USA - Chauvet Professional was awarded the 2019 LDI Large Booth Design Award. Described by the award organisers as a “welcoming and easily walkable” exhibit that “beautifully integrated” lighting and video, the stand engaged visitors with its visual displays. Ryan Warffuel and Max Koehler of Antics Studio created this panorama with help from the Chauvet Professional team, using over 200 of the company’s IP65 outdoor-ready products, including the newly-launched Maverick Storm 1 Spot, Maverick Storm 1 Wash, COLORado Solo Batten, Strike 1, and F5IP video panel. To underscore the IP65 ratings of the fixtures on the booth’s main wall, a “live rainfall” appeared in front of the lighting units. For added emphasis, the video wall that ran between the lighting fixtures showed vivid images of flowing water that bordered the geometric patterns of the panel displ
UK LSi is sad to report that lighting designer Chris Ellis passed away on 8th November 2019, aged 69. Born in Gloucester, on 23rd April 1950 to Doctor John and Mrs Mary Ellis, Chris Ellis lost both of his parents before he turned seven. He became ward to the Reverend Eric and Mrs Vivienne Gethyn-Jones in Dymock, spending a happy country childhood with a brother and sister that the couple had also adopted. From age eight to 18 he attended the Dean Close boarding school in Cheltenham, where he discovered a love of the backstage world - and the skill, which would be useful throughout his career, of persuading people to pay for new lighting equipment. In this case, the school bursar was convinced to buy four new Patt 23 spotlights.
With his ambition to be a commercial airline pilot thwarted by asthma, he decided instead to try making a career in lighting. Accepted by the B
USA - Spotrack discussed the new features of the soon-to-be-released Spotrack 2020 edition of the system at the BCT Entertainment stand during the LDI tradeshow in Las Vegas. Spotrack enables an operator to remotely control from any location, any number of moving lights as followspots. It works with any moving light and any lighting console, in any performance space and can be used in all entertainment sectors from anywhere in the venue. In conjunction with Ushio Japan and Strong Lighting, the Spotrack team also conducted regular live demonstrations of this and its new followspot interface, SpotrackEvolution, on the Apex Stages stage. Whilst the forthcoming Spotrack 2020 sees the addition of many new features that allow users more flexibility, some in response to customer feedback, it has been principally upgraded to enable the use of SpotrackEvolution. Used wit
USA - Audience members had no idea what they were in for as they entered the UNO Lakefront Arena of The University of New Orleans for the first of Widespread Panic’s three-night performance. Coupled with the Halloween tradition of the band playing songs that have never graced their stage before, everyone involved is on their toes, and none more so than long-time lighting designer Paul Hoffman. “The band’s dynamic range is broad spanning hard rock to emotive ballads and stops at every station in between - so I need to be able to serve all those needs - often taking a more theatrical approach to the emotionally heavier music,” Hoffman says. “Because of the breadth here, flexibility and dynamic versatility are my best friends.” For this year’s iteration where the stage was outfitted in an Andy Kaufman theme, complete with miniature wrestling ring, New York
UK - This month saw the 10th anniversary of Lumiere - the UK’s largest light festival - take place in Durham. The event, run by Artichoke, has been transforming cities across the UK since 2009, with each Lumiere festival inviting local and international artists to create works that reimagine familiar buildings and public spaces, changing the way we experience our urban surroundings. Over the 10 years since the first Lumiere, Unusual Rigging has been a key supplier in the delivery of specialist rigging and engineering for the festival in Durham. Engineers, riggers and technicians work with Artichoke’s production teams to design solutions to the most challenging projects, from working in delicate heritage environments such as Durham Cathedral to rigging artworks over the river Wear or across the historic medieval streets. Kate Harvey, senior producer for Artichoke co
UK - Xerocon London 2019 returned to ExCel London on 13-14 November, bringing together accountants, bookkeepers, ecosystem partners and industry leaders. Over 3,500 delegates gathered to find out the latest news and updates from cloud-based accounting software company Xero. Creative technical production expert Hawthorn was chosen by agency Taylor Bennett Partners to deliver the full technical design and production for the two-day event. Led by Pete Harding, Hawthorn’s head of creative technical, the company was tasked to bring Taylor Bennett’s vision to life, delivering full technical production for the main conference plenary, exhibition space, break-out sessions and evening party. The event featured a mammoth LED screen, an impressive lightbox installation and a village green complete with a cricket pitch and projection-mapped pond. The main stage played hos
Romania - Lighting and stage design studio M3 Studio in Bucharest selected a large complement of Claypaky fixtures for the latest tour by Andra, the best-selling Romanian pop and folk artist. Claypaky SharBars, Alpha Spot 800 QWOs, A.leda Wash K10s and Sharpys helped illuminate Andra’s 10 dates from April to September across Romania. M3 Studio, known for providing visual creativity for bands, clubs and shows, was charged with designing a compact show that would be easy to rig in the short time intervals available at each stop on the tour. A mobile stage was chosen for fast deployment on the road. “I opted for Claypaky fixtures because I’ve always been pleased with their optical systems and colour mixing,” says lighting designer Petrus Rogojinschi. Ten SharBars, in pairs, were attached to the roof of the stage; another 14 were placed in pairs on the floor
Italy - Harman Professional Solutions has announced Exhibo as the distributor for Martin by Harman in Italy. “Exhibo is a world-class company with a strong legacy and deep understanding of the market needs in Italy,” said Michael Grandon Clouet, senior regional sales director at Harman Professional Solutions, EMEA. “It is for this reason, appointing Exhibo as our lighting distributor allows Harman to increase Martin’s presence while improving customer service in the region. We couldn’t be happier with this new partnership and the excellence that the Exhibo team will bring representing our products to customers.” “For more than 30 years, Martin lighting has been innovating the way people visually experience live performances, landmarks and enterprises with selection of high-quality fixtures used the world over,” says Alessandro Fantin, pro & broadca
USA - Robe rocked one of its busiest and most dynamic LDI expos to date in Las Vegas, winning two awards, one for Best Creative Use of Light and the other for the T1 product series. The second instalment of its #ReturnToTheFuture live show created a serious buzz. This show is a performance trilogy highlighting Robe’s latest LED and moving light technologies including the just-launched PLASA award-winning Esprite and the new Tetra2 moving LED batten. #ReturnToTheFuture part 2 highlighted Robe’s newest products in the context for which they were designed. The energized 7.5-minute performance played five times a day and had an original DeLorean MMC12 as the set centrepiece, six dancers and around 200 Robe lights - including Esprites, Tetras, T1s, SilverScans, MegaPointes, Spiiders, Tarrantulas, SuperSpikies, LEDBeam150s and PixelPATTs. These were
USA - Event production company Genetic Productions is out with Morgan Wallen as the rising country music star opens as direct support on Luke Combs’ Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, a North American stretch that wraps in mid-December with shows at the 20,000-capacity Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Genetic has again supplied an Elation rig for the singer after having supplied Wallen’s inaugural headlining tour, Up Down, last year. Genetic serves as the lighting and video vendor for the outing, working closely with designer Zac Coren. The lighting rig includes 3° beams from Elation DARTZ 360 LED moving heads energizing the atmosphere while immersing the stage and crowd in colour and effect. Zac Coren, who serves as lead LD, says the DARTZ are the main focal point of his design. “They provide a lot of dynamic looks and have a great feature set to accomplish
Cambodia - ABA Bank head office recently acquired Martin lighting equipment from Harman Professional Solutions, in collaboration with Bright & Eternity Co, to achieve maximum visibility and enhance the architectural features of the building. Located in the centre of the capital city, Phnom Penh, along one of the busiest roads - Preah Sihanouk Boulevard, ABA Bank’s head office witnesses thousands of people pass through every day. The bank and the head office building has overseen a major phase of growth and development, comprising of several rented buildings, a mix of back and front-line offices, and exclusive executive spaces for the top-management. Also, contributing to the landscape of the city is the bank’s contemporary façade made of a mixture of vertical louvers and corrugated box panels. “The challenge at the ABA Bank’s head office was to highlight a
UK - Success is serving the independently owned, 1,700 cap Electric Brixton well, a two-step refurbishment programme refining the venue’s image and functionality. LED fixtures light the building’s front wall, which has been resealed and repainted, amplifying the Electric’s standing on Brixton Hill. Through the doors to the main space the second room wall has gone, improving sightlines and bringing more flexibility in terms of operating the area. It also makes for a much larger bar stage left and quicker service. An LX console front of house, with additional motors above stage and across the room, and new fixtures, gives LDs easier access to the venue’s lighting equipment and more capacity to shape the image of a performance/club. Production manager, Tom Cull, comments: “This is all brand new, state-of-the-art equipment. It was about improving the
USA - As one of this year’s most anticipated Broadway musicals, Moulin Rouge! The Musical has captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike. Its performances and production design combine to create an extravagant experience thanks to the talent on and off the stage - and, in part, to the power of Eos. “ETC’s products are why we can make this show happen,” says lighting designer Justin Townsend. “There is just so much data - nothing else could have driven the show.” Most people are familiar with the 2001 motion picture, a stylistic spectacle from the mind of Baz Luhrmann, so it was important to the musical’s creative team to make something that both honoured the film and stood out for itself. “We didn’t want to just recreate the movie,” Townsend says, “but try to create a live Moulin Rouge experience.” The over-the-top scenery b
South Africa - A recent technical upgrade at Joburg Theatre includes four Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots which have been installed for use in the 1000+ seat Mandela Theatre. The complex’s largest auditorium, The Nelson Mandela Theatre, regularly sees over 75% of capacity audiences and remains open a minimum of 50 weeks in each year. In the past decade, it has hosted many hit shows, including William Kentridge’s acclaimed interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the West End and Broadway musicals West Side Story, Chicago, The Color Purple and Spamalot and top-of-the-line global touring shows, such as Le Grand Cirque, Lord of the Dance and Brazouka. Joburg Theatre is also the permanent home to Joburg Ballet, Jill Girard and Keith Smith’s Peoples Theatre Company, and one of the country’s most
Europe - Laserworld has introduced EL-300RGB, a diffraction effects laser suitable for use in small to medium sized rooms. EL-300RGB has a multicolour white light laser system that creates a multitude of projection dots or beams through haze and fog. Due to its special optics, the power of the laser system is distributed evenly to the dots, making the laser safe for audience scanning whilst the laser beams remain visible. The laser system can be controlled via DMX, but can also run in standalone operation or be triggered by music and linked as master and slave with two or more units. The colour and effects rotation in the EL-300RGB can be controlled from the digital display or via DMX to select specific colours. Rotation can be selected from slow to fast to suit any occasion, or remain static. (Jim Evans)
USA - Claypaky has introduced Reflectxion, a new moving mirror that promises up to 99% reflectance without chromatic aberrations. Featuring a 390 by 280mm surface, Reflectxion can redirect beams of light from any stage light with the same intensity as it receives them. The unit offers 540° pan and continuous tilt movement at adjustable speeds. Using the same omega clamp hanging system utilised in all Claypaky luminaires, this compact moving mirror can be used virtually anywhere on or off stage in any working position, says the company. For control, the unit uses only six DMX channels and pan and tilt resolution are both 16-bit for precise movements. The unit’s onboard LCD menu system is very user friendly and makes addressing and setup simple. (Jim Evans)
USA - Elation Professional launched Magmatic, a new brand of atmospheric effects, at LDI 2019. Designed, engineered and exclusively distributed by Elation, Magmatic products encompass a range of haze and fog machines with the Magma and Thermatic series, atmospheric snow machines with the Polar series, and CO2 cryogenic simulation effects with the Rocket series. To complement all of the special effects machines, Elation has developed a complete line of specially formulated effect fluids called Atmosity. Also available is an IP65-rated series of UV LED lighting products in the Prisma series. “We have long had a vision that stems from a strong demand from our customers around the world to create more advanced atmospheric products designed for professional users, products that are easy to use and hard to break, and that is exactly what we are doing with Magmatic,” sta
USA - At LDI 2019, High End Systems introduced the SolaHyBeam 3000 automated fixture. With a feature set designed for beam control, aerial effects and raw power, the flagship luminaire has all the elements to cut through the haze and shine brilliantly in the world’s largest venues, says the company. Powered by an efficient White Light LED engine, SolaHyBeam 3000 features a large front aperture and optimised long throw optics for ‘superior light output throughout the fixture’s wide zoom range’. Automated lighting product manager, Matt Stoner, comments: “We are so excited to have the SolaHyBeam 3000 added to our family of ultra-powerful premium quality fixtures. The SolaHyBeam 3000 specialises in a fantastic narrow 3.1° beam, turning its massive output and dazzling front lens into a powerful narrow beam. Whether used as a long throw front light (yes it has framing s
Germany - Thomas Gottschalk once again gathered a who's who of ‘80s cult stars at the TUI Arena in Hannover for Gottschalk's Big 80s Show. Performances by Kim Wilde, Paul Young, Thomas Anders, Marc Almond and many more could be experienced on the set's four show stages, with the concert broadcast by ZDF. Lighting cameraman / gaffer for the production was Michael Donecker. Frank Hofmann - better known as FH - from Scan Design Berlin was responsible for the show lighting design of a production that lasted for several hours. FH, who developed a penchant for lighting design early in life, today works predominantly for TV productions. He notes: “I wanted to create a vintage look that could be interpreted in a modern way - that is, to imitate the looks of those days but using modern technology.” The set itself was dominated by video elements. A huge LED display
USA - Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln Neal III (Rhett & Link) have been blazing a trail with their mix of music and comic antics. Their routines include ‘rap battles’ that feature unlikely antagonists, such as the Wright Brothers vs the Mario Brothers and Leonardo Da Vinci against The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lighting this pair of comedic musicians on tour requires a design that is powerful enough to accent punch lines and ballyhoo moments, while still serving up softer, subtle looks that create theatrical moments for sketches. This is precisely what the design team of Rebecca and Bryan Hairston delivered for Rhett & Link when they stopped at the iSaenger Theatre in New Orleans recently. Helping them were a group of Chauvet Professional Maverick, Rogue and Ovation fixtures supplied by See-Hear Productions. “Everything came together for us at th
USA - At last week’s LDI 2019 tradeshow in Las Vegas, Prolights unveiled a new logo, brand design, and website. The rebrand marks the beginning of a new era for the Italian lighting manufacturer, which exhibited on a dedicated booth at LDI for the first time. Prolights’ logo features a prism design and ‘has been reduced to its essential elements, adding the yellow touch which represents the colour of the light’. A dedicated website (prolights.it) was also launched, offering a modern look and intuitive browsing on any platform. “The new brand design marks the start of the new era for Prolights,” comments Fabio Sorabella, managing director. “By formulating new content and with new products, the brand is undergoing an essential transformation towards a future with higher technological contents and the internalization of our company. Now is the right t
USA - ETC continued its commitment to caring for entertainment technology professionals in need by presenting a cheque to Behind the Scenes during LDI for $23,628.98. This represented the most recent proceeds from the company’s iRFR and aRFR (Radio Focus Remote) applications. Since the launch of the iRFR in 2009, ETC’s mobile app sales have now generated over $390,000 in donations. The iRFR and aRFR mobile apps enable convenient, touchscreen-based remote control for Eos family consoles and controllers. You can learn more about the apps from the ETC website and download them from the iTunes or Google Play stores. “We never imagined that this app would provide such continuous support to Behind the Scenes. ETC is grateful to all the people who have supported the Eos platform and purchased this app over the years,” comments Wendy Orfan, marketing communications m
USA - The winners of the second annual Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA) ceremony have been announced. The event, which took place at The Joint in The Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, 22 November, saw almost 400 industry professionals celebrate the creative talents of lighting and video designers. Following an indoor drone display courtesy of Verity Studios, 26 designers were "knighted" for their work on productions in the Theatre, Live for Broadcast and Concert Touring & Events categories. These awards were followed by the presentation of the Paky Lifetime Recognition Award created by co-headline sponsor Claypaky.
The 2019 KOI-USA winners are as follows:
Theatre The Notch Award for Projection Design: Roma Flowers for A Bon Coeur The ETC Award for Dance: Brandon Stirling Baker for Reflections The Al
UK - It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Alistair Grant, the much-loved UK lighting designer and production electrician, who died peacefully at home on 4 November 2019 after a battle with motor neurone disease. Born in Dublin and raised in Belfast, Alistair came to London to join the National Youth Theatre, then trained at LAMDA and took his first professional role with Theatre Projects. This marked the start of a remarkable career which involved him in over 200 UK and international productions. Known to all as Ali Barrel, his inate skill and professionalism was matched by his warmth and generosity. Don Holder remembers him as “a great and immensely loyal friend, a brilliant colleague and sensitive collaborator,” and Jeanne Koenig as “an inspired person, an inspiring person, an artist, a person of brilliance, a humourist, a kind and g
