Lighting

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An alliance has been established between ultraviolet lighting manufacturer and scenic production firms Wildfire and UV/FX. The agreement, which commences immediately, calls for UV/FX to handle all of Wildfire’s scenic design and production, while UV/FX will exclusively utilize Wildfire’s ultraviolet lighting fixtures, lamps and other creative materials on all of its projects.

"Over the years, Wildfire has helped create some of the most dramatic ultraviolet scenic productions at destinations and events all around the world. Working with UV/FX, we will be able to expand our scope of services while continuing to create the innovative ultraviolet lighting systems that the industry has come to expect from us," said Wildfire vice president John Berardi. This new alliance also reunites UV/FX president Richard Green and creative director Kent Mathieu with Wildfire, the co

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New from Selecon at PLASA this year is the mechanical dowser accessory, which completes the Pacific MSR light system. The dowser continues the modular design philosophy of the Pacific: it is a separate accessory that simply drops into the Pacific lamphouse, onto which can be mounted any of the Pacific lens systems. Using graduated optical filters, the dowser provides a visually even fade from full output to blackout. Control is via DMX. The daylight colour temperature (5600K) and high efficiency of the 575W MSR lamp combine to deliver a high output, high impact beam. The Pacific heat management system ensures even energy distribution at the gate allowing for the use of dichroic glass patterns. Hot restrike, standard MSR and MSD lamps can be used with the Pacific. Power supplies include a universal electronic power supply and 220 - 240v magnetic ballasts for architectural applications. Th

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In its West End debut, Selecon's unique 80volt Pacific is being used to show Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins in the best possible light in Cameron Mackintosh's new production of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. After an initial run at the National Theatre, the show, lit by top lighting designer, David Hersey, has transferred to the much larger stage at Drury Lane. With an output equivalent to a 2.5kW light, the Pacific provides the effect of sunlight streaming through the four large windows of the professor's study.

Bryan Raven, general manager of White Light who supplied all the lighting for the show, explains. "The phone call came half way through the focus period of the West End transfer of the acclaimed National Theatre production of My Fair Lady. It was lighting designer David Hersey: did White Light have anything brighter tha

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PLASA 2001 will see the official release of LightJockey 2.0, an upgraded version of Martin’s popular Windows- based lighting controller. LightJockey 2 incorporates a host of useful upgrades including a new PCI card for increased PC interface capabilities (also USB and PCMCIA interface options.

Windows 2000 compatible, other new features include a Solid Beam Virtual Visualizer, a high quality visualization simulator capable of creating realistic, solid, 3D beams. Visually accurate and easy to understand, the simulator allows you to create virtual visualizations off-site. For more flexible music capabilities, LightJockey 2.0 interfaces with Winamp to play a multitude of digital audio files including MP3. LightJockey 2.0 includes audio CD ROM capability as well. It also supports SMPTE and MIDI timecode with suitable interface. And a new show-saver backup feature ensures that shows w

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Members of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s technical teams in Stratford-upon-Avon will go on strike on 15 September in protest over planned redundancies. Almost 90% of 200 members of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) have agreed to the action. BECTU had previously attempted to negotiate on behalf of its members, but without success. BECTU assistant general secretary Gerry Morrissey said performances would be affected from 15 September because of the walkout by lighting staff, stage crews, wardrobe employees and technical workers.

A production of Julius Caesar is listed for that night in the midst of a season which includes performances of Twelfth Night and Hamlet. BECTU has also said that industrial action will continue after 15 September. The union says about two-thirds of technical staff at the company could lose their

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Smoke Factory of Hannover, Germany, has earned a worldwide reputation as a manufacturer of professional fog-generators. The list of Smoke Factory innovations introduced over the years includes: 0-10 V control of output and output volume; DMX control of output and output volume; XLR standard connection for fog-generators; Radio remote control; Direct output volume control through lighting desk fader; Continual fogging and electronic temperature control.

The Tour-Hazer, being launched at the PLASA Show, is an addition to this Professional Touring Range. The DMX-controlled Tour-Hazer creates a fine haze instead of big clouds of fog. By filling the air with a perfect ‘designer mist’, the Tour-Hazer creates an ideal environment for beams and moving light shows. Unlike many other hazers, the Tour-Hazer does not need a compressor. It is small, easy to handle and to carry, comes wi

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On Saturday 1 September, Nintendo hosted its 2001 Conference & Exhibition at the Methodist Church Hall Westminster in London, utilizing the main church hall and a further eight rooms. The church was transformed into a main conference hall, two central gaming areas, break-off gaming areas and press/Q&A rooms. Stage Electrics was contracted to design the event's lighting using WYSIWYG visualization software and the new HOG PC from Flying Pig Systems. Stage Electrics’ production team also provided lighting, rigging and mains distribution. PSL provided the five Barco projection system with Concise’s powerful Stealth graphics system for the main hall. Rigging was supported by Outback Rigging.

Creative director Andy McDonald of Cake Media explained that the event had been staged to reveal the launch of the new Nintendo Game Cube and to communicate sales and marketing results. The

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at PLASA 2001 with exciting new developments in full spectrum digital lighting technology:

C-Splash, the newest fixture in the C-Series line of full spectrum digital lighting products. C-Splash brings beautiful coloured light and colour-changing effects to underwater locations such as fountains and landscape ponds. Fully enclosed in a switch-free brass housing, C-Splash is easily programmed through Color Kinetics’ new external, handheld Zapi controller, and is powered by the brand-new sMOPS power supply.

iColor Cove LT is the newest cove light fixture in the popular iColor Series of digital lighting products. iColor Cove LT significantly extends the types of applications in which digital cove lighting is used. Specifically designed for installations requiring lower intensity light output and a lower cost, iColor Cove LT offers all the intelligent control capabilities and benefi

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The Edinburgh International Film Festival, sponsored by FilmFour, ran from 12-26 August, 2001. To promote the Festival, FilmFour devised a projection of iconic film images and stars onto the rocks beneath Edinburgh Castle. To facilitate the project, leading lighting distributor Fourth Phase London was commissioned by Alan Ramsey at Fisher Productions to ensure the images would be clearly visible along Edinburgh's Princes Street. The high profile exercise presented huge challenges from the outset - projecting images from 125m onto a rocky surface, as opposed to a screen, meant that Fourth Phase technicians had to think carefully about the equipment they would use to complete the brief to its full potential. The rock's rough surface absorbed rather than reflected projected light, requiring pre-distorted imagery combined with a powerful 12,000W Pani projector. Additionally, Fourth Phase Lo

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PLASA is now just two days away and it looks like this year’s event will be the best ever. PLASA is where you get to find out what over 400 of the industry’s leading players have been doing in the past few months. It’s got to be better than leafing through hundreds of product brochures or trawling the internet for information. Aside from the exhibition, there are plenty of things to catch the eye, including the DJ Competition on the Sunday, the newly-introduced iDJ Talk Zone offering advice to DJs, a comprehensive seminar and workshop programme, the PLASA Awards for Product Excellence, the various Feature Areas, and the many events, press launches and on-stand receptions organized by exhibitors. If you still haven’t registered for the event, don’t worry, you can register on the day. All you need to do is turn up at Earls Court 1 and register on the door. See

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Pulsar has announced some new additions to the ChromaRange family of LED technology lighting fixtures. To complement the existing ChromaLight, ChromaDome and ChromaZone, these new items will allow further flexibility for the use of LED fixtures and provide a comprehensive solution for architectural and entertainment lighting design projects. The entire range will make their exhibition debut at this year’s PLASA and promise to be the highlight of the show.

ChromaBank contains 12 ChromaHearts packaged together in one linear lighting source featuring a total of 960 LEDs. It has a built in ChromaZone to power and control the unit, offering numerous internal effects and chases that can operate in stand-alone mode or with an external DMX/PMX controller. ChromaBanks are idea for TV, Theatre, Stage and Club applications providing incredible illumination and flexibility from a LED based f

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Genlyte Thomas Group LLC (GTG) has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Rosco Entertainment Technology, a subsidiary of Rosco Laboratories (Rosco) of Stamford CT, a privately held corporation. Rosco Entertainment Technology is a manufacturer of entertainment lighting equipment and controls, including the Intelligent Power System (IPS) line of theatrical dimming equipment, and the family of Horizon lighting controls. GTG plans to operate the business under the name Entertainment Technology, reverting to a name familiar to the theatrical lighting industry. Larry Powers, president and chief executive officer of Genlyte Thomas, commented: "We are pleased with the potential for this acquisition to enhance our commercial lighting products package. We intend to focus Entertainment Technology (ET) on providing innovative products into the educational, hospitality, theatrical, and t

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First published in 1976 and well established as the classic practical lighting guide, The Stage Lighting Handbook marks 25 years with the publication of a sixth edition.

Since the publication of the first edition, there have, of course, been revolutionary changes in stage lighting technology - all quickly embraced by the regular new editions of the book.This latest edition naturally embraces all the latest technology, but also continues to discuss the basic principles - event to the extent of advising how to use one single spotlight if that is all that is available. It also includes up-to-date information on new equipment and discusses its impact on working methods.

While continuing to provide an introduction to readers with no previous lighting experience, the scope of the book has been widened to include more advanced aspects of lighting design and technology. Consequently, the num

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The doors have opened at Earls Court for Day 1 of the 24th PLASA Show, and the first visitors are now filling the show floor, where over 370 exhibitors are displaying their latest innovations to the industry. Over 400 products are making their first appearance at a PLASA Show, with the cream of the crop entered into the PLASA Awards for Product Excellence, and displayed in the New Technology Gallery on the Top Deck of Earls Court, which is this year sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine.

Throughout today, and for the duration of the show, the team from PLASA Media will be bringing you all the latest news and pictures from the show floor. To follow events as they unfold at PLASA 2001, visit our dedicated news section at the address below:

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The 56 products nominated for this year’s PLASA Awards for Product Excellence are currently available for visitors to view on the Top Deck of Earls Court, in the Lighting&Sound International-sponsored New Technology Gallery (pictured). The Gallery allows a one-stop view of all the latest product innovations in the categories of Lighitng, Sound, Stage Engineering and Audio-Visual. Judging for the Awards will take place during the show, by a panel of experts from each respective field. The winners will be announced at a special ceremony at 9.30 on Wednesday morning, at which time PLASA will also present the money raised from the Awards entries to a number of charities.

To view the complete list of products entered for the PLASA Awards for product Excellence, visit the web address below:

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Following negotiations with the founding owners of Swedish gobo manufacturer Beacon, Martin has purchased 25% of the share capital of the company with an option to purchase an additional 15%. Martin’s capital investment in the company is intended to ensure Beacon’s aggressive growth strategy, while guaranteeing future influence on the company’s development. Beacon will continue to operate as a fully independent company. Its three owners will continue to head the company while Martin makes its influence felt through the Board of Directors.

Following Martin’s introduction of the MAC 2000, Beacon became Martin’s most important gobo supplier. The company employs some 20 people and expects a turnover of app. SEK 25 million for the financial period covering September 2001 to August 2002.

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LeMark had a press meeting yesterday to announce the launch of its new catalogue. The company invited people to join it for a champagne launch to mark the occasion. The long awaited new catalogue shows the diversity of products available from Le Mark which was originally established in 1983 to supply the consumable demands for self adhesive products used within the TV, film and theatre industries. Since those early days the company has grown to the point where it now offers a cross section of inter-related products designed for use in many areas of the industry. The company also used the occasion to announce its recent strategic alliance with Scapa Tapes plc one of the world’s largest adhesive tape manufacturers, supported by 22 production and distribution sites across the globe.

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There are a number of attractions of the High End stand at PLASA 2001, including the x.Spot with new framing shutters and Lithomotion features, and the Catalyst periscopic moving head projection system, which has been displaying real-time moving video projections from the stand. Our uppermost picture shows PLASA Media photographer Chris Toulmin photographing the Catalyst-projected image of himself on the rear wall of the stand.

Another eye-catching feature of the High End exhibit this year is the tiny C-16 colour changer for retail and display applications. Our second picture shows the effect of these MR16-equipped units on a mannequin display. These look set to sell by the truckload.

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Depeche Mode have followed their successful album Exciter with a world tour that sees them playing 80 dates around the globe. Lighting designer is Paul Normandale who has masterminded an extraordinary light show that incorporates Martin MAC 2000s and giant video projections by artist Anton Corbijn. Using 19 MAC 2000s, Normandale and his collaborators have created a unique lighting design, with a cleverly-constructed interplay of light, film and Depeche Mode's own unique brand of electronica. Normandale took full advantage of the MAC 2000's hard-edged beams to create a strong visual look that mirrored the moods of the evening's varied repertoire. At times the band was given an almost graphical quality by a silhouetting backlight of MAC 2000 beams. Crew Chief Mike Hosp noted: "The MAC 2000 is a very positive step in the technology of moving lights. It has the brightness that LDs want

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On the first day of the PLASA Show at London’s Earls Court yesterday, TMB announced the opening of TMB Beijing. TMB CEO Colin Waters stated: "With customers involved in projects throughout China, local coordination has become essential. This office will add another level of support to our international vendors and customers, with a focus on the growing Chinese market. TMB’s ability to assimilate the best equipment from around the world is a real benefit here."

Cherry Huang, a Beijing resident who has worked with TMB on a freelance basis for several years, has assumed the role of TMB Beijing office manager. Waters commented: "The opening of TMB Beijing is the culmination of 10 years’ work in this region. This is an exciting moment. We expect great things from our new location, especially with someone as talented as Cherry Huang heading it up."

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Martin Professional will launch a new version of its successful MAC 2000 Profile at PLASA 2001. The new version, the MAC 2000 Performance, is a 1200W profile framing spot featuring a four-blade framing system for precise stage lighting and gobo animation wheel for extraordinary theatrical effects, the ideal illumination framing tool for theaters and special effect applications. Useful for accurate illumination coverage of stage props, scenery or any object, the precision adjusting, fully automated beam framing system transforms the elliptical beam into a multitude of different shapes. Fine adjustment of the shape is within millimeters thus eliminating any excess back light and perfect for stage shows of all types.

Also new to the MAC 2000 Performance is a gobo animation wheel useful for special theatrical effects such as fire, sky and water imaging. The entire wheel can be swiveled for

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Zero 88 chose the PLASA Show to present three Dealer of the Year Awards. Winner of the Independent Dealer of the Year Award was Stagecraft Ltd of Salisbury, while High Wycombe-based AC Lighting Ltd picked up the UK dealer of the Year Award. The International Dealer of the Year Award was presented to California-based AC Lighting Inc, and our picture shows Zero 88's Graham Eales (centre) presenting the Award to CEO Bob Gordon (left) and Mike Falconer of AC Lighting Inc.

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Cork-based lighting, technical design and production specialists LDPS has further expanded its team with the addition of two new project consultants - Joe Stockdale and Michael Hurley. Their specialist areas are stage technologies and mixed/multi-media respectively. Stockdale and Hurley join LDPS founder Grant Collie and will be based in the company’s new premises in central Cork. The appointments will strengthen LDPS’s position as a market leader in the field of creating practical technical solutions based on hands-on experience.

Stockdale’s role will include venue technical design, specialising in stage systems, site installation supervision, special projects, client liaison, training and recruitment. His diverse background includes the teaching of theatre studies, set design and construction and event production. For the last nine years, he worked as technical stag

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In preparation for the process of obtaining official charitable status, Light Relief, the industry fund that supports lighting designers in times of crisis or personal tragedy, has chosen a board of trustees which includes some of the profession’s best-known names. Additionally, Richard Pilbrow, doyen of theatre lighting design and author of the seminal work on the art, has agreed to be Honorary Chairman.

Rick Fisher, ALD Chairman and joint founder with Tony Gottelier of Light Relief, explains: "We desperately wanted Richard to have a role, but as a non-UK resident that would have proved difficult in view of the requirements of the regulations governing charities. Consequently, we’re delighted that he has agreed to accept the position, as we know that his involvement and wise counsel will prove invaluable."

Although born in England and having worked here for man

  1. White Light and Robert Juliat Introduce Marius
  2. Avo Launches Diamond 4 at PLASA
  3. Hear’Say
  4. Martin Hires International Sales Director for Architectural Segment
  5. Theatre Vision for Sound & Vision
  6. Bringing Tintin to Life Again!
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