Lighting

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Guests at the Annual Lighting Designer’s Christmas Luncheon, held at the Royal National Theatre in December, were able to meet three more future leading lights in the profession, as White Light once again presented its Lighting Design Bursaries during the event. Now in its third year, the competition was opened up this year to allow entries from anyone studying lighting design in the UK, rather than just from students at Rose Bruford College as in previous years. As before, students had to produce a proposal detailing how they would light a scene from a play, a piece of music, an item of architecture or a live event - all within a theoretical budget! - as well as a live ‘pitch’ for that proposal. Despite the newly-expanded field of entries, the overall winner of the competition was once again a student at Rose Bruford: Kristina Hjelm, with a production entitled The Peep

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Pulsar has launched its 2001 light Jockey Contest. The competition is open to all, from experienced Light Jockeys and operators, to lighting enthusiasts with no previous experience. Free training at all levels will be provided covering a variety of topics, from basic programming to creative lightshow design. Preliminary heats, especially designed for new-comers, will take place at Pulsar’s headquarters in Cambridge, whilst the prestigious Ministry of Sound will play host to the main heats. Deadline for entry is February 28. If you are interested in taking part or would like to find out more contact Sabrina at Pulsar Light of Cambridge on +44 (0)1223 366798.

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Show Presentation Services (SPS), the audio-visual equipment rental and technical staging specialist, has announced the launch of its new e-commerce website, along with a brand new on-line ‘Budget Estimator’. Robin Coles, SPS managing director, says: "A UK event manager for a multi-national brand with a requirement to take a product road-show to six European cities, should provide the Budget Estimator with details such as audience size, type of event/presentation and location, and they will be provided with immediate on-line staging information specific to their requirements with accompanying pricing."

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Color Kinetics Incorporated (CKI) has been awarded a second US patent covering the company’s Chromacore technology, which uses microprocessor-controlled multi-coloured LEDs to generate a variety of color-changing lighting effects. The patent (6,150,774) broadens the scope of the company’s initial patent for Chromacore (6,016,038, issued in January 2000) and extends the range of applications covered in Color Kinetics’ intellectual property portfolio. Color Kinetics say this now positions them to bring the colour and effect-generating capabilities of its award-winning professional lighting products to the general consumer market.

CKI says this latest patent further expands its intellectual portfolio to include specific networkable methods of intelligent LED control, as well as applications that utilize networkable control of a single LED. Such applications include the a

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On Saturday 6th January, a van belonging to one of Theatre Vision’s hire customers, containing a large amount of hire equipment belonging to Theatre Vision and Stage Electrics was stolen in the centre of Cardiff. The stolen equipment included Martin Pro 400 Robocolors, MAC 500s and MX1 scans, a Jem ZR22 Smoke Machine, a number of starcloths, an Avolites Pearl 2000 and other associated kit, including cables. Most of the kit was flightcased and labelled either Theatre Vision or Stage Electrics. If you are any offered any of the equipment, or have been approached to put a value on it, please contact Tim Routledge on (029) 20 70 12 12.

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Stagetec (UK) Ltd has just been appointed an approved by contractor by the NICEIC which maintains a Roll of Approved Contractors that meet the Council’s Rules Relating to Enrolment and national technical safety standards including BS 7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations). This is designed to protect consumers against the hazards of unsafe and unsound electrical installations.

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Following our feature last month on the new Tussaud’s in New York, we switch coasts to look at Tussaud’s Vegas’ debut at the $1.4billion Venetian Hotel.

The Venetian, with its indoor Grand Canal (complete with gondolas, singing gondoliers and stylish waterside cafés), is the perfect host for the Tussauds Group’s celebration of all things celebrity.

Madame Tussaud’s is to be found within the St Mark’s Library building which, of course, is a full-scale replica of the famous Venice landmark. Tussauds has created a $20million experience that showcases glamorous personalities, many of whom have ties with Vegas, in sumptuous surroundings. The design elements of the exhibits have been thoughtfully executed with talent and kit pulled in from around the globe to make this Tussaud’s a dazzling experience, even by Vegas standards. Show producer Phil Pi

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The RSC’s acclaimed musical production of The Secret Garden opens shortly in London - after a hugely successful season at Stratford-upon-Avon. Lighting designer Chris Parry (better known for his work on Broadway) and sound designers Andrew Bruce and Terry Jardine have helped to bring the timeless tale to life for a 21st century audience.

Parry says: "The design of the show is much more monochromatic, dark and dramatic, and much less colourful and decorative than the original Broadway version, which I think is great for the piece. Despite this, it has a huge range of lighting quality, from a soft, dim candle-lit bedroom scene through to a big, bright and energetic dance number with gardeners and house-maids!"

Parry’s design, furnished partly from the RSC’s stock of conventional luminaires, but with a large hire inventory supplied by White Light, included ei

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Further to our report on the 2000 Hanover Expo in the last issue, we return as promised to the Smoke Factory’s extensive role in the Planet of Visions . . .

The vast Planet of Visions exhibit - the largest at the Expo - suffered a setback shortly after the Expo opened, when the original smoke effects contractor was removed from the project. In a major dilemma, someone at this point remembered that Hanover was home to a smoke effects specialist - The Smoke Factory.

The Smoke Factory’s Florian von Hofen told us: "This was probably the most complex smoke effects project ever undertaken - not the biggest, but the most complex. It is a vast exhibit, visited by 30,000 people each day. The budgets would not allow for permanent technical personnel, so everything had to be automated."

By the time The Smoke Factory was called in, the set had been built, and there was no

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Lighting Technology has won the contract for the supply of new stage lanterns to the Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Kent. Major elements of the order include 24 ETC Source Four 15/30s, 22 Robert Juliat 15/40 profiles and 36 Strand Cantata Fresnels. Ordered by the Orchard's business manager Bob Clutterham, all the units will be supplied with plugs, numbered and have a logoed safety bond as part of the full service provided by Lighting Technology. The equipment will be delivered in mid-February.

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On New Year’s Eve, the largest indoor special effects show ever staged in the UK was fired at the Millennium Dome, Greenwich. It took seven technicians seven full nights to wire and rig the pyrotechnics, manufactured by Le Maitre at their Peterborough factory, across the 400m span of the Dome. A total of eight firing stations were used to ignite the effects, some of which have never been seen before by the British public. The effects included airburst effects under the walkways which encircle the roof, while glitter, confetti and streamers dropped from the ceiling for the finale, engulfing the entire central arena of the Dome. The show was the culmination of Le Maitre’s involvement with the Dome, which started with the high-profile opening ceremony in front of Her Majesty the Queen, and continued with three pyro shows per day throughout 2000.

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Steve Howard has relocated from the Martin Manufacturing plant in Louth, Lincolnshire to its UK headquarters in Maidstone. He made the move in mid-December and becomes the senior engineer responsible for Jem smoke machines. He will be responsible for the service of Jem smoke machines and providing training and technical support for Jem products.

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After six years handling technical sales and support on the company’s exclusively-distributed products, Mike Falconer is leaving AC Lighting Ltd and heading off to its US operation at AC Lighting Inc in Los Angeles.

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The ESTA website has been having some difficulties since Monday, January 8th. Wybron, which hosts the ESTA website and all its e-mail aliases, was forced off-line when its service provider went bankrupt and terminated all service without notice. Wybron has been able to create a temporary dial-up connection for the ESTA server, which should allow email through, although access to the website will be very slow. ESTA wishes to apologise for any inconvenience caused. Until the problem is resolved, all ESTA web services will have limited accessibility. Therefore, please use the following alternate email addresses to contact the ESTA staff, in order to ease strain on the temporary connection:

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Robert Bell has joined Rosco/ET as Horizon product manager. Bell is best known as a founder of CAST Lighting Limited, and was instrumental in the development of WYSIWYG software. While at CAST Lighting, Bell worked closely with ROSCO/ET’s Horizon product development team. This joint effort won Software Product of the Year award at Lighting Dimensions International 1999. Bell is also an accomplished board operator and lighting designer; recent credits include support for the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics, U2’s Pop Mart Tour and Ricky Martin's Liv'n La Vida Loca. More recently, he founded Shock Lighting, a company that handles board operation and lighting design projects.

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Bill Campbell, managing director for Strand Europe, has appointed Ian Roberts to the position of managing director, Strand Italy. He will take up his new position on February 1. Roberts, who has been with the Rome-based company as sales director since 1997, will remain very active in his sales role. The outgoing managing director, Ing. (Engineer) Giuseppe Toia, has made a substantial contribution to Strand taking the company through the development and launch of a complete new range of studio and daylight luminaires, bringing to fruition 23 new products in the record time of two years. Having successfully completed that task he now moves back to his native Milan for professional and personal reasons.

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Strand Lighting has established a new base in London. The company’s new split-level mews studio in the Fulham/Chelsea area will not only become a Strand Academy Training Centre, but will also provide a southern base for Strand’s project managers and sales representatives. Ivan Myles, Strand’s general manager of UK trading, said: "The reason for setting up this office is to enable us to reinitiate our training programme, to be closer to our customer base and to give better customer support. As well as being more convenient for the international project manager, it is strategically-placed to allow us to meet our domestic architect, consultant and production-based customers."

Among the senior personnel based at SW6 will be Ivan Myles, Vic Gibbs, Bill Richards and Lucien McQueen, while Strand has now appointed James Vaughan as sales administrator.

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The Boston Globe newspaper has reported that US scientists say they have stopped light, held it in one place and then let it go again. The Harvard University team is due to publish its findings later this month. It is thought that light, which normally travels at 186,000 miles (300,000km) per second could, if ‘tamed’, be used to relay information around high-speed computers. Scientists Ronald Walsworth and Mikhail Lukin are expected to publish the details of their experiments in the January 29 edition of the journal Nature.

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Battersea Power Station became the focus of attention for Londoners as the capital geared up for its festive season. By sheer scale alone, this famous brick behemoth cannot be ignored, but this year it was even more eye-catching, cloaked as it was by a striking, yet sympathetic lighting presentation by Midnight Design.

Dave Bryant of Midnight Design thought manna had fallen from heaven to be offered such a broad canvas as the Power Station: "I knew immediately I wanted to create a design that reflects the power and majesty of the architecture," he said. "The sheer scale of the building exterior has made this a very challenging project."

In keeping with Bryant’s constant search for innovation, Midnight Design is the first company in the UK to purchase the latest Studio Due City Beams from Coe-Tech, included as part of the design. "The City Beams are idea

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Compulite Systems have been at the hub of high-tech development for the entertainment industry for two decades.

The company has recently released a mobile version of its popular CompuDim 2000, which supports all previous features. Designed for theatres, opera houses, TV studios and concert halls, CompuDim 2000 is an intelligent, high precision, fully digital dimming system. Due to its modular design it is possible to offer several cabinet configurations up to 96 dimmers. The dimmers offer both DMX and/or Ethernet communication with status reporting either locally to the control module or to the Compulite console.

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US-based digital lighting manufacturer Color Kinetics signed 12 new international distributors during the last half of 2000, bringing the total number of international Color Kinetics distributors to 29. As authorized ‘Master Distributors’, these companies will offer Color Kinetics’ complete line of full-spectrum professional digital lighting fixtures. These new distributors join the company’s expanding list of US and international distribution partners, signaling an era of continued growth and success for the company both in the US and abroad. The 12 new distributors represent all regions of the international professional lighting community, including Europe, Asia/Pacific, theMiddle East and South America.

The 12 international companies signing on as Authorized Color Kinetics Master Distributors are: Alto (Korea), Asas Lights (Malaysia), DMS (Turkey), Exton (Ice

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When textile artist Rebecca Bluestone was commissioned to design a triptych of silk tapestries for the new Federal Courthouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she knew that for maximum impact they would require special lighting, so she contacted Dick Hogle of Santa Fe's Hogle Theatrical Supplies for his lighting design expertise. Bluestone wanted the weavings to appear to 'glow' so Hogle chose to employ ETC's Source Four ellipsoidal spotlights. Hogle met several times with the building's architect, who was initially resistant to lighting additions, rightfully concerned that any alterations to his design would detract from the grandeur of the Courthouse's architecture. "But when I demonstrated how the Source Four could be positioned in such a way as to properly illuminate the artwork without invading the rest of the space, he was convinced," added Hogle.

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Vari-Lite has announced the first phase of the expansion of its European sales dealer network, supporting the distribution of the new Series 2000 luminaries, with the appointment of Norsk Sceneteknikk a.s. in Norway and HispaLite in Spain. Vari-Lite has already enjoyed a long relationship with both companies, who have considerable experience of the company’s products and the technical resources to support sales customers.

Jan Robert Midtbø, general manager of Norsk Sceneteknikk, commented: "Over the last two years we have dry-hired equipment from the Stockholm office, and thanks to their back-up and our own expertise we found ourselves dealing with most major customers in the Norwegian concert and TV market." Vari-Lite plans to expand the sales dealer network over the coming months.

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Navigator Systems has announce the opening of their new website www.clubnavigator.co.uk designed specifically for registered users of HireTrack and HireTrack Eclipse. This new site will enable members of the Navigator community to instantly access the Navigator Systems library of technical support documents, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, the company has developed a forum of issues, where all users can post suggestions, ideas, and comments. Customers will have the opportunity to share custom reports and/or utilities with other users. The company newsletter will also be maintained, keeping customers apprised of current projects, and new releases of the software.
  1. Le Mark is City Theatrical Dealer
  2. Martin Lighting on Tour
  3. PLASA Offers Human Resources
  4. HES: Wiseman VP World Sales
  5. Lighting Technology Adds White
  6. Ministry Rocks Skyscape
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