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Lighting

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Over 20,000 people celebrated the New Year in Nottingham’s market square. The centre of attention was the Nottingham Council House, an imposing town hall, which provided the canvas for a stunning lightshow by NJD. Images of Robin Hood (Nottingham’s millennium symbol) were projected onto the building using NJD’s Predator HX scanners, whilst eight Datamoons were positioned on columns down the centre of the town square, providing sound activated light beams whose movement and colour was synchronised to the music played through NJD’s 20,000W sound system.

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On March 6th Stagetec Distribution is holding a Product Day on the Compulite and LSC product ranges to be held at The Centre in Slough from 10.00am to 6.00pm. The full range of products from both companies will be on show. This will include pre-release versions of two completely new consoles from LSC which are scheduled to be launched later this year. On show from Compulite will be the new flight cased/touring version of the CompuDIM 2000 digital dimmer, version 2.0 of the CompuCAD 3D lighting design software, the new architectural features for the 4D range and the CompuCAL telephone interface.Anybody interested in attending can register at the website below.
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Martin Professional’s head of Latin American operations, Peter Hald, has moved his headquarters from Miami, Florida to Buenos Aires, Argentina in order to be closer to the main Latin American markets. Hald says: "Miami is the gateway to Latin America, but by establishing a base in one of the most advanced markets in Latin America, we feel confident that we can raise the Martin presence here to a new level."

Martin Professional recently entered into an agreement with the owners of its two Argentinean distributors to establish a joint company in Buenos Aires - Martin Professional Argentina SA, which will handle distribution and service of the group’s products. The move is seen as a natural development in the light of this joint venture. Hald says: "We will be closer to some of the biggest and most important markets in Latin America where the opportunities for d

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Ronan Keating’s solo material was showcased at the end of last year - and an arena tour has already been announced for this Spring. Mike Mann reports.

Though LD Paul Normandale’s design (based around a couple of 40ft trusses and a 33ft diameter semi-circular Tomcat MD stacking truss) was essentially traditional, the eagle-eyed lamp-spotter would have picked out a quartet of new luminaires in the rig - Normandale was putting the MAC 2000s through their paces for the first time. "This is really an early trial for me," he explained, "and Martin have been very supportive. I never go to tradeshows, and I don’t like trying anything out in the warehouse." Though the 1200W HMI unit is, says Normandale, better suited to arena shows, the more intimate environment of the Keating tour gave him a chance to see more clearly what the MAC 2000 is capable of. &quo

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Yet more significant news from the Martin Professional camp. Torben Johansen, the company’s production director, has left the company. A brief statement posted on the company’s website says that Johansen has resigned and that until a successor is appointed his role will be taken on by CEO Kristain Kolding. The management thus consists of CEO Kristian Kolding and group director Lars Dige.

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On 1st February 2001, PLASA went online with its brand new website at www.plasa.org. The new site is the latest development in the six-year history of PLASA’s online presence, and continues the organisation’s aim to provide the premier online resource for the entertainment, presentation and event technology industry worldwide.

The new site further develops the extensive and freely-available information resources offered to the industry by PLASA. Now available are fully-searchable databases allowing fast, easy and flexible access to the full listing of 450+ PLASA members; 1,500 industry news items in the online news archive; a comprehensive calendar of industry events, and over 100 titles in PLASA’s Technical Book Service.

PLASA’s Managing Director Matthew Griffiths comments: "Aside from the great new look of the site, I’m especially pleased with the

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Hollywood recently celebrated its biggest party - the Golden Globes - held in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton. Production Resource Group companies Fourth Phase, ProMix and LSD/Fourth Phase were on hand to help. ProMix Burbank provided all of the audio equipment for the event, which included the press audio and video feeds to the worldwide press audience. All presenters and award recipients were heard through the propriety ProMix ‘pop-up mic’, a robotic system. Front-of-house console was a Yamaha PM4000, driving Apogee speakers and Crest amplifiers. Sound designer for the event was Gary Hardesty with his team consisting of audio supervisor Bruce Burns, system engineer Andrew Fletcher, press liaison engineer Steve Cohen, with Mark King on broadcast audio mix and Randy Faustino on house audio mix.

The interior lighting was designed by Lee Rose of Design Partne

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Martin MAC fixtures are being used in Ireland’s RTE studios for the Irish edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire - the 77th version of the show to go on air worldwide. Hosting the Irish show is Irish Late Late Show presenter, Gay Byrne. In the Millionaire studio, 22 MAC 600, 10 MAC 250 and 4 MAC 500 moving heads create a stunning lightshow on the set. The ingenuity of lighting designers, Joseph Canavan and Luis Poveda, given the strict guidelines for lighting the show, is highly praiseworthy, says Lisa Mitchell of Tyrone Productions, adding: "Millionaire in Ireland has turned out to be a phenomenon! The Irish public expected a scaled-down version of the British Millionaire Show, but everyone is really pleased. There are over 1.2 million viewers, which tops Gay Byrne’s Late, Late Show figures - That’s phenomenal!"

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The lighting for the new season of Classical Spectacular shows was recently pre-programmed at Stage Electrics’ new Virtual Lighting Studio in London’s Waterloo. The show, which performed at arenas around Britain and at the Royal Albert Hall, involved over 200 performers playing 20 popular classical pieces, complete with cannons, muskets and an indoor firework finale.

The show set up on the morning of each performance and had to be technically ready by 2.30pm for an orchestral rehearsal. Promoter Raymond Gubbay has long championed the use of large intelligent lighting systems to accompany the Classical Spectacular experience and expected this system to be used to its full potential with some 500 lighting cues throughout the show.

LD Durham Marenghi, who has been lighting the show for the last decade, utilised over 100 intelligent Martin Professional luminaires with 2,000 c

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AC Lighting Ltd has announced a number of major staff appointments. Mark Tonks joined AC Lighting in 1993 and became a key player in export sales whilst developing his interest in IT. In his new role as IT & Logistics Director, Mark will play a major role in the organisational side of the business. "In the future we believe companies will sink or swim on their ability to exceed customer expectations. As we continue to grow, it is my challenge to establish that infrastructure," says Tonks. Secondly, Peter Searles has been appointed company secretary. Searles joined AC Lighting on the completion of the sale of his successful plastic-moulding company in 1990, and has since held many and varied senior roles within the company, many related to special projects. Finally, a new face in the company’s technical sales department is Martin Savage. Formally assistant head of lighting

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ESTA, the North America-based Entertainment Services & Technology Association has announced that BSR E1.11, Entertainment Technology - USITT DMX512-A, Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories, is now available for public review and comment. This document is an updating and revision of the widely-used DMX512/1990, which was originally developed by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. USITT's DMX512 is being revised to clarify undefined and loosely-defined provisions in the original document and to accommodate new lighting technology while maintaining backward compatibility with products that comply with the existing standard. The new version addresses issues regarding the use of alternate start codes, the undefined data pair, grounding practices, over-voltage protection, error detection, and alternate connecto

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Set Lighting & Sound has become the first UK rental associate of Vari-Lite, having added the Vari*Lite VL2202 spot luminaire to its extensive hire stock. The Based on the VL2201 spot luminaire, the VL2202 features an upper enclosure that houses the control electronics as well as a power factor corrected arc power supply for the 700W short arc lamp. The small, lightweight, and virtually silent luminaire also features a zoom optics system and rotating gobos. Controlled from any Vari*Lite console, it can also be controlled from a wide variety of DMX512 consoles without the need for additional interface equipment. Set Lighting’s Guy Heselden told us: "We are very excited at the opportunity of becoming the first UK Rental Associate, and looking forward to along term working relationship with Vari-Lite. Initially adding the VL2202 luminaire to our hire fleet allows us to supply an e

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Vari-Lite has welcomed Alan Boyd to its London team, as a product trainer. Boyd has several years’ experience in the lighting industry, including a two-year spell as permanent associate lighting designer to Chris Ellis, with largely theatre-based work ranging from operas and musicals to dramas. He has also worked as a theatre lighting freelancer, and spent one year as deputy chief electrician on Disney’s The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End, and as lighting designer for the Batignano Opera Festival last year in Tuscany, Italy. Boyd brings to the company his experience of a wide range of fixtures and control desks - including Vari*Lite automated lighting products.

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Vari-Lite has announced the first phase of the expansion of its European sales dealer network, supporting the distribution of the new Vari*Lite Series 2000 luminaries, with the appointment of Norsk Sceneteknikk A.S. in Norway and HispaLite in Spain. Vari-Lite has a long relationship with both companies, who have considerable experience of the company’s products and the technical resources to support sales customers. The network is designed to provide an enhanced service to the European marketplace, with local expertise, warranty support and training being easily accessible to end-users. Vari-Lite is actively expanding the network across Europe.

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The Service Company, in conjunction with White Light’s Training Initiative, has recently completed a successful series of half-day training courses on Strand Lighting’s 500 Series of lighting consoles. The courses, aimed at West End and freelance technicians, were held in White Light’s West End offices in Shaftesbury Avenue. The sessions looked at the basics of console set-up and operation, software, hardware and communications. The series of sessions concluded with a seminar on programming moving lights with the consoles, led by leading moving light programmer and L&SI writer Rob Halliday. A further series of workshops are scheduled for March 2001. Anyone seeking further information on these courses, or wanting to book places on them, should contact White Light or The Service Company on +44 (0)20 7731 3291.

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Mondiale Publishing has bought Total Production magazine from Pulse Publications. The title will now be added to Mondiale’s portfolio of magazines serving the entertainment industry which include Night, Mondo, Theme and Sleeper. TP’s editor Mark Cunningham and sales and marketing director Andy Lenthall will remain with the magazine. Pulse Publications, meanwhile, has announced its intention to continue publication of TP’s sister title Corporate Event Design.

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Following ever increasing attendances over its four year history, the dates for John Hornby Skewes’ Event 2001 have been confirmed as June 17-19. One major new feature of Event 2001, which takes place at JHS’s premises in Garforth, Leeds, will be the provision of a dedicated pro audio demo theatre on-site. This will feature the HK Audio range of pro audio, including the HX active systems, LUCAS, ELIAS and ACTOR, and the most recent addition to the range, the powerful 3.6kW PROJECTOR. Other pro audio products on show include The Scanner radio system, the Get Yourself Connected series of cabling, JHS pro audio components and Kustom PA systems and cabinets.

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Soon to be released from The Effects Company is an advanced system of air-launched effects - the CO2 Cannon, which will be available in single or multibarrel versions. Previous methods for time-consuming hand loading are now eliminated as this system uses factory pre-loaded cartridges, available in two sizes/loadings with a choice of effects such as E-Fetti, Glitter, Streamers, Star, Hearts, Flash Discs, Metallic Streamers, Ultra Violet E-Fetti and even condoms! Available at the end of March, the CO2 Cannon system will have its world launch at the Frankfurt MusikMesse in early March.

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In a launch event spanning three days, Imagination has opened the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, a brand experience on which the company has been working since 1997. The Guinness Storehouse, which replaces the Hopstore, the brewery’s existing visitor attraction, is set to become one of Ireland’s biggest draws, with a million Irish and overseas visitors anticipated annually.

The six-storey Guinness Storehouse sits at the heart of the St James’ Gate brewery complex. Originally built in 1904, the former fermentation plant was the first steel-framed building in Ireland. Imagination has converted the 170,000 sq.ft building into a state-of-the-art visitor attraction featuring an immersive Guinness Experience as well as three bars and a retail store. The Irish business community, as well as Guinness’ own staff, are able to use the Guinness Storehouse’s extensive

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Toronto-based Spectrum Manufacturing has recently launched a new colour-changer - the Aquarelle - the result of a seven-month long race to design an architectural colour-changing system for the Famous Players project in Montreal.

The work began in March last year when lighting designer Stephen Pollard approached Dave George of Spectrum to discuss the feasibility of a new architectural system. The deadline was October 2000 and since he wanted to ‘paint the outside wall of the theatre with light,’ the team at Spectrum, having accepted the challenge, immediately christened the project Aquarelle - French for ‘water colour’ .

Spectrum’s engineering department began by evaluating several architectural lighting fixtures, finally recommending a 1,000 metal halide HID fixture. Its optical system, modular reflector and overall construction of the fixture seemed i

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The rapidly expanding Lighting Technology Group has acquired Milton Keynes-based Direct Lighting. Established for 10 years, Direct Lighting is well known in the industry for the distribution of light sources and related products to independent retailers and commercial end-users. Direct Lighting directors Ian Moodie and Steve Copping will remain with the company, concentrating their future efforts entirely on sales. Stock will move to LTG's brand new central distribution depot in Corby. LTG's sales and marketing director Garry Nelsson, commenting on this latest acquisition told PLASA Media: "This is an opportunity for us to develop our core business of light sources into an entirely different sector of the market. We have a vast stock of lamps and this will enable Direct Lighting to offer faster delivery times and a wider range to their existing customers as well as providing the res

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Leigh Anne Aiken has been promoted to account manager for High End Systems Inc. In her new position, she will support the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Rim and Southeast Asia. Since joining High End in May 1993, she has worked in administration, human resources and in various sales support functions. She will now report directly to John Wiseman, VP of Worldwide Sales, but will continue to be based in the Austin, Texas headquarters.

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A couple of new developments on the performing arts front. Ballast Construction has won a £14m contract to build the Laban Centre in Deptford, including 13 dance studios and a 300-seat theatre, whilst Newcastle City Council is currently reviewing plans with Newcastle University to develop a £60m arts and heritage complex at the Playhouse theatre site at Barras Bridge. Leisure development continues apace: Government approval has been given for a £30m leisure development at Gloucester Docks which will include a multiplex cinema, restaurants and retail units. Associated British Ports, meanwhile, has submitted plans for a new leisure and retail development at Alexandra Dock in Grimsby, including shops, a restaurant, pub and possibly a hotel. Isle of Wight Council is considering plans from Godshill Park Developments for the creation of a 60-bedroom hotel and conference centre in Wootton a

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Mirrorware specialist Light Engineering has just completed an unusual contract destined for a Las Vegas nightclub. The brief from Brilliant Stages was for a number of mirror balls ranging from 5" to 32" diameter with a broken glass mirror effect. Shipped just before Christmas, the balls are due to be installed sometime soon and Light Engineering is preparing itself for the flood of orders it is certain will follow.
  1. Gordon Leaving High End Systems
  2. Lighting Tech Durango Appointed DHA Stockist
  3. Theatre Direct Zero in on Cambridge
  4. ACN Project to Draft New American National Standard
  5. ILMC Conference Addresses Safety Issues
  6. Renaissance Cruise Lines Uses ETC
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