Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

New Year's Eve celebrations in Rotterdam and Amsterdam and a Christmas charity event in Groningen brought together tens of thousands of people in each city with each presenting different challenges for crowd safety. International barrier company Mojo Barriers worked with production companies on each events to supply tailored barrier systems to ensure each event was safe.

For the double New Year's Eve events Mojo Barriers used two teams to work in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In Rotterdam a floating stage on the canal hosted a music concert and The Production Factory commissioned Mojo Barriers to install 750m of barrier along the canal bank. 20,000 people attended and the Mojo team used their experienc

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14 March 2016

Following the highly upbeat reaction to PLASA09, with exhibitors expressing delight at the quality of visitors despite the financial climate, expectations for PLASA 2010 are also high.

Early exhibitor news includes confirmation by Martin Professional; a doubling of stand space by Nexo; and the return after a one-year absence of Zero 88.

PLASA's Events manager Sophie Atkinson said, "Last year the free registration offer helped boost exhibitors' confidence in the show's compelling drawing power by attracting thousands of ear

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14 March 2016

As one of the oldest and most picturesque cities in Belgium, Bruges was the host to winter shopping and ice skating for locals and visitors to the city.

Stageco was brought in for the seventh consecutive year to create the framework and infrastructure for the city centre attraction. The Stageco team of four transported 80 tons of equipment to the site to build the 20m x 30m ice rink structure.

Tom Bilsen, project manager for Stageco comments, "The ice rink was a challenge due to the uneven ground level. Across the rink there was a difference of 1.5m in height which meant we had to design the structure to overcome this."

This year, Stageco also built 12 scaffolding towers surrounding the ice rick which were used for decoration

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14 March 2016

The IEC-lock is an IEC female line plug with an integral locking system that is backwardly compatible with existing IEC male inlet sockets. An internal latch clamps the earth pin, making it resistant to accidental disconnection and vibration. The IEC-lock is used just like a normal power cable, except to unplug it, the user simply pulls back a red button on the underside of the connector to release the lock.

This makes the IEC-lock's locking mechanism suitable for protecting entertainment technology electrical appliances, including computer equipment and data communications applications that require a secure power source.

The IEC-lock is availab

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14 March 2016

Cover It Up helped transform the main Arena and the Pavilion areas of the venue into one of the biggest and most successful dance party events in the country, celebrating the start of a new decade with six action packed arenas and a dynamic line up of DJs and performers.

Cover It Up's main challenge with this one was to design and rig a sonic baffling system that would separate the sounds between the two principle spaces - the main One Nation arena and Hardcore Heaven - which were set up back to back in the NEC's Arena.

The client was primarily concerned about the potential bass seepage between the two arenas, but Cover It Up's Elliot Stennett r

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14 March 2016

John Hastie, operations director comments, "The site is aimed to reflect what theatre automation should be all about - it's easy-to-use, visually exciting, dynamic and we wonder how we ever managed with the old, static site."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

It follows an exceptional few months for the London based company, which has provided production rigging design and installation for the BBC Sports Personality of The Year 2009, Children In Need, the Selfridges Christmas Lights switch-on, Harry Potter - The Half Blood Prince premiere in Leicester Square, Ford's stand at the Shanghai Motor Show, and live productions of the BBC's So You Think You Can Dance, Mama Mia in Oslo and Phantom of the Opera in Buenos Aires.

The Emirates project, created to emphasise the link between Arsenal's glory days at its former Hig

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14 March 2016

Day One will be a general technical training day, incorporating an overview of the basic Kinesys system and how it works including the conversion of hoists to vari-speed; the use of the Kinesys Elevation 1+ and Elevation 24 hoist controllers and Kinesys' range of power distribution units; connecting everything together, fault finding and running from Rigger remote control handsets.

Day Two will be dedicated to the philosophies and working of the Kinesys Vector control software, complete with practical sessions allowing attendees to get hands-on with the contr

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14 March 2016

Mojo Barriers proved that the company's line of crowd control barricade is durable and can sustain the rigours of the leading worldwide tours. Metallica, a band with a long-standing relationship with Mojo Barriers are also listed in the Top Ten.

Supplying a 'tour stock' of Mojo Barriers is only the first step in many of these relationships. Additional barricade was often provided for tours with specific large-scale shows, such as Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium that required an additional 200m of barricade. The Toronto shows for both U2 and The Jonas Brothers also required additional barriers, with Mojo Barriers representatives 'hands-on' approach evident

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14 March 2016

St Albans - Alban Arena
Date: 1st February 2010
Hosted by: Alban Arena
Contact: David Croom
Telephone: 01727 861078, or email: aatechnical@leisureconnection.co.uk

Brighton - Corn Exchange
Date: Sunday 13th June 2010
Hosted by: Brighton Dome
Telephone: 01273 709709, or email: events@brightondome.org

Coventry - Warwick Arts Centre
Date: Sunday 18th July 2010
Hopsted by: ABTT Summer School
Contact: Geoff Joyce
Telephone: 020 7242 9200, or email: training@ab

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14 March 2016

Summit was working for the show's producers Indigo Television. The Kent-based company also provides all the in-house rigging services for the O2, so Summit's project managers Jon Bray and Simon Frost and three production riggers joined forces with the 12 Summit-supplied venue riggers to ensure an efficient and tidy operation.

Lighting was designed by Mike 'Sooty' Sutcliffe and supplied by Panalux. It involved the flying of five 'finger' trusses over the stage, complete with two wider 'fingers' which were offstage and at slightly lower heights. A further 17 points were utilised to fly three straight trusses for audience lighting.<

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14 March 2016

The reviews are over when the posted 'Review End Date' is reached. The draft standards are part of the BSR E1.6 powered theatrical rigging system project. BSR E1.6-1 deals with powered winches that are not serially manufactured electric chain hoists; BSR E1.6-2 deals with powered winches that are.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Escient Zone is a powerful integrated CI home control system exclusive to D&M Europe. Zone is positioned to provide fully featured, high performance home automation and control at a lower price point than current market leading systems, says the company.

The new Zone MP400 media player extends the multiroom audio distribution capabilities of current Zone media players into the video domain. The MP400 enables distribution of video from a central hard drive throughout the home and can handle a wide ra

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14 March 2016

Brighton Festival Fringe is one of the largest and fastest-growing open access arts festival in the world and the largest in England. Anyone can put on an event in the Fringe, so it functions as a springboard for new work as well as a guaranteed platform for more established acts.

Brighton & Hove has held Fringe activity since the Brighton Festival was launched in 1967. In 2006 the Fringe became a company in its own right and appointed an independent board of directors: it is also a registered charity. Fringe 2010 will run from 1-23 May.

Firefly will be providing a number of solar powered stages as well as supplying all technical infrastructure

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14 March 2016

Jamie Reilly commented: "Having an opportunity to collaborate with a company like Eat to the Beat is a privilege to learn new methods of working, new recipes and meeting extraordinary people, this is how, at Cirque du Soleil we remain innovative in all different aspects of our business, from the stage to the Kitchen! I am very pleased to have found with Eat to the Beat the op

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14 March 2016

RFW, owned and managed by Fragille Wade, formerly of Dubai-based Protec, has tied up with SES to sell its products to an already extensive client base in the region.

Fragille Wade commented: "Having worked with SES's products for many years, I was pleased to be able to represent them in the region and supply a market that has an insatiable appetite for quality distribution equipment. There has been a significant gap in the market here for some time which we hope to be able to fill with a wide range of Power Products which we will hold in stock at our new warehouse in Dubai. We will be adding to our product range over the coming months and will be a one stop shop for the production and e

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14 March 2016

The current topics are How to Tie a Figure of 8 Knot and How to Properly Inspect Your Truss. Will Todd, product support manager, of Tomcat USA leads both of these informative sessions.

The videos can be viewed and downloaded at www.tomcatglobal.com. These videos arrive just in time to serve as a sneak preview of some topics to be covered during Tomcat's Hoist & Rigging Workshops to be held on 17-20 February 2010 - Space is still available.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Summit was working for Andy Peat Associates. They had rigged a similar - slightly smaller - screen in the venue two years ago for Peat and his team to facilitate the premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. This time, the screen frame measured an even more impressive 33.45m wide by 14.95m deep.

Summit's crew, led by project manager Jay Call, also flew the PA system and all the drapes used to dress the venue and transform it into a giant cinema for the day.

The screen frame was constructed from 30.5 cm JTE trussing and picked up on four one-tonne points. The projection material - supplied by Harkness Hall - was attached and tensioned via the traditional method

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14 March 2016

Genielux allows users around the world to locate pro video, audio, and lighting rental and sales inventory from companies who sign up online and place their inventory to Genielux. The application features proprietary code that can identify model numbers regardless of format, which was specifically written for Genielux. "We spent 10 months developing code that can match what an iPhone user may type in and match them correctly to our vendors. We're amazed how accurate the results are," said Michael Zinman, president of The Zinman Co.

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14 March 2016

When Northern Stage were looking for a fast moving, variable speed system to fly scenery during the show, they approached A.C. Rigging to find a cost-effective solution as A.C. had previously supplied and installed the theatre's complete lighting technical facilities for all three performance stages as part of a multi-million pound refurbishment programme in 2007.

The venue required a complete package with the ability to expand on the system in the future and more importantly, full product knowledge and support should any problems arise. A.C.

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14 March 2016

All three ETCP examinations will be offered at USITT in Kansas City, Missouri. All applications must be submitted to the ETCP office no later than 1March 1, 2010. The exam dates are: Entertainment Electrical Exam: March 31, 2010 (9:00 am); Arena Rigging Exam: April 1, 2010 (9:00 am); Theatre Rigging Exam: April 1, 2010 (2:00 pm).

All three exams are available at over 190 testing centres in the US and Canada on most business days. The Arena and Electrical examinations will also be given at InfoComm this summer in Las Vegas.

Complete information is available on the ETCP website: http://etcp.esta.org. The ETCP 50-question practice examinations are now available at www.esta.org/etcppracticeexams.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The Museum has a busy programme of events and functions often taking place in the impressive Central Hall, home to 'Dippy', the spectacular 26m long skeleton of a Diplodocus, who has been one of the Museum's most treasured exhibits since he was first unveiled to the public in 1905.

As a standard draping package for events staged in this space, the Cover It Up team will install a 160 x 25ft LED full colour changing starcloth along one side of the room, which has to be hung in lightening quick speed in the hour between the doors being shut to the public at 6pm and the event kick off time of 7 - 7.30pm. This is achieved by six Cover It Up crew, who now have the task down to a rapid and fine art.

In addition to this, 'speci

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14 March 2016

Designed to meet the toughest industrial applications, the Leica DISTO range is suitable for entertainment applications such as measuring grid heights, venue parameters, stage sets and hard-to-access areas. Features include a measuring range of up to 200m, laser accuracy of ± 1mm and a robust, water resistant (IP54) design.

The eighth generation Leica DISTO range includes the world's smallest measure device, the DISTO D2, and DISTO D3 with built-in tilt sensor which quickly and simply determines tilt angles up to ± 45°. Also available is the DISTO D5, which comes equipped with a digital video point finder using a h

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14 March 2016

The compact system controls kinetic drives for mobile and flexible project applications. Suitable for up to 72 drives, it is capable of controlling and supervising any application involving D8, D8 Plus and C1 drives, whether fixed- or variable-speed, as well as supporting mixed operation of all kinds. With it, depending upon the drive and controller specifications, entire systems can be realised from safety integrity level (SIL) 1 to SIL 3. Integrating existing drives and other stage machinery is also possible.

In its basic configuration, the controller complies with the D8 or BGV C1 standards, but as an option it can be upgraded for applications up to SIL 3 and therefore for the movement of loads over people. The Basic Controller controls and supervises