live by the South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) to over 200 territories worldwide. A hundred of these relayed it live, creating a new FIFA Draw record.

The new 2500s were supplied to Gearhouse by Robe's South African distributor DWR Distribution. Gearhouse first bought Robe moving lights - 48 of the 700 Series - in January 2007, followed by another 48 700 Series fixtures in October, quickly followed by the 2500s this month - just in time for the FIFA event.

Dunn worked closely with set designer Dewett Meyer and Richard Baker from LEDVision (supplier

Italy - Clay Paky projectors illuminated Roberto Benigni's presentation of Dante's Inferno, one of the most prestigious televised events in 2007. The show was broadcast live on RAI 1 on 29 November without a single commercial break. It focused on the work of the renowned poet Dante Alighieri.

The programme was realized in the cinema and television production centre - Cinecittà Studios in Papigno (Terni) in the post-modern scenario of an old disused factory. Director of photography Fausto Carboni reports: "It was necessary to combine the typical demands of a 'one-hand-show' with the need to interpret the Dante theme with a light show. It was also necessary to illuminate a theatrical show, bearing in mind the television requirements. We came to an agreement with the programme director Stefano Vicario, and decided to use a white light on the protagonist and full colour

USA - Apollo Design Technology has introduced six new colours to the ApolloGel Series 7 swatchbook. The new colors are: AP3520 Alexander the Grape; AP4130 Blurple; AP4870 Bluetylicious; AP5430 Green Gello; AP7630 Peach My Interest; and AP7770 Hot Wings.

"The evolution of ApolloGel has been interesting to watch," states Monty McWilliams, VP marketing at Apollo. "The selection of new colours used to be based on Apollo staff opinions. The process is now driven strictly from end user recommendations. Without widespread use of our colour filters, this wouldn't be happening."

(Jim Evans)

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