UK - Digital lighting and video specialists Projected Image Digital (PID) delivered the first in a new concept of hands-on experiential technical workshops - the Digital Video Workshop (DVW).

Staged at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, west London, two identical sessions were run morning and afternoon, with a large turnout for both even though it was the day after the 2007 Total Production Awards.

The workshops examined what constitutes 'digital video' and 'digital lighting', highlighted its creative and technical advantages and looked at new and creative ways in which it is being applied to various market sectors. "The aim is to offer an insight into the world of digital video and lighting" explained PID's David March.

The one day event featured overviews of the genre as well as discussion about specific applications, and attendees were able to get hands-on w

UK - SPS, one of the UK's largest live event companies, is adding to its team with the appointment of Lee Rennie to the role of creative producer for its solutions division. Rennie joins from George P. Johnson Company, where he worked across a variety of projects creating inspiring experiences for events. Preceding this, Rennie spent seven years working at Project Worldwide.

In his new role, Rennie will be working alongside SPS event producers and production managers to administer creative solutions that work flawlessly with technical solutions, in order to communicate the client's needs.

The solutions division of SPS provides creative services for events through the latest computer graphics, digital video and other innovative technologies. It concentrates on delivering client's messages effectively with bespoke solutions which look vibrant and appealing to the audience, rathe

UK - Timothy Bird, director of The Knifedge Creative Network, is celebrating again this week after his company's ground-breaking projections for Sunday in the Park with George helped the West End musical win five Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best Set Design and Most Outstanding Musical Production. Last year, Bird and fellow designer David Farley also won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Design, and the Critics Choice Theatre Award for Best Design for the same production.

Directed by Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George first opened at The Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2005, before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre in May 2006. Originally written by Stephen Sondheim, the musical tells the story of pointillist painter Georges Seurat and his muse Dot.

Knifedge's innovative projections have been a key feature of the production, allowin

UK - For the fourth successive year, Hawthorns were contracted by the East Midlands Conference Centre (EMCC), based on the Nottingham University Campus, to provide the technical solution for the Xerox Annual Year Start Conference. The Conference took place over four days and attracted 1700 delegates.

"This year, Xerox and the EMCC were looking to do something completely different and less corporate, whilst maintaining the Xerox Corporate Brand and the ability to use their standard PowerPoint presentation content," said Hawthorn's project manager, Oliver Moores.

The Hawthorn solution in the main auditorium was to provide a 24m x 7m cyc white backdrop as a massive projection screen, utilising a triple projection system driven by Barco's encore system. This gave the ability to use many creative and interesting backgrounds, both static and animated, with an infinite numb

Poland - UK The Polish authorities held national celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the imposition of martial law in the country and the move towards the democracy it enjoys today. Central to the anniversary celebrations was the national television broadcaster TVP, which staged a musical tribute to those monumental events a quarter of a century ago at the city of Wroclaw's Congresses, Fairs, Music and Sports Performance Centre Centennial Hall. The visual focus of the event was a large cross, constructed from over 50 square metres of Lighthouse R12-ER LED screen.

Titled Requiem Pro Pace, this was a major multimedia production and took its main references from a requiem Mass. Song titles were similar to the Liturgy: Benedictus, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, etc, with the lyrical themes being those which dominated the Polish society 25 years ago - fear, denunciation, censorship, st

UK - The second Tech Event, organised by leading AV/IT distributors Maverick and PSCo, will take place at the Mercedes Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey on 17 April. This year's prime objective is to deliver over 20 technical seminar/workshops throughout the day focusing on the convergence of AV and IT, including multimedia distribution, control, and telephony.

Tech Event will feature keynote presentations from industry giants such as Cisco who will outline their vision for a converging world; the event will also host an exhibition of over 30 key manufacturers in the AV/IT industry, offering the opportunity to experience the spectrum of products covering all aspects of the displays' market, the organisers say. It will focus on profiling emerging technologies, emphasising the on-going convergence and synergy with the IT sector.

Convergent business manager Kris Davies commented: &qu

UK - Yorkshire's historic Scarborough Spa Complex has unveiled the first phase of its £3.75 million pound renovation programme, with a team from Fagan Electrical heading a massive technical refurbishment designed to place the venue firmly on the touring map. The project is headed by Fagan Electrical, lead contractors for the entire technical refurbishment programme, with the audio system design and installation carried out in close co-operation with Lo Humm Audio.

This major undertaking was funded by Scarborough Borough Council, the Yorkshire Forward regional development agency and the European Regional Development Fund. The 1,924 capacity Grand Hall, at the heart of the Spa Complex, has already reopened for business with brand new production lighting, audio and video systems.

Aside from the new, installed lighting rigs, most of the new production systems have been fligh

Poland - Christie projection was tested to the limit during an adventurous production for the recent technological congress staged by Plus GSM - one of Poland's leading mobile telephone operators.

The fifth annual event took place at the Warsaw University of Technology in front of an international audience of 2,000, and since the special guest of honour was to be Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of Nokia Corporation, Christie partner Trias devised a novel concept, using full 360° degree projection onto the walls, along with 3D holography.

To accomplish this they called on a Christie S+20K SXGA with the addition of two other stacked pairs offering 10,000 lumen output, a total of seven projectors were able to provide stunning projections onto the walls of the University: "Using the latest multimedia solutions and advanced technologies we were able to create an ex

UK - In an effort to cut fixed costs, The English National Opera (ENO) has announced it is to cut 10% of its staff - around 45 jobs - which will include both performers and technical staff. BECTU, the union representing those working in broadcast, film, theatre, entertainment and leisure, has said it will "strongly" fight any cuts, and representatives will shortly be meeting with ENO management.

ENO says it fears reduced funding if government money to the Arts Council does not increase. ENO chief executive, Loretta Tomasi, was quoted on the BBC News website as saying: "Many options have been considered to achieve increased flexibility and a decrease in these 'fixed' costs and, whilst we believe it is vital that ENO retains a strong core of staff, the contractual overhaul includes the potential loss of around 45 jobs across the company."

Commenting on the co

UK - A specially customised version of Radical Lighting's VideoDrive software was supplied to the 2007 Mountbatten Music Festival, a three-night charity spectacular featuring the Massed Bands of Her Majesty's Royal Marines. This was staged at London's Royal Albert Hall in aid of service charities and Click Cancer Care.

Production manager Karl Westlake first introduced video to the show last year. One of the things it did was replace a large four tonne scenery flat of the Marine's crest logo with a more flexible projected version.

This year they wanted to make visuals a bigger element of the show and to run sequences of still images plus some video animation throughout most of the performance. This was beamed onto a three-metre diameter circular screen hung centre stage.

The screen, two Christie projectors and the VideoDrive were all supplied by Entec, who also sent Richard H

USA - Victoria's Secret launches 'Secret Embrace' (a one-piece technology bra) with a special PR event at Herald Square today, using FogScreen technology.

FogScreen projection produces a thin curtain of "dry" fog that serves as a translucent projection screen, displaying images that literally float in the air. FogScreen projection screen uses ordinary tap water and does not contain any chemicals, thus earning the distinction of being "the audiovisual innovation of the decade".

In the 'Secret Embrace' launch guests - and supermodels - walk through a wall created with FogScreen projection screen. "Victoria's Secret is able to create a stunning display that is so captivating and attractive that it cannot help but to grab people's attention," says Mika Koivula, CEO of FogScreen, Inc. "This year we have launched FogScreen projection screen into th

UK - Yeovil-based systems integrator IVC is celebrating after winning the InAVation award for the Most InAVative large Commercial Project, for its £2.7M AV project in the iconic Senedd, the home of the Welsh National Assembly.

Held in Amsterdam, the InAVation awards have been developed to recognise, celebrate and encourage professional excellence within the commercial and residential AV integration industries. Almost 8000 individual votes from over 60 countries throughout the EMEA region decided the winners of the 2007 event, selecting IVC's project over the Moscow Government Boardroom in Russia, the Adi Dassler Brand Centre in Germany and Tadco-De Beers Diamond World in South Africa.

IVC managing director Ray Harding commented, "The Senedd has been defined as the arena in which the future of Wales will be shaped, so it was hugely exciting to be involved, ins

UK - Leicestershire-based Hawthorns, providers of lighting, sound and video have announced the acquisition of Core Creative from The Concerto Group.

Managing director Martin Hawthorn comments, " We have been looking for some time now for London premises and the opportunity arose. Having an established base in London provides another resource to the London customer as we continue to grow. An increasing amount of our conference and party work is London-based and now is a great time to build on that success with Core's experienced full time staff and equipment based in town."

The Hawthorn inventory of £5 million worth of state-of-the-art lighting, sound, drapes and staging will be based across the two locations, supporting the events market with their creative in-house project management team and the continued dry hire of equipment. The move will make Hawthorn a &

UK - The John Madejski Academy in Reading is the latest of the DfES Academies Programme designed to raise the level of attainment in England's inner cities by introducing a distinctive approach to school leadership.

Specialising in sport, the John Madejski Academy will have capacity for approximately 1,100 students, but the infrastructure also includes a technically-equipped auditorium and separate dance/drama studio, provided by Leicester-based Hawthorn Theatrical.

Contracted to the main construction company, Costain, the company has turned to Martin Audio sound reinforcement components as part of its audio-visual design model - extending the company's relationship with the AQ series.

According to Hawthorn's installation manager Simon Ling, the versatility of the AQ series meets the many requirements of a general purpose assembly hall, while the textured light grey factory

USA - High End Systems has completed a turnkey installation at the Evangel Cathedral in Upper Marlboro, MD. The church recently installed 10 DL.2 Digital Lights to project onto a 76ft cyc to enhance their worship services. This is the largest permanent installation of DL.2 fixtures to date. They also added an Axon Media Server to manager. Though DL.2 already features an on-board media server, Axon is compatible with DL.2.

The install complements the church's existing HES equipment manifest of ten Cyberlight Turbos, 44 x.Spots and a Wholehog 3 console. The DL.2 install actually started at LDI 2006. Koster Design brought Evangel's LD Bryan Meares to High End's booth to view the demo of the DL.2 Collage Generator software feature. They then brought Bishop Don Meares to an HES Open House on the East Coast, who loved the idea of DL.2s in his church. Koster Design then purchased the g

USA - XL Touring Video recently completed its project as video contractor for Rock Star Supernova's You Can't Stop The Party 2007 World Tour, which kicked off in January in Hollywood, FL, and finished up the American leg at the end of February.

XL worked with production designer Brian Hartley to provide an 8ft XLTV custom-designed MiPix Globe populated with 2,500 MiPix LED, which was suspended over the crowd, stage left; four Mainlight Soft LED High Res panels, hung upstage, three portrait-style Barco D7 panels configured two wide x three high were positioned in front of the soft LED panels and two High End Systems Catalysts.

XLTV's president, John Wiseman, said: "Rarely do we get a chance to work so closely on the front end as we do with Tommy Lee on all his projects. For RSSN, we were given the chance to bring in our favourite creative team including Nick Militel

Norway - Video projector manufacturer Projectiondesign is joining forces with Dataton at ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt this year, to demonstrate the scale and impact of multiple projected images in both rental and fixed-install applications.

On the Dataton stand, five DLP Projectiondesign projectors - one F20sx+, three F30 sx+ and one Cineo30 1080 - will be integrated with Dataton's Watchout software platform for edge-blending and large-screen presentations. All projectors utilise Texas Instruments new BrilliantColor technology for the reproduction of images.

First unveiled in 1999, Watchout is a PC-based platform that allows for the creation of automated, multi-display presentations at corporate events, trade shows and live theatre productions, and also in installed applications such as theme parks, corporate headquarters and shopping malls.

"For some time now we have be

Europe - Lighting&Sound International magazine is making an unprecedented special offer to European industry professionals at the forthcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

For the first time ever, L&SI is offering full-time professionals on the European mainland the chance to sign up for one year's FREE subscription to L&SI magazine - a subscription that would usually cost around 75 euros (£50). Visitors to the show can sign up for this great offer by visiting the PLASA/L&SI stand at the Hall 8.0 Walkway, stand J80. (Look for the VPLT, ESTA & PLASA signs).

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Projection specialists E//T//C UK is increasing its stock of high power video projectors with the acquisition of Christie Roadie 25k projectors. The company has also taken delivery of Christie's new Roadster S+20K projection system, a mid-range projector, purpose-built for the event-staging community.

Andy Joyes, E//T//C UK's video hire manager was impressed with the performance of the new projectors: "The Christie 20Ks are bright and offer razor-sharp images for both video and graphics applications. They have a high panel resolution, meeting most content requirements, a very compact footprint and deliver an extremely high output. The Roadie 25K is also a stunning projector and has already been booked out on several of out forthcoming shows."

Continuing on from E//T//C UK's recent success with 360° animated projections using its proprietary OnlyView control

Romania - Paradigma Group hosted the official opening of its brand new headquarters on 8 March, based in Bucharest, as the final part of a special Romanian-Dutch joint venture in the entertainment technology market. His Excellency Dhr. J. Werner, Dutch Ambassador to Romania, was guest of honour at the opening ceremony.

The purpose built 3,500sq.m headquarters, just a few miles from Bucharest's Otopeni International Airport, is divided into offices and warehouses. The space enables Paradigma Group to maintain large rental stocks of audio, lighting, video and staging equipment, to provide professional servicing and training facilities, as well as housing the group's sales company including a showroom and maintenance department.

Paradigma Group is a joint venture between Ampco Flashlight Holding BV of Holland and AEI Broadcast Concept, one of the leading facilities companies in R

UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied a whole range of flightcases to recently launched Newmarket-based Think AV. The B2B provider of professional AV and technical services contacted 5 Star after a personal recommendation, and has recently taken delivery of a series of cases and trunks.

A variety of cases were required by Think to house all aspects of their equipment. Audio kit included Soundcraft GB consoles and Sennheiser radio mic racks; on the lighting side they needed trunks for ETC Source Four Zoom fixtures and there were also several Christie LX video projectors needing cases.

The case types were selected from 5 Star's Lite-Flite range, through to the popular Super Tour - all of which were supplied in a smart green high-pressure laminate (HPL), incorporating the Think AV logo, screen printed in-house at 5 Star. Various 19" rack systems were also supplied by 5 Star for out

UAE - UK audio and video distribution equipment company Smart-e Limited will be exhibiting at PALME Middle East for the first time.

The company, which is well known in Europe for its purple coloured AV distribution equipment, is looking to expand the availability of its product range by appointing distributors to cover the EMEA area. The company has an extensive range of multi-format HD compatible video matrix switches and equipment that combine high bandwidth video (400MHz) and high quality stereo audio switching with integral Cat 5/5e/6/7/8 and structured cabling distribution.

Smart-e will be demonstrating the new products within its SNX range of HD compatible multi-format video matrix switches, which start at the SNX-4x4 (offering 4 outputs/4 inputs) to the massive SNX-256x256 (providing a total of 256 outputs/256 inputs).

Also on show will be Smart-e's SLX range of exten

Italy - Three grandMA full-size, one grandMA light, three MA mediaPCs with grandMA video and two NSPs were on the equipment list for the Deutsche Bank convention in Turin. Lighting designer Giovanni Pinna, who also worked as set designer and operator, had chosen MA technology for this event, because "we wanted to integrate a lot of video. With grandMA video we got a powerful tool that is easy to handle and provides a very fast and direct access of the media server content due to the integration into the MA-Net. No other media server on the market is that comfortable."

In total, three screens were used for the videos - one screen measured 12m x 2.5m and two screens for back-projection. Pinna relates: "The aim was to create a multimedia show based on animations, video effects and projections with the possibility to interact with special Deutsche Bank content, backgr

UK - Barco UK managing director Jonathan Cooper has committed to an exciting Trek to Peru in May this year in support of Vision and the Unicorn Children's Theatre. This charity raises funds to help support the audio described facility for children who have great difficulty in seeing what is happening on the stage.

"If you are able to support the trek it would be wonderful, full details can be found on the website www.unicorntheatre.com," says Cooper. "A group of around 15 of us will be trekking up to 10 hours a day for five days - reaching a height of 4,600m - and camping overnight along the way."

Donations can be made via www.justgiving.com/jonathancoopertrek.

"Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It i

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