Lighting

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UK - Lightpower, one of Germany's leading lighting distributors, has announced that it has cancelled its participation in this year's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (5-8 March). The reason given for the withdrawal is the bad timing of the show. Lighpower's statement says: "We regret this decision, however . . . when a trade show is planned concurrent with a national holiday and preparations for the Cebit trade show overlap, then we, as well as other exhibitors, come across some serious coordination problems. This simply means that over 40% of our clientele shall not show up because they will be tied up at the same time with their own service activities during the Cebit show projects and Carneval activities. More than 1000 event technicians will be working at the Cebit."

At a press conference at ProLight+Sound last year, Lightpower - a long-standing ProLight+Sou

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UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) were approached by the BBC Homefront programme (broadcast on 22 January 2003 on BBC2) to specify lighting equipment and provide solutions for the designs of the show's interior design expert - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

A schematic design was created from basic concept sketches, and LTP operatives attended site during filming to install and program the lighting fixtures used to create the stunning visual effects Using products from Color Kinetics, Terry Reeves, Project Manager for the scheme specified a series of 'C75' fixtures for highlighting the walls and down lighting the 'DJ' area. A row of 'I-Cove' fittings were fixed behind a bulkhead above the seating area to provide a linear, even wash of colour changing light. The culmination of the scheme was to illuminate a commissioned piece of art, located behind the seating area, a 'C200' fitt

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Northern Division has recently completed a project installation for The University of Leeds Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences Department (ULISES). The department of sport and exercise sciences approached the company to develop a solution to rig and manually adjust the position of high speed motion tracking cameras in their Sports Biomechanics Laboratory.

The Infra Red cameras are used to assess the movement and performance of athletes under controlled laboratory conditions in both research and teaching. Activities routinely investigated include: rock climbing (the laboratory features an adjustable indoor climbing wall); running, and various throwing and kicking exercises, with a heavy duty net designed to catch missiles.

A moving camera grid, constructed from a series of 48mm aluminium tubes was assembled, featuring adjustable and fixed drop arms,

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UK - ARRI celebrated the inauguration of its new 75,000sq.ft Highbridge facility recently, with a glittering party for 400 guests. Leading location lighting directors and DOPs - as well as directors from ARRI's parent company in Munich - arrived at the four acre site, situated alongside the Grand Union Canal at Uxbridge, where they were treated to a champagne reception and a festival of entertainment which went on well into the night.

Event manager Damian Clarkson had spent six months putting together a crack production team, which included lighting specialists Invisible Blue and caterers Taylor Made. The former were able to integrate moving lights, gobo projections and skytrackers with ARRI's generic tungsten and high-brightness HMI film and location luminaires. Invisible Blue project manager Richard Smart commented: "Amalgamating the two disciplines proved an interesting

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UK - Leading sound, lighting and AV designer and installer Metropolis AV and FX has completed the design, supply and install of an entire lighting, sound and AV system at the new Sports Café in Manchester.

The £1.2 million project sees the conversion of a utilitarian 1960's office block in Quay Street, central Manchester, into an 1600-capacity sports-themed environment on two levels. Facilities include bar/dining areas with a large dancefloor, a mezzanine chill-out/games area with 16 pool tables, a Team Room used for private functions and, behind a laminated glass wall but clearly visible from the street, a basketball practice area - for those wanting a bit of physical exertion mixed with their energy drinks.

The Sports Café's technical infrastructure was designed by Metropolis's Simon Harris, working directly for Sports Café. The client specifically

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UK - White Light has been appointed a UK dealer for Selecon, the New Zealand-based manufacturer of stage and architectural lighting equipment. The full range of Selecon's stage lighting products - including Pacific, Acclaim and Compact - are now available from White Light Sales. Enliten, the White Light Group's architectural lighting specialist, becomes a UK distributor for Selecon's Ardiis range of architectural lighting products.

White Light has been involved with Selecon's equipment for some years, supplying it when requested by lighting designers. Most notably, White Light supplied the first Pacific 80V system in the UK to David Hersey for a projected window effect in My Fair Lady, currently playing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

The addition of Selecon to White Light Sales' stock means that White Light can now offer customers lanterns from all of the major lighti

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UK - Popstars - The Rivals, the hit ITV1 show presented by Davina McCall and the latest musical success story following Pop Idol, appeared on the UK's TV screens for 10 weeks at the end of 2002. The show provided an exciting challenge for television lighting specialist RML, working with lighting designer Mike Sutcliffe, or 'Sooty', as he is otherwise known in the industry.

Sutcliffe's choice of lighting was largely determined by the set that was designed by Marcus Blee. His original thoughts were to use rope lighting in the actual set to provide lines of light, however Sutcliffe realized this to be a great opportunity to use a large number of Pulsar ChromaBanks - 65 in total. To complement the ChromaBanks, 36 ChromaPanels (which were also rope lights in the original plans) were built into the ceiling and catwalk area of the stage. Sutcliffe says these were "perfect for usin

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UK - Last February, A.C. Lighting Projects Divison were awarded the contract to design, supply, and install state-of-the-art production facilities into a major new educational venue. The ultra-modern facilities include a 300-seat theatre, main hall, lecture theatre, sound studio, media centre and dance studio, fitted out with industry standard products.

The entire installation involved more than 200 product lines from industry leading manufacturers, including ETC, Strand, Aldo Ianiro, Manfrotto, Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, Soundcraft, Allen & Heath, Denon and Martin. The company provided not only the complete lighting, audio and AV systems but also bespoke solutions, by the design and installation of three multimedia control lecterns, tailored for each facility's specific requirements.

Each lectern has an integrated LCD touch-screen, offering the user access to a comprehensive

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UK - The Blue Room is a brand new web discussion forum, set up by two keen, dedicated industry professionals, where advice may be sought and offered by anybody working in, entering or just plain interested in any aspect of life behind the scenes in the Entertainments Industry. All are welcome to visit and browse, and register as members should they wish to take part in discussions and debates about industry issues.

Forums have been created for all major industry disciplines, as well as for students, health & safety and useful outside sources of information, all alongside a place to just chat with other like-minded people. There is also a private messaging facility, where members may communicate with each other personally. Up-to-date security measures, together with sensitive, responsive moderation of the forums, help to maintain a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in which people

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USA - In late January, Brad Schiller departed High End Systems to pursue a freelance career as a lighting designer and programmer. With 15 years' experience in the lighting industry, and having spent six-and-a-half years with High End Systems, Schiller felt it was time to pursue further career objectives. He says: "I have enjoyed my years with High End and look forward to continued relationships with the company. However, I now plan to concentrate solely on my lighting design and programming goals."

Schiller's lighting design credits include of a wide variety of productions and installations including AT&T, The Smashing Pumpkins, and the Capitol of Puerto Rico. In addition, his programming skills have been utilized by many designers worldwide including for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the 1996 Academy Awards and numerous concerts, telev

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Europe - Rainer Weggen has been appointed European sales manager for DHA's products and services.Weggen has been DHA's International regional sales manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Eastern Bloc countries for more than two years, and now takes over the rest of Europe from Nigel Sadler, who will concentrate on Scene Change, DHA's new digital content company.

"Since joining, Rainer has been phenomenally successful in expanding our presence in Germany and the other countries he covered," says DHA's joint managing director, Diane Grant. "We are delighted that he will now be working across all of the European countries, representing our full range of products from gobos and moving effects to Digital Light Curtains."

"I'm looking forward to meeting all of Nigel's customers, and to introducing DHA's great products to many more people throughou

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Denmark - Martin Architectural recently held a two-day seminar in northern Denmark for representatives from some of its most active architectural markets - a mix of subsidiaries, affiliates and distributors from the Middle East, Germany, France, Italy, Scandinavia, the US, and other areas.

Scandinavian lighting company Louis Poulsen also sent a representative after the announcement last week of a cooperative agreement in which the company will sell Martin's architectural line of products in the Scandinavian market. All told, the Martin Architectural team, headed by International sales director Gorm Teichert, hosted some 30 guests. Held on 23-24 January in the distinctive natural environment of northern Denmark, the informal seminar had as its backdrop the unique quality of light in Skagen that has been the inspiration of artists for centuries.

The main purpose of the seminar w

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UK - Lighting director Darryl Noad uses over 200 Martin luminaires on the UK reality TV show Fame Academy, in which 12 students entered a training academy for 10 weeks to learn how to sing and dance. Noad comments: "The brief the producers gave me was for the show to look more like an 'event' that we were filming and less like a TV show," Darryl stated. Working with producer Lisa Chapman and director Tony Gregory, both of whom he has worked with before on several projects, Noad chose a variety of Martin gear to produce the desired look, including MAC 2000 Performances, MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 600 NTEs, Exterior 200s and RoboColor Pro 400s. AFM Lighting of London supplied all lighting fixtures.

"The studio set was designed by Peter Bingemann, who is a joy to work with," says Noad. "He built walkways and staircases backstage and raised the whole stage 2.5 m

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Canada - Further to the announcement late last year, the acquisition of Toronto-based Spectrum Manufacturing Inc by A.C. Lighting has now been successfully completed. David George, president, and Jean-François Canuel, vice-president R&D, will continue to oversee the operation at Spectrum.

The purchase prompted immediate expansion into new prestigious 18,000 square feet facilities, where Spectrum will be better positioned to develop and introduce new and innovative entertainment technology products to market.

Over the past few years, Spectrum has diversified its OEM product range which currently comprises: a wide range of colour changers, gobo rotators, moving mirror devices, power supplies and distribution equipment, DMX splitters and switches, cable assemblies and gel-strings. Many new products for the professional lighting industry are in the final stages of development, an

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UK - Bernie Davis, one of Britain's premier television lighting directors, will present this year's Trotter Patterson Lecture in London on 18 February. Davis' prolific output has included the lighting of The Royal Variety Show, The Last Night of the Proms, the 2002 Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace and religious broadcasts including Songs of Praise, the Royal Wedding at Windsor and the traditional Festival of Carols at Kings' College Cambridge. His outside broadcast expertise has stemmed from his early background in vision mixing and the contrast balance of his lighting is apparent in every production. He has a keen interest in theatre and the enhancement techniques needed when television enters a live performance designed hitherto for a live audience.

This prestigious lecture promises to be a highlight of the lighting calender and not to be missed by anyone with an interest

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Belgium - Christian Léonard and Jean-François D'Haussy, respectively general manager and financial administration manager of ADB-TTV France, strongly backed by a group of private and institutional investors, have reached an agreement with Siemens for the acquisition of all the assets of ADB-TTV technologies SA, Belgium, including the two subsidiaries in France and Germany. Leonard and D'Haussy become CEO and CFO respectively of the new group.

As part of the deal, the parties have agreed on transferring the production of all dimmers to the ultra-modern Siemens facility in Huizingen, near Brussels. The transfer has already started and should be completed during February. Manufacture of control systems and TV studio suspensions will be relocated to the ADB-TTV factory in St Quentin, France, where all theatre and TV luminaires are produced. This facility is currently being e

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South Africa - The recent Miss South Africa contest, held at the Sun City Superbowl on 8 December, provided a unique opportunity for Gearhouse South Africa to utilize a first-ever five split cube wall set-up. In total, a massive 80 cubes were used, split into five 4 x 4 cube walls. "This offered the show's director the unique ability to either display five separate images or one large landscape image," explains John McDermott. "Images to the cube walls were cut out of the outside broadcast van, by director Gavin Wratten who did an excellent job of utilizing the five split cube walls to their maximum."

Gearhouse SA was contracted by Sun International in association with M-Net and Blue Moon Productions, with Deana Hislop of Blue Moon Productions taking the role of production manager and providing the key liaison point for Gearhouse SA. The cube walls formed an

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UK - Following the success of its 'frogsupport.com' website and to mark the introduction of the new Illusion 500 desk, Zero 88 has launched a dedicated Illusion forum. In a similar manner to the Frog website, the new Illusion site will enable Illusion customers and distributors to keep up to date with software releases, request new features and keep in touch with other users. Visitors will also be able to report bugs and contribute to the development of new software.

"The Frog Support website has proved to be an immensely powerful tool in terms of the development of the Frog range software and we are hoping the new Illusion forum will be equally beneficial," says Tim Burt, Zero 88's brand manager." At the end of last year we relaunched the Illusion, upping its specification to 500 channels and adding in the hardware for moving light control. We are now in the proc

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UK - Adam Hall Ltd, the UK manufacturer of flightcase and cabinet hardware components, cables and stands has announced its appointment as the new UK distributor for US manufacturer SKB's range of high quality moulded cases for instruments and 19" racks. This news has already been welcomed by many current UK dealers of SKB products, say Adam Hall. Sales manager Rob Fricker commented: "This is an excellent new line for Adam Hall. Our aim is to improve the service and delivery to all SKB dealers, making the product range more accessible to the end user."

Other distribution lines for Adam Hall include Amphenol Audio Connectors, Palmer Audiotools and Racklight.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - PLASA Media has learned that Simon Brophy, the former head of lighting at the Millennium Dome, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC), the body that ran the Dome. Two other persons, David Gordon, 41, a company director, and Brophy's wife Margaret Bragg, 29, have also been charged with conspiracy to defraud the NMEC. The three, who have been released on bail, will appear before Bow Street Magistrates Court on 7 February.

Brophy, Gordon and Bragg were arrested by the Fraud Squad in October 2000, following scrutiny into the awarding of contracts at the Millennium Dome. A woman in her 60s was also arrested at this time, at a residential address in West Yorkshire, followed by two further arrests in February 2001, of a man and a woman, both in their 30s. These three remain on police bail pending further enquiries.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Ame Strong has been appointed product manager for colour filter products at Rosco Laboratories. She will be responsible for developing new filter products, as well as managing the existing product lines in this range. Those product lines include Roscolux and Supergel, both industry-wide standards in plastic colour filters. In addition, Strong will manage Rosco's Permacolor range of dichroic glass.

Strong comes to Rosco after a long stint as operations manager at Special FX Lighting. She is well-known throughout the lighting design community for her ability to match the needs of the designers with specialized colour filter products. In making the appointment Stan Miller, Rosco's president, said: "Ame is an excellent addition to the Rosco staff for two reasons. The first is her long experience and deep understanding of colour filter products. The second is her attitude

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World - In support of his newest CD, "A New Day at Midnight," David Gray continues to tour with High End Systems equipment adding Colors - Studio Colors, that is - to his tunes. Lighting contractors are Upstaging for the North American dates and Neg Earth for UK/Europe. LD Cormac Jackson has specified 26 Studio Color 575s - along with other automated lighting - and a Wholehog II console, saying that those two products are his favorites among gear.

Says LD Cormac Jackson: "Studio Colors are the only wash light I'll use. Studio Beams excluded! They work for David Gray and - more importantly - they work all the time. The fact that I can get Studio Colors in nearly all parts of the world is a real bonus. Lighting companies have them in stock and I don't have to re-specify shows. The light out of Studio Color is what I really want. It's not too harsh but it's bright, w

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UK - James Thomas's new Pixel range of LED fixtures were specified and used by Granada TV lighting director Neil Yates on three special celebrity editions of the ITV's popular LE series Stars In their Eyes.

Yates utilized 16 Pixelline battens and eight PixelPAR 660 Par 64 equivalent fixtures, plus a large moving light rig for the shows. The Pixellines were used vertically all around the spectacular set - designed by Richard Plumb - to add a punchy architectural strip effect on camera. The PixelPAR 660s were also utilized visibly on the set, where they functioned as dancer footlights. Yates, who's lit this show for its various series over the last 5 years, decided to try the fixtures following a demo by James Thomas's Chris Ewington. Now "We wouldn't be without them" he enthuses.

Working with his team of Vari*Lite operator Mike 'Oz' Owen and console operator Ke

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UK - Andy Buck has returned to the iLight team after 18 months with Dimtek. Following the launch of iLight Ltd in 2001, Buck remained with the Dynalite brand, but has just returned to the iLight Group as UK sales manager.

His role will augment the UK sales force for iLight and enable him to build upon his already impressive list of clients. Buck has been personally involved in the lighting control aspects of many prestigious projects including Canary Wharf DLR station, The London Coliseum, Sheraton Casablanca, Millennium Dome, Hyatt Regency Mainz and the Hermitage Museum St Petersburg.

His extensive experience in both architectural and entertainment lighting will not only enable him to grow iLight's business but also develop the increasing opportunities for projects requiring both architectural and entertainment lighting control. Buck comments: "It's a pleasure to return

  1. Pulsar recruits Jon Petts
  2. Martin offers barndoor option for MAC 2000 Wash
  3. DHA and David Hersey in the spotlight for Olivier Awards
  4. New Stagetec staff
  5. ESTA: New Standard-drafting project for Theatrical Fog
  6. New Ego 03 is simply kaleidoscopic
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