Lighting

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14 March 2016

Giving increased realism to the friendly green ogre has been SGM's new P-5 Washlight, from the inventory of lighting rental company, Focus Amsterdam.

The technical production specialists were invited by theatre producers Albert Verlinde Entertainment to provide lighting equipment - and just as they have for one of the promoters' other musicals, Annie, found the P-5 to provide a compelling solution.

Focus account manager, Marijn Muilenburg, said that although the show producers had purchased the rights to Shrek from Dreamworks, there was enough creative freedom in the agreement for them to introduce complete new décor, light and costumes.

He explained, "About on

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14 March 2016

"I believe it may have been the largest operational rig of Patt. 23's in the country," said Andrew Tweedie, head of lighting at Canberra Theatre Centre. "But they were getting harder and harder to maintain, especially as you couldn't find spare parts, and were not as punchy as they should have been."

A decision was made to replace the Patt. 23's with the main criteria being that the replacement had to be the same size as the space they would be housed in is very small. Canberra's Sound Advice recommended the ETC So

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Andrew Voller used ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires to light Lift at the Soho Theatre, a musical by Craig Adams and Ian Watson, which explores the feelings and thoughts of eight strangers who happen to be in a lift together.

Voller was first introduced to the Source Four LED by the Layers of Light demonstration at the ETC PLASA stand in September. During the presentation, ETC's Tom Littrell explained how different types of fixtures - such as LEDs and incandescents -- can seamlessly work together, then demonstrated the power and versatility of ETC's newest lighting product, the Source Four LED.

"As I had no experience of the units before," says Voller, "I opted to use them as my backli

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14 March 2016

The sale was co-ordinated by Johannesburg based TV lighting rental and design specialist Blackmotion, with the Robe units all delivered by South African distributor DWR as part of a major technical upgrade by SABC's lighting department.

Blackmotion's MD Kagiso Tiro Daystar Moima (KG) explains that they were approached in 2012 through a tendered process when the SABC's in-house lighting directors set up a team to research into the best purchase options for the broadcaster.

SABC was about to embark on a full commissioning schedule of LE and variety programmes, so it made commercial sense ahead of this to purchase the lights required for these shows ... rather than renting i

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14 March 2016

One of the main fundraising events for these charities, By Design Day focuses attention on the various ways that individuals can support these two organisations which are dedicated solely to assisting entertainment technology professionals in need. Fundraising can be a personal donation or through an organised collection. Many designers support the day by voluntarily giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities. Light Relief assists those involved in the UK lighting industry while Behind the Scenes aids professionals based in the US and Canada working in any area of the entertainment technology industry.

By Design Day 2013 has the full backing of a host of award-winni

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14 March 2016

Late Show - Teen pop idol Justin Bieber angered parents by emerging onstage for a concert at London's O2 Arena almost two hours late. While the 19-year-old singer's young fans were kept waiting, frantic parents converged on the venue expecting to pick up their children. It follows reports Bieber's gig in Nottingham on Saturday also began late. Fans tweeting from inside the O2 said there were boos from some in the crowd almost an hou

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14 March 2016

The competition, which is now in its fourth year, invites students who are studying lighting courses from institutions all over the UK to design, install and implement theatrical lighting schemes for the museum's many historic locomotive displays in their prestigious 'Great Hall'.

ACSP played an integral role in the event, supplying a range of leading entertainment technology equipment, as well as providing first line technical support and product training for students participating in the competition.

As well as their access to a huge range of entertainment technology brands, ACSP also have extensive experience supplying industry-standard technical facilities and lighting

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14 March 2016

Support for Martin's VC-Series of creative LED video products (VC-Grid, VC-Strip and VC-Dot) driven by the P3 PowerPort 1500 has now been integrated and the Video Input section has been improved.

The Video Input Wizard now adjusts all scaling and viewport settings by itself and the preview on the P3's screen is now rendered when no fixtures are connected, making pre-programming and setup even easier.

Many more features and improvements such as automatic resolution detection, a 'Highlight Fixture' and 'Mixed Resolution Layout Wizard' are making their debut.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

"It's bigger than anything we've ever had out there," Aldean revealed to Country Weekly. "It's completely revamped from last year."

Lighting designer Aaron Swetland began working with Aldean in 2008 and received the illustrious CMA SRO Lighting Designer of the Year Award for his work on Jason Adlean's 2012 tour, meaning the expectations were a bit high, even if only in his mind.

"There's always the kind of mentality where you want to outdo yourself," Swetland said.

To achieve that feat, Swetland's lighting design consists of a basic upstage and downstage truss with a floor light compliment. The upstage side of the rig has four ladder beams co

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14 March 2016

These workshops are designed to provide useful 'hands on' experience and core skills and will be presented by some of the industry's foremost companies, says Batmink.

During the week, representatives from manufacturers such as Pioneer, Martin Audio, Cloud, Le Maitre, Shure, Audio Technica and Sennheiser will be conducting presentations on subjects including pyrotechnics, production and installed sound and lighting, signal processing, wireless regulations and providing certified training on Zero 88 lighting desks.

The Batmink team will be supplementing this with daily workshops covering subjects such as an introduction

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14 March 2016

Selecon, Vari-Lite, Strand Lighting and Showline will each be displaying the latest in lighting technology at the exhibition - one of the biggest and busiest in Europe.

Philips will also debut the latest in the LED illumination revolution, Showline. A complete range of super-efficient, feature-rich, professional entertainment LED luminaires, the Showline SL BAR 640 and 660, SL BAR 520, SL PAR 150 ZOOM, and the all new SL BAND 310 will be on full display as part of a well-planned family designed specifically for the entertainment lighting industry. In addition, a totally new Showline LED concept will be unveiled at the exhibition.

All Showline products utilise homogenized RGBW LEDs, built in effects

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14 March 2016

The fixtures were supplied by Los Angeles based VER, who has recently become a valued supporter of the new Robin MMX series.

While on the road the lightshow was looked after by lighting operator Chris Smith.

Prior to this tour, Los Angeles-based Fitzgerald had not used any Robe products however he decided to use the MMX Spots after a spectacular demo from VER.

"They were great! I love the effects and gobos and they are generally excellent lights," he comments, adding that they were also completely reliable throughout the duration of their time on the tour!

Ten MMX Spots were rigged over the stage on front and back trusses. The eleventh was set on the floor

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14 March 2016

Currently employing more than 100 full-time members of staff, working across all industry sectors, Hawthorn boasts an annual turnover of £9m, whilst the Anagram team stands at 15 and turns over £3mper annum. Anagram will now dry hire equipment from their base in Cambridge, adding to Hawthorn's existing bases in both the Midlands and London.

Hawthorn's managing director, Martin Hawthorn, said, "This is an exciting opportunity for everyone within the group, allowing us all to open new doors, pool resources and develop existing relationships. There are many synergies between the two companies, bringing them together under one umbrella increases our knowledge,

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14 March 2016

AED Distribution UK says it will provide distribution for a cohesive range of entertainment technology brands, underpinned with professional logistics and order processing, supported by the AED Group Solutions. The range will initially include CM Entertainment Technology, Prolyte (including the four complementary but independent brands of Litestructures, Prolyte Structures, StageDex and ProLyft), GLP lighting, MDG foggers, High End Systems' Hog 4 control family, Fenix lifting towers, Swisson DMX solutions and sine wave dimming, SRS motor controllers, dimmers and power distribution, plus hardware from Manfrotto and Doughty.

Formerly director of European Sales for Philips Vari-Lite a

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14 March 2016

With immediate effect, Lars Dige Knudsen is promoted to vice-president, general manager, Lighting Strategic Business Unit, "taking over from Martin's previous CEO, Christian Engsted" - the statement says: the only mention of Engsted, the CEO who has guided Martin through eight years of drastic change, much of it in the face of severe economic adversity.

At the same time, Villads Thomsen is promoted to vice-president, Global Sales, Lighting Strategic Business Uni

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14 March 2016

The 2013 awards saw the Best Lighting Designer category supported by leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light, a counterpoint to the company's support for both the Whatsonstage.com awards presented earlier in February and the Olivier Awards coming soon and reflecting White Light's aim to support productions of all types and scales.

Richard Howell took the prize for The Hairy Ape at the Southwark Playhouse, about which The Guardian newspaper commented "brilliant lighting from Richard Howell (an endless riff on the theme of light and dark) makes this a hugely visceral experience - like something conceived as an endlessly shifting painting".

Howell's fello

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14 March 2016

Utilising the same innovative LED technologies found in the Studio Force range, the new Studio Force V 12 Phosphor is a 3,200 - 5,600K CCT, variable white fixture which provides an equivalent soft edge output to a fluorescent unit - up to 6,000 lumens.

Developed specifically for use in TV, film and broadcast studio environments, the Studio Force V 12 Phosphor incorporates fine-tuning of the green and magenta tints and frequency for camera, an extremely smooth uniform wash, extra soft beam, theatrical grade dimming and laboratory calibration to match Black Body Locus.

Chroma-Q's global brand manager, James Bawn comments, "We are absolutely delighted to receive a Les

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14 March 2016

Jagmag became distributor for Clay Paky in India in 2009 with a view to developing the market for Clay Paky in India and ensuring that JagMag's prestigious clients have access to its feature rich, energy efficient, high output lighting stock.

Since then, Jagmag Electric Co., respected as one of India's leading one-stop, full service, in-house lighting, production and power distribution companies, has supplied Clay Paky luminaires to many of India's premier ceremonies.

Lighting designer and general manager of Jagmag, Atul Sonpal, is known for his work on Bollywood award nights and shows in India, and last year Jagmag and Clay Paky have collaborated to en

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14 March 2016

The boy band gave an energetic performance of their Comic Relief single - a medley of One Way Or Another by Blondie and The Undertones' Teenage Kicks - from the giant pinball machine. The colourful centrepiece carried the gaming theme from their previous stage set on ITV's The X Factor final - also designed and fabricated by LS-Live.

Said LS-Live director Ben Brooks, "We successfully delivered a red 'slide' staging structure for the band in December for their X Factor performance, so production manager Kenny Underwood approached us again to develop the idea for a pinball themed show.

&

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14 March 2016

Salvador, Bahia based Luzbel timed their latest purchase of Robe luminaires especially to be able to put the new units on the high profile event's main stage which featured a production lighting specification by one of their technician's, Junior.

It follows Luzbel's initial investment in Robe's ColorSpot 1200E AT and ColorBeam 700E AT units two years ago ... and the excellent results they have had using these.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Reflecting the full-on action of the movie, and providing a backdrop for the arriving stars including Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney, the Leicester Square premiere included a genuine ex-active-service helicopter alongside the red carpet outside the Odeon.

To add a little extra glamour to the heavy machinery, Premier brought in XL Events to provide scenic LED along the base of the 17m long flatbed truck on which the helicopter sat.

The low level of the truck provided XL with a challenge as there was limited space around the base in which to rig the LED. XL Events supplied 56 tiles of Pixled FX-11 for the event.

Pixled FX-11 was selected for the job due to its lightweight 450mm square tile size a

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14 March 2016

"It was a beautiful facility that had the equipment in both variable and six-speed rigging, and it allowed us easy access to the grid to show people the equipment," said ETC's Gary Henley. "Rather than a conference room with a projector, we thought that if we had the opportunity to take them to a working space and see the equipment and have the installer there to explain the process, it would be much more practical."

When Ensworth School received a donation to continue the master plan for the high school theater, the independent school contracted Bandit to design and install an automa

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14 March 2016

In recent years, over 90% of LAMDA's Stage Management & Technical Theatre students who actively sought jobs in the sector found employment within three months of graduation.

The academic year group is separated into four so that they have a much more intimate and hands on experience over the four days. LAMDA is very much a practical academy and so this ties in perfectly with the way in which they train their students.

LAMDA introduce

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14 March 2016

A professional group of companies and individuals put the event together. Television production company, Don't Look Down Convergence Agency, were responsible for producing the event for DSTV while AV Unlimited supplied the full technical. The dome structure in which the event was held was supplied by IN 2 Structures, part of the Gearhouse Group of Companies. The set designer was Garrith Castelyn from AV Unlimited and Dreamsets were involved in building the stage. For the fifth consecutive year, Joshua Cutts from Visual Frontier was the lighting designer.

"It was a big design from a lighting point," explained Joshua Cutts. "The brief was to create a black negative space