Germany / Belgium - Belgian-based engineering and automation specialists WIcreations designed the 4m square six-faceted video cube which is the visual centrepiece of the current Record tour by German hip-hop superstars Die Fantastischen Vier.

The striking video feature - which moves on all axes and rotates throughout the show - is at the hub of the spectacular and inventive set, lighting and visuals show created by Gunther Hecker.

In addition to displaying conventional playback video, its different fascias are used as alternative lightsources. In the second half of the show, three large sections of gold mirror surface rise up from ground level around three sides of the stage, and the video takes on yet another dimension with these used to bounce and reflect its ambient light back onto the stage.

The Wicreations team led by project manager Yves Vervloet, was approached by Ste

UK - All Access Staging and Productions Ltd provided onstage risers to Paolo Nutini on his recent arena tour.

Stage manager Nik Rea approached All Access to provide the tour with a riser package. A multi-level riser system was put together with the decks in a diamond configuration which was filled in along the back from our stock triangular decks to produce areas for the band to move around on.

The production also used All Access rolling risers throughout the summer on their festival tour.

The All Access Versa system is designed so you can create the stage you require. Whether it is onstage risers or our proprietary rolling stage system.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - LitecC has announced that Bofill&Asociados S.L. has recently become its new distributor in Spain. "B&A is a well-known company made of highly skilled professionals, specialised in providing advanced technologies in the entertainment sector since 1990. They offer a wide range of high quality products from relevant brands and operate in several markets such as the entertainment, architecture, exhibition, TV and theatre among the many, complying with the current strictest regulations," the company says.

B&A is located in Madrid, with warehouses in the outskirts of the city to keep a stock and support customers efficiently.

"They are recognized as a premier firm with the proven ability to successfully provide flexible and effective solutions at short notice. They truly have solid knowledge and 25-year strong experience of technologies and special needs of cu

USA - All three ETCP examinations will be held at USITT in Cincinnati, OH on the morning of Saturday, 21 March, 2015. Candidates who wish to take more than one exam should contact ETCP. USITT members and employees receive a $100 discount on examination fees. Interested applicants must submit their application, along with supporting materials and fee, to the ETCP office no later than February 28, 2015. The ETCP office is located at 630 9th Ave, Suite 609, New York, New York, 10036.

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website (http://etcp.plasa.org/usitt2015.html). Materials can also be mailed by contacting Meredith Moseley-Bennett, ETCP Certification Manager, at 212-244-1505 or etcp@plasa.org.

Those unable to make it to USITT are encouraged to register and take an exam at one of over 190 computer based testing cen

South Africa - Inspired Stages ended off 2014 with a high, as students attended the last three-day school holiday workshop of the year, designed to give insight into the entertainment industry. This successful event was hosted at the GrandWest in Cape Town and was once again presented by Karen Burt (Planet Productions Code Teen) and Gavin Taylor (GrandWest Entertainment).

"It was a phenomenal three days and I personally feel like the richest person alive with the knowledge that together we have made such an unforgettable impact on the teenagers and the next generation," said Karen Burt.

Messages on facebook started rolling in from the participants shortly after the workshop ended, a testimony to what Inspired Stages meant to everyone.

"I personally find it interesting to note how many times Inspired Stages is referred to as family, specifically as many of thes

USA - Eurotruss has announced that Luis Duque has joined the l Sales team in the USA. He is based in Miami, Florida and is the point of contact for existing and potential customers for the whole Latin American Area.

Luis is a well known entrepreneur in the region and will continue selling lighting fixtures, consoles and sound systems through his own company Wholestage - D&B Group. He has considerable knowledge and experience in the staging and rental business in Latin America. Luis plans on furthering his education and practical knowledge, through focused training programs fully supported by Eurotruss and has the complete support of the global Eurotruss sales and product support team.

Martin Kuyper, CEO USA reported, "We are delighted that Luis has joined Eurotruss and we are confident that he will be a great asset to the team. After his successful sales of Roof Systems i

UK - West London-based rental and technical solutions specialists Entec Sound & Light has enjoyed a remarkable and dynamic working relationship with singer, songwriter, producer and composer Damon Albarn and Blur, which stretches back about 23 years, almost as long as the 24 years that lighting designer Dave Byars has worked with Albarn on his many and varied live performance projects.

Most recently, Entec supplied sound and lighting equipment and crew for Albarn's critically acclaimed sold-out shows with his live band, The Heavy Seas, at London's Royal Albert Hall venue.

Over the years, Dave Byars has been tasked with realizing the vision of musicians and artists in a plethora of venues ranging from tiny local clubs to stadiums around the world.

His design for Albarn's 2014 tour and the RAH shows included a heptegram - seven pointed star - backdrop, a symbol of particular i

UK - Blackout provided extensive draping for this year's star studded National Television Awards (NTAs) on 21 January 2015.

Broadcast live on ITV and watched by a packed live audience inside the O2 arena, Dermot O'Leary lead the glittering ceremony with TV's biggest stars out in force for the 20th annual event. The evening saw Eastenders steal the show, taking home the serial Drama Award and Ant & Dec who took home their 14th consecutive National Television Award for Best Entertainment Presenter.

Contracted by NTA producers Indigo Television and working with set designer Chris Webster, Blackout installed a 30m cross stage drape backdrop that framed the large video screen, which was the focal point of the show for the TV broadcast. Additional drapes were installed to screen VIP areas and mask off the arena seats obscured by technical production positions, to create the d

Europe - Helene Fischer's Farbenspiel tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in late 2014 marked the first set built by Brilliant Stages under Dark Arches Holdings ownership.

The German television presenter and singing star's sell-out tour saw her perform on a complex, multi-level stage with a large LED tree as a spectacular backdrop.

Working from a design concept by Stufish Entertainment Architects, with whom Brilliant Stages has worked on innumerable occasions, the main design realisation was driven from Brilliant Stages' drawing department, led by their chief CAD designer, Mel Welch.

Fabrication of the 22m wide x 12.5m deep x 2.1m high main 'A' stage took place at Brilliant Stages' site in Hitchin. The stage surface incorporated two 5m long travellators, a star trap and rear access steps, with the whole structure built on a rolling aluminium frame for easy deployment. T

UK - uTRAC has supported the Production Services Association (PSA) to offer its members an exclusive discount for selected workforce management packages.

Members of the live event production industry trade association PSA can now benefit from both the uTRAC Core and Core plus packages, providing a comprehensive application for managing and tracking high-volumes of labour.

Andy Lenthall, general manager of the PSA said, "It is our ongoing aim to offer membership advantages by bringing the latest resources from credible systems to benefit their businesses."

uTRAC's founder Ronan Moore said, "Following a fantastic year of new investment and exponential feature developments, we're pleased to offer PSA members our award winning solution for more streamlined crew scheduling and improved communication with their teams. Visit us at the Event Production Show for a live

Spain - San Sebastian-based Entertainment Equipment Supplies (EES) has signed an agreement to become Doughty Engineering's Super Dealer in Spain.

EES is a successful importer and distributor of equipment and accessories for professional entertainment lighting in Spain and Julian Chiverton, sales director at Doughty, hopes this partnership will see his company's name grow in popularity in the region.

"EES is very much regarded as the premier supplier of lighting equipment and accessories across the region. It has been supplying the needs of Spain's touring market and new venues for over twenty years, with the CEO, Nacho Acha-Orbea, building the business around delivering quality and reliable solutions to his customers' technical problems. Doughty is already known in Spain but we are confident that with EES as our main representative for the region Doughty's reputation will

France - Award-winning French attraction Puy du Fou has become the world's first theme park to introduce a drone fleet with embedded intelligence to enhance the visitor experience.

France's second most-visited theme park (after Disneyland Paris) allows visitors to witness history being brought to life through over 60 shows - from the Vikings and Knights of the Round Table, to Richelieu's Musketeers and Gallo-Roman gladiator games.

The park's flagship show Cinéscénie - which, at over 23 hectares is also the world's largest night show - provides a look through the ages and utilises the latest advances in technology and artistry. It was for this show that the drone technology was created.

Nicolas de Villiers, President, Puy du Fou, says: "The team was searching for a way to incorporate new heights to Cinéscénie. We wanted to create the biggest c

The Netherlands - Eurotruss developed a new Tunnel Roof in the most economic and popular size of 12x10m. This Tunnel Roof carries great features like an impressive free clearance of ~8m, an integrated cantilever of ladder truss and a clamped on keder tent profile for its canopy that guarantees full closing and allows full flexibility in depth by adding or taking off one or more arched segments.

"The best feature is that the tunnel roof is built out of standard HD34 Box Truss and still carries an impressive load bearing capacity of 2100kg on multiple point loads or 3300kg on divided load," the company says. Eurotruss also says it will soon announce the 'big brother' of this Tunnel Roof, made with HD44.

The first tunnel Roof has been supplied to Five's International in Romania, who used it for a successful Christmas Show in the old centre of Bucharest. Five's Internati

UK - Wirral-based Lift Turn Move Ltd (LTM) has just staged a LoadGuard Training School at the famous Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre. 16 of their clients and a few members of the ACC team travelled from all over the country to attend the LoadGuard School. The course was extremely popular and could have been filled twice over.

The school was presented by LTM's technical manager, Dave Ward, with Jim Marshall backing him up. John Jones threw in a few anecdotes and stories about usage and application solutions. ACC Liverpool was a great venue and LTM had the ability to show the attendees the grids and LoadGuard hoists that were installed into ACC Liverpool back in 2008 when the venue was opened.

They had a chance to learn more about the LoadGuard Hoists. Completely stripping the hoist down to its component parts, then re-building it and operating the hoist.

It was a good g

UK - Doodson Entertainment Insurance is now offering up to a 30% discount on Public Liability insurance to NRC qualified riggers. Doodson Entertainment's existing freelancer offering (which benefits from international geographical & jurisdictional cover) now recognises this important qualification. Level 2 achievers will benefit from a 20% discount and Level 3 achievers will benefit from a huge 30% on Doodson Entertainment's usual premiums.

Doodsons has traditionally supported freelance riggers and rigging companies as part of its commitment to the entertainment industry. The company was brought to the attention of PLASA by members of the Rigging community as a major player in providing insurance for freelance technicians. With a shared vision and commitment to a safer industry they have worked together to find a way to advantage riggers who have achieved the National Rigging Ce

UK - Registration for the fifth European RDM and sACN Developers Conference and Plugfest is now open.

The event will run Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April 2015, in the UK, at Gatwick Manor, London Road at Lowfield Heath, just south of Gatwick Airport.

The Developers Conference provides a European forum for manufacturers, designers, consultants and prospective users to discuss and learn about the various control protocol standards emanating from the PLASA Technical Standards program, and aims to ensure that the adoption of these new standards achieves desired levels of interoperability and reliability.

Conference sessions will cover the use and implementation of the published RDM, sACN and ACN standards, together with other projects in the current PLASA Technical Standards Program such as "E1.33 : RDMnet".

The "Plugfest" is a hands-on o

UK - Cable specialists VDC Trading has announced a new facility from its Fibre Optic Lab. As well as opticalCON connectors the industry established Van Damme Tourlight cable is available terminated with 2-channel and 4-channel HMA connectors.

HMA assemblies, benefiting from Stratos expanded beam technology, are available on the Van Damme Tourlight 50/125 OM3 multimode in two or four port form. They utilise a hermaphroditic interconnection meaning they connect freely with each other and alignment is no longer such a crucial factor. Designed for use in the field including military applications, The HMA connectors are ruggedly designed and quickly field repairable should the need arise.

VDC Trading CEO Niall Holden explained, "We have been delighted with our progress in the field of fibre optic cable. Our Van Damme Tourlight range has been a huge success, we beat our first y

UK - Stage One, the company currently constructing the UK Pavilion for the Milan 2015 Expo and who realised Thomas Heatherwick's spectacular cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics, has launched a new website (www.stageone.co.uk).

Designed to reflect the company's capabilities and reveal what goes on behind the scenes, the new website will showcase some of Stage One's most recent projects and the new direction of its creative construction and manufacturing services.

Working with designers, artists and architects, Stage One has evolved into a multi-faceted fabrication operation. The company manages the whole creative and creation process, from the brief to the big idea, on projects such as Olympic ceremonies, live events, sculptures, installations and specialist build projects such as the annual Serpentine Gallery pavilions.

Stage One sales and marketing director, Tim Leigh exp

The Netherlands - The well-known Sysdesk line of desk connection panels from German manufacturer Sommer Cable is getting bigger! These developments will be shown at ISE 2015 in Amsterdam at the Sommer booth (hall 7, booth D172).

New to the series are the retrofittable push-to-lift mechanism, the cable management tray for the Sysdesk09 & SysframeE50 desk connection panels plus the all new, cost-efficient Sysframe45 connection panels for the integration of Syswall45 clip-in modules, which contain all common connections of media engineering with an optimum spacing.

The push-to-lift mechanism can be retrofitted on all Ssydesk models delivered since 2012 and allows a very comfortable opening of the Sysdesk swivel unit. A simple push on the housing unlocks the interior part which will come up - without any assistance by electric components. For closing just push the same spot on the

UK - Star Events supplied the infrastructure for creative communications agency krow's spectacular Fiat 500x illusion at the Copper Box Arena in East London, which saw superstar magician Dynamo turn a 3D blueprint of the new car into the physical vehicle with the "Power of X".

The Star Events team worked to a brief from production company Lodestar. It required a complex rigging element throughout the venue and over 1,100sq.m of multi-level terracing, ramps and stairways to form the stage, an auditorium for 1,000 people, VIP and technical areas.

The whole set up was constructed on a sub-floor, laid not only to protect the Olympic standard sports surface, but to spread the significant loads generated by the event production, which included a small crane, squeezed into the venue to assist with the build.

Gavin Scott, Star Events' project manager, said, "Establish

South Africa - Lighting designer Francois van der Merwe will present Vectorworks Training during March at DWR Distribution, Johannesburg. There are four different courses to choose from, all of which will include training notes and lunch.

A Basic One Day Training course takes place on 9 March. Subjects include Basic Fundamentals, Layouts, Pallets, Basic Tools, Classts & Layers.

The Intermediate Two Day Training will be hosted on 10-11 March. Topics include Preferences, Workspace, Basic Spotlight, Basic Renderworks and Intermediate Tools. The cost is R1 500.00 incl. VAT.

The Advanced Two Day Training will be held on 12-13 March. Subjects include Working Planes, Advanced Modelling and Advanced Renderworks.

Alternatively, delegates may prefer attending all of the above-mentioned dates for Full Vectorworks Training Week held from 9-13 March.

(Jim Evans)

World - Engineering and automation specialists Wicreations is supplying flying and rigging solutions to the Ice Age Live - A Mammoth Adventuretour produced by Stage Entertainment Touring Productions, which continues to enthral audiences worldwide now on its latest third leg of an extensive touring schedule that started in 2012 and is currently scheduled until 2017.

The show, directed by Guy Caron and Michael Curry, combines ice skating, aerial arts, puppetry and film, offering a new story based on the first Ice Age film.

WIcreations has a long standing working relationship with Amsterdam based Stage Entertainment, and has been involved with various specialist rigging aspects of the Ice Age Live project from the start.

For this phase of the tour, the WIcreations team - project managed by Hans Willems - redesigned a ground support and 42m tracking system for the large upstage

USA - Following its successful run on Broadway, Rodgers+Hammerstein's Cinderella has also taken to the road, launching a new production that is now touring the USA.

To refine the lighting rig to the practicalities of touring, budgets and equipment availability, lighting designer Kenneth Posner and associate lighting designer John Viesta made some changes to the New York design for the road, switching the side ladder moving lights from Martin MAC 2000s to Vari-Lite VL3500s and replacing the overhead VL2500 Wash lights with LED par cans.

As ever with changes like this, the lighting data in the console show file no longer produced the correct lighting on stage, since each fixture type responds differently to the same DMX data. In this situation what is needed is clear, precise, accurate information about what the lights did in each preset focus and in each cue in the origi

Venezuela - Operating in the Latin American market, Venezuela-based PROmontaje, a leading provider of technical resources for events in Venezuela, needed a solution to host large outdoor events and concerts. The company owns a large event site, just outside Caracas, which they plan to use for a range of outdoor concerts and sports events.

Jean Paul Gaspard of Audio Concept, Prolyte distributor in Latin America, put PROmontaje in contact with Prolyte. "I knew Prolyte was the only truss manufacturer I could trust to deliver a structure of the size and capacity my customer was looking for," comments Jean Paul Gaspard, "PROmontaje already owns an ARC roof and barriers from Prolyte, and they are very happy with the quality of those products and the ease of use".

The structure PROmontaje was looking for needed to have enough loading capacity, paired with a large

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