Lighting

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UK - The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) has recently been updated to provide extra protection to the Partially Sighted, putting emphasis on both the illumination of Stairs and making columns and pillars in public areas more visually apparent. Light Tape can assist in both these areas with cost-effective simple solutions, says UK supplier Light Tape UK.

PolyLight is a new electro-luminescent (EL) product aimed at improving safety by making steps, stairways and other features more visible. It is available in a variety of sizes with ether 12mm and 25mm illuminated strips for both indoor and outdoor stairs with six grades of anti-slip, in a variety of colours for both the anti-slip insert and the Light Tape. PolyLight's connections are embedded in resin, making the product waterproof for outdoor use.

PolyLight anti-slip illuminated inserts have been developed primarily to fit

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UK - When the Imago art gallery in the heart of London's art centre underwent a recent refurbishment, they called on specialist contractor PEL Services to design, install and commission state of the art audio-visual, fire detection and security systems into its new contemporary art gallery.

The sophisticated new audio-visual systems feature the latest technology but have been designed by PEL to be easy to use. A Bose Professional Freespace 3 multi-zone, multi-floor sound system was installed, together with a Crestron control system for flexibility and ease of use. Each floor of the gallery can play different music, allowing the gallery space to be utilised to the maximum.

Music can be played via the five-disc CD player installed or using the iPod docking bay - simply drop an iPod into the unit and immediately play music throughout the system direct from it. In addition to the

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UK - Stage Electrics' most recent addition to its extensive hire portfolio is the latest lighting console from Zero 88, the ORB. This latest offering joins an expanding list of lighting control available to hire from Stage Electrics, and answers the recent demand from customers requiring a professional end market product for their theatre productions. Stage Electrics is also the first hire specialist to add this advanced theatrical lighting console to its rental stock.

The ORB has been designed for 21st century theatrical lighting control, with 2048 DMX control channels allowing users to control multiple LED fittings, intelligent lights or media servers controlling video, as well as the standard generic dimming systems common to theatres and television. The console has recently proved popular on a variety of Stage Electrics' Pie and Pint events across the UK, where Zero 8

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UK - History came alive in a big way on September 17th at the world premiere of Ben Hur Live at London's O2 Arena, a musical behemoth that features a cast of 400, ship battle, real chariot races and a lighting rig of more than 200 Martin MAC 2000 Wash XB, MAC 2000 Profile and MAC III Profile moving heads.

The adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1959 film, which was based on the 1880 novel by Lewis Wallace, is produced by Franz Abraham with music by The Police's Stewart Copeland. The spectacular stage design is the creation of Mark Fisher and Ray Winkler with tour production by Art Concerts GmbH, a world leader in the production and distribution of monumental musical productions.

Lighting design is by one of the industry's top designers, Patrick Woodroffe, who worked with associate LD Adam Bassett to paint the expansive scenes in luminous colour and pattern.

German Produce

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UK - On 27 September, lighting designer Jeff Atkisson positioned himself behind a Martin Maxxyz lighting console in London's Royal Albert Hall, ready to light the 10th Anniversary celebration of Sing Live a concert consisting of over 600 singers.

"It was at times overwhelming, but also amazing knowing that I was walking into the Royal Albert Hall, yet completely prepared for the show before it even happened."

Atkisson's confidence stems from pre-visualization and pre-programming prep work done weeks before and an ocean away on a Martin Maxxyz lighting console. Atkisson programmed 100 moving lights and 200 conventional lights in Orlando, Florida on Martin's ShowDesigner lighting and set design visualizer, which was connected to a Maxxyz console.

"Programming 100 moving lights on a visualizer for one of the biggest venues in the world was probably one of

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Germany - The International Motor Show or Internationale Automobil Ausstellung (IAA) is the world's largest motor show and is held biennially in Frankfurt.

This year's show again saw some very innovative booth designs - based on sophisticated lighting designs and new construction techniques. One such design characterised the booth of Daimler AG.

Responsible for the lighting design was Richard Profe of TLD Planungsgruppe, who worked with his assistant lighting designer, Alex Orkisch and used a grandMA system to control more than 500 moving lights.

Programmer Demfis Fyssicopulos reports: "As usual it was an absolute pleasure to work with Richard and the team at TLD. Daimler AG took up the entire Frankfurt arena (Festhalle) for their booth. It was dominated by 45,000sq.ft of canvas that formed a majestic cone and funnel structure with lighting, projection and

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France - Robe lighting's Robin 300 Plasma Spot fixture has won one of the Trophées 2009 Siel Satis Awards (Entertainment category) which was presented at the Paris SIEL & Satis Le Radio 2009 entertainment technology trade show in Paris last week. Robe was exhibiting in conjunction with its French distributor Axente.

This follows hot on the heels of winning a PLASA Award for Innovation at the London show in September.

The Robin 300 Plasma Spot was one of 59 products nominated for Les Trophées, which was judged by the combination of 11 leading independent industry experts and an online vote by members of the public.

The Robin 300 Plasma Spot - also being shown for the first time in France at the exhibition - was chosen for its innovation, and for bringing a new and dynamic dimension in lighting to visual and lighting designers working in all areas o

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Live on Line - U2 have broadcast an entire live show via the video sharing website YouTube. Although 96,000 people turned up to see the show at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California, many times that number were expected to have watched it online. As he took to the stage, lead singer Bono said: "Thank you Los Angeles. Thanks to everyone watching on YouTube all over the world - seven continents."

Cancelled Concerts - Sir Elton John has cancelled his concert at Wembley Arena tonight (Tuesday), the third gig he has been forced to shelve after contracting flu. Promoters said it is "hoped he will make a speedy recovery". A concert in Liverpool on Wednesday is still scheduled to go ahead. The singer scrapped Friday's gig in Sheffield and Saturday's in Newcastle after he was told to rest by doctors. Promoters are trying to reschedule the Wembley concert for a d

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Canada - Cast Software of Toronto has received confirmation of International Patent PCT/CA2009/001225 for its BlackBox system and method for realtime environment tracking and coordination - and thereby this filing conforms with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Switzerland. This international patent filing for BlackBox is in addition to the filing #12/421,343 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Through the realtime positioning, BlackBox receives and converts live positional data about any/many moving objects, establishes the exact 6D positions of those objects, computes instructions in XYZ, plus yaw, pitch and roll terms, and shoots out moving positional information so moving lights, set pieces, spatial sound, media servers, robotic cameras, etc. are synchronized and tracking to the action of those moving objects, all at a speed of 50 Hz.

Bru

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UK - Adlib Lighting continues its working relationship with Enter Shikari, supplying lighting equipment and crew for the current UK tour.

The project is being managed for Adlib by John Hughes, and Enter Shikari's lighting design has been created by Steve Bewley, who has been onboard with the band since March this year.

Hughes says: "It's great to be on the road with Shikari again - they are one of the most exciting bands of the moment. Steve has put together an imaginative, great looking and very practical design, which works well in all venues whatever the available stage space."

Bewley's starting point was in devising a rig that matched the massive energy, breakneck pace and highly animated performance of the band, and in helping transmit this vibe from the stage and into the audience. He also wanted something that looked completely different to their last tour,

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Belarus - A number of rock bands passing through Belarus recently have taken advantage of fixtures from PR Lighting - supplied by the Chinese manufacturer's territory distributors, FE Belimlight.

The company's Maxim Yugov confirms that automated fixtures such as the XL1500 are becoming increasingly popular for their output, flexibility, advanced features and superior colour saturation.

FE Belimlight stock more than a hundred of these heads, which utilise a powerful 1500W short arc discharge lamp, optimised by the use of a high quality and efficient optical system. This makes it one of the brightest projectors in the market.

The highlight of the touring season was British rock singer, Chris Norman's appearance at the Mir Castle complex in Belarus - a stunning gothic building (and UNESCO World Heritage site) which dates back to the 15th century.

Norman's lightshow included 4

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Kenya - The Gearhouse South Africa Group of companies supplied rigging, lighting, audio, LED screens and power distribution for the 2009 MTV African Music Awards, staged at the Kasarani Gymnasium at the Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. The project entailed air freighting 55,000 Kgs of equipment from South Africa.

The Gearhouse crew was led by Bill Lawford who collaborated closely with Simon Roche, logistics manager from production company VWV, together with an international production team primarily from the UK, including lighting designer/director Gurdip Mahal, moving light programmer/operator Ross Williams, FOH sound engineer Derrick Zieba and screens director Chris Saunders from XL Video UK.

Gearhouse also asked UK lighting rental company HSL to supply additional lighting equipment and technician Tim Oliver for the event. Gearhouse has a long standing relati

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USA - The new Emulation Control Software from Elation Professional is the next generation in software lighting control. It has all of the functional features that lighting professionals are accustomed to working with, says the company, like cue-lists, fixture groups, playbacks and globals but there is one big difference - they can run it on a Mac OS platform from the start. And, they won't have to spend a king's ransom for this privilege either.

"In the past lighting professionals had limited choices when it came to lighting control software," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "We have been getting requests for years for a MAC OS lighting software from both Pro Lighting users and Musicians who all own MAC computers. Sure they could run their lighting software on a Windows platform by using a third party software and then go through the

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UK - Tower Productions, which provides a range of services to the live event production industry including lighting hire, rigging, power generation and power distribution, recently completed a heating, lighting and power installation at the O2 Arena in London for the Gymnastics World Championships. The company deployed white 18kW electric heaters as no oil-fired equipment was allowed in the area.

"12 of these units and 40 400W white lo-bays ensured the practice area was warm and bright. The electric heaters are ideal for this type of installation as they are small, smart, reliable, fuel and fume-free and easy for the user to operate without and standby personnel," noted crew chief Andy Sharman.

(Lee Baldock)

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Germany - Lighting designer Martin Kuhn included 80 Infinity ACL Coemar moving heads in his lighting rig for Nature One 2009. Under the slogan Smile is the answer, a record number of over 60,000 revellers attended this year's Nature One 2009, probably the biggest electronic music festival in Germany, held on the former Pydna missile base, near Kastellaun, Hunsrück.

Since 1995 DJs from all around the world play the event and every year the audience also gets spoiled by the technical side, with powerful audio and a stunning light show. This year the technical service Satis & Fy from Werne, inspired by lighting designer Martin Kuhn included 80 Infinity ACL Coemar Moving Heads.

This spotlight with its extremely tight-emitting characteristics provided an impressive beam show over the heads of the dancers on the main floor.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) is inviting an expression of interest from live events production companies to provide the production services for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

LOCOG is seeking a highly experienced live events production company who have Olympic, Paralympic or large scale events experience to provide administrative and production services to the Creative Directors of the four ceremonies. The Creative Directors will be recruited directly by LOCOG through a separate process and so creative content proposals are not being sought from potential production companies. The chosen production company will manage and execute the production process from conception to delivery.

Bill Morris, LOCOG Director of Culture, Ceremonies & Education said: "The

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Israel - Compulite has released the latest version of its Vector software, 3.17.R04, which features performance and usability enhancements, as well as fixes which resolve issues with the GUI.

Performance enhancements include Improved redraw of views when 'File Attachment' is visible in the Master PB Cue sheet; 'Update dialog' now opens faster for large show files on VxWorks consoles; 'Graphic Time-line Editing' is now faster, while the CPU requirement of the Graphic Time Line itself has been reduced by two-thirds.

Among the bug fixes, system settings are loaded correctly on Compulite mode in VxWorks Consoles, enhancements to the Hippo v3 thumbnail integration, plus fixes to the highlight/lowlight palette and fixture cloning.

New features include the ability to load ASCII show files (in the USITT Standard Protocol only) directly to the Vector via the Vector 'Open' menu, and t

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Greece - Clay Paky's Alpha Profile 1200 fixtures were used during a National Theatre production of Phèdre at the famed Epidaurus theatre in Greece, as part of the Athens Festival.

The 15,000-seat Epidaurus theatre, designed in the 4th century BC, is known for its symmetry and beauty and marvelled for its exceptional acoustics, which allow the entire audience, regardless of their seat, to clearly hear a performer's unamplified voice from the stage. Although most ambient noise is absorbed by the limestone construction, it is still important to use equipment that can operate quietly.

Lighting designer Paule Constable explained, "Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200 were used as front light specials placed amongst the crowd, so the low noise was a major consideration. We used the shuttering to pick out elements on the stage with great accuracy. They also proved reliabl

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Germany - More than 60,000 guests attended the fifth edition of the RPR1 Rhineland-Palatinate Open-Air festival in Mainz with Actionlight Veranstaltungstechnik of Koblenz providing a host of Martin gear as the main technical services provider for the event (lighting, creative video and live video).

Some 28 Martin LC Series LED panels, hung at varying levels, dominated the stage design. As the festival required an extremely convertible stage design, the LC panels served as backline cover for the main acts and then were quickly arranged in a new configuration.

A Martin Maxedia media server composed and animated the video content while Martin's new P3-100 Controller proved itself a very capable, intelligent interface for extremely smooth and fluid imagery. The operator was confronted with a special challenge as the set lists were available only a few minutes before the pe

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South Africa - Denis Hutchinson designed both set and lighting for Brothers in Blood at the Market Theatre using the new Robe DT 3000s - a first for South African theatre - as well as a grandMA full size console. DWR Distribution comment: "We will attempt to capture all Hutch' had to say during a recent interview, as we without question, could not word it better ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing how Robe technology brought a new dynamic to the production and set design."

Hutchinson says: "Brothers in Blood deals with very emotive issues; it's set in Cape Town in the nineties and deals with people trapped in the crossfire of the vigilante groups of the time of which Pagad was the best known.

"I've known Greg Hamonn, the director; for a long time but it was the first time we'd worked together and it proved to be a really good worki

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Australia - The musical Wicked is now playing Sydney's Capitol Theatre. The lighting design is the work of Kenneth Posner who won a Tony Award for his effort. Posner opts for a Vari*Lite rig.

"I chose Vari*Lite fixtures for the design of Wicked because of the large number of pattern options and the colours, especially the warm pastel range," Kenneth Posner says. "The colour of the set is actually grey and earth toned. All the colour you see the scenery bathed in comes from lighting."

A total of 93 Vari*Lites are used, consisting of VL2500 and VL3000 Spots. The conventional gear includes close to 200 ETC Source Fours of various types.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - 5 Star Cases has been chosen to supply flight cases for Global Design Solutions' (GDS) award winning LiteWare battery powered/Wireless DMX LED uplighters.

GDS's Matt Lloyd says: "We selected 5 Star because of their great attitude, the quality of their products, the very quick response time and their ability to deliver the volume we need and work in a truly collaborative way with us."

The Tour Grade flight cases were designed and specified by GDS's head of engineering Richard Cuthbert, working closely with 5 Star's in-house design team.

Each case houses six LiteWare fixtures in foam protected compartments. A feature incorporated early in the design stages is a bespoke battery charging plate which is fixed into the bottom of each compartment, allowing all six units to be re-charged whilst inside the case simply by connecting a single mains lead.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has supplied a colour changing LED lighting system for the Wave, an iconic new sculpture which takes pride of place in the new look plaza at the heart of Blackpool town centre. The giant wind charm-like Wave was designed by Somerset artist Lucy Glendinning to capture the spirit and energy of the seaside. It forms an integral part of a £4.7m makeover of St John's and Cedar Squares and was officially unveiled to the public by style guru, Laurence Llewellyn Bowen.

The Wave features an illuminated colour changing pattern in cast resin, reflecting the elegant stained glass windows in St John's Church and also linking it with Blackpool's long standing Illuminations heritage.

A.C. Special Projects were approached to specify and supply a suitable LED lighting system for the sculpture. The company chose the Philips ColorGraze Powerc

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Hong Kong - Lighthouse Technology has announced it is the title sponsor of the Lighthouse Sri Lankan's Cricket Club (LSLCC), a Hong Kong Cricket Association Sunday League (HKCASL) member.

"LSLCC was founded in 2005 and entered the league in 2006, and at present is the youngest club participating in the premier league of Hong Kong. As a young club, with not many popular figures or national players in the team, we found it hard to find a title sponsor in the first two seasons. Therefore, we are thankful and proud to have Lighthouse as our first ever Title sponsor, a generous corporate entity who has come forward to support our efforts," says Chandrin Dissanayake, founder/chairman of LSLCC.

"Lighthouse is committed not only to developing excellent LED screen products and solutions, but also to help those of our community who really need it the most. As an industry

  1. European versions of Vectorworks 2010 released
  2. Martin Singapore stages training sessions
  3. Gearhouse SA projects at Loerie Awards
  4. HSL on Sting special in Durham Cathedral
  5. Wybron on the road again
  6. Procon agrees to PRG offer
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