Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

The weekend kicked off on Saturday 16 March with the Russian Maslenitsa Festival. Maslenitsa is the Russian Sun Festival, a celebration of waving farewell to winter and where Russian's all over the world say "Zdravstvui Maslenitsa!" to Spring, welcoming the start of warmth.

The Square was transformed into a bustling bazaar and the stage hosted performances of traditional songs and dance. The event in Trafalgar Square was the grand finale of Russian Week in London (11-17 March).

The Alpha mobile stage built in five hours, ensured that production had maximum time to load in and the quick de-rig of the stage meant that the Square was cleared within a few hours of the event finishing on the load o

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14 March 2016

The GlowMan features a super bright thumb mounted LED. Mounted in a shock and water resistant enclosure; the LED increases visibility in dark environments allowing a hands free approach to the hand-held torch alternative.

New touch screen compatible index finger and thumb tips have been designed to help you operate all major touch screen devices without the inconvenience and safety hazard of removing your rigger gloves on site.

The GlowMan also boasts the usual Dirty Rigger comfort & quality features including low profile palm padding, nylon double stitching, wrist mounted ID tag and heavy duty synthetic leather in key wear areas.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

True to say, flying has been a regular part of Hannah's last 18 months, seeing many air miles recorded visiting Le Mark's clients throughout Europe.

"It's always sad to say good bye to a colleague, especially one as experienced as Matt, we will all miss him. For me, moving into my new role as international team leader is both exciting and a little daunting. However, I love a challenge and a new opportunity!

"I am very hopeful that I will be able to meet many of my valued customers next month at the Pro Light and Sound Fair in Frankfurt. It's going to be an excellent event where I hope to meet old friends and new customers. If you won't be visiting Frankfurt, please let me know, as it's my wish to visit as many of

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14 March 2016

XLNT CyberHoist II is the new generation of the world's first intelligent chain hoist and is specifically designed for heavy-duty, world-wide touring and large-scale events. XLNT CyberHoist II allows a show designer to create precise, complex 2D and 3D movements at variable speed (1.5 ft/sec.), with multiple actuators in single, group or subgroup formations.

Extra creative power and convenience are enabled by combining products within the XLNT CyberMotion family. Features include a compact all-in-one design including motion processor; world-wide multi-voltage power supply (200-440V (+/- 10%) / 50/60HZ), absolute positioning (0.1 mm), elevated duty cycle (60%) for fast lifting of heavy loads and network controlled E-stop and Dead Man's Handle without ad

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14 March 2016

The singer opened the show accompanied by his marching band of female dancers to perform his new single. As he entered onto the stage, the set was flanked either side by four of the dancers, who marched and danced up and down two 10' long travelators below that constantly moved throughout the song. Their fluid movement was mirrored by the ice-skating contestants who took it I turns to make their entrance onto the rink, all choreographed by Nathan Clarke.

Creative director for Olly Murs and staging producer for Dancing on Ice, Dan Shipton, wanted to add an exciting effect that hadn't been seen on the show before. He said: "Initially I was worried that there wouldn't be a company out there who could provid

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14 March 2016

As one of the world's most-watched live music productions, attracting in excess of 100m television viewers each year, the Eurovision Song Contest has become a major annual showcase for the technologies at the cutting edge of the show production industry.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest, produced by the European Broadcast Union (EBU) and SVT, the national broadcaster of last year's winning nation, Sweden, will be preceded by PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö - an opportunity for industry professionals to take a first-hand look at these technologies in context.

The event will include a series of excl

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14 March 2016

"The Equipment Suspension training was a great success at The Hawth and everyone found it relevant and useful to our venue," commented Quentin Whitaker, The Hawth, Crawley.

Other training topics include courses and workshops on maintenance and troubleshooting with intelligent lighting. Health & Safety and manual handling training in the entertainment environment, as well as pyrotechnics safety awareness; all designed for individuals who are responsible for health & safety at their venue or an event, freelancers and technicians who want to burden their skill set.

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14 March 2016

Using a SkyDeck over an orchestra pit is an exciting application that is continuing in popularity. It can be paired with a pit filler or other removable wood decking finished to match the stage floor. When the orchestra pit is in use, the wood decking is remove expose the acoustically transparent SkyDeck below. The SkyDeck panels act as a pit safety net while the framing members are strong enough to carry a 125 psf load.

IAStage designed the Manatee Player's SkyDeck pit cover in conjunction with project architect, John Toppe. Like all SkyDecks, this one is a modular system. Panels can be removed if ever required. This special applic

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14 March 2016

Triple E - which has a 30-year history of inventing engineering solutions for the entertainment industry - has already put the system in production prior to its debut appearance at PLASA Focus in Leeds at the end of April. The system is a simple plug and play unit that attaches to the XLR socket on all TracDrive, Edrive, and SDrive motors.

Triple E's motor units all use pre-stretched polyester rope with a grade and colour coded braid made only for Triple E. The rope offers near silent operation and is more user friendly than steel wire rope.

"Many venues require additional control positions or even the ability to operate anywhere in a building or auditorium so the simple 'plug and play' wireless system with a hand held pocket size remote is the answer,

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14 March 2016

The new EasyDrape now features a versatile coupler and telescopic horizontal drape supports with double Velcro. The flexible couplers make it possible to install the EasyDrape system in several directions at the same time allowing for multiple corners with one coupler. A variety of EasyDrape applications can now be built up by just one person. Expo drape and starcloth curtain heights of 2 to 5 meters can be easily obtained by ad

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14 March 2016

Showforce has been granted a licence under the Supplier Recognition Scheme (SRS), which was launched following a deal between the Government, British Olympic Association and the International Olympic Committee. The first of its kind in Olympic history, the SRS formally recognises eligible suppliers for their roles in the successes of London 2012 and Showforce has been given the designation "supplier of event and technical crew (Ceremonies) to the London 2012 Games".

Throughout the course of the ceremonies, Showforce provided in excess of 530 crew members for various elements of production including build-up, breakdown and rehearsals as well as during the actual ceremonies. Members of the team set the 'G

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14 March 2016

Launched in 2001, this highly successful series of events, which runs during the months of June and July, has grown from four sites to seven. AP was originally contracted in 2003, and in 2009 its remit was increased to cover all sites. Since then, the relationship between The Forestry Commission and the AP team has continued to blossom and AP is delighted to be able to continue this bond into 2013.

"Forest Live has gone from strength to strength and the Forestry Commission is now one of the UK's top music promoters," says AP's national sales manager, John Phillips. "The surroundings invariably make for a relaxed atmos

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14 March 2016

Prices have been frozen at 2012 levels, with single day courses costing £75 plus VAT and two day sessions £150 + VAT, with a 10% discount available for members of The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), The Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph & Theatre Union (BECTU), PLASA and Stage Jobs Pro (SJP).

Stage Technologies' training development manager, Alex Hitchcock said, "With automati

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14 March 2016

WT 150 is billed as the most compact lifting tower of the market for Line Array systems. It fits in almost any car, because it only measures 157 cm long when it is folded. It allows installing small size Line Array systems (up to 200 kg) with maximum convenience. Like the other lifters of the WT series, it is a top quality lifting tower which perfectly protects people and loads.

WT 550 lifts from the ground loads of 400 kg (+130 kg compared to WT 500) up to heights of 5.20m. Like WT 150, it fits in almost any car, because it only measures 166 cm long when it is folded.

WT 700 is the new lifter designed for the

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14 March 2016

Point Source has been using 5 Star for the majority of its case requirements for the last seven years. In fact, the very first cases that 5 Star built for them are still going strong and are in regular use today - a real testament to their robust build!

Says Point Source Productions' MD Stephen Capel: "When you order a rugged, well-constructed case from 5 Star - that's exactly what you get! The quality, attention to detail and longevity is absolutely worth it."

Point Source embraces the same philosophy as 5 Star in striving to provide the very best quality of service and options for the

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14 March 2016

Heavy on special effects, the video is set to a stark backdrop where the band members and a ghostly female figure perform from LS-Live's LiteDeck stage, which they covered in sand. The video's sacrificial theme harks back to the Inca generation.

The band, from nearby South Yorkshire, had spent over a year writing and recording their 20th studio album, also called Sacrifice in LS-Live's new sound-proofed band rehearsal room, where they worked with the company to refine the facilities.

The album was produced by frontman Biff Byford, with Andy Sneap mixing and engineering by Jacky Lehmann. It has been praised for its raw thrash metal sounds and guitar work, topping the charts in Germany.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The festival site will be Pendley Activity Meadow - owned by event sponsor Pendley Manor - with a capacity of 7000 for each of the two nights. The programme for Friday 5 July will include a line-up of contemporary pop artists including Little Mix, Loveable Rogues and Heather Small, while Saturday's 1980s themed evening will feature Tony Hadley, Howard Jones, Rick Astley, Midge Ure, Carol Decker and Hazel O'Connor.

All the technical infrastructure for Ch

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14 March 2016

The award-winning Chroma-Q Inspire LED house light and the new AutoLED II moving head fixture will both receive their EMEA tradeshow launch on the AC-ET stand.

The Inspire house light is a powerful multi-purpose creative lighting tool that provides a choice of beautiful whites, soft pastels and bold saturates - all from one fixture. With fully homogenised colour mixing and a choice of three different lens options, the Inspire provides an excellent selection of stunning mixed colours and 'true' whites, with no unsightly colour separation shadows. It also features an energy-efficient compact LED design providing reduced mai

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14 March 2016

With large moving scenic elements and a tall video orientated set, Olly Murs' production dimensions are certainly ambitious. Ant Carr, tour production manager via Production North, is making sure the tour takes every necessary precaution with system safety. During rehearsals he engaged Load Cell Rental (LCR) to provide an accurate assessment of the dynamic loads.

"The rig itself is typical for an arena tour," explains Carr. "Tour rigger Mark Wade fr

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14 March 2016

Dandy, who assumes the role with immediate effect, has been with Unusual Rigging in the UK for two years and is qualified to NRC Level 2. His new responsibilities will incorporate all aspects of project management from site visit to completion across Unusual Rigging & Engineering's busy and diverse project portfolio. Recent projects in the region have included the Mall of the Emirates, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and Dubai Airshow.

Dandy joined Unusual Rigging in the UK as an apprentice rigger in 2010, progressing rapidly to project and production rigger, before becoming head rigger in 2012. Past projects with the company have included the opening of St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olym

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14 March 2016

In her new role, Suthar will be responsible for strategic communications - developing media relations, external communications and launching a new social media strategy for 2013.

Sutharhas previously worked as a marketer for the publication, MoneyWeek and prior to that has a journalistic background which includes working at BBC Local London News.

Cristiano Giavedoni, director of marketing and business says, "The creation of a dedicated communications role is a direct consequence of the continuing growth of Kinesys and our wish to increase brand awareness. Nisha is a pleasure to work with and has already begun providing a fresh look at our communications strategy."

Suthar adds, "I am excited to join the Ki

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14 March 2016

DigiHoist, known as one of the most flexible and safe chain hoist control systems currently on the market, has just increased its adaptability with this Positioning and Ethernet option.

It allows DigiHoist controllers to offer accurate chain hoist positioning via encoders which are installed in the chain hoists under the unit's control.

Encoder options include Quadrature Incremental and SSI Absolute. For historical compatibility, the system can also read Pulse encoders.

Data from the encoders is fed directly into the DigiHoist controller which can then have upper and lower software limits programmed to prevent over travel of the hoist. Additionally, the DigiHoist will stop all movement if the system detects a lack of hoist

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14 March 2016

The building was lit proportionately in red (Man U) and blue (Man City) the evening before the match reflecting these results.

dbn's project manager Andy Kennett and his team worked with Roy Fernley of Event Technical Support who co-ordinated all the technical elements for creative communications agency, Bray Leino.

Kennett designed the lighting scheme, for which even coverage was the most important factor as it was essentially a press photo opportunity.

He chose 20 x Studio Due CityColor floods, 22 x SGM Palco LEDWashes, 16 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and two CP 1200

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14 March 2016

The new adaptors are made from solid, high tensile aluminium and fit all major brands of triangular and square truss, enabling it to be lifted into place safely and securely. With a choice of three hanging sizes - 250, 500 and 1000kg - the new truss adaptors are fitted with slim line clamps. The 250kg size is available as either a fixed or a swivel version and comes ready fitted with a 28mm Euro spec spigot.

As with all Doughty branded products, the new truss adaptors are manufactured in the UK and available for immediate shipping.

The German entertainment industry is Doughty Engineering's biggest export market and continues to grow year on year. With seven distributors in Germany and one in