Lighting

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Qatar - In autumn 2006, Qatar hosted the biggest Asian Games of all times. Since 1951, this event, held every four years, is the sporting and cultural reference for all Asian countries.

The German company Procon, through a sub-contract of the Australian Bytecraft, designed, installed and supplied the lights inside the superb Khalifa Stadium of Doha, which was the venue for most of the sporting competitions, as well as the extraordinary Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Games.

Procon supplied 110 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1200s, which together with many other luminaires, were excellently used by lighting designers Andy Doig and Fabrice Kebaour for their shows. Alongside them, 120 technicians, under the guidance of the Procon project manager Michael Casper, worked non-stop before, after and throughout the event (from 1 to 15 December 2006), using a total of 520 tons of equipm

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USA - A pair of grandMAs is helping lighting designer Daniel Boland dazzle audiences nationwide with Blue Man Group's How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0. The innovative performers are playing arena-sized venues and select theaters coast to coast with the production in which they download a tongue-in-cheek 'how-to manual' on becoming a rock star. Joined by an eight-piece band, Blue Man Group subsequently takes the audience through - step-by-step and song-by-song - every head-bobbing, fist-pumping moment of a real concert.

"The show is fairly unique compared to productions I've done before," says Boland. "It's a cross between theater and rock 'n roll and a pretty interesting blend." Boland uses two networked grandmas full-size to control all the lighting and video for the show. "We've got it down to one cue list. I just push 'go'," he explains. &quo

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UK - Hawthorn has announced that Paul Stear, formerly of Stage Electrics, has joined the Company in a business development role for its hire and sales operation.

Stear, has extensive experience and an excellent reputation within the Market having been a lighting, sound and video designer and worked for more than four years as head of lighting and sound at Nottingham Playhouse prior to joining Stage Electrics.

"I am delighted to have this opportunity to be part of the Hawthorn Team" says Stear, "The Company provides an exciting environment to work in as it continues to rapidly expand and I look forward in my new role of business development, to making my contribution to that continued growth."

"Paul is a valued addition to the growing team at Hawthorn," says general manager Simon Wood, "In his role as business development he will be spending

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USA - American DJ has introduced the P64 LED UV Ultraviolet PAR Can. The latest addition to American DJ's popular series of LED-based PAR cans, the DMX-compatible P64 LED UV spot is designed for any and all applications that call for the effects of ultraviolet light, say the company.

Equipped with 151 ultraviolet LEDs, the P64 LED UV provides super smooth projection on stages and surfaces. It features a 15° beam angle for long-throw applications. In addition to being an extremely powerful black light, the highly affordable P64 LED UV is very economical to operate. The unit is energy-efficient and runs on low voltage, with a maximum power consumption of 21W, say American DJ.

"Bringing LED technology to an ultraviolet par can represents a major advancement in cutting-edge stage and club lighting," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Compa

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UK - At least 350,000 people are estimated to have brought in 2007 in central London, where Jack Morton Worldwide produced the spectacular New Year's Eve countdown, which culminated in a 10 minute firework and lighting display over the River Thames and British Airways London Eye.

It is the third New Year's spectacle that Jack Morton has produced for the event, which is organised by the Mayor of London. The display could also be seen at high points across the capital with many millions more watching it on TV. This is the third year running technical suppliers Stage Electrics have supplied lighting for the event.

The design team from Jack Morton commissioned the lighting design team of Durham Marenghi and Associate Paul Cook to create the stunning visual effects. Stage Electrics' project manager Simon Baker headed the 10 man on site technical team installing the equipment in the

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UK - For the fifth year in succession Hawthorns were contracted by Worcester based DRP Group to supply some of the technical needs for Thomas Cook's annual overseas conference, held in Malta. This year's was different in many ways as they opted to use Malta's all new 130m x 50m structure, recently erected by Arena Structures.

Hawthorns were responsible for all the lighting, power, sound, trussing and drapes. Once again the structure had to be multi functional in terms of hosting conferences, talent shows and gala dinners, and the lighting and sound systems had to be versatile.

Because of this factor, Hawthorns sound designer, Iain Reinhold opted for the new Yamaha Digital desk, recently added to Hawthorns hire stock. The desk proved an invaluable tool, as it allowed Reinhold to store each show and recall them with minimum fuss.

A seven-man crew that included sound, lighting

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Slovakia - Top Slovakian TV Show Let's Dance is being lit with Robe moving lights, specified by lighting designer Martin Kubanka and supplied by leading lighting rental company Q-99.

The show is recorded live from the PKO Culture & Leisure Studios in Bratislava, produced by Oreo and broadcast live each week by the Markiza TV channel. It's Slovakia's first series of Let's Dance, which sees 10 celebrities from Slovakia and the Czech Republic pair up with dance professionals and demonstrate their skills on the dance-floor, with one couple voted off each week by the public.

Kubanka landed the lighting design role after his work on the Slovakian Superstar show for the same production company. On Let's Dance he is working with director Peter Nunes, DOP Jaroslav Zaman and set designer Daniel Sichman.

Q-99 first had to install 12 new rigging points in the

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USA - Nemetschek North America hasannounced the launch of vLearning webinars, a new virtual trainingseries delivered to VectorWorks users over the web using WebExtechnology. vLearning webinars provide VectorWorks users with convenienthour-long training sessions on a variety of VectorWorks topics,including instruction on how to use specific feature sets andfunctionality, as well as techniques and workflows to enhanceproductivity. Each session is live and concludes with time for questionsand answers.

"vLearning webinars are perfect for users who are looking for short,self-contained workshops on VectorWorks topics they'd like to learn moreabout, at their own convenience," says Frank Brault, Nemetschek NorthAmerica's director of training and technical support. "Our new virtualtraining series is designed as another option for users who might notprefer to devote several

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USA - Field Template has announced that they have entered into an agreement with Stage Research that will allow SoftPlot Version 9 to be exclusively equipped with Field Template's SoftSymbols. SoftPlot 9, a "significant upgrade" to Stage Research's lighting software, is scheduled for release at the USITT National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 2007.

This agreement lets Field Template realize one of their corporate goals according to Fred Allen, general partner of Field Template: "Since the beginning, our goal has been to distribute SoftSymbols across all CAD programs, striving to create a single symbol standard for the entire industry. This alliance with SoftPlot is a significant step towards achieving that goal."

SoftPlot is a Windows-based lighting design application that creates graphic light plots and support paperwork simultaneously in real t

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UK - This year's A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow is moving to a new purpose-built exhibition hall with 50% more space to facilitate an expanded exhibitor line-up and rising attendance levels, the company reports. The event takes place on 1-2 May in the new Saviles Hall at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, which is adjacent to the original location and now the city's largest exhibition venue.

As well as accommodating the show's expansion plans, the improved facilities also enable the organisers to provide the main exhibition, complementary theatre seminars programme and buffet lunch with a bar and dining area, all within the same hall.

Full show details will be confirmed in the coming months, but visitors can expect the same popular format, "including exclusive 1st UK showings of new products, the latest innovations from over 70 leading brands, one to one demonstrations a

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UK - The Sound Division Group has carried out a unique installation in London's Leicester Square, personalising 14 karaoke rooms (and three dining rooms) divided across three floors in the new K-Box. Each of K-Box's bookable rooms has its own local lighting control and operates independently.

While the karaoke equipment, including the 42" Samsung plasma screens, was supplied direct from KoD (Karaoke on Demand) in Hong Kong, The Sound Division Group were tasked with providing a custom-coloured LED solution in each room. They consulted with Ian Kirby's Lighting Effects Distribution to see how the company's X-Chip PCB-based RGB colour change LED could be rebated into the ceiling periphery of each room.

Each room has the ability to create individual mood settings using colour and music. For example for Hen parties a palate of reds is predominantly used, whilst for corporate e

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UK - In partnership with Philips, the inventor and global market leader on UHP projection lamp technology, Just Lamps is launching the Diamond Lamps series. The two new offerings under the Diamond Lamps banner have been developed to address lamp supply issues arising from a number of projector manufacturers either leaving the market or rationalising spares holdings, and to provide an ethical alternative to copy lamps.

Diamond Lamps are newly manufactured lamp modules designed to fit a range of historic Philips projector models, each utilising a Philips UHP lamp identical to that originally supplied in the projector. Diamond Re-Lamps are lamp modules created by removing the lamps from existing lamp modules, professionally refurbishing the housings and then re-fitting them with Philips UHP lamps identical to the originals.

Each lamp is a vital electrical component of a projector

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USA - Color Kinetics Inc and Lamina Ceramics Inc have announced the signing of a global licensing agreement. Lamina, a manufacturer of LED light engines, will have access to Color Kinetics' complete patent portfolio to continue the development and sale of its products worldwide.

Lamina offers multiple lines of LED light engine and driver OEM components directly to third-party manufacturers and through a network of distributors. Its components power the LED lighting fixtures of more than 100 companies. Through the agreement, Lamina can offer its customers a licensed solution that provides the valuable features made possible by digital intelligence, such as additive colour mixing through DMX control, among other innovations covered by Color Kinetics' patent portfolio. Lamina customers who develop fixtures based on the Color Kinetics-licensed components will be covered under Lamina

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UK - Leading UK entertainment lighting supplier White Light was recently called upon to design, supply, install and run the lighting, sound and video equipment for the UK launch of SuperJANET5, the latest version of the Joint Academic Network - the network backbone which connects the UK's universities to each other and to the Internet.

The launch event - a dinner with presentations - took place in the Energy Hall and the Making of the Modern World Gallery at the Science Museum in London, one of the London venues for which White Light is an approved supplier. The Science Museum was open to the public on the day of the event, and no equipment could be visible until the public had departed for the day - just an hour before the guests started arriving for the event itself, which did complicate proceedings.

White Light's project manager Steve Richardson, worked with the Science Mu

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UK - Over 70 i-Pix Satellite LED fixtures are installed into the set at the National Lottery Draw studios at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, for the BBC's twice-weekly event. They were specified by lighting designer Tom Kinane.

The Lottery represents Kinane's first use of Satellites - the installation has been active since July, shortly after the fixture was first launched by the new company i-Pix. They'd been recommended by several colleagues including moving light programmer and operator Svend Pedersen, who is also an LD and worked closely with Kinane to set up the Lottery show.

The Lottery set is designed by Simon Kemble, and Kinane needed to light this very evenly with a colour changing wash fixture. Satellites were chosen for several reasons, a major one being their robust build quality and low maintenance requirements. This was an essential consideration with the ins

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UK - Lighting designers and programmers can now realise their vision with greater accuracy than ever before, thanks to PRG Europe's investment in ESP Vision software.

The software was added to PRG Europe's pre-production portfolio following a request from Marc Brickman, who is working with programmer Mark "Sparky" Risk on the lighting for Roger Waters' worldwide tour. Brickman and Risk are also using ESP with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo's current tour.

"Marc and I asked for ESP as we've used it on previous tours and love it," explains Sparky, who is lighting director for Roger Waters and programmer together with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo. "Marc's based in LA, and using a standard broadband internet connection on his Mac PowerBook, he can see exactly what I'm seeing on screen. It means we don't have to take a long flight to meet one another, and nor do we

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UK - Adlib Lighting held a week of WholeHog training seminars at their premises in Liverpool, which proved a great success, attracting people from a wide cross section of the industry.

The two 2-day courses - which were completely free and aimed at all levels expertise - included WholeHog users, programmers and operators, and were designed to be hands-on, covering High End's popular WholeHog control range, specifically the WholeHog 3 and the Hog iPC.

The courses were deliberately restricted to six people each to ensure that everyone received enough individual attention and sufficient time on the consoles. "We also used it as an opportunity to discuss people's constantly evolving operating and programming needs and expectations," says Pete Abraham, Adlib's head of lighting. High End Systems' Frank Schotman and Adlib's in house lighting designer Ian Tomlinson were on h

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USA - Chris Parry, who had a distinguished career as a lighting designer in both the UK and US, died unexpectedly on January 16. He was 56. Born in Manchester, England, he grew in the town of Welsh Pool and began his career as a telephone engineer. His work in amateur theatricals led to a strong interest in lighting; he joined Royal Shakespeare Company as an electrician. He remained with RSC for 13 years, becoming assistant head of lighting, then a designer.

An early success with Royal Shakespeare was Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which earned him his first Tony nomination (in association with Beverly Emmons). The production established him as a major designer at the RSC, and was followed by such productions as The Plantagenets, which combined Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays and parts of Richard III, The Blue Ange

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USA - Bandit Lites added a substantial amount of new equipment to their inventory as 2006 drew to a close. After examining the upcoming needs for 2007, Bandit worked withvarious manufacturers and purchased several million dollars worth of inventory.

New equipment includes: Vari*Lite VL 3000s, Martin MAC 2000s, Coemar Infinitys, CoemarHalos, Grand MA Consoles, PixelRange PixelLines, DF- 50s, Compulite Vector Consolesand a large quantity of related support equipment.

The recent additions were initially intended to fulfill needs well into 2007 but due to theglobal workload, Bandit has already used the majority of the recently purchasedinventory. As a result, Bandit has begun purchasing additional equipment to fulfill all ofits current and potential lighting obligations.

With nominations for Lighting Company of the Year from Pollstar and Total Production,the future is bri

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UAE - Dubai-based production company HQ Creative, working closely with Done Events, delivered the opening ceremony of the 18th Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City Stadium. The show, conceived by HQ's creative director Katie Veira, was a 37-minute mixed media spectacular, and the largest opening event to date for a football tournament.

The performance featured 1200 live performers, 55 horses and an international production team of over 400, working with around 1700 local crew over the build period. The show was enjoyed live by 55,000 excited spectators and a TV audience of 50 million who tuned in to Dubai Sports.

The building of the complex technical infrastructure was co-ordinated by production director Jo Marshall, working with his key HQ team including project manager Jo MacKay, production co-ordinators Ian Greenway, Candice Dalziel, Nadine Manning and site manager Nig

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USA - In one of the most anticipated tours of 2006, Barbara Streisand, hit North American venues last autumn in her first U.S. tour since 1994 and the first live events since her farewell concerts in 1999. Sharing the stage with the iconic singer was operatic pop group Il Divo.

Billed as an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues, the show was heavy on standard classics. Streisand left it up to lighting designer Peter Morse to "create the moods with light. I've been with Barbra for quite some time - she trusts me and lets me do my thing," he says.

Streisand played in the round with very limited scenery. The stage was an open platform with long, tiered, lit runways surrounding a full symphony orchestra. "The stage design was basically a square with a pit in the middle," Morse explains. "I used a series of square trusses above and dropped

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UK - Plans for a National Skills Academy for the creative and cultural industries have been boosted with the addition of more influential supporters. PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - is the latest organisation to join the unprecedented alliance of employers and industry bodies backing the project.

The Academy is designed to address shortages in offstage and technical skills for live music and the performing arts. Detailed plans being prepared by Creative & Cultural Skills, the employer-led Sector Skills Council, will be submitted to the government in April 2007.

"PLASA's support is hugely significant," says Tom Bewick, chief executive of Creative and Cultural Skills. "Its wide membership of leading specialists in professional audio, lighting, staging, rigging, communications and related disciplines fully understands what skills are neede

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USA - Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) began a year-long celebration of its 50th anniversary with a cocktail party on 42nd Street in New York City. The event was held in the Penthouse Lobby at the American Airlines Theatre on Monday 15 January. The party was attended by over 250 guests including architects, theatre and entertainment professionals, TPC clients both past and present, acousticians, theatre consultants, TPC alumni, the media, and other friends of TPC.

Speeches and toasts were made by Emmy and Tony-winning set and costume designer Tony Walton, theatre architect Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration, and Richard Pilbrow, TPC Founder and Chairman Emeritus.

TPC was the theatre design consultant for the renovation of the American Airlines Theatre (formerly the Selwyn Theatre) which reopened in 2000 and is now home to the Roundabout Theatre Company.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - When Autosports International needed a special effect to open the high-octane event in the Live Action Arena at the NEC early this month, it was Laser Hire Ltd that they turned to. Laser Hire used four laser systems including a truss mounted 10W DPSS laser system controlled by a laptop, running Pangolyn laser 2000 and a Magnum III controller running three laser outputs 'live'.

Each of the 14 live shows started by the laser systems simulating the stage being cut away to release the Red Bull F1 car. Cutting 'sparks' were also produced by Laser Hire Ltd using various pyrotechinc effects through a running sequence from a pyromate control system to match the moving laser beam projected from the truss. The car was then raised to the centre of the stage through a cloud of smoke, creating a truly Bond like effect to start the thrilling live event in front of a packed house of over

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  2. I-Pix Satellites for Audi
  3. Kramer CAD library supports AV system design
  4. A Wireless Solution for Maidstone
  5. Jonathan Speirs praises PALME lighting Initiatives
  6. Lighting Design consultancies merge
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