Lighting

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UK - The people behind the Blue Room online discussion forums have announced the launch of a new service for the entertainment industry. The Blue Room Wiki, it is hoped, will provide the backstage community with an ever-growing knowledge-base of technical know-how. Building on the success of the Blue Room forums, the Wiki will enable forum members to contribute their knowledge in article form to an online encyclopaedia.

The Blue Room now boasts almost 4,000 members, with over 110,000 messages posted since its official launch in January 2003. With over 4.5 million hits each month, the Blue Room has proved very popular. "The introduction of a Wiki is something which we've been working on for a while. We saw that the Blue Room was becoming, in part, a repository for a vast assortment of technical knowledge and advice, and an online encyclopaedia seemed like the next logical st

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UK - March 2006 saw the Stardraw.com website deliver more than 100GB of data in a single month for the first time. Marketing director Rob Robinson explains: "We have seen steady growth in the distribution of data relating to all Stardraw products for some time, but it is remarkable that downloads from www.stardraw.com have almost tripled since this time last year. Breaking the 100GB/month mark so soon frankly caught us by surprise - charting the month-on-month trend in 2005 suggested that we wouldn't reach this point until next year."

Stardraw.com has delivered all its products exclusively through its website since January 2002. In addition to the initial installation of long-established design/documentation tools like Stardraw A/V and Stardraw Lighting 2D, users employ the website to download program updates and to access libraries of more than 50,000 high-quality sym

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USA - Missouri-based Brawner & Associates has added Heath Lane to its fulltime design team. Lane was previously an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (UNL) where he acted as a technical advisor for students in the theatre design/technology program. Prior to this, he was production manager/technical director for Michigan Tech's Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, where he oversaw all aspects of technical production.

Heath received his MFA from The Penn State University at State College, PA, in 2003. He has technically directed over 30 theatrical productions and has designed lighting for more than 100 events. His background includes experience as a rigger, master electrician, sound engineer and crew chief. On the pre-production side of the table Heath has over fourteen years' experience with multiple CAD programs working with general layouts, build draw

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Israel - Idan Raichel catapulted onto the Israeli music scene two years ago with the hit album Idan Raichel's Project. The singer/songwriter's latest album Out of the Depths was followed by a successful tour that embarked last winter.

Lighting designer Amir Mickey Vilensky chose 12 MAC 700 Profiles to connect a simple set with Idan's unique musical style. "It was the best fixture to achieve the goal of intensifying the visuality of the show with the best colors and a wonderful movement," he stated.

Martin's local Israeli distributor, Lightone, provided the 700's to lighting and sound company Yeda Kol with a 'no problem' guarantee that turned out to be 100% accurate.

Co-designer and programmer for the show was Offer Brum who worked with Amir to create a distinctive and complementary set of colour and effects especially for The Idan Raichel Project

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UK - PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - has announced a joint initiative with CMP Seatrade, the organisers of the Seatrade exhibitions, to host an afternoon presentation in London in early May introducing PLASA Members to business opportunities in the cruise sector.

Contracts won with cruise and ferry lines can be among the most lucrative in the world: there is currently $14.2 billion being invested in new-build activity and numbers in the cruise ship orderbook are at their highest since 2002. There is also renewed strength in the region's shipbuilding industry and the refurbishment and re-equipment sectors are also experiencing a growth surge.

The presentation, led by Seatrade MD Chris Hayman, will cover the opportunities that exist for PLASA Members in the cruise sector and the value of attending the Seatrade Med exhibition in Naples in October where f

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Australia - Martin Professional's Australian representative Show Technology were among the companies servicing the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne recently. The largest number of Martin MAC 2000 fixtures ever used on a single event graced the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games. Distributed through Show Technology, some 806 MAC 2000 series fixtures (868 MAC fixtures in total - also a single event record) were supplied for the quadrennial spectacular by local partners Bytecraft and Chameleon, with additional fixtures brought in from Procon of Germany.

"We are very excited to be associated with such a high profile event and to work with such talented people," said Emmanuel Ziino, MD of Show Technology. "Show Technology's vision statement is 'Lighting Solutions with Imagination' and it was a thrill to have had the o

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UK - Lighting designer Pete Hosier (aka "Luton Pete") specified and used an Avolites Diamond 4 console to control lighting for the 2006 BBC 3 Planet World Music Awards, staged at London's Brixton Academy.

The D4 is always his desk of choice he explains. He has used Avolites' most powerful console extensively since a D4 was installed at Shepherds' Bush Empire 16 months ago, where he's one of the house programmer/designers. "It was ideal for a show like the Planets, with very limited programming and rehearsal time, multiple artists and a lot of lighting to control 'on the fly'."

This was the fifth Planet Awards (originally called the BBC 3 Awards World Music Poll Winners Concert) a show that's quickly become established as a premier event for world music.

This year's show gathered musicians from all corners of the planet and incl

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USA - The PDS-375 TRB, the newest model in City Theatrical's growing range of innovative power/data supplies designed to work with Color Kinetics products, is totally wireless, requiring neither mains cables nor data cables.

The PDS-375 TRB combines City Theatrical's award-winning WDS Wireless Data System technology with long-life rechargeable batteries to give Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 (up to six units), ColorBlast 6 (up to 12 units), and iColorCove (up to 48) fixtures the ability to be operated and controlled with no wires at all.

CTI's President Gary Fails said: "We feel that this is the leading edge of entertainment lighting. There is no doubt that LEDs will change the way we light our world, and City Theatrical is active in the effort to invent new ways to power and control them. The low power consumption of LEDs allows battery power to be possible in large-scale

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UK - Production company West End Studios has upgraded its main lighting control console to a Jands Vista T2, as part of an ongoing investment in new equipment for its production facility, which provides a total event design service for clients in the broadcast, video, conferences and events sectors.

When the studio decided to replace their console due to the increasingly sophisticated lighting demands of productions, technical production manager Andy Cheshire contacted Jands Vista distributor A.C. Lighting to arrange a demo. He and the studios' in-house lighting technicians were so impressed by the Vista's flexibility, usability and speed that after the demo they saw no point in looking at any other consoles.

Cheshire commented: "I was looking for something which could handle a lot more fixtures, was smarter and faster and had ethernet outputs. The Vista was the obvious c

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Philippines - With minimal plotting and rehearsal time, lighting designer Jonjon Villareal relied on the LSC maXim control console to save the day for Ballet Philippines recently. Forerunner Technologies, the LSC Lighting distributor in the Philippines, recently supplied the Cultural Center of the Philippines with an LSC maXim XLP control console for a performance by the Ballet Philippines. The production bought to life Ryan Cayabyab's bestseller Great Filipino Love Songs at the CCP Main Theatre in a show entitled Da Capo #1: Playing Maestro Ryan Atbp..

"The lighting crew at the CCP found the LSC maXim to be intuitive and fast to learn," said Mario A.S. Benipayo, president and CEO of Forerunner Technologies. "Most did not even have to read the manual thoroughly. Most notable was the ability of the maXim to feel right at home in a theatre application.

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Sweden / China - Wireless DMX debuted in China last autumn during the Sanya Carnival, thanks to Guangzhou Television, one of the largest TV stations in the country, who ordered four wireless DMX universes for the event. The carnival, which led up to the 55th Miss World Pageant Finals took place in Sanya, a beautiful sunshine-filled city on South China's Hainan Island. The Miss World Final has taken place there for the last three years.

The order was placed during the CALM show in Beijing through Wireless Solution's local distributor, Guangzhou Leifull Light & Sound. Leifull has offices in Guanzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and offers clients technical support and training for both project and installation. They were selected over tough competition to supply the equipment for the event.

Leifull used 18 units of W-DMX R-512 receivers on the East bank of the Sanya River a

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UK - Lighting designer James Anderson, who has worked with Jethro Tull for three years as production manager and promoter, has been doing the lights for about 18 months. The band's Brazil concert was the first time he used moving lights and that's why Martin is on his specification list, as he explains: "Not only were they the first intelligent light I programmed, but you can get them virtually anywhere you are in the world, and they are really reliable."

For the UK tour, Entec Sound & Light supplied all the gear. Anderson likes the MAC 700 profiles and is using them for the first time on this tour, six on the rear truss and four on the front. He also has four MAC 600s on the front truss. He particularly likes the animation wheels on the 700 Profiles and makes much use of them for creating swirly, floaty backdrop projections. Anderson explains: "The animation whee

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UK - Robe moving lights and Anolis LED fixtures have been specified and installed into Fusion, a new 750 capacity nightclub in Wellington - a suburb of Telford, Shropshire. The independently owned venue has been a club in the past but was disused for some time before its acquisition by ER Leisure. It was then completely refitted, with a new interior design by Graham Chance of Breley Design, and a lighting, sound and AV design by Andy Chamley of AC Audio Rentals.

The owner wanted four circular and two S-shaped trusses installed in the roof as visual rigging points for the lights and to give the roof a shape and form, but other than that, Chamley was given complete carte blanche to create an interesting and eye-catching design. It also had to be diverse enough to meet the club's broad-based music policy, and make the reasonably intimate space come alive from all levels and angles.

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Dubai - Martin Professional reports that its MAC 700 Profile continues to be specified in an ever growing number of projects and installations around the world, from North America and Europe to the Far East and Australia, with the latest appearance in a Dubai television studio.

Tthe 700W profile spot is the feature light in Studio F for Dubai TV's Sports Channel. Sports Channel lighting designer Ziad Haddad comments: "We use about 40 Martin moving lights in this studio, divided between MAC 600 washlights and the latest MAC 700 Profile. The aim of getting the moving lights was to add a new and contemporary look to the sets. Moving lights give us the ability to change the mood and colour on each set and Martin's systems have helped us do this very well."

The MAC lights were supplied to Dubai TV through Martin's Middle East representative, Martin Professional Middle Eas

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UK - Lightfactor Sales, the UK distributor for Wireless Solutions' W-DMX wireless DMX system - has supplied a system to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The initial four transmitter/eight receiver purchase was specified by Paul Hornsby, lighting systems technician for the venue and supplied by Lightfactor's Peter Coles who says: "We're extremely pleased to be working with such a prestigious venue. It's a great endorsement of the product."

They tested the system thoroughly in and around the building before committing to W-DMX, he explains, using it on numerous smaller shows and events and a variety of moving lights. They wanted to ensure there would be no interference. Once they were certain that the system was completely robust, Hornsby and his team confirmed the purchase. They now have W-DMX running two universes of DMX on their main stage.

It is used primari

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UK - BBC3 marked Easter with a major event broadcast live on Good Friday from the streets of Manchester, which saw Jesus singing Joy Division and Judas using the words of Morrissey. Manchester Passion was billed as a contemporary retelling of the last days of Jesus' life using popular music from the cream of Manchester bands, including Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, Oasis and Stone Roses.

The show was made by the BBC's Classical Music TV department which has been responsible for Proms in the Park, and follows the success of Flashmob: The Opera - a live opera event staged among commuters in London. Albert Square in Manchester city centre provided the main focus of the hour-long performance where a 16-strong orchestra accompanied the songs, and a giant screen relayed scenes from across the city.

A crowd carrying a giant cross walked in a procession fro

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UK - Glasgow noise guitar band Mogwai are back on tour promoting their new album 'Mr Beast'. Nick Jevons (of ElectricFly Productions), an established lighting designer of many years - has comprised a rig that although compact in design, it has maximum visual impact to complement the soft to loud dynamics of the band. The rig features 12 James Thomas Engineering's PixelLine 1044s, six moving lights and six strobes.

Across the back of the stage, stood vertically, there are four Y-shaped minibeam constructions, each with three PixelLines hung at angles to the truss. The battens are being used as an effect to give an extra dimension to the show. The majority of this tour is in clubs or small theatres, so the rig has to be able to provide a big punch or subtlety when required within its limited size.

The 1044s are programmed using PixelDrive which is then driven by a Maxxyz PC from

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Mexico - More than 42,000 enthusiastic motocross fans came together at Mexico City's biggest bullfighting arena Plaza de Toros to watch performances of freestyle motocross cyclists at the Red Bull X-Fighters event. Plaza de Toros turned into a spectacular race-course and for the lighting design, mo2's Manfred 'Ollie' Olma made good use of grandMA multimedia consoles.

Olma created a massive lighting system with more than 100 moving lights - including a total of 40 Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 - and 320 conventional Fixtures, as well as complex architectural lighting with LED RGB colour changers, 4 kW Xenon and 2.5 kW HTI fixtures. To control the whole lighting system he used a grandMA full-size and a grandMA light as a back up.

Olma and his programmer Manuel Da Costa gained access to the full lighting system only one day before the show went Live 'on air', so they had little time

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uk - An Avolites Diamond 4 console and 13 dimmer racks were used to control nearly 1000 fixtures for the Heidelberg Print stand at the IPEX 2006 exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham.

The quadrennial show is one of the largest print media exhibitions in the world, and Heidelberg - among the world's major printing machine manufacturers - featured the biggest single stand, occupying all of hall eight and half of hall seven in their entireties.

All lighting fixtures for the Heidelberg Print areas, the 1.8 kilometres of trussing and 220 points on which it is hung was supplied by Siegen-based Trendco, and designed by Michael Diederichs. Trendco also supplied all the stand's audio systems. The stand consisted of numerous different product areas showing: types of printing, dye-cutting, folding, packaging and other associated machines, plus four presentation areas and several hospi

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Czech Republic - Robe's new ColorWash 575AT Zoom has all the features of the popular ColorWash 575AT with the additional enhancement of a very smooth motorised linear zoom, ranging from 8 to 50 degrees with a fresnel lens fitted as standard.

Optional wide-angle lenses provide wider beam spreads of 80° through 87° - which are particularly useful for TV and theatrical environments. The fixture is suitable for all professional lighting applications - concert touring, festivals, theatre and TV production, conferences, corporate events, plus venues and installations of all types.

It comes with Robe's traditional good engineering and robust build qualities. The lightsource is a compact high-pressure MSR 575/2 lamp, and super-efficient optics ensure the brightness exceeds the standard for a 575 luminaire.

The ColorWash 575AT Zoom is DMX controlled and uses 16, 18, 19 or 21

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UK - The next public pyrotechnics safety course will be held at The Apollo Theatre in London on Monday 22 May 2006. The event is hosted by BECTU. Further details can be found on the website of the Association of Stage Pyrotechnicians (ASP) given below. Please follow the link to 'Current Courses').

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Following the success of the April 2006 Professional Laser Display Safety Training Course, Laser Visuals Research has announced the date of the next course, which will be held at the Kent Science Park, near Sittingbourne, Kent on Wednesday 28 June 2006. The course combines theory with practical examples of many topics specific to laser display safety. In addition to the subjects covered during the course, each attendee receives a copy of the Laser Visuals Research 200 page handbook on laser display safety, and receives a certificate of attendance.

Attendees of the April course all enjoyed the lively discussion on audience scanningand commented on how good it was to meet other Laserists. The course has been designed to provide essential and valuable information for anybody involved with working with laser lighting products, whether they be show operators, installation compan

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Italy - PROEL SpA, the Italian worldwide company in the entertainment field, celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2006 with a very big event. Held at PROEL's head office in Sant'Omero, Italy, PROEL will give a hearty welcome to all of its partners and friends on 9-11 June.

Product demonstrations and musical entertainment will feature heavily on the schedule, with numerous product demo artists performing over the three-day event. A very special time will be dedicated to visit the little city where PROEL was established in 1991 and its beautiful surrounding territories: the flourishing countryside and the spectacular views between the Adriatic Sea and the Gran Sasso Mountain, the ancient villages and their story. Live and breathe the Italian way of life, will be the "leitmotiv" of the entertainment time, making visitors able to visit winemakers and cellars, and taste the m

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Italy/USA - CBI will be undertaking a 10,000 sq.ft. expansion project. This project will be a direct expansion of C.B.I.'s existing 30,000 sq. ft facility that was built in 2001.

The extra square footage will allow C.B.I. to increase the number of workstations in the high tech fabrication area, as well as greatly increase warehouse space. This expansion is a direct result of increased business in many areas, with a dramatic increase citied in pro sound, power, lighting, and distribution.

Accompanying the expansion will be a wave of promotions, new positions, and a general aesthetic makeover to the current building, with expansion due to be completed 1 August.

CBI will be at InfoComm on booth 2791.

(Chris Henry)

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