Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Lighting

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Germany - Robe lighting enjoyed its "busiest and best Prolight+Sound" exhibition to date in Frankfurt last week, with a record number of deals closed, plus "a phenomenal interest in its progressive, forward thinking Robin product range" - as well the launch of five new fixtures at the show.

The stand took on a very distinctive appearance. No-one could miss the giant set of Newton Balls suspended above the reception area. Nathan Wan's vibrant and lively lighting design for the booth utilised nearly 300 of the latest Robe fixtures and featured a 'wall of death' effect, with some serious metalwork in the roof and serious impact on anyone walking Hall 11 - who could not fail to catch the action. Over 60 Robe representatives were present on the stand from all over the world.

The five new LED-based innovations in the Robin series all received serious interest, sa

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Antarctica - Rain, snow, ice and heat are no match for the ETC Desire XT LED fixtures - or so the marketing says. Paul Slater, director of Channel 7's popular breakfast show, Sunrise, decided to put this to the ultimate test by taking one with him to Antarctica. "It was the first time an Australian television programme had done a live, broadcast quality transmission from Antarctica," explained Slater.

Fortunately the lighting team at Channel 7 had an ETC Desire XT LED fixture on order to replace a broken HMI fixture and they took delivery of it the day before departing for Antarctica.

"It's an all-encompassing, weather-proof light that enables us to dial in different colour temperatures, whether it's daylight or tungsten lighting," remarked Slater. "You also have full dim control; to have all those features in a light without the need for a ball

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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UK - Elstree Light & Power has recently invested in a significant number of Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, supplemented by a healthy order of Sharpys. The Alpha Spot HPE 1500s were immediately specified on some high profile live and broadcast events.

Working closely with lighting designer Nigel Catmur, ELP took delivery of 26 of the Alpha Spot HPE 1500s which Catmur specified first on S4C's Rhydian shows and the Only Men Allowed TV special. He subsequently featured them on the lighting rig for the Royal Variety Performance.

"Having first seen the impact of the Alpha Spot HPE 1500 on Eurovision last year, I knew it was a light I wanted to work with," says Catmur. "Simultaneously ELP had the same idea and so we collaborated and made it happen on the projects we were working on together at the time."

"We recognised that we needed a

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Germany - Jands gave their new flagship Vista L5 media and lighting control console its first European tradeshow outing at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt.

Jands CEO, Paul Mulholland, unveiled the Vista L5 while reflecting on the 10 year journey the company have taken with their Vista range. Explaining that while the original Vista concept was very well received, their work over the past few years has been to refine that concept to deliver a second generation software that is "the perfect integration of Jands's original concept and the industry's demands for it," encouraging those who may have dismissed it in the past to take another look, now it has truly reached its potential.

With the Vista L5 offering "the definitive work surface" for the Vista v2 software, he concluded that, just like outside of our industry, embracing new technologies and interfaces deliv

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UK - Chauvet Europe will present the new Chauvet Professional luminaires to the European market at PLASA Focus 2012. Among the latest products on show will be the MVP 12 modular video panels, Legend 412 pixel-mapping moving yoke, Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving yoke, COLORado 2 Zoom Tour and COLORado 1-Quad Tour wash fixtures.

The MVP 12 is a lightweight, tri-colour SMD LED modular video panel suitable for high-resolution graphics and live action video. Featuring a semi-transparent design, MVP 12 allows lighting and elements to pass through while maintaining high resolution and clarity. MVP 12 video panels easily interlock for dramatic displays.

Legend 412 is an innovative, pixel-mapping moving yoke wash fixture featuring 12 quad-coloured RGBW LEDs controllable in quadrants. Nimble and ultra-compact, this multi-purpose unit is capable of an excellent wash and mesmerizing dynamic chases

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UK - Ian Webster, a sales professional with extensive experience in the digital technology field, has been named sales manager for the United Kingdom, northern region, by the ADJ Group. In this capacity, Webster will be responsible for sales and customer development for American DJ Lighting and American Audio products in his territory.

Prior to coming to the ADJ Group, Webster was a technical sales specialist with Motorola United Kingdom for seven years. He worked on the British Broadcasting Corporation's switch from analogue to all-digital (DTV) broadcasting and reception in the United Kingdom.

"We are very pleased to welcome Ian on board," said Dirk Kast, general manager of ADJ Europe. "He not only brings a wealth of technical knowledge to this position, but also valuable experience helping customers understand and utilise technological driven products to thei

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USA - Belgium-based architectural lighting manufacturer Kreon has appointed Darin Fowler as general manager of North American operations, headquartered in New York City. In his new role, Fowler will oversee all sales, customer service and marketing in the US and Canada. Since his start in January of this year, Fowler has set up the office and is hiring staff, with warehouse space and a showroom to be announced in the near future.

Fowler was most recently regional sales manager at entertainment lighting manufacturer High End Systems in Austin, TX, where he concentrated on lighting for fixed installations.

Before that, he worked as senior designer/project manager for New York-based architectural lighting design firms Schwinghammer Lighting and Johnson Light Studio.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Black Light's next pyrotechnic training course is set to go off like a rocket on the 30 April when the company's training team lights the blue touch paper at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. The one-day course is designed to give practical advice and instruction on all the key aspects of stage pyrotechnic design, operation and safety and will include hands-on workshop sessions during which participants will be able to try out everything they have learned.

"Our pyrotechnics courses are always popular," says Black Light's customer relations manager, Claire Södergren who is helping to organise the course. "This one should appeal to a wide variety of people - from those who have never used pyrotechnics before through to participants who want to see what the latest technology can do. Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a nationally-reco

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Germany - Among the new Clay Paky products making their international debut at ProLight+Sound were the new A.Lleda LED moving head range. The line consists of three models with wide fast pan and tilt movements: 100 W, 300 W and 600 W approx. The 100 W model has a fixed 6° aperture, whereas the two more powerful models have a 8°-40° (over 60° at 10%) electronic zoom, which makes them suitable for use in most professional environments.

This line is a valid alternative to discharge-lamp washlights of equal power, with all the benefits of LED lights: intense, highly vivid saturated-tone colours, light-weight, energy saving, longer light source life, and lower operating and maintenance costs, says ythe company.

All the models in the A.Leda line are fitted with advanced electronics, have a compact light-weight design, and can be easily adapted to all areas of applica

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UK - This week marks the end of an era for both TV and Richard Martin Lighting (RML) as the very last Harry Hill's TV Burp was filmed. The series, featuring comedian Harry Hill, has been running since 2002.

Long standing lighting designer Martin Kempton comments, "It's very sad to see it go - it's been a regular fixture in my diary for the past 11 years and I've been really proud to have been associated with it."

The four-time BAFTA winning ITV show uses a small and selective amount of lights (including MAC 250's, MAC TW1's, Pixel Par 90's and Alpha Spot 575 HPE's) to create a bright yet 'homely' look to compliment the set.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - For the new production of Pippin at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the concept was to place the show inside a video game. As you walk towards the theatre entrance, the character Pippin is playing a video game - then during the opening number, Pippin gets sucked into the game that is then played onstage.

Lighting designer Ken Billington reports, "For the production, Tim Bird created a very neutral set with many levels and then with his team from Knifedge created visuals that were projected on all the surfaces requiring fast moving changes like a video game. This of course impacted the lighting in that it needed to change quickly and drastically with intensity and colour. With a very low ceiling (4m) and limited electricity - LED fixtures became almost essential to make the concept work. To give me the bang of LED I chose the PixelRange QPar 10°, 20° asymme

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UK - When entertainment lighting specialist White Light expanded into additional warehouse space last summer, part of the goal was to provide the company with extra working space for the extensive range of sales and rental projects it now supplies. But the company was also keen to provide lighting designers with somewhere new to experiment with light - lighting equipment and lighting ideas - in the kind of space lighting is normally created, rather than in a tiny demonstration room.

"Something we've often heard from lighting designers is that they long for a decent sized space where they can just try things," explains White Light's managing director, Bryan Raven. "They wanted somewhere they could come and experiment with new products, new colours, new ideas, away from the crazy pressure and schedules that come when you're actually creating a new show. There's alwa

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Germany - Lighting, dimming and controls manufacturer ETC has reported an enthusiastic response to its stand at Prolight & Sound this year.

For the first time, a stage area was set up on the stand, where field project coordinator Mark Tobler gave presentations in German or English describing ETC's overarching philosophy: Layers of Light. He showed how different types of lighting - tungsten, HID and LED - can be used together with ETC's latest control desks and Sensor3 power control system to create the right light for any kind of purpose.

Market anager for ETC GmbH Sarah Clausen says, "With ETC, our focus is on the quality of light; we wanted to show how we can really enhance the stage and what's on it.

"By setting up our famous mannequin with a brightly multi-coloured dress, we showed how we can make colours balance, 'pop' or appear dull by adjusting each o

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UK - HVFX worked with Katy Perry during her live performance on BBC1's Let's Dance for Sport Relief show.

Thrilling the audience with her song Part of me, Perry was surrounded by 12 large plasma balls and four plasma columns, topped off by her own laser display; the ensemble made for an electrifying show.

The vibrant colours of the plasma balls and columns were echoed by the pink and blue stage lights, making the whole vision a show to remember.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Ambersphere's regional tour of the UK continues in March and April with two headline appearances - at the Black Light Open day in Scotland, and at PLASA Focus in Leeds.

These showcase exhibitions follow hot on the heels of the South-East roadshow that Ambersphere held recently in Brighton.

The Black Light Open Day, which is Scotland's largest gathering of lighting industry professionals, is taking place at Black Light's HQ in Edinburgh on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 March, and will be the first opportunity for those North of the Border to get a close up look at the new products on offer from Clay Paky and MA Lighting.

"It's really exciting to get on the road with the dazzling array of new products that Clay Paky and MA Lighting have recently brought to market," says Glyn O'Donoghue, managing director of Ambersphere.

"With a number of regional exhibitions

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Frankfurt Figures - Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound attracted a total of 2,388 exhibitors from 55 countries (2011: 2,380 exhibitors from 54 countries) and around 110,000 visitors from 120 countries (2011: 109,002 visitors from 124 countries).

"Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound 2012 have further strengthened their position. Both, visitors and exhibitors highly appreciated and rated Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound and are in confident mood for orders and business", said Detlef Braun, member of the executive board Messe Frankfurt.

Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan, Peter Gabrieland Suede are the headline acts for Vince Power's Hop Farm Music Festival 2012. The festival will have four music stages this year including a comedy stage, Camp Acoustic stage and Buskers Boulevard as well as "more new, exciting additions to be announced in due course"

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UK - Leisuretec are excited to be exhibiting at PLASA Focus: Leeds for the second year running following on from the company's success last year.

"Established for 22 years and with our strong foundation, we have the distribution power to ensure we are sourcing the best products in commercial sound, lighting, visual and special effects at the best prices, which translates to greater value for our trade customers," says the company.

The Leisuretec name is synonymous with quality products and at this year's PLASA Focus the company will represent over 70 prestigious brands spanning many market sectors including installed sound, presentation and live entertainment.

"We can offer the choice and flexibility essential to your business whether you are an installer, reseller, hire or events company or other trade professional. Since last year we have added several new f

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UK - Covering the vast Western Concourse, and spanning the full 150m length of King's Cross station, a new 20m-high tapered central 'funnel' made of a latticework of steel and glass, was unveiled last week.

The architects of the new extension, John McAslan and Partners, worked with Network Rail on the £500m project to create the largest single span structure in Europe, delivering a new station concourse with more than three times the space of its predecessor.

Network Rail brought in Unspun to produce the launch of the spectacular new extension. Unspun's creative team, consisting of Robert Alge as Creative/Executive Director, Glyn Peregrine as lighting designer and Julian Scott as the soundtrack composer, designed a show to highlight the dynamic meeting of the station's original 1852 brick façade, with the striking new curved steel lattice.

Peregrine worked with Dom Sh

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Finland - LumenRadio was recently part of a new exciting lighting project called rubix xpress in Helsinki. This larger-than-life installation has for good reasons garnered a lot of attention and accolades from international media and the lighting design community.

The project was part of a free of charge city event Lux Helsinki that is organised by City of Helsinki. The event consists of a cluster of individual lighting installations ranging from the spectacle to minimalistic realizations as well as a number of fire circus performances in the centre of the Finnish capital. Energy efficiency and sustainability is a major theme and designers are also encouraged to utilize new and innovate technologies to catch the attention of the public.

Lighting designer Matti Jykylä has been fascinated by Rubik's Cube, the famous 3D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian scul

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UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL are supplying lighting equipment, a 26-axes Kinesys automation system, all associated trussing and rigging plus crew to Snow Patrol as they embark on the first UK leg of their Fallen Empires world tour.

Lighting designer is Davy Sherwin, who has worked closely with Catalyst and live visuals programmer / visuals operator Robin Haddow and video director Blue Leach. The trio are collectively known as 'The Art Department' on the tour, and the ntelligently harmonised show is the result of some serious triumvirate creative chemistry.

HSL's project manager is Mike Oates. He says, "We love working with Davy and Robin and have seen the band's show and their designs take a real journey and evolution over the last few years. Each tour is always fresh in ideas and this is among the best yet."

Just as the band have explored ne

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Italy - The 62nd Italian Song Festival did not disappoint the expectations of those who expected all round entertainment, including impressive stage design, abundant lighting effects and a production designed to exploit all the innovations specifically thought out and carried out on the stage of the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo.

Gaetano Castelli's set was immediately christened the 'ark of music'. It consisted of a large 'space ship' that dominated the stage with surprise effects as it moved and opened. The 20m long, 9m high scenic machine was so heavy (20 tons) that preparatory reinforcement work was necessary on the structure of the Ariston Theatre. The 'musical spaceship' took three months to put together and was entirely built in Rome. The work also involved the capital's TV Production Centre. It was then taken apart and reassembled piece by piece on the stage at Sanremo.

Th

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UK - CAST of Toronto, Canada was recently in the fashion limelight during London Fashion Week (LFW). The runways showcased the 2012 autumn and winter collections of some of the world's top designers including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Alice Temperley and attracted visitors from over 25 countries including US, France, Italy, Russia, Middle East, China and UAE.

To ensure the designer clothing was shown at its best, lighting was given the utmost consideration. Tupac Martir, director of Satore Studio in London lit the runways at the Temperley, Björn Borg, House of Holland and Vivienne Westwood shows, amongst several others, doing all previsualization in wysiwyg.

"We use wysiwyg for all the shows, it helps tremendously when they occur so closely together," says Martir, "We actually run wysiwyg on a gaming machine at our studio with Alien Ware and two v

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UK - PLASA Focus Leeds will see Highlite International present the UK launch of a brand new range of Pipe & Drape products from Wentex. Highlite International have an exclusive distribution deal with Wentex for the whole of Europe.

The new system uses a "revolutionary" and patented 4-way connector with an auto-lock system. The system guarantees solid connections of the uprights and drape supports, while they can still be adjusted to every conceivable direction. The cloths attach with Velcro onto the cross bars, making for easy rigging and adjusting. Cloths are available in black and white.

Highlite International will also be showing the new DMT P10 SMD Tour Pixelscreen. Each panel is 640 x 740 x 90mm, and weighs 18kg, making it easy to rig. The panels are IP65-rated and have a luminance output of 5500 Nits.

Also on display will be the new range of Showtec Spectral

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UK / USA - If you haven't signed up yet for By Design Day, the annual fundraising day for Light Relief in the UK and Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, don't worry - you still have time!

Taking place this year on Tuesday 24 April on both sides of the Atlantic, By Design Day focuses attention on the various ways that individuals can support the two organisations that are dedicated solely to helping entertainment technology professionals in need.

Whether you prefer to make a personal donation, hold a collection at your place of work or, if you are a designer, simply support the day by voluntarily giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities, it's the action (not the thought) that counts.

Light Relief is there for those involved in the UK lighting industry while Behind the Scenes aids professionals based in the US and Canada working in any area of the enterta

  1. Philips Vari-Lite adds three luminaires
  2. The Knight of Illumination Awards 2012
  3. School technicians conference success
  4. MJ supplies Tarsus Dealer Bash 2012
  5. Roscolux #359 keeps on giving to Behind the Scenes
  6. Barco launches finance program for rental & staging
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