PLASA Publishing has learned that Robert Bell, one of the three co-founders of Canadian software specialist CAST Lighting, has left the company to move on to new projects. CAST Lighting is best-known for its highly-popular WYSIWYG lighting design softare. Bell, who is currently working with John Rayment on the lighting of the Olympic Games in Sydney, says he has no precise plans at present, but is excited about the future.
Chichester-based new product patenting and development company Patent Plan has seen an idea it protected in 1998 evolve into a product that now plays an integral role in the structure of the Millennium Dome. Kit Grundy, MD of Patent Plan was approached in 1998 by Michael Russell, MD of Arc Lighting, a lighting design and development company on the Isle of Wight, to protect the intellectual property of Arc's illuminated flooring system. Once the illuminated flooring system's patent protection was in place, Arc Lighting was approached by Dome architects who wished to use it to form the Money Zone's Investment Bridge. After the architects had seen the potential of the flooring system in greater detail, Arc was asked if the system could also be used for the exterior of the Money Zone. The company manufactured and installed 630sq.m of slim light boxes which weighed in excess of 25 tonnes and
Bandit Lites has introduced a new motor control system which fully conforms with all European directives. Bandit's design engineers spent over two years of extensive R&D working on the project and consulting with several prominent European manufacturers, including ETC and Martin Professional, while developing the system. The new motor control has full fault-detection systems integrated into the design and is currently being used on a number of Bandit Lites shows in Europe, including Feet of Flames, Lord of the Dance and Paul Weller.
Avolites Hire has supplied ART dimmers for a recent film shoot at Pinewood Studios for the new Meg Ryan movie, Proof of Life. The Avo ART 2000 and 4000 dimmers - four systems of each totalling eight racks - were supplied via Avo's Garry Lodge to main lighting contractor Lee Lighting. Lee's Mark Ackers then co-ordinated all relevant lighting equipment for the film's gaffer John Higgins. The Avo dimmers were controlling all the conventional fixtures on the shoot. This totalled over 500 DMX channels and a mixture of luminaires including practicals, 2Ks, 5Ks and softlights. It was fundamental that the dimmers were capable of allowing them to turn all the lights on full, and leave them running for 14 hours. The shoot lasted two months, during which time all the interior scenes of the house in the movie were shot. The exterior scenes and footage had previously been shot on location in Ecuador.
For the recent opening of the Olympic Arts Festival in Sydney, a series of events was held throughout the day culminating in a performance on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. The main idea of the show is a ceremony called Tubowgule (the meeting of waters) where the main aboriginal clans of the area meet to welcome foreign visitors to our shores. Lighting designer for the event was Joseph Mercurio joined by the creative team of Stephen Page, David Page and Jenny Irwin. Mercurio used 12 MAC 600s on the stage area, and told us: "I like the colour mix on the MAC600s as well as the beam-shaping. With this show, they mostly went from a full beam to a frost. I use the MAC500s and 600s quite a bit - they always do the job well."Although there was a small stage, 90% of the show happened elsewhere, with the performers spreading out onto the concourse. The Tarpan wall was lit by n
Mark White, until recently a member of the team of theatre consultants at the Royal Opera House, is to join ETC Europe on October 2 as sales manager for the UK and Eire. Having been part of the theatre industry since 1985, White's career has included the development of bespoke lighting and control equipment for shows including Cats and Phantom of the Opera . He has also designed lighting and effects for major exhibitions and displays, including Eurodisney, and his extensive knowledge and experience will prove invaluable to the ETC Europe sales team. Mike Lowe, managing director of ETC Europe, told PLASA Publishing: "The addition of Mark, with all his practical experience, demonstrates the fact that ETC continues its commitment to providing the best customer service in the business."
Martin Professional A/S has reached a settlement with Vari-Lite Inc which sees the lifting of the injunction against the Martin MAC 500s, MAC 600s and MAC 300s in the US market. The two companies had been locked in a long-running legal battle over the issue of the manufacture and sale of the MAC units which also extended to the company's Case series controller when sold in conjunction with these. Only two months ago, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had reaffirmed the injunction, rejecting Martin's claim that the patent expired in July 2000, ruling instead that it did not expire until March 2001. For Martin Professional, the settlement means a return to full trading freedom in the United States, which is expected to contribute positively towards the company's future development in terms of both turnover and profitability. With the recent release of a half-year f
CAST Lighting of Toronto, Canada, has announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Electronic Theatre Controls that allows ETC exclusive territorial distribution rights for CAST's lighting design and visualisation software. This announcement comes on the back of an earlier announcement that ETC and CAST have formed an OEM alliance that would allow CAST's software to be integrated with ETC's range of advanced lighting control products. R. Bruce Freeman, CEO of CAST comments: "It made absolute sense to us, once we started discussions with ETC about the OEM relationship, to pursue the idea of having ETC distribute our mainstream software product." While the distribution agreement is effective from August 21, 2000, both companies will officially launch the alliance at PLASA.
Coemar DeSisti Australia has announced staff changes to cope with steadily increasing business. David Lee joins the company as TV and film lighting specialist. David has had 30 years' experience in the lighting industry including theatre, concert, corporate and TV lighting, spending 20 years working for BTQ7 in Brisbane. During the time at BTQ7 he was responsible for all studio and location lighting and also a number of large outside broadcast events such as Gladiators, RAQ Fashion Awards and Brisbane Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols for seven years, as well as game and children's shows such as Wipeout, Amazing, Family Feud and A Big Breakfast. He was also technical director/lighting director for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (Australian TV Coverage) and lighting director for News and Today Show at 1988 Seoul Olympics for the NBC Network USA.
Christie Lites has signed a three-year multi-million dollar deal to exclusively support the Martin line of moving lights. In a unique move for a rental company, Christie Lites will only purchase Martin automated lights for the duration of this contract. Troels Volver, CEO of Martin Professional Inc. comments, "We are very pleased that Christie Lites has chosen Martin as its vendor for automated lighting. With our extreme dedication to customer care and technical support and our professional partners in Canada and throughout the world, we are able to support a company like Christie Lites and their global business practices. The benefit to customers in the USA and abroad will be the increase of various MAC series rental units for larger productions including touring, television and corporate events. Their shops are second to none when it comes to providing quality equipment and servic
High End Systems is now making its presence felt in the Big Apple. Located just off Times Square, the company's new office has a fully-equipped demo facility and dedicated WYSIWYG room, as well as a training and seminar area and a customer meeting room. Sales, marketing and technical service representatives will be based at the office, which is headed up by director of special projects, Paul Sonnleitner. The company has also expanded its presence in London by refurbishing the original offices of its partner, Flying Pig Systems. The new office in West London offers visitors a fully equipped demo facility with a training and seminar area, technical workshops and a customer meeting room.
Lightfactor Sales continues its ongoing expansion and re-structuring with the appointment of Paul de Ville as managing director. De Ville will be working proactively alongside Lightfactor's established sales team in a move designed to free up Mick Hannaford to deal with group expansion, product line development and the marketing of the group. De Ville is one of the most colourful characters of the lighting production and performance industry. For the last 15 years he has worked at the Lighting Technology Group, and is a well-known and respected figure throughout the industry.
Color Kinetics has expanded its senior management team. Five new Vice Presidents - including two promoted from within the company - have joined the senior team. The company was founded in 1997 and in just under three years has grown to nearly 100 employees. Joining the existing senior team members who have been in place since the early days of Color Kinetics are Bruce Beck, vice president, business development who brings over 28 years experience in new market development and sales to the company. Kevin Dowling is the new vice president of strategic technologies: he joined the company in April 1999 as director of engineering. Allen Duck joins as vice president, international sales: he brings 12 years of extensive international sales experience to Color Kinetics. David Goselin, who has over 30 years experience in manufacturing and operations management is the new vice president, manufactur
It's probably the world's most famous radio studio and visitors from around the world flock to the Grand Ole Opry House every weekend to get a glimpse of their favorite country music stars. The facility also frequently houses general meeting sessions and multimedia shows, as well as concerts, business conference, and nationally televised awards shows (such as the Country Music Association's annual awards). The 45,000sq.ft building features pew-style seating for 4,400 people, and a 110ft-wide by 68ft deep stage, floored with beechwood imported from Denmark, save a circle in the centre of the stage lifted from the stage of the Opry's original home at the Ryman Auditorium. Lucas W. Hendrickson Management wanted a replacement for the dimming system and looked to Bandit Lites to provide handle the installation. Jeff Goetsch (regional sales manager at Bandit Lites), worked out the system spec,
FAL has appointed MilTec (UK) Ltd as its sole distributor for the UK and Ireland. The company, which only started trading on September 1 2000, is headed by David Faulkes, previously sales director with Martin Professional PLC. David Faulkes told PLASA Publishing: "MilTec (UK) Ltd has been formed with the single aim of providing the industry with a service and range of products second to none. We are excited to be taking on this range of products and are looking forward to working with FAL.
John Lethbridge, founder and ex-managing director of Cerebrum Lighting and a former vice-chairman of PLASA, has launched a brand new on-line Internet auction site through his new company, Cereco International Ltd. www.cereco.com will specialise in offering new and ex-demonstration audio, lighting, AV and effects equipment - all of which carries a 12-month guarantee.The auctions are free to enter for buyers and sellers and unusually, for an e-commerce operation, buyers do not have to give any credit card details. All sellers will be carefully vetted as Cereco will provide a money back guarantee to any dissatisfied buyers. Instructions on how to take part are available on-line in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Chinese and Japanese and products are offered in six different currencies. New auctions will start every Thursday evening and run for 10 days, finishing on a Sunday eveni
The Board of Directors of AC Lighting Inc has announced that Bob Gordon has become president and chief executive officer of the company. As one of the founding partners of AC Lighting Inc, Gordon has been instrumental in establishing a distribution company with an enviable reputation for quality products and technical support in North America. Founded in 1993, AC Lighting Inc distributes professional lighting equipment to the North American entertainment industry. AC's exclusive product range includes MA Lighting (grandMA lighting control), Jands Electronics (lighting control), Chroma-Q (colour changers) and cable assemblies.
Laser Grafix of Royston have been successful in persuading Richard Wright to join the company as Group sales manager. Wright has left his role as general manager and director designate of GVC Laserpoint. Wright will bring with him a great deal of sales experience, not only from his time at Laserpoint but also from his work for Philips Analytical, and his knowledge of the videowall and large screen industry will prove invaluable.
Color Kinetics, manufacturers of full spectrum digital lighting, has added 16 new US and international distribution partners to its growing list of worldwide authorised distributors, expanding the company's distribution channel by more than 100% in the first half of 2000 alone. The new distributors will offer the full line of Chromacore-powered digital lighting products, including fixtures, controllers, enablers, accessories and lighting design software. Signing on as authorised distributors in the US are ten companies: Bradfield Stage Lighting, Tennessee; City Lighting Products, Missouri; CM Buck and Associates, Indiana; Cooper Electric, New Jersey; Curtis H. Stout Company, Arkansas; Maurice Electric, Washington, DC; Pacific Lighting, Seattle; RC Lurie, Phoenix; Rexel-Elgee, Columbus, Ohio and Top Shelf Distributors, Chicago. Six international companies have been added to the Color Kine
Caribiner International has launched a new name and identity. The company will be known as Jack Morton Worldwide after merging with its American counterpart of the same name. The company has an impressive client list and was responsible for the public arena installations in the Millennium Dome and at the Hanover World Expo 2000. Recent projects include the Special Olympics World Games Opening Ceremonies, The Royal Military Tattoo and the Queen Mother Celebrations on Horse Guards Parade. The new combined company represents a worldwide community of over 1200 people in more than 30 locations in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. William Morton is chairman and chief executive, located in New York, whilst Josh McCall, located in Boston, has been named president and chief operating officer. Lois Jacobs, based in London, becomes executive vice president, regional director, Europe and Asi
New tribute show, Beyond the Darkside, is to tour the world through 2001 using over 100 Martin lighting fixtures. For the legions of Pink Floyd fans scattered all over the world, the opportunities to enjoy a live concert experience by this legendary band are few and far between. The show will be touring Australia for the later half of 2000 and plans include a tour of the UK, Europe, Japan and the US to commence in mid 2001. The show uses over 100 Martin fixtures and lighting designer Athol Sargood is looking to increase this number in the near future. For co-producers Kevin Hunt and Sargood, Beyond the Darkside is their most challenging and ambitious production so far, and now employs one of the largest digital light shows to tour Australia, with 114 digital moving light fixtures, videos, pyrotechnics and a 5-watt, fully computerised, air-cooled laser. The show includes a spectacular 4.5
The fuel crisis must have come as a blessed relief to the Dome, but it hasn't taken the attraction long to be back in the media spotlight. Just a week after Nomura withdrew from its bid, the police are currently carrying out an investigation into fraud allegations. Apparently these centre around "irregularities" in connection with the procurement of contracts, and media reports are suggesting that the firm under investigation was one of the contractors working for the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC). Nomura of course pulled out on the basis that they had been misled over the Dome's finances.
Pulsar presented two awards during PLASA, demonstrating the company's continuing commitment to training. The already established Disco International UK Light Jockey contest was won by Colin Walker, with Stuart Wardale second and Peter Ramdine third. The winner was presented with the coveted trophy - a unique Gold Masterpiece 216 and the title of UK Light Jockey Champion. Following on from the success of the Light Jockey contest, and a pilot scheme last year, the Student Lighting Designer Award was launched. The heats took place at Melton Mowbray College and this year's winner was Matt Randle who received £2,000 worth of Pulsar products, presented as part of the PLASA awards. The success of the award has generated huge interest and the intention for next year is that the concept will become a PLASA/L&SI endorsed project, inviting other colleges to take part.
Bandit Lites has been appointed to provide lighting services for the Orange-Arrows FIA Formula One Team for the 2000 season, worldwide. Set designer Mark Williams and Dominc Denny from Bank engaged Bandit to provide lighting and creative services to enhance the atmosphere prior to each Formula One event in the team's vendor/sponsor area. Phay MacMahon from Bandit is acting as production manager for all dates.
