Now fewer than 300 Arrisun Event 575 Daylight Pars were on duty at the British International Motor Show - all hired by north-east London-based Static Light. Some 200 of these were featured on the spectacular Vauxhall stand - mounted on 50 x 50 GP truss to create a dramatic effect in front of a Dataton Watchout soft-blend backdrop.
The ballasts - power factor corrected, dimmable, and controllable via DMX - were stacked in groups of three in specially made 19" racks. Andrew Mama, a director of Static Light, said that Marshall Design, who designed the Vauxhall display, had insisted on using Arri. "These are ideal for motor shows because of their fast set-up, advanced optics and the fact they have a dichroic glass reflector behind the light. This produces an even field of light - rather than the polished aluminium which degrades quickly."
He says that unlike other luminaries, which often use inferior lens kits, the Event 575 can be easily focused. "In fact the whole controllability is way superior to anything else." Mama continued: "There is a great demand - particularly from auto shows - for compact daylight lighting. They want the best colour rendering, and with the Arri HMIs, we have been able to impress clients by offering superiority from all angles."
To prove the point he also had a further 30 Event 575s on the SAAB stand and 42 with SEAT.Static Light has been buying Arri products for two years, and Andrew says that they are continually reinvesting to build up their inventory.
(Lee Baldock)
The Flightcase Warehouse and Q-Flightcases of Lisburn have formed a partnership to distribute their standard range of flightcases in Ireland. The new company will be called Flightcase Warehouse Ireland and will be based in Lisburn. Flightcase Warehouse managing director Steve Austin comments: "We know that the potential in Ireland is massive, but due to logistics and shipping costs, we are limited to what we can sell direct from the UK. According to our website statistics, we receive on average of 5000 hits per month from Ireland, indicating a need for an outlet in this region. Q-Flightcases are the perfect solution to this problem, and are well situated to cover the whole of Ireland."
Q-Flightcases co-director Joan Beggs adds: "At present those companies that take advantage of our local facilities, have mostly been interested in our specialized cases. Generally, for large- scale requirements, companies have tended to buy from the UK manufacturers, who are set up for such production work, but with a financial and time penalty incurred due to shipping (4-6 weeks). This delay is difficult for companies to absorb, when working with today’s tight schedules. We hope to provide the best of both worlds, continuing with our ‘one-off’ specials, but with the bonus of supplying large-scale requirements, immediately from stock."
(Ruth Rossington)
Lighting companies trading on the Internet are being warned to keep a watchful eye after a number of businesses in the industry have seen their Internet traffic unlawfully directed to a rival’s website.
The warning comes from commercial law firm, Taylors, who successfully helped a leading Lancashire-based lighting manufacturer win a legal battle against their competitor who had unlawfully placed meta tags on their website so that customers searching for their rival’s products would be directed instead to their own. Further investigations by intellectual property lawyers at Taylors also revealed that the website contained 15 meta tags for other rivals’ sites.
Elaine Hurn, managing partner at Taylors said: "Some unscrupulous companies have been including meta tags giving the names of their competitors so that when the competitor's name is searched for, their own website shows up. Others have been less subtle and made overt references on their own site to their competitors in order to achieve the same goal. The unauthorised use of a registered trademark hidden in invisible programming of a site infringes the Trade Marks Act 1994 and use of an unregistered mark is passing off. Companies infringing this Act or passing themselves off as a rival will not only have to remove references to its competitor from its website, but could be hit by hefty damages claims and legal costs. Unfortunately, this is a common problem for companies trading on the web. Businesses wanting to trade through the Internet should check up from time to time by visiting their own
Eric Hanson has joined PRG as the director of business development, based in Chicago. Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of the Group, has welcomed the appointment: "Eric brings to PRG a wealth of experience serving trade show and corporate event clients. PRG currently serves a lot of trade show clients in that market, but we believe we have many additional opportunities for growth there. Eric will be leading our growth efforts." Hanson was formerly with Vari-Lite Production Services where he was a national sales manager responsible for trade show and corporate event clients.
(Ruth Rossington)
On 19 October at a press conference held during the LDI show in Las Vegas, Martin Professional’s US subsidiary, Martin Professional Inc, presented its second annual Intelligent Lighting Technology Grant.
The company’s CEO, Troels Volver, presented the 2002 Grant to the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Department of Theatre. On hand to accept the award on behalf of the university was Brackley Frayer, lighting designer and head of design/technology at UNLV. "The Grant will allow UNLV to teach students with state-of-the-art equipment and help to establish an Entertainment Engineering programme," he stated after the presentation. "Las Vegas is the centre for entertainment technology, thus we need our students involved in all aspects of lighting."
Former UNLV theatre students include Cirque de Soleil lighting director Jeanette Farmer and Emmy award-winning lighting designer Barbara Brennan. The Grant is valued at $50,000 and consists of a variety of Martin fixtures and control products. Martin also provides technical training and support for the winning college or university, as well as quarterly seminars on emerging technologies and application discussions.
(Ruth Rossington)
ESTA (the Entertainment Services and Technology Association) presented its 2002 Eva Swan Award to Bill Groener, north-east regional vice-president of PRG, for his remarkable service to the Association over many years. The award was presented at ESTA’s Annual Dinner on Thursday, 17 October in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the LDI show.
The Eva Swan Award is presented to a member who has contributed exceptional efforts in time, expertise and personal resources on behalf of ESTA and who has been instrumental in shaping and promoting the direction of the Association. The 2002 Award was presented by Paul Vincent of Vincent Lighting Systems (a former Swan Award winner) who commented: "Bill became involved with the development of the Technical Standards Programme in its early days. Through his work on the Budget Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee, Bill helped raise funds to support this important and growing programme. His honest, straightforward manner and unswerving dedication brought money and additional volunteers into the Standards Programme. He became an integral part of the Executive Committee through his forward thinking and his ability to get to the heart of an issue. In the fall of 1998 he became chair of the Technical Standards Committee and served the Programme well and with style until the spring of 2002.
"I guess Bill takes the idea of being ‘renaissance man’ seriously. He is the only ESTA member representing at one time or another all of our membership categories, except International. In fact, in 1995 Bill became an affiliat
Coe-tech/Robe UK, exclusive UK distributors for the fast growing Czech moving light brand Robe, has supplied Dublin-based distribution company Aquarius with a large quantity of Robe intelligent lighting fixtures for Lacey’s, a 1500 capacity club at the Carrickdale Hotel, Dundalk, Republic of Ireland.
This is the first Robe installation in Ireland since Northampton-based Coe-tech took on the UK and Irish distribution in July this year. The lighting rig for the newly revamped club was designed by Wayne Winstanley and installed by the Carrickdale’s own technical team led by Brian O’Keeffe. The space consists of a large, single multi-purpose room that’s also utilized as a Sunday carvery and occasional restaurant. It is also used as a venue for a miscellany of events including business conferences and weddings - and the lighting scheme was required to be as versatile and adaptable as the usage.
In the ceiling, Leisure Engineering supplied four moving polygonal-shaped truss pieces, clad with gauze, each of which contains a Syncro centrepiece. As the trusses move upwards into the roof they also angle outwards, giving the room a tent-like appearance. As they are lowered downwards, the gauze surfaces shift position and form ideal projection ‘sails’. Winstanley chose eight Robe Scan 1200 XSs for their power and brightness, plus 12 Robe MS Zoom 250s and 16 Beam 250s to introduce a diverse selection of colours and effects. He also used over 80 Ariane recessed, colour-changing down-lighters - also supplied by Coe-tech - around the room. These are
Jands Electronics’ Event 4 range of lighting control consoles is now shipping with the latest version of its V5 operating system pre-installed. The Event 408 and 416 models, which comprise the Event 4 range, are compact, competitively priced hybrid consoles designed to control both conventional and automated lighting fixtures. Currently favoured for live event and conference applications, the Event 4 can now be used in professional theatrical and multi-purpose applications where the new V5 feature set now excels.
As part of Jands' continued development and improvement, the latest release contains many operational enhancements as well as bug fixes for the Event Operating System. New enhancements of particular merit include: an increased palette size of fixtures, positions, beams, and groups, from 20 to 60; a live palette function, offering 'real time' use over a present time period; improved AutoStack functionality; revised Active/If operation; enhanced record options, and theatre style channel control.
The new V5 release is the end result of extensive testing by both Jands' development team, and end users who have contributed to the beta testing of the latest software. Existing users of the Event 4 range are able to download the new software release free of charge from Jands' website at the address below.
(Lee Baldock)
Beijing Bei Ao Grand Cultural & Sports Events Company of China cooperated with Martin Professional recently in providing a large number of intelligent lights for the ‘928’ Beijing Concert. The ‘928’ concert featured the foremost singers of the year from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Aside from the lighting system, Bei Ao was also responsible for the entire production for the concert, including sound and staging. The event was very successful and received a rapturous response from both the audience and the media.
With a 50,000-strong audience at the Beijing Worker's Stadium, Bei Ao used more than a hundred of Martin’s MAC series moving head fixtures, including MAC 2000, MAC 500 and MAC 600s, hung on the curved trussing system above stage and projecting innumerable changes of lighting and patterns onto the stage and set.
(Lee Baldock)
A place to unwind and have fun, as if you were at home: that’s the idea behind Salò’s new Absolut - the most renowned and exclusive nightclub on Lake Garda, Italy. The lake has always been an ideal setting for nightclubs, but quality took a turn in summer 2001, when Massimo and Giampiero Gallina took over the club, creating its distinctive character, for which much of the merit goes to art director Ezio Arnaboldi.
The interior is furnished with comfortable sofas and couches, alternated with loungers and dark wood tables, which set off the numerous white cushions, large lampshades and huge ashtrays. Clay Paky’s Mini Scan HPE and Tiger CC lighting fixtures embellish the dance floor with colour, graphic patterns and varied effects. Colour also takes the centre stage outside: the outdoor Clay Paky CP Color 150-E colour changers create a cosy atmosphere in the relaxation area, with slow colourful crossfades. Other CP Color fixtures illuminate the gazebo outside and behind the bar.
Absolut has a comfortable and secluded quality, yet is highly fashionable: as well as setting design trends, it organizes evenings to perfection with the careful work of the Gallina brothers, who have continued their long family tradition in entertainment. Many well-known national and international light music and jazz musicians have graced Absolut’s stage.
(Lee Baldock)
For the filming of ‘Chicago,’ Miramax's reconceived film version of Bob Fosse's hit Broadway musical, director Rob Marshall called on two of the renowned theatrical lighting designers - Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher - to light the musical numbers. To light the film's detail-specific musical fantasy sequences and transitions, they chose Vari*Lite Series 2000 automated luminaries.
"The central core concept is that the musical numbers take place in different theatrical environments," Eisenhauer explained. "There is a contrast between the real-time scenes and the 'fantasy' musical numbers. All of the lighting in the film was achieved in a wonderful collaboration with the Cinematographer, Dion Beebe. In addition to lighting the musical numbers Jules and I collaborated with Beebe on many of the transitions between reality and fantasy."
Eisenhauer and Fisher used 20 VL2000 Spot luminaires and 12 VL2000 Wash luminaires, supplied by Toronto-based William F. White International, a member of the Vari-Lite dealer network. The company also provided all of the lighting and grip equipment, as well as two VL- trained technicians, Doug Hook and David Nicholson. The equipment was controlled through a Vari-Lite Virtuoso DX console, operated by programmer Matt Hudson from VLPS New York. "We had 32 Series 2000 luminaires on the project for about 14 weeks with outstanding success," said Terry Lord of William F. White. "The two lighting designers on the project are very discerning, so the lights got a true test in their functionality, reliabi
Martin Professional is putting the finishing touches to its new Asian manufacturing facility in Zhuhai, China. As a result, production is on schedule to begin at the start of the next year. Henrik Larsen will be Martin’s general manager based at the facility. He told us: "After nearly five months of work and a tremendous commitment from our staff, it is great to see the factory materialize. The first production line will be ready for operator training before the end of October and the offices will be ready by mid-November."
Production management for the factory is already in place, and the challenges of opening up a manufacturing facility in China have been smoothed by the hiring of a Customs Clearance Administrator. Larsen and his team will be hiring a further 30-40 employees in the coming months. "We are aware that local development and sourcing is necessary in order to establish a profitable factory in China, and that is why we have put extra focus on building and recruiting for these functions," he says.
The facility is located in the Nanping Science and Technology Industry Park in the city of Zhuhai, a Special Economic Zone in the southern part of the country. It occupies the fourth floor of the new building, an area of approximately 3,400sq.m. Established as an important part of Martin’s strategy to maintain its competitiveness in the lower priced lighting segments, the facility will be geared toward the production of Martin’s DJ range of lighting products.
Martin President and CEO Kristian Kolding has made it clear that Ma
Five weeks after lighting the ninth annual Kerrang! Music Awards at the London Hilton, Fourth Phase London was again contracted to work for Kerrang!, this time at Pontins Camber Sands Holiday Centre! Kerrang!'s first live music 'Weekender' was a three-day festival of music and extreme sports. Kerrang! hand-picked the hottest new talent to perform day and night for the three days and alongside the 40 plus music acts were many other activities including skate displays, go-karting and a night club open till late to entertain the 3,000 rock fan guests.
Claire Sampson of So Just Add Water contracted Fourth Phase to supply lighting for two stages, plus production crew. Amongst the lighting rig were Martin Mac 500s and 600s, Clay Paky Stage Scans, Molefays, L&E MiniStrips and Source Four PARs, all of which was controlled by two Flying Pig Whole Hog II desks, one for each stage. Paul Cook was also contracted by So Just Add Water, to light the event: "Using the Whole Hog II enabled hands-on intuitive operation for a whole variety of acts by both myself and several visiting lighting designers. The result was a set up that provided a simple to operate flexible 'festival' style of show for most of the acts. As there were bands on stage for 70 percent of the time there were very few opportunities for programming."
"Fourth Phase can consistently be relied to supply first-rate equipment as well as fantastic and knowledgeable production crews," said Cook. "But what makes them stand out from the crowd is the fact that they have the experience to supply extra stu
Show Presentation Services (SPS) has recently provided full audio-visual and staging facilities, including live camera work, at the high level BSkyB 'Leadership Forum' for 320 of its senior management executives from all over the country. The annual event for BSkyB's senior managers, held in the London Suite at the Marriot Hotel, Heathrow on 13 September, 2002, was hosted by Sky News's political editor, Adam Boulton.
SPS has been developing the event format with BSkyB over the past eight months, working together on the stage and set design, as well as planning the seating layout, lights, sound and cameras. Neil Smith, the manager of the project at SPS said: "We have had a good working relationship with BSkyB for the past six years now, so we were delighted to be working on the forum again this year. An event of this size and content takes extensive planning in the months leading up to it, with a whole team of lighting, sound and camera engineers planning every tiny detail. A final crew of 26 people from SPS worked at the forum on the day, which is large compared to other corporate events that we have worked on."
The stage that SPS built consisted of an elliptical centrepiece, with two main projection screens either side of centre, linked to twin Barco projectors: 60" plasma screens were then placed next to these screens at the edges of the stage. So as not to distract from the main activity, SPS built a production unit at the back of the stage in order to house the portable production units, computers for on-screen graphics and technicians. This is also w
Le Maitre are set to stage a spectacular firework and pyrotechnic display from the roof of Harrods to mark the switching on of the Christmas Lights on 3 November. The display will go ahead despite the proposed fire strikes. As the strike is due to start on 2 November for 48 hours, Le Maitre’s events director Karen Haddon has employed private fire crews to cover the event. This will be in addition to the British Army’s Green Goddesses, already covering the strike nationally, and Harrods’ own fire officers stationed on the roof itself. Although it is extremely expensive to bring in private fire engines and crew, ensuring safety at the event is paramount, and the decision to go ahead with the show has been welcomed.
The display is very complex, and will be fired with a pyro digital system. It runs just under 15 minutes and is set to the James Bond theme tune. It will begin with chase sequences of stage pyro across the front of the roof, using flames, gerbs and fire breathing dragons! It will progress to large scale fireworks including mines, comets and a dramatic finale of cakes and shells. The Harrods Christmas Lights switch on is open to the public and promises to be a thrilling event. It starts at 6.00pm on Sunday 3 November.
Also on a James Bond theme, Le Maitre are working on some fantastic pyrotechnic effects for the premiere of the new Bond movie Die Another Day, which is scheduled for 18 November at the Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately, details cannot be released prior to the event, but the stars will certainly be arriving in style!
(Ruth Rossi
Pixeon (formerly Bright Lighting) has announced that Claas Ernst has joined the company as the general manager of European Operations. Ernst's first days on the job were spent at the PLASA show in London, where the company's debut product, Color Stream, was launched to widespread acclaim and received a PLASA Award for Design Excellence.
Nils Thorjussen commented: "I'm thrilled to have Claas join our team. He's an outstanding individual and I couldn't think of a more qualified person to lead the charge in Europe. Based on the response at PLASA, I think he'll be quite busy!" Prior to joining Pixeon, Ernst spent seven years with High End Systems. Based in Pixeon's German office, his main goals will be the establishment of distribution channels for Pixeon's products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the building of relationships with lighting designers and consultants. Ernst will also establish the company's European distribution. Ernst says, "LED-based lighting is going to have major impact on architectural as well as entertainment lighting. Pixeon is doing innovative things with the technology and has an international team of great people with a global view. I look forward to be of best possible service to our clients and make this a big success together with them."
City Theatrical, the New York-based manufacturer of lighting accessories and theatrical products, has donated $500 to Light Relief - the fund set up to by and for the lighting industry, to offer lighting designers and those working within the field, assistance and support with life’s catastrophes. $250 was donated by City Theatrical employees, an amount which the company then matched. Our picture shows Gary Fails of City Theatrical presenting the cheque to Tony Gottelier of Light Relief at the recent LDI show in Las Vegas.
(Ruth Rossington)
This year marks the debut of the International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff - and White Light is supporting the event by supplying the lighting for the Festival's centrepiece production, Babes in Arms, at the Cardiff New Theatre. The same rig also performed double duty, lighting the Festival's opening Gala Concert.
Faced with the challenges of minimal rigging time, no changeover time between concert and show, little focusing time and two shows to light, lighting designer Neil Austin opted for a largely automated rig featuring 16 Amptown Washlights with beam shuttering and 10 Strand Pirouette PCs with Rainbow scrollers. Neil selected both units because of his preference for working with tungsten light sources, but complemented them with four Martin MAC 500 moving spotlights. Completing the rig were Strand Alto and Cantata fresnels, Par cans, ETC Source Fours, L&E battens as footlights, and 32 Rainbow scrollers.
White Light also supplied Neil and production electrician Martin Chisnall with two 48-way White Light touring dimmer racks to run the rig, which was controlled from a Strand 520i console programmed by Rob Halliday. Also closely involved with the show was White Light's assistant hire manager Matt Holliday, who having overseen the rig from first order through to delivery to Cardiff, then served as assistant lighting designer during the production week. Overseeing the entire project was production manager Richard Bullimore.
Complementing the latest lighting technology were some classic lighting instruments used to set the time period for the show a
Pearce Hire supplied the lighting for the Association of Online Publishers and Periodical Publishers Association conferences and awards ceremonies this October, following a busy summer supplying festivals and outdoor events with a range of power, sound and lighting services. The company is now gearing up for an active winter as they move inside to service corporate events, conferences and award ceremonies.
The two-day publishing conference was held at the Millennium Mayfair Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London, serving the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) on the Tuesday and the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) on the Wednesday. Pearce Hire worked alongside Hawk AV, with whom they have a long-standing professional relationship, providing the lighting under the direction of LD John Huson with Graham Festenstein assisting.
The companies built a predominately white set and used creative lighting to give it a different colour-scheme to suit the ambience and corporate branding for the proceedings on each day. Pearce Hire provided eight Futurelight MH-660 moving head profile fixtures and four Martin MAC 300 moving head washlights and a small selection of generic fixtures for the stage. They also provided two JEM Stage Hazers and 18 ways of Anytronics dimming. The lighting was controlled by a Zero 88 Fat Frog console to great effect.
Marcus Lawday of Hawk AV commented: "The brief from our clients was to change the entire feel of the set and room for the events over concurrent days, and with a strict budget we decided to build a predominantly white set, and cha
Stage Electrics has appointed Chris Wroe as business development manager for television. Wroe brings with him a wealth of experience from his 14 years with Playlight Hire Ltd where he began his career as hire manager, subsequently rising through the ranks to become a part of the management team. He has an impressive portfolio and has taken to Stage Electrics an experienced technical team who will continue to support and fulfil projects from previous commitments.
The new appointment is part of a busy summer for Stage Electrics - it recently opened its tenth branch in Newcastle following its acquisition of the northern arm of Lighting Technology. Andy Elsegood and Davie Bell joined the company from Lighting Technology to work with customers based in the north of England.
(Ruth Rossington)
Color Kinetics Inc (CKI) has been awarded its 13th patent (including US and international patents) relating to its line of solid-state lighting technologies for the digital control of LEDs. The new patent includes nearly 50 separate technology claims and covers a wide variety of methods and systems for illuminating materials with colour-controlled LED systems, say CKI.
One aspect of the patent relates to a variety of illumination applications where features of a material - such as a design within an object, or a colour in a sign or graphic - are highlighted by a colour or colours of light. This technique may also be applied to distinguish specific elements in amaterial from their surroundings, such as in machine vision or medical applications. Another aspect of the patent involves providing a positioning system to remotely align LED illumination systems to light a material, much like the function of a theatrical light.
Regarding the significance of the patent, Color Kinetics co-founder, chairman and CEO George Mueller explains: "This is a fundamental patent in the area of LED illumination, given the range of applications and systems covered. It reinforces the abundance of new opportunities for solid-state lighting, and we look forward to continuing our exploration of these opportunities in the marketplace, through our own offerings as well as with partners."
(Lee Baldock)
AC Lighting has told PLASA Media that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the entire issued share capital of Spectrum Manufacturing Inc. Based in Toronto Canada, Spectrum is an OEM manufacturer specialising in high volume entertainment technology products. The company has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with AC Lighting as the manufacturer of the exclusively distributed Chroma-Q range of colour scrollers. No significant changes are anticipated for either company, and existing distribution arrangements remain unchanged.
(Lee Baldock)
Super Vision International Inc - a world leader in LED and fibre optic lighting technology - has announced that Link Marketing of Bahrain has been awarded the exclusive rights to sell and promote the Super Vision range of fibre optic lighting products in the country by Insight Communications, the Dubai-based international representative of Super Vision International in the Middle East.
"Clients in Bahrain can now take advantage of comprehensive and locally available consultancy, implementation and after-sales services for the full range of low maintenance lighting solutions manufactured by Super Vision International," said Toby Jordan, business development manager of Link Marketing.
Though traditionally reserved for major building projects, technological advancements and increasing production in recent years has reduced the costs of fibre optic lighting considerably, enabling the medium to filter into many other market niches such as palaces, villas and even mid-priced residences.
(Lee Baldock)
Laser Hire’s ‘Lightning Water Fountains’ entertained over 350,000 people assembled in Walsall Arboretum for the annual illuminations this autumn. The first display to stop crowds in their tracks as they entered the Walsall Arboretum was Laser Hire’s water fountain and laser display.
Lasers and coloured lighting were used to bring the ‘lightning water display’ to life. Set to music, Laser Hire used Pangolin software to carefully synchronize the lasers, moving lights, static lights and projections to produce a dynamic, spectacular show.
More recently, following a successful display at the 2001 Showman’s Directory Dinner, Laser Hire exhibited at this year’s Showman’s Show showcasing their services, from large outdoor spectaculars to corporate events and exhibitions. "This show demonstrates our commitment to bringing different entertainment technologies and skills together to create a complete show for our clients," said managing director Keith Flunder. "This year, we met up with a lot of first time visitors to the show and hopefully it will once again be a good source of future work for Laser Hire."
(Lee Baldock)