Lighting

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White Light Sales, the exclusive UK distributor for the acclaimed Robert Juliat range: the Marius 1.2K HMI followspots. The Marius will be on show for the first time on the White Light stand - F4, just inside the main door - at PLASA 2001, which runs from September 9th-12th at Earls Court, London. The Marius is also a nominee for the Product of the Year Award at the show.

The Marius will be accompanied on the stand by other members of the popular Robert Juliat family, already finding use on many shows in the West End of London as well as the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Concert Hall and at the BBC. White Light Sales will also be using PLASA 2001 to show other products from their extensive sales stock, including the highly versatile Unique variable haze machine and ever-popular Tiny-Fogger miniature for machine from Look Solutions and smoke machines from The Smoke Factory, both range

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The latest addition to Avolites' range of lighting control consoles, the Diamond 4, has received an overwhelming response at PLASA 2001, according to managing director Rick Salzedo. At a packed champagne launch for the industry press, sales director Steve Warren presented the Diamond 4 and explained its enhanced time-saving features, the result of feedback from many users of the company's consoles.

Key features of the Diamond 4 include: 28 cue playback masters, 200 pages; 128 preset fully legended preset faders, configurable as fixture masters or cue masters, 200 pages (a preset fader can now control a chase, cue or fixture, fully configurable); 1,000 or more fixtures; 200 pages of 128 direct access programming palettes; multiple times on attributes and fixtures; logical, informative cue viewing environment; dedicated buttons for theatre plotting features; electronic legending for pale

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Hear’Say are currently part way through their highly successful UK arena tour. The set and lighting was designed by Pete Barnes, with the lighting operated on tour by Graham Feast. In an unusual move, all the lighting gear was supplied by French Company Cote Scene. The audio elements of the tour were provided by Wigwam with rigging by OTT.

The tour’s live video requirements are supplied by XL Video. The 32 square metre central screens - which open like curtains at the start of the show to allow the band to enter - are constructed from Barco DeLite 7 LED systems. Two left and right screens are fed by Barco ELM G10 projectors mounted on the truss, and are predominantly used for the live relay images. PCM was commissioned by Mark Wade from OTT Rigging to build the customised movement system for the video screens. The resulting system, an amalgamation of a Gis tracking system

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Martin Professional has hired Gorm Teichert as international sales director for the company’s expanding architectural segment. Gorm will begin in the newly created position on November 1st and will be based at the Martin headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark. A 39-year-old Dane, Gorm comes to Martin from a position as managing director for German architectural lighting company Erco. An 11-year veteran of the lighting industry, he has been based in England with Erco the past few years.

President and CEO of Martin Professional, Kristian Kolding, told PLASA Media: "With his extensive knowledge of architectural lighting, Gorm will be the driving force behind our continued expansion into the architectural lighting market." Martin has placed increasing emphasis on the indoor and outdoor architectural lighting market over the past two years, launching a range of dedicated architectu

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Cardiff-based Theatre Vision (a Stage Electrics Group company) has kick-started its busy corporate season by providing production lighting services for the recent WHAT HI-FI? Sound & Vision Awards 2001. Hosted by the irrepressible Clive Anderson at the Hilton in Park Lane, the show is produced by Head to Head Communications on behalf of Haymarket Publishing. Theatre Vision was called upon by busy awards lighting designer Matthew Evered to provide dynamic lighting for the event. A mixture of Strand SL cool-beam profiles, parcans and Martin Mac 300 moving lights were used to help jazz up the event, now in its 25th year, and all controlled and programmed by Tim Routledge on an Avolites Pearl. Also provided were a number of low voltage lighting kits for various branding and reception areas. Truss and rigging was provided by RoadRunner while sound was sourced from Tone Ferne from Dobsons.

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Twelve DHA Digital Light Curtains are set to create stunning visual effects in the production of Tintin and the Temple of the Sun, making a spectacular stage debut in Antwerp on 15th September 2001. The production will be under the direction of one of Belgium's most acclaimed directors, Frank Van Laeke, and will be lit by Jack Van de Velde. With two versions of the musical in different languages, the production team is confident of its success and plans are already underway for tours of the Netherlands, France, UK, Germany and Canada.

The main difficulty that faced the creators of this musical version of the all-time classic was how to allow the production to speak to the audiences' imagination with the same impact as the written words and in the same style as the original.

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The Internationale Funfausstellung, which takes place every two years in Berlin, traditionally opens with a live television transmission (alternating between German national TV networks, ARD or ZDF). ARD was responsible for this year’s opening spectacular on August 25, and while the location in recent years has been the ICC, which is situated close to the fair, this time ARD opted to use the Convention Center at Europe’s biggest hotel - the 1000-bed Hotel Estrel.

Set designer Peter Roth, the man responsible for a number of ARD shows in Germany, wanted to create something original for the network other than traditional projection and cube systems, and the show title Tele Visionen also implied the need for a modern set. Besides centre stage - where the acts performed - there needed to be projection screens in the wings, where the main interviews and presentations would take

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Apologies to the Stereophonics, but this is going to be an unsung heroes review. Unlike other shows, I’m going to concentrate attention on the peripherals, everything other than light and sound.

Following the appalling tragedy at Roskilde, crowd management has ridden to the top of all festival organiser’s agendas. This was the first big show at Donnington since the demise of the annual Monsters of Rock five years ago, and security arrangements were uppermost in many minds. Showsec, the contracted party, has much experience of Donnington, not least from Monsters, so in many ways choosing them was a given. Company founder Mick Upton managed a team of 250 Showsec staff from the control room, which he shared with local emergency services and licensing officials, monitoring events by radio and CCTV. Mike Harding, group operations director, was at the sharp end of crowd control,

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In an effort to support the victims of the recent attacks on the United States, TMB is collecting donations of money and clothing in both of its US locations and encouraging employees to donate blood at their local Red Cross. On September 14, the LA office shipped out the first pallet of West Coast donations, along with a large quantity of socks, raingear and tarpaulins, to the Red Cross relief effort. TMB CEO Colin Waters is issuing a call to other companies in the lighting industry to do the same: "We are terribly shocked and saddened by the recent attacks and want to do everything we can to show our support to the victims and relief workers. I hope that all of the companies in our industry will make similar efforts. With so many caring and capable people in the lighting community, we can make a significant difference when it is needed most."

If you work in the LA or NY are

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transtechnik has been awarded a contract to the value of DM 398 800 by the Theater am Stadtgarten in Winterthur in Switzerland. The order covers the complete renovation of the control elements of the theatre’s 15-year old lighting system - the venue being one of the largest in the German-speaking world to be dedicated solely to touring companies. New equipment installed includes Prisma NT, Focus and Iris NT lighting consoles, a radio control system for remote control of these, a pair of remote operating stations, an Ethernet hub to be used to network the systems, three DMX mergers to be used to merge and amplify of the DMX512 signal, a digital auxiliary console (Profibus system with programmable controller), a DMX Gateway (protocol converter, Profibus/DMX) and a range of digital dimming.

Transtechnik went on site in early summer and will complete the work this month in readiness

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Mass Audio Visual, of Burlington, Massachusetts, recently purchased two Digital Projections Lightning 15sx projectors. This acquisition further expands the company’s inventory of presentation equipment and follows their earlier purchase of the new EAW Line Array sound system. Commenting on the purchase, massAV general manager Jeff Robinson told PLASA Media: "We are now able to offer clients a one-stop-shopping solution for large event staging. This furthers our commitment to provide the latest in technology, for both high-end audio and video, to our expanding customer base."

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Announcing the completion of an exclusive UK distribution agreement, AC Lighting used its presence at the PLASA exhibition to display the product range of leading German manufacturer, MA Lighting Technology. MA Lighting Technology has established an enviable reputation for its lighting consoles which combine digital technology with a control philosophy that delivers ease-of-use and maximum flexibility. This approach has led to the creation of consoles that offer sophisticated control for large lighting systems utilising hundreds or even thousands of channels - vital in large productions using high numbers of moving lights.

The grandMA console held pride of place on the AC Lighting stand at PLASA and the show was the venue for the launch of Version 3.0 software. The grandMA is the largest console in the range and is completely at home in the world of complex large-scale theatre and tou

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Phoebus Manufacturing of San Francisco has just completed the restoration and upgrade of the ‘Lindbergh Beacon’ for the newly-restored Los Angles City Hall, coordinating with the landmark building’s grand rededication on Sunday, September 23, 2001. On the strength of a similar installation in the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, Project Restore and the City of Los Angeles chose Phoebus Manufacturing to renovate and refit this famous artefact of the twenties. The Charles Lindbergh Beacon was an aircraft guidance light which sat atop City Hall from 1928 until World War II. The beacon was first illuminated by President Calvin Coolidge who activated the light by pressing a telegraph key from his desk in the White House. The beacon’s light revolved six times a minute and was visible for 60 miles, providing guidance for pilots approaching Los Angeles airport in th

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Tracoman Inc, a Stanton Group subsidiary and a professional lighting industry market leader in North and South America, and Coemar Spa, a world-leading manufacturer of automated lighting fixtures based in Castel Goffredo, Italy, has announced an agreement in principle whereby Tracoman will acquire a controlling interest in Coemar.

Gerald Cohen, CEO of Stanton Group, said: "We recognized the unique and special talents within Coemar early on and have worked diligently since the beginning to get this deal done. Coemar and Tracoman have seen tremendous growth in the past 24 months. The unity of talents and synergy of the combined businesses will help to fuel further growth in the coming years. The extraordinary talents of Coemar’s founder will greatly benefit the combined group in the future."

The agreement will allow the current management of Coemar to run their operatio

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Edinburgh-based Northern Light has been appointed sole agent for the UK for the ELC Lighting product range. Well known since PLASA 1998 for its focusHAND and focusBRAIN HF remote control for DMX equipment, ELC lighting is now producing a full range of DMX accessories including the showSTORE DMX real time recorder/player, the small AC 612 wall mount 12-channel DMX controller, as well as DMX mergers and splitters. John Allen, managing director of Northern Light, comments that ELC is a perfect complement to their product range and to the company’s activities as a major contractor, stockist and distributor of professional equipment for the stage.

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PLASA 2001, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association’s annual entertainment technology showcase, held at Earls Court from 9-12 September, received an overwhelming thumbs up from exhibitors and visitors alike.

Understandably, the horrific events in New York and Washington cast a shadow over the Show, not least because of the large number of American exhibitors and visitors who always support the event. The shock of the news was felt widely across the show floor, but it quickly turned to a resolve to keep the Show open and a determination that business should go ahead as usual.

Attendance figures were boosted 4.5% on last year’s event as 13,373 visitors (subject to ABC audit) attended the spectacular four-day show to witness the unveiling of the industry’s latest innovations. Of these visitors, an amazing 25% were international. Results of an exit survey showed

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The first beneficiary of Light Relief was presented with a copy of CAST Lighting’s WYSICAD by Mark White, ETC’s regional manager for the UK and Ireland, on September 11 on the ETC stand at PLASA 2001. Julian Williams has been in the lighting business in various capacities for over 25 years, but for the past two years treatment for bowel cancer has prevented him from working. Part of his plan to get back into action is to learn how to produce stage lighting plans with AutoCad files and to then offer this as a service.

Tony Gottelier and Rick Fisher, co-founders of Light Relief, arranged for Julian to receive a copy of WYSICAD, the 2D and 3D visualization software program, with the co-operation of ETC and CAST Lighting. Then, when Glyn O’Donoghue, marketing director at AC Lighting, heard about the presentation, he immediately offered Julian a day’s training on the

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‘Ken's Bright Idea’ was the headline in the Evening Standard when Fourth Phase London projected Tory leader hopeful Ken Clarke's telephone number onto the outside of the Conservative Central Office in London's Smith Square. Following problems getting phone numbers to the voters, Ken Clarke's campaign party opted to project his phone number where as many members of the Conservative party as possible would see it. A press gathering was organized at the last minute and the operation was undertaken in true military style.

Fourth Phase London took the phone number to DHA Lighting where the file was modified in Adobe Illustrator, formatted to be run out on a film setter, run out, cut to size and mounted in slide frames. Then on August 22, a generator truck with James Hall and Tim Probert of Fourth Phase on board to operate a 6kW PANI projector, parked outside the Central Office.

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The STLD is running a seminar on the impact of the use of moving lights in television. The decision to run the seminar comes in light of new ITC guidelines, which are likely to be adopted by the BBC, which cover the effects of flashing and moving lights on people with epilepsy and assesses whether programmes are suitable for broadcast.

The seminar, which runs on Monday 24 September at AC Lighting’s new offices in High Wycombe, will feature Professor Graham Harding, an expert in the field of Photosensitive Epilepsy and designer of a flash/pattern analyser that provides an analysis of the effects of television lighting on the viewer. STLD Members are encouraged to take along examples of their work which may have failed under other systems and see if they pass under the new device. The seminar will also discuss the use of monitoring equipment that will affect the way programmes can

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The range of software facilities at Vari-Lite Europe has been expanded to provide more powerful options for both visualization and off-line programming. In addition to WYSIWYG, AutoCAD and Vector Works, Vari-Lite Europe has added support for Visionary 3D, the off-line pre-programming software for the Virtuoso and Virtuoso DX control console family and the award-winning software package 3ds max 4.

The Visionary 3D, an off-line programming software package, emulates the main features of the Virtuoso console family (currently only available for the Apple Mac G3/G4) making it possible for lighting designers and operators to create and edit Virtuoso showfiles without the need for a console or a lighting system. 3Ds max4, a modeling, rendering and animation package, complements the core software packages by allowing the LD to realistically visualize a show. It’s the first time that 3D

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Since the end of 2000, DHA Lighting has been marketing its products direct through stockists in Europe, Scandinavia and Asia. Now with an international network of nearly 30 stockists, illustrating the company's growing international reputation and continuing its impressive rate of worldwide expansion, DHA Lighting's most recently appointed dealers are Audio Light Asia (Singapore) and Bon Studio (Greece). AC Lighting has also been appointed as a DHA stockist.

With a history dating back from the early 1970s, AC is one of the largest distributors of lighting equipment. Based in High Wycombe and Leeds, AC has long been a DHA dealer but will now stock a variety of products. As one of Singapore's leading lighting suppliers, Audio Light Asia has long been aware of DHA's products and services and will now stock a range of DHA gobos, moving effects and the Gecko. One of the largest distributors

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Utopium Lighting was part of a new production team working at the growing Ross International Festival supplying the lighting for 35 artistically diverse shows during August. The festival has grown year on year since it began in 1995 and this year, a giant 30m x 50m clearspan Roder structure was the festival’s main venue. With a capacity of 14,070, over 50,000 people attended the event nestled against the picturesque banks of the River Wye.

Utopium’s managing director Colin Bodenham worked with lighting designer Simon Tutchener, who designed the show and ran the desk for two of the shows - Vanessa Mae and Lulu - with Utopium’s crew adapting the rig to suit the other performances. Heading that crew were Stuart Farrell who ran the desk and Angus Chinn, who managed the power distribution and technical support. The team had their work cut out thanks to the run-rate of fou

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The LDI Show will go ahead as planned from November 2-4 in Orlando. In response to a number of enquiries following the events in New York and Washington, the organizers are keen to reassure people, through a statement posted on their website, that the exhibition will go ahead as usual. "We at LDI would like to express our deepest sympathy to all who are affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Our thoughts are with you. We cannot let terrorists bring world business to a halt and we at LDI and Primedia Business Exhibitions feel it is very important that all businesses show their resilience. At this time, we do not foresee major disruptions for a smooth and successful show floor opening on Friday, November 2, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. LDInstitute is still scheduled to open on Monday, October 29."

If any exhibitors or visitors have a

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Avolites has expanded its sales force with the addition of Chris Clarke. Chris graduated from Rose Bruford College with a degree in Lighting Design and has worked on a host of theatrical productions of all types, including as an associate and programmer with top West End lighting designer Chris Ellis. His work with Ellis has included taking the D’oyly Carte Opera production of HMS Pinafore to The Schubert Theatre in Newhaven, New York state. Chris used Avolites kit while at college and his background and hands-on experience is seen as a valuable asset to the Avo team. Avolites’ sales director Steve Warren commented: "It’s great to have Chris on the team. His understanding of the demanding world of theatre production, superb programming and communication skills will strengthen our presence in this exacting area."
  1. New Laser Effects from American DJ
  2. Lightfactor team re-joined by Peter Coles
  3. Scott Callis to Coe-tech
  4. Vari-Lite’s Major Sale Via EML
  5. ProSound Range from Maplin
  6. AETTI-Loughborough Theatre Courses held at PLASA
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