Business

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UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied leading professional lighting company Ianiro with a selection of flight cases to house their tungsten open-faced lighting fixtures, designed specifically for location video shoots.

The Italian company has its UK base in Redditch, and was established in the 1950s. it manufactures its own classic Ianiro product line as well as distributing leading lighting brands primarily in the film, video, TV and photographic markets. They were looking to reduce the lead-time and shipping costs involved in sourcing certain flightcases from Italy, and so initially asked 5 Star to produce three different designs - all in their traditional Ianiro red colour.

5 Star's Dave Harris recommended that their 'Light Industrial' specification would suit the application, made to house different combinations of the tungsten lights. Ianiro's Nick Allen-Mills says: "We're

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China - An Allen & Heath 48-channel ML5000 live sound VCA console was used for the world premiere of Chinese director Zhang Yimou's epic 'Curse of the Golden Flower', held at the Beijing Film Production Factory in December 2006. This latest cinematic release from the acclaimed director - whose previous films include 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers' - was launched at a spectacular US$6 million gala event, staged in an enlarged conversion of the film's royal palace set.

The ML5000 managed sound for the evening's series of events hosted by China's popular stand-up comedian, Wu Tsung Hsien, and He Jiong, a well-known TV anchorman. Over a thousand VIP guests were treated to a dramatic dance performance, and one of the film's stars, Jay Chow, performed a song from the movie. The console also provided broadcastfeeds for two national TV stations, and managed the director's introduct

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USA - American illusionist and stunt performer David Blaine's latest feat had him suspended 50ft in the air over a parking lot near Times Square in Manhattan while strapped by shackles inside a giant gyroscope. His goal was to escape from his shackles after spinning for 16 hours. The stunt began Tuesday 21 November 2006.

Scott Wolfeil of the Lighting Design Group in New York City was tasked with "popping him out of his surroundings" as he dangled high overhead. He comments: "The client in our first meeting actually said, 'We envision Mr. Blaine being hit with four really big lights.' My concern was that he stand out - not only at night but in broad daylight - in the middle of one of the busiest areas in the world."

Wolfeil took his client literally and used four high-powered BigLite 4.5 units to highlight the performer. The 4500 W BigLite 4.5 offers real-ti

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UK - The latest in a long line of high-profile film premiere events to use PSL video technology is Eragon. The epic fantasy-adventure movie staged its world premiere at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, an event designed and produced by Lucy Smail of West Design & Production, who also created the spectacular after-show party that followed.

PSL was commissioned by West Design to provide a four-metre wide screen on the front of the cinema to show extracts from the movie, as well as an unusual triangular structure featuring three five-metre screens in the Square itself. These showed content specially created by Digital Insanity, in collaboration with Fox and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

The unique collaboration between PSL and the team from ILM was also in evidence at the lavish after-show for Eragon, where 1,500 guests watched fire-breathing dragons flying around t

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UK - HSL will be co-ordinating and supplying lighting for the 2007 Total Production Awards, to be staged at the Novotel West London in Hammersmith on 5 February. It's the second year HSL has taken on this project.

The lighting design in the main room is based around Martin Professional moving lights which have been donated to the event. This will include 30 TW1s, 12 MAC 700s, 10 Entour Washes and 10 Entour Spots. Lighting will be operated by Neil Vann using a Jands Vista console, supplied by AC Lighting.

Downstairs in the party room and main aftershow bar, HSL's design will utilise nearly 100 James Thomas PixelArc LED battens and 12 Robe DigitalSpot 5000 moving head projectors. These are to be operated by Nathan Wan using an Avolites Diamond 4.

The lighting technology takes a historical journey in keeping with the general theming of the Awards, from monochrome in the

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USA - Listen Technologies Corporation has announced the appointment of Connect West Marketing as the company's representative firm for western Canada.

Mike Upright is the principal for Connect West Marketing and brings a wealth of sales and systems integration experience to the partnership. Commenting on the partnership, Upright says: "I am pleased to be adding Listen to our line card. Listen's products are a high quality balance to our other lines such as Tannoy, Biamp and Cloud."

"We are excited to have Connect West Marketing join the Listen team," said Cory Schaeffer, vice president of sales and marketing at Listen. "Mike's experience in system integration will be a great asset to Listen and the dealers/consultants in the western Canada region."

(Chris Henry)

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UK - One of the latest shows to transfer successfully from Broadway to the West End is the musical Wicked, which opened at The Apollo Victoria in September 2006. In December, the show simultaneously broke the all-time records for a single week's gross box office, both in London and on Broadway, taking £873,020 and $1.8 million respectively for the last week of the year, plus reporting 95% capacity audiences in London since opening.

Detailing the untold story of the witches of Oz, Wicked is directed by Joe Mantello, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Sound design is by Tony Meola, with equipment supplied by London's Autograph Sound Recording and including an 84-slot Cadac J-Type live sound production console.

Head operator Richard George has been working on the show since the opening, joining the team after working with Tony Meola and associate sound

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UK / Europe - Lighting designer Ivan Morandi produced a highly inventive, fully integrated lighting and visual show for Placebo's recent UK and European arena tour, with video equipment and crew supplied by XL Video UK.

Morandi produced all the pre-recorded video content himself, which was stored on two Catalyst v 4 digital media servers. He also wove feeds from 16 cameras into the mix - a mixture of Toshiba mini cams and Panasonic DV cam units with remote pan and tilt heads. The two types of video sources and lighting were meshed together into a seamless collage of images.

XL Video's Des Fallon project managed the tour and says: "It's always good working with someone as creative as Ivan. He puts a lot of intelligence and thought into his work - and the results speak for themselves."

The video system was being looked after on the road by chief engineer Alastair Mac

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Canada / Russia - Moscow-based ISPA recently took on Adamson distribution for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The company employs 200 people locally, and around 500 across Russia. The company was established 17 years ago and has grown to have four main offices, each of which has three subdivisions named Mediaworks, ISPA Sat, and ISPA Engineering. Together they handle multiple aspects of professional sound business, including sound reinforcement and installations, public address, recording, radio broadcast and musical instruments sales, just to mention a few areas. Other pro audio brands represented include T.C.Electronics and Sennheiser DBX.

Key personnel include Elena Porojnikova - head of the commercial department, Vadim Nerokhov - head of engineering and audio development for installations, and Yuri Cheshev - Adamson brand manager. Recently they hosted a three-day training semin

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UK - The British Airways London Eye - named the 'World's Leading Attraction' this year by the World Travel Awards - is the latest high-profile destinations to undergo a complete lighting overhaul with Color Kinetics' LED lighting technology.

"The London Eye has become a 21st Century symbol for Britain, and it's a thrill to see this long-planned project come to realization. We've achieved an ambitious goal in bringing dynamic, visually appealing colour to the structure while at the same time eliminating the maintenance costs and requirements of the previous fluorescent system. We're extremely pleased with the results, and believe Londoners and visitors alike will agree," said Kevin Dyer, head of technical operations for the British Airways London Eye.

Color Kinetics was approached to replace this system with an LED-based alternative. Approximately 640 ColorCast 14 uni

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UK - Exhibition Specialists Silver Knight worked with luxury boat maker Sealine to produce a stunning, technology-led exhibition stand at the Collins Stewart London Boat Show 2007. The 1400sq.m space was designed by Silver Knight to not only display several ranges of boats, but incorporate VIP areas, an under-floor conference room, catering, office and storage facilities. The stand also provided the international launch platform for Sealine's newest boat, the SC38, to the international press attending the show.

It incorporated 12 boats, creatively lit to ensure they were the star of the stand with a fully integrated AV solution to ensure the lifestyle messages and brand were communicated effectively to the visitors at the exhibition. The central area was dominated by a 'lighthouse', which incorporated four 1x4 portrait Infinite plasma walls sourced from PSCo, to create strips of

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UK - A.C. Lighting has been appointed as the exclusive UK dealer for the K5600 discharge lighting range. K5600 was formed in 1992, developing and producing small, portable HMI lighting kits for the film and TV industry. The company has been a constant innovator, launching a range of extremely versatile fixtures including the Joker-Bug, a single light source featuring a 360° beam which can be used with a wide variety of accessories, and the Black Jack 400 with a unique spot and flood focussing system.

A.C. is stocking the full range of K5600 fixtures, which includes the Joker-Bug 200/400/800 kits and associated accessories such as the Softubes, Black Jack 400 and innovative new Alpha 4K and 18K Fresnels. The new Alpha 4k is the first 4kW HMI to give versatility to an "open-eye" Fresnel-type fixture. The compact and lightweight unit features interchangeable Fresnel l

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UK - The 78th Royal Variety Performance was broadcast on BBC1 on 12 December 2006. Held at the Coliseum in London in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, it is an annual gala charity event in aid of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.

The show contained an illustrious line up from the worlds of Theatre, Television, comedy and music, such as Wicked, Sound of Music, Spamalot, Avenue Q, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Sugababes and Take That, as well as big production pieces staged especially for the show.

Bernie Davis was the lighting designer for the show and it was his seventh year lighting the Royal Variety Performance. All the lighting was supplied by ELP Lighting at Pinewood Studios and consisted of MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 500s, MAC 600s, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC TW1s, and MAC 300s as we

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USA - As of 1 January 2007, all orders for True Systems products are to be placed directly with True Systems through its Tucson, Arizona headquarters. Sennheiser Electronic Corporation (SEC) is no longer the exclusive US distributor for True.

Tim Spencer, president and chief engineer of True Systems, commented: "SEC has done a great job opening the door for our products in the live sound and recording industries. Today, with True Systems in the driver's seat, we intend to build a closer connection to our dealers in addition to offering direct in-house technical support and service to our end users. With fewer steps in the distribution chain, True is capable of improving core product features in a timely manner, adding value to the line by lowering prices across the board and improving our connection to end users."

The new pricing structure goes into effect on 15 Janu

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USA - Bandit recently provided lighting for the NASCAR Nextel Cup SeriesAwards Ceremony, held at the Waldorf-Astoria's Grand Ballroom in New York City, NY.Speed broadcasted the live awards ceremony pre-show while TNT aired the ceremony.Comedian, Jay Mohr, co-hosted the evening and singer, Jewel, provided the musicalentertainment.

Lighting designer, Jason Robinson, chose equipment that included PAR 64s, Lycian M2 Spots, MAC 250s and 600s, Vari*Lite 3000 Spots, PixelRange Pixelines and ETC Source Fours. Lighting was controlled by two Whole Hog IIs and two Compulite Reds.

Co-production manager, Steve Hoover, said that the VL 3000s, MAC 600s and PixelRangePixelines all acted, in part, as the heart of the show. The VL 3000s served to paint theceiling, while the MAC 600s were a base color wash for the entire set. The PixelLines added an element of versatility that allowed Robinson t

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UK - Stage Electrics Bristol is to host Strand Light Palette training at their Bristol Head Office on Friday 9 February. The training on this new desk is completely free and will be conducted by Strand's Ken Berreen. The Light Palette range includes three models, the Classic, Live and VL.

The two-and-a-half-hour training sessions will begin at either 10am or 1.30pm, refreshments will be provided and there is free parking on site. This customer training session follows an in-depth training day for key Stage Electrics technical staff held in January.

Linda Moore, Stage Electrics' head of sales and marketing, said: "This is a great opportunity for our customers to get hands-on experience with the latest range of consoles from Strand Lighting."

(Lee Baldock)

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Thailand - The Bangkok Jazz Festival is Thailand's biggest annual jazz event, a three-nighter staged on the huge lawn of Sanam Sua Pa in front of the famous Dusit Palace. It was also the debut for the new Nexo GEO D system in Thailand.

More than 20,000 people attend each night's concert, and this was the biggest outing so far in south-east Asia for Nexo's GEO D system, supplied by Media Vision. Either side of the stage, arrays of 15 GEO Ds flew below five GEO Subs, with four CD18s stacked in pairs to provide the sub-bass needed by bands like Tower of Power, and Lee Ritenour. At the front of the stage, four PS10s were used as fill, to give some additional high-end definition. Either side of the 20m wide stage, below large projection screens, two PS10s were used to add definition.

Some 60m back from the stage was the mixing tent, where FOH engineers were mixing on Yamaha PM5Ds,

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UK - Severe weather the length and breadth of the country meant that a number of events Star Events Group were involved in were cancelled, but one New Year celebration that went ahead as if the sun were shining was Brighton's Big Beach Boutique 3.

Headlined by Brighton's own resident DJ, Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, the spectacular New Year's Day party attracted a crowd of 20,000 - a number that was agreed between Cook and the local authorities after the chaos of 2002, when more than four times the expected number of people turned up - and went off without a hitch.

"We supplied a two bay, 15 metre Obrit Flexidome stage plus a screen support system and projector platform for PSL's screen," says Mike Goodwin, Star Events Group's Orbit product manager. "We also provided four small delay platforms. All five of these structures were strung out along Madeira Drive, t

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Qatar - Element Labs Inc was contracted by the Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee (DAGOC) to create the largest custom LED screen ever used for a live event. Especially designed for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, the exterior Versa RAY screen made its debut during the Opening Ceremony on 1 December 2006 at Khalifa Stadium.

The Asian Games, held every four years with athletes competing from all over Asia, is regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

DAGOC main contractor David Atkins Enterprises was the producer of both the opening and closing ceremonies. DAGOC and DAE challenged Element Labs to create a massive LED screen for the ceremonies having the highest possible resolution and video performance.The size of the display - covering over 4,500sq.m, or 45,000sq

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UK - Digital lighting and video specialists Projected Image Digital launches the first of its 2007 Digital Video Workshops - due to be held on Tuesday 6 February at The Questors Theatre, Mattock Lane, Ealing, London W5 5BQ. The theatre is an eight minute walk from Ealing Broadway Station on the Central and District Lines, and it is also served by National Railways.

"We're looking at what constitutes 'digital video' and 'digital lighting', its creative and technical advantages and how it's being applied in today's market sectors," explains digital services manager Nev Bull. He adds that it's aimed at multi-level users and a wide range of those interested or engaged in these areas.

The one-day event will contain overviews of the genre, specific applications and will enable attendees to get hands-on with some of the most popular digital video products. This will include

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UK - Lighting Technology Projects has completed the illumination of a 500-bottle wine rack central feature at Sexton's restaurant in Thrapston, Northants, plus front and back entrance feature lighting. Sexton's is a new build venue in the charismatic old corn exchange building. The tasteful conversion and cool contemporary design has retained many original features including the vaulted ceilings and original beamwork.

LTP's Terry Reeves was asked to design and specify a lighting scheme by HSP Architects from Leighton Buzzard, who oversaw the build. The independent owner is Stuart Sexton, who also owns a wholesale wine importation business.

The five metre wide by two metre high stainless steel wine rack dominates the area behind the bar. Reeves' brief was to come up with an innovative and effective way of lighting it, thereby making it a central feature of the room.

He chose

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UK - Stonehaven-based Taylored Sound has recently supplied an Audica MICROseries system for the office of the director general of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Comprising of five galleries in Edinburgh, and two partner galleries in the North and South of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland's collections of fine art are amongst the best in the world. The five Edinburgh galleries are the National Gallery of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy Building, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Dean Gallery, which also houses administration offices and the office of the director general.

In a recent refurbishment of the director general's office it has been upgraded to include an AV system for meetings and presentations. Richard Hamilton, audio visual technician for the National Galleries of Scotland, wanted a very

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Brazil - The party was gigantic, five Cities - New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin and Rio de Janeiro, all took part in the Nokia New Year's Eve. All over the world music fans were celebrating the countdown to 2007. An estimated 1.3 million people attended the live shows and 150 million watched the event on TV or the internet. Operator and programmer Carioca used one grandMA full-size and one grandMA ultra-light with an NSP to build the grandMA 3D plot, to light the party in Rio, at Posto 8 in Ipanema.

The grandMA consoles were integrated into a multi-user session, which was a new concept to the Brazilian technicians. "The people were really surprised and constantly asked, which console controls which part of the lighting plot?" reports Daniel Ridano of MA Lighting Latin America. "The answer was simple: They are able to control anything from any of the consoles in

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South America - Whilst on tour throughout South America, Shakira performed two sold-out shows at the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires. D.A.S. Aero powered line array systems were used to provide sound reinforcement for the more than 80,000 fans that filled the stadium.

For the South American leg of the tour, twin Digidesign Venue boards for FOH and Monitor mixes, effects, in-ear wireless and microphones were supplied directly by Clair Bros. At the FOH console was engineer Brad Madix who has worked with bands such as Psychedelic Furs, Def Leppard, Queensryche and Marilyn Manson. For monitor engineer Vish Wadi, this was his second tour with Shakira after previously having worked with Sting, Mariah Carey, and Madonna. Buenos Aires based sound reinforcement company Teddy Goldman supplied the PA composed of 48 Aero 38A along with 18 Aero 28A powered line array systems as well

  1. PRG Europe sees in the New Year with a bang
  2. La Mesa for MC2 Audio in Indonesia
  3. Event lights Turner Prize Awards
  4. Bandit Lites with Dierks Bentley
  5. Evolution Wireless' sporting life
  6. Clay Paky at the Asian Games 2006
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