Denmark - The Extube Series from Martin Professional is a modular system of IP65 rated linear LED luminaires designed for illumination of outdoor architecture and more. With RGB+W colour mixing, a choice of opaque lenses and an easy means of installation, Extube is suitable for a variety of illumination needs including floodlighting, wall-grazing, cove lighting or creating continuous lines of decorative color, inside or out, says the company.

Extube is available in two lengths; 30cm (1ft, 12 LEDs) and 120cm (4ft, 48 LEDs). It is weatherproof rated at IP65 for the outdoor illumination of facades, structures, bridges, cruise ships and more. Made of extruded aluminum, the Extube's slim aesthetics allows the luminaire to blend iinto existing architecture. It is also suitable as a lighting effect for clubs and lounges and will fit into TV, theatre and touring shows.

The Extube come

China - Eight Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W HTI follow spots were used to cut through the vast quantity of light produced by the largest moving light rig in history, highlighting critical scenes of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic & Paralympics Games 2008.

Eight Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI follow spots were also used across other Olympic-related events across Beijing.

Chief lighting designer for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was Mr Sha Xiaolan who worked closely with director Zhang Yimou to create the spectacular effects.

Jamie Boey, of Robert Juliat China which supplied the Lancelot and Cyrano follow spots, reports, "Mr Sha was delighted with the performance and quality of the Robert Juliat follow spots and confirmed his decision to use Robert Juliat was based on sound technical reasons."

"The brightness of the Lancelot was a decidi

UK - Batmink Ltd, one of the UK's largest distributors of professional sound and lighting equipment has recorded an extremely successful PLASA08 exhibition. Grant Thomas, sales director, commented: "To be perfectly honest, we weren't entirely sure what to expect from this year's show. With the constant talk of the credit crunch and the effect of the smoking ban on the bar and club industry, combined with extremely unfavourable exchange rates, we were anticipating a quiet and sombre show - nothing could have been further from the truth! The show was buoyant and positive, and stand visitors were numerous and of good quality. Time will tell, but looking at initial figures I would say this is our busiest PLASA ever."

Batmink is celebrating its 25th anniversary and as one of PLASA's earliest member companies is well placed to compare shows. Particular interest was expressed

UK - Lighting rental specialist HSL supplied designer Nick Jevons of Electric Fly Productions with lighting and rigging equipment for the main stage and for site-wide architectural highlighting at the 2008 Beck's Fusion Festival. This was held at Castlefield's Arena in Manchester.

HSL and Electric Fly also recently collaborated to supply all production lighting and design for the 2008 Global Gathering dance festival, and Jevons states, "HSL is always my first choice for lighting rentals. Mike Oates (HSL's project manager) and his team have been fantastic - as always - in providing great service and excellent kit". For this event Electric Fly was working for live brand experience producers, Sevens 7.

The highlight of the two-day music and arts event was a performance from Massive Attack and United Visual Artists (UVA) - the last show of a summer tour that HSL has also

UK - Proteus Displays reports a great success at PLASA08. The company was launching a new, ultra low power reflective display screen for indoor or outdoor use, also called Proteus, which represents the first reflective display product of its type.

Dr Tim Coker, CEO, comments: "This was our first time at PLASA and we were uncertain how this new product would be received amid today's difficult financial climate. A little to our surprise, the buzz the product has generated has been beyond all our expectations, amplified of course by the Innovation Award. We have seen that this industry has an appetite for new technologies and ideas and every visitor to our stand was most enthusiastic about the product."

For the first time the PLASA Innovation Awards included an environmental prize and Proteus was the inaugural winner. Dr Coker continues: "It has been through develo

UK - The PLASA08 exhibition (7-10 September, Earls Court, London) has bucked the general exhibition industry trend in spectacular style with an 11 per cent growth in visitor figures across the event's four days compared to 2007. The 13,000+ attendance figure (subject to ABC audit) reflects an exceptional level of visitor pre-registration as well as a growth in new and returning exhibitors to an expanded show floor, say organisers PLASA Events Ltd.

"The show's success was due to a combination of factors," said Director of Events Nicola Rowland, "in particular a targeted marketing campaign combined with special online registration offers; a growth in exhibitor numbers; even more new product launches than in 2007; a greatly expanded educational programme; and improved visitor and exhibitor facilities.

"Combined with the effort that so many exhibitors made to p

Russia - Tyumen's Theatre of Drama in Siberia has installed a grandMA system. The main objective for the installation was to develop an up-to-date complex which will provide the lighting designer with the tools to create shows, for all levels of complexity.

For convenient working practice it was necessary to design a complete system which includes all aspects of lighting: control, dimming, networking and media. The project was carried out by TSPR (Teatr Stroy-Proekt R) - the distributor for MA lighting in Russia. Alexei Kopylov and Alexandr Kontorovich were the lighting designers for the project.

In order to light the main auditorium, with 795 seats, 66 5kVA dimmer-channels, 300 3kVA dimmer-channels, 524 control channels for moving lights and about 1,400 channels for media servers were required.

A grandMA full-size was chosen as the main lighting console. Additionally a serv

USA - Elation Professional has combined its Tri-Color LED Technology with its compact-profile Opti stage par can, introducing the new Opti Tri Par. A trim, DMX-controllable high-output RGB theatrical light with 18 x 3W LEDs, the Opti Tri Par is designed for use in theatres, churches, concerts, productions, displays, runways - anywhere colour-changing stage lighting is needed.

"We are very pleased to offer our popular Opti stage light with new, advanced Tri-Color LED Technology," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "This technology is a vast improvement over single-colour LED RGB fixtures, where if you were mixing, say, the colour magenta, only the red and blue lamps would be on and the green lamps would be turned off. By contrast, if you were creating magenta with the Opti Tri Par, all 18 lamps would remain on and only the green LED withi

UK - Point Source Productions were approached back in April of this year by the Communications Department at Guy's and St Thomas' Charity in London to supply a lighting, sound and AV solution for their charity's showcase event. This took the form of an awards ceremony to celebrate the charity's contribution to health service innovation and improvement.

The event took place in the historic Governor's Hall at St Thomas' Hospital - a room lined with Victorian wood panelling. The brief was to provide lighting which would accentuate the features of the room without damaging the valuable fabric of the building, and to provide entrance lighting to the event and sting lighting during the Award Ceremony itself.

Point Source Productions rose to the challenge providing a number of free-standing lighting fixtures to create maximum effect with no damage.

ChromaQ ColorBlock DB4 LED upligh

Europe - Three new venues across Europe with very different system requirements are benefitting from the Jands Vista's approach to lighting control.

Finnish professional systems integrator, Electrosonic Lightinen Oy Ab, has supplied Jands Vistas to the Levi Summit venue in Lapland. Multi-purpose facilities, hi-tech equipment and an auditorium large enough to stage world-class performances and major product launches make the Levi Summit a first class venue for diverse events.

When tasked with providing the best lighting control system available for the main auditorium, Electrosonic specified a Jands Vista T4 as the main console and Vista PC with M1 playback hardware as a secondary console. The Vistas can be remotely controlled via the building's AMX system, enabling seamless automation of the auditorium's lighting and AV systems. A rack of Jands FPX units provides the lighting

UK - Global Design Solutions has announced the appointment of Andy Duffield in the newly created position of business development manager.

Duffield's main objectives will be to reinforce GDS' product portfolio, supporting its global distributor TMB in its existing markets, whilst also developing new business. He will be responsible for establishing new products into new and existing marketplaces.

Matt Lloyd of GDS comments: "Andy brings with him a wealth of experience and technical knowledge over several markets, he reinforces our quality-driven approach to business. We are delighted to have him on board and look forward to an exciting future."

(Jim Evans)

UK - White Light's installation team has provided the Richard Challoner School in New Malden with a comprehensive lighting installation for its newly-created drama studio.

The school has created its new facility by converting a former gymnasium to provide a flexible and intimate studio that can be used either as a studio space or, at the push of a button to bring out the electrically-powered retractable seating, as a studio theatre.

White Light's Roger Hennigan liaised with the school's head of drama, Neil Zoladkiewicz to work out the most efficient use of the school's budget to provide the most flexible and useful set of facilities.

"White Light suggested and advised on options, showing a keen understanding of the educational requirements of the new studio as well as the need to create an exciting new performance space," Zoladkiewicz notes. "As a result the e

UK - After being absent from the PLASA show floor for the past four years, Selecon returned to PLASA08 with some new faces, a raft of new product and a new logo for visitors to meet and see as well as the full product line of theatrical and specialised display lighting.

"We decided to attend this year to meet our many new customers from the far-flung regions of Continental Europe, and we were successful in reaching these important new contacts. Attendees from Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria and Israel together with our dealers from the UK visited the Selecon stand where we showed the latest new products released this year," reports Michael Goldberg, Selecon's European sales and marketing director.

These new products included the high frequency, variable voltage 80V Direct DMX Power Supply which supplies 80V to energy efficient 1200W lamps for the Pacifi

UK - Highlite International (UK) Ltd, the exclusive distributor of Antari Smoke and effects machines completed the first sales of the new HZ-500 Pro Hazer, prior to its launch in the UK at the 2008 PLASA show. Knight International of Chelmsford, Essex, UK, took the first HZ-500 Pro Hazers into its hire fleet, to replace the older Antari HZ-400s.

Phil Knight, MD of Knight International, commented: "Our Antari Hz-400s have done some good years service for us and when I saw the prototype model of the new HZ-500 at the Frankfurt show back in March this year, I knew this was the machine I needed to replace them with. It is ideal as it is already flightcased, which is so important in pro rental markets these days! The machine has an incredible low noise which is also important on pro production and TV work, and it also produces a dry haze. I am very pleased with the new HZ-500s a

UK - Zero 88 has announced the winners of its LightFactory competition, which was held on each day of PLASA08.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday visitors who came to the stand to see the product were entered into a free draw with the chance of winning a 1 Universe LightFactory package.

The winners were Nick Cooke of German LED manufacturer Schnick Schnack, Swedish lighting designer Johan Friberg and Danilo Pedros from Italian Lighting company DTS.

On the final day, the prize draw not only included a 1 Universe LightFactory package but also the new Programming and Playback wings launched at the show. Ismael Portelli from Nexos Lighting Technology in Malta was the lucky recipient of this prize.

(Jim Evans)

Ireland - Over 200 Robe units were used site-wide at the 2008 Electric Picnic Arts & Music Festival, supplied by leading Irish lighting rental company Just Lite, who lit all 15 performance stages at the event.

Set in the picturesque environs of Stradbally Hall, County Laois, the festival was presented by Pod Concerts & Aiken Promotions. Liam McCarthy, who also stage-managed the main stage, designed lighting for all stages.

The designs were based on the need to accommodate the requirements of the headlining acts along with any specials packages, also providing a dynamic 'house' rig for everyone's shows. McCarthy comments: "Robe is an excellent moving light for events like this - they are mega bright, reliable and stand up well to the unpredictable weather."

There were five main music stages including the Main Open Air Stage, The Electric Arena, Crawdaddy, The Little

UK - HSL once again supplied lighting for the main stage at Bestival on the Isle of Wight which muddily concluded the 2008 UK festival season, as Britain was lashed by storms, high winds and torrential rain causing widespread chaos.

HSL has been involved with Bestival since its inception in 2004. Once again its team, led on site by Rory MacKay and in the office by Mike Oates, worked closely with site and event production managers John Gray and Lee Charteris, and producer Loudsound Events' Jim King.

The main stage production lighting design was created by Steven Abbiss. He looked at the principal headlining band's spec' and created a "house" design that would work for them, along with their assorted specials packages, plus the raft of other performers taking to the stage over the weekend. As always with a festival situation, flexibility and adaptability was the key to

Unexpected News - The Spice Girls have beaten Led Zeppelin to an award for the best music reunion of the last 12 months. The girl group won best live return at the Vodafone Live Music Awards after getting back together for a world tour. It was judged to have been better than the one-off comeback by rock legends Led Zeppelin, with The Verve and James also nominated.

Emma Bunton was the only Spice Girl present, and said she was "a bit shocked" to beat such venerable rock acts as Led Zeppelin. The pop group's victory will raise eyebrows among rock fans, but Bunton told the BBC News website: "The thing is, when you go to a gig, you go for fun and entertainment and a night out. And that's exactly what we did and I think that's why people enjoyed it so much."

Theatre News - Up to 95 publicly-funded theatres across England are to offer free tickets to young adults as par

Singapore - Wireless Solution Sweden recently saw its W-DMX reach new heights. The Singapore Flyer is the world's largest observation wheel on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre in Singapore. Reaching a height of 165m (541ft), the wheel exceeds the height of the London Eye by 30m.

Lighting designer Douglas Brenan of Project Lighting Design (PLD) envisioned a dynamic display of light and changing colour with an eco-friendly solution. PLD worked together with Philips SSL Solutions for the lighting design. Philips SSL Solutions recommended Color Kinetics LED modules for the spokes and capsules. The biggest challenge was getting the DMX signal to the units. This required some innovative wireless technology. After careful planning, W-DMX by Wireless Solution was chosen as the most reliable choice.

The LED modules consist of 280 Color Kinetics iColor Accent Powercore, 112 2-Foot

UK - The PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund accepted a donation of £500 from Clay Paky's Knights of Illumination Awards at this year's PLASA Show. A cheque was handed over by Clay Paky president and managing director Pasquale Quadri and marketing manager Enrico Caironi to Britannia Row Productions' Mike Lowe, one of the Fund's Trustees.

The only awards exclusively dedicated to lighting designers, the Knight of Illumination Awards are the result of an idea launched by Clay Paky and organised by the Italian firm in collaboration with STLD and ALD. The four awards categories are for Theatre, TV, Rock and a Lifetime Recognition award.

Enrico Caironi said: "We are delighted to offer our support to this established industry charity that helps Production Services Association members and their families at times of crisis."

PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund Chairman Mike Lowe

UK - ETC's Ion control system has received favourable reviews since several appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, says the company.

Simon Wilkinson used one for the Fringe First Award-winning production Slick at the Traverse Theatre, a show produced by Vox Motus in which actors' heads are superimposed on small puppet bodies. "We were lucky to be in touch with Jeremy Roberts, ETC's associate regional manager for UK and Ireland, who told us about the Ion and lent us one to try out during the show's development," he says. "I don't think I could have produced a show this technically complicated within the resources available without the Ion."

Adrian Searle, technical manager for Stage Electrics reports that the two Ions they rented to the Assembly Rooms were extremely well received. "In co-operation with ETC, we held a training day at the end o

UK - Robert Juliat reports that PLASA08 has confirmed still further the high level of interest that exists in the Victor 1800W HMI followspot and the multi-functional Le Cin'k spotlight.

The Victor was launched at PLASA 07 and provides a light output in excess of many 2500W follow spot light sources combined with the optical and ergonomic excellence associated with Robert Juliat, wrapped up in a compact, stylish unit.

Le Cin'k meanwhile offers a choice of interchangeable lamp bases allowing options of 2500W tungsten, 5000W tungsten, 1200W discharge or 2500W discharge lamps - ensuring a single spotlight to undergo rapid transformations according to requirements. This is particularly useful to rental houses and multipurpose venues and studios, says the company.

In addition to these products, the fully automated version of the Lancelot 4000W HTI followspot modules, Noria and Ch

UK - Goboland was "delighted" to be awarded a PLASA Silver Award for Innovation for its Black Steel Gobos at PLASA 08. The PLASA Award is the second for the Goboland Black Steel Gobos which were awarded the LDI Best Debuting Product in November 2007.

"PLASA is always a good opportunity to catch up with clients and for networking. We received very good feedback at the show about Goboland's services and have already had new customers contact us following recommendations from people bumping into each other at the show," says Goboland's UK head of operations, Vicky Fairall.

"Our Pin Cushion Distortion Correction has gone down very well and has confirmed our reputation as a company which is good at solving more tricky gobos problems. We are proud to be known to offer our customers extra services such as Black Holes, Tweakers, Pin Cushion Correction and Keys

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline