Lighting

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UK - With details of ETC's latest Source Four luminaire being kept firmly under wraps until the event itself, visitors to the show are being urged to go along to satisfy their curiosity. On the ETC stand, visitors will also be able to see the two latest additions to the SmartPack family of low budget dimmers, which are being unveiled at PLASA. SmartPack is now available as a wall mount unit that can be installed directly to ensure the lowest possible cost of ownership, ideal for regional theatre groups and small TV studios. This latest version can be installed directly without any other parts, ensuring lowest possible cost of ownership while optional kits are available to provide terminals, RCDs, breakers or other switch gear in an easily accessible chamber.

The new touring system SmartPack aims at a slightly higher market and boasts built-in mains distribution, all in one box.

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UK - Martin Professional is now Ministry of Sound's new technical partner in lighting. The newly installed Martin equipment in the Ministry of Sound in London follows successful installations in in Bangkok last year, making this a global partnership.

Ministry's grand reopening, which takes place on 21 August, will see the unveiling of the new lighting rig, which consists of the new Martin MAC 250 Krypton and MX-10. David Bradshaw, Ministry's head of production, is pleased with the move: "I'm delighted to be involved with Martin in this new, exciting partnership," he commented. The club will be showcasing some of Martin's newest gear, including the latest moving head luminaires, at the forthcoming PLASA Show in September.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Denmark - Built from the ground up for greater performance and featuring an all-new look, the new MAC 250 Entour is the latest version of Martin Professional's 250W automated profile spot. Like its newly released sibling, the MAC 250 Krypton, the Entour incorporates the technology and design features of the MAC 2000.

The MAC 250 Entour has been designed for environments where powerful effects are required from a compact profile moving head, including stage, studio and event applications and permanent installations. The Entour includes a number of advancements, including an improved optical system and new achromatic lens system for brighter output and unsurpassed quality imaging, while all-new gobo designs and an additional gobo wheel provide an abundance of new effects. Other improvements include enhanced movement, a specially designed dimming system and a modular design that us

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UK - Entec Lighting is supplying equipment to the 10 week series of Saturday Lakeside Concerts at picturesque Kenwood House in Hampstead, north London. The high profile event is now in its 53rd year, and this is the second year Entec has been onboard for IMG Arts & Entertainment. The company was invited to tender for the Kenwood gig after working with IMG on the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, arena tour of 2001. The cabaret-style series of concerts varies considerably in content, from the likes of Bjorn Again to the Frank Sinatra touring show and several orchestras, as well as high profile international jazz artists like Diana Krall, whose show completely sold out.

Entec's head of lighting Adam Stevenson explains that they are supplying a basic rig consisting of 16 400W exterior sodium floods illuminating the white-clad inside of the stage, for those acts wanting absolutely no

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UK - LiteStructures will be unveiling much more than most other exhibitors at PLASA 2003 - as it will lift the lid on its brand new image and new website. LiteStructures' makeover comes during a period of expansion, which sees the company growing both in size and reputation. Managing director Adrian Brooks explains: "It was definitely time for a change. LiteStructures is going from strength to strength and we wanted to overhaul our image to reflect that."

While the LiteStructures logo is certainly different, visitors to the stand can rest assured that the company's products are still as stylish and reliable as ever, as Brooks explains: "The quality and service you'll get from LiteStructures is the same as before. The change of image simply brings the LiteStructures 'look' in line with the 21st century." Visitors to stand M40 will also be able to see LiteStruc

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UK - DPL Production Lighting in collaboration with laser and video specialists CMT, produced a spectacular mixed-media end to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's summer outdoor season, illuminating the skies in and around Meyrick Park in Bournemouth.

This was the biggest ever concert staged by the BSO, and saw them perform Carl Orff's Carmina Burana conducted by Neville Creed and accompanied by The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Over 6,000 people enjoyed the event, complete with full lighting, laser and video projections and over 150 pyro cues skilfully interwoven into the piece. DPL and CMT, together with Classic Fireworks and Skan PA, were asked onboard by the BSO's Anthony Brown.

DPL's Darren Parker led the lighting team. The company architecturally lit the production Horizon and coloured the trees behind the stage using 12 Martin MAC 2000s, two 7kW Xenon Space Can

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USA - An amendment to the National Constitution Center's initial lighting plan replaced an expensive video projection system with a group of automated VL1000 ellipsoidal reflector spotlights from Vari*Lite. The rig is for Freedom Rising, a multi-media production that introduces visitors to the new Philadelphia museum. As the show begins, the audience is washed in a huge starfield created by custom-designed gobos in the VL1000 units.

When the lone actor takes centre stage in the in-the-round configuration, he is lit with a sharp beam of light from another VL1000 fixture. At that moment, a video begins on a 360° video screen that surrounds the audience. "It's a total immersion experience for the audience," explained production coordinator Kai Brothers. "By adding light, patterns and images directly onto the audience with the VL1000 fixtures, they become part

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Australia - The first of the new MAC 250 Krypton moving lights to arrive in Australia were delivered in late July to Melbourne-based hire and production company, Resolution X. Supplied directly from the first production run at Martin's factory in Denmark, these first 52 MAC 250 Kryptons formed part of a package of more than 160 moving lights provided by Resolution X to television station HSV7 for the game show, Deal or No Deal.

The Krypton 250, which owes more of its design heritage to the MAC 2000 line than the previous generation of MAC 250s, is proving much faster, brighter and more flexible than its predecessors, say Resolution X. The company's managing director, Tim Hall, told PLASA Media that he is so impressed with the performance of the new fixtures that he is considering buying more of them when they become available.

(Lee Baldock)

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Canada - In an effort to stave off the economic downturn suffered as a result of SARS, Toronto hosted the largest ticketed event in production history. Billed as 'Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto', the show featured The Rolling Stones, topping a 15-act bill at a former air force base in the north end of 'the best behaved big city in the world'.

With only four weeks to put together a show for 450,000 people there was no opportunity for a learning curve, so Stones production director Jake Berry enlisted Fourth Phase's Toronto office to provide stage and audience lighting for the Stones, AC/DC, Rush, Guess Who, The Isley Brothers and ten other acts. Fourth Phase Toronto crew chief Scott Gross and his team of eight thus delivered a system comprising 200 Martin MAC 2000s and High End Studio Beams, plus 700 generics, and a staggering 90 Molefay 8-lites, spread across the 240' wide st

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UK - MTFX's Firedance system has proved very popular this year, with shows up and down the country accompanying many Firework Fantasia¹s and Classical Concerts. It can be used both in daylight and night time productions with extreme versatility. The standard system consists of 12 large jets of fire 8m high. Each jet is synchronized to a smpte track or other show system for millisecond accuracy, or the whole effect can be played live.

For safety reasons, each jet is intelligent enough to shut itself off should the pilot light be lost, thereby disabling that pod until a suitable ignition has been established. The materials used for the effect are completely non hazardous in their primary state, causing no problems with transportation or on site storage. MTFX completed in total over a thousand 'burns' of various sizes, without incident and with the material igniting every time (th

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UK - Worldwide automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc (HES) has introduced the Catalyst DL1 - a digital video engine that bridges the worlds of automated lighting and video projection. The Catalyst DL1 incorporates rugged moving light technology with a digital video engine and includes both lighting and video communications protocols. HES is positioning the DL1 as the lighting industry's first commercially available digital moving light and will immediately begin promoting it to entertainment and information markets including theatre, television, film, concert touring, night clubs, churches and corporate events planners.

HES will publicly debut the Catalyst DL1 at the PLASA Show in London (7-10 September). Preview showings in August include the Nissan Auto Dealer product launch in Mexico City and the Aerosmith world concert tour.

Catalyst DL1 is the second genera

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Liechtenstein - Due to an acute risk of forest fire, a Lobo laser show was organized in record-breaking time to replace a cancelled large-scale fireworks display that had been booked to celebrate the national holiday in Liechtenstein.

The long period of drought and the increasing number of devastating fires in the heart of Europe took their toll, and the Liechtenstein government was forced to cancel the traditional fireworks just three days before the event. It was a hard decision for the tradition-conscious Principality in the heart of the Alps, as the national holiday and especially the magnificent large-scale fireworks are a symbol of national identity and an attraction for tourists from all over the world.

The solution to the problem was not far away: by noon that day the telephone was ringing at the facilities of the laser show market leader, Lobo. A few hours later, Lobo

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UK - Stagetec has just completed stage two of a highly flexible new dimmer installation at Fountain Television Studios in Wembley, the conclusion of a project started two years ago: the reason for the protracted lead-time was that the studio's schedule has been so hectic and August 2003 was the first opportunity the company had to complete the work.

The full installation consists of 32 Compulite CompuDIM 2000 modular dimmer cabinets plus an additional mobile, flightcased system used on the studio floor and elsewhere in the building. An impressive total of 726 x 20A (5kW) dimmers and 20 x 40A (10kW) dimmers has been supplied and installed, split between Fountain's two large studios. The combination of reliability, performance, ease of control and monitoring made the Compulite range the ideal solution for Fountain.

The 5kW dimmers are all fitted with Hard Power Bypass switches s

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UK - Stage Electrics is holding a sale of theatrical and disco lighting and ancillary equipment on Saturday 20 September 2003. The auction is being held at the company's headquarters in Third Way, Avonmouth, Bristol at 10.00am. Lots will include smoke machines, theatre lanterns, dimmers and desks, flightcases, cables, disco consoles and various effects.

Patrick Behan, who has organized the previous successful Stage Electrics auctions, told us: "This year it has been difficult to keep the lots to 1,000 as we have acquired a considerable amount of new and second-hand kit. There should be loads of bargains and the usual chance to meet up with a few mates from the industry."

Electronic versions of the catalogue are available from Monday 8 September and hard copies from 12 September. Auction catalogues can be requested by emailing auction@stage-electrics.co.uk or by phoni

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UK - Le Mark will celebrate its 20th anniversary with the launch of its new catalogue at PLASA 2003. After nine months in the design and production, the new catalogue will be launched on Sunday 7 September at the PLASA Show, Earls Court, and will include many new and innovative products.

This issue will reinforce Le Mark's reciprocal trading policy: the catalogue features exciting accessories from Apollo Design Technology Inc, City Theatrical Inc and GAM Products. For the first time, products from Le Mark's recently-announced production partner Tesa UK Ltd are introduced, including the new high heat-resisting Scroller-Tak splicing tape. "Le Mark offers an 'open house' on the day of the launch, with a Champagne toast at mid-day," says catalogue design co-ordinator Mark Gibbons. "It's been a tough time for many areas of the entertainment industry - we have worked ha

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UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association have announced that they are now members of the RIBA Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Network. This reflects the increasing importance that audio and lighting now plays within an architect's brief and underlines the growth within the architectural and design markets.

The first involvement will be at this year's PLASA Show (7-10th September at Earls Court, London), where the demands of this dynamic audience will be met with an extensive educational programme. This event is supported and endorsed by the RIBA CPD Providers Network. Included in the masterclass sessions will be a talk from English Heritage on the Conflict between Historic Accuracy and Modern Standards, whilst from Conran Design, David Chaloner will be talking about Retail Dynamic Applications. The industry seminars will cover topics including challenges a

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UK - Studio Due has chosen the PLASA Show to launch its most recent product development in the field of architectural lighting - the Hercules. The chassis of this fixture is manufactured in die-cast aluminium, guaranteeing safe use under the most extreme conditions.

Featuring a new reflector made of borosilicate glass, light-emitting efficiency has been significantly improved. The innovative shape of the reflector allows ultimate exploitation of light output (the lamp may vary, from model to model, between the new Philips MSA600 with 6000 hours life and excellent colour rendering, or the Osram HMP 575 and the Sylvania BA800W SE HR) thus making this new fixture an excellent alternative to projectors using 800W lamps.

The Hercules will be available on the market from October 2003 in two models - 600 and 800W. The 600W will come with magnetic ballast, dimmer, CMY colour-changing

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USA - CITC, the special effects equipment company that brought the Little Blizzard snow machine to market, is now offering it in five different styles, from a Basic version through to a Little Blizzard SP (soundproofed) with DMX on board, which is now, according to the company, extremely quiet.

The Little Blizzard SP can now run continuously and features CITC's 'reverse sound' technology. The Little Blizzards now blow snow to 20 feet without a fan, and up to 80 feet with CITC's Hurricane II fan. The Little Blizzards and Hurricane fans have been used successfully in films, concerts, cruise ships, amusement parks, and events worldwide.

CITC has also created a new foam machine called the Foam 'Super' Dome, which produces foam three times faster than the original Foam Dome. CITC is also debuting a new line of fluids, which are economically priced - Fog-It, Bubble-It, Basic Little

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UK - AudioLight will be returning to PLASA this year, on stand M70, to showcase 'The Matrix' moving head laser. The Matrix features a flash-memory based processor for storing large graphics, animations and messages, as well as a very bright, sharp laser output and advanced SLS software, offering many powerful but easy to use features.

The second product to be presented this year is a brand new fluorescent colour-changing lighting fixture, named 'Multihue'. The Multihue, combines the latest technology with versatility, a unique system to maximise light output and is controllable through any DMX based lighting desk. AudioLight have been appointed as official distributors of both products. AudioLight also provide a complete range of corporate services, including sound & lighting installations, complete event planning for both indoor and outdoor events, and professional laser & fire

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UK - When Hyde Park came alive for the annual Pride in the Park Festival on the 26 July, Fourth Phase London was on board to make sure the event was lit in spectacular style. Commissioned by events company Just Add Water, Fourth Phase provided a wide array of equipment and crew as well as enlisting the skills of lighting designer Daniel Bocking.

This was the first year the Mardi Gras had been held in Hyde Park and it followed the Pride Parade as usual, which has been a high point in the annual calendar for the UK's gay and lesbian community since 1972. Bocking faced a diverse set of challenges as he produced cutting-edge lighting designs for five very differently themed areas. Arriving on site two days before the show, he immediately saw where additional equipment would help improve his designs still further. Fourth Phase London demonstrated both the excellent diversity of its r

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Denmark - Martin's new MAC 550 features unprecedented illumination for a 400W fixture, astounding graphics and gobo animation system - the same as in the MAC 2000 Performance - all housed in the award-winning design of the MAC 2000. The combination of efficient lamp (Osram double-ended HTI 400/D3 - 750 hour lamp life) with new glass reflector technology produces a light output of 9,300 lumens, higher than most 575W fixtures.

In response to market requests for a zoom system in a mid-range fixture, Martin has included a fully motorized zoom in the MAC 550, capable of beam angles from 14-30°. Unlike step zoom systems that offer only two or three different beam angles, the MAC 550's zoom can achieve any beam angle within the range. Lenses inside the MAC 550 come with optical coatings to decrease light loss and improve projection characteristics. The lens system also comes with remo

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UK - Leading Australian lighting manufacturer, Jands, will be unveiling its new console, the Vista, at the PLASA show in London (7-10 September). Featuring a major new design that takes advantage of the latest user interfaces, the Vista is a whole new world of speed, ease of use and sheer intuitiveness in lighting desks.

Dispensing with touch screens, keypads and tedious number crunching, the Vista uses a pen and a huge colour screen to give you unprecedented creative power and control over every aspect of your show. For the first time, the Vista incorporates a timeline that lets you see what's happening in your design in relation to time: when lights come on, when they go off, when they change colour and so on. You can jump in at any point to edit, and all the variables such as colours, focus and gobos are there on the one screen.

The Vista also features a generic fixture m

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UK - On Monday July 28th, the theatre charity Theatrecares celebrated 10 years of staging fund-raising cabarets - with a star-studded evening of entertainment at The Venue in Leicester Square. Lighting designer for the event was David Holmes who is currently working with White Light on Mamma Mia! in Holland and therefore turned to White Light and The Moving Light Company for help. White Light supplied a lighting rig that included 25 ETC Source Four profile spots, two Strand SL zoom spots used with Rosco ImagePros, 10 Par 64s, a selection of fresnels, a followspot and six Pulsar ChromaBank LED battens. The Moving Light Company's contribution included two Martin MAC 600s and six Martin MAC 250s; control for the entire rig was from a Strand 520i console, as previously supplied to The Venue for the Boy George musical Taboo.

The cabaret itself featured performances fro

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Norway - The CLS DMX65R is a new 19" rack-mounting, digital DMX dimmer, based on noiseless IGBT technology. The unit is 1U high and offers many professional features including 6 channels of DMX512 in a programmable digital dimmer unit and 100-250V 50-60Hz automatic switching. Output is provided by six 5A channels by Neutrik's Powercon as standard. A choice of output connections is available, plus a USB input for PC connection, electronic auto-protection on each channel with auto reset, double fuses on each channel with overload, short circuit and temperature protection.

The CLS DMX65R is fully programmable and offers preheat, maximum and minimum value and dimming or switchpack select, on each channel. A PC program allows the user to program all the dimmer settings from a laptop, including up to 20 scenes that can be run from the dimmer rack, crossfade and pause times on ea

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  2. LSC Lighting at PLASA
  3. Show Technology announces launch of new website
  4. New Trio for ARB
  5. Wybron CXI MultiPARs on the road with R.E.M.
  6. Seelite AV department strengthened
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