Lighting

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You don’t get to see too many of these in your average shopping day. These illuminated mannequins are the latest thing in High Street retailery (we made that word up, but it’ll do) currently striking a pose at Selfridges in London. Rare Basic Ltd are the company behind these rather unique mannequins, which are crafted by former Madame Tussaud’s sculptors. Manufactured in a translucent wax effect finish, the material lends itself to a colour changing facility developed for Rare Basics by AVR Colourmaster.

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Martin Professional Inc presented its first annual Martin Intelligent Lighting Technology Grant to Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama at the recent LDI exhibition in Orlando. The grant will be awarded to an accredited college or university in the USA each year. Martin Professional Inc CEO Troels Volver comments: "Making available our cutting-edge technology to more students and future lighting professionals is our goal, and while we cannot give our products to everyone we would like, we are committed to this annual grant for the future and expect to generate increased exposure and knowledge of our products by its establishment."

The Grant is valued at $50,000 and consists of a variety of Martin fixtures and control products including the Martin ShowDesigner virtual software design system and Martin Lighting Director tracking system. The Grant does not stop wit

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The 2001 Volkswagen Stand claimed the entire ground floor of Hall 3 at the Frankfurt Motor Show and featured an innovative multimedia experience ‘The Big Box’ which was produced by HP:ICM of London. The exhibition environment was designed by German architects Cebra who worked closely with HP:ICM to create the perfect environment for the ‘Big Box’ theatre, a circular room containing a 170 degree video projection screen.

The 50 metre wide, seven metre high screen was used to show a specially commissioned film directed by Robert Butcher and Liam Lyons with a score by Jonathan Goldstein and produced by HP:ICM, in front of this screen was a huge water ‘lake’ which concealed submerged water and pyrotechnic effects which accompanied dynamic moments in the film; the roof supported a comprehensive lighting system and was covered by a 35 metre diameter fibre

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Kelsey Acoustics has launched Duracat, a tough Cat5 DMX and AES data cable for industrial applications which provides a durable and reliable data solution for patching, theatre, studio stage and public area usage. According to Kelsey's Michael Whiteside, the brief for this cable was to produce a tough, "stage-proof" Cat5e cable that terminates with standard RJ45 connectors and yet has a build that provides real protection for its structure as a data cable. "We have gone to great lengths to ensure that Duracat is constructed for maximum flexibility combined with the strength and durability that is fundamental to the accurate transmission of data," he commented.

Satisfied customers already include Marquee Audio who have used Duracat for a recent theatre installation, and rental company SSE who were delighted with every aspect of the cable's performance in a live envir

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Lightfactor Sales has completed 10 days of extensive training sessions and seminars - the first in a series - covering its most popular product ranges, underlining the company’s ongoing commitment to training and product support. Courses have been run for both beginners and advanced users on products including the LightProcessor Qcommander lighting console - and also the LightProcessor Paradime dimmer range. Demand also proved high for courses featuring assorted High End fixtures distributed in the UK by Lightfactor - including Technobeam, the 250 and 575 series of Studio Spots and Colors and the Cyberlight.

Lightfactor also ran courses for the LDR range of theatrical lanterns and SGM moving lights from Italy. On the sound front, courses on Zeck Audio products from Germany and Apogee Sound Inc products from the USA aroused considerable interest. Lightfactor's MD Paul de Ville tol

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Martin had plenty of reason to celebrate at the LDI exhibition in Orlando this past weekend, but one accomplishment appeared extra special. At a press meeting held at the Martin stand on Saturday, Martin President and CEO Kristian Kolding presented the 100,000th MAC automated light produced. The 100,000th unit, a MAC 2000 profile spot, rolled off the production line just prior to the LDI exhibition. It was ceremoniously painted gold and is now displayed in the Martin manufacturing plant’s reception area in Frederikshavn, Denmark.

At the LDI Awards Ceremony Martin won ‘Product of the Year Lighting/Entertainment, Most Promising Prototype’ honours for the TracMAC mini, an easy to operate followspot luminaire that drew a lot of attention from visitors. Mach speakers was awarded the ‘Product of the Year, Sound, Most Promising Prototype’ for the Mach ViroStation

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PSL provided full technical support as official audio-visual supplier to Salon International, the UK hairdressing industry event held this year at London’s dockland venue ExCeL. The event management team, led by Sophi Bruce and Chris White of new creative agency Bluw Creative Solutions, designed a 1700-seat theatre environment to stage the hair fashion shows. PSL was awarded the contract to manage the build and provide full technical support for the live hair fashion theatre and Salon seminar programmes.

A section of one of the halls was separated via drapes to create the main theatre. PSL provided the main staging and 900 feet of mini beam truss suspended from 38 half tonne electric motors to create the various lighting effects the show required. This involved using over 36 moving and 180 generic lights, including Studio Beam PCs, the latest in wash lights and Cyberlight Turbos

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November 15 will see Miss Saigon taking the north of England by storm as it hits the first venue of its new tour, The Palace Theatre, Manchester. Having premiered at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1989 with lighting design by David Hersey, the lighting rig has been re-worked by Hersey for life on tour. In keeping with the original production, the tour features banks of DHA's Digital Light Curtains but the show's opening image of a rising sun is now created by DHA's newest product - the Yoyo+.

Hersey and his assistant Jenny Kagan worked closely with production designer John Napier to create the setting for the story. Originally developed for the show's New York opening, the six and eight lamp DHA DLCs provide an intense sheet of light, controlled by a dedicated computer providing the facility to adjust the tilt, angle and colour of each individual 6' section on cue during the show. An

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Accessibility is high on the agenda for the Oxford-based Creation Theatre Company. Its aim is to encourage people who’d not normally set foot in a theatre, to participate in and enjoy their innovative work.

The company doesn’t dumb down Shakespeare in an attempt to make it popular or trivial, rather it reworks his canny psychological takes on human behaviour and intense storylines into a relevant and contemporary context. To add further appeal, the company also chooses to perform in non-conventional spaces.

Since 1996, Creation has performed its summer season in the grounds of Magdalen College School, Oxford. The stage area backs onto the natural fork between two arteries of the River Cherwell, and this constantly in-motion backdrop can include anything from screeching wildfowl to walkers, cyclists and inebriated students on evening punting trips! Creation’s first

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Forget the Oscars: what appears to have been the biggest event in the film industry this year took place in London on 4 November at the Odeon Leicester Square. Crowds of fans turned out in their best wizard and witch outfits to attend the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the cinema was transformed into a replica of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

West Design commissioned Visual Elements and Spirit Design to illuminate the exterior facade of the cinema and, in turn, Mike Townsend approached Fourth Phase to supply the lighting equipment. As the cinema's fascia decorations had been painted with UV paint, Fourth Phase provided 30 Mac 600s, together with eight each of Studio Due’s City Colors and City Beams, used alongside a substantial quantity of conventional lighting to create a striking backdrop for the film's premiere. The long-awaited fi

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The MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards is the fastest-rising star of the international music awards circuit. In just four years the event has grown from its niche origins, through last year’s production at Alexandra Palace, to the London Arena in 2001. The star-studded event included performances from R. Kelly, Mis-Teeq and Usher, plus Beverly Knight and the legendary Dionne Warwick, amongst others.

Production managing the event was Mick Kluczynski of MJK Productions. "It was definitely the best MOBO Awards ever - the show has finally grown up, and I really enjoy working with the team. This year we had a new director, Nicky Parsons, and new producer, Lisa Chapman, with a 3,500 live audience. In spite of the events in America, we managed to retain most of the artists - only Luther Vandross pulled out."

Sound contractor Britannia Row decided to take the unusual step of

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Bytecraft has announced that its long-serving international marketing manager John Drummond Montgomery, has left the company after more than nine years service, following his appointment as Australian Consul-General / Senior Trade Commissioner to Japan, based in Osaka. In an announcement to staff, general manager John Rowland said that Montgomery had been the most successful marketing manager Bytecraft had had. Mr Rowland stated that John had been responsible for opening up new markets for Bytecraft's stage automation business in Holland, Korea, China and Japan, as well as ameliorating the Bytecraft name internationally. In opening these markets, Montgomery had won the biggest stage automation contracts in Bytecraft's history, notably the Singapore Arts Center and most recently the China Grand National Theatre in Beijing.

John had played a key role in Bytecraft's development and positi

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Industry software provider Stardraw has announced the appointment of Link srl as Premier Partner in Italy. The agreement was struck at the IBTS 2001 show in Milan and took effect from October 8th. David Morrison, sales manager for Stardraw explains: "We were particularly happy to build a relationship with Link because their profile and positioning is ideal for the current range of Stardraw products. As a leading Italian supplier of cable, connectors and connection solutions they have all the right contacts in audio, AV and lighting. Everybody in systems integration needs the 'glue' that Link supplies, and everybody in systems integration needs Stardraw. It's a perfect fit."

Link's managing director Assunta Fratocchi adds: "Link has built its reputation by observing and driving the technological evolution of equipment used for system interconnection. We are now implementi

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A high quality successor to the Rosco 1600 fog machine - with radical improvements and lower cost, has been introduced by the company, offering solutions for theatre, clubs and rental applications. According to Rosco, every feature has been evaluated and state-of-the-art technology applied to give long-life reliability and high performance. The Rosco model 1700 delivers fog output equal to or more than that of the 1600, but in keeping with modern practice, draws low power - 1190W (230v) or 1130W (110v). The machine accepts either the 4L or 2.5L Rosco Fog Fluid bottle. The entire range of Rosco fluids is available in these sizes. This new machine has a remote control stored on board, with a 5m lead and fine control for on/off settings. It can be connected to a lighting control board through an optional DMX interface. An XLR socket port enables up to four machines to be operated with one

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For six weeks every year, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council turns the town's beautiful arboretum into a world of lakeside lights, laser and water projections within the floodlit gardens, and plays host to a rich programme of entertainment. Celebrating its 50th year this autumn, the Walsall Illuminations prides itself in being Britain's biggest inland illuminations. The event evolves annually and this year featured video projection for the first time.

Birmingham-based Laser Hire, who were again appointed main audio-visual contractors, this year hired in a Christie Digital Systems' X4 Roadster from a local partner trading partner, AT Communications, to present a spectacular water screen projection over the lake. Laser Hire first delivered laser and lighting back in 1989, but according to Mike Kinsella it has only been the last four or five years that the event has developed into its c

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Stardraw selected LDI 2001 as the launch platform for its latest lighting design and documentation software. Stardraw Lighting 2D is an all-new offering from the London-based software company and replaces the Stardraw 2DV3 package which has been available since 1998. The Windows application boasts a library of over 8,000 symbols of fixtures and truss, regular monthly updates of new symbols and program features, advanced reporting and an interface that is "so easy, even a salesman can use it."

David Snipp, Stardraw’s managing director and head of development, described some key elements: "This code has been under development and evolving for eight years so it’s very robust, reliable and above all, fast. With Stardraw Lighting 2D we've added a lot of advanced features and implemented a subscription-based philosophy, in line with Stardraw Audio and Stardraw AV.

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Our picture shows the new lighting scheme for the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. The project was launched in November 1995 when the Fruitmarket announced an international contest to design a new and permanent lightwork to highlight the position of the gallery in central Edinburgh. The winning design, which came from artist Peter Fink, features a ‘roof fin’ light triangle, light detailing on the east and west roof and a light pavement. As far as we know, the project is unique un Britain and uses Color Kinetic LED systems installed and programmed by Lighting Technology Projects.

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The Production Resource Group LLC (PRG), a leading provider of entertainment technology products and services, has announced a plan for its Atlanta facility to aggressively develop and promote itself locally as the leading provider of entertainment lighting in the region. Fourth Phase, the Group's entertainment lighting branch, is embracing the local market in Atlanta, one of its many strategic locations. LSD/Fourth Phase has called Atlanta home for approximately five years, and is moving forward with plans to direct its focus on regional business opportunities. The company will be expanding its sales efforts in order to build its local presence in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Simultaneously, LSD/Fourth Phase Atlanta will make a significant commitment to building and sustaining a standing inventory to service the region.

"As Atlanta's draw continues to grow, LSD/Fourth Phase wil

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Elektralite has launched the CP 16/24, a universal moving light controller and big brother to the renowned CP10xt - the workhorse of many club designs the world over. Whereas the CP10xt offers control of 16 x 8-channel fixtures, the new CP16 / 24 allows the user to control the very largest fixtures with its 16 x 24-channel capability (384 DMX channels). The CP16/24 is capable of programming a wide variety of different manufacturers' intelligent moving fixtures through the use of extensive libraries already patched and ready for use. There are even additional entries to cover fixtures not already specified in the library. It will also control dimmers, colour changers - in fact, virtually any device that utilises DMX protocol.

Retaining the ease of programming which made the CP-10xt such a world-wide success, it takes only seconds to learn how to enter a cue, create a chase, and construc

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Frank Gordon has returned to take up the position of CEO at High End Systems Inc. Gordon originally joined High End Systems in March 1998 and under his leadership as CEO, High End experienced two of its most profitable years ever. With the slowdown in the lighting industry and the worldwide economy as well, High End's management team felt it was time for Gordon to come back and "work his magic".

Lowell Fowler, founder and chairman of High End Systems, says: "Frank was our first CEO from outside our industry. He showed us a lot about the business of business as a seasoned professional with a very solid background. We showed him what we like to do and he helped us become more profitable doing it. In that process, he built great respect for (and from) our customers and the other players in our unique business. I think he truly learned to like what we do, too. High End is ha

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The Alien O5 is an elegant recessed colour changer from Martin Professional, which opens up new design possibilities in retail and themed environment illumination thanks to its stylish design and interchangeable colour possibilities. The compact and powerful Alien 05 is made of die-cast aluminium and offers eight interchangeable dichroic colour positions, plus open white. The Alien 05’s adjustable spherical head can be angled and swivelled in any position. It can be used as either a recessed ceiling fixture, or be positioned in a wall as an uplight, downlight or sidelight. The beam angle is 55-degrees and a special long life MR16 lamp (3000 hours) is included. The Alien 05 is also electrically dimmable using an appropriate transformer.

Colour and intensity can be controlled for various colour presets with colour sequences also controllable. With the Alien multi-driver unit, it is

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Peter Boizot MBE, the man who made his fortune from Pizza Express, has unveiled his opulent new leisure extravaganza - a £15 million restoration of Peterborough’s Odeon cinema, as part of a larger, fully-featured leisure complex.

Architect Tim Foster set about fulfilling Boizot’s dream of recapturing the splendour of traditional cinema in a state-of-the-art modern facility.

Strand luminaires, control and networking components form the lighting backbone in the 1,200-capacity art deco auditorium - specified by Northern Light, who won a competitive tender issued by Theatre Projects Consultants. Northern Light also undertook all the house electrical contracting, working with builder Marriot Construction, while for the specialist lighting they reported directly to Peter Boizot’s company, Mistvalley Ltd over the duration of the 10-month contract. The lighting designer on

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Well-known American lighting designer Warren Flynn knows what it's like to be behind a lighting desk when the power suddenly cuts out. This is exactly what happened when Mercury Record's new signing Andrew WK appeared at 'the garage' in north London on the evening of Tuesday 23 October 2001. As Andrew and his band took the stage, a band member accidentally kicked a trip on a distribution unit feeding power to the front of house position. Fortunately, Flynn had specified an MA Lighting grandMA console and as the power disappeared the console instantly switched over to its integral uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and a screen message alerted Warren to the situation, giving him the option to save the show data or continue working for up to 15 minutes. During this time a technician was dispatched to the stage and quickly realized where the problem lay and restored the power. Flynn comment

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Autograph Sound Recording, the Londonbased theatre sound design and equipment rental specialists, have recently built a substantial portfolio of work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including the forthcoming musical premier of Alice in Wonderland, which opens at the Barbican Theatre on 13 November.

Andrew Bruce, Autograph's founder and Chairman has co-designed Alice in Wonderland with Autograph's Matt McKenzie. This beautiful family production will transfer to Stratford just in time for Christmas. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, another RSC musical production, is being revived this winter at London's Sadlers Wells and is designed by Terry Jardine, Autograph's managing director.

While these two musical productions benefit from Autograph's design and equipment rental supply, four other RSC plays are currently on tour with an Autograph sound and communications system. T

  1. Eales to Head Next Phase at iLight
  2. John Broderick's first outing with grandMA
  3. Wybron in London’s West End
  4. Cauldron of Flame
  5. White Light's Training Initiative
  6. Surplus Equipment from AC Lighting
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