Realising the need to market their mail service in the new e-mail-dominated environment, Deutsche Post has invested DM 2 million into converting a Federal Post Truck into a touring stage. The touring postal van contains all the lighting, sound and AV equipment needed to stage a live event. Performances on the truck’s 60sq.m stage range from simple dramas through to mini extravaganzas.

The challenge presented to Zero 88 distributor, LMP Lichttechnik by Deutsche Post was to specify a lighting system that could handle the variety of shows being staged. Some would be pre-programmed, while others would require easy hands-on live operation when programming time was limited. Olaf Nehrenheim of LMP chose the Zero 88 Fat Frog. Its ability to control 12 moving fixtures and 48 generic channels through its combination of 108 submasters and up to 999 memories met the challenge perfectly.

Rebecca Lace has joined LeMark Group as sales office manager, bringing with her multi-skill experience in bothelectronic and conventional marketing and sales. Rebecca will also head LeMarks’ continued expansion of custom-printed consumables into the North American and Canadian markets. Rebecca’s background has recently been within the Medical & Scientific equipment manufacturing sector, where she project-managed both the marketing and sales promotion of a new equipment range to clients throughout the world. A lover of theatre, film and music and in her ‘spare time’ she enjoys the practicality of DIY and Design. Stuart Gibbons, LeMark managing director said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have someone of Rebecca’s calibre and professionalism join the team. Expanding LeMark into the US market has been a big challenge for us all. I feel confident that with

Acapulco recently became the centre of attraction for music lovers, with the annual Acapulco Music Festival (a.k.a. Aca Fest) taking place on the beach in front of the port. This year’s challenge was to create bigger events to involve more people and to give Acapulco an international visibility. The music event combines with sport events such as the inaugural ‘Corrida’, wrestling matches, golf tournaments and soccer matches, but the Festival’s musical highlights included performances from Men At Work, Earth Wind and Fire, the B52s, Michael Bolton, Journey, Aterciopelados, Christian Castro, Paulina Rubio, Vicente Fernàndez and Rocío Dúrcal. The event utilized over 900 tons of equipments and 3,000 personnel. The major lighting project was designed by Pat Henry Illuminaciòn of Mexico City, which chose SGM intelligent units (28 Giotto Spot 1200, 14 Giotto Wash 120

The 40th anniversary of Amnesty International was celebrated in style at Wembley Arena in a comic cavalcade starring Eddie Izzard, and featuring Paul Whitehouse, Harry Enfield, Phill Jupitus, Jeremy Hardy and many more. Alan Rickman also appeared on the bill, as did Badly Drawn Boy, the Stereophonics and Tom Jones - with a satellite-linked slot from U2 in Toronto.

Called We Know Where You Live: Live! the show was hosted by Eddie Izzard in the spirit of the classic Secret Policeman’s Balls of the seventies, eighties and nineties. The role of production manager fell to John Farquar-Smith ably assisted by crew chief Nick Jones.Izzard is known for his love of performing in an intimate club atmosphere, rather than on television, so a compromise had to be reached to ensure that the light levels were high enough for TV company Initial’s cameras, but not too bright for Eddie’

At PLASA 2001, Geni Electronics plans to launch a host of new products, including the OBY 5 575W moving head. This value for money fixture boasts powerful features including smooth and silent movement 570-degree pan and 270-degree tilt, two separate wheels with 11-dichroic colours plus white, 9+1 fixed gobos and 6+1 revolving gobos, allocated in two gobo wheels, various special effect lenses such as revolving three-facet prism, 10,000K and 6500K temperature correction filter, 3200K temperature correction filter, 1-7 flashes per second strobe, 0-100% mechanical dimmer, IRIS linear adjustment and automatic focus.

Geni is also launching the BURST 2X/4X - a 360-degree barrel scan effect with die-cast aluminum case. The first 360-degree full-barrel effect, the Burst-2X/4X generates spinning, flipping 14 colored images in all directions. The DMX controlled fixture can utilize HSD200 / MSD200

As part of its ongoing process of maintaining customer service and expanding the field sales team, Zero 88 appointed a new German Market Manager on 1 July. Joining Zero from LMP Lichttechnik, and based in Osnabruck, Franck Tiesing brings considerable experience in the German lighting market. His most recent role was as sales manager responsible for Zero 88 products at LMP Lichttechnik, where he gained an in-depth working knowledge of the product range and its application. Responsible for managing the Zero 88 dealer network in Germany, Franck will also work closely with users of Zero 88 product to provide ongoing training and technical support.

Moiré and Goboram II are the two latest products from Wybron Inc designed to help lighting designers create new moving effects with gobos. Moiré is Wybron’s first dual gobo rotator, enabling the user to rotate and change two B-sized glass or metal gobos. Controlled by a simple toggle switch, the two gobos are operated independently and can be rotated together, in opposite directions or with one static and the other moving. The user can control the speed of each gobo remotely simply by connecting Moiré to a light dimmer. Goboram II is a combined gobo changer, indexer and rotator in one, giving designers the ability to change and rotate up to three gobos, all in a single unit. Automatic, Goboram II can be programmed with show cues, as with Wybron’s colour changers. Just like its predecessor, Goboram II’s fast and smooth transitions between gobos allow the user to make

On Thursday July 12th a preliminary meeting was held at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre, to seek interest in the formation of an Australasian association for all who share an interest in the art, science and technology of light. The following week a similar meeting was held at the Melbourne Museum. Organisers Andy Ciddor and Cat Strom (Forcer) were overwhelmed by the positive reaction from the lighting community and hence have decided to press ahead in establishing an Australasian Lighting Industry Association, provisionally entitled ALIA.

Discussions at the meetings were based around a widely circulated proposal prepared by Cat Strom, Steve Furzey and Andy Ciddor, the text of which can be found on the preliminary ALIA website - www.lighting-association.com. It was agreed that a broadly-based and inclusive lighting

As an easily accessible point of reference for lighting designers and dealers alike, DHA Lighting has produced a poster featuring the 100 most popular gobo designs. As the original UK gobo manufacturer, DHA draws upon its 30 years of experience to design products that set industry standards, including over 1000 metal and 30 glass gobos, as well as providing an unmatched, high quality service.

Available in various sizes and designs, DHA's high quality gobos texture light, evoke a sense of place, project an image or create moods with these versatile tools. Standard gobos are precision etched onto stainless steel to fit most mainstream lanterns including the DHA Gecko, profile spots and moving lights. A range of complementary monochrome and dichroic glass gobo designs hold more intricate images allowing the projection of fine detail. The catalogue of gobo designs and the option of a same

To complement the exhibition, PLASA has lined up a range of seminars, workshops and clinics that will give an insight into how new technology is creating new opportunities, how individuals have pulled together highly complex projects, why integration is so important and how you can achieve more by picking up tips and techniques from others.

DJs can learn more about MP3 digitally-compressed music files and how this new technology is already creating a platform for a more creative approach. In a programme of seminars sponsored by Installation Europe, audio installation and integration is the theme under which issues of networking, control and the benefits of converging technologies are explored. Tuesday sees a Theme and Leisure Masterclass, presented by Leisure Management, in association with the TEA and TiLE, which focuses on how the leisure industry exploits special effects, lighting a

Adam Hall has announced the promotion of Carol Frampton to the position of sales office manager. She has been a key player in the Adam Hall team since 1990 and will already be well known to most of its customers both overseas and in the UK.

One of Europe’s leading manufacturers of silent dimming solutions, IES will be launching new models of low-noise IGBT installed and distributed dimming options for theatres, concert halls and TV studios, at PLASA 2001. The range includes iTEC reverse-phase IGBT dimmers and second generation iSINE Sine Wave silent dimmers - technologies which have been supplied throughout Europe in the past year.

The new generation iSINE technology offers compactness, lower weight, higher efficiency and reduced cost compared to its predecessors. The sinusoidal output dims with no discernable filament noise, and the harmonic distortion is less than 1% greater than the supply. Able to control a wide range of light sources, iSINE dimmers also benefit from the tried and tested features of IES’s other IGBT dimmers - automatic short-circuit protection, voltage regulation, current limitation and c

Gemini has added several new lighting effects to its comprehensive catalogue. These include the Shooter multi-coloured centerpiece, which incorporates a rotating shutter effect that is sound activated. The 115V package includes a 120v/300W (64514) bulb, while the 230V option has a 230V/300W (64516) bulb.

Also new is the PB-6PAK 6" police-style beacon which features a reflector that revolves around a BL6-25W bulb, to create the kind of lighting effect that is more usually accompanied by the sound of sirens. Finally, comes the Phazer multi-coloured simulated laser light - an effect that is sound-activated and produces a total of 16 different patterns. The Phazer is supplied with a 24V/250W (EVC) bulb with a 300 hour lamp life.

Paul Weber has resigned as a director of Entec Sound & Light in order to concentrate on his lighting design and production management work. However, he maintains his connection with the company in a consultative capacity. The Entec lighting division will continue to be run by Noreen O’Riordan and Adam Stevenson whilst the sound division is managed by Dick Hayes and Roy Smith. Dick Collins takes care of administration and accounts.

It’s now three years since Derrick Ross announced his intention to retire as chief executive of ARRI GB. In characteristic style, it wasn’t an impulsive decision, nor as it turned out, a quick departure. His on-going state of semi-retirement was only finally made official on 31st May.

Derrick Ross’s loyalty to the company has been evident since he first set up ARRI’s UK subsidiary in 1983. At that time, the German-owned company was looking to develop a market presence in lighting and film laboratory equipment to complement its highly successful sales of movie cameras. Ross, then marketing director of Rank Strand, was targeted for the job and he was quick to take up the challenge of competing with his old employer for a leading position in the market. He took his PA, Barbara Gould, with him and colleague Paul Wild was appointed lighting sales director.

Under R

On Tuesday 17 July, the world famous Ministry of Sound played host to the Final of the DI UK Light Jockey Contest, sponsored by Clay Paky and Pulsar. Battling it out in front of the judges were Simon Elliott, Chris Penney, Richard Whiteley and Rob Calvert. Simon Elliott emerged as the new UK Light Jockey Champion, with Chris Penney and Richard Whiteley being awarded a silver and bronze medal respectively.

The difficult task of judging the final was given to DI’s Paul Fowler, Ministry of Sound’s Lorenzo Meddi, lighting designer Carl Dodds and current World Light Jockey Champion Chris Shead. Each contestant had to program a five minute lightshow to a piece of music of their choice. The standards were very high throughout, with originality and creativity making each lightshow unique in its own right. As part of his prize package Elliott also won a customised gold plated Master

West London-based HFM Lighting, a specialist in the design and supply of integrated lighting systems, has become a Vari-Lite UK Rental Associate and has augmented its inventory by adding eight new Vari*Lite VL2402 wash luminaires which it has supplied for Gatecrasher 2001. Colin Booker, Vari-Lite Europe’s regional sales manager, commented: "We are thrilled that HFM Lighting has become one of our rental associates, and they have decided to choose this exciting product which is now available for their clients."

Specified by LD Simon Barrington, and supplied by HFM, eight VL2402s were incorporated into his designs for the Radio 1 stage at Gatecrasher's 2001 dance festival at Turweston Aerodrome last month. The impressive pyramid-shaped Outdoor Live stage hosted key acts such as Craig David and international DJ's, Seb Fontaine and Judge Jules. Drawing from HFM's extensive i

True to form, Artistic Licence has a number of new products lined up for PLASA 2001.

Truss-Link is a truss-mounted Ethernet to DMX512 converter, which allows the Ethernet output of a console to be cabled direct to the lighting truss and then converted to DMX512. Truss-Link supports the public domain standard Art-Net and is compatible with Artistic Licence, ADB and MA Lighting products.

Down-Link is a wall plate Ethernet-to-DMX converter. The product is built into a standard two-gang wall plate. Ethernet wiring is provided at the rear, whilst the front panel houses two separate DMX512 outputs along with address switches and indicators. Down-Link is specifically designed to allow installations to use Ethernet distribution with local conversion to DMX512 in each room.

Water-Pipe is a linear luminaire based on coloured light emitting diodes (LEDs). The product is housed in an elegant a

Elation’s new Vision 575 is a high-output DMX-512 scanner with high quality optics and a long list of features - from the ability to overlay gobos, to a digital display for fixture characteristic settings. The scanner features two motorized gobo wheels, with a total of 11 fixed gobos, plus six interchangeable 26.9 mm indexable gobos.

The fixture includes 11 dichroic color filters plus white. For added variation, there is also a 32K filter, 56K filter, UV filter and frost filter. Another unique effect on the Vision 575 is a rotating three-facet prism. Variable strobing at 1-10 flashes per second is another capability offered by this versatile fixture. The 575 is equipped with a motorized iris for a tighter beam. It also features motorized focusing, allowing the creation of ultra-sharp images, and it comes with a 575W lamp for extra brightness.

The Vision 575 was designed to p

In a continual effort to improve its service to dealers and end users, Zero 88 has appointed Silvio Scerri as Mediterranean market manager. Silvio joins Zero 88 from Nexos Lighting in Malta where he has been responsible for Zero 88 product sales for the past four years. Fluent in regional languages and with an in-depth knowledge of the Southern European lighting market, he will bring a new focus to Zero 88’s presence in the Mediterranean region.

Another new face is Catherine Thomas, who joins Zero 88 at its Cwmbran base as a sales coordinator. Catherine has a background in customer service and is fluent in French. Joining her as a sales coordinator is Bev Jones who many will already know from her past role as Zero’s receptionist. Following a period of training, Catherine and Bev will take over as the sales co-ordination team for Zero 88 and Selecon UK. This will enable Lor

The organisers of Entech 2002 have released preliminary details relating to next year’s event, which takes place from February 4-6 at Darling Harbour in Sydney. The visitor programme includes keynote summits for audio, vision and lighting practitioners on 4 February. The summits will cap the opening day’s educational programme set to feature new format seminars held in the lecture facilities within the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Center. Day One features a Venue Design Forum, an afternoon session with leading lighting designers, two pro audio seminars and a vision/video seminar.

Additional events on Day One include a rigging workshop, an opening day reception on the rooftop at closing time and Mark Cunningham’s famous pop quiz at sundown. A complete programme of events, including the sixth and largest Entech Awards Dinner, will be released ahead of an extensive

Essential Lighting Group have increased their stock of the increasingly popular Studio Beam PCs. These automated luminaires feature high-output colour mixing, intense beam shaping and a large zoom range in a compact housing. The Studio Beam employs a special pebble convex lens to produce a variable soft-edge beam without light spill and is ideal for creating strong aerial effects and long throw highlighting.

Essential's Martin Locket and Simon Dunnell used Studio Beam extensively in the recent election rally tour. Working closely with set designer Spike Kilburn, they planned and designed a system using cyclorama behind interlocking translucent panels that would be workable in a wide variety of different venues.

MAC 300 washlights were also chosen to uplight the Cyclorama and provide a number of different looks and effects to the presentations. A box structure of Slick Minibeam truss

The PLASA Show, London’s leading entertainment technology event, represents far more than just an arena from which to see the latest developments and innovations within the entertainment technology industry. It also offers visitors the opportunity to learn more about how to use this technology to best effect through its Masterclass Programme. This year, the Masterclass Programme, which runs from the Monday to the Wednesday, will focus on the fields of special effects, architectural installations and audio and corporate presentations and will include an impressive line-up of speakers, all of whom are experts in their specific fields.

Tuesday 11th September 2001, Theme and Leisure Day of the Masterclass Programme is a ‘must’ for visitors interested in learning how, through imaginative design and intelligent production techniques, special effects can be utilised in live

Joe Cabrera, who spent the summer of 2000 as an intern at AC Lighting Inc in Los Angeles, has now joined the company full time. Joe will be working alongside Mario Collazo and Mike Falconer on technical support and training on the company’s range of high technology products, such as the MA Lighting grandMA range, Zero 88 and Jands lighting control consoles. Joe is a recent graduate from the Florida State University School of Theatre where he received bachelors in Theater. When he was not acting on stage, Joe could be found behind the console of many a show throughout his High School and College careers. One of his first tasks was to get involved with AC Lighting's ongoing program of operator training on the grandMA range of consoles. Joe has also been testing the new Version 2.6 software for the grandMA console as part of MA Lighting's strict and intensive testing program of all be

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