Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Lighting

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UK - Le Maitre has announced the addition of seven new products to their ProStage II professional range of pyrotechnics.

Falling Star is billed as "an incredibly bright star" and is available in 10 different colour versions, that falls under gravity over 30ft.

8' Ice Gerb is a dazzling spray of silver sparks with a bright white flame, projecting upwards to 8ft high.

Saxon offers a 20ft spray of projected rotating silver sparks - similar to a Catherine Wheel effect.

Gold Glitter Waterfall gives a 12 second stream of gold glittering stars falling 16ft.

13mm & 23mm Flashpots feature red, green or white -with rolling smoke, flame and a report.

SPD#1 is a 'robotics' effect - also known as an Electric Fault Simulator, producing a small flash and a spray of directional silver sparks to 10ft.

"We are really excited about the new additions to the PSII range as

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USA - Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures are hitting the road with the North American summer tour of iconic rock band Motley Crue, which is co-headlining tour dates across the country with Kiss. A complement of approximately 90 Sharpys have joined the Motley Crue /Kiss lighting inventory.

"I first saw Sharpys at the Ultra Music Fest almost two years ago," says lighting director Mike Cooper. "The lighting designer had a huge Clay Paky rig and a row of Sharpys on the stage, and I was blown away. I thought I had to use them."

Since then Cooper has deployed Sharpys on the Godsmack/Staind tour and Motley Crue appearances in Europe. "I love them: Their speed is awesome, and they can cut through anything," he reports. "We have a full rig of 1500-watt lights, but the Sharpys just cut through everything."

Lighting and production designer Sooner Routhier

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USA - Arguably the most recognizable landmark of the US's West coast, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge recently celebrated its 75th birthday. Thanks to wysiwyg, from CAST Software of Toronto, Canada, tens of thousands of spectators experienced the light show and pyro celebration as a complete surprise.

Event producer Don Richards of Foghorn Creative brought in San Francisco-based Lightswitch with lighting designer Norm Schwab to help organise the event, along with Prelite of San Francisco to design the lighting concept. Working with Syncrolite for lighting the bridge, Schwab and Prelite created a moving tribute with historical significance. The final effect was reminiscent of the Scintillator, a vintage lighting technique that was introduced to the city at the Pan Pacific Exposition in 1915.

The show culminated in a blaze of 75 Syncrolite light beams - the only lights used o

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USA - The PBS National Memorial Day Concert, honouring the service and sacrifice of service personnel, has become an American tradition. Co-hosts Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds) and Gary Sinise (CSI:New York) were joined this year by an all-star line-up on the West Lawn of the US Capitol, including dignitaries, celebrated actors and renowned musical artists, for a night of remembrance.

Staged by Capital Concerts, the nation's leading producer of live patriotic television shows, in order to produce these large-scale live outdoor television events its staff are joined by a dedicated crew of hundreds of professionals. On the technical side these included lighting designer Bob Barnhart, of Full Flood Inc, and lighting director, David Grill, who chose large quantities of GLP impression LED fixtures in their armoury of effects. These were all supplied by Martee Nuruddin at PRG's Orlando

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UK - At this year's T in the Park one of the hottest acts to see was Professor Green on the NME stage. Twenty LEDHead Par144Q luminaries were used as part of a matrix to provide back lighting and visual effects. The 144Q is fitted with 18x 8W quadcolour LEDs in a rugged parcan housing, available in black and chrome.

The units were supplied by SM Lighting Ltd of Glasgow. Scott Munro, MD of SM Lighting commented, "We were very happy to use the LEDhead 144Qs on the outdoor NME stage at T in the Park for the Professor Green set. The brightness is ideal for day time shows and came across well on television. They had just returned from The Proclaimers' Scottish tour, where power was an issue in some venues. Since buying them we have been very happy with the brightness and reliability and also, of course, the price."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - At PLASA2012 in London a new breed of moving head and much more will be on display at Martin Professional's Stand 1-F44. Martin invites lighting professionals to get an up close look at the new MAC Viper series of 1000 W moving heads along with a host of other innovative products like the new AirFX version in the MAC III family, an all-new VC series of creative LED video solutions, new portable lighting controllers in the M-Series, and a new compact hazer in Martin's Jem family.

MAC Viper Profile features a highly efficient optical system that outperforms market-leading profiles in the 1200-watt range. With over 26000 lumens of power from a 1000-watt HID source, it is convincingly brighter than 1200-watt fixtures and also outperforms them in terms of speed and compactness.

The MAC Viper AirFX a highly versatile beam, effects and wash luminaire in one and a whole new categ

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UK - The two companies that made event history by developing the digital artistry and technology behind the London 2012 Opening Ceremonies 'human-powered' video screen signed a global partnership agreement on Saturday 28 July. The partners are both behind the digital magic that enveloped the audience at Friday night's performance and plan to build on their joint offering to create immersive experiences for events worldwide.

Tait Technologies specialises in combining video and scenic technologies and provided the technology behind the largest ever video screen at the Opening Ceremony, which literally engulfed the audience. The screen is composed of 70,500 individual, full colour Pixel Tablets with a resolution five times that of HDTV and a height of 413ft.

Crystal is a creative agency which specialises in digital imaging and 3D animation. Crystal London created the stunning ani

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UK - Set in the courtyard of one of London's most celebrated historic buildings, Summer Series at Somerset House featured a programme of diverse music acts playing a series of special shows between 7 and 19 July.

Working with production managers Ronnie Lee for Metropolis Music and Jon Howes for Somerset House, PRG's senior account manager Loz Wilcox provided a lighting system for the temporary stage at Somerset House. Jon Howes said: "Nothing but praise for the kit supplied to Somerset House once again. PRG's service and back up was excellent."

PRG supplied house lighting designer, Petter Skramstad, with a core lighting package of Clay Paky Alpha Spot 700 HPE, i-Pix BB4 LED Battens, Martin Atomic Strobes and GLP Impression 120 Zoom LED Washlights, combining to provide a flexible house rig suitable for the broad range of performers and visiting LDs.

Petter commented

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South Africa - Fashion by the Sea was held over two evenings on the Moyo Pier at the Durban beachfront recently. The show ran off a grandMA 2 and also utilised four Avolites Cubes. The weather played along for this trendy event which could not have been hosted at a more beautiful setting.

Black Coffee supplied the full technical. The dimmers were at the beginning of the 120m ramp (pier), and there was a socopex run to each of the 24 5m long truss totems erected and reinforced along the pier. Each totem was topped with six PAR 64s. Set up was two days prior to the event.

Simon Hampton was the lighting designer and operated the grandMA2. Also part of the team was Brandon Bunyan and Llewellyn Pieters.

.(Jim Evans)

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UK - Harlow, Essex, based performing arts school Makin' Steps likes to pull out all the stops for its end of year show - traditionally staged at Harlow Leisure Centre - and ensure its students get to perform accompanied by "proper X-Factor technical production values".

This year, they asked London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) to provide lighting, trussing, rigging, power distribution and crew. The design and specification for the kit was produced by Makin' Steps' founder and creative director Scott Simpson, and his lighting designer Mike Penketh.

This year's show, entitled 5212 covered the six decades of popular music since the Queen's coronation in 1952.

It was the first time CSE has worked with Makin' Steps, and CSE's Haydn Cruickshank comments, "I was totally impressed not just with the level of excellence o

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Serbia - Over 130 Robe moving lights were supplied by Serbian technical solutions provider Studio Berar to the three biggest stages - Main, Dance Arena and Fusion - at the 2012 EXIT Festival.

EXIT is one of Europe's hottest and most popular events, staged in the picturesque environs of the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad.

The four day event attracted over 100,000 music fans who enjoyed a diverse line up with over 500 live acts appearing across 20 stages.

The Studio Berar lighting rigs illuminated international stars like Duran Duran, Guns N'Roses, New Order, and Eryka Badu on the Main Stage; AVICII, Luciano, Richie Hawtin and Laurent Garnier in the Dance Arena, and The Toy Dolls, Eyesburn, Zemlja Gruva and Elektricni Orgazam on the Fusion Stage.

The company, also based in Novi Sad, has been involved in Exit since the first event in 2000.

Lighting for the three stages t

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UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) have supplied and installed an audio, lighting and media infrastructure for the new £5m IT & Media Block at the Park Road Campus of Uxbridge College, Middlesex.

The three storey high IT & Media Block (AKA North Block) facilitates a range of courses run by the College, including Film, Audio Recording, Broadcast, Design, Development, CGI and Computer Programming.

Their modern facilities include soundproofed studios for audio and film recording, independent control & media rooms, a green screen area for filming 3D footage, and computer rooms.

ACSP were approached by Robert Drury, the College's project director - who is responsible for all of their building and development programmes - to provide a future-proof technical infrastructure for the main two production and technical areas of the North Block.

The project was co-ordinated for AC

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UK - MHA Lighting has appointed a regional sales manager to boost its expanding sales team in the South.

Tony Smith, 56, joins MHA Lighting with a wealth of experience, having been in the industry all his working life, in positions previously for Thorlux, Technosol and Cooper Lighting.

His appointment comes as the Atherton-based company take on a number of new projects following new orders from Manchester Airport Group, the NHS and a number of car parking clients.

Smith, who lives in Devon, said, "I am delighted to be joining MHA Lighting at such an exciting time of expansion. We all know how difficult the market is out there and companies need a product which gives them that extra edge. MHA Lighting's award-winning waveguide technology definitely gives us that. By using waveguide technology MHA can combine all the benefits of LEDs with all the benefits of traditional f

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Russia - On 23 June world renowned DJs descended on Moscow for the annual student Prom Night, dramatically lit by more than 100 Clay Paky luminaires.

International lighting designer Roman Stolyarov of Moscow-based Arlecchino Group specified 24 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s, 50 Clay Paky Shotlight Washes and 32 Clay Paky Sharpys and delivered an 'unforgettable experience' for thousands of party going graduates. Lighting was also supplied and installed by the Arlecchino Group.

Stolyarov used the Shotlight and the Alpha Profiles to create the general atmosphere for the event and The Sharpys to deliver the lighting and set effects in sync with the music.

"I really like the different gobos, the colours and the optics of the Alpha Profile series," says Stolyarov. "The Clay Paky Shotlight affords my design a wide range of possibilities including some clever beam mani

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USA - Less than one year after showcasing the 152 lumens-per-watt concept LED bulb, Cree, has introduced the 170 lumens-per-watt (LPW) prototype LED light bulb. The innovations behind the high-performance 170 LPW LED bulb are enabling significantly higher efficacy and lower cost for Cree's luminaire portfolio and demonstrate Cree's continued commitment to accelerate the adoption of LED lighting by addressing initial cost and payback - key barriers to widespread LED lighting adoption, says the company.

"Optimising each LED design element was critical in achieving the performance reached by Cree's new prototype LED bulb," said Nick Medendorp, vice president of research and development, Cree lighting. "The technology embodied in the new 170 LPW concept LED bulb is enabling us to develop higher-performance and lower-cost Cree LED luminaires. By pushing the limits of w

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USA - Prism Projection has announced the launch of the third generation of their popular Studio LED fixture. The RevEAL Studio.3 Fresnel works just like a traditional Fresnel with standard barn doors to shape the beam, produces more lumens of light, and has a wider zoom range, says the company.

Building on the previous generations of the RevEAL Studio and responding to the feedback of lighting designers, Prism has expanded the feature set of the Studio.3 LED Fresnel to make it a true replacement for a comparable tungsten fixture. The Studio.3 produces 9,700 lumens; has a tunable Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of 2,700-8,000K; enhanced white +/- correction; and a spot to flood range of 10°-90°. All produced by the energy efficient and long lasting solid-state Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) paired with Prism's proprietary TrueSource control algorithms and projection opti

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UK - Chauvet is set to launch new moving heads- Chauvet Professional Q-Spot 460-LED and Q-Spot 360-LED and video panels Chauvet Professional PVP S5 and PVP S7-to the European market at this year's PLASA show on booth I-F53. Additionally, Chauvet Professional will highlight its new Ovation line of the theatrical fixtures, as well as introducing the luminarc line of architainment interior and exterior lighting solutions.

Two new compact moving spots, Chauvet Professional Q-Spot 460-LED and Professional Q-Spot 360-LED, are eco-friendly, cost-effective fixtures for smaller entertainment and hospitality venues or any space that demands a steadfast, stress-free performance.

Both fixtures include a highly efficient patented optical system, a 16-degree beam angle, an easy-access gobo door, and shutter and strobe functions. Lightweight and easy-to-hang, the fixtures operate quietly, ha

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UK - Leading international lighting designer Tom Kenny specified over 100 Robe moving lights - ROBIN MMX Spots and ROBIN 600 LEDWashes - among others - to light the 2012 Country Music Television (CMT) Awards event in Nashville, Tennessee on June 6th.

Staged at Bridgestone Arena, the annual Awards show is a fan-voted show for country music videos and TV performances, which is enjoyed by a live audience of over 15,000 and broadcast live on CMT.

Hosted by Toby Keith and Kristen Bell, the action-packed evening featured live performances from a truly stellar line up of country talent including Lady Antebellum, Willie Nelson, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney and many, many more. Lighting equipment was supplied by VER Rentals.

It's the fourth year that Tom has designed lighting for CMT Awards, and once again he brought a clean and fresh contemporary look to the stage, working closel

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The Netherlands - Royal Philips Electronics has announced that the 200th licensee signed up to its LED luminaire and retrofit bulb licensing programme. As a result, Paulmann Light GmbH has gained access to Philips' comprehensive portfolio of patented LED technologies and solutions offered in the licensing programme.

Arian Duijvestijn, senior vice president of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards said, "As the market leader in LED lighting technology, we are opening up the market for LED lighting to companies and customers around the world through our LED luminaire licensing programme. We are delighted to welcome Paulmann as our 200th licensee. This is a landmark moment for the programme and we are pleased that so many companies, from start-ups to large companies, recognise the value of Philips sharing key LED intellectual property to facilitate and accelerate their gro

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South Africa - The Clay Paky Roadshow kicked off to an overwhelming response in Johannesburg on Monday, 30 July 2012 and then went to Durban and Cape Town.

Demonstrations were presented by Massimo Bolandrina and Gianluca Breda from ClayPaky. "The open day was very, very good and I am really happy," said Massimo. "There were a lot of people, more than expected, and they were very interested in the products, involved and aware of what was happening. DWR has a very good team from a professional and personal point of view."

Gianluca has presented demos and open days across the world and was also impressed with the outcome.

"I was blown away by everyone who arrived," said Duncan Riley from DWR. "It never stopped but it was amazing. Thank you to everyone who came, you are amazing and it was good to see you."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - At PLASA 2012, Spotlight will be exhibiting its new LED products from the Green Line range. These fixtures are characterized by high optical performances and energy saving, lower heat emission, long life of the LED source and no generation of dangerous infrared and ultraviolet rays.

In Hall 1, Booth H5, Spotlight will present the new products of this series dedicated to the entertainment sector. For the first time at PLASA, they will show ProfiLED 100 RGBW, ProfiLED 180 RGB and FresneLED 200 White (CW, NW, WW). Also on preview will be the ProfiLED 200 White (CW, NW, WW) and FresneLED 250 White (Tunable).

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Demonstrating that the show lighting documentation system FocusTrack is not just for the biggest, most complex shows, the system is currently helping lighting designer Neil Austin re-create his Tony Award-winning design for the play Red in Los Angeles.

This acclaimed production opened at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2009, then transferred to Broadway in early 2010. The show collected six Tony Awards - Best Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play for Eddie Redmayne, Best Direction of a Play for Michael Grandage, Best Scenic Design of a Play for Christopher Oram, Best Sound Design of a Play for Adam Cork as well as Best Lighting Design of a Play for Neil Austin. The play became renowned on Broadway for achieving its lighting using an all-conventional rig that featured some fixtures dating back to the 1950s.

Despite the lack of moving lights, FocusTrack was used to preci

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South Africa - After the success of the lively dancing competition, Step Up or Step Out, Blond Productions were once again commissioned by their client Endemol South Africa, to supply the lighting, sound, screen and design for the second season of the show. The television broadcast for e-TV was shot over a two-week period and returning for a live finale at Sasani Studios, stage five, in Johannesburg.

Christiaan Ballot, Peter Riek and Ryan Lombard from Blond used ESP Vision to come up with a concept and then asked Dreamsets to assist with the final set design. Dreamsets came to the party and produced an exceptional dance floor which incorporated LED strips.

Lombard programmed on a grandMA full-size. For pre-production he asked for the music and content of the show and then plotted on ESP to give the client an idea of the final product and to ensure both client and suppli

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UK - Northern Light recently provided a range of services for the newly refurbished Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh's New Town.

The completion of a £9.3m refurbishment project saw the period features of the 18th century, A-listed building carefully restored and a dramatic enhancement to the sound and lighting systems within the venue.

Northern Light Direct assisted with this upgrade via the provision of a wide range of equipment that will enhance the installed systems to create a state-of-the-art events venue.

A variety of ETC product was provided, including ten Source Four LED Lustr+ zoom profiles, 24 Selador Desire Lustr+ D40s, an ETC Element 40 console for the production lighting control and a SmartFade as a pre-set control desk. The idea behind using the ETC Lustr+ range is to provide versatile, controllable lighting with minimal maintenance requirements. Additional li

  1. Robe joins Red Summer Party
  2. Iluminarc debuts Ilumipanel 40 IP
  3. PLASA 2012: Smoke Factory UK launches LED range
  4. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  5. PRG lights London Eye finale
  6. Three million Source Four luminaires shipped
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