Lighting

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USA - High End Systems ColorCommand fixtures went to college and got a good report card for its performance. Texas Christian University's Theatre Department in Fort Worth, TX, recently used eight of the dichroic color-changing par/washlights, along with a Hog(R) 500 lighting console, to light their stage production of On the Town.

Michael Skinner, assistant professor of lighting design at TCU, directed the students in their use of lighting and particularly the ColorCommands. One of Skinner's favorite features is the beam shaping ability, allowing the fixture to move from a tight focus to a wide wash. "This replaces having to have a supply of various lamps to fit your PAR 64, with ColorCommand it is simply an adjustment of the beam angle via your console. You retain the brightness and get the amount of coverage you need without having to settle for too much or too lit

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China - Martin Professional's new production facility in China, Martin Manufacturing Zhuhai Ltd, received its official grand opening on 30 October amid some traditional Chinese entertainment. Dancing lions, fire crackers and a dramatic drum performance were among the treats lined up for the guests and key dignitaries that were present at the opening: the Danish Ambassador to China, the Mayor of Zhuhai Municipality, Consul General of the Danish Royal Consulate in Guangzhou all joined Martin Professional President and CEO, Kristian Kolding, along with a number of other VIPs and Martin Professional staff.

The celebration began on 29 October with an official dinner banquet held at the Harbor View Hotel in Zhuhai. The official opening took place the next day with a VIP reception and tour of the new factory. General manager of the Zhuhai plant, Henrik Larsen, welcomed the guests follo

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UK - Stagetec (UK) Ltd managing director Andy Stone has informed PLASA Media that the company has gone into voluntary liquidation. He said: "We have been working since the beginning of this year with business advisors to develop and grow the business and at the end of September prospects were good, with the company looking profitable and a good order book. The company had grown considerably over the past few years and had a good reputation in the industry, but during the past few months the company was hit by a number of bad debts, delayed orders and delayed payments, so on 2 December, the directors consulted BDO Stoy Hayward business recovery and came to the conclusion that the business of Stagetec (UK) Ltd should go into voluntary liquidation."

Stone added that Stagetec Distribution Ltd, the UK distributor for Compulite and LSC is not affected by the liquidation of S

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UK - James Thomas Engineering has supplied 40 of its new PixelPAR 90 (A) architectural luminaires to Westminster City Council, to illuminate the trees in Leicester Square for the Festive season. Ian Kirby of Lighting Effects Distribution and Steve Owen designed the scheme. The Square is lit every year for the Christmas period, but they wanted to do something dramatically different for 2003/04. Utilizing an energy efficient light source was also very much the conceptual essence of this year's project!

Three PixelPAR 90 (A) units are rigged in the branches of each of the Square's trees. JTE devised a low maintenance control system, featuring a custom-built box located in the last-minute-ticket booth, complete with in-built colour chases. The box is programmed to switch on at a predetermined time and step through a repeating sequence of colour changes until switch off time. The Pix

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USA - This year's recipient of Martin Professional Intelligent Lighting Technology Grant is the University of Connecticut's Department of Dramatic Arts, a division of the University's School of Fine Arts. The Grant was presented at a special ceremony at the recent LDI exhibition. On hand to accept the award on behalf of the University was James Franklin, head of the Design Program and professor of Lighting Design in the Department of Dramatic Arts. He was accompanied by a host of other University students and alumni.

The Grant is valued at $50,000 and consists of a variety of Martin fixtures and control products. Martin also provides technical training and support for the winning college or university, as well as quarterly seminar's on emerging technologies and application discussions.

Professor Franklin commented: "The Department of Dramatic Arts is a top quality program

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UK - As we announced last week, Roger Duncan sadly died on Monday 1 December after battling against cancer. He was undergoing further treatment when he died suddenly in hospital. Roger was known throughout the industry, having worked tirelessly for the STLD as sponsor liaison, and most members would have dealt with him directly at some time.

Roger's funeral will be at 11a.m. on Monday, 15 December 2003 at The Chiltern Crematorium, Whielden Lane, Amersham, HP7 0ND (the road is part of the A404 from Amersham - High Wycombe). Anyone wishing to attend should notify STLD chairman, Bernie Davis, at the e-mail address provided below.

Roger's wife has requested family flowers only, but if anyone would like to make a donation it should be sent to the funeral director, who will divide the sum between Cancer Research UK and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People; or if you want the donation to go

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UK - In 1976, the director of music at Port Regis School in Dorset wrote to the headmaster making the case for a proper music facility at the school: 27 years later in 2003, his dream has been realized with the opening of the New Farrington Music School. The building, located in a picturesque lakeside setting, is an unusual and attractive octagonal shape, lit internally with a variety of lights manufactured by leading New Zealand-based manufacturer, Selecon.

The challenge for local company Stagecraft, who carried out the installation, was to light the interior of the building to maximum effect. Martin Palmer, Stagecraft's project manager, called in MTX Engineering to construct a variety of curved lighting bars to form an elliptical grid, complete with two semi-circular bars of different radii. Onto this, Palmer mounted six Selecon Axial Profiles, two Pacific 18/36s, four 1k Comp

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USA - Martin Professional gave LightJockey users a chance to show their stuff in the recent LightJockey design contest. Winners of the competition were recently announced at a special ceremony at the LDI show in Orlando. Martin's panel of six judges was almost unanimous in their decision on the most creative designs. The Grand Prize winner was James Barclay, owner of Main Show Lighting in Dallas, Texas. James wins $5000 of Martin gear and a trip to Denmark to tour the new Martin factory.

Second place went to Sean Reilly of Effects Lights & Sound of Lake Worth, Florida. Sean also won a trip to Denmark to tour the Martin factory. Honorable mention went to Jose Luis Arana Aguilar of Luminica of Guadalajara, Mexico. Both James and Sean were on hand at LDI to accept their prizes.

Using the Windows based Martin LightJockey controller software, entrants were asked to design a creativ

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USA - Elation Professional has obtained exclusive US distribution rights for the EasyColor, a new lighting fixture that combines a Light Emitting Diode (LED) light source with a moving head. Developed and manufactured by France-based Ayrton, this LED moving head unit offers lighting users - colour intensity, full-coverage and multi-dimensional head movement.

The EasyColor uses 18 high-power LEDs - six red, six green and six blue, offering more than 16.7 million rich saturated colours, along with all the usual benefits of LED lighting. The LED light source will show up vividly on videotape and film, making the EasyColor well-suited for use with TV and movie cameras. Because LEDs emit no UV radiation and have very low IR emission, they can be positioned very close to the objects they illuminate, with no risk of damaging them.

John Lopez, national sales manager for Elation Profes

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UK - Lighting designer Dom Smith recently specified an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite for the UK leg of The Cooper Temple Clause's 'Kick Out The Fire and Let The Flames Break Loose' tour. TCTC's acclaimed second album was released in September, and the band with their interesting blend of electronics and rock 'n' roll are causing a stir both as live performers and recording artists. Bandit UK supplied lighting equipment to this, their first 'real' production tour, although TCTC has been touring on-and-off for most of the year. The basics of Smith's design aesthetics have been evolving from their first shows back in April when they used a combination of house rigs and toured specials.

For the last seven years Smith has been an Avolites user, having developed his craft using Avo' Sapphires and Pearls. He wanted to use the D4 since he first saw the prototype models at PLASA 2002. This ye

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UK - The Safety Focus Group, set up by the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), has won a grant of €160,000 from the European Union to produce a vital safety guide. The guide is intended for use by live music promoters and workers throughout Europe and beyond, and will reflect best practice in a number of European countries. As one of the conditions of this grant, the Safety Focus Group must now raise a further €40,000 funding from the live music industry to secure the project.

The ILMC says that the safety guide will provide a tool for concert and festival organizers to assess and manage risks, and will be useful to everyone from the new event organizer to the most established promoters. Scheduled to be ready by late autumn of 2004, it will primarily be accessible via a specially designed website, although a limited number of hard copies will be produced. With its Euro

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USA - Bandit Lites has, for the sixth year in a row, committed to help Dolly Parton's Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library with its annual Benefit Concert.The Dollywood Foundation was started in 1988 by Dolly Parton to develop and administer educational programs for children in her native Sevier County, Tennessee. The Imagination Library is a program that ensures all area children receive a book per month from the time they are born until they turn five. Although the program was originally started for Sevier County, it now operates in 260 communities in 35 states. The program also funds educational scholarships.

Bandit Lites is providing a number of Martin fixtures for the benefit concert, which is the primary fundraiser for the foundation. Lighting designer Chris Barbee says the show is a labour of love: "It's always nice to do something to give back to the childre

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UK - i-Vision has designed, manufactured, supplied and installed a major LED lighting installation for the £1.2m revamped Kings Walk Shopping Centre in Gloucester. The LED fixtures illuminate a series of fabric 'sculptures' - manufactured by tensile structure specialists Architen Landrell.

i-Vision's Geoff Jones worked closely with account and project managers Christopher Rowell and Ceri Brown from Architen Landrell. No off-the-shelf product existed that exactly met the brief; LED lighting was the obvious route because of the size, energy efficiency and low maintenance benefits. Rowell commented: "I've worked with I-Vision before, so I knew they were the ideal creative and technical partners for us, we needed a company that could think laterally and imaginatively deal with the entire lighting project, from start to finish".

The entrance features a 5m by 6m barrelled

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UK - Martin Professional's Mania DC1 is the first effect in the company's series of Mania DJ lights. Ideal for shows, clubs or simply your own personal party, it projects decorative fluid lighting effects. The unit has three selectable colours plus white, as well as split colour options; a variable focus also allows you to frost and blur the projected image while a variable speed of effect gives the option of ranging moods - from a silent trickle to a surging waterfall. Unlike most lighting fixtures on the market the DC1 has no duty cycle, which means there are no cool-down periods.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK/Europe - Lighting designer Steve Finch is the first person to tour a PixelDrive control system, which is controlling 14 James Thomas Pixelline 1044 battens on Level 42's current UK and European tour. Finch is using two pods of Pixellines with seven units per pod - dubbed the 'PixelPods' - as the main effects light features of his design. These are hung prominently on the back truss and angled backwards.

All lighting equipment is being supplied by High Wycombe based Siyan, who bought a large quantity of Pixelline this autumn from Lightfactor Sales, and already own eight RADlite digital media servers. PixelDrive is collaboration between James Thomas Engineering's Pixel department and RADlIte developers IRAD. Finch immediately liked the Pixellines after his first demo in the late summer, which happened simultaneous to PixelDrive coming on-stream. As soon as he had the chance to

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California-based distributor ACT Lighting hosted MA Lighting, Zero 88 and Artistic Licence: first up, MA showed the latest addition to the grandMA family - the entry-level grandMA micro. This tiny version carries nearly all the power of the regular grandMA, with 1,024 DMX channels, 10 fader playbacks, 20 button playbacks and support for the Pocket PC remote; it's also compatible with DMX over Ethernet and the grandMA 3D visualization software. Other products included the Network Signal Processor (NSP) which allows you to up your DMX channels to 64 universes, should you so require.

Zero 88 showed its Illusion 500 console, which combines the functionality of the successful Frog range with the power of a theatrical tracking console. The 512-channel desk can control up to 24 moving lights and offers 108 sub-masters, allowing freedom for 'on the fly' changes. Zero also showed the Frog Scre

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Lycian showed its new Midget II followspots, available in two versions - a 350W arc and a 575W halogen. These, as the name indicates, are compact, lightweight followspots aimed particularly at clubs, schools, small theatres and places of worship, as well as for TV and film use. The Midget II models include a new dichroic glass reflector, a six-colour boomerang, a new cam-operated brake, fader, Nichrome iris, gobo slot and, importantly, a fast, tool-free lamp change.

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Avo' showed the new D4 Desktop system, providing all the functionality of the D4 consoles by connecting a DMX output from to the PC Simulator and Off Line Editor program, together with the optional Pilot, a plug-in hardware surface. The system is designed for use on applications where physical space is at a premium, where the show is mostly automated or as a backup to a console.

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Obviously doing something right, Apollo Design collected yet another ESTA Dealer Award at LDI this year - for the fifth consecutive time. On show was their SmartMove DMX gobo rotator: this can hold one or two B-size glass or metal gobos thanks to a reversible retaining ring, and is compatible with all the leading profile fixtures - Altman Shakespeare, ETC Source Four, Selecon Pacific and Strand SL. It's a quiet unit, with belt-driven operation, and offers an infinitely variable speed range from 0-21 RPM in either direction. The usefulness of the SmartMove has also increased significantly as Apollo has introduced 150 new standard gobo designs to its catalogue, which now offers in excess of 1,000.

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USA - Chauvet's Orbiter RG is a three-channel, DMX-512 barrel laser with red and green 4.9mW laser diodes and laser sky effects. The barrel swivels 180° and rotates continuously clockwise and counterclockwise. The unit is capable of projecting a choice of four green effects, four red effects or six red and green effects. It features a surface-coated mirror to enhance luminosity and has sound-activated programs built-in, which are accessed automatically when the DMX signal is lost. The unit is linkable via Master/Slave, is programmable via any universal DMX-512 controller and cooled by an internal fan. It features a micro-step motor for smoother operation and a digital LCD display. Orbiter RG is an FDA-registered Class 3R laser.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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Compulite's Vector lighting control system, which we featured in our coverage of the Australian 'Logies' in July 2003, is doing very well. Currently with 10 Vector units installed worldwide, including two at Channel 9 in Melbourne and another at the Palais du Sport in Paris. With up to 40 due to be in place by the end of the first quarter of 2004, Compulite's managing director Yehuda Shukrun was pleased with the system's progress.

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UK - Creative Technology has marked its relocation to a new 54,000sq.ft facility in Crawley by announcing a 'single brand' service operation, in which the staging services of MCL London, currently operating from within CT's premises, will now be amalgamated and operate under the CT London brand. At the same time, the company has committed to a heavy investment in new inventory and technology.

Managing director Mark Elliott said of the strategic decision to operate as a single entity: "Being able to centralize all our resources into a single building has enabled us to further develop full service capability to provide a wide range of resources. This includes video, lighting, audio, and staging equipment, together with our ever-increasing range of indoor and outdoor LED screens."

A substantial upgrade to CT's hire fleet will see heavy investment, with the company inten

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Vari-Lite's new toy was the Series 3000Q luminaire, an expansion of the powerful 1200W Series 3000 fixtures, but designed with low-noise operation in mind. With its 'Q' for 'quiet', the new fixture claims an audible noise output reduction of 50% from the original Series 3000 series, say VL. This reduction has been achieved by slowing the fixture's seven fans and redesigning some key elements to better handle the increased heat load. A high-performance UV/IR window filters unwanted non-visible wavelengths from the lamp that would otherwise be passed through the optical path; other changes include the use of higher temperature materials and more efficient airflow paths. The Series 3000Q features all operational features currently in the Series 3000 fixtures - the trade-off is strictly thermal, say VL.

Vari-Lite will provide a "Q-kit" which includes everything you need to conver

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UK - Pop shows don't always go hand in hand with musical integrity, but the recent XTina Aguilera tour combined real musical talent with some imaginative, Xellently Xecuted production skills, under the production management of Rob Kern. (She did a Prince on us and changed her name to XTina - maybe setting up the Xmas single - sorry, no more X puns.) We caught up with Kern (and the show) at Wembley Arena on 5 November.

Kern took on the role of production manager for the 'Stripped' tour in March when rehearsals began, leading into production rehearsals in June. Taking on the World 'XTina' style began in earnest with 46 shows in the US before her first Arena tour across Europe and the UK, taking in 29 shows, then three nights in Tokyo, before finishing with seven dates in Australia.

In addition to Aguilera there are five musicians, three backing singers and eight dancers on stag

  1. Enliten / White Light
  2. CKI accessories from City Theatrical
  3. Syncrolite
  4. Pacific followspot from Selecon
  5. Strand shows SLD
  6. Marquee ILC with Horizon
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