USA - John Wiseman, president of XL Touring Video, announce Valdis Dauksts' promotion to general manager of XL Touring. Dauksts, who has 30 years' experience in concert touring and production around the world, has also worked extensively in staging, lighting and production capacities across fashion, live theatre, corporate events, large-scale outdoor events (such as the Papal visit in Central Park) and large concert tours. His clients have included Bruce Allen Talent, MTV, Radio City Music Hall, VH1, Merv Griffin Productions and many more. Along the way, Dauksts has been VP of Lighting at Nocturne Productions and general manager of Fourth Phase / Light and Sound Design in Newbury Park, California.
Wiseman comments: "I am very pleased to announce Val's promotion to general manager. Having worked with him in the past, I'm positive we've made a decision that will greatly benefit XL Touring Video and our customers. Val's depth of experience and absolute dedication to excellence more than qualify him for this position."
(Mike Lethby)
USA - 2005 promises to be a strong year for the cruise industry, which looks set to achieve record growth. Numerous new cruise ships are scheduled for launch in 2005, with further major projects slated for 2006 and 2007. This positive trend will translate into real business opportunities for UK specialists providing lighting, audio, AV and staging technologies.
Exploiting this development will be the forthcoming SeaTrade exhibition in Miami (March 15-17) - the largest gathering of cruise line owners, operators and suppliers in the world. One of the main features of the show will be the new 'PLASA at Sea' Pavilion - a showcase of all the latest innovations in entertainment and leisure-based technology. Confirmed exhibitors to date include Barbizon, Vari-Lite, Rose Brand, Rosco, Color Kinetics, Xilver, Martin Professional, Mavco, Teledimensions, Stage Technologies and Snow Masters.
UK companies can now take advantage of a grant worth up to £2,500, which they can put towards the cost of exhibiting at SeaTrade. This funding is available via PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association) and will help UK companies put their technologies and services in front of key buyers and specifiers. A Brochure Group Service is also available for PLASA members who can have their literature and marketing material distributed to interested attendees.
If you would like to participate in SeaTrade, contact Shane McGreevy at PLASA on +44 (0)1323 410335 or e-mail at the address below.
(Ruth Rossington)
UK / USA - Software providers Stardraw.com has announced that support for Global Caché's GC-100 series of network adaptors has been incorporated into their new application, Stardraw Control. Global Caché, based in Southern Oregon, is dedicated to producing low-cost, state-of-the-art products to enable technology in the home environment. The award-winning GC-100 Network Adaptor provides the means for PC-based control, automation and management software to access, control and deliver services in a networked home to diverse and previously unconnected devices and appliances.
Stardraw Control is exactly that - a software-based application designed expressly to control systems that contain diverse products. It generates standalone, customized control programs that can manage and monitor any type of addressable equipment from any manufacturer using any protocol over any communications infrastructure. This approach frees systems integrators from closed or proprietary architectures and applications, offering instead the ability to create a single application that can control many different products with as much or as little complexity as the end user needs.
Global Caché president, Walt Keller, said he was "delighted" that support for the GC-100 range has been incorporated into Stardraw Control. "Stardraw Control's ability to automatically generate customer specific applications on-the-fly is truly a breakthrough technology, and is a very complementary product to ours. We believe the combination of our respective products will ensure that integrators a
UK - Brummie legend Jasper Carrott gave Birmingham his very own Christmas present packed full of entertainment when he staged his 'Christmas Cracker' at the NEC Birmingham on 19 December. The line-up was a closely guarded secret and none of the capacity 12,500 crowd who packed in to the NEC Arena knew who would be performing until the artists came on stage. Among some of the Country's top stars who appeared for charity were X Factor stars G4, comedian Bill Bailey, King of the Jungle - Joe Pasquale, Liz McLarnon from Atomic Kitten and music legends Robert Plant, Lulu and Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees. Proceeds for the event go to a number of local children's charities.
PSP provided six live cameras, four Barco 12,000 Lumen projectors and two large screens, which enabled the capacity audience to get closer to the performance. PSP also provided backstage monitoring equipment and live sound and camera relay into the VIP area and the hospitality areas.
PSP had a crew of over 20 on the event. The audience were able to text Jasper Carrott before the performance with messages and PSP's graphics team converted these and then showed them on the screens during the interval and at the end of the performance.
The event was a huge success and it is anticipated that in excess of £200,000 was raised for charity. PSP director John Woodcock has been associated with Jasper Carrott's Christmas Cracker for 13 years. He said: "This event is always a thrill to work on. It has become one of Birmingham's biggest show's and PSP are delighted to support Jasper and all his team on
UK - Scene Change, digital media specialist and distributor of the Hippotizer range welcomes Bob Kronman to its staff. A familiar name in the worlds of both large-format projection and video projection, Kronman has just completed work on the London transfer of the musical Mary Poppins, working with PIGI large format projectors and Scene Change's Hippotizer digital media server and BeaMover moving video projector products, as well as with the digital content created for the production by Scene Change. Kronman has also worked on a wide range of other productions, including We Will Rock You, and for suppliers across the AV and projection fields, most notably E/T/C UK and Production Arts.
Kronman will be working with Scene Change's Nigel Sadler, providing sales, training and technical support for the company's entire production range, and on projects where Scene Change provides both digital media and hardware.
"We're delighted to welcome Bob to the Scene Change team, particularly having worked with him so successfully on the recent transfer of Mary Poppins," comments Nigel Sadler. "This looks set to be an exciting year for Hippotizer, which continues to receive rave reviews in the trade press. However, though simple to use, Hippotizer is a complex product, and complex products require support, particularly as users push them to their limits. Bob will be there to support those users both with his knowledge of the products, and his long practical 'real world' experience!"
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK / USA - Software provider Stardraw.com announced its most significant US expansion to date, with the establishment of a West Coast office in partnership with US distribution specialists, North American Pro Audio (NAPA). The move follows an extraordinary year for Stardraw, which has necessitated the provision of additional resources to serve and develop the US market. The partnership with NAPA, operating as Stardraw.com USA, will look after all Stardraw's customers within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, and manage resellers and reps in the territory with effect from 1 January 2005.
In addition to handling all sales and front-line technical support, Stardraw.com USA will offer a comprehensive schedule of user training seminars across the US for 2005. Furthermore, support through Stardraw's toll-free number has now been expanded to operate between the hours of 9am Eastern to 6pm Pacific time. Stardraw.com USA will also benefit from NAPA's comprehensive rep network, thereby increasing access to and representation of Stardraw's product range across the territory.
Stardraw marketing director, Rob Robinson, welcomes the new arrangement, commenting: "We had such a phenomenal year in 2004 that it became clear that we should increase our resource base, and early indicators for 2005 suggest that this is definitely the right move at the right time. With its proven track record in high end pro audio distribution to the systems integration market, North American Pro Audio presented itself as the ideal distribution partner. Furthermore, the company's preferred modus ope
Belgium - Barco has announced the acquisition of System Technologies, based in Torhout, Belgium. Started by Frederic Opsomer in 1995, System Technologies specializes in innovative designs for special projects in the rental and staging markets. The company counts designs for special projects such as the Olympics 2004 opening and closing ceremonies as well as the design of specialized elements in the upcoming worldwide U2 tour, amongst its most recent projects. The company has annual sales of approximately 5m euros and the total cost for the transaction is less than half of sales, say Barco.
The transaction will see one of Barco's fastest growing divisions, Barco Media & Entertainment, incorporate System Technologies' expertise into its own total solution offering toward the important rental and staging and fixed installation markets. The transaction underpins Barco's belief that its market-leading position in the rental and staging market is driven by providing ground-breaking technologies and products to its worldwide Rental Partner network. System Technologies, in its role as a consultant to show and set designers worldwide, also plays a key role between end-user, rental company and product supplier. The acquisition of the business of System Technologies will allow Barco to move up the value chain and further strengthen its total solution offering to the rental and staging markets by catering to the design needs of the growing 'special projects' market segment, the company believes.
Stephan Paridaen, president of Barco Media & Entertainment, says: "At Barc
UK - A curious amalgam, MPH '04 is The Motor Show with Top Gear attitude; but then with presenters Tiff Needell, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond it would be (sharp intake of breath, adopt voice of God) 'like a B52 parking in your driveway'.
This was just the second year of the show at Earls Court, and already it's growing; PMI and Simon Aldridge appear to have brought a new and burgeoning marriage of live and static presentation into the exhibition world, a marriage that will surely have others looking frantically for an eligible partner.
Steve Sinclair has been part of the presentation team for the past two events and describes the differences between this and conventional car expo: "Some content elements appear familiar, there's a gallery of 90 or so vehicles, sponsored by HR Owens, but these aren't ordinary cars; we're talking testosterone motoring Ferraris and Maseratis, Bentley Turbos and TVRs. The big difference is the visitors can get inside them; it's very touchy-feely." But what of the live element?
There's a driving area, but it's more a show floor and everything presented there is very theatrical. One of the big attractions of this year's show was a straight copy of the TV show, where an old car is fired through the air and crashes onto a caravan, crushing it."
Sinclair revealed that the cannon used to blast the car skywards uses a combination of old and new technology. "It's propelled by 80% compressed nitrogen, firing the car approximately 10m into the air. When the H&SE inspector came in he asked the operator 'have you ca
UK - New Year's Eve 2004 saw the British Airways London Eye become the focal point for a spectacular light and fireworks display for 150,000 Londoners on Westminster Bridge and the Embankment - plus a nationwide television audience.
Although tempered by news of the Asian Tsunami - a two-minute silence was held before the display and certain elements of the projection and light show were removed - the overall reaction from audience and press was that London had got this New Year's Eve event absolutely right. Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW) designed and produced the entertainment and managed the logistics for the event. JMW project director Jeremy Garbett and his team worked for months in advance to co-ordinate and accommodate the various council and public safety concerns.
Fireworks were obviously the major element of the show and French designer Christophe Berthonneau and his team from GroupeF did not disappoint: they produced a stunning 10-minute Theatre of Fire, culminating in what on television looked like an alien attack! The ordnance was laid out on barges on the Thames, plus many effects fixed directly to the steelwork rim and spoke of the Eye itself, and fired by a computer triggered by the first chime of Big Ben.
Lighting designer Durham Marenghi called upon associate LD Paul Cook to add his years of experience with the Eye to the event. Lighting was carefully co-ordinated with Christophe to synchronize the colour and dynamics of the firework sequences, producing a seamless fusion of light and fire. The lighting system included 100 Vari-Lites to uplight the Eye f
UK - A curious amalgam, MPH '04 is The Motor Show with Top Gear attitude; but then with presenters Tiff Needell, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond it would be (sharp intake of breath, adopt voice of God) 'like a B52 parking in your driveway'.
This was just the second year of the show at Earls Court, and already it's growing; PMI and Simon Aldridge appear to have brought a new and burgeoning marriage of live and static presentation into the exhibition world, a marriage that will surely have others looking frantically for an eligible partner.
Steve Sinclair has been part of the presentation team for the past two events and describes the differences between this and conventional car expo: "Some content elements appear familiar, there's a gallery of 90 or so vehicles, sponsored by HR Owens, but these aren't ordinary cars; we're talking testosterone motoring Ferraris and Maseratis, Bentley Turbos and TVRs. The big difference is the visitors can get inside them; it's very touchy-feely." But what of the live element?
There's a driving area, but it's more a show floor and everything presented there is very theatrical. One of the big attractions of this year's show was a straight copy of the TV show, where an old car is fired through the air and crashes onto a caravan, crushing it."
Sinclair revealed that the cannon used to blast the car skywards uses a combination of old and new technology. "It's propelled by 80% compressed nitrogen, firing the car approximately 10m into the air. When the H&SE inspector came in he asked the operator 'have you c
The Netherlands - Avesco company JVR supplied one of the largest LED screens ever fielded for three 28,000 capacity Christmas shows at the Arnhem Gelredome by Dutch superstar Frans Bauer.
The video screen formed the 'set': similar in proportions to the system used on U2's legendary Popmart tour, this consisted of 500sq.m of Barco's D7 outdoor product assembled into arguably the largest and highest resolution display ever built in Europe and even worldwide, discounting fixed installs, say JVR.
Sales director Jeroen Jongenelen commented. "The Barco D7 is the only system that offered the resolution required and was available in sufficient quantities to enable us to pull of a project of this scale."
Even so, the screen modules were sourced from numerous different suppliers, and the two weeks leading up to the show saw a steady stream of sea and air shipments from around the world into the company's Roosendaal base.
Using 2,496 Dlite 7 tiles, the screen was 44m wide by 12m high. Even without the benefit of the D7's virtual pixel technology (switched off on this occasion) the display had an overall resolution of 3072 x 832, resulting in over 2.6 million pixels, or 12.8 million LEDs. The system was assembled in six hours by three JVR crew and 40 stage hands, and took another 36 hours to cable prior to switch-on. The schedule then allowed two further days for alignment andtesting. Supported on a purpose-built base and scaffold support (from Stageco), the 55-tonne screen, consuming a massive 850kW on peak white, was built in a giant curve, requiring a 13.3mm
UK - New Year's Eve 2004 saw the British Airways London Eye become the focal point for a spectacular light and fireworks display for 150,000 Londoners on Westminster Bridge and the Embankment - plus a nationwide television audience.
Although tempered by news of the Asian Tsunami - a two-minute silence was held before the display and certain elements of the projection and light show were removed - the overall reaction from audience and press was that London had got this New Year's Eve event absolutely right. Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW) designed and produced the entertainment and managed the logistics for the event. JMW project director Jeremy Garbett and his team worked for months in advance to co-ordinate and accommodate the various council and public safety concerns.
Fireworks were obviously the major element of the show and French designer Christophe Berthonneau and his team from GroupeF did not disappoint: they produced a stunning 10-minute Theatre of Fire, culminating in what on television looked like an alien attack! The ordnance was laid out on barges on the Thames, plus many effects fixed directly to the steelwork rim and spoke of the Eye itself, and fired by a computer triggered by the first chime of Big Ben.
Lighting designer Durham Marenghi called upon associate LD Paul Cook to add his years of experience with the Eye to the event. Lighting was carefully co-ordinated with Christophe to synchronize the colour and dynamics of the firework sequences, producing a seamless fusion of light and fire. The lighting system included 100 Vari-Lites to uplight the
UK - Bandit Lites is supplying equipment and a crew of five for R.E.M.'s European and UK tour, which kicked off in Lisbon last weekend, continuing the company's long working relationship with the band. Lighting designer Susanne Sasic, one of the most innovative and original contemporary LDs, started working with R.E.M. four years ago. As with all Sasic's shows, the core of the design features several one-off 'specials', created to give the show a series of unique visual elements.
Her imaginative starting point for this tour was 82 panels of 6ft x 2 ft polycarbonate 'Polygal' greenhouse/conservatory glazing material, manufactured by Pentaglass. This is double-walled and has a honeycomb cell structure which both reflects and refracts the light. The panels are lit from front, rear and the floor, creating an upstage wall of textured lighting. The panels are extremely lightweight and tough, and are suspended on a series of catenary wires devised by Bandit Lites in the US at the start of the tour. Other 'specials' include 51 Color Kinetics iColor Accent low voltage exterior architectural tube fittings - a combination of 4ft and 8ft lengths. These are also suspended on catenaries of varying lengths, Bandit customised their hanging brackets allowing them to also be rigged on catenary wires, which allows them to dangle randomly above the stage. Bandit also built flightcases for the CK tubes and the Pentaglass panels, and wrote a fixture personality for the iColors so they could be controlled by Sasic via the Hog II console.
The third effect is a Starstrobe curtain, made
UK - tsg, the Chesterfield-based media programming and systems company, has promoted Ian Light to the position of media programming manager for its renowned music and media brand; candyrock. Light, who was formerly responsible for looking after tsg's shops and stores customers, will now be responsible for the running of the candyrock programming department which is based at Kings Heath in Birmingham. An important part of his remit will be the development of new programming styles and schedules, as well as the day-to-day relationships with the world's leading record labels.
Joining Light in the enlarged programming team will be a new recruit, Paul Kimberley, who brings a wealth of experience to the candyrock team. tsg's recent experience in satisfying the needs of the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai has generated a whole raft of 'world music' categories, and Light and Kimberley will be working hard to integrate some of this content into candyrock's specialist music programmes.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - TPA 05 - the Graduate Exhibition and Trade Show of the Technical and Production Arts department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) will take place on 22-23 March 2005. Once again, Graduating students from the BA Technical and Production Arts course will be showing their work over the past three years in the Academy's Chandler Studio Theatre. Supporting this in the New Athenaeum, the RSAMD's main house, the industry supporters of the course will be showing a large range of production equipment.
Triple E and Black Light have joined the list of course sponsors this year and will exhibiting alongside PRG Europe, Le Mark, Rosco, Rope Assemblies, White Light, Zero 88, Autograph Sales and Hall Stage. Also new to the show will be Lift, Turn, Move and Learn 2B Safe, as well as several industry organizations such as the ABTT, SMA, PSA, PLASA and the ALD, many of whom are arranging membership meetings during their visit. Other exhibitors have yet to be confirmed.
The event will also include seminars from a wide range of suppliers and organizations. RSAMD is involved in an EU Leonardo project in training for the technical side of the industry and a public meeting will be held by the project leaders on Wednesday 23 March. There will also be a demonstration of @Last Software's SketchUp Software on the same day.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - 15 December saw the West End premiere of the stage production of Mary Poppins - incorporating a mixture of large format projection and video projection created as a collaborative effort between DHA Lighting, the expert in the fields of gobos and projected imagery, and sister company Scene Change, the digital media specialist.
A musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins is produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh. The show made its debut at the Bristol Hippodrome in September, playing a short season there before transferring to London. The DHA and Scene Change teams were led by Wyatt Enever, bringing his long experience in creating and pre-distorting projected artwork for stage productions into the world of projected video, together with Scene Change's Nigel Sadler. Enever, Sadler, DHA and Scene Change were selected to work with scenic and costume designer Bob Crowley to gather together material, shape that material and artwork generated by Crowley himself into a suitable form, then deal with the challenges of incorporating that material into the show itself.
"I think we were selected because I've worked with director Richard Eyre and designer Bob Crowley before on other shows and they felt comfortable that we could work with them to create the required effects," explains Enever. "Between DHA Lighting and Scene Change we have the experience of both projection and video, perfect for this show which required integration of both types of media."
On the practical side of generating the
UK - JVC is now stocking its range of dual purpose digital video (DT-V) range of HD and SD monitors with multi-signal video and audio capabilities. The JVC 17-inch DT-V1700CG and the 19-inch DT-V1910CG colour video monitors have an increased range of interface cards and are newly price-positioned to compete with standard definition CRT monitors.
All DT-V monitors feature natural flat CRTs with either user-selectable standard 4:3 or wide 16:9 aspect ratio. A discrete 16:9 removable bezel is provided as standard. Producing clear images, the DT-V1700CG monitor has 800 TV lines and the DT-V1910CG has 900 TV lines of horizontal resolution.
The three blank connection panels can each be populated when and how, according to user needs, with audio and video I/O modules. The selection is from: composite video and Y/C, analogue component / RGB / RGBHV, a range of SDI and a range of HD SDI boards. The improved dual HD SDI card enables the user to buy a singe board for simultaneous, two input, auto-selecting SD and HD SDI signals. Such flexibility means that users can fit analogue panels today, SDI panels tomorrow and HD SDI panels the day after that!
These boards allow customers to monitor all forms of video and audio signals prevalent in the marketplace now and in the future. These include HD & SD at 50 Hz and 60 Hz, HD SDI and SDI, NTSC & PAL, 480p, 1080i, 720p and 24psF cinema configuration.
Both monitors are able to display on screen the audio levels of the audio embedded in the SDI and HD SDI signals. When activated, the audio level meters move up and down with the
The Netherlands - For Dutch superstar Frans Bauer's three sell-out 28,000 capacity Christmas shows at the Arnhem Gelredome, he and his design team decided to push their innovative use of video to record breaking levels. The single location and spectacular venue allowed a level of production which would be all but impossible on a touring show. The 'set' was a video screen - similar in proportions to the system on U2's legendary Popmart tour, this screen was not a low-resolution, background effect, but 500sq.m of Barco's D7 outdoor product assembled into arguably the largest and highest resolution display ever built Europe and even worldwide if fixed installations are discounted.
Dutch video specialist JVR (an Avesco plc company), an established supplier to Bauer's extravaganzas, supplied the screen. Sales director Jeroen Jongenelen commented. "The Barco D7 is the only system that offered the resolution required and was available in sufficient quantities to enable us to pull of a project of this scale. Even so we ended up bringing in equipment from numerous different suppliers, some within our group. For the two weeks leading up to the show we have seen a steady stream of sea and air shipments from around the world into our Roosendaal base and have had to pull all of these packages into one giant, seamless and uniformly matched screen." No small task, but JVR's project manager Peter Scherbeijn was up to it.
The statistics of this screen alone are impressive. Constructed from 2,496 Dlite 7 tiles, it measured some 44m wide by 12m high. Even without the be
UK - This year's BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2004 awards had a dramatic new environmental set created for them by design and communication company Imagination. Over 600 guests attended the event, which saw gold medallist Kelly Holmes scoop the 2004 Sports Personality of the Year trophy.
Working closely with the BBC executive producer Paul Davies, Imagination was able to create a visually arresting space for the awards, which not only hosted the live television programme but also a pre and post transmission party for over 600 VIP guests.
This year's environmental set included multiple interview staging areas, graphic treatments on the stage and floor as well as lighting and projection design. Imagination has a long-standing relationship with the BBC having worked with them on environmental sets for such programmes as Newsnight and Sports series On-Side. This was the second year running that Imagination has designed the set for the highly prestigious BBC Sports Personality Awards.
The LED visual reinforcement was again provided by Creative Technology, which has a long history of supplying screen solutions for the show. This year two Barco iLite 6 high-brightness, indoor displays were flown - stage left and right - in 9 x 5 landscape formation, taking feeds from the BBC.
Sally Crabb, executive creative director for Imagination, said of the project: "Imagination was once again delighted to be asked to design the environmental set for this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. The fantastic collaboration we onc
UK - Switchcraft has been expanding its range of audio and video patchbays and patch cords in recent times and can now offer a wide selection of products that are suitable for HDTV/digital applications.
Recent introductions of digital-ready products include: high-density video patchbays rated to 3GHz (with 32 jacks per 1RU panel); audio patchbays fitted with 48, 52 and 96 jacks per panel; audio patchbays in which the normalling can be changed from the front of the panel; mixed audio/video patchbays; audio and video patch cords made using 110 ohm cable; and BNC plugs. All Switchcraft products are complemented by a lifetime warranty.
Not only has the range expanded but so has the worldwide customer base that includes major broadcasters, OB facility companies and post-production houses.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK - Projected Image Digital has supplied UK lighting rental company Lite Alternative with the first Catalyst XPress software package - following its appointment as exclusive UK dealer for the award wining digital media.
Lite Alternative's Catalyst system immediately went out of the Human League's UK tour, designed by Paul Normandale and programmed and operated by Rob Sinclair. PID supplied the full digital media system, including the dual 2GHz PowerMac on which it runs, to which PID installed an ATI9800 video card along with a Decklink Black Magic video input card and an Artistic Licence Ethernet to DMX input unit.
Catalyst XPress is a cost-effective version of the full Catalyst package. It's now available through PID as a software only purchase - making the Catalyst universe more versatile and accessible to another layer of users and viable for small to medium tours - like Human League.
Video runs in all but two songs of the Human League's set. Back in the 1980's, when they were rarely out of the charts, a slide show was an integral part of their stage presentation, and they wanted a return to visuals being the core of the show. Using the Catalyst XPress system has enabled them to run a complex show and opened plenty of creative doors.
Rob Sinclair created the show's playback footage - an amalgamation of Human League archive footage, images from digital content libraries and new DV cam footage shot by Sinclair for the tour. They also use five lipstick cameras onstage, which are mixed into the Catalyst system via a D-TEK D-Mix Pro, also supplied by PID.
F
UK - Green Hippo and Scene Change, creator and distributor of the acclaimed Hippotizer digital media server range, have announced H-MAP, the Hippotizer Media Access Protocol. H-MAP offers the ability for any lighting console to access information from Hippotizer servers, including clip previews and corresponding DMX control values. A console could therefore show programmers thumbnails of all of the images or movie clips available in a Hippotizer allowing direct, immediate selection. The link between Hippotizer and console is via ethernet, and is dynamic and so can be automatically updated as the Hippotizer's contents change - unlike 'one off' schemes offered by some manufacturers where clips are manually transferred from media server to console.
"Until now, controlling digital media from a lighting console has involved keeping lists of which DMX value corresponds to which media file, or constantly moving from console to server to preview clips," says Nigel Sadler of Scene Change. "H-MAP changes that, allowing previews of media clips to appear on the console's screen. We think this feature will prove invaluable to all of those working with digital media."
H-MAP is an open-source standard made freely available by Scene Change and Green Hippo to console manufacturers or other interested parties. H-MAP has already been implemented by manufacturer Chamsys, and visitors to this year's PLASA Show could have seen the system in action on a Chamsys MagicQ console. Certain other console manufacturers are already in discussion with Scene Change, and enq
UK - Large format projection specialists E//T//C UK projected into the Shell Building for London's New Year's Eve 2004/05 celebrations, working for show and event producers Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW).
The projections were part of London Lights a pyrotechnic and lighting extravaganza designed to catch the spirit of London as the year rolled over and reinforce the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics. The event took place along the Thames, encompassing the South Bank between Jubilee and Westminster Bridges, including landmarks like the London Eye and Big Ben. Over 135,000 people on the streets, plus TV audiences of several million enjoyed it live.
E//T//C's Ross Ashton decided to change the projection format slightly for this event, covering the full surface of the building with eight PIGI 6Kw projectors. (In the past, they've used 6 for the images, with two for accompanying text). The projectors were sited 150m away on the edge of Jubilee Gardens, in a curtain-sider truck in a four top/ four bottom arrangement, complete with 40cm lenses. Each machine produced a 50 x 50 metre image - and these were overlaid for optimum brightness.
Artwork for over 120 slides - including a 60 second countdown - was designed by JMW's Matt Leech, with E//T//C undertaking all the camera obscura work to do the perspective correction and fit them to the building. The images are designed to reflect the feel of contemporary London. The get-in took place on 28 December, and two rehearsal nights were then bfollowed by the show. Karen Monid, using a PIGI OnlyCue system, programmed proj
Finland - The makers of FogScreen have reported that volume production of the system has now started, with lead time currently at one month for FogScreen Inia, a 1.5m x 2m (59" x 79") sized model. The company also reports that the screen's quality has been improved during 2004, and the level of condensation water dripping from the unit has been reduced. Also, FogScreen Inia is now DMX-controllable, say the company, while interactivity add-on are also available, making it possible to write and draw in the air with a pointer stick.
Units have now been sold to USA, Japan, Germany, Finland and Russia, and the company has announced exclusive distribution arrangement in Germany and Japan with effect from 1 January 2005, plus dealers in the USA and South Korea. The company also reports that its sales have doubled every four months since its start-up in July 2003, and the first fiscal year ending 31 December 2004 will show positive earnings and positive cashflow.
(Lee Baldock)