Lighting

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UK / China - James Thomas Engineering UK opened its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong this week. The new HQ will cover Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, China and Japan and is headed by Philip J Walker. Walker has been based in the region for 10 years, supplying cutting-edge technology for the leisure, entertainment architectural and consumer industries.

JTE's Tony Cameron said: "It's great to have someone of Philip's experience and knowledge onboard. The Asian market has enormous potential for us, and we're confident it'll be a great success."Walker was initially attracted to the large application range of JTE's Pixel range, its energy and power conservation properties are ideal for a number of forthcoming architectural projects. He commented: "The Asian market is picking up, and there's plenty of positive feelings that the next few years wil

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International - Gilbert Briggs produced his first loudspeaker in the Yorkshire valley of the River Wharfe over 70 years ago: now the Wharfedale brand is part of a multinational corporation with a wholly-owned, 500,000sq.ft manufacturing facility in China. In fact, in many ways, the International Audio Group (IAG) could claim to provide a prototype business model for all consumer and professional manufacturing across both lighting and sound - as the 21st century gets into its political and economic stride.

The group comprises Wharfedale, Quad, Topaz and Apogee Lighting, and at his HQ in Huntingdon, UK, MD Steve Woolley is afraid of neither politics nor economics. As Karl Marx would have appreciated, the IAG owns the means of production. The factory it has built - not leased - near Hong Kong features wood and metal shops, tooling and plastic injection plants, and a mineral-free co

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Australia - In 2004 Show Technology, Australia's leading distributor of lighting equipment, is celebrating its 10th anniversary by introducing new ideas and marketing initiatives aimed at developing closer working relationships with industry partners. Increased staffing, personalized service, product training and a new trade show strategy, are all key elements of the initiative.

Show Technology distributes brand names such as; Martin, Studio Due, MA Lighting, Kupo, Geni, ELC and Pulsar. Martin in particular has achieved an increased share of the market in Australia and is again expected to have a successful year in 2004. Last year Martin presented Show Technology the award for Stage, Studio and Event Distributor of the Year.

The company has had a 40% increase in company turnover since 2000 and a record year in 2003. It will place increased focus on customer service in 2004 by

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USA - This year's Super Bowl halftime show certainly surpassed its predecessors in terms of memorable images - and some of the best had nothing to do with a certain 'wardrobe malfunction'. Incorporated into the staging design by Mark Fisher Studios' production team, 76 Versa TILE units from Element Labs provided visual support for the lighting design by LD Allen Branton. "The Versa TILEs were phenomenal," says lighting director Christian Choi. "They worked out great. Allen and I were really impressed with their performance."

The Versa TILEs lit up eight sections of stage along the perimeter of the stage riser. Half of them were eight panels wide, at 40 pixels wide and five pixels high, and the other half consisted of 11 panels, at 55 pixels wide and five pixels high. Choi used Adobe After Effects software to create custom content, which he matched pixel by p

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UK - Top country band Brooks & Dunn have purchased a High End Systems Catalyst v3 Media Server to add high-tech visual effects to their Red Dirt Road tour, which kicked off in the US yesterday. The Catalyst v3 Media Server combines lighting with digital media and allows the content to be manipulated in endless ways. "I'm excited about using the Catalyst system," LD Larry Boster says. "I know it will be a major tool for me. It's a whole different avenue of creativity."

High End Systems' Mike Hanson worked with the duo at Ronnie Dunn's high-tech barn, where they played with Catalyst and digital images prior to production rehearsals. Joining in were video director Chris Keating (U2, Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue) and B&D veteran video engineer Mike Bischof, both of whom are on the tour.

Hanson demonstrated the new features of Catalyst v3 software, such as the abi

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Sweden - "Capture is developed by lighting designers for lighting designers," says Lasse Berg, one of the creators of the innovative Swedish lighting software.

If you haven't heard of Capture before, it may be because its two founders, Berg and Lars Wernlund, have largely kept their heads down for the past 11 years, putting their energies into developing Capture to its current level. In that time, the two lighting designers have based their product on three major philosophies, as Berg explains: "We want the program to behave as we as LDs would like to see it; it has to be highly competent and user friendly, and finally, the users are the best developers."

When Berg and Wernlund joined forces in 1993, they had two things in common - lighting design and computers. "We also belonged to the enlightened members of the world who used a computer called Amiga,

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Spain - We Will Rock You, the hit musical from Queen and Ben Elton, opened its third production at the Teatro Calderon in Madrid last November. Produced and directed by Luis Alvarez and lit by award-winning LD Willie Williams, with a rig supplied by Fourth Phase. Set design is by Mark Fisher and sound design by Bobby Aitken, formerly of Autograph but now freelance.

Williams, best known for his work in the music industry, most notably his close and ongoing collaboration with U2, revised his designs for the London and Melbourne productions after lighting We Will Rock You in Madrid. The rig uses a range of kit from manufacturers including ETC, Martin Professional, High End Systems and DHA Lighting.

Fourth Phase London supplied the lighting, along with full technical support and backup. Martin Chisnall - the production electrician from the London show - oversaw the Madrid installa

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Acclaimed lighting designer Rory Dempster passed away on 7 February. A pioneering lighting designer, Rory worked with Andy Phillips at the Royal Court in London during the 1960s and 1970s, establishing the Court's 'white light' principle - that nothing was more important on the stage than the actor's face. During this time, Rory worked with some of the best playwrights of the day, including Trevor Griffiths, Michael Frayn, Howard Brenton, Athol Fugard and David Hare. He could also change style when the show demanded, such as in his design for the Royal Court's original production of The Rocky Horror Show.

A lover of theatre, Rory subsequently became involved in projects beyond the Royal Court: he was a founding partner of lighting rental company White Light; he was part of the team that created the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith; he was deeply involved with Field Day in Northe

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Japan - On 30 November, Yokohama, Japan's China Town, saw the opening of an original China Town attraction, Yokohama Daisekai ('big world'). Lighting design and supply for Yokohama Daisekai was completed by Q Works Corporation through Martin's Japanese representative, Martin Japan.

Yokohama Daisekai is a multi-story themed museum representing 1920s and 30s Shanghai. It consists of several different 'worlds' and attracts more than 20,000 visitors every week. The themed concept incorporates dynamic visuals in the form of intelligent lighting and video projection to create atmospheres in the various areas of the museum. Upon entering visitors receive a ticket to 'The Past World' and jump into an elevator that whisks them to the top (8th) floor. Here, the tour starts in Old Shanghai and descends through the different worlds and floors below where 26 MAC 250 Kryptons and three MAC 5

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Canada - Lighting industry veteran Todd Hucul has returned to Canada to assume the position of operations manager at Q1 Production Technologies' Vancouver facility. Todd began his career in the lighting industry at Westsun, first at its International head office in Winnipeg in the mid-80s, transferring in 1997 to Washington to serve as operations manager in Seattle before going on to set up the Las Vegas office. In 2002 Todd took a position as shop manager for VLPS in Los Angles.

"Being part of the lighting industry is the only thing I've ever really wanted to do, and coming back to Canada and Q1 gives me the opportunity to work with an amazing team that includes many of the people I started out with," says Hucul.

Hucul's expertise focuses on major concert tours, large corporate events and live theatre productions: "When I heard that Marc Raymond [founder of We

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The Netherlands - - ELC Lighting will launch two new products and one significant upgrade at the forthcoming SIB (Rimini, Italy 13-16 March) and ProLight&Sound (Frankfurt, Germany 31 March - 3 April) exhibitions. dmXLAN Node 1 is an ethernet node allowing the conversion to ethernet (ArtNet protocol) of one DMX universe, input or output.

For fixed installations, such as theatres or conference centres, the cabinet will be mounted on the wall, with the display in front and the DMX connector beneath, avoiding connectors and cables getting in the way. The ethernet is connected internally through hardwire connection. In the truss-mount version, an Ethercon connector from Neutrik is placed beside the DMX socket. The cabinet is fitted with a built-in M10 nut on the bottom for a truss clamp and a hole is provided for the safety hook. In both cases, the 5-pin XLR connector can be set

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UK - Lightfactor Sales hosted a series of Product Awareness days last week, aiming to highlight the diversity of the company's product portfolio. The product range on show included quality brands such as SGM (moving lights and lighting consoles), LightProcessor (touring and installation dimmers and compact lighting desks), LDR (theatrical lanterns) and Apogee Sound (touring and installation speaker enclosures), plus other distributed lines such as LED lighting products from Xilver, James Thomas, Osram, Color Kinetics and Pulsar. One of the featured DJ products was the new XP10 MP3 player from EKS Finland, while the latest brand now offered by Lightfactor is the Swiss-made VXCO DMXCreator PC-based range of lighting controllers.

The product awareness days attracted people working in all areas of the professional lighting, sound, production, presentation, leisure and entertainment

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UK - Nestling off the West Coast of Scotland is tiny Easdale Island, home to a thriving community of around 50 people. Recently, the Easdale Island Trust, a charitable organization run by the Island's residents, completed a major refurbishment of their community hall which had been roofless for some time following a storm.

Following a report produced by Mick Andrew, production manager of Mull Theatre, and with the aid of a Community Fund Lottery Grant, work began on the refurbishment, with Edinburgh based lighting equipment specialists, Black Light Ltd, called in to advise on lighting for the hall.

Having seen the proposed re-construction, Black Light's Paul McGreal decided that a mixture of Selecon lights would be 'spot on' for the job. He explains: "We drove the van with the equipment as far as Seil Island, near Oban, from where we could see Easdale Island some 400m aw

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Austria - Timed to coincide with the 250th birthday of Salzburg's most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the present Kleines Festspielhaus is to be refurbished and modernized, transforming it into the 'House for Mozart'. The task of modernizing the lighting systems has been entrusted to Holzkirchen-based transtechnik Lichtsysteme.

The Kleines Festspielhaus was opened in 1925 but proved to be too small for the city of Mozart. In 1960, therefore, the much larger Großes Festspielhaus was opened. Its 100m wide stage (including side stages) and space for a 2,173-strong audience makes this one of the largest stages in the world.

Alongside traditional lighting control elements, Salzburg decided to upgrade the stage lighting itself, and the venue has become the first European theatre to order the automated Source Four Revolution luminaires from ETC. The regional head of general c

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USA - Color Kinetics Inc, the LED lighting effects innovator, has announced the completion of a preferred stock financing round totaling $13 million. The round was led by Needham Capital Partners, with participation by new investors, such as ThinkEquity Investment Partners, and existing investors, such as SAC Capital Advisors.

The company says it intends to use the net proceeds from the financing for continuing technology and product development efforts, an expansion of its sales force, growth in its diverse markets and channels, and the continued support of its intellectual property portfolio. "This additional funding will strengthen the company's balance sheet and support our efforts to continue improving our technology, market and intellectual property position in intelligent LED illumination," said George Mueller, chairman and CEO. "We're committed to growing

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UK / USA - Bandit Lites is supplying full lighting production to US cult heavy rock band Dream Theater's 'Train Of Thought' world tour. This has just completed the first of three 2004 European legs - all serviced from Bandit's European base in Bedford.

Lighting and video designer Benoit Richard used Bandit on Dream Theater's last tour in 2002, and was keen to continue his working relationship with the UK office. Tennessee Bandit Lites Inc will be looking after the tour in other territories. With 55 potential songs to choose from - 'Change of Season' currently being the longest at 23 minutes - and a different three-and-a-half hour set list each night, it was important for Richards and video design associate Robert Baldwin, to have a fluid, organic and flexible show at their fingertips.

Three LED video screens define the upstage area, Richards has designed the lighting rig to co

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UK - To coincide with Brilliant, the V&A's first contemporary lighting exhibition, Lighten Up will be an evening of debate and demonstrations exploring lighting design, to be held on Friday 27 Feb from 6.30 - 10.30pm. Featuring lighting in jewellery and clothing and a duvet that gradually gets brighter in the morning to wake you up, amongst other innovative designs, Lighten Up promises to be an evening of invention that shows the potential of contemporary lighting as one of the most diverse and experimental areas of design today.

Demonstrations will explore the possibilities of light technologies and materials with inventive designers Ulrike Oberlack (jewellery) and Rachel Wingfield (textiles). Experiment with fabrics and forms to create your own lights assisted by Big William (design students and graduates from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University).

Li

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UK - The A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow returns to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds on 11-12 May this year, following another hugely successful event in 2003. The show is an important exhibition in the industry calendar for buyers in the Midlands and the North of England, providing the regions with a definitive showcase of today's entertainment technology market under one roof.

Following last year's highly popular format and the increasing level of interest shown in the event, visitors to this year's show can expect an even bigger list of exhibitors attending from A.C. Lighting's stock-holding of leading lighting, audio and associated equipment manufacturers. As well as the chance to catch up on the latest product innovations from these brands, visitors will also have the opportunity to receive hands-on demonstrations and gain expert advice face-to-face.

A range of free pro

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UK - Lightfactor Sales recently announced a new distributorship deal with Swiss company VXCO, for their DMXCreator PC-based range of lighting controllers. DMXCreator has three user interfaces in the range - the DMXCreator512Basic (USB-port), the DMXCreator512MK2 (LPT-port) and the DMXCreator1024 (USB-port), all of which use the same software architecture, and are designed to run on Windows OSs from 95 upwards.

The DMXCreator software controls any DMX512 fixture (up to 32 DMX channels). The DMXCreator512Basic is the world's first direct USB to DMX512 cable, complete with all necessary electronics built into the XLR plug. It offers 512 output channels via a 3-pin XLR, and connects to the USB plug-and-play port of the computer, without needing an external power supply. The DMXCreator512Basic package includes the DMX512-Interface cable and the DMXCreator software/panels on CDR.

T

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Japan - The World Lighting Fair 2004 takes place from the 24- 26 June at the Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall in Japan. A showcase for state-of-the-art products, technology, and information about lighting for the entertainment industry, the exhibition presents the best of lighting technology for use in a broad range of applications, including the stage, television, motion pictures, theme parks and cultural presentations, as well as retail and trade show environments.

The 2002 event saw 73 exhibitors attending, including 52 from Japan and 21 from overseas. Twenty-one of the participants displayed their products and services at WLF 2002 for the first time because they knew that this exhibition is the best forum to reach the both the Japanese and growing Asian market. In just three days, WLF 2002 drew more than 20,000 visitors.

WLF 2004 will also host a variety of seminars and w

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UK - E/T/C UK supplied stunning large format projections for the launch of a new son et lumière concept, The Future's Bright, staged in the royal town of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, North Wales. Three PIGI 6kW projectors, complete with double rotating scrollers, were used to project giant images onto the walls of Caernarfon castle.

The Future's Bright is the brainchild of Jon Thirsk, a locally-based graphic designer who's keen to stimulate tourism, business and interest in the town. He and other interested parties formed the not-for-profit organization, Y Grael Cyf (The Grail), to stage the initial pilot event. Thirsk approached E/T/C UK's Ross Ashton to help realize the idea on the visual front. The proposed Caernarfon 2004 events aim to stretch Caernarfon's tourist season, in similar fashion to the Blackpool Illuminations, which attracts many millions of visitors. Th

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UK - GLP of Karlsbad has announced that the new Ypoc 575 moving head, first shown at the PLASA Show in London last year, is now available for delivery. Among the most obvious advantages of the new device is its compact size and weight, equivalent to a 250-class moving head, thanks to the the quality of its componentry and its state-of-the-art microprocessor technology. A HTI 575W discharge lamp combines with annealed optics to ensure an efficient output of light, say the company.

The Ypoc 575 is equipped with a colour wheel with 11 dichroic and two separate gobo wheels. A further onboard effect is the 4.5mW laser diode, controlled for greater convenience by a separate DMX channel. Controlled via DMX 512, the fixture features a four-character alphanumeric display to facilitate the programming of the DMX address as well as a counter indicating the number of hours the lamp has been

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UK - After over a decade as part of The White Light Group in London, the pioneering entertainment industry CAD specialist Modelbox is re-locating to Okehampton in Devon - however, the latest communications technology will ensure that the move is seamless to those using Modelbox's services.

"Stephen Wentworth, who has been the driving force behind Modelbox for the last few years, decided that he wanted to leave London and move to Devon," explains the White Light Group's general manager, Bryan Raven. "That presented us with a problem: finding someone with Steve's unique combination of theatrical experience as a lighting designer and CAD expertise. Fortunately, our IT department came up with an alternative solution."

Through the use of ADSL high-speed Internet connections and VPN (Virtual Private Networking), Steve and Modelbox in Devon will effectively become

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UK - Bandit Lites has announced that Mark Powell, general manager of Bandit Lites Ltd, has been appointed a director of the company, with immediate effect. Bandit Lites CEO Michael Strickland says: "We welcome Mark aboard in this new role and look forward to many years of his capable guidance and input in helping steer the firm! This appointment is in recognition of his hard work and the success he has created for Bandit Lites."

Bandit Lites is a world leader in the entertainment lighting marketplace, with a full staff of highly trained professionals to deal with all types of lighting needs from tours to fixed installations. The company has a global presence, with offices in Knoxville, Nashville, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

(Lee Baldock)

  1. CKI lighting for Super Millionaire
  2. GLP offers colour variety fluorescents
  3. Varied projects for Powerent
  4. Selecon: new market manager for Australia
  5. Avolites' new eDMX wireless control
  6. Compulite distribution in the UK
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