Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

Chris Brain, Blackout's project director oversaw a pre-rig before the set at London's Three Mills Studios was built, then worked closely with HG Event Production's Harry Guthrie and the lighting team installing the TV lighting over a three-week period.

The Blackout team were called upon to install 90 CM Lodestar motors, 600m of truss and 150m of pipe, and black wool serge drapes to mask the dressing room.

Chris explained, "The show was the first of its type, being shot live from numerous stages in the studio. This was such a special project to work on and we are proud to have been contracted to provide the truss, rigging and drapes on such a world-renowned live musical p

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14 March 2016

For the sixth year running, Blackout helped maximise the presence of sponsoring brand H & M through the installation of advertising drapes near the main entrance of the venue.

Chris Brain, installations director at Blackout, commented, "It is a privilege to return to such a fantastic sporting event year on year. Despite the tight time schedules, the whole draping project was completed in just four days, which only serves testament to the wonderful work our team delivers."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Despite its difficulties, 2015 saw many positives for PLASA. At PLASA Media, Lighting&Sound International celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015, having been confirmed by research completed by Fusion Insight & Strategy as the market leading magazine and by far the number one choice of readers in the marketplace. LSi also welcomed a new media sales team: commercial manager Andrew Organ and business development manager Greg Morley have quickly settled into their roles, and 2016 is shaping up to be LSi's most successf

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14 March 2016

On announcing the sponsorship Ken Tilson, vertical market specialist - entertainment, stated, "Columbus McKinnon is excited about the opportunity to support ESTA's TSP which is vitally important for the Entertainment Industry. The TSP members are entertainment subject matter experts who develop and create industry specific technical standards and recommended best practices. CMCO specifically participates in the Rigging Working Group and has actively done so for many years. We are com

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14 March 2016

Strictly, broadcast live on BBC 1's Saturday night prime time, is one of the nation's favourite programmes, and the 2015 series' weekly audiences regular topped 10m viewers.

"There was some serious pressure" explained DLM's automation director Erlend 'Spider' Webb who co-ordinated this project, "and that's why we work with Kinesys equipment, because it's absolutely rock solid."

DLM has been involved in specialist rigging aspects of Strictly for the last five years. When the prime-time series moved out of the BBC TV Centre in Wood Lane to the larger space at Elst

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14 March 2016

The park is also home to a variety of other industry brands including: Brilliant Stages, Perry Scenic Creative, Litestructures, LS-Live, The Music Consortium, Knight Rigging Services, Tek LED, J&C Joel - and, of course, the renowned live events university centre, Backstage Academy.

Across the three open days, from 1-3 March, you can also meet the Nitelites team, who (using LS-Live's 17,500sq.ft Studio 001) will demo their new turnkey arena touring package from the specialist Italian lo

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14 March 2016

Andrew and Thomas Abele launched their own business in 1986, initially distributing events equipment which they also supplied for tours and installation projects. Later they began developing and manufacturing powerful equipment and functional solutions in the field of stage technology. For these, the brand Movecat was created and it is upon these that the company has for some years now been concentrating and for which it has built up a worldwide distribution network.

With the change of name has come a strengthening of the senior management team and a reassignment of responsibilities, with CF

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14 March 2016

Denis joined Unusual in 2000 from Tomcat, as operations manager, taking on the role of general manager in 2014. Based at the company's Northamptonshire headquarters in the UK, he has overseen the company's expansion, including the opening of a new 1200sqm facility in Autumn 2015.

Denis said, "The decision to take the job in Dubai was not an easy one; the work Unusual Rigging does in the UK is inspiring and it's been my pleasure to work for a company that is held in such high regard across the industry. From production managers to museum curators, eve

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14 March 2016

Power Logistics specialises in providing temporary power, heating and lighting for the event and entertainment sector.

It has now bought a further 20 state of the art, energy-efficient lights thanks to asset finance facility provided by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The lights will be used this year in functions across the UK.

The investment is part of the business' ambitious plan to double in size in the next five years.

Mike Whitehouse, managing director of Power Logistics, said, "We have ambitious plans for growth and the new facility from Lloyds Bank means we can look ahead with confidence as we aim to increase the size of the business.

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14 March 2016

Starting on Sunday with a special dinner and party to celebrate its 25th anniversary year, the event started on a high note.

With over 110 persons attending, both key personnel and distributor representatives from all four corners of the globe, the atmosphere was lively and animated. Mixing dinner with award ceremonies, the night started professionally and progressed to a perfect networking event.

Over the course of the next two days the network was informed on product updates, marketing and sales strategies and the new Prolyte factory.

Feedback sessions on several topics gave all particip

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14 March 2016

The controversial play, which was famously banned by the censors when it was first written, tells the story of the ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell and his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England.

The National Theatre's deputy production manager Clíona Ní Mhocháin approached Triple E's managing director David Edelstein to assist with the track solutions.

"We needed a smooth, silent and reliable system to achieve a swipe motion to go from an empty stage to actors' preset," explains Ní Mhocháin. "We also wanted to create an aperture to suggest the outside world further upstage that could change size and

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14 March 2016

Musikteater's investment in Kinesys products started around six years ago, explains technical manager Tor Futtrup, who has been working there for 13 years and initiated this move with a first purchase of 10 3.25 tonne Kinesys LibraCELL load measuring shackles and the Kinesys LibraBASIC system.

The Libra shackle pin is designed to work with the globally recognised Crosby safety

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14 March 2016

Mullard comments: "I have enjoyed the challenges presented by the lifting industry in relation to weighing technologies and have spent the last three years in particular developing a thorough understanding of the marketplace. Straightpoint continued to emerge as the market leader and I am grateful for the opportunity to align my goals with such an innovative, dynamic business."

Straightpoint director Da

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14 March 2016

To help resolve the long-time industry problems of loosened screw terminals, damaged housings and ineffective cable strain reliefs, Lex Products has developed the new EverGrip Moulded CEE Extension, the first-ever over-moulded CEE cable extension.

The Evergrip Moulded CEE extensions feature a UV stabilized mould material to prevent degradation of housing when used outdoors, ergonomic hand grip to provide a firm gripping surface for easy connector mating and un-mating and integrated tie loop hole for ease of storage or rigging.

Available in single phase 16 amp and single/three phase 32 Amp PCE plugs and sockets with Titanex HO7 cable, the extensions are offered under a three year limited warranty. Personalised company logos moulded into t

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14 March 2016

Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) ushered in the 4th FAI World Air Games (WAG) at an impressive and colourful opening ceremony on December 3, 2015 in front of an appreciative audience of nearly 5,000 spectators, which included officials and contestants from over 50 countries.

"It was great," said Polish microlight team member Kajetan Ruks. "I've never seen anything like it before. And now, I want to see it again." Joao Franciso, who came from Portugal to compete in the air navigation race said, "O

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14 March 2016

Arena Seating co-sponsored the 21st year of the star-studded event to supply 678 fully upholstered flat tip-up Diplomat seats with arms, which were installed in the front stalls section of London's O2 Arena, reserved for the VIP TV personality nominees and winners

Martin Clark, Arena Seating project manager and his 12-strong team, took just one day to install the prime view seats close to the stage, as well as the indoor and outdoor glittering red carpet. The build was completed in two halves, first the red carpet under the VIP seating was laid followed by the seat installation, then finally completed once the outdoor VIP red carpet had

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14 March 2016

David McKeown, project manager at Cine Electric explained: "This is an extremely prestigious job for us - Croke Park isn't just a stadium, it's Ireland's national stadium and is held in very high regard both by those of us who live here and visitors from around the world. We were initially brought on board by the electrical contractor, CJ Ryder Lawlor, to facilitate all the specialist infrastructure, LED lighting and rigg

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14 March 2016

The demanding tour is packed from start to finish with stunning special effects and in order to be able to re-create the exact same magic in every venue, senior production manager Chris Boone enlisted the help of Unusual Rigging.

"I have a long running relationship with Unusual Rigging - they're my go-to company for all my rigging needs. The last job we worked on together was the Barnum tour, which in comparison to Mary Poppins was far less complex. Unusual Rigging has supplied over 60 chain hoists to suspend the Mary Poppins tour

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14 March 2016

The production team approached Hertfordshire-based 'theatre magicians' Lamp & Pencil to devise a solution for flying the Arrimax HMI head in a moving yoke across the stage to represent the path of the sun.

The vertical movement of the lamp is achieved with the existing flying system at the venues. The horizontal movement is realised with tracks on a frame with a carriage driven by existing point hoists.

The ModTruss sections were combined with Triple E's Unibeam, carriers and other standard components and required very little custom metalwork. Triple E managed the project, designed and built the mechanical elem

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14 March 2016

Content creation can be entirely separated from the positions of the projectors. Showlogix can use content rendered as unwrapped UV-texture of the 3D model, or also accept any 2D video, images, external inputs or text which will appear non-distorted, using projective texture mapping.

By dragging the projector point, the outputs are calibrated in real-time. Edge-blend masks are automatically calculated.

Optionally, warping and masking can be done manually on each projector to compensate for any model problems.

Interactivity can be added to the 3D projected object by using the built-in tracking module. You can use cameras to detect motion for visualizing mouse & mult

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14 March 2016

Tom Harper, who heads the drive towards a circular economy at Unusual, said: "This is a huge deal for us as we are in our first year of implementing these changes to our business. The past twelve months have seen us become 55% renewably driven, having just received OFGEM status as a generating site for 100% renewable electri

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14 March 2016

Cementing itself as the industry's essential meeting place for the region, the show - which opened its doors at the SECC from 20-21 January - offered live product demonstrations, two days of high quality seminar sessions and over 75 brands in an environment ideal for networking and generating business face-to-face. Attracting visitors with a combined spending power of £130m, the development of the show reflects the continued expansion of the industry in the region.

David Steedsy Stevenson from Ward Steedsy Audio, distributor of Funktion-One in Scotland comments: "It's the first time we've had a trade stand at a PLAS

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14 March 2016

"We have a fantastic day planned based around a very competitive 18-hole team game. Bring your best shots for a day of fun, food, networking, competition and fund raising for the industry's charity. Once the golf is done, we roll into evening with a BBQ, raffles, prizes and the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues. Set in the beautiful surroundings of The Drift Golf Club, this is the only BTS golf day for 2016 so make sure you are registered with your tea

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14 March 2016

This includes the latest innovations from premium 'umbrella' brands, 19 inch rack specialist Pro Audio Stash and LED lighting solutions provider CLD distribution, which have merged with Penn Elcom Online in a dynamic fusion of all three popular and successful marques.

CLD Distribution and Pro Audio Stash joined the Penn Elcom Group in 2014, bringing additional diversity and options to the wide range of quality products.

Penn Elcom Online will consolidate the choice offered by all three brands in one commercial sales outlet, with one of the most extensive selections for flightcase hardware, 19 inch racking systems cab