UK - “If you’re planning to create atmospheric effects, these are the entertainment industry’s go to products,” states television and film lighting hire company, Limelite Lighting about the MDG fog and haze generators in its inventory.
Located in Goudhurst, Kent, within easy reach of television studios in London and Maidstone, Limelite has been an advocate of MDG haze generators since it was founded in 2007. Directors Ed Railton and Matthew Mountier, both with long-standing freelance careers in theatre touring and television lighting respectively, purchased 10 MDG Atmosphere haze generators at the outset and are still using the same machines 13 years later.
“We both had extensive experience of MDG through our freelance careers and knew them to be the best,” says Railton. “We liked the level of control, the fineness of the haze and the smooth, even dispersion the Atmosphere gives - it’s so fine you can’t see the haze until light is passed through it.”
Limelite Lighting’s initial engagements were with theatres and small television studios, but the bulk of its work today is in television, with the majority in outside broadcast, and many sub-hires to larger TV and film rental companies.
“Over the years we have seen a change from DOPs’ traditional requests for cracked oil hazers to the cleaner option of MDG Atmosphere haze generators which have become the lighting directors’ hazer of choice,” says Railton. “The Atmospheres leave very little residue on lenses, gobos and accessories.” This has proved an important fa

USA - Magmatic atmospheric effects is now shipping Crisp Max, a high-output snow machine in Magmatic’s Polar series that makes it easy to create scene-setting wintry settings.
Crisp Max is capable of producing high volumes of naturalistic snow with the capacity to adjust snowflake size for greater versatility. Small flake or large, short throw or long, this 1250W high-volume snow machine can project snow up to 12m meters (40ft) with the flexibility to adjust to the occasion. An optional 120-degree pan motor is available that increases the coverage area.
Crisp Max includes a 20-litre fluid tank hidden inside a road case with durable casters for extra protection and easier portability. The unit’s 10m long hose can be rigged on a standard truss or tripod stand and fluid can be extended up to 50 meters horizontally or vertically using 10m extension tubes with couplers that are available as an accessory.
Built to withstand travel and repeated use, Crisp Max features a durable aluminium housing and robust design for powerful performance. An all-in-one APF (Air Pump Fan) system together with an auto-clean feature lowers the risk of clogging and reduces the need for maintenance. An easy-to-open housing and serviceable design add to its user-friendliness.
All Polar series snow machines introduce quieter, snow-producing technology. A noise-blocking layer of insulation reduces fan noise for quieter operation, making them ideal for those more noise-sensitive environments. The snow cannon can remain inside the road case to minimize the noise level.

USA - It was “like riding a bike” is how John Garberson described his experience working the lighting console for the opening acts at Arizona Bike Week. The president of Creative BackStage, Garberson hadn’t run the boards at a show in six years (his work managing his business prevented that, when he sat down at the desk for this four-day festival.
Given the way Creative BackStage was growing, Garberson really didn’t expect to be running boards again. But in 2020, few things have gone as expected. With his festival and event business halted in March, he occupied himself by turning his home office into a viz suite and “relearned“ programming.
On Wednesday 7 October, Garberson got the chance to put his resharpened skills to work when the festival’s first act, Threefold Fate, took the stage. Like the proverbial bike rider, his comfort at the console came right back to him, as he ran a punchy fast-moving show on a rig anchored by Chauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures.
“This was Creative BackStage‘s first festival in eight months,“ said Garberson. “We learned for certain that Arizona Bike Week would happen only 10 days before the festival started, so it was pretty exciting. The organisers did a great job keeping everything as safe as possible.”
In the interest of safety, crowd size at Arizona Bike Week was severely restricted. Instead of the 20,000 people that normally flood the festival, this year’s attendance was limited to 3,800 a day, and fans were required to remain in private sections. Smaller crowds meant

USA - The University of Tennessee, Knoxville held 10 in-person commencement ceremonies 19-22 November at Thompson-Boling Arena for spring, summer and fall 2020 graduates. Bandit Lites supplied a lighting system for the socially-distanced event which included additional health and safety protocols, allowing graduates and their families the opportunity to safely gather to celebrate their momentous accomplishments.
“Though the ceremonies will look a little different, we have worked to preserve the spirit of a typical commencement so we can celebrate all our graduates, who have worked so hard for this moment,” said Provost John Zomchick.
Bandit Lites donated nearly 100 fixtures including VL 3000 Spots, CUEPIX Blinder WW4s, Chauvet COLORdash Block Lights and Bandit’s GRNLite Moving Washes. “Much of the lighting we do for commencement could be considered utilitarian,” explained Bandit Lites client representative and project manager Giff Swart. “We want the graduates to look good for pictures, so we need to have even lighting coverage. We also pay close attention to colour temperature, so pictures look natural and colours are true.
“The CuePix WW4 provide nice coverage of the graduates in their seats. We used 54 GRN Moving Head LED Wash to light the ramps and stage; they just continue to be workhorses and are as punchy as ever. Twelve VL 3000 Spots were used to highlight the lectern and other key positions. We used Chauvet ColorDash Blocks to light foliage and flags on the stage.”
Each ceremony was limited to 200 graduates with a set

UK - London’s latest 1Rebel fitness centre features a lighting system, which was designed by Durham Marenghi of Durhamld Limited, and includes 54 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Solo and 11 COLORado 2 Solo LED fixtures supplied by Middlesex Sound and Lighting.
“I was approached by Giles Dean and his team at 1Rebel to create some impactful night club style lighting for their gyms around London,” said Magenghi. “Working alongside Ryan Hopkins at Lights Control Rigging, we created a virtual animation to present the concept to our client. They were very supportive of the ideas we laid out.”
The RGBW COLORado fixtures were suited for Magenghi’s plan to balance the fitness centre’s video walls and moving fixtures with intense fields of coloured light. “Our client was especially happy with the COLORados smooth, homogenous colour source,” he said. “In the past, they had used LED pars where all you could see were the RGB pixels rather than the actual colour that the fixture was producing. That would obviously not be acceptable for the kind of environment we want to create. We needed colorization that would stand up to the rest of the lighting design.”
Also of critical importance were the zooming optics of the COLORado fixtures, which allow instructors to change up looks during exercise and cycling sessions. “Middlesex Sound and Lighting did a great job guiding us to the right fixtures,” said Magenghi. “Project manager Toby Jones and his team as well as programmer Dean Osborne were fundamental to the project’s success.”
M

Europe - The next Elation Coffee Break will feature the SEVEN Series, outlining the advantages of Elation’s 7-color multi-chip LED technology with hosts Alistair Smyth and Frederik Afif.
Elation’s line of linear SEVEN Batten and SEVEN Par IP lights house RGBAW + Lime + UV LEDs for ‘an even wider spectrum of colour options to paint stages, sets, scrims and scenery’.
The Elation Coffee Break with a focus on the SEVEN Series will air live on Thursday, 26 November at 11:00 a.m. CEST. Tune in at www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/live/. No registration is required.
The Elation Coffee Break is an online presentation series from Elation’s European office in Kerkrade, the Netherlands that takes an up-close look at some of the company’s most popular product series. To view previous Elation Coffee Break webinars, visit www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/live/.

UK - GoboPlus.com has partnered with Rosco to bring to market a new range of gobos in support of our technical entertainment charity, Backup. Designed by Exactly13 LTD and exclusively licensed to GoboPlus.com, the new gobo designs are all inspired by elements of the Backup logo and are a practical addition to GoboPlus.com’s existing Backup logo gobos and the expanding range of charity gobos available from GoboPlus.com.
The new range comprises 15 aerial, breakup and texture designs, each of which will generate a £3 donation to Backup for every glass gobo sold and £1 for every metal gobo.
Paul de Ville, CEO of GoboPlus.com, explains the reasoning behind the initiative: “The aim is to create a legacy income stream for Backup which stretches far into the future, beyond current troubles, and to emphasise the importance of continued support for those in need within our industry. We are a small company with a big heart and while no-one is in a position to make huge donations at this time, we see these little donations like bricks in a wall: all of our small contributions combined together will make a big difference to those who need it."
While individual gobo sales will have a cumulative impact, de Ville also has an idea for supercharging those contributions. “We would like to invite all lighting manufacturers with their own in-house gobo supply capabilities to support Backup by incorporating one of the new designs into their new – or existing – fixtures,” he says. “To this end, GoboPlus.com is happy to waive any license fee for the Backup

USA - City Theatrical’s Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology is now available for film and video projects with a new line of Multiverse Studio products, including the Multiverse Studio Receiver, Multiverse Studio Kit, and Multiverse Studio Add On Kit, now available in dual band 900MHz/2.4GHz functionality for North America, and 2.4GHz band usage worldwide.
As the newest hardware building block to the Multiverse product line, the Multiverse Studio Receiver brings the advanced features of the Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM system to the film and video world with fast setup and reliability. It contains a long-life lithium-ion polymer battery giving 20 hours of use, and its full four button user interface with a backlit LED display makes setup easy and gives feedback on system performance. Each Multiverse Studio Receiver includes a DMX corded connector, which allows the external antenna to hang below the lighting fixture, giving improved data fidelity.
Two Multiverse Studio Receiver models are now available and shipping through City Theatrical dealers worldwide. The Multiverse Studio Receiver 900MHz/2.4GHz (P/N 5904) has two built-in radios, 2.4GHz (for worldwide use) and 900MHz (for use in the Americas only), which allow the user to select which single universe to receive, and which radio band to use via the Multiverse SHoW ID. The Multiverse Studio Receiver 2.4GHz (P/N 5905) can be used worldwide on the 2.4GHz band. Learn more at: citytheatrical.com/Products/multiverse-studio-receiver
Designed as a turnkey wireless DMX solution for film & video

USA - There is a special joy the production team at Life Challenge Church, Odessa, Texas, takes in putting together Sunday morning children’s services. Creative spirits run a little more freely, and new ideas are explored more deeply in a bid to make bible stories come to life for young worshippers.
“The kids service gives us an opportunity to go a little more outside the box,” said Gabriel Loera, technical director at Life Challenge Church. “We do more immersive and moving fixtures and contrasting colours across the crowd. We use more upbeat and themed EP backgrounds during the full service rather than just during worship. The kids really respond well to the full immersive environments.”
On 18 October, the church gave adult worshippers the opportunity to channel the childhood imagination that resides inside them with a Sunday Nights Kid Service, an event that shared imagery from the children’s program with the congregation at large. Helping to create this unique experience was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixture supplied by Sweet Southern Sound.
“We do this several times a year,” said Loera. “It’s a family focus initiative that lets parents experience worship as their children do every Sunday morning. Everyone really enjoys it.”
Contributing to the immersive environment through the sanctuary for the event were richly saturated colours from the rig’s COLORado and Ovation fixtures. Loera positioned six COLORado 1 Solo fixtures above the first rows of pews and six over the upstage deck to provide a consistent col

UK - Vestel Visual Solutions reports that it has been selected by Reading Football Club as its official visual technology partner. Vestel’s digital signage, interactive screens and video walls have been deployed throughout the club’s training complex at Bearwood Park in order to support a number of activities, ranging from tactical analysis to providing players with fitness and nutritional advice.
The new Bearwood Park facility is home to Reading FC’s men’s and women’s first teams, young professionals (Under-23s and Under-18s) and Academy players from ages 8 to 18. It also houses the coaching staff and management team, alongside a significant proportion of the club’s administrative staff.
Reading FC has now equipped the facility with Vestel’s screens to digitally enhance areas such as the yoga room and first team gym, the media room - which includes an interactive screen that uses touch screen technology to support both interviews and analysis - the Academy and the women’s Academy, the manager’s office, the parent’s room, reception areas, the medical room and multiple classrooms. These solutions will support the education, training, rehabilitation and performance of the club’s players, as well as its corporate activities.
“Our commitment to the elite performance of our players meant we outgrew our old training facility, Hogwood Park, and as a result we’ve spent a number of years designing and building Bearwood Park,” said Tim Kilpatrick, head of sales and partnerships at Reading Football Club. “We chose Vestel to suppo

South Africa - The newly refurbished Seabrooke’s Theatre at Durban High School (DHS) is making waves and delighting audiences with one successful comedy after the next. After a seven-month entertainment famine, the theatre was launched with Sylvia, presented by KickstArt Theatre Company, which ran from 23 October to 1 November.
Seabrooke’s Theatre is a 100-seater auditorium used by the schools Dramatic Arts Department as well as by amateur and professional companies and groups. Thanks to a generous contribution by DHS old boy and theatre lover, Chris Seabrooke, a much-needed renovation and equipment upgrade was made possible and commenced at the start of the Covid-19 South African lockdown. The theatre has been repainted, seats reupholstered, a green room/dressing room is currently being built, and on the technical side, a lighting and audio system has been supplied and installed by DWR Distribution’s Michael Taylor-Broderick and Nick Barnes.
The new lighting equipment includes 13 Robe ParFect 150s, six Robe LEDBeam 150s, four ETC Source Four 25 to 50 degree Profiles, a Le Maitre MVS Hazer with control via a grandMA dot2 onPC.
A Quest Sound system comprises of two HPI25 Front loaded 600w rms low profile and high power speakers, two HPI 12S Compact Passive Sub-Bass Speakers, two Quest 2004 Stereo Power Amplifiers, a Allen & Heath 16 channel digital console, two Audix OM2 Vocal Microphones, one Audix AP42 OM2A Wireless Microphone. In addition, Michael and Nick have rehung some of the lighting bars and added a patch panel to allow for

USA - After 15 years at their original location in Orlando, FL, Discovery Church outgrew their space's ability to effectively support their ministry. Purchasing a former Sports Authority retail space, the church renovated the building to support their needs for worship services. Headlining the new lighting rig are fixtures from Prolights distributed by A.C. Lighting Inc.
“The Prolights fixtures are a major upgrade for Discovery Church,” says church lighting designer Anthony Stofflet. “We went from very simple systems that really put us in a box as far as creativity was concerned, to a lighting rig that significantly opens up the creative options for us. We weren't that familiar with the Prolights brand of LED fixtures, but A.C. Lighting Inc. set up a lighting shoot-out for us, and their fixtures truly blew the competitors away.”
Discovery Church installed EclProfile FS ellipsoidal static profiles for their primary front stage wash; Jet Spot3 moving head spotlights; Stark 400 moving head wash fixtures, and Ra 2000ProfileHB moving head fixtures - a full complement of Prolights fixtures for all their stage illumination.
“The Eclipse-FS ellipsoidal fixtures have a nice, crisp focus with no haloing effect at the edges of the beam,” says Stofflet. “We've installed 71 of them, making up all of our front wash and static specials. The ability to fine-tune the colour temperature of these fixtures for video was a key feature for us.”
“The JetSpot 3 fixtures are surprisingly bright for such a small fixture,” Stofflet describes. “The

USA - Signalling the start of its around-the-clock festive music broadcast, iHeartMedia New York’s 106.7 LITE FM marked its Flip to Christmas in the New York City skies with a dynamic, animated aerial light show from Verge Aero. The pre-recorded livestream aired at litefm.com on 13 November from 7pm-8pm.
Verge Aero flew 200 drones in Manhattan from a safe launch zone on Governors Island in the New York Harbour. Accompanied by a medley of Carrie Underwood’s first Christmas album, My Gift, the drones created a spectacular visual celebration with the New York City skyline in the background. The show featured a series of colourful, precisely choreographed festive imagery and animations including a Christmas tree, a drummer boy, a snowman, opening of a gift, a ringing bell, a dove being released, the Empire State Building and concluded with Milton Glaser’s ‘I Love NY’ logo.
Originally scheduled to launch Friday, 13 November, the show was moved up three days due to a threatening weather forecast. Verge Aero had to create the show on site in four hours because of the schedule surprise and earlier commitments.
“Our open platform allows us to quickly import graphics and animations and create shows on the fly,” said Nils Thorjussen, CEO of Verge Aero. “The software takes care of all the safety critical aspects of flight so that designers can focus on making their show look beautiful.”
“We knew we had to do something unforgettable for our annual flip to 24/7 Christmas music on 106.7 LITE FM,” said Joe DeAngelis, direc

The need for music and connection between the artist and its audience is greater than ever - and Roisin Murphy chose this moment in time to get the band together for an emotional livestream from PRG’s Live Space!
Rhianna Kenny-Wybrow, Roisin Murphy’s manager said: “For Roisin to build a show inside such an incredible space, that usually would be a hive of activity during the autumn touring season, felt very poignant. Roisin, her band and crew have been hugely restricted this year due to COVID-19. Live shows have been such a massive and enjoyable part of our team for so long; connecting with audiences around the world and working and traveling together as a family. This Mixcloud performance almost feels like an ode to what we have all missed out on. Working with PRG and Squire has been an absolute pleasure and we are incredibly happy to have collectively pulled this off in such strange and uncertain times. The result speaks for itself and reaffirms Roisin's place at the cutting edge of visual and sonic creativity.”
The performance took viewers on a journey through PRG’s warehouse, which was lit with SGM P5 fixtures and GLP JDC LED Strobes. As Roisin walked the length of the building for the opening and closing track, PRG staff used Source 4 Lustr2 fixtures to follow her.
Lighting director Tom Schofield created an amazing asymmetric design in the live space. The back wall was split in two halves, half was an LED screen, and the other half was created by an array of Claypaky Mythos fixtures and GLP X4 Bar 20s, creating a wall of light which co

USA - Vista by Chroma-Q has announced Release 3 (R3) of the Vista 3 lighting and media control software.
Vista 3’s intuitive yet powerful approach to lighting and media control has been embraced by major rental companies, production houses and lighting designers around the world.
As part of Chroma-Q ‘s ongoing commitment to increased functionality and enhanced capability, Vista 3 R3 contains over 150 improvements and new features. Highlights include:
A user configurable, main application, workspace that allow users to customise their playback and programming operational style to suit user preference, further smoothing workflow and providing additional flexibility.
A new FX engine feature allows the number of FX cycles to be defined, which delivers a fantastic tool for quickly creating complex “accents” or “bumps”.
A feature that allows Ethernet based data output to be toggled on/off per protocol - a great feature for Festival use where there is a requirement to connect and configure the lighting network but not output data until the appropriate moment.
Other additions include; new inserted cuelist commands, custom lock screens, cuelist flash attack and decay times, multiple GUI improvements, and an updated factory library.
“R3 has been designed to provide new and existing users with an even more intuitive user experience for creating and delivering fantastic looking shows,” says the company.

Thailand - Hotel Indigo Phuket Patong hired audio integrators Mahajak Development to design and install a Harman Professional audio solution that delivers quality sound throughout the property.
Hotel Indigo Phuket Patong is positioned near Patong Beach in the heart of the city of Patong. Located in a touristy area with a property size of 6,400sq.m, the hotel includes 180 guest rooms, a fitness centre, an outdoor pool as well as entertainment and dining amenities. The hotel also marks the first collaboration between renowned hotel companies, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Kebsup Group Company Limited.
The hotel required a premium audio system that provides excellent sound across the resort. Meeting those requirements, Mahajak selected a Harman Professional audio solution that includes JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplification, BSS signal processing and more.
“One of the challenges we faced was that the hotel had multiple zones with specific requirements, including meeting spaces, lobbies, seminar and banquet rooms, among others. We put our dedicated efforts to install Harman Professional products and provide the best service to the customer,” said Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom, director of project, Mahajak Development Co. “The client wanted the latest hi-tech audio solutions, and we were able to design the ideal systems using Harman products thanks to their flexibility, reliability and impeccable sound quality. To ensure consistent sound throughout the facilities, we installed JBL speakers with Crown amplifiers.”
Provid

USA - Lighting designer Tom Kenny chose Ayrton Khamsin-S profiles as key lights in his design for this year’s iHeartCountry Festival, presented by Capital One, which was live streamed globally and broadcast on iHeartMedia’s country radio stations on 23 October.
Bandit Lites supplied 24 of Ayrton’s Khamsin-S fixtures for this seventh annual celebration of country music which was rescheduled from its original slot in May at the Frank Erwin Centre in Austin, Texas, and relocated to The Steel Mill in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kenny is a lighting designer with over 40 years of experience on both sides of the Atlantic who moves easily between lighting live music and television spectaculars. His client list includes rock superstars like Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, David Byrne, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and The Who, and his television credits number a multiplicity of music award shows, documentaries and TV specials.
“I’d always wanted to use Ayrton’s new fixtures, having used their effects lighting many times before, yet never had the chance until now,” Kenny says. “So when Bandit Lites approached me with the Khamsin-S, I jumped at the opportunity.”
The Khamsin-S fixtures were installed in the overhead grid of The Steel Mill’s 200ft x 79ft studio from where Kenny used them for back, front and key lighting of the bands and as ‘scenery’ for single artists.
“The Khamsins were amazing in all aspects: the colour, power, speed and colour temperature were all perfect for television lighting – the temperatures in particular were ju

South Africa - For the last few months, social media and the internet worldwide has been alight with The Jerusalema Dance Challenge - a TikTok challenge that originated in Angola and went viral after lockdown - with people sharing funny and uplifting videos of themselves dancing a series of moves often performed at African weddings to the hit song Jerusalema by South African DJ & music producer Master KG, featuring the voice of songstress Nomcebo Zikode.
As they have generated millions of views, likes and laughs, these videos in different locations have boosted morale and spirits globally as people have also added their own costumes or elements of style and interpretation to the now-famous moves.
Marius van Rooyen from Pretoria -based broadcast and streaming specialist EventCast was asked by Jaco Minnaar, CEO of their broadcast / IT partner ClearAccess, to produce a livestream / record of a Jerusalema Dance Challenge moment organised as a team-building exercise for their Johannesburg and Pretoria staff including on-site workers and contractors.
Everyone doing a Jerusalema Challenge video is looking for a quirky or different flourish to make theirs different and stand out in a sea of viral moments, so for the main ClearAccess video location, Marius, video director Stephan Pieterse and the team proposed getting some Astera Titan Tubes involved with the action.
The idea was that the lights could be part of the choreography, adding colour, funkiness and - with a few chases and some strobing - some additional movement to the mix.

UK - Carallon Limited, an R&D company responsible for creating innovative control products, has announced it has become an employee owned business.
Carallon was founded in 2004 by seven colleagues who enjoyed working together creating new control products for the entertainment industry. All seven of those original founders still work for Carallon today, including Nick Archdale, Chris Hunt and Richard Mead who remain its board of directors.
Over 16 years, it has gone from strength to strength, growing substantially from seven to over 70 employees, and spawning spin-off companies Pharos Architectural Controls, Brompton Technology, and new start-up SixEye. Pharos and Brompton have both been regular winners of high-profile awards for their innovative products, with Brompton Technology recently winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2020: International Trade.
As of May 2020, Carallon is now owned by an Employee Ownership Trust, which acts for the benefit of all current and future employees, and through elected employee trustees gives all staff a say in major strategic decisions.
Managing director Richard Mead explains, “On day one, Carallon was set up as a business owned and run by its original seven employees. Although we’ve got bigger, we wanted to make sure that ethos was preserved and that there was a clear structure in place for the long-term future of Carallon. Employee ownership fosters a spirit of teamwork and less hierarchical management structures, so it fits with our style very well.”
“While the other directors and

Germany - The Berlin Waldbühne Back to Live Concerts, a socially distanced event concept ran throughout September at the city’s famous open-air venue organised by promoter Semmel Concerts Entertainment.
Berlin-based full production service specialist TSE was asked by the venue management team, CTS Eventim AG, to supply a flexible festival-style production lighting and video rig complete with visual design that would work for a wide range of performing artists. Lighting for this was specified by TSE’s Ronny Rud Reinhold and included Robe BMFL WashBeams, MegaPointes and Spiider moving lights among other luminaires.
The venue has a large stage covered by a tensile roof that normally holds 22,900 guests, but this was revised – in relation to government restrictions at that time for outdoor shows - to 5,000 for Back to Live including staff, artists and crew, with the line-up including popular schlager superstar Roland Kaiser, rapper Sido, comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist Helge Schneider, singer Wincent Weiss and a special schlager-extravaganza night with Peter Maffay, one of Germany’s top-selling artists.
“We chose this classic festival lighting setup,” states Ronny, “to make things as smooth and straightforward for all the guest LDs and lighting operators,” which included the choice of fixtures as all these Robe luminaires are commonly used across many different event sectors in Germany.
With these Robes in the rig, shows could early and painlessly be adapted, a strategy that was proved right as they didn’t

USA - When US President-elect Joe Biden delivered his long-awaited victory speech in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware on the evening of Saturday, 7 November, the exuberant celebrations culminated with a spectacular drone and pyrotechnic show from Strictly FX.
“The creative on this originated with executive producer Ricky Kirshner, of Kirshner Events, who has been the nexus of all the work we’ve done with the DNC,” notes Ted Maccabee, CEO of Strictly FX.
In partnership with Verge Aero, Strictly FX deployed a fleet of 200 drones for the event. As those below celebrated, the GPS-guided drones lit up the sky with precision choreography, synchronised to a soundtrack which began with Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars.
The large-scale aerial imagery, created and refined in line with the Biden campaign’s vision, included red, white and blue stars, Biden’s campaign logo, a map of the USA, ‘46’ and ‘Harris’ – all with Strictly FX’s stunning pyrotechnic accompaniment.
The team worked fast to organise not just the content of the show, but the permissions and logistics required to carry it out. “Since this was a national security situation, the permissions that we had to get from various government entities were incredibly detailed; thankfully, we started on this process three weeks ahead of the election, and we were able to wade through all the authorizations in time to create this once in a lifetime event,” notes Maccabee.
The crew from Verge Aero had challenges as well. Nils Thorjussen, CEO of Verge Aero, adds,

USA - Elation Professional and the ADJ Group of Companies have announced the sudden passing of friend and colleague Joe Adams on Saturday, 14 November.
One of Joe’s most deeply held beliefs was that he was better because of the people he served. Joe’s family shares: “It doesn’t matter if you are the owner, stagehand, or the repair technician in the back, each of you had a lasting impact on Joe. You were never his dealers, his clients, or his work. You were friends and family; never a chore, obligation, or dollar sign.”
Adams, 53, worked as a regional sales rep for Elation Professional from 2017. He began in the lighting industry in 1998 with his own company as an American DJ dealer and came to the Elation family from manufacturers rep firm PSLP. Most recently, he operated his own firm Epic Pro Sales. In total, he represented the ADJ Group of Companies’ products for over 20 years.
“On behalf of Elation Professional and everyone at the ADJ Group of Companies, we express our sincerest condolences to the Adams family as we keep his wife Kim and their three children in our thoughts and prayers,” said Eric Loader, Elation director of sales & marketing.
“Like so many others, we are heartbroken. Joe was a positive, genuinely kind-hearted person and a much-loved member of the Elation and ADJ family. Joe had a passion for life and work that was infectious and inspiring and he always found something to smile about. He was a true beacon of light in life and in our industry and he will be sorely missed. We are thankful for the time w

USA - ETC has announced a new addition to its ArcSystem Pro luminaire platform, the D4 CV driver family. This new line of drivers is designed for use with 24 VDC constant voltage LED loads, such as linear tape applications.
The D4 CV driver line complements the recently introduced F-Drive system, creating a range of LED driving solutions for a variety of installations. The new D4 CV driver line includes both wall-mount and rack-mount options, with four channels per driver, and the ability to reach maximum load capabilities of 528 W across four channels.
The D4 CV Drivers are available in the following three sizes: D4 CV 150: Wall-mountable, with four outputs of up to 50 W per output or 150W with all outputs combined; D4 CV 350: Wall- or rack-mountable, with over 72W on a single output or 264W with all outputs combined, and D4 CV 700: Wall- or rack-mountable, with 146W per output or up to 528 W with all outputs combined.

USA - With its open-air amphitheatre built into the surrounding sandstone, Red Rocks is one of live music’s more distinctive venues. From 24-27 September, the fabled venue west of Denver was the scene of four nights of in-person and live-streaming music experiences. Red Rocks partnered with video streaming service Nugs.net to cap the summer off in style with local Colorado production house Brown Note Productions providing a full Elation IP-rated rig for the limited capacity 4-night run.
Tiësto, Fitz and the Tantrums, Billy Strings and Lotus headlined the four nights respectively with all but Billy Strings performing before a live audience limited to 175 fans per Colorado’s COVID-19 guidelines. As a guarantee against any weather issues, notably Colorado’s notorious cloudburst rain showers, Brown Note dipped into its inventory of Elation all-weather IP65 luminaires to light the four shows with the venue’s spectacular rock formations also lit up for Tiësto’s performance.
Ryan Knutson, president of Brown Note Productions, designed both the show lighting rig and rock lighting looks using the fleet of Elation IP-rated lighting that Brown Note acquired last fall.
Stage lighting gear lists varied slightly per show with the Tiësto show comprising the most fixtures: 36 Proteus Maximus LED profile moving heads, 32 Proteus Rayzor 760 LED wash moving heads, 16 Protron Eclypse hybrid LED lights, 18 DTW Blinder 700 IP and 12 Seven Batten 72 pixel bars. The rig provided ample amounts of punch and with all shows filmed for live stream viewing courtesy