Australia - Showtech Australia was commissioned to deliver six performers on the roof of the MCG, and the AFL Premiership cup, the most prized item in the AFL, for the opening ceremony of the AFL Grand Final 2008.

Showtech was contracted by event organizer Peter Jones Special Events to deliver the two special rigging items for the production. The Engineering and OHS considerations of delivering these two effects were several months in the planning and had to meet the strict guidelines of the Victorian OHS regulations, the guidelines of the stadium management, and the challenges of not impacting on the playing surface. The match begins 20 minutes after the ceremony was completed.

The first effect was six singers appearing high on the scoreboard roof. 50m above the field. The performers, camera operators, audio, and pyrotechnics crews all had to be closely coordinated so as not

France - Barco reports that the world's leading car brands have again selected Barco LED solutions to deliver maximum brand impact to their booths at this year's Mondial de Automobile in Paris. Barco LED displays are used on over 70% of the booths at the show.

Held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, the Mondial de Automobile is a showcase for over 500 international brands and a celebration of the European automotive industry. This year, the show will be celebrating its 110th anniversary and pays host to over 90 world premières. It runs from 4 to 19 October 2008.

The use of black LED is a major trademark of this year's show with many auto manufacturers choosing Barco's new true black LED displays, the NX-4 and NX-6, as an integral part of their booth design.

"Alongside the trend to black, creative use of LED at auto shows also continues a dominant trend," says Andr

Spain - For the first time in three years DJ Tiësto returned to the Spanish island of Ibiza to host his own weekly residency at Privilege, the world's largest nightclub. Playing accompaniment to the four-hour DJ sets in the form of a dynamic backdrop was a high impact 120sq.mMartin LC Series LED wall.

The event ran every Monday night from early July until the closing party on 22 September and featured new production and effects gear including a customized DJ booth and the state-of-the-art LED backdrop.

"The use of lasers was not an option this year so we took a look into the LED screens on the market," says Bart Roelen, production manager for Tiësto. "We couldn't do lots of rigging in the club so lights had to be hung on a steel layer construction placed upstage. Video is a very important element of Tiësto's show so we needed a system that could be placed on

UK - Show Presentation Services (SPS) was recently appointed to work with leading creative agency Neighbour to launch the Levi 501 Jeans by House of Holland on 18 September in store at Selfridges, London.

The brief was to provide a window display system visible to pedestrians passing by Oxford Street. The screen incorporated content prior to the launch of abstract images of models on a catwalk with text announcing the countdown to the launch. After the launch, the screen was used to show edited footage of the product being displayed on the catwalk at London Fashion Week.

Using a traditional display system such as plasma or LCD screen in a street-facing shop window would dramatically affect the screen visibility due to the high ambient light conditions. The solution provided by SPS was to use a high brightness indoor/outdoor Barco Dlite 7 LED display with a screen size of 2688m

France - The 95th annual Tour de France was followed by hordes of passionate crowds cheering along the road. Covering the event for television with a highlights programme was Belgian national broadcaster VRT. Rosco provided gobos and a gobo rotator to animate the images.

VRT Broadcast presented its programme, which included interviews with cyclists and other TV personalities from France and Belgium, every night, in a different location along the route.

Set locations included places such as the courts of old castles as well as vineyards, with facilities supplied by Videohouse and lighting rented by Lites. Seeking visual interest for its coverage, VRT approached Rosco looking for a "bright and easy to use" visual aid that they could set up.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique 4 took place on Saturday 27 September, attractingaround 20,000 people to the show on Madeira Drive, Brighton. The event marked the end of a 38-day world tour of festivals and beach gigs for the DJ.

LM Productions supplied multiple laser systems for the performance these included their powerful 40W emerald green lasers, two high powered full colour whitelight lasers, stage left and right, and a green diode laser positioned behind Fatboy Slim's booth.

LM Productions also supplied lasers for Fatboy Slims headlining slot at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park this summer.

You can view video footage of the Brighton event at www.lm-productions.com.

There will be more on Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique in November's Lighting&Sound magazine.

(Claire Beeson)

UK - PLASA has launched a major new initiative on behalf of companies who work in, or supply to, the production and events sectors. In partnership with the Sustainable Events Group, PLASA has put together a programme of workshops designed to take companies through the development and implementation of BS 8901 - the major new event management standard that will influence how all events are delivered in the future.

Attaining compliance with BS 8901 will give businesses a significant market advantage as the new standard is already being specified by major organisations such as London2012 and is a core commitment of the recently-issued DCMS Sustainable Development Action Plan.

The programme, which is open to both members and non-members, is based on a series of five one-day workshops held at 4-5 week intervals, and has been specifically designed to provide a low-cost route to achi

UK - Close collaboration between the Barracuda Group and screen media content creation and delivery specialists, Kaleidovision, has provided the cornerstone for a marketing campaign throughout the operators' targeted Varsity Bars estate.

Following a brief from Barracuda, Kaleidovision's creative studio has designed a library of screen media aimed at the Varsity Bars' chain of 41 student bars; the new campaign kicked off this month to coincide with the start of the new 2008-9 academic year.

This year's promotion, titled Crazy Sexy Cool, encompasses a consumer competition to find the Face of Varsity 2009. All the channel content is focused on the VCard loyalty card, 650,000 of which were sold during the last academic year. To give it added currency, Kaleidovision has been tasked with animating the 25% discounts provided by the eight sponsor partners, which this yea

Belgium - Barco reports that its OLite 612 LED display was selected to support rock band Queen + Paul Rodgers on their 2008 European tour, The Cosmos Rocks,which kicked off in Kharkov, Ukraine on 12 September. A grand total of 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules are used to create a massive backdrop screen on stage.

The stage set for the tour was created by Stufish, whose team has created stage designs for Pink Floyd, U2, The Rolling Stones and many others. The giant backdrop screen, which forms the key visual element to the show, measures 17m wide and 5m high and contains 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules.

"Barco's Olite 612 fitted our design perfectly", says Mark Fisher, managing director at Stufish. "We wanted to present the audience with a spectacular video and light experience befitting a band of this statue. Olite's modularity once again enabled us to create some

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden's W-DMX features on Céline Dion's Taking Chances world tour which visits five continents, 24 countries and 84 cities, with a total of 120 performances.

The show is directed by Jamie King, who lists Madonna's Confessions Tour, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour, as well as tours for Kanye West and the Spice Girls among his credits. Lighting Designer is Yves 'Lapin' Aucoin.

The tour setup is a 360-degree production, designed 'in the round' style, and includes t20 LED screens, including one that orbits the stage, plus conveyor belts and elevators. The touring system is provided by Montreal, Canada-based Solotech, which is also the provider for various Cirque du Soleil productions.

With such limits in place regarding 360-degree viewing angles and elaborate movement, W-DMX was chosen as for sending wireless DMX s

USA - Janet Jackson's Rock Witchu tour features a spectacular moving lighting rig created by lighting designer Vince Foster. A total of 150 PixelLine 1044s adjourn the lighting rig - half are used to construct a bridge that comes in and out, whilst the other half are rigged on moving trusses. The moving bridge creates another dimension for Jackson's stage presence and provides a dramatic platform for both singing and dancing.

Foster explains: "I've been a great fan of PixelLines since I started using them back in 2003 on a Massive Attack tour. They are consistently a very reliable and robust fixture - and I don't think I have designed a show without them since then."

He continues: "Janet Jackson contacted me after seeing one of my Kylie shows on DVD. I worked with her creative director who had a story and a script for the show - and after several meetings

Germany - The Robe The Future is Digital international road show hit Germany last week, staged at Sky Europe's Mainz-based TV Studio, in the same neighbourhood as ZDF Television's massive HQ and complex.

Robe presented a two-day opportunity for guests to enjoy hands-on product demos and comparisons in a relaxing, convivial atmosphere and a real working environment.

The event was attended by visual designers, operators, programmers, technicians and a wide assortment of interested industry professionals from across Germany and Austria.

The Future is Digital gave visitors an opportunity to experience the new technology behind this concept. Digital moving lights and the new Robe DigitalSpot 3000 DT and the DigitalSpot 7000 DT moving light projectors were creatively positioned around the studio's large, curved cyclorama, shooting onto the screen and around the room.

UK - Rosco has confirmed that Paul de Ville is joining the company as senior sales manager UK.

"Despite the weakening economy, Rosco's British business remains ambitious. We continue to see increased opportunities to enter new markets and expand our existing market share," says Kees Frijters, Rosco vice-president European business. "Growth continues to be one of our main objectives. The timing for Paul de Ville joining Rosco couldn't be better.

De Ville trained as a stage manager and lighting designer before working for Theatre Projects London. From there he spent 16 years with Action Lighting and the Lighting Technology Group.

(Jim Evans)

Denmark - The Jem K1 Hazer is Martin Professional's new generation, top-of-the-line hazer for high performance applications where a high level of reliability and easy serviceability is required.

Feature-rich, the Jem K1 is a professional machine that provides the combination of continuous operation, long hang time, and low fluid consumption for greater economy. Says the company.

Easy to set up (turn it on and press a button), the Jem K1 is quick to heat up. It features "exceptional output" from an innovative and powerful 600 W heat exchanger yet overall power consumption is less than 750 watts.

A high quality air pump system gives a smooth and uniform output while a special mixing channel allows the haze to optimise before being expelled. An automatic shut-down cycle has been implemented to prevent clogging.

DMX controllable, the Jem K1 Hazer is continuously ope

UK - Large format projection specialists E/T/C London supplied seven 6kW PIGI projectors with double rotating scrollers to produce a 120m wide backdrop on The Old College building at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for Music On Fire 2008.

It is the third time that E/T/C London has been involved in the biannual three-day mixed-media extravaganza and Firework Prom which attracted audiences of up to 10,000 per night with proceeds going to the Army Benevolent Fund.

The PIGI scrollers contained 19m of film and produced over 100 looks on the building, with all artwork created by media designer Paul Chatfield.

Chatfield took approximately a month to research and compile the finished artwork, working closely with show producer, Major Sir Michael Parker who also storyboarded the production.

The seven projectors were positioned 46m from the building, covered by S

UK - Norwegian projector manufacturer, projectiondesign was recognised as the European Manufacturer of the Year, for the second year running, at the 10th annual AV Awards, held last week at the Hilton Park Lane hotel in London.

Sture Berg, director of operations and finance at projectiondesign comments: "Winning this prestigious award for the second time running is a real achievement. It shows that the AV industry recognises and understands projectiondesign's value offering and dedication, both to the channel itself, but more importantly to the users and owners of our products. Without satisfied partners and users, we would have not existed the way that we do."

Barco won three awards. The DML-1200 digital moving luminaire was awarded Best Display Product of the year, while The Comcast Experience with Barco's NX-4 LED product won the award for Digital Media Project o

Competition News - The ESTA Foundation has announced the Behind the Scenes 2008 raffle prizes for LDI. The lucky winner of the Grand Prize will receive a $10,000 gift certificate with a premier travel agent that can be used to travel anywhere in the world. Second Prize is a $2,500 Amazon Gift Card and Third Prize is a $1,000 Amazon Gift Card.

"Often our industry is creating "a vacation look" for everyone else, so we are very excited to offer this great opportunity to get away on your own vacation," said Rick Rudolph, chair of the Behind the Scenes committee.

Tickets are $25 each or 5 for $100 and will be available throughout the LDI show at the Behind the Scenes booth #2810. A maximum of 2000 tickets will be available. Tickets will also be available at the ESTA Annual Dinner on Thursday evening and the Rose Brand party on Friday evening. LDI 2008 takes place from

UK - In a deal sealed at PLASA 2008, Creative Technology (CT) is to add 200 frames of G-LEC's Phantom LED video system to its inventory.

CT - one of the world's leading suppliers of audio-visual and event management services - says seeing the G-LEC Phantom system in operation at Hockenheim, which hosted the Formula 1 Santander Grand Prix in July, was a major factor in the decision making process.

Dave Crump, managing director of CT London, said: "Quality and reliability are vital to our business, and we were extremely impressed with what we saw at Hockenheim. As well as being really bright, the Phantom system is both light and easy to rig, all-important factors when the pressure is on."

The agreement was signed by David Crump and Lars Wolf, managing director of G-LEC, during an exceptionally successful PLASA show in London. CT will initially take 100 Phantom30 and

UK - Lighthouse Technologies, launched its new B10 LED panel at Leaders in Football, held at Chelsea FC, London on 7 and 8 October.

B10 has been specifically developed for the sports market to address the ever-increasing demand for pitch side, or perimeter, advertising screens, which provide important additional revenue for clubs and venues.

Each B10 panel measures 1280mm (w) x 960mm (h) and uses Lighthouse's Enhanced Resolution (ER) technology to give an effective 10mm pixel pitch. 5,000 nits of brightness enables B10 to cope with any level of ambient light, even direct sunlight, and accurate colour reproduction means that advertisers logos can be perfectly replicated, says the company.

An important design modification of the B10 is its rubber louvres, incorporated to protect players on the field should they accidentally run into it during the course of play. Additio

UK - DMi D&M Installation has introduced a new entry level DVD player from Denon Professional. The Denon DN-V110 replaces the DN-V100 and integrates a raft of features derived from Denon's hi-fi press award winning DVD-1740 consumer player within a professional rackmount model; all designed to provide rich, cinema like replay on today's large scale high definition flat screen displays, says the company.

New to the DN-V110 is the 108MHz/12-bit video DAC with full 1080p video upscaling, providing for full HD specification output of standard definition DVD signals, with a resultant significant increase in picture quality when connected to HD Ready and Full HD displays. Upscaling is performed to 1080p, 1080i or 720p, as determined by the specification of the connected display.

To match the picture quality, a 192kHz/24-bit Burr Brown audio DAC provides high resolution audio decodin

UK - eMerging, the UK distributors for Merging Technology's products, have completed a lengthy high-definition upgrade project at Lime Pictures, Liverpool. Lime, who produce Channel 4's successful soap Hollyoaks virtually continuously 52 weeks a year, began a thorough overhaul of their video and audio production and editing facilties in 2007 to enable the show to be produced, edited and broadcast in high definition.

The completed upgrade has involved eMerging in the design, construction and installation of six new audio dubbing suites at Lime, each with Merging Pyramix audio Post-production DAWs, VCube HD high-definition video playback systems, and Merging Ramses control surfaces.

Alongside the equipment from eMerging, Lime also purchased new HD Sony HDC-1500 cameras, built a new Central Apparatus Room (CAR) with a 102-Terabyte Data Direct video production SAN, and adde

UK - XL Video has announced details of its new division XL Events which has been created by consolidating the corporate division of XL Video and AV specialists Show Support.

Located in both Bromsgrove and Hemel Hempstead, the operation will be headed up by Rich Rowley, assisted by an experienced and professional team of 23. XL Events has been established to offer the latest sound, lighting and AV technology drawing on the experience, resources and project management of the XL Video group of companies in the UK and Europe.

Rowley comments: "We have a vast pool of knowledge and creativity, plus access to a wide variety of equipment. As part of the XL Group of companies we have the resources to offer the most comprehensive and cost-effective packages and support involving everything from providing the technical infrastructure to the logistics of making an event happen effici

Marcel DeKeyzer, president of XL Video confirms that XL Video is now distributing the Philips Lumalive Event Gear and is showcasing it at LDI in the XL Video booth.

Philips first application, Lumalive Event Gear, is appropriate to the promotion and event industry for experiential marketing, says the company. It is a revolutionary communications medium delivering visual impact, emotional appeal and compelling messages. Integrating colourful dynamic LED lighting into clothing, Philips Lumalive adds a completely new dimension to the way brands communicate.

"We are very happy to partner with XL Video in the distribution of the Philips Lumalive product line; they are open to innovation and new technologies," says Bas Zeper, general manager Philips Lumalive. "XL is creative and always works on the cutting-edge, making them the right partner to implement Lumalive in a creativ

USA - Element Labs has announced the launch of its Cobra technology platform. Cobra 16 and Cobra 11, the first two panels in the Cobra family, made their debut at LDI in Las Vegas.

The Cobra range of LED video display panels is the result of an extensive research and development effort by Element Labs to create a next-generation display technology. Cobra technology claims a number of industry firsts, including a revolutionary panel design less than 70mm deep and weighing as little as 29 kg/m2 (fixed install panels), extremely low power consumption, full IP66 rating front and back, no cooling fans, an extended RGBC colour gamut, FCC Class B emissions and true 100,000 hour lifetime.

Barbara Nelson, CEO of Element Labs, says: "The introduction of our new Cobra platform forms part of our strategy to lead through innovation with our products and our people. Cobra 16 and 11 wil

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