A brand new line of digital accessories - the 'DigiBox' range - has been unveiled by LA Audio. The new range, which includes versatile digital toolboxes, housed in compact aluminium cases, comprises an AES channel divider, AES/SPDIF converter, AES three-way splitter, SPDIF four-way splitter, word clock/super clock generator, word clock/super clock converter and four-way word clock distributor. LA Audio also has its new G400 four-channel frequency-conscious noise gate on display, and the GC400 - a two-channel auto compressor and frequency-conscious noise gate.
Audient is displaying one of the first production units of its brand new eight-channel mic pre-amp, the ASP008. This compact, 1U rack-mount unit features eight mic preamplifiers, developed from the mic-pre design used in the company's ASP8024 recording console and the Aztec Live Performance console. All channels include XLR input, 48V phantom power, switchable input impedance, 25-250Hz high pass filter, phase reverse, as well as line input selection. Channels one and two also feature a -20dB attenuator and high impedance instrument/DI input, on a jack on the front panel. This is the first of a range of products in the Interface Series to be launched by Audient.
LA Audio & Audient - Stand EE44
ETC kicked off the PLASA Show's product launches this morning with a champagne breakfast for members of the press - and what will surely be one of the most-talked about product launches of the PLASA Show. ETC unveiled its Source Four Revolution for the first time - a new moving light with Source Four-quality brightness and cosine distribution, precise imaging, and a 16-36° zoom capability. ETC's QuietDrive makes motors run more effectively, so the Revolution is a uniquely quiet moving light. Revolution's integrated colour scroller means no light leaks or extra cables, and the system includes on-board dimming and globally-compatible electronics. Revolution's base unit provides pan, tilt, beam-edge change, zoom, Internal Media Frame, integrated colour scrolling and two static gobo modules. Four slide-in external modules provide more features, tool-free.
Also new from ETC is a new wall-mount version of the successful SmartPack dimmer, which was launched at PLASA last year. With all the features of the portable system, this version can be permanently installed - ideal for regional theatre groups or even small TV studios. If density and economy are critical, SmartPack has the solution: two base units offer either 6x15A or 12x10A of dimming and both are available in either single-pole or two-pole with neutral disconnect. A wide range of output options, including RCD, breaker or terminal kits is also offered.
ETC - Stand F40
France - Following their show-stopping appearance at the Glastonbury Festival this summer, Radiohead went on to complete the European festival leg of their 'All Hail To The Thief' world tour.
Lighting designer Andi Watson had been keen to develop a concept that was practical to tour for festivals as a 'special', but which could also be incorporated into the lighting rig and visual elements as the tour developed. Originally, he thought in terms of a video-based solution, but this transmuted into the idea of having a row of colour-changing LED battens upstage, capable of producing a variety of spectacular effects, as well as introducing a layer of texturing and depth to the stage.
Watson researched the LED products currently on the market before deciding on the James Thomas Pixelline 1044 batten, of which 48 were rigged vertically, end-to-end on 24 Manfrotto stands. Watson realized that with the battens he could still sculpt many of the effects he'd wanted to achieve with video. Initially, he was prepared to spend hours programming hundreds of groups run as HTP channels creating chases, although it soon became apparent that this was impractical.
Enter into the equation control software developer Richard Bleasdale. He and Watson initially met to discuss the use of High End Systems' Catalyst system at a later stage of the tour. In conversation, Watson described what he wanted to do with the LED battens and Bleasdale (who worked on the development of the Catalyst software), was convinced he could write customized code to enable the Catalyst to produce Watson's desir
Singapore - Two events aimed at theatre lighting professionals are taking place at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore, this October. The first Asia Light 2003, a three-day theatre lighting seminar for lighting designers around Asia, will begin on 13 October 2003. The Esplanade Technical Theatre Specialists Programme, an initiative to develop the local theatre industry, also returns on 8 October with a series of theatre lighting workshops.
Professionals from the theatre lighting industry in Asia will now have a platform from which to share information and ideas on their craft, and foster closer networks with other lighting designers when Esplanade presents the first Asia Light 2003, a theatre lighting seminar, from 13 to 15 October.
The facilitator for Asia Light 2003 is Francis Reid, a theatre lighting specialist with over 40 years of experience and author of the indispensable guide to theatre lighting, The Stage Lighting Handbook. Reid is also an established teacher of lighting design. He was Head of Theatre Design at London's Central School of Art and Design (now known as Central St. Martin's), Dean of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and is now its Honorary Fellow and has also taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Esplande's production manager, Kenny Wong says: "We are thrilled to have Francis Reid to be the facilitator for this seminar. It is a real honour for us to welcome Mr Reid, who is a pioneer in the field and one of the best-known theatre lighting person today. The participants can look forward to gain first-hand knowledge
France - As many will be aware, the French summer festival season was hit hard by industrial action. A series of strikes and walk-outs by freelance technicians and performers caused the cancellation of the arts festivals in Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, and the popular Francofolies song festival in La Rochelle, along with long-established dance events in Marseilles and Montpelier.
Activists also halted shooting of the new Jack Nicholson movie in Paris, where riot police also removed demonstrators trying to stop the Rolling Stones concert at the Stade de France.
The catalyst behind the strikes is the French government's decision to change the workings of the unemployment fund for theatre, dance, film and music professionals, which currently takes into account their time-off between shows. The fund is 825 million Euros in deficit and the government is now insisting that benefits need to be cut. The artists claim the proposed changes will harm French culture and punish those who cannot find work.
A freelance producer who wished to remain anonymous, commented: "The other side of the problem is that TV production companies are abusing the system. They employ technicians on a full-time basis, but declare only a small percentage of their hours worked, the rest being paid by unemployment benefits."
The organizers of the Avignon festival believe the cancellation has cost the city more than £15million, while the event's director Stephane Lissner blamed the politicians for letting the strikes get so far, declaring "both left and right have closed their e
UK - Intrigued by the growing discontent in the industry that guerilla projection is causing, L&SI talked to players on both sides of the fence about the pros and cons.
Pod Bluman, well known for his role in several guerilla projects, doesn't regard guerilla projection as an issue, and he's not alone:
"We rarely get more than half a dozen or so onlookers, so there are never any huge crowds leading to problems. Most of the projections are of a corporate advertising nature anyway, so it's very rare to do anything that is truly controversial." It seems that the Police are fairly indifferent to it as well; despite a major security threat closing Parliament Square and Whitehall, Bluman and his team sat on an empty Westminster Bridge merrily projecting onto the Houses of Parliament without any intervention. "I have been searched under the prevention of terrorism act, and also under the firearms act," comments Bluman, "but generally the most they try and hassle you with is illegal parking."
Whilst some clearly see a bright HMI type of future for guerilla projection, Ross Ashton of E/T/C UK views such hit-and-run raids rather differently. "In these days of burgeoning legislation covering areas such as health& safety, it is increasingly important for our industry to work in a professional manner. Many work to increase the professional attitude and appearance of their businesses and the industry as a whole, and this is then rapidly undone by the activities of the few who go headline-grabbing."
The trade press comes in for critic
Switzerland - The 37th Montreux Jazz Festival closed its doors at the end of July with a suitably rousing ZZ Top concert in the Stravinski Hall, the main auditorium in the Congress Centre perched on the Lake Geneva waterfront. It was the culmination of 17 days of music and performance that featured acts from across the musical spectrum performing on a variety of stages, both inside and out.
The Festival drew some top names with 2003 headliners including Radiohead, Yes, Bonnie Raitt, Jethro Tull, Cypress Hill, Morcheeba, Craig David, Herbert Gronemeyer, Stereophonics, George Benson and The Pretenders - plus just about every musical genre you might care to mention.
The production elements of this ambitious schedule were managed by technical co-ordinator Andre Vouilloz, while audio aspects were in the hands of Patrick Vogelsang, MD of Meyer's Swiss distributor Niveau2 and the festival's technical director for audio. The lighting and set design elements were directed by Laurent Zumofen, assisted by Patrick Boeufve, Cedric Muller and Laurent Jaussi - all from the nearby Vevey-based Scenetec.
Scenetec's 17 technicians and operators and 32-strong crew installed and operated the lighting and plasma screens and also provided the trussing for various exhibition stands, as well as for the performance stages.
For the flagship Stravinski Hall, Scenetec's brief was to design a system that would work satisfactorily with the broad spread of artists and musical styles on offer. "It was not an easy mission," said Laurent Zumofen. "We had to find an attractive so
UK - Here, as promised last month, we round-up some of the main highlights of our industry's contribution to this year's Glastonbury Festival.
- Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage has traditionally been equipped with Turbosound Flashlight systems, but this year, in a major departure for the organizers, SSE Hire provided one of the world's largest Nexo GEO T Tangent Array systems. Nearly 100 GEO T4805 cabinets were used, configured with two far-field arrays of 24 cabinets each (25m offstage each side) and two near-field arrays of 11 cabs flown from SSE's Teepee structures, each about 7m offstage. There was also a centre array of six T4805s for centre image/near-field, and two field delays (eight cabinets each) 130m down-range from the system. Camco Vortex amplifiers powered the whole system. SSE's Chris Beale says they used 12 CD-18 subs per side, plus nine S2 subs under the near-field arrays.
- Adlib Audio supplied crew and equipment for five stages, the largest system being on the Cabaret Stage which featured a Nexo Alpha system with six high, three bass and two sub enclosures per side, with a Soundcraft Series 4 at FOH and a Soundcraft SM20 for monitors. Adlib's FD2 speakers were used on the Theatre Stage, and also on the Circus Stage. An FD2 system also handled the Outside Circus stage and the Dance & Fire Stage, with an A&H GL2200 desk FOH. Adlib's Andy Dockerty mixed The Inspiral Carpets on the main stage on Friday, with Steve Cole mixing monitors.
- Bristol-based Thunder Ridge used Powersoft Digam digital amplifiers to power their X2000 system on the One World
UK - In recent years, Orbital has become an increasingly familiar name to readers of L&SI. During that time the company has carved itself a healthy slice of the West End theatre sound rental market (credits include Chicago, Bombay Dreams and the new Rod Stewart Musical Tonight's The Night), championed the introduction of digital mixing technology to that market, committed resources to training and education initiatives and, most recently, introduced a contract maintenance operation which is already doing rather well.
But that's not all. If you work in broadcasting, you might know of Orbital as a specialist provider of broadcast communications systems and expertise. If you're involved with museums, heritage and cultural sites, you may know of the company as a proponent of Sennheiser's guidePORT personal tour guide system: during September Orbital will complete a major guidePORT project for Chester Cathedral, which we'll cover in a future issue of L&SI.Chris Headlam, a sound engineer by background and the founder and managing director of Orbital, has a measured, open-minded approach to business that appears to permeate the company's activities. Yet he shuns credit, citing the team of people he has built up around him (something he can't avoid taking credit for) as the secret of Orbital's success.
That team includes Headlam's co-directors Jane Finlay (director of personnel and Orbital's hire manager), Dominic Rozendaal (commercial director) and Sebastian Frost (creative director). Of the other team members, sound designer Simon Whitehorn is currently spending much
UK - On June 28, Robbie Williams started one of this summer's most anticipated European tours. After skimming round Europe, as part of an 18-date, 10-country tour, he rounded it all off with three headline dates at Knebworth in the UK.
Most of the press surrounding the event focused on the awful travel experiences of many of the thousands of fans who travelled to Knebworth - 375,000 in total across the three shows - ourselves included. And let's face it travel chaos made for good headlines, as did the sheer number of people who were packed into Knebworth Park: this was not an event for anyone with a fear of crowds - 120,000 plus each night - although a large proportion of these stood no chance of actually seeing the star of the show directly.
However, it was the show itself that made the delays, travel headaches, expensive 'pints' of beer and enormous viewing distances worth it - no question. And most of that was down to Williams' charisma, the spectacular stage set, designed by Mark Fisher and built by Brilliant Stages, and the quality of the video, lighting and audio aspects.The tour uses a huge amount of video - and in some pretty complex ways. The main backdrop to the set is a Barco LED screen, supplied by XL Video, via Blink TV, who co-ordinated the video package for the tour. The 448-panel LED screen construction split into columns and tracked downstage to upstage and back again several times throughout the performance, with each column rotating individually through 360°.
Stuart Heaney, onboard as crew chief and working closely with the Blink and XL team
Germany - For nine years now, in a factory not far from Leipzig, a company has been developing and producing stage chain hoists and chain hoist controllers that have come to represent the excellence of German manufacturing in theatres and entertainment complexes all over the world.
The ChainMaster story began with a request for help from the theatrical world. The need was for an electric chain hoist conforming to the VBG-70 standard which was in force at the time. (VBG is an accident prevention and insurance organization, and VBG-70 was drawn up to improve standards of safety in venues). At the time, there was no equivalent electric chain hoist system on the market, so ChainMaster's managing director, Frank Hartung, who founded the business along with his wife, Susanne, recalls: "That was all the incentive our team needed to develop the requisite system."
In the spring of 1994, they were able to present the result: the first BGV-tested and design type approved controller, which, a year later, sailed through the test for conformity. Although, at the time, the company was trading as 'Elteko-Commerz', the new product was christened 'ChainMaster' and it wasn't too long before the company followed suit and renamed to ChainMaster also.
An important factor in its development, and one which also played a decisive role in the later success of the product, was the combination of precision control with the high standards of safety prescribed by the VBG-70 standard. Thus the Motor Positioning Control System was designed to fully satisfy all these criteria, and si
Europe - Arbiter Pro Audio has supplied Liverpool-based Adlib Audio with a large quantity of JBL VerTec line array elements for David Bowie's upcoming 'A Reality' tour. The tour kicks off in Copenhagen in October for a three-month, 14-country European stint.
Adlib won the contract after working with Bowie's FOH engineer Pete Keppler on the Eels this summer. Keppler specified a VerTec system for the tour after using it for the first time at last year's inaugural 'Move' festival in Manchester, which was headlined by Bowie.
Adlib was the first UK hire company to invest in JBL's renowned line array system back in 2001 soon after its launch. Since then, it's been in constant use on a myriad of tours and events around the world. The latest deal, co-ordinated by Arbiter's Karl Bates, sees Adlib supplying 32 VT4889 full-size enclosures, 32 VT4880 subs, 32 4888 medium-sized VerTecs and 12 4887 'Baby' VerTec elements, increasing their existing VerTec stock by a factor of six.
The deal will be finalized at PLASA 2003. During the show, Adlib will also be providing a VerTec System for a live interactive show with Bowie to launch the 'Reality' album. This will be recorded by the BBC at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith - in widescreen and with surround sound - and beamed to more than 20 cinemas around Europe by live satellite. Due to time differences, it'll be received the next day in Asia, Japan and Australia, and screened in North and South America and Canada on 15 September.
(Ruth Rossington)
UK - Numerous companies in the industry are offering training, but perhaps one of the biggest run-rates goes to Martin UK, which, over the past 12 months, has run over 70 courses - more than a course a week. In that time, the company has trained over 350 people to service, repair, maintain and operate its equipment.
These courses have taken place in a variety of locations, including Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin, as well as at the company's base in Maidstone. The current training programme offers a range of 10 courses, principally covering service and operational skills.
Chris West, Martin UK's head of training, is employed on a full-time basis to organize and run these training courses. When he's not doing that, he's developing new courses to cover the wider variety of educational needs of the company's customers. Over the next year, Martin UK plans to add a wide range of new courses, including Maxxyz and advanced Light Jockey training, effects repair and a series of architectural courses. With the introduction of Acade-Media, Martin's new international training programme, end-users can expect to see even more courses, at all levels, becoming available.
UK - A large moving light rig was supplied by Norwich-based Viking Stage Lighting for an epic production of Jesus Christ Superstar, staged in Cornwall by Redruth Amateur Operatic Society Trust (RAOST).
The 10-night sold-out production ('amateur' in name only) was staged in a 1,200 capacity big top located in Boscawen Park, Truro, and featured five trucks of staging and equipment, a cast of over 100, a 12-piece semi-pro orchestra with considerable sponsorship and a budget of £120,000.
The event's technical infrastructure - including lighting, sound, staging power and distribution -was all supplied by Viking, who have worked with the Operatic Society on many previous occasions, twice on productions in the same big top.
Lighting designer Ian Leonard utilized over 40 Robe fixtures, including eight Pro Wash and eight Pro Spot 250s, with 12 each of the Robe Pro Wash and Pro Spot 575s. Leonard decided on an all-Robe moving light rig for continuity and fluid programming. Viking also supplied a generic rig of 200 Par cans, 60 floods, 30 fresnels,20 profiles and a number of audience blinders.
The imposing set, designed by Michael Meer, measured 100ft wide by 75ft deep and was over 36ft tall, so plenty of physical scope for coverage was required. Leonard needed a powerful wash fixture to do this, so the 575s proved ideal; the smaller, nifty 250s were used to squeeze light into all the more elusive recesses of the set.
The Pro Spot gobo washes proved highly effective for a variety of dramatic moments, particularly during the opening sequence and the pivotal crucifixio
UK - Proel will field an impressive line-up of new products at this year's PLASA. Brand new for this year is the latest development of Proel's touring system speaker range - the Edge Series. Firmly aimed at the top end of the professional market, the Edge series contains some key products, epitomized by the mighty EDGE121SP 21" subwoofer. A single direct radiation bass-reflex design, this model uses a 21" speaker with a 4" voicecoil with ISV (Interleaved Sandwich Voice Coil Technology) for maximum heat dispersal and reliability, also assisted by the double-ventilated die-cast aluminium basket design. Capable of handling 800W AES continuous (1600W peak), the 121SP has a sensitivity of 98dB and a frequency response from 25Hz. Also making its debut is another subwoofer, the Edge series 218SP (1600W continuous AES) which features twin 18" speakers fitted with 4" voice coils and similar advanced specifications to the 21" unit featured in the 121SP.
Shown in the UK for the first time at last year's PLASA, Qube's range continues to grow - this year with the launch of the company's own line array system. A joint venture between FBT and Renkus-Heinz, the QSA-210 Line Array is a two-way passive line array speaker featuring two 10" neodymium loudspeakers and two 1" neodymium drivers, together capable of handling 600W (400W RMS LF into 8 Ohms, 200W RMS into 8 Ohms).
Also on stand will be the JTS range of radio microphone systems, which have received UK regulatory approval. Top of the new JTS range is the US-901 D/A, a true diversity
UK - A.C. Lighting's Projects division has completed the supply and installation of gallery lighting for the Natural History Museum's new T.rex: The Killer Question exhibition. The exhibition bases its killer question on new scientific evidence that suggests the T.rex may not have been capable of killing for food at all, but that it relied on prey already killed and devoured by other predatory dinosaurs. Visitors are given the chance to compare the red-faced scavenger T.rex with the more familiar, roaring and predatory dinosaur to make their own decision about how they lived.
A.C. was awarded the contract after supplying a cost-effective solution requiring minimal upgrading of the existing gallery fixtures to accomplish all theatrical lighting aspects of the brief. Throughout the build project manager Ray Dolby worked closely with the exhibition's designer, Trista Quenzer, to ensure that the lighting brought the right atmosphere and dramatic feel to each particular scene. Effects used included patterned gobos to give static model displays a theatrical feel and enhance their minimal scenery. Timed lighting sequences were also used to help reveal information and unfold the story. Directional up lighting of skeleton bone structures created eerie shadowing effects on the surrounding surfaces and emphasized size differences between dinosaur species. For animatronic models providing their own dynamism, strong shadows and colour were used enhancing the menacing and gory aspects of these scenes.
Trista Quenzer, the exhibition's designer commented: "I am extremely pl
UK - Ocean Frontier is a new visitor experience located in the remote and beautiful environs of Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland. Berkshire-based CGA undertook the lighting, sound and AV installation, working closely with Lightfactor Sales who supplied the LDR lighting fixtures, LightProcessor control, Denon amplifiers and playback machines, and over 70 Apogee Near speakers - the UK's first theme park installation of these enclosures. To this, CGA added Hantarex video monitors, NEC projectors, a DVD player, custom multimedia PCs and a Peavey MediaMatrix system.
The attraction's centrepiece is a 5m deep themed Atlantic reef, contained in a massive seawater tank, and complete with a 10m-long wreck of the 'Kaye Louise' which also provides habitats for indigenous creatures such as conger eels and lobsters.
Areas inside the venue include the Ocean Theatre, a presentation area with an oceanic twist, several rooms containing interactive exhibits and a site-wide walk-through experience, which required a comprehensive sound system and low maintenance speakers that could be mounted outside and over water. The challenge for CGA (who were approached by marine biologist Tim Clements, project manager for the attraction), was to devise and source lighting and sound equipment suitable for an exacting, wet, highly corrosive - and in terms of technology - hostile environment. Chris Gunton liaised with Peter Coles of Lightfactor Sales to devise the equipment specification appropriate to the slightly off-beat circumstances.
Three different types of Apogee's weatheri
UK - 2003 marks the 100th anniversary for West London's Shepherd's Bush Empire - one of the Capital's oldest and most established venues. L&SI reflects on a century of change . . .
Designed and built by Frank Matcham, the venue still retains the original grandeur of its early years. Situated on Shepherd's Bush Green, it opened on 17 August 1903 with its first performers - The Fred Karno Troupe - and continued to provide first-class entertainment with stars of the Music Hall and weekly variety performance and revues, until the 1950s. George Robey 'The Prime Minister of Mirth', Charles Penrose (of 'Laughing Policeman' fame) and George Formby all graced the Empire's stage.
It was sold to the BBC in 1953 and converted into a television theatre with classic shows such as Crackerjack, The Old Grey Whistle Test, That's Life, Hancock and Wogan all transmitted from the venue. (The clock in the foyer is permanently set at five minutes to five, the time that Crackerjack aired.)
The BBC later began to use it as a concert venue - a change of direction that didn't go entirely smoothly. In 1974, Hammersmith & Fulham council took legal action against the BBC after crazed Osmonds fans (you'd have to be a bit mad) caused pandemonium.
Since 1995, the venue has been owned by the McKenzie Group, and has frequently hit the headlines for its concerts featuring David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Oasis, Elton John and Bon Jovi - the latter, the first band at the Empire to also simultaneously broadcast their show to 20 cinemas across Europe and to a global audience of more than
Gibraltar - With nearly a million visitors a year, St Michael's Cave continues to be one of the most popular visitor attractions in Gibraltar.
It is situated 300 metres above sea level, in the Rock of Gibraltar, and has caught the imagination of visitors to the area since Roman times. The Cave was often reputed to be bottomless, or part of a link to Africa, 15 miles away. With a lighting and sound system in need of updating, the Government of Gibraltar issued a very broad invitation to tender, seeking ideas for the refurbishment of the lighting and sound systems - with a short 'day' show for visitors walking through the caves and an 'evening' show for special occasions. Since the Tourist Board of Gibraltar, which manages the caves and the project, wanted a single supplier and a 'turnkey' solution, audio-visual company Electrosonic was called upon to put together a team of specialists.
Electrosonic's involvement neatly completed a cycle started nearly 40 years earlier, since one of the first projects of the newly-founded Electrosonic was a son et lumière show at the cave. Over the years, the system was upgraded piecemeal, but in 2002 the Government of Gibraltar decided on a complete refurbishment. Because of the unique nature of the project, Electrosonic assembled a team of experts which included Paul Bason of Pure Media as the show's creative director, David Atkinson as lighting designer, Richard Northwood of Coms to work on the sound system, and Lauren Lloyd to handle all the electrical and installation work.
The challenge for all was working to an open brie
USA - Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Starlight Express first opened at the Apollo Victoria, London, in 1984, enjoying nearly 18 years of success there. Now it has a new incarnation as an American touring production, with dates scheduled until the end of the year.
Designed by John Napier for Troika Entertainment, it features an updated score and instead of the race track that was an integral part of the original show, it now has stunning stereoscopic 3D race sequences projected using a custom-built rig, from London-based 3D specialist, Inition.
Stuart Cupit, James Gant, Chris Sutton and Andy Millns formed Inition in 2001. The team has a passion for 3D graphics, creating a range of virtual reality (a.k.a. VizSim) graphics products and services, including the recently-launched Duality range of stereoscopic projection rigs. Although 3D projection has featured in themed entertainment installations, this is the first time it has gone on the road. "The key elements," says Inition technical director James Gant, "are the high definition digital movie playback system and our duality stereoscopic projection system, consisting of four 7700 lumen UXGA projectors." "This is not just a first in theatre," adds Inition MD Stuart Cupit, "it's a sign of things to come."
The specifications of the playback system were demanding: two frame-synchronized UXGA (1600 x 1200) video channels at 30fps, along with eight channels of audio. To achieve this, Inition worked with software specialist Iridas, providing it with its Digital Cinema Playback System. DCPS
Australia - Compulite's new lighting control system, Vector, has debuted on one of Australia's leading live television events, the Logies.
A prototype of the Vector was seen at LDI in Las Vegas last October by Megan McGahan from the Australian television network GTV Channel 9. No stranger to Compulite, or to large-scale productions, McGahan spoke to network LD Rohan Thornton on her return and to Australian distributor Coemar De Sisti Australia (CDA), about the availability of a Vector for use on The Logies.
Compulite was initially cautious, as further testing of the system was still needed, but the company realized that there would be considerable benefits for the console's development cycle in being part of such an event. Following the decision to send a console and technical person 'down under', a duplicate system was set up at Compulite's head office in Israel, so that any software issues found in Australia could be duplicated, analysed and fixed immediately.
Having been LD on the annual production of the Logies for the past 10 years, Thornton had decided well in advance on a series of 'trigger-points' where he would evaluate the operation of the Vector. "If we hadn't achieved a certain amount of work by a certain time, I'd pull the plug," he explained. In this event, Thornton planned to revert to the studio's existing Compulite Sabre. However, he felt that the crew would benefit from running on the razor's edge (they were not aware of his 'trigger-points') - turning a straightforward, potentially mundane production into something a little more en
UK - Television lighting director Mike Le Fevre is facing the interesting challenge of lighting two worlds - virtual reality and actual reality - in a new BBC3-commissioned television series, FightBox.
The programme, a collaboration between website specialist Bomb and television production company Ricochet Digital, mixes virtual (VR) and actual reality (AR) characters and locations in an entertaining mix of gladiatorial contest and digital imagination.
Although the television series part of the project is being developed at BBC Television Centre Studio 1 in Wood Lane, West London, the concept spans three multi-media elements. The first is a website that selects contestants for the show. Aspirants can construct their own virtual warrior and undertake tests to accrue points, which qualify the top scorers to 'play' on the show.
Secondly, there is the TV show itself, where winning contestants' warriors can become one of six 'house warriors' or FightBox 'Sentients' who battle each other to become the FightBox Champion. Finally, there is an interactiveCD-ROM product for games consoles, which also includes the winning warriors.
The TV show takes place in an elliptical arena in a studio approximately 20m wide by 12m deep, in front of an audience of 150 with a full moving and generic lighting rig. Here the Sentients and Warriors remain onscreen in VR, manipulated by real people pressing buttons on a game pad. The virtual characters and locations, and the real characters in the studio, are only ever composited and seen together on TV.
However, Le Fevre needed to
UK / USA - Barbizon Europe has been appointed as a distributor for Matthews Studio Equipment Inc of Burbank, California, USA. With offices and warehouse located just north of London, Barbizon Europe will provide an immediate resource for a wide range of Matthews' products. This complements Barbizon's already extensive range of fixtures and expendables for the entertainment lighting industry.
For over 33 years, Matthews Studio Equipment has served the international motion picture, television, photography and theatrical production industries with specialized hardware and lighting modification devices: the company supplied production equipment to over 53 countries in 2002. Matthews' grip equipment has won two Academy Awards for Technical Achievement and a 2001 NAB Superior Technology Award.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Mach is launching a passive version of its M-Flex series of professional, moulded loudspeakers, at PLASA this year. The company is also launching an active version of the M-Flex Sub. This gives the company a complete line of high-powered performance speakers. Features include excellent voice clarity, DSP control with digital limiters for optimal protection, on board mixing facilities, two Line input plus microphone, ultra simple plug and play for fast setup, punchy low end, uniformed, wide dispersion and active linking for wide coverage. The cabinets are compact and lightweight in design with intelligent bracketing for easy cluster arrangements.The new SP12 stage monitor is a unique, low profile monitor. Already finding its way into stage applications this summer, the SP12 is also ideal for TV and theatre environments. Featuring high SPL and power handling, it provides high gain before feedback with minimum EQ requirements. A narrow dispersion patent gives high quality vocal performance with the newly designed enclosure providing for clean bass performance. Also on show at PLASA will be the M118T subwoofer, a compact cabinet that gives a deep, high-speed bass performance with high SPL and power handling.
Mach is also adding a series of recessed ceiling speakers to its installation series. They are easy to install and are ideal for clubs, bars, restaurants and retail applications. The series consist of three coaxial speakers - 5", 6" and 8" - with easy installation metal grilles, a built-in 100V transformer with an 8-ohm option and up to four in