Lighting

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Two of the UK's leading facilities houses recently announced the formalisation of a new exclusive hire agreement. The arrangement sees ARRI Lighting Rental become the sole supplier of lighting facilities to Magic Eye Studios, one of London's leading commercial and TV studios. Wandsworth-based Magic Eye, recent home of 'The Weakest Link', has been seeking a prominent partner with which to develop business opportunities. After considering various options, Magic Eye decided on ARRI Lighting Rental: "Their reputation for quality equipment and service, coupled with a refreshing attitude to business, settled it for us. Our clients deserve the best equipment and technicians, and that is what we intend to give them." This is the first time ARRI Lighting Rental has established links with a studio. Managing director Tommy Moran explains: "We have had many opportunities in the past t

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Adam Hall is using PLASA to launch a range of new products. These include the Racklight - a brand new concept for illuminating 19" racked products for stage, studio and installation. This product uses innovative technology to produce clear and uniformed light, will not get hot or burn out, is very strong and durable, and does not use conventional bulbs!

Also new is a brand new range of loudspeaker systems for PA stage and installation use. The range of Talon loudspeaker systems comprises a standard series of compact loaded ply wood cabinets available in either black painted or carpet finish and a series of unique high spec cabinets featuring the Fane 'Concept One' primary drive units.

Other new products featured on stand include the latest additions to Amphenol's range of audio connectors, new versions of the 'Astroboard' lightweight material for constructing flightcases, and a

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The Dickson CyberExpress is a 21st century retail concept, first launched in Hong Kong last autumn. The HK$380m investment by the Dickson Group of Companies has resulted in a 70,000sq.ft, high-tech development at Kowloon Station.

It’s a full-on interactive shopping environment, offering a wide selection of the best known brands in the universe. The ‘cybermall’ functions as a complementary intelligent retail centre to Dickson’s e-commerce venture, DicksonCyberExpress.com.

The idea was to create the ultimate consumer experience for cyber-chic shoppers. The team chosen to pull the project together included UK-based design and production company Media Projects International, retail designer JGA Inc from the US, Hong Kong architects Gensler, UK-based AV systems specialists Electrosonic and various LDs and directors.CyberExpress’s seven ‘zones’ inc

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Popular Scottish band, Mogwai, played a pre-launch gig for their second album ‘Rock Action’ at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London. Mogwai, known as the 'no words' band because of their cinematic and instrumental music, played the pre-launch gig prior to embarking on a tour of Japan. The lighting rig for the event featured a host of Martin moving heads supplied by Bandit Lites and specified by LD Nick Jevons. He used six MAC 2000s, 10 MAC 500s and 10 MAC 600s, all controlled via an Avolites Pearl 2000, to create a cinematic and dramatic lightshow which perfectly complemented the various moods of Mogwai’s music. Jevons has been a lighting designer for over 10 years, and in his time has designed spectacular lightshows for bands such as the Super Furry Animals, Reef, Elastica and Skunk Anansie. In addition, he has also designed the lighting for a large number of extreme

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The PSA launched its latest initiative for those working within the Entertainment & Events industry. The aim of the Register - called Skill Base - is to provide all operatives with the opportunity to obtain recognition of their skills and qualifications, and to provide evidence to a contractor or employer of their ability to do a job competently and safely.

The creation of the Register is also intended to help counteract some of the problems facing the industry, such as declining employment, skills shortages, lack of training, poor health and safety records, and an unfavourable public image. The Register will set agreed industrial skill standards, based on qualifications and experience, which are being established in co-operation with trade associations and employers across Europe. This will further enhance the new International groups being established by the PSA in Ireland, Holland

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The Cloud One Group Ltd, located in Birmingham, have appointed Bill Jones as business development manager. Well known within the industry, and most recently with Lightfactor Sales, his background in sales, aligned with his vast knowledge of sound and lighting equipment, will strengthen the group’s long established position within the areas of equipment hire and event production. Installations, flight-case manufacturing and the sale of pro audio products are other areas covered by Cloud One, Stratford Acoustics - the rental arm - and Midland Custom Cases.

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MCL London’s newly formed in-house lighting service has seen a busy inaugural month - from serious design, as a stand-alone service, to the supply of services as part of a complete package. In June MCL’s LX designer Nick Whitehead provided complete lighting design and rigging facilities, for a major international retailer’s London conference, as part of the full AV staging service that MCL is supplying throughout the UK. The project - an internal communication event for senior management - required a cost-effective solution converting an existing in-house studio facility into a theatre-style auditorium and dining area. Vision, sound and staging were also provided as part of the complete package under the MCL brand. Nick came up with the well-proven ‘black box’ idea as part of the integrated solution. "We provided the client with a 30m x 20m ground supp

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Exhibited widely in Europe, Japan and the US, Panamarenko, whose works are immediately recognizable and highly distinctive, has become one of the most famous contemporary artists in the world. Obsessed with flight, Panamarenko calls himself an artist-technologist, producing work that is a cross between art and science.

Belgium’s Museum of Contemporary Art (SMAK) in Ghent recently hosted a three-month retrospective exhibition of his most impressive works, an event that opened with a one-off show entitled Panamarenko by Night which took place on March 23. Martin’s Belgian distributor EVDV proposed giving Panamarenko’s work an additional touch of dynamism for the show so its architectural lighting specialist Duncan Verstraeten took the opportunity to incorporate Martin effects lighting into this rather unusual environment. He contacted lighting specialist Lode van Pee o

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MA Lighting has extended its product range with another innovative new console, the grandMA ultra-light, which neatly plugs gap between grandMA light and the well-known Scancommander.

The compact desk offers 1024 control channnels (two DMX lines) and most of the software and programming features of the grandMA light. It uses the same future-oriented grandMA software and is therefore compatible with other show files. The console features a full-color TFT touchscreen, 10 manual executor faders, 10 executor buttons, four encoders and a single multi-functional trackball (for mouse and wheel-operation). It has Ethernet, MIDI and timecode, together with a floppy and a built-in hard-disk. Two control desks (also in combination with other grandMA range controllers) can be linked for full tracking back-up or playback tracking in order to increase the channel count. In comparison to grandMA ligh

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Zero 88's newly appointed Dutch dealers, Rolight Theatertechnik have hosted the first in a series of Zero 88 open days in Holland. The theme of the two-day event was of partnership, with a renewed emphasis on servicing the needs of the Dutch lighting market. On the first day, Tim Burt Zero 88's product manager, met with representatives from Rolight Theatertechnik and the six main Zero 88 trading partners in Holland. The meeting gave the customers a good opportunity to see the latest developments in the product range and also to discuss future requirements. The second day was very much a hands-on experience where a large number of visitors from all sectors of the industry were given the chance to see and use the wide range of products that Zero 88 now produces. Rolight and the main Zero 88 trading partners, will be running further open days around Holland where the product range will be o

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The perfect time to show off High End Systems' hottest products is during the hottest time of the year in Texas. During July 11-12, High End Systems is inviting all interested parties to see the latest new offerings at its Lone Star headquarters in Austin. From 3-6 pm on both days, visitors can chill out with the High End team with cold beverages and hors d'oeuvres while watching demos of x.Spot, EC-2, Handshake, Indy 575, Color Pro and Studio Beam. The office is located at 2217 West Braker Lane, Austin, Texas 78758. Anybody wishing to attend should call the special reservations hotline at +1 877-468-1693.

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Lightfactor has recently supplied lighting and control equipment to St Paul’s Church in Hammersmith. The church is a large 1000-capacity building, constructed in 1880 and the current lighting refit is part of the church’s ongoing programme of events, designed to involve and stimulate participation from the local community. The need for dramatic, theatrical-style lighting is a growing one, with services frequently featuring live music and performers. As part of the technical refit, Lightfactor supplied four LightProcessor Paradime rack-mounting dimmers and a LightProcessor Q24 control desk - now utilised to control the concert lighting system. At the same time St Pauls’ have also purchased three Paradime Wall packs and four architectural remote button plates to control the ‘house’ lights for every day services and functions.

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Bytecraft announced recently that whilst earlier this year it had injected much needed capital into UK company Caire Ltd, in order to protect staff and creditors of that company it was now putting Caire into liquidation. "Bytecraft feels that liquidation is the only responsible course of action," said general manager John Rowland in London. "Because of a long-standing relationship with the Caire parent company, and also because we had bid several projects with Caire Ltd, we felt we needed to help the company when it ran short of funds," Rowland added.

Earlier this year, Bytecraft has injected £60,000 into the troubled company and had, in fact, been implementing Stage 5 of its international strategy that called for a permanent presence in the UK. An investment position in Caire Ltd added value to the opening of a UK daughter company Bytecraft Europe with potential

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CP Sound has just completed the installation of an innovative new lighting rig, plus a re-invention and design of the sound system incorporating several new elements at The Core in Yeovil, Somerset. The club - formerly known as Duke’s - is owned by locally-based independent operator Terry Clare. Steve Howie from Howie Design was commissioned to produce the interior design, basing his themeing on ideas triggered from the complex and world of the cult 1999 Warchowski Brothers movie, The Matrix.

Audio-wise at the Core, CP Sound’s Colin Pattenden utilised as much as possible of the existing installation, whilst also addressing the previous system’s serious lack of bass. He added four JBL MS125S cabinets to the room, complete with new RSE PFX 1200 clip control amplifiers. CP Sound also added a DJ monitor where previously there was none - plus two JBL top cabinets for infi

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Neil Finn, of Crowded House and Split Enz fame, has been busy touring an entertaining live show with some semi-legendary muso mates and a very flexible format. L&SI caught up with him in New Zealand and the UK, courtesy of Catriona Strom and Steve Moles . . .

Auckland’s St James Theatre was the setting for the start of the Neil Finn & Friends shows, which featured a line-up including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway, Johnny Marr and Sebastian Steinberg on electric and double bass, and Lisa Germano doing vocals and a number of instruments.

Oceania Audio supplied sound, with the company’s Paul Jeffery acting as both technical manager and monitor engineer. "The concert was certainly a challenge," said Jeffery, "but having worked, off and on, for Split Enz and Crowded House for many years, I’m quite familiar

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For the fifteenth year DHA Lighting will be exhibiting at PLASA.

PLASA will see the launch of DHA’s new YoYo+, ideal for revealing images and for creating effects such as sun rises, opening doors and windows, bouncing balls and floating balloons. Available in single and double versions, with the option of a gobo-changer on the double design, the YoYo+ was initially designed for the current production of My Fair Lady, in which it has been used to create a window effect on stage. Using ETC Source Fours, each with a distortion corrected glass window gobo with a net curtain, the YoYo+ gobo has a heavy curtain profile - when Higgins pulls a rope all four curtains 'open' to reveal the window patterns and the room floods with light.

Continuing on from last year’s success, DHA Lighting will be conducting lighting effects workshops in the Kensington Room on Wednesday 12 September

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A redesign of the playing area at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for the 2001 season meant that a completely new repertoire lighting rig was required. And, when designing that rig, the RSC's head of lighting Vince Herbert and lighting designer Peter Mumford saw the potential for some new lighting opportunities, they turned to The Moving Light Company for advice.

Their plan was to move beyond the increasingly-standard use of automated lighting: as well as having the lights pointing themselves in different directions from fixed positions, they wanted the lights themselves to move! The tracking system for the lights was to be created by the RSC, with the drives and control provided by automation specialists Stage Technologies. Dave Isherwood from The Moving Light Company was able to show the RSC the wide range of equipment held in MLCo's stock. After carefu

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Brand experience consultancy Hotcakes has won the international award for Best Consumer Products Event at the European IBTM Awards in Geneva (30 May), for its production of Marks & Spencer’s unique ‘Time To Celebrate’ touring show.

‘Time To Celebrate’ has been acknowledged as Europe’s biggest ever touring show undertaken by a retailer and was devised to showcase the retailer’s Christmas/Millennium collections. Taking place in a specially-designed state-of-the-art structure, the show was staged adjacent to M&S’s flagship stores in Bristol, Gateshead, Edinburgh and Camberley. It incorporated a celebrity cooking demonstration, a fashion show and an exhibition of merchandise from the Home & Gifts department, and was seen by 26,000 customers and staff across the UK. The event was managed by a crew of 550, and transported around the country by

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Amptown Cases is celebrating a staggering 10,000 sales worldwide of its versatile Transflex road trunk system by launching Transflex2, offered in a standard range of four lengths and two widths (1/4 and 1/3 truck packs). As part of the launch, Amptown is offering the first 598 customers over 20% discount.

The Transflex2 has been updated to allow even greater flexibility. The movable partition systems have been redesigned to allow them to be positioned at 25mm centres, and are available in two heights, one which fits the full height of the case and a shorter version, designed to fit under any trays that are used. The Transflex2 trays themselves are self-supporting and can now be firmly located anywhere along the length of the case - they can also be fitted in multiples. Existing users of Transflex will be pleased to learn that all components of the new Transflex2 are compatible with the

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The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) recognized nine lighting projects with Lighting Design Awards for their outstanding lighting solutions and creative techniques. One award of excellence, seven awards of merit and one special citation were announced at the 18th Annual Lighting Design Awards held recently in Las Vegas. The IALD received 175 submissions from all over the world for this year’s competition and a panel of award-winning lighting designers and architects reviewed the projects.

The Award of Excellence went to Charles G. Stone II, IALD, Henry Forrest, Alicia Kaphelm, and Matthew Toomajian of the New York-based design firm Fisher Marantz Stone Inc for their work on the American Museum of Natural History Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York, NY, USA. The seven IALD Award of Merit winning projects were Alexander Graham Bell House British Teleco

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After the success of the multimedia waterscreen shows during the world expos in both Osaka (1990) and Tottori (1996), Yves Pépin and his team at ECA2 have been asked to produce the multi-media watershow for the Yamaguchi Expo in Japan, which runs from the 14th of July through to the 30th of September 2001. For the last two years, ECA2 and its technicians have been working alongside the Japanese Expo team to ensure the success of this night-time spectacular. The show will feature images projected onto four monumental spheres, as well as onto a giant water screen; pyrotechnic and fire effects will complete the impressive show.

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The annual Canadian-based Preston Figure Skating Show is considered to be one of the best amateur figure skating shows in North America. Involving over 170 amateur skaters, this show is rehearsed for over a month and runs four shows during the three day festival. Lighting designer for the event was Carl Lukings of Concord Production Services, who specified 12 SGM Giotto Spot 250s for his rig. "I used the Giotto 250s for both frontal and back lighting for each number, as well as to create an ice ‘wash’ effect. The Prism and Gobo effects coupled with the Linear Zoom made it possible to create great static and moving projections on the ice surface. The factory colour selection is perfectly suited to the artistic nature of figure skating lighting." Lighting contractor for the event was Little Electric Inc of Cambridge, Ontario.

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Gemini’s lighting division has launched a number of new fog machines. The FG-5200 is a low profile, lightweight professional fogger built around a large, internal 1.5 quart fluid tank. Boasting a high output pump providing 10,000 cubic feet per minute, the FG-5200 also has a 1200W heat exchanger for denser fog. The unit incorporates a 32 foot remote control with magnetic backing, while the remote itself features both timer and duration controls. Also new are the FG-1200 and FG-2200 fog machines. While the FG-1200 boasts a high output pump offering 3000 cubic feet per minute, the FG-2200 will pump 4000 cubic feet in the same time. For denser fog, the FG-1200 has a 700W heat exchanger, while the FG-2200 has an 800W version. Both units have a 32 foot remote control with magnetic backing and a lower heating temperature as an added safety mechanism.

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Coe-tech Ltd is now stocking the PR.com projector system - the latest product from Italian company Travel Show, for which Coe-tech is exclusive UK distributor. The PR.com is suited to a wide range of applications including retail/point-of-sale, museums, attractions, bars, restaurants and club.

The system comprises two small projectors: the PR 5.2 is an effects projector using 200W or a 250W HSD light source whilst the PR.com 3.1 utilizes a 250W 24V halogen lightsource. The PR 5.2 is a versatile multi-functional device, offering bright, sharp images up to 10 metres from the source. A variety of effects are available to fit on the front of the projectors. Two metal prongs extrude from the lightsource and support the lens system, plus a large range of motorized or fixed accessories and effects. The effects mechanism is designed specifically to offer very quick and simple access for changi

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