Europe - There are three days left for the entertainment lighting industry to respond to the EU Commission’s revised version of the Ecodesign regulation. The consultation period ends on 9 November (Friday) and the draft is open for one last review before the final parliamentary vote. Those who wish to respond should follow this link or visit plasa.org for instructions. Whilst the outcome overall has been positive, European entertainment industry bodies have proposed four ‘small but essential’ amendments ahead of key talks in December. The European Entertainment Ecodesign Coalition (EEEC) -
Austria - Austrian LD Martin Kames and his crew at Martinkames.com have worked with a number of prominent musicians, including Hatebreed, Kreator, Machine Head, Parkway Drive, Heaven Shall Burn and David Hasselhoff. In 2017, Kames took his passion for blending music and light a step further, when he teamed up with guitarist Bernth Brodträger to form CueStack, a band that “intrepidly bridges the gap between sight and sound”. With Brodträger on the guitar, Kames on synths and both sharing vocals, CueStack serves up a techno-driven blend of metal and electronic music that’s tightly woven around light and video. “We fuse visuals with the music to challenge conventional boundaries,” explains Kames. Helping CueStack in this endeavor are two ChamSys MQ100 Pro consoles with one extra Wing and one Mini Wing. “I have been using ChamSys since 2005, when I e
UK - Ayrton’s Ghibli LED spot luminaire made its opera debut at the Garsington Opera Festival. Founded in 1989, the annual Garsington Opera Festival takes place over seven weeks in June and July at the Wormsley Estate, home of the Getty family, amid the beautiful natural setting of the Buckinghamshire countryside. Garsington Opera is renowned for the quality of its productions, and engages the very best performers and musicians from around the world. It is important, therefore, to match this quality of performance with the quality of the production and equipment. The aim therefore was to replace some lighting fixtures with those which made less noise during the finely tuned performances, something they were particularly keen to achieve given the peaceful surroundings. Technical manager, Stephen Hawkins and his production electrician, Sam Floyd, began
UK - Event production specialists proudly supported the team at CoppaFeel, donating a comprehensive event equipment and logistics package for Festifeel, the annual boutique music and comedy festival, held deep within the arches below Waterloo at House of Vans London. CoppaFeel are the UK’s first breast cancer charity to build awareness of the signs and symptoms amongst young people, providing invaluable support and advice aimed at driving home the importance of regularly checking your boobs - a simple procedure that could one day save their life. The team works to equip younger people with the tools and knowledge to be proactive about their own health allowing them the best possible chance of detecting cancer early and enabling them to make informed decisions about their health. Installing a full production package that included lighting and rigging plus video and pr
Sweden - The final tour by Swedish disco group Alcazar concludes at Stockholm’s Cirkus venue on 31 December. Lighting designer Palle Palme applied his golden magic dust to the mix and created “a stunning lighting show with 58 x Robe MegaPointes proudly dancing to the disco-disco beat”. Palle, who works worldwide on theatre, ballet and musical shows, was asked to imagine something special for this landmark occasion. It was the first time he’s worked on an Alcazar tour and also the first time he’s specified and used MegaPointes in a design. At the start of his career as a lighting professional, he wanted to work at the Swedish National Theatre and also to light legendary singer Ulf Lundell, both of which he had achieved by 2002. After that, one of the bands he most wanted to light was Alcazar - because they took ‘disco’ to a different level and he thought t
UK - Directed by the Olivier Award-winning Marianne Elliot, Stephen Sodenheim and George Furth’s musical Company has recently returned to the West End. Playing at the Gielgud Theatre, the show has opened to critical acclaim and has already announced an extension to March 2019. White Light was called upon to supply the lighting. Company tells the story of Bobbie whose friends and family can’t understand why she isn’t married. At her 35th birthday party, she questions the pressure to find the right person and finally settle down. The show is lit by Olivier and Tony Award-winning Neil Austin, who comments: “This is actually the second time I’ve lit Company, having worked on a version in Sheffield about eight years ago with Daniel Evans. It’s a show I love and was delighted to be asked to do it again. What’s brilliant about Marianne’s version
UK - The UK entertainment technology industry is valued at £1.28bn in 2017/18 and its value is predicted to grow over the next five years, according to a new research report by PLASA. The study - said by PLASA to be 'the most comprehensive study of the entire entertainment technology industry in many years' - is available to download from plasa.org. It delves into each market sector’s performance and also looks at the effects of macro-environment trends and employment. According to the findings, all sectors have experienced growth, particularly AV and audio, which represent 38% and 27% of the market share respectively. AV is currently valued at £490m and has an increasing presence in many sectors including architectural and retail. Audio is valued at £340m due to its
USA - Brian Dowd has joined GLP US as sales director. Dowd has previously served as vice-president of sales at ACT Lighting for over 12 years and has also been a regional sales manager at TMB. Throughout his career, he’s worked as an electrician, rigger, designer and production manager. GLP US president Mark Ravenhill comments: “It is fantastic to have Brian join us at GLP. Having known him for many years, his knowledge of the industry and his ability to consistently grow markets will be a great asset to the company as we move forward.” Dowd adds: “I was attracted to GLP because they do not follow the pack. My role at GLP in the America’s is to create growth in the marketplace. There are some very exciting opportunities out there, and I am looking forward to them all.” (Jim Evans)
USA - The University of Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness – the annual televised open practice event for the university’s basketball teams – is a highlight for basketball fans and students, who camp out for days to get tickets to the event. Bandit Lites once again provided the lighting package for the televised celebration, where the 2018/19 season kicked off with dance routines from both the women’s coach, Matthew Mitchell, and the Kentucky cheerleaders along with epically staged introductions as the players were introduced to the sold-out crowd before a scrimmage. Bandit Lites supplied more than 100 fixtures including GLP X4S, Robe BMFLs, GLP X4 Bar 20, Chauvet Rogue RH1 Hybrids, Claypaky B-EYE K20, Suntrips, Robe PATT 2017 and Mega-lite CircaScoops. LD Aaron Swetland tackled the design for the projected #1 ranked basketball team’s event, lighting the t
Germany - The power of collaboration is not to be underestimated. Take German electro duo 2raumwohnung, for example. After meeting in post-reunification Berlin in 1990, electronic musicians Inga Humpe and Tommi Eckart embarked upon two long-term successful collaborations - one of them romantic, and the other as one of Germany’s most successful electropop bands of the last two decades. Tasked with providing visuals for a recent 2raumwohnung performance at the Freilichtbühne in Zinnowitz designer Mario Volk along with the lighting operator Sven Köpke from Hellcon Veranstaltungstechnik, used Cuauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures to create a combination of looks for the band's 90-minute concert. Hellcon Veranstaltungstechnik Stralsund provided Volk with six Maverick MK2 Spot, six Rogue R2 Wash and six Rogue R1 Beam fixtures. These luminaires were hung above
France - The Arlette Gruss Circus is well known for its love of technology and reinvention, constantly keeping their shows fresh. This year, when they changed up their old Big Top for a new model, they embraced a new Robe RoboSpot system. Lighting designer Arthur Oudin had created a new lighting scheme for the circus in January after receiving a brief from director Gilbert Gruss and technical director Julien Lhomme. With the new Big Top, he adapted the lighting design to the new truss points and integrated the RoboSpots. Arlette Gruss Circus opted for a radically different tent, Le Privilége, designed by Gilbert and Julien and manufactured by Italian canvas specialist F. Greco SRL with no inner pole. This allows a completely enhanced visual experience for the audience with an unhindered 360-degree view. The Big Top is effectively anchored in place by its o
World - Lighting designer Ben Inskip is using the new Vista 3 by Chroma-Q lighting & media control system to deliver his dynamic design for fast-rising British rock band, Don Broco's current international tour. Following the release of the album, Technology, the group has been touring prolifically for the past year. This has included a sold-out date at London's Alexandra Palace and other headline shows across Europe; festival gigs at Reading & Leeds and the Vans Warped Tour; and high-profile support slots on massive arena shows in Europe and the US for Thirty Seconds to Mars and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. A Vista user for the past six or so years, Inskip has been impressed by the platform's simple approach to lighting control whilst still enabling programming of complex shows. As well as upgrading his Don Broco core lighting design of bright and
UK - Celebrating the world of entertainment, the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards recognises some of the UK’s unsung heroes alongside stars of music, sport and screen. The live event, held at the SSE Wembley Arena, fronted by Greg James, Mollie King and Maya Jama, featured a host of acts including Little Mix, 5 Seconds of Summer and Sigrid. Working alongside gaffer Richard Gorrod and PRG, LED Creative assisted in building the vast ‘neon’ archways and circular truss system that spanned the areas above both the stage and the audience. The installation allowed the team to create a truly immersive viewer experience that extended beyond the main performance stage to fill the entire venue with a spectacular array of shape and movement. LED Creative also provided a range of proprietary products, including the company’s Pulse Wands and Sigma Fairground fixtures paired with BYT
South Africa - In Die Kollig (Afrikaans for In the Spotlight) is a new TV music show in South Africa produced by one of the country’s most famous TV personalities, singer and entertainer Johan Stemmet, recently broadcast on SABC 2. The first series’ episodes were produced by Stemburg TV and recorded at the Urban Brew Studios at Randburg Waterfront, and the show was creatively lit by Ryan Lombard, head of lighting at Blond Productions, using around 100 Robe moving lights and other fixtures. All the lighting and video equipment was supplied by Blond Productions. Each show featured a local music artist whose story was revealed thorough a series of 12 songs, which included a tribute, a ‘legend’ song, a duo, and other variants. The intense seven-day shoot schedule entailed recording two episodes per day, so Ryan had to light 24 songs - each one l
Europe - Lighting and production designer Mitchell Schellenger has been using an Elation lighting rig to put a mark on the Imagine Dragons worldwide Evolve tour throughout 2018. Schellenger, who joined the tour early in 2018 in time for the first European leg, has been lighting several legs of the tour using Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads, ZW19 LED wash lights, and Protron 3K Color strobes supplied by Christie Lites. Inspired by artist Beeple’s colourful Evolve album art, Schellenger’s setup features eight angled video screens of varying sizes, five high res upstage and three blow-through screens on the floor. Lined vertically along the sides of the upstage video screens, on finger trusses, on wings and on a free-standing B-stage used for an acoustic set are Platinum Beam 5R Extremes, which Schellenger calls the workhorse of the gear. “They are a g
Europe - Walking with Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular (read report in LSi November) is a $20m production based on the award-winning TV programme of the same name. The show benefits from major improvements to animatronics, which have enabled the life-like dinosaurs to 'eat' and 'breathe' - and live arena experience has already been seen by over nine million people in more than 250 cities globally. Experience and expert technical knowledge has been essential in executing the brief, and South Wales-based Sonalyst was called upon to deliver. The audio, lighting, BlackTrax system and comms for the production were all provided by Sonalyst. Project manager George Pakenham explains: “Being a
USA - The pop-up Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC) continues its celebrated tour across the nation, with locations such as Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles all getting a glimpse at this special attraction. Production company Envizion provided the lighting for the travelling museum, with their lighting designer Will Chandler choosing the impression X4 atom as one of the key fixtures for the lighting of the exhibit. “With the locations only being temporary, and with the exhibits inside each one continually changing, it's been important to have fixtures on hand that are adaptable,” Chandler said. And the X4 atom is precisely that; with its small size and powerful capabilities the fixture lends itself perfectly to this format. One of the key aspects behind the choice of the X4 atom was the importance of the museum being camera friendly. Chandler made good use of the
Indonesia - The 2018 Asian Games Opening Ceremony, staged in Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Main Stadium, saw LD Yves Aucoin to deliver an impressive lighting design. The OC of Asia’s largest sporting event featured a general cast of around 4000, produced by Scott Givens and Libby Hyland working with Indonesian creative director Wishnutama Kusubandio. Staging direction was by Michael Pena working with Indonesian choreographers Denny Malik and Eko Supriyanto, and the breathtakingly visual extravaganza was produced by live event specialists FiveCurrents. Montreal based LD Aucoin specified 270 x Robe BMFLs to be a major part of the lighting rig. “It was BMFLs or BMFLs,” he says. “They were the only fixture option for a selection of key positions around the venue.” These high-powered fixtures once again proved their ruggedness and reliability as
Sweden - Each year in October, the Swedish town of Alingsås near Gothenburg turns into a fun lighting event, attracting more than 80,000 visitors from around the world. For this year’s Lights in Alingsås, six groups of talented lighting and electrical students created beautiful light installations under the professional guidance from seven established lighting designers using over 50 fixtures from SGM Light. The almost 400-year-old Swedish town Alingsås started off mainly as an iron trade city, which later turned into a city for the textile industry. In the city river, the manufacturers would wash out the colour of the textiles, giving the name for the first site for this year’s Lights in Alingsås, Färgeribron (Dyers’ bridge). Led by Nielsen and van der Velden, this team focused on the visible energy from the water as well as the communa
Canada - Lighting designer Karl Gaudreau has added a large complement of Claypaky fixtures to the lighting at Bell Centre for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Gaudreau selected Claypaky SharBar advanced moving LED bars, Axcor Profile 900 LED spots and Axcor Beam 300s for the arena. Montreal’s Bell Centre is consistently one of the busiest arenas in the world. It is the largest arena capacity to regularly host an NHL team, the Montreal Canadiens who make their home at the downtown venue. “I wanted to increase the fan experience and be able to create different lighting effects during the games as well as for rock ’n roll shows,” says Gaudreau. “The design is mostly based on audience lighting that delivers a true 360º experience.” The lighting designer notes that when adding new lights to the arena, “the idea was to be fully green by using only LED fix
USA - Once counted among the South’s leading cinemas, the Miller Theatre in Augusta had sat boarded up and empty for over thirty years, until being reborn as a community performing arts centre in January with a sold-out gala featuring Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster performing with the Augusta Symphony. The theatre had undergone a $23m makeover. To serve the community that saved it, the theatre features a diverse mix of shows that offers ballet one week, and kick boxing the next, with shows by stars like Chris Isaak and George Thorogood thrown in for good measure. Helping the theatre support this eclectic mix of talent is a robust new lighting rig anchored by Chauvet Professional Rogue and Ovation fixtures. “I’ve been a big fan of Chauvet fixtures ever since I learned about the line from my friend John Berrett, who I respect a great deal as a lighting designer,
USA - Last year, LiteGear designated their LiteMat+ fixture to participate in the Behind the Scenes Pledge-a-Product Programme which resulted in a generous donation of $7,500. This year, owners Al DeMayo and Mike Bauman decided to take their support to the next level and designated sales of all LiteMat fixtures to benefit the charity. Recently, they presented a cheque for $15,000 to members of the Behind the Scenes Board of Directors, representing an incredible commitment by the company, its employees and its customers to care for their colleagues who are seriously ill or injured. On presenting the cheque, LiteGear CEO, Al DeMayo, states: “With decades of experience working in the business, my partner Mike and I have worked with lots of great filmmakers. We are happy to know the Behind the Scenes charity is behind-the-technicians should they need it.” Lori R
USA - For residents of the historic Buckeye-Shaker neighbourhood, the concerts that take place on the sprawling grounds of St. Luke’s Manor offer more than a chance to enjoy good music, they also serve as a celebration of their community’s rebirth. The impressive building that provides an emblematic backdrop to the concert series had stood empty and neglected for 14 years after the hospital that originally occupied it closed its doors in 1999. When the five-story structure reopened after extensive renovations in 2013 as a multi-use facility, it served as a catalyst for a neighbourhood-wide renaissance. Designer Brent Schmidt of B Productions reflected this hopeful spirit and accented St. Luke’s Manor’s memorable architectural features, when he illuminated the building in an array of colours. Helping him in this endeavour were 24 Freedom Par Quad-4 IP and six I
UK - Aurora Lighting supported lighting designer Gurdip Mahal and gaffer James Tinsley for the 2018 Stand Up to Cancer live show. Hosted by Alan Carr, Maya Jama and Adam Hills in front of an audience at Central Methodist Hall, Westminster, the evening featured appearances from John Legend, Liam Gallagher, Little Mix, Michael Bublé and James Corden taking part in celebrity versions of some of Channel 4’s most popular shows to help build awareness of the fight against cancer. To help set the stage for the show, Aurora provided a mix of automated fixtures, tungsten and LED which the crew used to great effect, creating a stylish contemporary look that contrasted perfectly against the grandiose interior of the venue. Martin MAC Auras delivered intense colour washes to the performance areas, matched with ProLights Smartbat and SGM P5 LED uplighters plus GLP X4 Bar20
