Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

Litestructures will handle the manufacture of LiteConsole in the UK with Gear4DJs managing the distribution worldwide from its brand new warehouse (opening summer 2014). Nick McGeachin, the driving force behind LiteConsole, will be fully focused in the new company on increasing sales and continuing development of the product platform.

Gear4DJs will add specific dedicated back office LiteConsole staff to support Nick, the growing network of official dealers, and to provide direct customer support. Nick McGeachin said, "This initiative represents a wonderful new dawn for LiteConsole. As all

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14 March 2016

There has always been a special atmosphere around Glastonbury Festival, emanating from the tightknit team assembled around organisers Michael Eavis, his daughter Emily and her husband Nick . Enteetainment are in constant touch throughout the year's planning that goes into constructing the world's most famous festival stages and their associated production, ensuring the 135,000-strong audience enjoys the 51 bands appearing on these two stages across the weekend.

The core team comprises Dick Tee, head of production, along with daughter Frankie Tee, (in the role of Pyramid stage office manager) working her seventh year, Amy Harmsworth (operations and logistics manager Pyramid and Other Stage) working at her 13th Glastonbur

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14 March 2016

Festival director, John Probyn, who has described the event as the best one yet, comments, "Eve is critical at Download, due to its wide list of products and its knowledge of the venue and all the unique limitations a race track presents."

Eve account manager, Ben Chambers, said, "John has put a top team together in the production office and across the site in terms of suppliers. There's a really progressive approach at Download and it's a pleasure to be a part of."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Stufish designed the three-dimensional diamond-shaped 'skate park' with multiple performer levels that spread across the 54m wide x 21m deep main stage. The set incorporates pairs of ego- and band-risers, perimeter ramps and screamers arranged either side of a steep central slope, which rakes upstage at a 19° angle to a height of 4.5m, and is fronted by a 34m long skate thrust to the B-stage.

Brilliant Stages designed and built the decking and supporting framework for the walkways and risers, along with scarlet powder-coated aluminium access stairs and onstage treads,

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14 March 2016

Triple E's managing director David Edelstein awarded the TDRIVE prize to two Guildhall students, Seb Matthews, and Sam Gosling, who rigged one of Triple E's popular motorised Unitrack systems the fastest. The ABTT competition was held as part of Triple E's 30th birthday celebrations, and attracted a lot of interest. Other participants included the Brit School, Imperial College, and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and teams from Flint Hire and Supply and Northern Light.

Guildhall's Seb and Sam completed the rigging challenge in 11 minutes 50 seconds - a full one minute 10 seconds faster

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14 March 2016

The tour's spectacular scenic aspects and lighting have been designed by show directors Lee Lodge and Willie Williams and LD Mark Cunniffe.

Lighting includes three eye-catching chandeliers above the stage, each constructed from three concentric semi-circular trusses and flown on a total of nine points per chandelier. These are driven into numerous different positions by Liftket motors fitted with Kinesys Elevation 1+ drive units - giving 27 axis of automation in total.

The chandeliers are made from custom HUD style trussing manufactured by Thomas, which allows all the attached lighting

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14 March 2016

Automation CPD Training course: Automation for the Entertainment Industry in one of the newest, fully-automated theatres in the UK - the Guildhall School's new building Milton Court. The training is delivered by practicing automation specialists from Stage Technologies and comprises a mixture of hands-on practice and theory.

The Automation for the Entertainment Industry course is suitable for those pursuing a career in automation as well as technical theatre graduates and professionals in other backstage industries, such as lighting and sound, who are looking to increase their skills and knowledge.

The course aims to provide students with a thorough introduction to automation and eChameleon software: from control basics and theory through to grid work and complex moves, and two dimension

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14 March 2016

Willems and his team at the engineering and automation specialist, based in Heist Opt Den Berg, energised themselves to help bring a world class production right home to Mechelen, one of the many places at the centre of hostilities during the carnage and devastation of the First World War.

The laser controlled seating tribune that moves nearly 2000 audience per show 90m up and down the 150m long performance space in Mechelen's Nekkerhal is just one of many technical factors.

The seating tribune makes 13 moves back and forth throughout the show at different speeds and distances as the drama - sung live to a special backing track by Dirk Bros

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14 March 2016

Building on the success of previous years, the programme, which is again curated by Chris Higgs of Total Solutions, will comprise seven sessions in one day, as opposed to eight over two days. The first session details to be announced are that of keynote speaker, Bill Sapsis, who will share his experiences and insights from a 40-year career in the entertainment rigging industry.

Sapsis is a USITT Fellow and a past member of the USITT Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the ETCP Council and Chair of the Rigging Working Group for PLASA NA. Sapsis is the recip

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14 March 2016

More than 50,000 party people enjoyed Arcadia's music line up each night of the event beneath the sculpture for three nights, complete with spectacular visuals created by Video Illusions and blinkinLAB, with projection supplied by west Midlands based video production specialists, Central Presentations Ltd (CPL).

The highly visual Arcadia concept - originated by Bertie Coles and Pip Rush - transforms scrapped military and other hardware into environments that celebrate harmony and the human spirit. It is a fusion of industrial art and innovation that's captured the hearts and minds of festival goers.

Live performances at Arcadia this year incl

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14 March 2016

Jeremy Featherstone, design engineer at Unusual Rigging, said, "I was exactly 15 years and one month old when the show opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in September 1989, but an older generation of Unusual riggers were heavily involved in all areas of the production, with the massive statue of 'Ho Chi Min' causing problems, as he weighed about five tonnes and had to be stored from a winch upstage centre. This time the key effects and scenic items are based on a touring ve

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14 March 2016

The girls at Le Mark, determined as ever, teamed up and do their bit to help the fight against cancer and the company is supporting them all the way. If you can, please support the girls at Parker's Piece in Cambridge on 20 July 2014 at 11am.

Donate: justgiving.com/peasinapod Video Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfKkEareaB0

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

PLASA Focus provides visitors with the opportunity to check out the latest products from some of the biggest names in entertainment technology. Companies already signed up to exhibit include: d&b audiotechnik, Chauvet Professional, TMB, Altman Lighting, Drape Kings, Harrington Hoists, Lightronics, Elation Professional, and Big House Sound, among many others. With many other applications being processed, companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure a spot.

Running alongside the exhibition is the PLASA Professional Development Programme which offers attendees free access to seminars. The program

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14 March 2016

The Group has seen a steady increase in demand for cross-border services in recent years, in line with the escalating interest in the African continent as an event destination. Gearhouse regularly services events in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Brunei, Tunisia, Congo, Namibia, Egypt, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Zambia and Tanzania - amongst others.

Now, Gearhouse is able to provide West African events with the same level of technical services as would be available in any other major event destination, both quickly and cost effectively, the company says.

Heading up the new company are Bil

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14 March 2016

They can be loaded with one, two, three or four long-lasting aroma cartridges and can fill an area up to 20,000sq.m with a huge variety of smells. MTFX has over 50 different standard aromas in stock plus 12 Christmas-themed smells and thousands more are available.

All four units have already been used to great effect at the ITV 'Fever Pitch' World Cup fan park in Manchester when they released football-related smells (half time oranges), smells of Brazil (coconuts, lemon & lime) and smells of England (cut grass, roast dinners) at strategic points during one of England's matches to create a '4D' viewing experience for visitors.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

With over 6,000 women taking part, the event drew huge crowds of support and is expected overall to raise hundreds of thousands, if not more for Cancer Research.

Le Mark's Sam Cooke commented, "It was inspirational to run. We were an amazing team, both during the run and working together to raise as much as we could. Crossing the line was so emotional, with so many of the runners having their own personal story. We're all definitely going for it again next year, and we'll be bring even more people with us".

Donations may be made at www.justgiving.com/peasinapod1

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

In an emotive ceremony, the president praised the architect and Mayor of La Reina who died in July of 2013, Fernando Castillo, who was not only the Mayor of Regina, but was also Mayor of the Metropolitan region and rector of the Catholic University.

The overall production of the event was by G2 Events, a company that has over 10 years in the audiovisual services market, with Sin Acople Producciones, dedicated to the production of events.

Among the materials used in the event we were Fenix lifting towers from the Megara series.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The new company sites, now with more in-depth, clearer and up-to-date information about these two fields and a fresh design, offer an effortless and intuitive use for clients.

By widening their online presence, Guil provides, on one hand, more information on each product from both their Lifting Tower and Staging catalogues with technical specification sheets and pictures of each product; and on the other, Guil aims to interact more with their clients through social medias, videos and photos with their Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Issuu and Linkedin profiles.

The new Guil Staging website, www.guil-staging.com has a simple and clear design; the user can easily browse through their 3 main ranges of products that the company manufactures: mod

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14 March 2016

"were delighted to be approached by The Technical Department (the team behind the power at the Tour De France 2014) to provide power distros to enable their services at this major sporting event to run smoothly - and of course didn't hesitate to help," the company says.

The Technical Department Ltd provided electrical services, crew, generators, cabling and switchgear for various aspects of the Tour De France Yorkshire leg. Video screens were laid out across the region, along with a 20,000 strong fan zone in Harrogate and support for the Marshals.<

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14 March 2016

Commenting on the positive news, PLASA's director of events Christopher Toulmin says: "PLASA London continues to prove its relevance as demonstrated by the phenomenal take up over the last three days. PLASA London is a must attend event for the live entertainment technology industries. The show is in great shape and on track to grow in both floor space and visitor numbers in 2014."

To celebrate the positive news, PLASA London has extended free registration (saving each visitor £20) for another 48 hours, closing on Wednesday.

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14 March 2016

These versions are an entirely new set of questions and are available in addition to the practice exams that were created in 2009. Riggers preparing to take the ETCP exams have found the practice versions an extremely valuable tool for self-assessment. The web-based practice exams consist of fifty questions each and include score reports that mirror the actual exams. Both versions of each exam are $35 and can be found at http://etcp.plasa.org.practiceexams.

There is no application process with the practice exams; so any interested candidates will be able to take the exams privately at home, at the office, or on the road whenever i

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14 March 2016

The Stufish stage is lavish and multi-layered, transforming in appearance from an Art-Deco hotel, to a 20's style club and a luxurious ocean liner, and is surrounded by a massive, curved Austrian drape, all of which set the tone for Williams' sumptuous Swing Era extravaganza and big band sounds.

Brilliant Stages' Tony Bowern and its CAD team were instrumental in bringing Stufish's vision to fruition, providing the multiple staging elements of

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14 March 2016

"We are confident that with AVL's skills and experience there will be a high standard of customer service, support and training in the Netherlands," says ChamSys.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

"Feeling part of a team is sometimes daunting when you start with a new company" says Hoist UK director Paul Jordan, "but Geoff has worked with some of the team before, he was at Aabacas with Wayne Ridgeley for six years and worked alongside Tony Dickson for 10 years at Pfaff and PCM and I have known him for several years myself, he has already fitted in and is a valued member of the Hoist UK team."

Geoff will be heading th