Lighting

Details
UK - Lighting, dimming and controls manufacturer ETC has released dates of training sessions for its Congo, Eos and Ion control desks at its training theatre - The Playhouse at Gypsy Corner in west London.

Only six or eight places are available for each course, with a maximum of two people per desk, so each student will get plenty of hands on use. All the courses are free and include lunch.

Introduction to Ion and Introduction to Eos courses being held in mid January, February and March both teach the basics and nuances of these control systems. Students will learn to programme conventional and moving lights, work with palletised data, groups and submasters, and learn to create cues and use effects.

If you are about to become a Congo or Congo jr user, you can learn to use those desks in a hands-on, user-friendly environment with a two day introductory course at the end of No

Details
USA - Jackson Browne launched his 2008-2009 world tour in support of his first album of new material in six years, Time The Conqueror. For the first time, Browne is using LED lighting on his stage.

Lighting director Dave Davidian put together a rig that includes 20 Elation Impression LED moving heads and 180 American DJ 64B LED Pro par cans. According to Davidian, Browne himself was "pivotal" in the decision to switch to LEDs.

"Jackson was very pro-active in looking for LEDs, because he's a very green-oriented person," said Davidian, who has worked for Browne since 1990. "He felt this would be a way to save power and do the right thing as far as his beliefs were concerned. For myself, I was curious about LEDs too."

Davidian selected products from Elation and its sister company American DJ on the basis of recommendation from his supplier,

Details
Canada - Club manager Todd Williams describes Canada's On The Rocks Nightclub and Bar in Fort St. John, British Columbia as an uptown, big city themed club in a small town setting. That big city feel is due in large part to a Martin lighting effects package of smartMAC moving heads and Mania series effect lights.

The venue, a former restaurant converted to nightclub use, lies in British Columbia's sparsely populated north and features the biggest dance room in a 350 km radius.

Spaced evenly around the perimeter of a 21' x 21' truss suspended 16ft above the club's dance floor are Martin smartMACs, Mania SCX600 scanners and Mania EFX700 and Mania EFX800 effect lights. Surrounding a cluster of 17 mirror balls at the centre of the truss are Atomic strobes and Mania EFX500 effect lights.

Dispersed around the club's ancillary areas and providing a splash of wall décor are M

Details
UK - When Coldplay decided they wanted 'Magic Balls' for their Viva la Vida World Tour, XL Video turned to Pufferfish to provide a custom solution. Pufferfish designed and delivered six new 'PufferSphere XL' touring units within the space of two months.

Lighting designer Paul Normandale was tasked with devising a new means of integrating the visual components for the current Viva la Vida tour.

"For my part the band's desire for a viewing surface without the use of LEDs, was an interesting challenge, and one for which the Pufferfish system of internal projection provided a unique solution," states Normandale. "It allows not only media content, but also live relay footage (via the Hippotizers) in large scale arenas worldwide."

In all, six PufferSpheres were commissioned for the tour, forming a major part of the overall visual design as well as

Details
UK - A co-production between the BBC and Metropolis Music, the 2008 BBC Electric Proms was staged last month at London's Roundhouse and featured a broad spread of contemporary music acts.

All lighting was supplied by High Wycombe-based Siyan for the third consecutive year. Lighting director Bryan Leitch utilised 16 i-Pix BB7 LED wash lights and 20 BB4s. Leitch came up with an original design concept that was developed by himself and Nick Whitehouse who produced all the technical drawings and programmed the show together with Leitch.

The design was shaped to fit the natural architecture of the building, accentuating the curves and spheres of the quirky Victorian former train-turning shed. The creative goal was to provide a dynamic multi-layered visual backdrop for the myriad of artists appearing over five all-action days of performance, including headline slots by Oasis, Burt B

Details
Netherlands / Belgium - Fred Heuves, CMO of the Ampco Flashlight Group, has announced his retirement from the Group, effective 1 January 2009.

In a statement to company staff, industry colleagues and the media he said: "After working in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years, of which the last 18 years have been within the Ampco Flashlight Group, I have decided the time has come to slow down and make room for the talented new generation within the Group, and I've therefore decided to leave the company on 1st January 2009.

"It has been an exciting period and looking back at how we started and what has been accomplished, not only in the industry in general but also within the Ampco Flashlight Group in particular, I feel a modest pride for all of us in this industry and in the Ampco Flashlight Group."

Fred's roots in the industry reach back to 1976 wit

Details
New Zealand - Selecon has launched launch a completely redesigned website (www.seleconlight.com ).

Navigation around the wide range of product information and support together with the extensive technical and educational resources that the site contains has been made simpler and easier, says the company.

New back-end enhancements allow for a more flexible operation of the Selecon site with a new 'search' function on products by either family name or luminaire type via the Support section in the main menu bar. This function is a one-click way to pull a quick overview, lighting calculator, specifications, downloads, related products and accessories together in one place for the product which is of interest.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Lamplighters Limited has appointed Shelley Davies as sales co-ordinator to assist in the future development of both sales and office procedures within the company.

(Jim Evans)

Details
Germany - Independent LED specialist displayLED has announced the launch of its first dedicated mainland Europe operations, displayLED GmbH. This will be operated by ex-Lighthouse Technologies sales director Michiel Hettinga and his team including Jens Schelde, Maarten Hettinga, Stephan Krebernik and Jochen Knoll and will have a clear focus on the rental and staging, sports and digital out of home markets.

"displayLED's international business has grown steadily over the last five years and we have identified a need to provide our customers with local sales and technical support," says CEO, Graham Burgess. "The opportunity to add the experience of Michiel and his colleagues to the displayLED team was too good to miss. Furthermore, displayLED GmbH's base is ideally positioned to service central and western Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.

Details
UK - Lighting designer Arturo Ollandini is utilising Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500 moving lights in his design for comedy duo The Mighty Boosh, currently enjoying a successful UK tour.

The show, produced by Phil McIntyre Entertainments, is a mix of comedy and music which, lighting wise, had all the requirements of rock 'n' roll with a bit of camp and a generous scoop of theatre.

It is Ollandini's second Boosh tour. He was left to his own creative devices to come up with a flexible rig that fitted in around the centre-stage set, built on a revolve with set dressing one side and musicians on the reverse.

He chose an all moving light rig because parts of the show were still "work in progress" and constantly changing when they first hit the road, so he needed complete adaptability to go with the flow and modify lighting at any point.

The front truss contains five

Details
UK - Willie Williams - best known for his colossal show designs for U2, R.E.M., George Michael and others - has created an exhibition of 'light paintings', in a unique solo exhibition at Wallspace, the art venue at All Hallows on the Wall, in the heart of the City of London. 'Lumia Domestica' runs until 12 December.

Williams' work with light and visual media, creating unique installations and performance environments, often on a huge scale, has been highly regarded as both conceptually and technologically groundbreaking. Wired magazine ranked him one of the top 25 visionaries in entertainment in 2000.

Williams' ideas have always demonstrated the influence of a vigorous engagement with art. For example in 1997, he and U2 met and collaborated with Roy Lichtenstein, Alan Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Howard Finster, as well as the estates of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, to cre

Details
UK - French lantern manufacturer Robert Juliat, has provided a full complement of lighting equipment to Curve, the new theatre in Leicester, which opened this November. Robert Juliat fixtures supplied include long-throw profile lanterns, follow spots, and fresnel- and pebble-convex lens spotlights - including the versatile Lutin with interchangeable lenses.

Designed by renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, Curve Leicester features two auditoria: a main auditorium of 800 fixed seats and a smaller versatile space of 400 seats. 32 tonne steel walls separate the stage from the foyer and can be lifted out to make the stage visible from street level. The open plan foyer is enclosed by a glass façade offering views onto the café, bars and across the stage. The resulting transparency reflects the concept behind the design, which is to make the arts accessible to the public at every

Details
UK - German searchlight and large lightsource specialist A&O Technology has opened a UK rental operation to compliment its facilities in Europe, the US and the Middle East.

A&O UK's warehouse will carry an extensive stock of its Falcon Architectural and Entertainment product ranges, and will be based in Blackburn, Lancashire, with easy transport links to all the UK and Ireland. A London office is scheduled to be announced, to provide a central administrative base for the new venture.

HSL will provide service and technical support. HSL currently holds the largest stock of A&O's Falcon range fixtures in the country, and has worked extensively with this technology for the last three years.

Marco Niedermeier, MD of A&O says: "This is a perfect opportunity to strengthen our worldwide business and commercial network. It will allow us to continue expanding the continuity of se

Details
In and out of court - The legal dispute over a music contract between Michael Jackson and an Arab sheikh has ended with an "amicable settlement", their lawyers have said. Jackson had been due to fly in to give evidence at the High Court before an agreement in principle was reached. The King of Bahrain's son, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, was suing Jackson for £4.7m, claiming he reneged on a music contract.

The court was told on Monday that the agreement would remain confidential. Bankim Thanki QC, for the sheikh, told the judge: "We are very pleased to announce an amicable settlement has been reached on confidential terms." Lawyers for both sides then went into conference before releasing a joint statement which simply said: "They wish each other well in their own respective endeavours." Leaving the High Court on Monday, a spoke

Details
UK - LSI Online has learned the sad news of the death of Robert Ornbo, one of the most prolific lighting designers of the 20th Century. Here, his friend and colleague Richard Pilbrow remembers Robert's career:

Robert Ornbo was a brilliant and prolific lighting designer, whose work on over 300 productions ranged across drama, musicals, opera and ballet to events such as the Edinburgh Tattoo, the Royal Tournament, the naming ceremonies of ocean-going liners and events at Buckingham Place for the Royal Family. His influence has had a profound impact on theatrical lighting over the last 50 years.

Robert was the first lighting designer to join Richard Pilbrow in the fledgling company Theatre Projects in 1960 and he became managing director of Theatre Projects Lighting during its heyday when its team of lighting designers, who included Robert Bryan, John B. Read, David Hersey and An

Details
Brazil - Martin Professional has appointed Pro Shows Comércio de Eletroeletrônicos Ltda as its new distributor in Brazil. The agreement, which makes Pro Shows Martin's official representative in the country, became effective in early September.

Located in the city of São Leopoldo, Pro Shows was founded in 2003. "We are very pleased to have Pro Shows as our new representative in Brazil and are confident we can re-establish Martin as the preferred lighting brand in the Brazilian market," said Martin area sales manager Peter Dahlin. "Our new cooperation will be kick started with a road show to the major cities in Brazil at the end of November and in early December."

Pro Shows president, Vladimir de Souza, has a long history in the industry, having founded the company on the values of service, teamwork, trust and dedication. He commented on the new par

Details
USA - LEDtronics recently celebrated its first 25 years of solid-state lighting design since the enterprise's founding by Pervaiz and Almas Lodhie. During the anniversary event at their Torrance, California, headquarters, LEDtronics executives thanked employees and customers for making possible the company's successes to date, and for providing advanced technological opportunities for future achievements.

"My wife and I began this as a cottage industry in a suburban garage in 1983, finding buyers among the local aerospace firms," Pervaiz Lodhie, the company's president, explained. "We've grown into a multimillion dollar manufacturer with over 300 employees, with a 63,000sq.ft facility in California and a second plant in Karachi, Pakistan. We're a world-leading supplier of lamps using up-to-date light-emitting diode [LED] technology with a global network of sales r

Details
World Since ETC introduced its compact new Ion lighting control desk a year ago, orders have come in from around the world. Nearly 1,000 new end users have invested in the system, ranging from traditional mid-sized theatres, to independent contractors who own their own Ions.

Lighting designer Tim Edwards of TS Lighting in west London uses an Ion for control on all of his shows. On a recent production of the musical Godspell , Edwards used the Ion to control conventionals, scrollers, Studio Colors and hazers. "ETC has really hit the nail on the head," says Edwards. "The Ion has been a joy to use. One of the major benefits for me is its effects generator. I can very quickly create and adapt existing effects to get stunning results. The offline editor is another extremely useful tool that enables me to programme shows while on the move, via my laptop. "

Details
Germany - W-DMX is once again gracing the stages of German musical theatre. Following a successful run with Wicked - The Witches of Oz, the system is being used on another popular musical, Ich Will Spaß ("I want to have fun!").

The 80s period will be revived in the Colosseum Theater Essen. The lighting rig will include 83 moving lights (amongst them 49 Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot and Wash units), plus 99 ETC Source Fours. To represent the colourful feel of the 80's, the stage is dominated by a giant Rubik's Cube equipped with 293 MR16s, custom created for the set design, with 197 LED/RGB-Modules built in. The 950sq.ft (88sq.m) large video wall is one of the largest moving screens in German staging. Furthermore, the edge of the stage is fitted with 54 B250 LED stripes from Schnick-Schnack-Systems. Power and data distribution for the lighting of the Rubik's Cube

Details
UK Eastern-themed cocktail bar, Orchid, in London's Leicester Square recently underwent an interior redesign using Tryka LED lighting modules.

Pembroke Design carried out the interior refurbishment, while the technical brief was interpreted by EM-Communications' Ed Manwaring, who says: "Tryka produces quality LED lighting units that are so robust and reliable you can 'install and forget', which is why I always specify them. Knowing that they're unlikely to encounter any problems frees me to focus on the next Tryka installation."

The original brief was to create a friendly and welcoming entrance lobby while softening some of the venue's more industrial features - the main smoke extractor for the Trocadero Centre, which is above the bar, forms a now-concealed element of Orchid's ceiling.

Mirror mosaics were used on the walls to brighten the entrance stairs, which fol

Details
UK - Lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, will showcase a wide range of control system elements and software that enable advanced levels of lighting control, and seamless integration at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2009 exhibition.

According to Paul Wilmshurst, managing director Dynalite Europe, fully integrated control systems are becoming more prevalent across both residential and commercial sectors. "There is a real demand for integrated lighting control systems that can incorporate third-party control elements, such as audio-visual, curtains, blinds and temperature control systems," he said. "From a commercial building perspective, integration with systems incorporating Ethernet backbones, such as building management systems provides hotels, offices and residential complexes with installation and control flexibility. Dynalite is one of the f

Details
Slovakia - Over 100 Robe moving lights were used to light Cat Girls, a new Slovakian TV project launched "to find the sexiest girl in the country".

Lighting for the show, staged in the Expo Arena in Bratislava in front of an enthusiastic live audience and broadcast live on Slovakia's Markiza network, was designed by Martin Kubánka, who was brought onboard by production company MAYA. All lighting and sound equipment for the event was supplied by Q-99, and it was one of the biggest TV productions yet seen in the country in terms of lighting and video technology.

Kubánka's creative challenge included producing an integrated lighting and video design that looked equally as good on camera as it did for the live audience, and that also fulfilled the usual demands of 'light entertainment' television. He worked closely with show director Karol Vosátko, camera direc

Details
UK - Stage Electrics supported World Diabetes Day by lighting up the Liverpool Playhouse in blue. The historic Grade II listed theatre was lit in blue for one evening only as part of the Monument Challenge. World Diabetes Day Monument Challenge involves iconic buildings and landmarks around the world lighting up in blue as beacons of hope for the millions of people worldwide living with diabetes.

The event coincided with the production of Horrid Henry! - Live and Horrid presented by Watershed Productions in association with Sheffield Theatres. Stage Electrics provided a selection of Lee Filters Gel along with 10 150W MBI floods with blue lamps to create the blue effect. The floods provided worked alongside existing exterior lighting.

Robert Longthorne, building development director at the Liverpool Playhouse comments, "With Stage Electrics' generous help, we rose t

Details
World - Celine Dion's Taking Chances tour takes in five continents, 24 countries, 84 towns and features 124 shows. Lighting designer Yves Aucoin uses an MA Lighting grandMA system composed of one grandMA full-size plus one as back-up, one grandMA replay-unit, seven MA NSPs and four MA 2Port Nodes.

The lighting rig controlled by the grandMA includes 188 x Ayrton Dreampanel Floor 256, 122 x Ayrton Moduled 150 AWW, 48 x Ayrton Arcaline 50 RGB, 24 x Ayrton Dreampanel Wall 64, 1.080 x Element Labs Stealth LED-modules, 88 x Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot, 32 x VL2500 spot, 22 x VL3500 wash, 18 x VL3000 Wash and eight Robert Juliat Cyrano follow spots.

Jamie King works as show director, Louis-Philippe Gaudreau operates the grandMA. Francois Desjardins is working as FOH-technician. Solotech delivered the lighting equipment. David Bergeron is the project manager for Solotech.

(Jim Evan

  1. Chroma-Q LEDs shed light on Bond at Harrods
  2. Scorpions add XL factor in MInsk
  3. ETC shows commitment to education
  4. BCi's Pocket Console goes wireless
  5. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  6. Robert Juliat plays major role in Armenia
Page 786 of 1201

Latest Issue. . .