Lighting

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UK - Edinburgh lighting specialist black light has become the first UK stockist of Le Maitre's Stadium Hazer. The Stadium Hazer is designed to deliver large volumes of non-toxic haze for big indoor spaces and, as such, is ideal for use in a wide range of productions - from live music to ice rink shows, large corporate launches and television productions.

"Lighting - and particularly lighting that is highly visible - is ever more important in large-scale productions," says black light's Gavin Stewart. "A product like this is far more efficient and cost-effective of achieving that than the current use of multiple haze machines employed to achieve the same effect. It also means less haze fluid is used, which can only be a good thing."

The Stadium Hazer's fluid is non oil-based, which means no residue is left, and the unit features a patented delivery system

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UK / Europe - An Avolites Sapphire 2000 console is being used by James Thompson to control all lighting on the current UK and European leg of Joss Stone's hugely popular world Mind Body Soul tour. The show is a co-design between Siyan's Bryan Leitch and Thompson, a lighting design/technical graduate of the Central School of Speech & Drama. Both are keen Avolites users and Thompson has used Avolites since the start of his professional career.

Leitch initially specified a Sapphire for Joss Stone because they wanted a powerful console that was good for 'live' operation. While much of the show is planned cues, the organic and jazzy nature of Stone's set also means certain elements of the performance lend themselves to the lighting being improvised, in tune with the mood of the show and audience, and the nature of the room. The kit being controlled by the Sapphire - all suppl

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USA - The Zero 88 range of Frog lighting consoles is becoming a popular choice for churches and places of worship across the United States. One such is Saddleback Community Church - a sprawling 120-acre campus in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Started in 1980 by Rick and Kay Warren, it has grown from a seven-person bible study group to an average weekend attendance of 20,000 with 80,000 names on the church roll. It has also spawned the 'Purpose Driven Movement' - which has trained over 350,000 pastors and church leaders. Looking more like a mall than a church, Saddleback boasts six separate venues and seven distinct types of service each weekend. As well as a main worship centre and separate meeting rooms, the Saddleback campus uses three permanent tent structures as additional venues.

Although the main worship centre boasts 28 moving lights and a Wholehog III control sys

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Germany - Europa Park, a theme park in Rust, near Freiburg, has seen the addition of a new hotel. The Colosseo Hotel was inaugurated this summer with a large party themed on ancient Rome: Italian actress Claudia Cardinale symbolically handed over the keys of the 4 star-luxury hotel to Roland, Jürgen and Franz Mack, the owners of the amusement park. The typically Mediterranean façades of the hotel served as backdrop for the the evening's programme, with Alpha Spot HPE and Alpha Wash fixtures from Clay Paky forming the centre of the lighting system.

Tent Event of Freiburg looked after the setting up of the light system. As well as the Alphas, Clay Paky's Stage Color 1200s, Stage Zoom 1200s, Golden Scan HPEs and Stage Scans were also used to create the ambience for the evening, providing an extensive range of effects. The Alpha projectors, here receiving their German debut, prove

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UK - Audio Light Systems Ltd is a new company created to provide informed proposals and installations for design teams, contractors and clients. Utilizing the latest software, the company says it can design "technically outstanding and quality controlled installations on time and within budget". From conception to completion and training, this new company is offering consultation, installation and project management for new build, refurbishment and upgrade projects nationwide, covering audio, lighting, AV or specialist systems.

The company's core design team of Eddy O'Hare, Roland Chadwick and Trevor Cross have been involved in projects of all scales throughout the globe for the last 25 years and are familiar names in the installation and consultancy sectors. They are currently involved in projects in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Essential Lighting supplied Martin MAC 2000 Washes and 7kW Ireos Pro Space Cannons to produce the large scale lighting effects taking place along the South Bank, the epicentre of the 2004 Poppy Appeal event. This included turning three bridges - Waterloo, Westminster and Hungerford - red, and supplying searchlights for both banks of the Thames between Waterloo and Westminster Bridges.

The lighting scheme was designed by Rick Hussey, who works regularly with Essential on all types of projects. It was co-ordinated for Essential by Martin Lubach and site managed by Barry Tofield. Overall production manager was Roger Oakley working for event producers The Bank. Oakley dealt with 16 regulatory bodies including MI5 and MI6 to get the necessary clearance to stage the event!

A total of 28 MAC 2000 washes were used to light the three bridges, complete with assorted lenses to optim

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USA - Just a few weeks before R.E.M was to head out on its current world tour, lighting designer Susanne Sasic had already determined the lighting package she would use for the show. Then she received a phone call from George Masek inviting her to a Vari-Lite open house and product demo in New York - and after seeing the Vari*Lite Series 3000 luminaires, Sasic made a last-minute change to the automated lighting plot, swapping out some of the fixtures she had already spec'd with VL3000 Wash units.

"I went over to the open house and was very impressed," Sasic explained. "The beam spread on the VL3000 fixtures is amazing. We swapped them out for some of the other lights I had spec'd on the rig, and I'm very glad we did."

Making the change was not an issue since Bandit Lites, the lighting equipment provider for the tour, had recently added a number of the Ser

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UK - Newcastle University's new landmark building, the Devonshire, features a stunning visual display using CFL Colour Changers from the Light Projects Group.

The concept is the result of a local schools competition to create an innovative lighting sequence to illuminate the building whilst focusing on the concepts of environmental harmony and sustainability. The use of environmentally-friendly LEDs was seen as a fitting solution.

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USA - Wybron Inc announces the appointment of Joan Bolen as Marketing Coordinator, effective November 3, 2004. Joan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin and brings an energetic and creative perspective to Wybron's sales and marketing efforts. She has a long background with computers and graphic design and has worked in marketing and public relations for the past 15 years.

An admitted theatre addict, Bolen says she is excited about learning more about the technology of Wybron's stage lighting products and hopes to contribute in all aspects of promoting them.

(Lee Baldock)

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China - Renowned French musician Jean-Michel Jarre performed a unique concert on 10 October, celebrating the opening of the French Culture Year in China, within Beijing's Forbidden City, using state-of-the-art sound and vision technology. For the first time in live application ever, the show was performed in Dolby Digital 5.1, providing a great enhancement to the sonic environment. The 15,000-strong seated audience was divided into six zones, each with it's own 5.1 system, comprising six V-Dosc, 18 dV-Dosc, six dV-SUB and four SB218 subs. Lab Co, L-Acoustics' V-Dosc Partner for China, worked in collaboration with Arpège, French V-Dosc Partner, to provide the turnkey V-Dosc system for the show.

The China-France Culture Year is an important event with regard to the exchange between the two nations, and is of great significance towards increasing the mutual understanding and aware

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UK - Bristol's latest night venue, Zeebar, is the setting for an imaginative lighting scheme by architectural and feature lighting design specialist Clarity Lighting. The upmarket bar and grill, situated near the city's historic Queens Square, needed to offer a unique environment to stand out, says Clarity's Adrian Britton.

Clarity, with Zeebar owners EPC Ltd, decided on a combination of bespoke and off-the-shelf LED lighting, together with conventional luminaires and lightsources. The main technical lighting challenge was to make Zeebar's 40m exterior canopy appear look black during the day, and then come alive with colour and movement at night. The solution used a combination of Clarity's Ionic RGB colour changing strips and Microdex panelling with a black underlay. Clarity's Microdex appears as an evenly illuminated surface when lit from along one edge with the Ionic strips. Once th

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UK - Elation Professional has unveiled the flagship line of Antari X-Series Fog Machines to the North American market. A premium line of heavy-duty foggers, the X-Series features Antari's most advanced technology and utilizes the finest materials and components available, says the company.

X-Series machines feature cast aluminium heater blocks (which hold heat better than standard aluminium and result in higher fog output), super-quiet Italian pumps, low fluid indicators, interchangeable control modules and a high-efficiency vaporizing system. By incorporating these premium features, Antari says, it has geared the X-Series toward professional users such as rental companies, theatres, major stage events and TV/motion picture studios - thanks to the low noise level created by the machines' pumps, which makes them ideally suited for video and movie production.

Among the Antari f

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USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) helped lighting designer Tom Kenny "bring down the house" in Miami at the only awards show geared towards Hip-Hop music. With a resume that includes designs for The Who, Santana, David Bowie, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez, as well as numerous award shows, Kenny is well-known for his high profile projects. "I wanted to fill the venue with lights from every angle without putting together a large rig," explained Kenny. "I collaborated with Tom McPhillips to come up with a design consisting mainly of MAC 2000s over the stage and Studio Colors and Spots over the audience."

Kenny has been a PRG client for the past 14 years. For this event, his lighting package included 48 High End Studio Colors, 50 High End Studio Beams, 40 Martin MAC 2000 Wash lights, 32 Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, two

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UK - Sales of Pixeon Colour Stream, the LED colour strip marketed exclusively by Lighting Effects Distribution, took on a new momentum this month when it appeared on further high profile tours and television shows. Lighting designer Al Gurdon has used a total of 50m of the 55mm diameter tube on the current series of Thames TV's The X Factor at Fountain Studios, and used a further 24 x 1m lengths for the European MTV Music Awards in Rome - all supplied by PRG Europe, which stock Pixeon in its rental fleet.

PRG account manager James Barnfather said: "With the latest version of Pixeon you can create more effects and colour mixes than before." In addition to The X Factor PRG also has Pixeon out on the set of The Good Food Show.

The latest mains-powered version of Pixeon - an LED tube, containing a dense array of RGB LEDs arranged in individua

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USA - This year's 'Hot 97 Summer Jam', taking place in New York's Giants Stadium, attracted about 27.000 people. The concert was organized by the most important Hip-Hop broadcasting station in New York, and included stars such as 50 Cent, R Kelly, Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Big Boi and Keny West. The show also featured a large-scale lighting rig, which included 180 moving lights, 200 conventional lights and five media servers, as well as three full-sized grandMA lighting consoles from MA Lighting.

Gary Westcott was responsible for the lighting design. The show was pre-programmed and transferred to the grandMA full-size, although the team also had the chance to optimize the show locally for a further two days. The consoles were programmed by Demfis Fyssicopulos, with Andrew Findley responsible for programming the media server.

Two grandMAs were integrated in a multi user network

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USA - Vari-Lite has hired Todd Kessler to oversee additional growth and development of its product training program. Expansion of the program will help ensure that the market is staffed with qualified technicians and will allow authorized Vari*Lite dealers to provide greater product support for end users. The company says the position was created due to the large increase in demand for Vari*Lite fixtures following the recent introduction of four new Vari*Lite Series 3000 and Series 2000 luminaires.

Kessler, who is fully trained on all Series 1000, Series 2000 and Series 3000 luminaires, has nearly a decade of experience with Vari*Lite products. He joins Vari-Lite from PRG, where he was shop manager for the Orlando rental office. At PRG, and previously VLPS Lighting Services, Kessler trained all incoming employees on the use and maintenance of the rental inventory. He also superv

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UK - Stage Electrics has announced two new additions to its team serving the London scene - Matt Townsend and Darren Beckley. Townsend, who joined the company in September and is working with West End theatre and touring clients, is well known in the industry and most recently was the technical manager for Gilded Balloon. Prior to this, he toured with Saturday Night Fever and Forbidden Planet. "Working closely with Stage Electrics in the past allows me to bring a different perspective and insight to make sure our customers receive the best possible service," says Townsend.

Darren Beckley has recently been promoted to business development manager for London, taking on the responsibility for securing new and growing existing business by satisfying local customer requirements. Beckley has worked for the company for three years, starting in the Bristol ware

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UK - Utopium Lighting Ltd. has been busy over the last month with its move to new premises. The company has taken the opportunity to restructure and improve the procedures for maintenance and preparation of the equipment and Customer Support. Now housed in a 4000msq 'open', single storey warehouse it has the room to build and 'fly' lighting rigs prior to shipping. Parking is also ample.

During all this upheaval the company has managed to service various tours including: Zero 7 for the second time this year, again lit by Utopium LD Stuart Farrell who operated an Avo Pearl and used Mac500 and Studio Beams mounted over a semi- circle truss. Uriah Heep recently performed in Guernsey with equipment and crew supplied by Utopium. The LD was Chris Bushell who was also LD for the recent Goldie Looking Chain tour. Mercury Music award winner, Dizzee Rascal has just finished his firs

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Italy - The Italian version of the BBC's famous music show, Top of the Pops, has returned for the 2004/2005 edition, broadcast every Saturday afternoon on Italia Uno, and for the first time this year, on the satellite channel Italia Teen Television. The show returns with new set elements and an enlarged lighting system: unlike last year, two stages can now be either separated or joined, and the stages are positioned perpendicular to each other and at an oblique angle from the cameras to create a greater sense of depth.

"The most important innovation here," according to LDs Riccardo Barbaglio and Massimo Cavenaghi - is the new lighting system. Last year, the Italian edition of Top of the Pops stood out for the quality of its lighting effects, which received compliments from the BBC. This is one of the reasons why Einstein, the Italian TV production studios which

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UK - ADLIB Audio and sister company ADLITE Productions are enjoying a hectic autumn season, including the supply of full sound and lighting production for the current Amy Winehouse UK tour. Featuring a Yamaha PM5D monitor console and an Avolites Pearl 2004 lighting console bought specially for the tour, plus ADLIBs new MP3 wedges.

Front of House engineer Steve Pattison chose JBL's medium sized VerTec line array as the main PA system - utilizing various numbers of VT 4888 elements depending on the size of the venue. This ranged from an average of five a side in the smaller rooms to 12 a side for larger spaces like Brixton Academy.

Subs are ADLIB's double 18 folded horn DF3's, which have a formidable low-end reputation! The system is driven by Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers, in which ADLIB has also recently extensively invested. Pattison has worked with Amy since the 2003 'V' Festiva

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UK - Projected Image Digital has supplied Creative Technology (CT) with 240m of Element Labs VersaTUBE linear LED effects fixtures, purchased for the current series of ITV1's talent show, X-Factor, which is being recorded at Fountain TV Studios in Wembley. The VersaTUBES were specified by set designer Christopher George, and are integral to the large set - used as decorative delineative edges for the main 'X' centrepiece above centre stage, for another 'X' shape built into the floor directly beneath, and for marking out the centre stage staircase.

Measuring 1m in length, with a 16-pixel resolution, an IP65 rating and taking video input (DVI), the VersaTUBES are used to create complex and fast moving patterns, colours and effects. They are also used statically, as architectural outlining devices for the contours of the set. They also come into play for the show's more up-tempo p

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UK - Newton Preparatory School, a co-educational school in Battersea, South London, recently opened its new 288-seat theatre in a ceremony led by renowned theatre director Sir Peter Hall. Also in attendance were White Light's technical sales manager Roger Hennigan and projects coordinator Esther Heaslip, marking White Light's close involvement with the creation of the new venue.

During the project's design phase, the school's electrical consultant, Phil Whiffin from Engineering Co Partnership, contacted White Light for advice as to how to equip the venue. Roger Hennigan and David Howe from White Light's projects team devised a comprehensive, flexible lighting system that suited both the school's needs and its budget.

The theatre's new dimming system uses four 12-way ETC SmartPack rackswith RCD protection controlled by a Strand 300-series lighting console. An internally-wired

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USA - Elation Professional has introduced the new Focus Spot 250, a professional DMX 250W moving head fixture aimed at the smaller rentals market and mid-sized nightclubs. The Focus Spot 250's features include remote focus and a high luminous-efficiency axial reflector and double condenser lens system, says the manufacturer. Using 11 DMX channels, the Focus Spot 250 also features eight dichroic colours plus white, and six rotating, interchangeable and indexable gobos plus spot. Three of the gobos are metal, two are dichroic glass and one is textured glass, providing a flexible mix of textures. The fixture delivers 5,700 lumens at 15ft, say Elation, and the convenience of its remote focusing via DMX feature should appeal to DJs.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Lightfactor Sales has supplied leading UK lighting rental house Siyan with SGM Giotto 400 CMY moving lights for hire stock, eight of which have gone straight out on the Joss Stone tour. The latest SGM products add to Lightfactor's existing hire inventory of SGM fixtures. Joss Stone's lighting design was conceived by Siyan's Bryan Leitch, and further developed by him and James Thompson who programmed the show and is LD'ing and operating on the road.

Four SGMs are positioned on the rear truss, with another four on two upstage/offstage Manfrotto stands each side of stage - for additional depth and separation. He uses the fixtures as the core of the rig, enthusing: "They are fantastic. They're proving robust and reliable on the road, and the effects you can create with the sheer power and brightness are really excellent."

The fixtures are used extensively for gobo

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