Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Lighting

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USA / Europe - Ayrton has returned triumphant from its annual visit to LDI show in Las Vegas, where it was exhibiting with exclusive US distributor, Morpheus Lights, to promote its six new product releases, all of which were extremely well-received by the viewing public.

"This year's LDI show was clearly the best ever for Ayrton," says Ayrton's Valère Huart-Gyors. "We found LDI visitors really intent on discovering our new fixtures and they were more than satisfied by what they saw. All our new releases were incredibly well received and the ambiance on the show floor was fantastic with enthusiastic, smiling people all around the booth."

Ayrton introduced six new fixtures at the show, which were shown to full advantage in a new light show designed specifically for the LDI booth by lighting designer, Stéphane Migné:

MagicDot-R is the first pr

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UK - The Great Hall at the National Railway Museum at York was the singularly impressive location for the seventh annual Locos in a Different Light competition.

Sponsored jointly by Ambersphere Solutions and Pulsar Light of Cambridge, the aim is to challenge six teams of students from different colleges across the UK who are studying technical lighting at further and higher education levels, to each light one of the locomotives in the Museum's Great Hall. Each team is given a selection of lighting fixtures, an MA dot2 console and two hours to rig and programme their chosen design.

Even for those not smitten by the sight and smell of these gigantic engines, there can be no doubting the very real challenge of successfully illuminating one of these heaving beasts of yesteryear. With a limited number of fixtures and with some of the locomotives up to sixty metres in length,

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Hungary - UK-based S+H Technical Support supplied its innovative LED Video Floor product to the first Hungarian edition of popular television games show, The Cube.

Recorded at the Stern Film Studio on Pomaz, close to Budapest, Hungarian producers Show & Game Production followed the style directions and replicated the rules established by the original UK series producers, Objective Television, who licensed this version, broadcast on leading commercial channel, TV2.

Hungarian production manager Krisztina Bene explained that they were recommended to S+H as the interactive floor supplier by Objective Television, from which they also rented key elements of the set

Presented (in the UK) by Phillip Schofield, Cube contestants can win up to £250,000 cash by completing straightforward tasks - like balancing, catching, throwing, estimating, reacting, memorising, etc. - wi

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UAE - The 2015 Dance Afrique Festival staged at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was a celebration of African music headlined by international superstar Akon from Senegal and also featuring Congolese musician Awilo Logombia and singer / songwriter Flavour from Nigeria.

The show was lit by Dubai and UK based LD Steve Shipman whose design used over 120 Robe moving lights including 12 x BMFL Spots, all supplied by technical production company Solution Media. Steve had also designed lighting for the same show in London in August.

The brief was to design a big colourful show with lots of WOW factors and eye-candy, so he set to work using the kit that was available from Media Solutions, which included 12 x MMX Spots, 18 x LEDWash 1200s, six LEDWash 600s, 34 x LEDBeam 100s and 40 Pointes plus the BMFL Spots which were positioned on the floor.

Eight moving trusses (on a Kinesys system) we

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Belgium - Chauvet will be welcoming lighting professionals, designers, media and clients to its European home office in Ghent, Belgium on 18 November for an evening of festivities and hands-on product demonstration. The event, which marks the official grand opening of the company's new European facility, is also a celebration of Chauvet's 25th anniversary.

In addition to a Belgian feast with local beers and wines, the evening will feature demonstrations of new products, among which are a pair of fixtures that made their debut at the recent LDI show in Las Vegas. These include the Ovation E-910FC, a five-colour RGBA+Lime LED ellipsoidal that brings a new level of colour to LED ellipsoidal fixtures. Also to be showcased is the new COLORado 1 Solo, a powerful IP65-rated par-style wash fixture that features a unique and highly coveted combination of a single-source 60W RGBW LED and

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South Africa - With regular power cuts in South Africa a fact of life, The Guild Theatre in East London had to come up with a solution to an enable the show to go on, even during load-shedding, and thus preventing a loss of precious income.

Philips Entertainment Lighting distributor for South Africa, DWR Distribution, therefore supplied 30 Philips Showline SL PAR 155 Zoom homogenised LED Par luminaires, which can run off a generator when needed, to the venue.

"The team at The Guild wanted new technology, something that would add a bit of punch, that was flexible, and above all would enable them to run professional looking stage lighting from their generator," said Dave Whitehouse from DWR. "Originally they considered LED par cans but instead chose 30 Philips Showline SL Par 155 Zoom Homogenized LED PAR Luminaires to meet their needs. These can be manually zoomed

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USA - When Rachel Miller, an LD and project coordinator for Kinetic Lighting, was contacted by Chauvet vice-president Berenice Chauvet to create a design for the company's LDI booth, she instantly grasped the nature of her mission.

"There's obviously a great deal going on with lighting at LDI," said Miller. "Every exhibitor wants to do as much as possible to attract attention. My mission was to create a design that would get people to stop in their tracks as they passed the Chauvet Professional booth. I imagined it like we were in the proverbial 10-second elevator, where you meet someone on an elevator and they ask, 'What do you do?'

"You have 10 seconds until you reach the next floor to tell them. Chauvet Professional has so many great products. I often use them myself as a designer. I wanted to create a design that very quickly gave visitors an idea of th

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Germany - Robe was the moving light brand of choice - with nearly 200 units - at the opening ceremony of the 2015 European Maccabi Games (EMG2015), Europe's biggest Jewish sports event, staged at the Waldbühne amphitheatre in Berlin's Olympic Park, and officially declared open by German President Joachim Gauk.

A lighting scheme was designed by leading Israeli LD, Ronen Najar for the occasion, working for the combined Israeli and German production team.

Ronen frequently specifies Robe for his work. He is prolific in both television and live events and known for his fresh and innovative approach to crafting light. He designed the last Maccabi Games OC in the Teddy Stadium Jerusalem in 2013 and has worked internationally on several high profile projects with the ceremonies' director Ran Tzahor over the last decade.

For the EMG OC, a stage was erected at one end of the circular

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Europe - Global flightcase and loudspeaker component manufacturer Penn Elcom has launched a tough new low-noise 3U heat extraction unit which can be fitted to the front or back of any 19 inch racking unit to quickly, efficiently - and silently - suck the heat out of an enclosure.

This is good news for any environment e.g. conference and presentation spaces, theatres, concert halls, lectures theatres, interactive AV displays, boardrooms and demonstration facilities, etc. utilizing AV equipment where noise is a potential issue, distraction or annoyance, says the company.

Penn's R 'n' D team has pooled its considerable experience and practical knowledge of the racking market and produced an ultimate and well-engineered solution.

The versatile FP02-Q-3U fan unit emits 22.5 dB(A) - with a Sone (loudness) value of 0.3 - and can be fitted to any existing 19 inch racking unlit. At t

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UK - Central Presentations Ltd. (CPL) brought expertise, innovation and full technical production - sound, lighting and video - to the recent high profile ID Live roadshow by L'Oréal, working for producers Bright Productions.

The intense four-date back-to-back tour visited Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds and London. It is L'Oréal's widest attended event showcasing the latest cutting, colouring and styling trends for AW15, offering live and close-up education from L'Oréal's team of ID artists across four evenings of action, inspiration and fashion.

CPL's project manager Lee Gruszeckyj worked closely with Andy Oswin from producers Bright, who initiated the roadshow's overall concept, set and video design and developed the video content to ensure the presentation environment was as cutting edge as the hair-art.

The show design involved a 20m long runway denoted by a

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USA - Bandit Lites has announced three promotions within its Nashville location: Erich Hudgens to shop foreman, Jimmy Hatten to project manager and Shawn Lear to client representative.

Erich Hudgens has worked with Bandit for seven years both as a lighting technician and project coordinator before taking on the role of shop foreman. In his new position, Erich will work to ensure all the events prepping on the floor have their needs met, assist with shipping needs, check in returning shows and ultimately make sure the shop stays organized and efficient.

Jimmy Hatten's new position as Project Manager fulfills a critical role in bringing lighting designers' visions to reality. Using the clients' ideas, Jimmy will create touring systems, festivals or one-off shows from the beginning stages of prep, to being loaded on to the trucks, to then providing support throughout the entire r

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South Africa - Insane Sound & Lighting is a busy technical production and design company based in Cornubia, Durban, run by the charismatic Vimal Rawjee, who took the name from his DJ days when he earned a reputation for cramming "insane" amounts of audio kit into all types of imaginable - and unimaginable - spaces and making lots of noise!

Starting as a sound company, Insane added a lighting division in 2010 - and later LED / video - to ensure they can supply top quality full technical service and design packages to their clients.

The company now has over 100 Robe fixtures in stock, including around 40 moving heads and over 60 x LEDForce 18 PARs.

Vimal and his team - 11 full time staff and three regular casuals presently - deliver a wide variety of corporate shows, pumping dance and EDM events and weddings.

Weddings - and particularly Indian weddings - are a mass

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UK - AML Event Lighting Hire from Dundee recently supplied a whole host of Showtec Lighting Fixtures for the Freshers Ball at Dundee University.

The products included Pixel Bar 12 'pixel-mapping' battens and iB-16R moving heads - part of the Infinity Family from Highlite International. The whole Event was programmed by LD Lewis Day.

Alistair McCready, MD of AML Event Lighting Hire comments: "The iB-16R's have an incredible light output. They tick all the boxes expected from such a high-performance moving fixture. Once again we received first class support from Dave Hartley, Ryan Hussey and the team at Highlite UK."

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UK - Last Saturday, the 2015 Rugby World Cup drew to a dramatic close, with New Zealand beating Australia at Twickenham Stadium. Throughout the tournament, White Light provided the lighting, sound and production support for various aspects of the competition, helping to make this year's Rugby World Cup one of the biggest yet.

Following a year of constant expansion, WL was able to offer the Rugby World Cup a whole range of its expert production services. This included constructing three studio and two pitch-side sets for the ITV Sport Team. These were then toured to various stadiums across the country, where the WL team was on-site to help recreate the set-up at each venue.

WL was also called upon to fulfil a similar role on the BT World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge which was broadcast on ITV. With the tournament being held at the Copper Box at the Olympic Park, London, WL was on

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Denmark - Lighting manufacturer SGM A/S has filed for bankruptcy in Aarhus, Denmark, according to reports in the Danish media.

SGM Lighting, owned since February 2012 by entrepreneur Peter Johansen, currently employs 85 people in Aarhus, according to Danish television station TV2, and the majority of the staff have now been sent home while the company's situation is clarified.

TV2 reported that the company's legal representative, Christian Jul Madsen, has said that several interested parties have submitted offers to buy the entire company.

Originally an Italian lighting brand, SGM was acquired by Italian pro audio manufacturer RCF in April 2009. In November 2010, at a press event in central London, RCF president Arturo Vicari introduced Peter Johansen as the new head of R&D for SGM. Johansen was already well-known in the professional lighting industry as the founder of Marti

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UK - Illuminate Design was the chosen supplier to renew the dimmer system at the Lakeside Theatre on the University of Essex Campus.

To replace a dimmer system that was over 35 years old, Illuminate Design's technical sales manager Ken Berreen specified three of Zero 88's successful Chilli Bypass Racks to be installed. These were chosen for the flexibility they provide.

The project also included new circuits being added in the venue along with new control lines and additional other works to the DMX infrastructure plus the addition of a DMX distribution system.

Commenting on the work carried out at his venue, technical manager Harry Harris said, "The recent installation of our new dimmers and DMX infrastructure by Illuminate Design couldn't have gone better and working with the company was an absolute pleasure., They managed the project perfectly from start to finish and

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UK - On 21 October, the historic surroundings of Wilton's Music Hall played host to the Homage to T.S. Eliot evening. The event was a fundraiser for the London Library and featured readings of Eliot's work by renowned actors such as Fiona Shaw, Jeremy Irons and Sir Tom Stoppard, on what was also the fiftieth anniversary of the poet's death. With more than 250 invited guests in attendance, WL was called upon to provide the lighting support on what was a special occasion.

The entire performance was lit by lighting designer Mike Gunning. He states, "The aim of the evening was to raise funds for the London Library in order to allow free access for those not in a position to purchase membership. As it marked 50 years since T.S. Eliot's death, along with the fact he was president of the library, it seemed rather fitting to base the evening around readings of his work."

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UK - Bristol-based lighting, rigging and video rental specialist Fineline is the first UK company to purchase one of Avolites' new Arena lighting consoles - serial number 001.

Fineline has been a big investor in Avolites control, particularly in the last two years, explains MD Rob Sangwell, with a selection of Tiger Touch, Tiger Touch Pro, Quartz and Pearl Expert ranges in their hire stock which are constantly in use. "Avo has always been a powerful and simple to use control surface," says Rob, "And apart from making some of the best 'live' consoles on the market, the service and backup has also been fantastic."

Stuart England, Fineline's operations co-ordinator said, "The Arena ticks all the boxes for us. It builds from the popular Tiger Touch operating architecture with extra faders to retain that old school buskability for which Avo desks are famous

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UK - London's respected arts centre, the Barbican, has invested in Robe DL4S LED profile and Pointe multi-functional moving lights which are integral to a new moving light rig installed in the 1,943 capacity Barbican Hall concert venue.

The new rig has been designed by Jason Kew, technical supervisor in charge of lighting in the Barbican's Music Department, and the fixtures were specified by Jason and Mark Bloxsidge, technical manager (music events), following an evaluation which involved the whole technical team at the Barbican Hall.

The order was delivered via leading UK sales and rental company White Light and Robe UK, co-ordinated by Jonathan Haynes for White Light following a tender process led by the Barbican's Luke Freeborough, technical manager (projects).

The Barbican Hall was originally built as an orchestral venue when the Centre opened in 1982. In addition to bei

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UK - HSL supplied moving lights and LED screen for the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich's recent production of the classic Cy Coleman musical, Sweet Charity.

Lighting designer Nick Richings and set / costume designer Libby Watson added plenty of colour, drama and atmosphere to the work, proving just how much can be achieved with a little bit of technology and copious amounts of imagination.

HSL's project manager John Slevin commented, "The budget was expedient and the tech / rehearsal timeframe short, but everyone involved worked as a team utilising creativity and ingenuity to ensure a truly excellent production that was a big hit with audiences."

Nick and Libby worked closely on developing the whole visual concept with director Pete Rowe, setting it in the 1960s underlined with a strong Pop Art aesthetic, together with all the boldness, stylized text / images an

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USA - Elation Professional has launched the Satura Profile, an energy-efficient CMY colour-changing moving head in the company's popular LED-based Satura Series. The Satura Profile features intense output from a 440W cool-white LED engine and houses a host of creative design tools, including zoom and internal framing.

The luminaire's high-performance LED engine delivers a total of 20,000 lumens, a level of power comparable to a 1200W discharge lamp. A flexible four-blade rotating framing shutter system is included that allows the beam to be shaped and angled as required for precise highlighting of set pieces and performers. Designers can also use the flexible framing system to create outstanding projection or mid-air effects.

A full-range CMY colour mixing system with variable CTO offers a wide palette of colour shades while an extra seven dichroic colours provides added colou

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USA - Novalight returned to LDI this year, where it was exhibiting with DNJ Pro, their exclusive distributor for North America, to showcase their entire line-up of products and present the industry with their newest moving light, the Nova-Scope.

"This was a great year at LDI," said Doug Brown, president of DNJ Pro. "We met a lot of people who were excited about the kaleido effect of the Nova-Scope and also a lot of people who were just excited to the other Novalight products again."

Nova-Scope is a 2KW weatherproof moving light that implements an innovative reflector design to "deliver stunning effects in mid-air". With seven gobo options, a kaleido wheel effect, shutter, dimmer, and strobe effects combined with six colours, white, and CMY colour mixing, dramatic effects can be achieved.

The Super-Nova incorporates outstanding lighting power, vi

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Europe - ETC will be travelling across Europe this month to showcase some of their latest products. In Paris, the company will be working with distributor AVAB France at JTSE on 24-25 November; in Helsinki with Studiotec Oy at AVITA Audiovisual on 18-20 November; and in Serbia, with AVL ProJekt for an open day on 12 November.

LED will be star of ETC's demonstration offerings, with the always-popular Source Four LED Series 2 being shown alongside the recently-introduced ColorSource range. The ColorSource PAR, which earned the Lighting Product of the Year award at the ABTT Theatre Show 2015, will be joined by the new ColorSource Spot, making a range of great quality LED lighting available for the first time on productions with limited budgets. Demonstrations will also be available for the ETC Source Four LED Fresnel and CYC adapters, as well as the extensive range of lens tubes, s

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Sound Investment - The British music industry invested nearly £500m in new music in 2014, with the signing up of new artists by major labels up 30%, according to data released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Music Publishers Association (MPA). The number of new acts signed by major labels last year hit a five-year high of 156, the figures say.

The 156 new artists signed by Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music was 26 more than in 2013, and just 12 fewer than the recent peak in 2009 of 164 new deals. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI and Brit Awards, said, "It's no fluke that 2014 was such an outstanding year for British music. Alongside the artists themselves, the passion and commitment labels show in unearthing, nurturing and developing the next wave of talent is one of the main reasons our music is the envy of the world right now."<

  1. The Heights creates scenes with Rogues
  2. Disco Chic illuminated by Clay Paky
  3. Robe BMFL Blades light Kaaboo sunset
  4. Clay Paky breaks records with Ligabue
  5. PR Live full production for Friends Fest
  6. Durham Marenghi to light Rio 2016 Ceremonies
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