Lighting

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Luminaires purchased from Vari-Lite Inc by John Conti Lighting Inc will be used by NBC on a new, syndicated version of the quiz show, ‘Weakest Link’. Lighting designer John Conti purchased the Vari*Lite automated lighting equipment, consisting of 22 VL2202 spot luminaires, 14 VL2416 wash luminaires and a Virtuoso DX console for the syndicated version of the show.

"Basically, I loved the gear so much after seeing it, that I went out and bought it," Conti said. "We’re using the same, purchased set of luminaires and console on the syndicated version of the show as we're using for the primetime version. The 3D programming you can do with the Virtuoso DX console is great, and it's a real time-saver."

It's clear that lighting and other effects greatly enhance the intense moments on the most popular game shows," said Rusty Brutsché, chairman and

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Following the events of 11 September, PRG companies have contributed their support to US relief efforts by filling several requests to provide equipment and crew to charitable and commemorative productions. On Friday, 21 September, the nationally televised 'America: A Tribute to Heroes' became the most widely distributed television production and the most successful charity fund-raiser in history. Fourth Phase's New York and Los Angeles facilities provided scenic projection equipment, film and crew for the projection imagery designed by Jean Doherty under production designer Roy Bennett's direction, while Fourth Phase New Jersey supplied both intelligent and conventional lighting systems to the East Coast portion of the production. Yankee Stadium hosted several thousand people on Sunday, 23 September for a commemorative service. PRG supported this event by providing a variety of services

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Mark Henderson is an LD of long standing and someone with considerable experience of the business of being a lighting designer. L&SI caught up with him recently at The Peacock Theatre in London, where he was in the midst of lighting Victoria Wood’s new live show. We took the opportunity to invite him to unravel a few of the mysteries of lighting design.

"I think 75% of what a lighting designer does is solving problems. So much of the design thought process is about creating the best picture within the limitations you’re working to - and there are always limitations! If you remember the basics of lighting design you can usually get a good end result - it may not always be the end result you were hoping for, but it can be a pleasant surprise.

"Don’t ever forget the basics: cover the performance area in a simple way and hopefully leave yourself something to p

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Distribution company Coemar De Sisti Australia has announced the availability of the CAT (Colour Advanced Technology) from Space Cannon. This is a professional exterior and interior wash/spot luminaire that represents the state-of-art in specialized outdoor floodlighting. Small, light, efficient and environmentally friendly (without IR and UV rays output), CAT is designed to meet the specific needs of the architectural lighting professionals, combining impressive light output with unlimited colour mixing, variable photo metrics, all in a fully weatherized IP66 static unit. The CAT provides a cost-effective, full-featured alternative to other architectural fixtures available. The full colour mixing system, able to supply more than one million colours, is an innovative world-wide patented tubular quartz dichroic system which provides smooth and saturated cross fades throughout the entire c

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PLASA Media has learned that Philip Norfolk has joined Martin Professional UK, in the role of stage and studio products manager, with effect from 1 October. Norfolk is a well-known industry figure, having worked for many years with Lighting Technology. It is understood that he will be taking over the role previously held by Mark Ravenhill, who is relocating to the Martin Professional HQ in Denmark. More details of the recent moves at Martin will follow.

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The summer is about Festivals and this year was no exception: in late August, L&SI mingled with the crowds at the Reading Festival, part of the Carling Festival Weekend, which also plays in Leeds and Glasgow.

Sound for Reading (and Leeds too) was supplied by SSE. Chris Beale explained that the company had adopted a slightly different approach for the main stages this year, using BSS systems to split the Nexo systems into six separate zones and thereby optimize performance and controllability.

SSE used SIA SmartPro computer-based analysis software to give them precise system control. This ensured both systems behaved in exactly the same way in terms of SPL, EQ, dynamic performance and other general characteristics, allowing bands to have as near the same sound as possible at both sites - notwithstanding the natural variants of wind and atmosphere. True to form, the elements remained

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MAVCO has been awarded the contract to design, supply and install a range of audio, video, lighting and effect systems in over 20 venues on board a third Crystal Cruises ship. Commissioned by ALSTOM Marine Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St Nazaire, France, MAVCO will be involved with the complete turnkey contract for local entertainment systems.Scheduled for delivery in late June 2003, the as-yet-unnamed 68,000-ton vessel will see an increased number of Crystal Cruises' most successful features, including more entertainment lounges, expanding on the best of Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony. The scope of the project ahead for MAVCO incorporates detailed system design, supply, installation and commissioning, shared between the company's offices in Miami and the UK.

The Galaxy Show Lounge is the main entertainment venue for the line's distinctive award-winning production shows,

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In order to enhance the coordination of marketing worldwide, ETC announces that, with immediate effect, leadership for marketing in Europe will be provided by Tera Johnson, vice-president of marketing, ETC Inc. The position of marketing director within ETC Europe will no longer exist, but direct marketing support for Europe's dealer and distributor network will continue to be located in Europe. In addition, ETC will continue to be represented by Harmer PR in Europe. The result of the restructuring means that marketing director Peter Ed will be leaving ETC. For the past four years, Peter has been directing the marketing and business development efforts of ETC Europe, while his leadership in the Themed Entertainment Association helped develop a new market for entertainment lighting equipment worldwide. "We are grateful to Peter for his contribution to growing ETC's business in Europe

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Vari-Lite veterans Sarah Clausen and Jim Waits will be leading technical training sessions on the Virtuoso DX console as well as on systems and design at the LDI trade show in Orlando, in the days prior to the opening of the LDI 2001 exhibition. The sessions, part of LDInstitute and the ESTA Training Programs, give entertainment design professionals the opportunity to get in-depth technical training.

Clausen, a 10-year industry veteran who has been with Vari-Lite for more than four years, will lead the session titled ‘Meet the Virtuoso DX’ on 29-31 October from 9am to 5pm each day. In this hands-on session, attendees can learn the basics of automated light programming using the state-of-the-art Vari*Lite Virtuoso DX console. The sessions introduce attendees to the programming style of the Virtuoso DX console and automated lighting design concepts.Attendees also learn the ba

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Universal Events was called in by Mark Borkowski PR to provide full technical infrastructure for the world launch of the revolutionary smart car (right hand drive versions) from Daimler Chrysler UK. The event took place in the car park at Wembley Stadium, and revealed the vehicle for the first time to UK smart dealers and users, plus the national and motoring press.

Universal supplied everything - from the lighting, sound, video and staging - to the dome-shaped marquee and seating rostra. The company’s brief was to provide a clean, slick, streamlined environment in which to launch one of the most ecologically sound vehicles available. Universal’s Steve Butcher designed the show’s production elements. A flat, empty centre stage at the start of the show was soon filled with the demo smart car, revealed by elevator, clouds of smoke and flashing lights, early on in the p

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Award-winning lighting designer Anne Militello is to stage her first art gallery exhibition early in 2002, at the Gershwin Hotel, New York. Modern Culture at the Gershwin Hotel will present 'Anne Militello: Radiate (Not Fade Away)', and exhibition of site-specific lighting installations - described as "an exploration of the mind’s relationship with luminosity" - from 4 January to 2 February 2002.

Recognized for her innovative lighting projects, Militello has recently been honoured by the Illumination Engineering Society of North America and the International Association of Lighting Designers for her artistic achievements in the exterior lighting design of the New 42nd Street Studios in Times Square, New York. Her other notable architectural projects include the Avalon Hotel, Beverley Hills; the Arts Council of New Orleans building, New Orleans; Tokyo Bazaar, Tokyo; and

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In association with German dealer Lightpower and its customers and clients, ETC has seen its products installed in three German venues this summer - Friedrichstadt Palast, Theatre Annaberg and Forum Norderstedt. Germany's principal revue theatre, Friedrichstadt Palast in Berlin has the widest stage in Europe and seats an audience of 2000. The venue's stage lighting, comprising over 600 dimmers and 100 colour changers, is being controlled by an Obsession II DPS system with two consoles and various ETCNet2 nodes. The Theatre Annaberg in eastern Germany was completely refurbished this year. Its exisiting analogue dimming system in separate racks around the building was replaced by central Sensor dimmer racks controlled by an Expression 3 console, monitoring feedback as given by the Sensor Advanced Features dimmer modules. Finally, Forum Norderstedt, a modern convention centre in northern Ge

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Further to our recent news story on personnel changes at Martin Professional, the following details have now been announced by the company. Martin UK's stage lighting account manager Mark Ravenhill will be moving to the Martin head office in Aarhus, Denmark to take over as Martin's international product manager for touring, theater and television. Mark will be taking over from long-time touring product manager Gerald Heise, who will be assuming a new position within the Martin organization as international education manager. Both positions will take effect January 1, 2002.

Ravenhill commented: "I am thoroughly looking forward to taking up the position of international product manager at the group head office in Denmark. Exciting times are ahead both for Martin and for the industry in general and I am keen to take all of the amazing results that Gerald has achieved on to the next l

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Stage Electrics' Virtual Lighting Studio in London supplied Will Charles, lighting director for the BBC's Weakest Link programme, with a WYSIWYG 2000 lighting design and visualization software package including two Cast WYG’IT DMX Interface units. Charles also produced A0 colour plots and used the studio’s printing facility with the HP750C colour printer. He then recommended Stage Electrics to the show's set designer, Patrick Doherty, for converting the hand-drawn set construction drawings into a CAD format, and approached David Stewart, the studio manager, about the project. "Patrick needed a global CAD solution and decided AutoCAD was the best software solution." comments David Stewart.

Stage Electrics' Giles Philips from the Bristol CAD department modelled the set using AutoCAD’s solid modelling tools and also produced A1 size prints detailing plan, side

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Enlightenment, the UK's specialist dealer for ADB - Siemens stage lighting equipment, has recently supplied an ADB Phoenix 10 lighting control desk as part of Shrewsbury Music Hall’s refurbishment of its lighting systems. The Phoenix 10 is at the centre of a comprehensive DMX network designed by Enlightenment. The network is principally powered by two Artistic Licence Rack Splits which also incorporates an Artistic Licence Snap 1024 as a secondary remote control desk. Other equipment installed and commissioned by Enlightenment includes 96 ways of ADB Eurorack 60 all-digital dimmers with lighting bars and outlet boxes. This is the first sale of an ADB Phoenix 10 by Enlightenment which now adds to their growing portfolio of Phoenix 5 customers that include both the Drum and Midland Arts Centres in Birmingham and the Coliseum Theatre in Oldham.

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Following a front-page story in the NME and prior to an appearance on Top of the Pops tonight, Mercury Records chose London venue ‘the garage’ to showcase breaking US artiste Andrew W. K on 23 October. Andrew and his record company brought in US lighting designer Warren Flynn to devise, programme and operate the lighting for the showcase performance. Flynn specified an MA Lighting grandMA console for the show. The console was supplied by Neg Earth Lights along with a rig comprising High End Systems Studio Spot 250s and 4-lamp Molefay units which were used to supplement the venue’s extensive array of Par cans. During rehearsals, Flynn explained his choice of console by stating: "I just love the way that with this board, everything is totally user definable." He continued: "The three high-contrast colour touch-screens, coupled with the console's powerful op

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PLASA Media is looking for feedback from readers of Lighting&Sound International magazine and PLASA Online News, to find out the products that are making the biggest impact among entertainment technology practitioners - and we want your input.

'Tried & Tested' will take a simple approach: we're not asking for your views on hundreds of different product categories, we're just after your gut reactions to a series of broad-based questions on the equipment you're using, in the fields of lighting, sound, staging and effects.

The aim of this is simply to sniff out what's impressed you, what's made a difference to your working life. There are no awards and no ceremonies - we're just going to stir the pot and see what, if anything, floats to the top. The products you vote for can be new or old, high-tech or low-tech - all are valid.

The products which have the highest profile from among th

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OPTI has just released its 2001 Christmas brochure, aimed at giving retailers, bar operators and exhibition organizers access to a range of display options for the Christmas period. The OPTI Kinetics range of 6" rotating effects wheels has been strengthened with the new Christmas-themed versions featuring stained glass windows and Father Christmas scenes, to add to the snowflakes, stars, snowmen, bells and Nativity scenes which make up the range. All of these effects wheels can be used in conjunction with any of the OPTI Kinetics range of high quality effects projectors. Clear, concise and helpful advice on lighting effects, projection and installation is available free from OPTI staff, plus information on how individual requirements can be tailored to provide customized effects for any environment.

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Los Angles-based scenic design and painting company UV/FX recently completed a 28ft x 50ft backdrop for Clint Black's tour. The art was painted in UV/FX signature Day to Night style which allows for an ambient lit scene to go to sunrise or sunset by adding colored light and then with the introduction of UV lighting to make a dramatic change to the night look.Working with Nashville/Los Angeles-based lighting designer Drew Boca, UV/FX designed and painted the drop to go with Clint's vision of the country road on which he travels. UV/FX president Richard Green said: "We worked very directly with Clint on this one and with him being such a gentleman and so interested in what we do it couldn't help being a huge success for the tour and a big personal design success for both UV/FX and Mr Black. We're looking forward to working with their team again very soon."

UV/FX also supplied e

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Robert Mokry, a 13-year veteran of High End Systems, has returned to the company to take on new roles associated with the company's restructuring and renewed growth. Mokry will wear several hats: as High End Systems University director, as a liaison with customer relations, as instigator of special projects and as a general vibe master, say High End. John Wiseman, VP of worldwide sales, comments: "It's a real pleasure to have Robert back at High End. We're excited that he's going to direct High End University as well as to help foster our customer relations. His depth of knowledge of the industry builds upon the foundation that he helped make solid when he was at High End up until the past few years."

High End chairman Lowell Fowler said: "Robert was always the most in-tune of our sales staff. We think he will bring harmony to the sales team and our customer base. And we

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Contrary to incorrect reports that have been circulated, Thales Angenieux has, in fact, appointed OpTex as its Authorised Distributor and Official Service Centre for its Broadcast and Film Lenses in the UK. Angenieux is now one of the fastest growing brands in the Broadcast Lens sector and this is set to strengthen with the introduction of the new Extreme Tele Zoom Digital 40x11AIF.HR complimenting its all-purpose 15x8.3AIF.HR and Wide Super Zoom 12x5.3 AIF.HR ENG/EFP lenses.

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One of the more eye-catching products launched at LDI was MA Lighting’s grandMA 3D visualization software - created for the design of three-dimensional stage layouts. The software allows a wizard guided design and set up of any custom stage or scenery layout with 2D drawing facilities and a library of basic graphical elements. Multiple windows can be opened and updated at the same time, and all the stage elements can be positioned in X, Y, Z directions and may also be rotated around the various axes. The set-up of lanterns, luminaires or moving lights can be simply retrieved from the grandMA console’s show file by electronic transfer. There is no need to set DMX lines, DMX addresses or operation modes as these are already pre-adjusted in the grandMA console. The software will be compatible with the whole family of MA Lighting consoles, and will be available for free download

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Electronic Theatre Controls chose LDI as the platform to launch a new lighting control product - Emphasis. The new product integrates two technologies that have never been together before - the hands-on lighting control of the company’s Express and Expression consoles and the new level of WYSIWYG’s Emmy award-winning visualization software. Emphasis can now handle the whole lighting process from start to finish: tasks don’t have to be repeated and a high level of integration means that the data only has to be entered once and the system will automatically update everything related to it. It also features WYSILink giving users a graphic representation of the system. The good news for current users of Expression and Express users is that they can upgrade to the new system.

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Vari-Lite kicked off its participation at LDI 2001 with the debut of a ground-breaking new luminaire - the Vari*Lite VL1000 ellipsoidal reflector spotlight. The special sneak preview event, in Junior Ballroom G at the Rosen Centre Hotel, featured an overview of the innovative VL1000 by Vari-Lite chairman and CEO Rusty Brutsché. "With the VL1000, we believe Vari-Lite has taken the largest single step towards one of the goals the company set for itself when it was founded 20 years ago - developing automated systems for all stage lighting.

In addition to getting the preliminary, close-up look at the VL1000, attendees at the special event had the opportunity to see history in person as Vari-Lite displayed the numerous revolutionary luminaires from its 20 years of innovation, including the first ever automated light from Vari-Lite - the Vari*Lite VL0 prototype. It was the VL0 that he

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