USA - William Mooney, lighting designer for BYB Extreme Fighting, a bare-knuckles form of boxing, is using an IP-rated Elation Professional lighting rig to highlight the action inside the ring while supporting the atmosphere outside the ring. With BYB’s three-sided triangle cage, known as the Trigon and the smallest ring in combat sports, there is plenty of that. “It’s the most exciting franchise I have ever been involved with,” states Mooney, a man who has worked on boxing and mixed martial arts projects such as ESPN’s Friday Night Fights (2008-2015) and Combat America MMA Fights. “I’ve worked on all the major networks but I feel more excited about this show than anything I’ve ever worked with in my life.” Although the fights take place indoors, Mooney uses a multi-environmental IP65-rated rig as a peace-of-mind layer of protection. “To have most
UK - Hologramica, specialists in the design and production of holograms, is celebrating the opening of its new demo studios on an historic Wandsworth site, thanks to music charity NEKO Trust. Liz Berry, CEO of Hologramica, comments: “We were struggling to find a home when the NEKO Trust, headed up by Glen Rowe, came to our rescue. We now occupy a beautiful, secluded rehearsal facility, previously enjoyed by legendary bands including Metallica and The Rolling Stones.” It is from here that Hologramica’s 3D Holonet gauze will continue its ongoing development, along with the company’s production-based activities, which provide holographic hardware, design, content and consultancy for shows worldwide. “We’ve already installed a stunning 7m wide 3D Holonet rig, alongside one of our portable Holopops Ultra systems,” explains Berry. “Upstairs our filming
Gibraltar - Pixel Artworks has created an immersive light and sound installation within St Michael’s Cave on the Rock of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Government awarded the project to WrightTech Media, a local digital marketing solutions company with extensive knowledge of the site. Pixel Artworks collaborated with WrightTech Media on the pitch as well as the design and delivery of the complex show, which is scheduled to open to the public on 20 June 2021. While the project sought to enhance the current Gibraltar Upper Rock Nature Reserve visitor experience, there was no specific site in mind. WrightTech Media and Pixel Artworks showed how St Michael’s Cave could be used in a unique way to take the audience on an unforgettable journey through Gibraltar’s natural history, using projection mapping technology, lighting design and immersive audio. Christian Wright, dire
USA - The Robson Performing Arts Centre in Claremore recently completed a stage lighting and control upgrade with over 300 LED luminaires and a networked control solution from Vari-Lite and Strand, Signify entertainment lighting brands. “We wanted LED equipment that would give comparable functionality to our previous fixtures, along with some added ‘eye candy’ elements to enhance our performances,” explains technical director Pamela Neuok, who turned to theatre consultancy Schuler Shook, the original theatreconsultant for the building, to advise on the specification. Schuler Shook prioritized high quality light output and technology that would be both accessible to students and powerful enough for a professional theatre programme. “The Strand products met our design criteria very well,” says Schuler Shook’s Jack Hagler. The final design and install
Germany - Cover band Lonely Hearts Club isn’t likely to achieve the fame of the British quartet that inspired their name. But the six musicians from Gescher were greeted with a level of enthusiasm worthy of the Beatles or any superstar when they appeared on the open-air stage at Freilichtbühne Coesfeld at 5pm on Saturday 15 May. For the 160 entertainment-starved fans in attendance, the band’s show, represented a small, hopeful step back to enjoying live performances as COVID-19 lockdown rules begin to ease with safety protocols still in place. Part of a regional test to demonstrate how outdoor events could be conducted safely, the concert ended at 9 pm, so people could return home in time to comply with Germany’s 10pm curfew. The early closing time made sense from a health and safety standpoint, but it nevertheless posed special challenges for André Entrup and hi
The Netherlands - Heading the production lighting department for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest finals at The Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, was LD Henk-Jan van Beek from Light-H-Art working closely with associate designers Bas de Vries and Martin Beekhuizen. In addition to creating an overall lighting style for the show, they liaised with all the delegations – many had their own consulting LDs and artists directors – creating 39 individual performances within the overall show design. Henk-Jan specified 740 x Robe moving lights for the event, which made up over a third of the total lighting rig which came in at a count of 1,782 active fixtures. These and all the event’s lighting equipment – plus audio and rigging – was delivered by ESC 2021’s official technical supplier for lighting, audio and rigging, leading Netherlands rental specialist, Ampco Flashlight.<
Belgium - Kristof Van Mensel from lighting and visual design company TCF (The Creative Factory) uses Astera products extensively – particularly AX3 LightDrops – in his projects which range from live performance to festivals to television studio lighting work. The tiny AX3s are particularly useful for ‘pop-up’ scenarios, he explains, or for shifting between mobile locations. “Two cases of eight AX3 LightDrops are always in the back of my car ‘just in case’ and are infinitely useful,” he states. Kristof is long term lighting designer for the Scala & Kolacny Brothers women's choir, a highly visual act that has gained worldwide recognition. He regularly incorporates Astera fixtures into their live show designs and loves the fact that something as small as the AX3 can give the artist such a dynamic a tool to work with. “I ensconce them in the se
UK - ETC fos/4 LED panels prove a complement to natural light for cinematographer Lily Grimes during shooting of art film Horsepolish, an artist’s response to de Sica’s neorealist 1946 release Shoeshine. This recent art film project saw Lily re-acquainted in a professional capacity with a familiar London-based artist - her mother, Oona, who also lectures in art. It was shot in and around the The Ragged School Museum on the Regent’s Canal near Mile End in London. Lily argued for and succeeded in her quest to film in black and white Super 16mm, feeling it was the best medium to capture the rough landscapes favoured by neorealists. Her approach to lighting combined the use of a lot of natural light with supplementary fos/4 LED panels from ETC, as she explains: “The film was planned rather than written, leaving us many more creative decisions to
USA - Last year, during the height of the pandemic, Martin Castañon, Victor Ortiz and the team at Darvik Productions stayed busy, while bringing music to the public by running Concerts in Your Car, a series of drive-in shows at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in San Diego. In the process they learned quite a bit about teamwork, determination and self-reliance. They also sharpened their skills lighting an elevated 360ﹾ stage. All of these attributes came in handy over Memorial Day Weekend, when they handled the production of Ziggy Marley’s concert at Petco Park. Although the socially-distant live audience at this show was seated in pods, rather than cars, the configuration of the performance area and the sprawl of the crowd, required the same kind of elevated open stage that the Darvik team had used for their drive-ins. Working closely with Joël Huxtable, Ziggy Ma
USA - A new book about the techniques and issues of lighting design for live events and productions being shot for broadcast, webcast or IMAG, has been published by Routledge and their media technology division, Focal Press. Lighting for Televised Live Events: Making Your Live Production Look Great for the Eye and the Camera unlocks the science, art, philosophies, and language of creating lighting for live entertainment and presentations that work for the television camera as well as for the live audience. The authors, Jeff Ravitz and James L. Moody, each have extensive lighting design credits in both live and televised production and have brought their experience and insights to the book in an attempt to explain the common denominators between live and televised presentation lighting. Ravitz explains, “The television camera has become an ever-present part o
Zimbabwe - Nyaradzo Group marked its 20th anniversary recently, with a livestream concert celebration that featured 21 of the region’s leading artists. The musical extravaganza was a big hit for viewers, especially since the performances on stage were supported by dynamic displays of video and light, as LD Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Sintara served up a stream of colourful looks that flowed naturally on stage. Sintara’s design may have looked effortless, but in reality it was anything but easy. Producing different looks for 21 different artists on a small livestream stage is a “fun challenge,” he says. Helping Sintara solve this puzzle was a supportive group of people. “Divine Concert Sound (DCS), the Nyaradzo Group Zimbabwe, Epic Sets and my mentor Simbarashe Bapiro were all very helpful,” he said. “I am grateful to have such support.” Also contri
Germany - Dark Matter is a new permanent exhibition space for lighting, visual and sonic art, and technology in Berlin’s lively Lichtenberg district, currently comprising seven sculptural and kinetic visual works created by light artist Christopher Bauder of WHITEvoid. This experience, which opened last week, is the long-term brainchild of Christopher and his quest to curate a “parallel cosmos of expansive lighting installations blurring the boundaries between real and digital worlds” capturing and stimulating emotional, spiritual, and imaginative journeys as guests embrace the artworks – some interactive, some reflective, all fascinating – engaging and experiencing a wide range of emotions. Robe lighting is involved in this project, initially with the supply of Tetra2 and MegaPointe fixtures which will be used for special events lighting in one of the larg
USA - As a rule, Jimmy Davidson favours intense looks in his lighting designs. But sometimes rules are not made to be broken; they’re made to be doubled down on. Such was this case this Memorial Day Weekend, when the Texas designer lit a three-show concert series by chart-topping country artist Cody Johnson. Employing a torrent of intense colour washes (mainly in red and blue) accented by sharp beams of white light and blinding blasts, he set a frenetic pace for his client’s 21-song set without repeating the same look twice. Helping him serve up this visual eruption was a beefy Texas Stage supplied rig that featured a collection of 54 Chauvet Professional Rogue, STRIKE, Ovation, and COLORdash fixtures. “I absolutely wanted to put something extra in this show,” said Davidson. “It was nice to have a little time off to be at home during the pandemic, but now it
USA - Specialist solutions supplier, Creative Technology Group, has increasingly turned to Elation Professional’s KL Panel LED soft light for use in their US-based LED studios and has added a number of the full-colour-spectrum fixtures to their rental inventory. In the United States, Creative Technology (CT) operates virtual event LED studios in Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Nashville. Each is equipped with xR and camera tracking technology that works with powerful graphics engines to create dynamic scenes that put a presenter or product virtually into any environment. The results are truly spectacular. In late spring of 2020, Creative Technology contacted Elation about a high-quality LED soft light for the studios and eventually purchased 75 of the units with snap grids and snap bags. CT has used the KL Panels on many of their studio projects, inclu
UK - amBX, has announced the details of the latest updates to its smart lighting control platform, SmartCore. Users will now be able to add Smart Emergency Lighting Control to their SmartCore platform. The new amBX Emergency Lighting Monitoring Dashboard will allow users to input and manage test results, check scheduled fixture tests and record and monitor ongoing actions needed to achieve compliance. Results can be exported to provide a hard-copy records. This will aid with supporting regulatory compliance while simultaneously making the audit process easier. The update has also introduced a number of new protocol support options to SmartCore, including publishing data to MQTT topics for IoT applications to access. This allows for connectivity to the cloud and provides lightweight, efficient and reliable data management. Introducing the new features
USA - The Shawnee Cave Amphitheatre, 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, bills itself as “a venue like no other.” Tucked into the base of a massive 100ft high sandstone rock formation sits in the middle of 60 rugged acres of craggy paths, creeks and waterfalls. Kyle Curtis had a hand in creating just such memories Memorial Day weekend when he lit the site for an event featuring a line-up of jam bands that included The Infamous Stringdusters, Sam Bush, Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams, Kyle Tuttle Banjo, and Chicken Wire Empire. Enlivening the surroundings with vivid colours and making the cave wall come alive with gobo patterns, he enhanced the evocative effect of the setting without distracting from the artists on stage. Helping him accomplish this feat was a collection of 54 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Chris Parton and his team at Midwest Music Supply
Australia - Mackay Entertainment and Conference Centre (MECC) is a busy and diverse complex of nine different venue and event spaces in Mackay, central Queensland, hosting a lively mix of corporate launches and conferences to opera, music, dance, and performance shows. Head of lighting Dan Grace and his team are amongst the first in Australia to have Robe’s new high power Forte LED luminaires in the house, with a purchase of 12 of the fixtures plus 12 new Robe Spiider LED wash beams, with more of both types of moving light to follow once the season ramps up again. The decision to buy Fortes was underlined by MECC’s previous experiences with Robe – with nearly 100 fixtures already, including 30 x DL7s, a mix of profiles and fresnels, which directly replaced 36 hot and power-hungry 2K fresnels in the main theatre in 2019. The last batch of these DL7s arrive
Russia - Aistenok Irkutsk Regional Puppet Theatre occupies a prominent place among Russian puppet theatres. The marionette masters in the Siberian city of Irkutsk recently worked with Light Power Design (LPD) to upgrade its stage lighting and chose low noise, low heat Elation Professional LED luminaires along with Magmatic atmospheric effects. Despite its relative solitude, Irkutsk is a thriving seat of culture that embodies all the best of Russia’s storied theatre tradition. Puppetry applies the same lighting techniques as a regular stage. Despite the compact space, all types of lighting instruments are used and just like a regular theatre show, fixture choice depends on the effects desired and mood required. Founded in 1935 as the first professional puppet theatre in Eastern Siberia, the Aistenok Puppet Theatre has operated from an elegant building in the heart o
Poland - Harman Professional Solutions recently collaborated with Stage Source and ATM System to deliver a dynamic lighting design for Polish reality television series The Voice of Poland with new Martin MAC Aura PXL fixtures. Part of the internationally syndicated television franchise The Voice, The Voice of Poland is a televised reality competition that gives singers the opportunity to showcase their vocal talents in front of celebrity judges and coaches on live television. First aired in 2011, the series recently filmed its eleventh season, which was hosted by actor Maciej Musiał and filmed in Warsaw. In order to ensure premium production quality for the nationally televised series, the show’s producers hired ATM System to supply a lighting design that would deliver dynamic lighting both on stage and on camera. ATM System collaborated with d
World - The first Virtual Showlight (VSL) event which was held on Tuesday 25 May 2021 proved to be “a real success story,” according to its organisers. With the full Showlight postponed due to the pandemic, VSL 2021 turned trial into triumph when it threw open its virtual doors to an online audience in excess of 430 delegates. Students, educational establishments, venues and of course lighting designers from all genres of the industry - theatre, film and TV, architectural and events, and more - attended from almost 50 countries, and many have since returned to re-watch the Papers through Hubilo’s On Demand service. Delegates were treated to a diverse range of subject matters from industry professionals at the top of their game. Topics included the illumination of a lighthouse on an island in the Bahamas, lighting comic book movie Birds of Prey, the remote ligh
USA - The ADJ team will be exhibiting at the 2021 Nightclub & Bar Show (Booth #822) scheduled to take place in Las Vegas at the end of June. The ADJ booth will showcase a variety of the company’s latest entertainment lighting products, including IP65-rated fixtures ideal for use on patios, terraces and other outdoor spaces, which are set to be more popular than ever this summer. The 2020 edition of Nightclub and Bar, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first time in 30 years that ADJ hadn’t attended this annual event for the hospitality industry. “This is the perfect time for venue owners and operators of all sizes to gear up for the summer season,” comments ADJ USA’s national sales manager, Alfred Gonzales. “Following a year of restrictions, there is a huge appetite for getting out and socialisng, but it will be locations that of
Spain - With the introduction of new projectors and displays at ISE 2021, Panasonic offers ‘the most complete line-up of 4K visual solutions to meet growing demand for highly detailed and richly immersive viewing experiences’. With the additions of new 4K 1-Chip DLP projectors and interactive displays, Panasonic can offer 4K solutions for ‘any environment, across all industry sectors’, with projectors from 5,000-50,000 lumens and 43-98 inch displays. The technologies are all complemented by Panasonic’s 4K collaboration solutions, including video conferencing and wireless presentation systems. “The time is now for 4K and we are seeing increased demand across all industry sectors,” explained said Hartmut Kulessa, European marketing manager at Panasonic Business. “The entertainment world is using 4K to draw back audiences with immersive attractions, educat
USA - Keith Hoagland is not normally given to public displays of emotion. But at the start of his spotlight meeting prior to Jason Aldean’s Friday 14 May show at The Bonnaroo Farm, he admits it was difficult to avoid. “Things got real at that meeting prior to the show,” said Hoagland, owner of CKP Lighting. “That’s when it hit me. My voice cracked and I just stopped to let it all sink in. I apologised to my crew, but they all felt the same way. It was all very emotional. We were all so happy and grateful to be back.” It had been 14 months since Aldean and his crew had done a full production show. Now, with COVID restrictions starting to be eased, he was lighting Friday and Saturday shows at this open-air concert venue 63 miles south of Nashville. The two shows (the second of which was also livestreamed), more than lived up to expectations, not just fo
USA - Altman Lighting has hired two new sales representatives. Jon Hyrkas will serve as the new Western regional sales manager, and Jake Rhodes will serve as product sales specialist. As the Western regional sales manager, Hyrkas will be representing sales in Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. “I’ve been working in theatre and entertainment for 15 years. I’m really excited to connect people with some of the new exciting products we are launching,” says Hyrkas. “I want to make sure I get the right product in front of the right people, for the right purpose,” says Rhodes. "As the industry begins to emerge from a very difficult time, we are working hard to ensure that we are hiring sales leaders
