Singapore - In 1969, on the advice of the Science Council of Singapore, the Government decided to convert the National Museum into an art and historical museum and to build a new institution which would be devoted to scientific and technological education. The Singapore Science Centre is a non-formal educational institution for the promotion of science and technology among students and members of the public.
It has the country's largest collection of educational exhibits devoted to science, and has been acclaimed as one of the top science centres in the world. More than a million visitors come to the Singapore Science Centre every year.
With the advent of multi-media, the Ministry of Education financed video/chroma keying/animation Studios for the teaching of the subject.
Following the tender process and the approval of the consultant engineers, Zero 88's distributor Combined Corporation was chosen to design the studio. Two independent studios were created with the criteria for the studios to be combined into one large studio space.
Each studio features a Zero 88 24 channel Chilli installation dimmer along with a Zero 88 Jester 24/48 Lighting Desk. The dimmers are configured to allow for generic theatre dimming and a number of channels in switch mode for the operation of florescent Fill lights.
(Jim Evans)
UK - A set of three Compulite Vector Greens ran a complex lighting rig that included moving lights, media servers, LED screens and conventional lights on the recent X Factor live finals. Lighting designer for the finals was Dave Davey, with Bill Peachment, John Ford and Russ Grubiack working as programmers.
Peachment comments: "All 3 Vector systems performed very well on this fast moving show. We used a vector PC to back up the systems but this was never needed. I think that the Vector is a very fast and flexible desk to program on these complex TV shows. "
The lighting rig included: 4 Vari-Lite VL 3500 washes; 18 Vari-Lite VL 2000 washes; 29 Vari-Lite VL 3000 spots; 22 Vari-Lite VL 3000 washes; 2 Nova flowers; 18 Vari-Lite VL6c spots; 36 James Thomas PixelPar 90s; 46 James Thomas Pixel line 1044s; 12 Vari-Lite 1K Tungstens; 3 Chroma 12 RGBs from Pulsar; 20 ACL PAR bars; 14 ETC Source 4 revolutions; 3 Hippotizer media servers v.3; Compulite CompuDim 2000 dimmers; 4 Compulite ePorts (Etehrnet -> DMX) and 160 conventional lights.
(Claire Beeson)
Germany - Rosco has provided X24 X-Effects Projectors to give a shimmering and realistic watery effect to a new Aquarium in the German city of Stralsund, with 39 tanks, which are home to rare coral fish and other marine life from around the world.
Inside the Giants of the Sea exhibition, a series of rooms with 20m high ceilings, there are full scale models of a 26m long Blue Whale, a 16m humpback whale accompanied by a baby 5m humpback whale as well as a 10m sword whale. Most spectacular however, is a battle between a 15m sperm whale and a giant squid. The X24 projector gives large scale ripple effects, to help create the sense of habitat.
German engineering agency Walter Bamburger had seen the X24 in use in the Deutches Meeresmuseum, and specified 10 Analogue X24 Projectors for the Giants of the Sea exhibition.
The Giants of the Sea project was organised in collaboration with Greenpeace in support of its anti-whaling campaign. They are the official partner of the project and donated 1.45 million Euros to the exhibition. A key theme of the new Ozeaneum is raising awareness about climate change, over-fishing and water pollution.
(Jim Evans)
Austria - Luxury crystal glass brand Swarovski recently graced its headquarter building in Wattens (Tyrol), Austria with a 250m long transparent metal curtain. The fabric, made of 26,250,000 flexible stainless steel rings, rises 10m in height and is dynamically illuminated by 133 Martin Professional Inground 200 colour changers.
The Martin Inground 200 fixtures are embedded in the ground along the inner path of the curtain. The curtain's sleek, sculptural fabric, which defies weather and corrosion, interacts with the sun and passing clouds in a play of light and shadow. At dusk, the light show begins as static colour scenes interact with the shifting shades of the evening sky.
"The main task was to illuminate the stainless steel curtain in the evening and to that end powerful and visually appealing inground luminaires were sought," commented lighting designer Stephan Löper. "The fixture had to have a colour and a dimmer feature and after a market analysis the Martin Professional Inground 200 was chosen as the best fixture. We were able to verify our choice by a 1:1 test."
(Jim Evans)
USA - Bandit Lites recently held its annual general meeting for its global staff. Over 150 people were in attendance to hear chairman of the board, Michael T. Strickland speak on the current state of the company. Strickland also presented service and merit awards and discussed several newly implemented additions to Bandit's global growth strategy.
Each AGM, Bandit recognises employees for years of service. Peter Heffernan, who was announced as Bandit's president in 2008, received a plaque for 30 years with the company. Business manager, Lee Anne Cooke (formerly Donaldson) received a plaque for 20 years of service. She also received a Rolex watch, which employees are awarded after 20 years with the company.
Director of educational services, Rick Berry, San Francisco general manager, Dizzy Gosnell and director of logistics and safety, Leonard Cox were all recognised for 15 years of service. Project Manager, Matt King, lighting designer, Andy Knighton and senior sales consultant, John Rolison all celebrated 10 years with the company, while lighting technician, Jason Workman, Knoxville warehouse manager, Giff Swart and lighting technician, Jeff Archibeque were recognized for five years with Bandit Lites.
A select group of Bandit employees are also given awards for outstanding service. Design and consultation associate, Chris Barbee, lighting technician, Shawn Beaulieu, lighting director, Steve Hoover and director of logistics and safety, Leonard Cox all received the Rock award. This award is named after longtime Bandit employee, Eric "Rock" Shafferman and
UK - Lighting designer Nathan Wan used over 80 Robe moving lights for the Live Action Arena at the Autosports International 2009 show, staged in the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
It was the first time that Wan has lit the event, for which lighting and audio equipment was supplied by Network Productions. The Live Action Arena was co-ordinated for exhibition organisers Haymarket Events by Waltham Services.
With up to six sold out shows a day watched by 4700 people each time, the Live Action Arena saw some serious seat-clutching speed, smoke and burning rubber from an array of fast vehicle genres, all completing in a series of hair-raising races.
Wan's brief from show director Roger Burlinson was to bring a real flow and continuity to the pacey, highly choreographed show which segued seamlessly from one set of hot-rodded vehicles to another. They zoomed round the track at breakneck speed, with slots for VT inserts, presenter live-to-camera sections and a world record busting attempt by stunt ace Terry Grant.
Wan used 60 ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT fixtures spread out over three roof trusses stretching the width of the arena to provide top lighting. "I needed bright, powerful light sources to make any sort of impact," he comments. "So the 1200s were ideal".
(Jim Evans)
Ireland - Robert Juliat, has supplied a substantial quantity of its 1K and 1.2K fresnels and PC fixtures to Ireland's first custom-built opera house. Wexford Opera House, in South East Ireland, is concealed behind a re-instated street front in the town's main street.
Occupying 4.5 times the space of the old opera house it replaces, Wexford Opera House has been built to the highest standards with quality and attention to detail given to every aspect of its development and construction. The result is an exciting new multi-purpose performance space capable of offering a varied, year-round programme of opera, theatre and dance.
The specification of Robert Juliat lanterns had been on the cards with the Opera House's design team since the initial conception in 2005. Amongst this team were theatre consultants, Carr & Angier, which was involved throughout in the design of both the main 771 seat - expanding to 855 seat - John and Aileen O'Reilly theatre and the smaller 176-seat studio space, the Jerome Hynes Theatre.
Carr & Angier was also ultimately responsible for specifying the loose equipment for the staging, sound and lighting systems on this £25.6m project, including the Robert Juliat fixtures. Carr & Angier's Paul Franklin, says, "We needed to devise an equipment list which would form a good compromise between the Wexford Festival Opera's wish list and what would work well for the varied programme of events throughout the rest of the year. Our initial specifications, which included Robert Juliat 1K fresnels and 2K PCs, were subjected to much discussion
UK - London-based pop band Scouting For Girls (SFG) recently completed a five-week UK tour that saw them play to more than 100,000 fans across the country.
Lighting designer Jon Barker was tasked with delivering the show's visuals. Says Barker: "When I came up with the design concept for the tour, I was after a low-resolution video screen that was in effect see-though and would simply 'disappear' when it was not in use, allowing me to use the fixtures I had placed behind the screens (a selection of four-way Molefay with Colour Scrollers, 2kw Skypans and Strand S Battens with clear globe lamps all rigged at different heights) as a 'hidden layer' that would pop out when illuminated.
"The two main reasons I chose the Stealth over competitive products was first the higher resolution of Stealth which made it much more attractive - smoother, much more 'flowing' video content at a closer distance. Secondly, the other two products use clear tubes to house their LED's and I felt that these plastic tubes would be prone to catching any stray light and thus revealing the screen even when it was not in use. There was absolutely no way this could happen with the Stealth."
The show featured eight new Stealth 'columns' each two panels wide by seven panels high giving a total resolution of 256 x 112 pixels (112 panels in total). Each column was rigged on a custom-made frame of black-sprayed scaffold ground supported by two Doughty flat-plate tank traps. "Every day it took two crew just twenty minutes to get the entire screen out of it's cases and rigged in p
Italy - Pio Nahum has returned to Italian manufacturer Clay Paky as commercial and marketing director. Nahum has 20 years of experience in the show lighting business; his first job in the industry was at Clay Paky; later he worked for world-leading multinational groups, holding top management positions in various countries around the world. His career has included seven years as marketing director for Martin Professional, and also a period as managing director of Martin's Italian subsidiary.
Pasquale Quadri, president of Clay Paky, said: "I am delighted to welcome Pio back into our team: with the support of his vast experience the company will certainly succeed in achieving new important goals."
Nahum said: "Working for Clay Paky is a fantastic opportunity. I fully share the values of the company: excellence, consistency and innovation. Furthermore, Clay Paky's luminaires are among the best available in the industry nowadays. These facts altogether represent a great foundation for a successful business strategy and I will dedicate all my energies to the achievement of new ambitious targets."
Nahum has already taken up his new position.
(Lee Baldock)
Spain - Design consultants Equipo 63 from Madrid approached Czech-based trussing manufacturers Milos to custom build a large stand for their client at London's World Travel Market exhibition, staged at the ExCel Centre.
Equipo 63 are known for their innovative approach to design and build projects of all types, and are always keen to incorporate cutting edge technology in the process.
They have worked with Milos and used their products on many previous projects. On this occasion, the Equipo 63 team designed the stand, which included a 12 x 12sq.m 'crown' flown above, holding a 10m diameter circular truss 'inside', which was used to hang a series of projection screens making a 360 degree internal panorama.
Equipo 63 then approached Milos with their concept, and asked them to come up with a structural solution and all the required logistics to make it work in situ.
Milos developed some special connecting brackets to enable the lower of the two circular trusses to be attached to the bottom of the rectangular box on a series of arms. The top circle was attached onto the box structure's top trussing runs, and the whole square trussing construction was braced by additional runs of M290V across its 4 spans. The two circular trusses were made without cross bracing allowing the screens to be easily attached.
(Jim Evans)
USA - Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG) has announced that Nick Jackson, senior vice-president of PRG's Concert Touring group would be stepping down from his position at PRG. "We are all saddened by Nick's departure, but we wish him the very best as he moves on to new opportunities," said Harris. "Since joining PRG in 1998, Nick has worked tirelessly to establish our Concert Touring division as the leading provider of entertainment technology solutions for some of the biggest acts in the business. It has been an honour to work with this industry pioneer."
Mickey Curbishley, PRG's president of Concert Touring added: "Nick and I have worked together for many years. I wish him only the very, very best and I look forward to working with him in the future."
"It is with mixed emotions that I leave the PRG family," said Jackson. "But I feel that it is time for me to pursue a new chapter in my professional life. I have been extremely proud of the Concert Touring division's achievements in recent years and I am confident that they will carry on in providing the highest level of support and pushing the envelope with new technology."
Curbishley stated: "It might sound like a cliché but the single most important asset that PRG brings to clients and which can't be duplicated by any other company in the industry, is our people. The core team - Curry Grant, Tim Murch, John Lee, Julian Edwards, Gary Farrell, Paul Newman, and Bill Campbell in the USA, and Robin Wain, Jon Cadbury, Y
USA - City Theatrical has released two new LED products utilising Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting fixtures combined with City Theatrical technology.
The MasterBlast utilises a Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 TR LED lighting fixture combined with CTI's SHoW DMX wireless DMX technology to create a wireless, battery powered, LED lighting fixture with up to 10 hours of operating time. The MasterBlast's built-in stand alone routines and wireless DMX allow events to be run without a lighting console, external wireless DMX gear, or power and data cables, saving time, space, and money for the event lighting user, says the company.
The MasterBlast's user interface allows any MasterBlast to be configured as either a transmitter or receiver, as well as selecting a variety of stand alone routines and radio settings. The user interface also provides a built in battery gauge.
The iW Blast TR Lighting Kit combines the Philips Color Kinetics iW Blast 12 TR lighting fixture with a range of City Theatrical accessories. CTI has created a two channel controller that gives users control of colour temperature and intensity right on the lighting stand. These Controllers are universal voltage for worldwide use and have a built in clamp to allow attachment to any lighting stand.
The iW Blast TR Lighting Kit comes complete with three iW Blast 12 TR lighting fixtures, and a three full sets of accessories including controllers, stands, mounts, barndoors, egg crate louvers and nine different symmetric and asymmetric unbreakable polycarbonate holographic lenses.
Both the Master
The Netherlands - Robe moving lights have been installed into the new 80million Euro Muziekkwartier in Enschede, for use in two of the multi-purpose spaces inside.
The theatre replaces a previous building, with the different venues inside run by several companies and including Podium Twente (a big hall), Reisopera (an opera company), a music school and two Pop Podium spaces - Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal - run by ATAK.
The project was under construction for 18 months, and was officially opened by Queen Beatrix in late November.
The Robes were supplied - along with other lighting kit - via Robe's Benelux distributor Controllux, in a deal project managed by Kuno van Velzen in conjunction with the Theatre's technical manager, Timo Wildschut.
"They needed a flexible system that could be used for a wide variety of shows and events specially those taking place in the Glosch Zaal (the main Pop Podium venue) and some of the other venues," says van Velzen. "And so we recommended Robe as a robust and very reliable installation product that would last a long time and give excellent value and many options."
Controllux won a competitive tender to supply stage and effects lighting to Podium Twente, Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal.
There are six ColorWash 575E ATs, 10 ColorSpot 575E ATs and eight of the compact Robe ColorSpot 250ATs in Glosch Zaal. These are positioned on three onstage trusses and a box truss over the auditorium. Controllux also supplied 10 Robe ColorSpot and six ColorWash 250E ATs for Studio Zaal and a further eight ColorSpot 575E ATs fo
UK - Stage Electrics' first ever Freelancer Day, held at RADA's Gielgud Theatre, was a resounding success, the company reports. The day was attended by over 40 freelancers from sectors across the industry, and a combination of those who had previously freelanced for Stage Electrics and those who were new to freelancing and wanted to learn more.
Paula Birtwistle, who returned to freelancing following a career break and who attended the day commented: "I really enjoyed the day and I felt like every minute was useful to me. I made a last-minute decision to come along and I'm really glad I did! Every part of the day seemed relevant to what I was after and at the level I'm at in my career."
The main objectives of the day were to get closer to freelancers and to provide them with a day designed with their interests in mind. Most importantly though was the opportunity for freelancers to network and come together in a social but informative event. During the day there were presentations on finance and health and safety for freelancers, through to industry trends from Martin and Yamaha.
Stage Electrics was supported in the event by PLASA, who presented on the benefits of PLASA membership and offered advice on insurance and healthcare for freelancers. Ruth Rossington, executive director at PLASA comments: "Freelancer Day was a great day and really highlighted the importance of keeping in touch with freelancers and providing them with the advice they need to carry out their roles. Stage Electrics created an event which was just the right balance of informat
Green Glastonbury - The Glastonbury Festival has sold 90% of tickets for this summer's event, founder Michael Eavis has said. The 137,500 tickets went on sale in October, earlier than ever, after last year failing to sell out in advance. Mr Eavis, who hosts the show on his Somerset farm, revealed he has four headliners lined up for the June event - two English and two from the US.
He was speaking as he picked up an award for environmental work at the Midem music conference in France. "You'll be amazed when you hear the headliners we've got coming this year, and we've already sold 90% of the tickets for this year already," he said. He was honoured with the Green World Award at the Midem music conference for the festival's history of environmental fundraising and ecological initiatives. The festival raises money for Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid, while Mr Eavis' other green measures include recycling food waste on the working dairy farm, meaning he has not needed to use chemical fertilisers for almost 40 years.
The event also recycles 1,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, has introduced biodegradable tent pegs and sent seven tonnes of abandoned Wellington boots to be used in Senegal. "And they used every single one of them," Mr Eavis said.
Opera Crunch - New York's Metropolitan Opera has cancelled major productions and must find further cuts to avoid financial crisis, its general manager has warned. Peter Gelb told the New York Times the value of Met funds had dropped from $300m (£200.8m) to $100m (£66.9m). Donations for
UK - Production Services Ireland (PSI) has added in an ETC Ion console to its rental stock. Owner Brian Reilly says, "We are frequently asked to supply theatre-style lighting desks to control generic lighting rigs for theatre companies and television and film shoots and although we already have several lighting control desks that could do the job, customers were asking for one with a familiar programming style."
PSI's Ion has already been used as a house desk at Stranmillis University College in Belfast and during this year's Belfast Festival at Queen's University. It was also hired out for the Irish reality TV show Class Acts.
It has been a busy couple of years for ETC and PSI in Northern Ireland, with Sensor dimming being installed at the Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen, the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn and Belfast's Grand Opera House. PSI is also set to supply dimming for Belfast City Council's Ulster Hall in the New Year.
(Jim Evans)
Belgium - Barco has announced its preliminary 2008 trading update, which reveals that while it was affected by the economic downturn, improvements in working capital have led to a better cash position.
Barco says that sales for 4Q 2008 were 208m, while total sales for 2008 were 725m - down 1.5% compared to 2007. Order intake for 4Q 2008 was 204 m. For FY08 the reduction in order intake was 2.7%.
2008 EBIT was severely hit by the worldwide economic crisis, and will be below 10m, compared with 58.7m in 2007. "Underlying the low profitability for 2008 are the very weak performance of the corporate events business as part of the Media & Entertainment division, the decrease in gross margin, the higher provisions taken for bad debt, foreign exchange and higher cost," the statement said.
Management had originally set out to reduce cost by 30m, but following further deterioration of the global economy, the cost reduction goal was increased to 36m, leading to higher restructuring charges. Restructuring charges are expected to be around 27m, higher than the 20m communicated with the 4Q 2008 results in October 2008, say Barco.
Reducing working capital had been indicated by Barco as being a key priority. Over 2008 working capital was reduced by around 40m, supporting a reduction in net debt to about 30m from 53m at the end of 2007.
The Board of Directors will submit to the Annual Shareholders Meeting not to pay out a dividend over 2008. Full details will be announced in February.
(Lee Baldock)
Australia - For 50 years the Great Moscow Circus has been entertaining audiences with acts of skill and agility. Featuring over 50 International performers, from Russia, Brazil, Mongolia, and Australasia, the Circus is again touring the country with a new production.
Brian Anslow, a lecturer in technical production at WAAPA, designed and programmed the lighting for this latest show trusting in a Jands Vista I3 for control. "I recommended that the Circus buys a Jands Vista I3 as I think it is fantastic," said Anslow. "I really think it's the next step forward in technology. We've had one at WAAPA for the past two years and I think the whole control system is very innovative; the whole idea of it, the visual reference - everything."
Anslow pre-programmed the opening of the Great Moscow Circus on his laptop with another screen connected to it so he could run both Vista and WYSIWYG with the audio track in Vista. "It allowed me to pre-programme everything," he said. "I just like that whole technological advancement whereby you can pre-programme on your computer, take your USB, stuff it in a desk elsewhere and away you go."
Containers for the set up of the Circus were flying in to the opening in Queensland from all over the world but unfortunately the container holding the truss and moving lights was held up by customs. This meant that Anslow didn't receive the truss and moving lights until 2.15pm on the afternoon of the opening night. He had also never seen any of the acts only a few bits of DVD footage and, due to the late ar
UK - A.C. Special Projects has designed, supplied and installed full technical facilities for the Sidney Stringer School's multi-purpose theatre and drama studio. The School has built a reputation as an innovator that encourages experimental teaching practices, and offers a range of BTEC vocational courses including drama & theatre arts, and music, for students aged 11-18.
After losing its original theatre in a fire, the School's head of drama, Michael Collins, approached A.C. Special Projects to provide complete technical facilities for the new installation. Starting with an empty shell and power feed, the company specified the entire lighting, rigging, audio and AV products inventory for the theatre. Also, various equipment was supplied for a separate drama rehearsal space.
The lighting equipment includes an extensive list of ETC, Robe & Chroma-Q conventional, moving light & LED fixtures, Strand digital dimming, internally wired lighting bars and associated cabling. The stand-alone Jands Vista T2 lighting console provides a visual interface, timeline editing function and generic fixture control, enabling students to create shows on the very latest and user-friendly industry technology. Also, the School uses native Vista Mac software to teach students how to programme shows offline and WYSIWYG Learn lighting visualisation software to design their shows.
A.C. Special Projects used Litec QD30S heavy-duty aluminium truss for the ground support system. The audio system was chosen with space in mind as well as ease of use. A combination of KV2 EX6, EX10, EX12 full
UK - Impact Products (Europe) is stocking the updated version of the Par38 lighting system from Chauvet, now fitted with LEDs. Suited to mobile and touring installations, the pack comprises four Par cans with adjustable mounting brackets, and comes complete with lighting stand, footswitch and chaser.
With robust black metal casings, the single colour red, green, blue and yellow pars are each fitted with 96 LEDs and are sound controlled with simple connection to the four-channel, fully automated chaser. The fixtures can also be controlled using the included footswitch.
The lightweight tripod stand has a more than generous 20kg load capacity and is height adjustable to over 2.1m, with the mounting bar providing a width of 1m. All mounting screws are, of course, supplied.
With a total pack weight of less than 8kg, the one-box LED Par38 System is portable and is quickly assembled, breaking down into compact dimensions for ease of transport and storage.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Artistic Licence has launched a redeveloped version of its Cata-Lynx DMX512 to Art-Net converter.
"The original Artistic Licence Cata-Lynx converter was initially designed just as a handy widget," says Artistic Licence technical director, Simon Hobday, "but since its release it has proved very popular, especially amongst those needing to bridge the gap between lighting and video control technology."However, with the new Art-Net technology Artistic Licence has been developing, re-designing the Cata-Lynx range means that the product will benefit from many of the new features seen in Data-Lynx, while retaining the high specification and functionality of the original Cata-Lynx."
The result is a choice of two products in a standard 1U Rack Unit: the Cata-Lynx I/P and the Cata-Lynx O/P.
Cata-Lynx I/P is a rack mounted DMX512 to Art-Net Ethernet converter with two universes. It is aimed specifically at the light and video convergence market for use with media servers providing a cost effective method to remote control any Art-Net compliant media server, including High End Systems Catalyst and Green Hippo Hippotizer. It can also be used with Art-Net compliant visualisation software such as Cast Lighting's WYSIWYG and Design & Drafting's LD Assistant.
Cata-Lynx O/P has been designed at the request of Artistic Licence customers who need to convert Art-Net to DMX512 plus RDM functionality, all contained within a 1U rack-mounted format. Cata-Lynx O/P sends Art-Net to two DMX512/RDM Universes. Each Universe output has a 'built-in splitter' al
UK - The Production, Operations and Artistic teams of Cirque du Soleil are currently looking for passionate individuals of all levels of experience to fill upcoming positions in a wide range of theatre-related technical fields, including automation, rigging, sound, lighting, carpentry, props, wardrobe, video/projection, stage management, artistic direction, technical direction and project/production management.
In an effort to attract the right people to fill these many roles, the company is hosting a recruitment event in London on Tuesday, 3 February 2009. This 'Red Curtain Recruitment Event' will provide an opportunity for those interested in working with Cirque du Soleil to meet its recruiters and managers, have a drink and a quick bite to eat with current employees, and generally learn more about the company and its many career opportunities.
Anyone wishing to attend can register for the event and submit a résumé by clicking here.
A second Red Curtain Recruitment Event is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on 23 February.
(Lee Baldock)
Germany - Lighting designers Andreas Ellmerer and Thomas Brügge used nearly 180 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs for the high profile TV event, Pro 7 Stock Car Race. Lighting equipment was supplied by Ellmerer and Brügge's Cologne based company, Cape Cross Studio & Filmlichtgesellschaft who were working for show producers Brainpool.
Staged at the LTU Arena in Düsseldorf, the latest Pro 7 event, the TV Total Stock Car Crash Challenge saw about 30 VIPs - including singers, TV and sporting personalities - competing to demonstrate their driving skills in the race that was recorded and broadcast on German TV channel, Pro 7.
Of the 177 ColorSpot 1200E ATs, 40 were placed in the pit lane of the track, 72 were on a stage in the middle of the track mounted on the floor and 72 were on trusses in the ceiling of the indoor venue.
These were programmed, along with other moving lights, by Arkin Atakan on 2 grandMA full size consoles. One desk drove the show and effects lighting, while the other controlled all the white light sources.
(Jim Evans)
UK - On 5 January 2009, Bandit Lites moved its European operations into a new, larger facility. The building is located on Ampthill Road, very close to the Bedford bypass allowing access to the A1 and M1 motorway.
The 50,000sq.ft facility includes 6,500sq.ft of office space. The remaining space is divided between the Technical Services Department, LED & Special Effects Department and the Generic & Rigging Departments, as well as a virtual programming suite, storage space and a substantial amount of system prep areas, allowing Bandit to prep multiple lighting systems simultaneously.
Parking for numerous trucks is available in the rear of the estate with acreage for future construction when it is needed. There are offices and a full kitchen available for visiting lighting designers as they work in the virtual programming suite within Bandit to programme their creations before the equipment hits the road.
"The enthusiasm of the staff has been phenomenal," Bandit UK chief executive, Lester Cobrin commented. "We are confident that the facility will allow us to take on additional work while upholding the standard of service we are known for. There is an opportunity now to make improvements as to the way we work within a new environment. I am still stunned as to how much work we actually managed to shoehorn out of the old building within the smaller area."
13 January 2009 marked a new milestone for Bandit Lites as they loaded out UFC 93, the first job that was fully prepped at the new facility. "It was a great sight to see the first trucks