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Rigging / Staging

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Germany - The Colour Line Arena, Hamburg, and the Congress Centre in Essen have recently taken delivery of new chain hoists from ChainMaster. The Saxon company equipped the two major events centres with BGV-D8plus systems. These versatile chain hoists have a load capacity of 500 kilograms and are equipped with a manual controller with an integrated load display.

ChainMaster also reports that it has expanded the lifting gear in the Weser-Ems Hall in Oldenburg. The BGV-C1 chain hoist system from ChainMaster already in use in the hall has been retro-fitted with 12 drives for loads ranging from 500 to 1,000 kilograms and a controller.

Finally, the Dutch theatre Harmonie Leeuwarden is also relying on lifting gear from ChainMaster. The theatre recently took delivery of 28 BGV-C1 chain hoists with a load capacity of 1,250kg. The installation was performed by BEO of the Netherlands.

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UK - Stage One clients - including Jack Morton Worldwide, PCI Fitch and TRO - have been winning awards in abundance this year and the team at Stage One says it is "delighted to have played a part in that success", having worked on several of the high profile, award-winning events for companies such as Toyota, General Motors and Mini UK.

"We feel great pride when our clients win awards for projects we've contributed to," said Mark Johnson, managing director of Stage One. He added: "It is of vital importance to Stage One's team of dedicated professionals that excellent working partnerships are forged with our clients and the direct result of this can be seen in the quality of the work we then produce."

Event Magazine's annual awards were announced recently, with Stage One being a key supplier to four Gold Award winners and the two winners of the spe

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Portugal - The success of Novembers annual MTV Europe Awards, held in Lisbon, has demonstrated Stage One's reliability and professionalism, as once again the company has constructed key sets and props for this major live event.

For the fourth year in succession, Stage One was brought on board by MTV Networks International to build the house stage for this high-profile event and was also responsible for building specific sets and props for several of the artists, including Madonna, Black Eyed Peas, Akon and the Gorillaz.

"It's fantastic to be working with MTV Networks International again on such an exciting and vibrant live event," said Steve Dolan, project manager for Stage One. He continued: "Stage One offers a great deal of expertise for events like this and that's why our clients return year after year to use our services."

To ensure a greater degree o

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UK - Earlier this year ELP opened a Pinewood base office and stores dedicated to servicing film and drama productions. The company have since provided location lighting and power on a diverse range of productions including Green Green Grass (the BBC's Only Fools and Horses spin-off), Nighty Night with Angus Deayton and surreal comedy The Mighty Boosh.

Six months on, and ELP is now providing specialist rigging services at Pinewood. "We are delighted to be the first supplier based at Pinewood to bring the latest rigging technology to the studios," says MD Ronan Willson. We have just installed a complex hoist and tracking system for a feature being filmed here."

The structure uses two 40m tracks to automate the movement of lighting pods along the studio. A computerised winch system enables four 20kW heads each side to be tracked at vario

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UK - The Red Bull Rail Storm, London's biggest ever urban snowboarding contest hit Trafalgar Square on 20 November, featuring over 1700sq.m of fabric from Sunbaba. Trafalgar Square was transformed into a mini-alpine scene for the event, with a 60ft ski slope, oversized staircase and handrails, and 66 tonnes of real snow, made on-site overnight.

Bliss Events, the company that managed the event for Red Bull, brought in Sunbaba to produce the specially designed branding including two huge Red Bull scaffold wraps, which were digitally printed on their UltraMesh fabric to match Red Bull's corporate colour scheme. The wraps were draped around the two-tiered seating structures where over 8,000 fans sat in freezing temperatures to watch the show.

Another 800sq.m of black Austronet 204FR fabric was used to cover the Star Events Group structure to the side of the ramp stage, where the a

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Portugal - Automation specialists Kinesys, working for main rigging contractors Blackout, stole the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards on 3 November 2005, live and direct from the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon.

Madonna wowed the crowd with the first live televised performance of her new single 'Hung Up', emerging from a 2m mirrorball wearing purple leather boots and matching leotard. The mirror ball was flown out on a Liftket high-speed motor controlled by Kinesys' Vector system, enabling it to travel the 17m very smoothly in seconds.

It was just one of a number of automation 'gags' run by operator Toby Rouse for the event. Other artists making use of Kinesys equipment included Gorillaz, Shakira and host Borat. Kinesys also arranged the movement cues for two upstage lifting video walls that were used as stage entrances and exits.

Gorillaz incorporated two Pepper's Ghost effe

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Germany - For the presentation of its latest collection, Swedish fashion company H&M staged a lavish fashion show in New York featuring artists including Kanye West, John Legend and Miri Ben-Ari and an elaborate moving set consisting of three rings of trusses, each a different size, manoeuvred by 19 VarioLifts from ChainMaster. The equipment was supplied by Stone Pro Rigging supported by ChainMaster's North American distribution partner Show Distribution. During the show, the operator at his PC was able to control the movements of the set with millimetre precision as well as continuously monitoring the loads of the VarioLifts. What was particularly important was that the movements (including starts and stops) be performed smoothly without jerking the trussing structure around or producing vibrations.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is currently hosting SAFE: Design Takes On Risk, an exhibition comprising of contemporary design objects and prototypes of safety, with a Mojo Barrier being incorporated into the exhibition.

The US exhibition currently underway, started on 16 October and runs until 2 January, incorporates objects addressing human fears and worries, from the most exceptional to the most mundane. Mojo Barriers was identified by the exhibition's organizers as an object of safety, through their use at events across the world, displaying the barrier with details of its creation and use.

Patrick Jordan of Mojo Barriers commented: "It was a surprise to be asked to provide a barrier for an exhibition, and for it to be featured in the display rather than as a guard for it! It is a compliment that other people have identified our barriers as

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USA - At this year's LDI Show, Tomcat offered attendees the chance to register to win one of two scholarships: the winner could choose to attend the 2006 Hoist and Rigging Workshop or the Advanced Truss and Motor Workshop. Over 300 people entered the contest - and the lucky winners are: Randall Flaws of Windy City Sound and Lighting and Andrew Cissna of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Andrew was the first name selected and upon being notified, he said that he is "very excited" to be given the opportunity to attend. He's a senior working to complete his BFA in Lighting at NCSA. The training he'll get at Tomcat's workshop will be a great compliment to the education he's receiving at the world renowned school.

Randall Flaws is the President of Windy City Sound and Lighting in Burr Ridge, Illinois. He and his brother John founded the company in 1980 which has producti

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The Netherlands / USA - The CyberHoist/InMotion 3D motion control system made a memorable entry to the North American market at the ETS-LDI show in Orlando recently, with two LDI Awards, headed by the prestigious Rigging Product of the Year Award.

CyberHoist / InMotion 3D was awarded Rigging Product of the Year, while the live demonstration earned system developer XLNT the Best Creative Use of Light Award for its booth, the work of lighting designer Michel Suk and motion control programmer Eric Berends. Both accolades follow the system's PLASA Award for Innovation at its European launch in London last year.

"2006 will be a fantastic year for CyberHoist in North America," says XLNT Advanced Technologies' executive sales manager Marc van der Wel, after the Awards and savouring the enthusiastic attendees' response. "The market is ready for a new and truly accessibl

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France - As of 15 September 2005, Martin Professional France has been appointed distributor of the entire range of Alu Soudure Diffusion's (A.S.D.) lifting support and metal frame products. Lifting supports and frame products distributed by Martin Professional France are now under the A.S.D. brand and are stocked at the Martin France facility.

The announcement says that the trade agreement will maximize the skills and competencies of both companies: Martin Professional France will make the most of its wide experience in the distribution of frames in order to strongly develop the A.S.D. brand. A.S.D. will now concentrate its resources on manufacturing, as well as on research and development of new products.

Thierry Chenot, A.S.D's sales director, stated: "This agreement is a real opportunity for our companies. A.S.D. will now be able to devote itself fully to the developme

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UK - Metway Electrical Industries Limited has announced the appointment of Ches Harding as business development manager covering the London area.

"Ches has a wide experience in the lighting industry, particularly within the lighting control and structured wiring system sectors," comments sales director, James Hughes. "His knowledge of these products, the market and the demands of installation projects places him in an excellent position to provide consultants and contractors with invaluable consultation and support."

Metway is a major supplier of structured wiring systems for commercial properties and has worked with many of the country's largest electrical contractors on a number of prestigious projects.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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- Doha was the destination in November when Stage One worked for technical director, Adam Wildi and production company, The Bank, on the official opening ceremony of the 'Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence'. Built by the Government of Qatar, Aspire offers an enormous complex of sporting amenities, providing unparalleled facilities for training and developing student athletes.

Stage One was responsible for building the Paul Bonomini designed set for the opening ceremony, which highlighted the history of the region, including shipping and pearl diving. Students of Aspire played a starring role in the performance.

The set included several stages, a huge desert backdrop, billowing wave effects and the movement of a dozen aerial performers swimming 'underwater' across the set, using Stage One's Q-Motion control system. To achieve this, Stage One mapped each individual performers

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UK - Doughty Engineering's popular Supaclamp has been retooled and improved, enabling the price to be lowered, say the company. New production technology means that the Supaclamp is manufactured to a higher quality and features several additional benefits, including a 'plug-in' nylon insert to allow it to be easily converted between clamping to either round or flat sections. This insert clips into its own 'storage' position just behind the lower jaw when not in use. The new clamp fits to any surface from 5mm to 50mm and meets all appropriate safety standards. Two finishes are available, polished aluminium and black powder coated. All screws are now manufactured from stainless steel to guard against rust and corrosion, say Doughty.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK / USA - Stage Technologies, the award-winning UK stage automation system specialist, recently hosted a reception at its new facility in Neasden, north London.

After a number of years at its Highbury base, the company recently completed the move to the Neasden site, which offers more flexibility in terms of equipment warehousing and office space. Director John Hastie described the company's current workload in the UK as "manic": engineers are involved in a variety of projects including the refurbishment of London's Royal Festival Hall, due for completion in 2007. The company can now be contacted at 9 Falcon Park, Neasden Lane, London NW10 1RZ.

Meanwhile, the company has also announced the opening of a permanent US office in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be headed up by company director Kevin Taylor, with support from two full-time staff. The move follows Stage Technologies

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UK - Blackout Ltd designed and supplied all production rigging infrastructure for the 12th MTV Europe Music Awardsheld in the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon, Portugal, on 3 November 2005. A variety of Blackout truss and track systems were supplied for individual artists. For Madonna's new hit single 'Hung Up', Blackout arranged for a rigged 2m mirror ball to be smoothly flown on to stage using a Liftket motor and Kinesys control system.

Framing the stage for the Gorillaz performance, Blackout supplied 4 track systems fitted with red velour to represent a secondary proscenium arch. Two 12m x 9m white filled cloth and red velour Kabukis drops added a projection surface. A "Peppers Ghost" effect was created using two translucent panels and a projector truss and projector beams bounced images back on screen where they were combined with life size silhouettes of band m

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UK - 5 Star Cases is supplying Unusual Rigging with 100 new flight cases for one tonne Liftket motors, the first of which are rolling off the production line at the company's Wisbech-based manufacturing plant. Unusual have had to increase their hoist stock to facilitate an incredibly busy touring season, bringing their total motor count to over 1000! Once again, they came to 5 Star to build rugged road cases for the new hoists, which have been specially customised both inside and out. The light blue exteriors feature the Unusual Rigging logo and full contact details. On the inside, the Tour Grade cases are fitted out with a specially designed framework to accommodate the hoist.

The trunks are a brand new design based on a familiar 5 Star hoist case shell, with further enhancements including a refined CNC machined cradle support. This cradle system comprises 24mm birch ply which

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UK - The Mojo Barriers team installed a new barrier design for Oasis, the headliners of December's Noise & Confusion concert at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Promotors SJM presented a seven-band line-up topped by Oasis, but including The Foo Fighters and Razorlight, for what was the fastest selling concert ever held at the Millennium Stadium.

Between the audience and the production personnel, security and the artists were 240m of Mojo Aluminium Barrier incorporating 120m of back stands. Mojo Barriers director Jim Gaffney has supplied crowd barriers to Oasis for many years and while Oasis fans have always been exuberant audiences, there have never been any problems. So no-one expected the surge that swept through the crowd in Manchester Stadium in July 2nd during the band's summer tour, causing the front of stage barrier to move as the show was about to start.

There were no inj

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UK - Out Board recently supplied Elstree Light & Power (ELP) with a selection of their CM-Series chain-hoist motor control products and a pair of Ibex PHC+ Programmable Hoist Controllers, as part of a fully automated rigging control system for the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank.

The upgrade was essentially a second phase of initial refurbishment carried out by ELP in the summer of 2004, providing two further CM12 motor controllers, eight more Socapex/C-Form splitter boxes, remote control handsets and multi-point linked Emergency Stop system, in addition to automating the whole system.

ELP project manager Toby Dare's brief was to provide a series of rigging presets for the venue's various show modes, so an Ibex automation system was specified to drive the Out Board motor control distros. To ensure absolute repeatability, all 32 CM Lodestar hoists were fitted with O

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UK - This year's BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2005 awards had a new engaging environmental set created for them by design and communication company Imagination. The large-scale set and graphics were created for the programme, which took place at BBC's Television Center on the evening of 11 December 2005.

Working closely with the BBC executive producer Paul Davies, Imagination created the awards environment, which was not only used for the live television programme but also played host to a pre and post transmission party for over 650 VIP guests.

This year's environmental set included a varied colour palette including vivid greens, blues and an eye-catching purple. The set was developed around several live filming requirements including multiple interview staging areas, graphic treatments for the stage and floor as well as lighting and projection design. The inte

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USA - Following in a tradition that has spanned over a century, Macy's has again created breathtaking display windows at their Herald Square location. This year's Christmas windows feature giant pop-up books that come alive, thanks to PRG Scenic Technologies, a division of Production Resource Group (PRG).

PRG Scenic Technologies provided automation, control systems, scenery and lighting for the six automated display windows, each themed around 'It's Christmas in the City'. The holiday windows recently earned the platinum award (first place) in the 2005 DDI winning windows contest, given out by Design and Display Ideas magazine. "Winning the DDI Award is like winning the Oscar for best picture in our industry," remarks Paul Olszewski, Macy's director of windows, who hired PRG Scenic Technologies for the project. "It's the first time Macy's has won the award, and to

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UK - "We've gone back to our roots," said Stage One's Simon Wood, when commenting on the work the company has just completed for the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield and their impressive brand new Christmas production, 'The Magic Tree'.

Stage One built several different sets for the show, which was specially written for the theatre. The complicated set designs had a massive visual impact and Stage One faced the challenge of capturing the designer's 'magic' whilst creating the sets: a recycling yard; the magic tree itself; a circus and a complete proscenium and floor. Simon Wood, added, "We enjoy getting involved in theatrical productions - especially a show like this as it really gets our team in the festive spirit."

The set for the recycling yard, where the shows central family live, has proved to be a feast for the eyes as it truly draws in the audie

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Qatar - Summit Steel, working for show producers The Bank, co-ordinated all production rigging for the massive opening ceremony of Aspire, the Academy for Sports Excellence in Doha.

Working with show technical director Adam Wildi, creative director Simon Garrett, and executive producer Moira Hunter-Ross, the Summit team of 12 riggers was led by Jon Bray and Chris Walker.

They arrived on site three weeks before the event, and began creating a rigging infrastructure in the enormous 290,000sq.m Aspire Dome. This houses a wide range of sports facilities including a 200m running track where the opening ceremony was staged.

The Aspire Dome was completely bare in terms of rigging facilities, apart from the structural roof trusses, which Summit took as their starting point. Over 1100m of trussing and 130 Lodestar hoists later, they had a flexible grid system to enable lighting, soun

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UK - Stage One, a leading player in the field of set construction and interpretation, was recently brought on board by production agency TRO to help Saab Great Britain with the imaginative promotion of the new flagship Saab 9-5 car.

Taking the form of a Day One Teaser followed by a Day Two Reveal, Stage One transformed a sea container for a series of events (detailed below) by painting it matt black, manufacturing four small stainless steel barred windows of varying size and providing a timed sound and light programme from within the container, triggered by sensors. The company also produced a number of graphics to be placed on the side of the container.

On the Day One 'teaser' the only graphic on display on the sides and doors said, 'www.95unleashed.co.uk' - and from a distance, passers-by could see flashing orange and red lights and strobe welding-effect lights. They could a

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