Power To The People! Page 49

Transcrição

July 2006
InfoComm Touts Light
and Video Convergence
Photo by Steve Jennings
ORLANDO, FL – More than
26,000 AV professionals converged
on Orlando for this year’s InfoComm
International trade show and exhibition held June 3-9. Though many
of the 770 exhibitors spread across
nearly half a million square feet in
the exhibition hall are on the periphery of the live event arena, the
lighting pavilion, which occupied
about 10% of the show floor or
less, had much to offer. Several new
products attracted the attention of
attendees seeking new solutions
for cutting-edge designs. Among
them was Element Labs Stealth, a
plastic mesh with LED video pixels
at each intersection (sound familiar?
See Komaden Image-Mesh in the
December 2005 LDI issue of PLSN).
continued on page 12
Dave Matthews Band
Summer Tour 2006
signers used the new LED display to create a skyline
with a mesh covering, resulting in what they call
the low-res “mesh city.” It’s a 42-meter wide three
dimensional scenic stage backdrop with 384 square
meters of LED made up of over 1490 MiStrips.
Nocturne is supplying all of the video gear except
for the MiStrips, which were supplied by XL Video.
The structure of mesh city was fabricated by XL
Video Belgium, so the project was a joint venture
between XL Video LA, Atlanta, and Belgium (Kristoff
Soreyn). “We were able to manage both sides of the
Atlantic between myself and Guido Ruysschaert,”
said Wiseman.
What else do you call a summer
tour when it’s a band as unpretentious as the Dave Matthews Band?
But don’t let the moniker fool you,
this is no ordinary DMB Summer
Tour. The massive set is dominated
by a backdrop with trussing, LEDs,
and…more LEDs. Although the video plays a larger role in this production than in past DMB tours, LD Fenton Williams is careful not to overdo
it.“I don’t want it to be overbearing,”
he says.
How to run lighting and video
on a scale of this proportion without
overpowering the show is the subject of the DMB feature on page 36.
Inside...
20
A Tale of Two Installs
PLSN takes you backstage to two
of the biggest installs of the year.
Any year.
28
Valy Tremblay
How child’s play—playing with
batteries and bulbs—has morphed
into a career in lighting design
in this month’s PLSN Interview.
52
A Case for the Road
As technology and gas continue
to rise in price, cases become more
important. Find out how our cases
have become stronger and more
lightweight at the same time.
Ad info: www.plsn.com/rsc
Bon Jovi Goes to Mesh City
LOS ANGELES—When Bon Jovi’s world tour headed for its stadium dates, John Bon Jovi wanted to
create a “big look” for the outdoor shows. Production designers Spike Brant and Justin Collie sat
down with Marcel DeKeyzer and John Wiseman of
XL Video and went over all of the possibilities for
outdoor video displays both in use and being developed. They brought in Fredrick Opsomer of Innovative Designs, who co-developed the MiSphere
product with Barco, and the result was a new product, Barco MiStrip.
MiStrip was developed using the same 10mm
SMD LEDs that are used in the O-Lite series. The de-
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
Features
20 Phantom of the Opera
and LOVE Take Vegas
Just when you think it can’t possibly
get any bigger or better, along comes
two new productions that re-define
“Mega- Production”.
45 Product Spotlight
The newest offering from one of the
oldest followspot manufactures.
46 Road Tests
Two new automated color mixing
wash luminaires from Clay Paky
and the newest haze machine from
Look Solutions.
25 Moving Light Anniversary
& Elation and High End Systems: two
27 companies, two stories of how they got
here and where they’re headed.
48 The Biz
The same drive that puts production
professionals on the road just might be
the elixir that drives their business off
the road.
28 PLSN Interview
LD Valy Tremblay has evolved into
an LD on the cutting edge.
Profile
26 Production
When David Gilmour hits the road, expectations are high.
Lighting programmer Mark “Sparky” Risk applies extra head
work to get the job done.
52 Case of the New Road Case
New stronger, lighter materials are
changing the way we case our gear.
Columns
38 Video Digerati
When Murphy calls, these tips will keep
you from running and screaming from
the room
39 Video World
When Mr. Murphy calls, these tips will
keep you from running screaming from
the room.
41 Technopolis
Does “no” mean
Matthews Band Integrates Video
36 Dave
Whether they’ve been to one DMB show or 35, fans are in
for something new when they see LD Fenton Williams’ latest.
“no” when it comes
to warning labels? Hardly.
44 Feeding the Machines
When does the show take precedence
49 Product Gallery
Today’s PDs are practically bulletproof,
or are they?
56 LD at Large
The production manager can be the
LDs best asset or their worst nightmare.
It’s all up to you.
Departments
04 Editor’s Note
05 News
12 The Event Calendar
13 On the Move
14 International News
16 New Products
18 Showtime
31 Projection Connection
42 Welcome to My Nightmare
over your health?
What’s New
EDITOR’SNOTE
The Publication of Record for the Lighting,
Staging and Projection Industries
Fear of
Loafing
Publisher
Terry Lowe
[email protected]
Editor
Richard Cadena
[email protected]
Editorial Director
Bill Evans
and Lost Wages
[email protected]
Associate Editor
Jacob Coakley
[email protected]
RichardCadena
S
ome people say I have an irrational fear
of meetings, but that’s not true. My fear
of meetings is perfectly rational.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy sitting at an oversized desk in a cushy chair sipping a double
soy latte and munching on a Swedish Hill
low-fat oat bran muffin, because I do. My fear
is deep-rooted in past meetings that haunt
me, meetings that went horribly awry, off
the agenda into a deep, dark abyss resulting
in a colossal waste of time and money. But it
doesn’t have to be that way.
A well-run, efficient meeting is a beauty
to behold. The most efficient meetings I ever
attended took place in the church yard in
front of St. John’s United Methodist in Corpus
Christi, Texas where we used to play sandlot
football on Saturday afternoons. Those meetings were the very picture of efficiency; short
and sweet, and to the point: “You go deep;
you run to the flats; you block Big Randy;
I’ll hit whoever is open.” And then we would
go out and execute our plans, for better
or for worse.
People generally have good intentions
when they call a meeting, but let’s be honest; a poorly run meeting can be the biggest
waste of time since the invention of politics.
A meeting is supposed to resolve problems,
communicate a vision, create plans and develop organization. I suppose the reason that
meetings are so popular is because, whether
or not they are effective, they create the illusion of productivity. It’s a management
crutch, management by CYA (cover your
a@#$%!) to some. I used to be in middle management when I worked for a large lighting
manufacturer, and I was as guilty as anyone.
When someone came to me with a problem
and I was busy, it was too easy to say, “We’ll
discuss it in the meeting.” That’s code for “I
don’t want to think about that right now, I
have spreadsheets to build.” But it’s now on
the agenda and the master illusionist has just
pulled another one off.
It’s easy to spot a poorly run meeting. It’s
one that doesn’t start on time, rendering a
gaggle of people non-productive just sitting
around waiting for a meeting to start. It’s one
where there’s no agenda, or where the agenda has been outsourced to an assistant or to
someone in India or China—you simply can’t
put it on cruise control and hop in the back
seat. A poorly run meeting is one that starts
with an agenda but ends up about three zip
codes away. It’s one where last week’s action
items are this week’s orphans. It’s one without the benefit of a time limit or boundaries
of any kind.
By contrast, a well-run meeting is one
where the agenda is prepared ahead of time,
by the same person who calls the meeting.
It’s one where the agenda is circulated well
before the meeting so people have time to
review it and think about it instead of going
into the meeting cold. It’s one that starts on
time and ends on time. It’s one that respects
the value of other people’s time and the
company’s resources. It’s one that follows the
agenda and doesn’t stray on a whim. It’s one
where “actionable” items are born and borne
with responsibility.
I don’t fear meetings as much as I fear the
loss of our most precious and irretrievable
resource—time. My biggest fear in life is that
my number will be called before I’m ready to
turn in my final exam. At the end of his life,
Leonardo da Vinci said, “Tell me if anything
was ever done.” This is the guy who painted
the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, two of
the greatest paintings ever, lamenting his
lack of accomplishment. Of course, he never
did finish the Last Supper. Why? Meetings.
Or so I suspect.
Most of us can only aspire to, but will never come close to achieving the great things
that da Vinci did. Yet it was he who said,“I have
offended God and mankind because my work
didn’t reach the quality it should have.” All I
ask is that I learn to make the best use of my
time and that I learn to respect other people’s
time the way I would hope they respect mine.
And if I can save someone a few minutes, then
maybe they can spend a little more time on
things that really matter; hugging their kids,
kissing their spouse, breathing deeply, getting lost in deep thought, exercising, or just
appreciating the bountiful beauty during
this short time on earth. Therein lies the real
quality of life.
Contributing Writers
Vickie Claiborne, Phil Gilbert,
Cory FitzGerald, Rob Ludwig,
Kevin M. Mitchell, Richard
Rutherford, Brad Schiller,
Nook Schoenfeld
Photographers
Steve Jennings. Lisa Marie Hall
Production Manager
Garret Petrov
[email protected]
Graphic Designers
Dana Pershyn
[email protected]
Josh Harris
[email protected]
Ad Traffic
Coordinator
Lynne Kourtidis
[email protected]
National
Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
[email protected]
General Manager
William Hamilton Vanyo
[email protected]
Executive Administrative
Assistant
Dawn-Marie Voss
[email protected]
Business and
Advertising Office
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Fax: 512.292.0183
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Projection, Lights & Staging News (ISSN:
1537-0046) Volume 7, Number 06 Published monthly
by Timeless Communications Corp. 6000 South
Eastern Ave., Suite 14J Las Vegas, NV 89119. It is
distributed free to qualified individuals in the
lighting and staging industries in the United
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Duplication, transmission by any method of
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permission of Projection, Lights & Staging News.
Publishers of...
NEWS
Industry Vets Bolster A.C.T Lighting in Northeast
Arri Wins
Patent Suit
MUNICH, GERMANY - A German court
has rendered a verdict in a patent suit
filed by Arnold & Richter Cine Technik,
GmbH & Co Betriebs KG (Arri), against Film
TechnikLicht GmbH, the importer and distributor for Filmgear lighting equipment.
The court found that Filmgear lighting
products are in violation of one or more of
Arri’s patents and ordered an immediate
withdrawal of all subject lighting products
from the German market by the importer
and distributor, Film TechnikLicht GmbH.
Furthermore, the court has prohibited
Film TechnikLicht GmbH from offering,
selling, importing, using and possessing
the related Filmgear lighting equipment.
Non-compliance with this court order was
stipulated to carry a penalty of € 250,000
Euros or six months of detention.
In announcing this verdict, John
Gresch, VP Lighting at Arri Inc. said, “Arri
has a policy to vigorously defend its patents and this is a significant and gratifying
outcome. It reaffirms our confidence that
intellectual property rights do ultimately
prevail in our markets”
Arri Inc. was founded in 1978 and is
the largest of the Arri Group companies.
It services the U.S. and Latin American
market with a range of Arri products
from facilities in New York and California.
Arri owns Camera Service Center (CSC),
an equipment rental facility in New York
City and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 2002
CSC acquired a majority of interest in Illumination Dynamics Inc., located in Los
Angeles and Charlotte, NC, specializing
in lighting and generator rentals to the
motion picture, television and special
events industry.
Dowd will be working directly with
A.C.T.’s customers supporting the company’s
complete line, which include MA Lighting,
Zero88, Brother, Brother & Sons and MDG.
Prior to joining A.C.T. Dowd was manager of
sales and business development for TMB’s
New York office, which he helped launch.
Prior to that, he was eastern regional sales
manager rental/production for Martin Professional, mid-Atlantic sales manager for
Color Kinetics and general manager/east
coast sales manager for TMB. Dowd has also
held posts at Main Light Industries and McManus Enterprises in Philadelphia.
Sonnleitner will be training users in
the New York market and promoting MA
Lighting products. He will also continue his
career as a freelance automated lighting
programmer. His programming experience
comprises Broadway shows including Hot
Feet (2006), HairSpray (2002), Titanic (1997),
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1997); TV shows and
events including Showtime at the Apollo and
Live at the Lincoln Center; and industrials and
trade shows around the globe. He had held
titles of director of special projects for High
End Systems, console development consultant for Flying Pig Systems, and Obsession
designer for Electronic Theatre Controls.
Celtic Woman Takes U.S.
NORTH CREEK, NY—Celtic Woman, an
ensemble of five young and talented Irish female musicians, has been sweeping the United States since the airing of their 90-minute
broadcast on PBS.
Creative Stage Lighting, who is supporting the tour, first went on the road with Celtic
Woman in the summer of 2005. The Spring
2006 tour is sporting a Flying Pig Systems
Wholehog II, Reel EFX DF-50 Hazers, Martin
MAC 250 Entours, MAC 2000 Performances
and Profiles, and a Sanyo PLC-XF45 projector
driven by an Apple Power Mac G5 running
High End Systems’ Catalyst Express software.
CSL’s Paul Mundrick is the lighting crew chief
and Scott McGrody is the lighting technician.
Celtic Woman
Tonys Honored
Binkley, Henderson
NEW YORK—
Among the winners at the 60th Annual Tony Awards
was lighting designer Howell Binkley, who won Best
Lighting
Design
of a Musical for
his work on Jersey
Boys. The League of
American Theatres
and
Producers
and the American
Theatre Wing presented the awards at Radio
City Music Hall in New York City. Other technical award winners included:
Bob Crowley,
Jersey Boys
Best Scenic Design of a Play, The History Boys;
David Gallo, Best Scenic Design of a Musical,
The Drowsy Chaperone; Mark Henderson, Best
Lighting Design of a Play, The History Boys.
LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK—A.C.T.
Lighting has announced two new additions
to their team designed to enhance their east
coast presence. Industry veteran Brian Dowd
will handle customer relations and product
development for the east coast, and Paul
Sonnleitner will work part-time for A.C.T.
Lighting providing sales and technical support, as well as console development for the
MA Lighting grandMA range of products.
NEWS
New Leadership Installed At Theatre Projects
NORWALK, CT and LONDON—Richard
Pilbrow, founder of Theatre Projects Consultants, recently announced that ownership of
the firm has been transferred to a new generation of leaders.
“For the past few years, we have been planning this ownership transition of the US and
UK companies to the younger members of our
team, and we feel that now is the right time for
that change,” said Pilbrow.
The transition is designed to allow key staff
members to take on both leadership and ownership of Theatre Projects Consultants and provides for ownership to extend to other members of the firm in the future. The US team will
be led by John Coyne, Benton Delinger, Gene
Leitermann, and Michael Nishball.
Delinger comments, “We are inheriting
nearly five decades’ worth of experience in
theatre design. This transfer allows us to build
on that wealth of knowledge while exploring new ideas, technologies, and markets to
maintain Theatre Projects’ leading position
in the marketplace. The new structure is designed to increase collaboration with our UK
office; we will be working closely with the
leadership team in the UK of David Staples,
Alan Russell, Jerry Godden, Mark Stroomer,
Marion Daehms, and Andrew De Rosa. The
reorganization will be seamless and will enhance our quality of service.”
Pilbrow will continue his involvement as
founder and chairman emeritus, and Brian
Hall will continue to support the company
in his role as principal theatre designer. In
the UK, several senior colleagues are retiring
from the company, including
Iain Mackintosh,
Lou Fleming, and
Anthony Field.
Pilbrow observes: “Theatre
Projects enjoys
a
reputation
built upon our
philosophy for
designing exciting and effective theatres and International Partners L to R: Gene Leitermann, John Coyne, Michael Nishball, Benton Delinger,
the experience, David Staples, Marion Daehms, Jeremy Godden, Alan Russell, and Mark Stroomer
energy, and loyrespects the value of past experience, yet
alty of our staff. It is a pleasure to hand over is rich with new ideas and enthusiasm for
Theatre Projects to a team with a vision that the future.”
Minor Fire At ETC Headquarters
MIDDLETON, WI—A minor fire was reported Monday, June 19th, 2006, at the
headquarters of ETC (Electronic Theatre
Controls, Inc.) in Middleton, Wis. Local fire
authorities responded at approximately
8:00 p.m. to a fire that had broken out in
the cardboard-storage area of the manufacturing section of the factory. Damage
was minor and limited, and the fire was
PLSN JULY 2006
fully contained and extinguished by 10:00
p.m. according to fire officials. No injuries
were reported. The cause of the fire is not
yet known.
ETC management closed the building
for business Tuesday, June 20 to secure the
facilities and ensure that full fire inspection, safety processes and all appropriate
cleaning and ventilation procedures could
be carried out. Managers reported to the
headquarters’ external amphitheater in the
morning for updating. Other employees
were asked to not return to premises until
the building had been officially cleared for
occupancy.
ETC re-opened for business on Wednesday, June 21, 2006, and resumed normal operations and shipping of product as scheduled.
Roughly 450 ETC employees work at the
www.PLSN.com
Middleton headquarters, but only a small
group of individuals working a second-shift
schedule were in the building at the time of
the incident, and all were reported safe.
The corporate facilities, built in 2004,
house an architecturally elaborate theatrelike atrium with an elaborate 1940’s ‘Town
Square’ design. No part of this atrium or the
headquarters’ administrative departments
were directly affected by the fire, which occurred in a remote area of the factory.
Fastlane Productions Celebrates 25 Years
DENVER, CO—Denver-based Fastlane Productions, Inc. is celebrating 25 years in business
serving the production community throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and across the
country. Fastlane was founded by Doug Lane as
a DJ company after relocating to Colorado from
Los Angeles in 1981. He soon found himself
producing higher end events and parties and
began working corporate theater and special
event productions. In 1991 he closed the DJ
business to focus solely on corporate theater
and high-end special events.
Today, Fastlane has expanded to include
backline, lighting, audio, teleprompting, searchlights, generators, distro, special effects and
video/data projection. They pride themselves
on the many challenging, unique and difficult
corporate events and projects, many under
high pressure, they have completed.
Over the years, Lane has acquired several
competitors and other complimentary companies. “Doug has an uncanny ability to find companies that need direction and guidance, merge
them into the Fastlane system and make the
expansion successful,” comments general manager Dawnette Slama. “He also forecasts trends
and loves to be the forerunner in the industry.”
The company has benefited by expanding into
vertical markets such as adding telescript teleprompting services when the market demanded it, and creating a teleprompting brunch
event. He was also one of the first to add specialty services like of Airstar Space lighting and
recently added a searchlight division.
In 2002, Lane tried to rent an inflatable
movie screen for a client. At the time, there were
truss-based screens available and a few vinyl
screens, but everybody insisted sending personnel to set up the screens. Lane got a “tickle”
in his stomach, he says, and created a new prod-
uct called SuperScreen that could be set up by
the user. That year, Lane created SuperScreen
LLC, a manufacturer of “production-built” outdoor movie screens made in Colorado. Four SuperScreen models are available, complete with
hardware and rigging, and they can accommodate sponsorship banners.
The growth in products and services at Fastlane is supported by a full-time staff of 14 and
a dedicated plan for personal and professional
growth. “The systems keep us sane,” comments
Lane. “We have productivity training, systematic management meetings and are dedicated
to continuous improvement. After 25 years, we
understand this business pretty well. We have
always created a great place to work and an environment for success. Our employees are our
greatest asset.”
A funny thing happened to Lane on the
way to growing Fastlane he became a husband
In Brief
Leprecon ULD dimmers have
passed compliance testing and will
now carry the ETL mark. Available in
Stage Pin, Duplex and Twist-Loc outputs the ULD series is the replacement
to the long running LD-360/340 series
tree mount dimmers…Strand Lighting received the Lighting Product of
the Year award for their Palette family
of control consoles at this year’s ABTT
show in London. David Catterall, European Sales and Marketing Director,
thanked Strand’s software and hardware design teams, led by Richard
Lawrence and Philip Nye, for bringing
the winning product to market…Selecon re-launched their website, www.
seleconlight.com, with added features
including a built-in lighting calculator
to find the light output for selected
Selecon lights at a given throw distance…Active Production and Design was named MPI Association’s
(Georgia Chapter) 2006 Sponsor of the
Year at the Georgia Aquarium. On hand
to receive the award were Active team
members, John Fox, vice president, Jason Shadix, senior account executive,
and account executives Tony Garstin,
Jim Thomas, and Jil Schroeder…The
Department of Multimedia and Internet Technology (MIT) of the Hong Kong
Institute of Vocational Education (Tsing
Yi) has announced that it has equipped
its facility with Medialon show control
and also offer Medialon Training to its
students….Diagonal Research has
released NEV 8.2 Media Server and
Device Controller. A NEV “Chief Rack,”
controlled by a GrandMA console is
currently on tour with the Tool 10,000
Days Tour. The biggest enhancement is
the return of “frame modes” for the FFV
Omega driver, which gives NEV8.2 the
ability to run various built-in video effects using media stored on the Omega
drives. This is a feature that was developed on the road with Tool in 2001 and
now is available for rental on all NEV
systems through Delicate Production
and Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting…
Tomcat is supplying several customfabricated pieces on Madonna’s “Confessions” tour. Production designer Roy
Bennett included nine 54” wide by 87”
long custom lighting pod frames with
transport dollies, five 3-foot diameter
disco-balls with 88 Seco LED fixtures
and a Vari*Lite VL500 mounted inside.
Doug Lane
and a father. “I am crazy about my daughter and
spending time with her,” said Lane. “Now the
business is a part of my life, not my only life.”
NEWS
equipment is hidden from the audience’s
view and noise of any kind is unacceptable.”
Dinna Myers at Musson Theatrical suggested that Maag look at the Nexeras. He
decided to do his own comparison and researched all similar products on the market.
“When I tested the Nexeras they were virtually silent, and the other units I tested were
unacceptably loud,” he says, “I don’t want
my audience looking up in the grid to see
who’s hammering on the lights every time
we change color.”
Forty-six Nexeras are split between the
Angus Bowmer and the New Theatre. In the
Bowmer, fourteen 25º-40º profiles are used
as downlights and twelve 19º-26º Profiles
are set on the diagonal (six on each side)
in a box boom position. “Having the ability to change colors in these lights is great
because they are so useful for bringing out
colors in costumes or scenery as well as setting mood in conjunction with the down
lights,”says Maag.
The remaining twenty Nexeras (all 25º40º Profiles) reside in the black box style
New Theatre alongside nine Vari*Lite VL5B
moving lights. ”The initial install was 14
Rascal Flatts Breaks From
Production Standards
DALLAS, TX—As the hottest selling country music group in the industry today navigates their way across the United States, the
“Me & My Gang” tour is filling venues at every
stop. Growing from their small hometown
roots in Ohio and Oklahoma, into a multiaward winning chart buster, Rascal Flatts has
experienced a tremendous rise in expectations for their now sold-out touring production. To design and control the lighting for
this high-energy show, the band has enlisted
the talents of Andy Knighton.
“Everything about this tour is unique
and it completely breaks away from the
standard concepts,” stated Knighton.
“When I first saw the set, I thought, where
do you put the lighting rig? But they gave
me carte blanche in the design and four full
days of programming.”
With a complete lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites, Knighton began to envision his ideas for the show, “I basically put
as much lighting into the design as I possibly
could, and then I began to pare it down into
the design that I really wanted.”
Knighton continued, “The more I looked
Nexeras
for
last season,”
he says, “We
got 34 more in
October that
saw
heavy
use in January. We have
them in two
theatres now
and we will
be installing
the
19º-26º
Profiles in the
outdoor Elizabethan Theatre next season. They’re
perfect for the
longer throws in that theatre.”
“We went with all profiles for the simple reason of what they do best: theatre,”
Michael continues, “In rep we have varied
stage shapes. Rather than use a wash to
flood the stage with color, which would
create unacceptable spill light, we use the
profiles to shutter easily to our various scenic shapes,” he says.“The units have beautiat it, the thought of the Statue
of Liberty spikes popped into
my head, and I wanted to keep
it simple and clean in a straightline concept. In this design we
have a lot of imagery with the
(Barco) OLite video wall and the
D7 video tiles, so to go with an
abstract lighting design would
be too much. And that’s why I
decided to keep it in a straightline design.”
Knighton relies heavily on
Rascal Flatts
automated lighting and his
main instrument of choice on
this rig is the Vari*Lite VL3000
Spot fixture.
“I am using 32 VL3000 spots throughout
NEXERA delivers
old-school drama with
new-school technology.
Fourteen NEXERA 25º-40º Profiles
and twelve 19º-26º Profiles help
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
set the tone from dark & tragic
to comforting & bright inWilliam
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.
TM
Color-drenched settings
mood and emotion. Then it goes
are easier than ever to
its competition one better with a
achieve with NEXERA,
patent-pending mixing system
Wybron’s CMY dichroic
that lets you fine-tune those colors,
color-mixing luminaire
moods, and emotions–easily and
that’s unsurpassed in its
accurately.
1/2 JR. HORIZONTAL AD
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PLSN JULY 2006
100.0607.5-15.indd 8
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(Greta Oglesby), ushers the
story into the world of Bohemia.
Photo: Jenny Graham.
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Cyrano de Bergerac.
ful transitions between colors, which adds
a whole new dimension to cueing.”
“Believe me, we handle a lot of equipment on each changeover,” says Maag,
“The rep plots alone use a combined 600
conventionals and 24 moving lights, and
each show can have another 120 specials.
Anything that makes my job easier while
giving me a perfect result is a blessing.”
Photo: Terry Calonge
ASHLAND, OR—The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) recently began its 71st
season at their three-theatre location in
Ashland, Oregon. Operating in true rotating
rep—meaning a different show plays each
afternoon and evening—eleven plays are
currently rotating on their three stages: the
360-seat Black Box New Theatre, the 600seat Angus Bowmer Theatre, and the 1200seat outdoor Elizabethan Theatre.
Michael Maag, Master Electrician for OSF,
orchestrates an amazing routine to light
these performances on a daily basis. They
have approximately two-and-a-half hours
between curtain down on one show and
house open on the next. The lighting crew
changes color, gobos, and shutter cuts on
the rep lights in each theatre. To help stay
on schedule, Maag chose to install Wybron
Nexera CMY color-changing fixtures for two
of the three theatres.
“The Creative Staff of Oregon Shakespeare Festival is very conscientious about
the artistic direction of the shows,” Maag
explains, “When the curtain goes up, the
audience should be captivated with the
performance on stage, not distracted by the
technical aspects. Every piece of lighting
Photo: Jenny Graham
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Kicks Off 71st Season
the design,” he says. “They are in the center
to frame the large video screen, and then
on stage right and stage left to light both
the band and the audience. With 75% of the
lighting rig off the stage, I can sweep in at
anytime. So now I have ‘light fingers’ 23 feet
long shooting out into the audience just over
the proscenium stage. I know this band well
enough to understand that is where they will
spend the majority of their time, so my concept was to light up the two stages. I can put
the outside luminaires into the audience and
keep my center luminaires on the band. It
turned out perfect.”
Knighton says he likes the punch of the
VLs and also the wide zoom range of the fixture. “The Vari*Lite horsepower was needed
to keep the stage alive, because it gives the
audience complementary visual elements
around the video elements. The VL3000
spots framing in the video screen give it a
killer picture with eye candy all around it.
And as I move the fixtures, it appears as if the
screen is moving too. Plus, I can paint the
entire stage, and the audience, to make it appear as if they are all moving. All this is due
to the horsepower.”
Knighton first joined Rascal Flatts in
2003 on their first headlining tour. “In 2000,
Rascal Flatts was the opening act for Jo Dee
Messina, while I was doing her lighting design. So when they asked me to join them
in 2003, I literally walked off of the Jo Dee
Messina tour bus, and onto the Rascal Flatts
tour. Once on, I sat in the back of the bus and
began the programming for the first show.”
www.PLSN.com
6/30/06 5:07:10 PM
NEWS
The New Cars Tour Stalls
LAS VEGAS, NV—It’s been 17 years since the
Cars last toured, but as the New Cars, they are
embarking on a tour with Todd Rundgren fronting the band. With a mix of old Cars material,
some Rundgren material, and a few new tunes
written for the current Ric Ocasek-less group,
the production features the added flair of major
lighting, video, and scenery elements.
“It’s phenomenal,” says production manager Tom Halpin. “Management said they wanted
a show that would make people say, ‘wow!’ and
we went to the vendors we knew could make
that happen.”
“We’re using no other fixtures except Martin,” says LD Mark Foffano. The system includes
two Martin Maxxyz Consoles, seven Martin
Maxedia servers (one for back up), and laundry
list of Martin lighting gear that includes MAC
700s, MAC 300s, Atomic 3K Strobes with color
scrollers, and 16 Martin MAC 2000 Washes.
“There is a lot of competition for the hard
edge, but there is really nothing out there that
can beat a MAC 2000 Wash,” Faffano says. “The
size of the fixture used is important because of
the scale of the scenery that’s around it. Martin
is still the only light that can cut through.”
He also praised the media servers. “It’s like
you touch a button and record it to where you
want [the images], instead of looking down at
a bunch of numbers on a console. And if you
haven’t recorded the cue, or want to change
the cue, you can do it easily and not have to
program the whole song. It’s a very rock and roll
friendly machine.”
Faffano says that when they were planning
the lighting, staging, and video elements, they
were worried that the powers that be would
be nervous about the budget, “but they went
for it” – even the multiple media servers. “It was
neat to be able to do completely separate content on all screens.” The content itself has a very
retro feel, with 1970s-era turntables and girls in
dresses from that era for the song “Let the Good
Times Roll.” On Rundgren’s own “Bang on the
Drum” there’s also Tiki dancers.
“There’s talk about doing a leg in the fall,
and maybe Europe, but we’ll see,” he says. The
band sounds great.”
Lighting is supplied by Christie Lites, and
the XL Video handled video needs with Steve
Cohen Productions providing additional gear.
The production designer is Michael Cotton and
the video director is Till Krueger. The group is
sharing the bill with Blondie. Kevin Mitchell
Tom Halpain - Production Manager
TomHalpain-LD
Mark Foffano - LD
[As we go to press, we have learned that
this tour has been postponed due to an injury
sustained by guitarist and original Cars member Elliot Easton. He broke his left clavicle (col-
Lighting Rig Creates Myth in Midwest
MAPLEWOOD, MN—Two custom Tomcat
medium-duty truss circles, one 35 feet OD
and one 18 feet OD create a unique lighting rig for Maplewood, MN-based nightclub
Myth. The rig, supplied by Metro Sound and
Lighting, are split into two separate sections
and are flown with twelve CM Model L 1-ton
hoists with 60-feet of lift. A Skjonberg control
unit and a cable management system was
fabricated by Tomcat. Despite the fact that
the venue is exceptionally large – over 36,000
square feet – the ceiling is rather low for such
a large grid. The solution was to rig the hoists
to pick-up bars inside the truss, saving some
much needed trim height.
Keith Bohn, design department manager
Myth Nightclub
for Tomcat, provided on-site support to Metro
Sound and Lighting for the installation. Since
then, Myth has played host to some of the
world’s hottest DJs and concert acts.
Donna Appleton Retires
From Strand Canada
10
PLSN JULY 2006
TORONTO—Donna
Appleton recently retired
from Strand Lighting after
27 years with the organization. She joined the
company as motion picture and TV product manager in 1979, when it was
Strand Century Canada, after starting her career with
Jack A. Frost Ltd. in Toronto.
In 1988, she was appointed
president of Strand Lighting Canada, a post she has
held until her retirement.
According to a compa-
ny press release, Donna is
an industry figure, loved
and respected in Canada, North America and
the world. (She) will be
much missed by Strand,
her ex-colleagues, and of
course her innumerable
friends in the Canadian
Celtic Woman
lighting industry.
Appleton’s crowning
achievement was the large
Strand installation in the
Four Seasons Centre for
Performing Arts in Toronto.
The project, which is now in
www.PLSN.com
the final stages, is the largest sine wave dimming installation in the Americas.
lar bone) after being thrown from his bunk on
the tour bus when the driver swerved to avoid
another vehicle. – ed.]
Dr. Zhivago
Meets Flying Pig
LA JOLLA, CA—The new world premiere of the musical, Zhivago, based on the
novel Dr. Zhivago is currently playing at the
La Jolla Playhouse in California. The show is
operated with a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 3 console and a Hog 3PC. The lighting
features 25 High End Systems Studio Spot
CMYs and 4 Dataflash AF1000s. PRG supplied the lighting and the playhouse owns
the Wholehog 3.
“The major consideration in choosing
the specific fixture types was the low level
of noise they produce,” says programmer
Hillary Knox, speaking on behalf of show
LD Howell Binkley. “The Wholehog 3 is
working well and it keeps getting better,”
he adds. “Because of the Hog 3 system’s
architecture, I have never lost anything
and I’ve never held up a rehearsal onstage,
which is a big deal and something that I
can’t claim for many other consoles other
than the Hog 2.”
Associate LD Stephen Terry owns the
Hog 3PC. “We’ve got ESP Vision running
on the same machine and we’re currently
using it to do pre-production for several
different shows right now,” Knox explains.
“The reason that I’m doing this is that so
far I’m pretty impressed with the software’s
speed and responsiveness and I’m really interested in having a custom touch screen
setup. I’m looking into various options including running Hog 3PC on a 20-inch Intel iMac and having a custom touch screen
integrated into it and/or an Apple Cinema
display.”
Also on the lighting team is assistant
LD Christian DeAngelis.
GRAPEVINE, TX—With nearly 20,000
people attending services across four campuses each weekend, Fellowship Church in
Grapevine, Texas is one of the largest and
fastest-growing churches in the United
States. It is also one of America’s most innovative worship facilities with a new and
unconventional approach to reaching its
congregation that has earned it the epithet
“One Dynamic Church.”
Fellowship is well known for its integration of technology, and lighting plays a major
role in all the church does. In past years the
church had been renting what amounted to
a small touring package to add that something extra to its weekly services, but church
officials decided to bring that in-house in order to unify the visual look as well as reduce
rental expenses. As a result, they are now the
owners of 18 Martin MAC 500 profile spots,
18 MAC 600 wash lights, four MAC 2000 Profiles, 6 MAC 2000 Washes, 6 MAC 300 wash
lights and six RoboScan Pro 918 scanners,
along with other automated luminaires.
According to lighting designer C. Andrew
Dunning of Landru Design, Fellowship’s gear
is not used exclusively for stage lighting. The
worship is intended to be something that
those in the congregation experience – not
something for which they are simply spectators. Therefore, the lighting is designed to
include them, Andrew explains.“We talk a lot
about the environment being immersive. We
don’t want the congregation sitting in their
seat feeling like they’re observing a performance. There is color and texture all the way
around. You are submerged in it, you are part
of it. It’s very intentional.”
Some 25% of the lighting is located in
somewhat static locations with the rest in
what Andrew calls the touring rig. Fellowship features very different rigs year round
and three or four times a year this balance of
fixtures changes. “Take what you know and
what you think about church and throw if
out the window,” he states. “The gear is not
just for special events but is used in
normal Sunday services – each being
6-8 camera HD shoots broadcast worldwide - for singing, preaching, and as a
decorative element. We texture walls,
texture scenery, and use lots of color,
beams and gobos, etc.”
During Fellowship’s Christmas and
Easter services - among the area’s most
popular with over 20 separate services
held over a 3-4 day period - lighting is
often beefed up. Last Easter, for example, 12 MAC 700 Profiles were added to
the rig.
Lighting is also used in other areas of the
facility with other units spread out across the
campus. Some 10 Martin MiniMAC moving
heads are used in Fellowship’s main Youth
Room with two MiniMAC’s and two MAC
250 profile spots used to create energy in
the children’s facilities.
Fellowship’s lighting director, Daniel
Page, comments, “Moving lights give Fellow-
Fellowship
Photo credit: Andrew Dunning
Lighting Takes Big Role at Fellowship Church
ship the flexibility to change the dynamics
of the room and create visual imagery that
serves to enhance the worship experience.
The Martin product gives us this flexibility to create these experiences. Martin also
has an amazing team of people, like market
manager Daryl Sutton, who are there ready
and willing to support not only their product, but also the relationship. That service is
a key part of Martin.”
Punk Rockers Dig GrandMA
LOS ANGELES—Playing to sell-out crowds
on the U.S. leg of their round-the-world tour,
rock band The Strokes has integrated two
grandMA consoles plus a grandMA 3D into
their multimedia show. The Strokes are in the
midst of an extensive two-and-a-half year
international tour which will take the band
across the US and Canada, to the UK, Europe,
Russia, Australia and Japan.
Christopher Ragan of Intelligent Production Solutions Creative Group is the production designer and acting lighting director on
the tour. He works front of house at tour dates
with partner Howard Giddens, who is the programmer and co- lighting designer. The two
of them use two grandMAs, supplied by Oxnard, California-based Ed and Ted’s Excellent
Lighting, plus 25-inch LCD monitors, and road
cases, which flip out and convert into tables.
Ragan’s grandMA runs the show, which
features 35 songs in rotation. Giddens moni-
tors the show on his console and keeps a close
watch on lighting fixtures. If a fixture goes
down, Giddens grabs it, makes adjustments
offline on his grandMA and exports it to Ragan’s online console.
The lighting equipment includes a
James Thomas Pixel Drive and Pixel Drive
Ethernet/DMX interface, 12 Martin Atomic
3K strobes with color changers, nine Martin 2000 Wash, 20 Martin 2000 Profile moving lights, 16 Color Kinetics Color Blast 12
LED fixtures and six Color Kinetics Color
Blaze LEDs.
“I had never used grandMA before,”
Ragan admits, “although Howard had previous experience with grandMA for String
Cheese Incident. It took a long time to get
me over to grandMA, but now I love it. Our
grandMAs are so easy to use and are spot
on every time. They’re also very versatile: I
can run anything on them, especially mul-
timedia like servers and LEDs.”
Chris Fox is production manager and Trevit Cromwell is the crew chief. The electrician
is “Kiss” and the rigger is Dennis Gardner. Also
instrumental to the tour were Kevin Forester
of Ed and Ted’s, Dave Ridgeway of Neg Earth
and Richard Jackson A.C.T Lighting.
The Strokes on Tour
HOLLYWOOD, FL—James Blunt’s
highly acclaimed world tour recently
took him to the Hard Rock Live arena
in Hollywood, Florida. The Hard Rock
Live show was a noteworthy stop on
the tour in that it was filmed for a PBS
special to be broadcast later in the year.
To aid in the broadcast lighting, LD Tom
Kenny ( The Who, Page and Plant, David
Bowie) was called on to share his expertise in television lighting.
For the Hard Rock Live show, production was handled by local company
Beachsound and Lighting Inc (Andre
Serafini, account rep). Blunt’s tour is lit
primarily by an automated rig that includes several Martin MAC 2000 Profiles,
MAC 700 Profiles and MAC 250 Washes.
The tour lighting was designed by Paul
Normandale, Glen Johnson is the lighting director and Johnny G is the crew
chief. For the PBS show, Kenny followed
Normandale’s lead with the lighting.
“I’ve been using MAC 2K profiles
and washes - both the 500 and 600
range and the 250s and 300s - for quite
awhile now,” Kenny commented. “I find
their color temperature and focusing
superb for the type of TV lighting I do.”
For the Hard Rock show Kinny also had
MAC 2000 Washes at his disposal as well
as some Vari*Lite’s.
“I chose MAC fixtures for the James
Blunt PBS special purely because of
their reliability on large TV shoots I’ve
done in the past. It also helped that
Paul Normandale and Glen Johnson
had specified a MAC rig for the tour so
I gladly used my usual MAC wash and
profile package.
“The vendor, Beachsound, supplied
a gorgeous working system. I’ve found
the wash light and the profile ability to
cover a large area with few lights a Godsend for all my shows. I have a format
now for arenas and stadiums and this
fell into place at the Hard Rock arena.
I’m not a ‘flash and trash’ LD so the gobos and beautiful colors that Glen and
Paul used in their design fell in with
my graphic and saturated color looks
throughout the shoot. It all turned out
well and all I can say is that with the
helpful advice from the tour’s LD it was
a very beautiful experience!”
www.PLSN.com
James Blunt Television Shoots
A “Beautiful Experience” in L.A.
PLSN JULY 2006
11
Industry Remembers George Kindler 1948-2006
by JohnHuntington
Today, the word “mentor” is tossed around
casually. The true definition is “a wise and
trusted counselor or teacher.” In every sense
of the word, George Kindler was truly a mentor throughout the entertainment technology industry. He was very wise; he was very
trustworthy; and he taught many things to
everyone fortunate enough to know him.
Sadly, George died May 21, 2006, due to complications resulting from a series of heart surgeries. He was 57.
Kindler spent many years in the Albany,
New York area, after attending Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. He began his professional career as a circuit design engineer
and, in 1973, co-founded the innovative and
ahead-of-its-time arts company Electronic
Body Arts. He toured with the Star Spangled
Washboard Band, which eventually turned
into Blotto, famous for its hit song “I Wanna
Be a Lifeguard,” which George produced. The
video for this song was one of the few played
on MTV’s first day of operation. During this
period, Kindler also worked on a variety of
projects with Specialized Audio-Visual Inc.,
including providing the house audio mix for
the Miss America Pageant for more than a de-
Vote For Your
Hometown
Heroes
www.plsn.com/hometown
cade; doing sound for the Spoleto festival in
Charleston, South Carolina for several years;
and mixing major corporate meetings for GE
and the Saratoga Performing Arts Newport–
Kool Jazz festival.
Kindler moved to Las Vegas in 1986 to work
as a systems engineer for the sound contractor
Acromedia, and he arrived just in time to play a
major role in the Las Vegas entertainment technology renaissance. In 1992, Kindler founded
his own design, consulting, and technology
company, Thoughtful Designs, which provided
innovative show control, A/V design and engineering work for numerous projects in and out
of Las Vegas. He sold his company to PRG in
1997, and the Thoughtful Designs division was
eventually absorbed into SPL Integrated Solutions, where Kindler became the director of engineering in SPL’s Las Vegas office. Once his contract with PRG expired in 2002, he went to work
as senior consultant for PMK Consultants, and in
2004 he moved to Kelley Technologies as director of design and engineering. At the time of his
death, he had just finished work on a major and
innovative sports book A/V project for Kelley at
the brand new Red Rock Casino. This unique
project is typical of George’s work—to the layperson, it appears very simple and elegant, but
it is, in fact, an enormously sophisticated system
which takes live video sources, real-time betting
data and a variety of other signals, seamlessly
assembles it all, and presents it on a massive 18
x 96 foot video wall.
We miss George terribly, but I don’t mourn
him. He lived a life full of professional challenge, while maintaining strong and close ties
to his loving wife of 26 years, Elizabeth Irene
Kindler, and with a large and loving family: his
father, Ralph Kindler; two sisters, Elaine Marie
Kindler and Amy Elizabeth Kindler; a brother,
Warren Wheelock Kindler and his wife, Nancy
L. Kindler, and all of their extended families.
At his funeral in New Hampshire over the
Memorial Day weekend, I discovered that
George’s generous, honest, playful and nonjudgmental nature was appreciated and loved
as much by his family as those in the professional world, who turned out in the hundreds
for his earlier memorial service in Las Vegas.
George loved the outdoors, and each time
LDI met in Las Vegas, he led an international
group of show control and A/V experts on a
hike into the Red Rock wilderness high above
the Las Vegas strip. This coming October, our
group will again be hiking Red Rock, but this
year, we will have to find our own way. However, I feel confident we can find the right trail;
after all, we had a great mentor.
InfoComm Touts Light
and Video Convergence
continued from Front Cover
Also very eye-catching was the Main Light
Industries booth with the new SoftLED Scrim,
a variation of SoftLED with a see-through
scrim backing. In the next booth over was the
Brother, Brother & Sons V-Base automated
projector yoke. The system adds DMX pan
and tilt control to large video projectors. The
V-Base is distributed in North America by
ACT Lighting. Over in the next isle, High End
Systems was showing off their new Collage
Generator, a software upgrade for DL.2 digital
luminaires that allows you to create seamless
panoramas with multiple DL.2s. It greatly enhances the effectiveness of the digital fixtures.
Way out lighting land and over in projector
land, Barco was showing, among other new
products, their new MiStrip LED display (see
Bon Jovi story).
There were many more new and interesting products at the show, far too numerous to
mention them all in this space. For more information and more new product descriptions,
see pages 16, 17 and 35.
George Kindler
John Huntington first worked with George
Kindler in 1993 on the Buccaneer Bay attraction
at the Treasure Island hotel, and from 19971999 he headed up a Thoughtful Designs office
in NYC. He can be reached through his website
at http://www.zircondesigns.com/ Thanks to
Michael Cusick, Charlie Richmond, Kevin Ruud
and Warren Kindler for supplying information
for this piece.
Bon Jovi Goes
To Mesh City
continued from front cover
John “Bugzee” Houghal is the production manager, and he was also involved
in the design. Koen Lavens is LED Crew
Chief, with Brecht Vuylsteke and Jean
Pierre Vanloo acting as LED Techs. John
Bon Jovi’s brother, Tony Bon Jovi, is the
video director and the engineer is Dave
Lemmick of Nocturne.
“It was a real special project for me
having been involved in a lot of the early
Bon Jovi tours in the early 90s,” said Wiseman, “and working with that camp again
was pretty special for me.”
Upcoming
Events
•Summer NAMM: Jul 14-16, Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX (www.nammsummersession.com)
•LD Assistant Training: (www.ldassistant.
com)
Aug 14-19, Florida Community College,
Jacksonville, FL
Aug 16-18, Hyatt Regency, Atlanta, GA
Aug 21-23, TBA, Dallas, TX
•VectorWorks Training: (https://secure.
nemetschek.net/store/pls/show_cities.php)
Intro to VectorWorks, Architect Fundamentals, RenderWorks Fundamentals: Jul 12-14,
NNA corporate office, Columbia, MD
Intro to VectorWorks, Architect Fundamentals, RenderWorks Fundamentals: Jul 19-21,
The Career Center, Inc., New York, NY
Intro to VectorWorks, VectorWorks Fundamental: Jul 26-28, KDC Atlanta Lakeside, Atlanta, GA
12
•PLASA: Sep 10-13, Earls Court, London
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
ONTHENEWS
MOVE
Apollo
Design Technology, Inc.
recently broke
ground on a
5,000 squarefoot building
Apollo ground break
expansion at
its headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The
space will be used for additional glass gobo
production and warehousing for its growing
lines of gel and motion effects products and
accessories.
Jason Harrington has joined Audio Visual Innovations, Inc., as account manager
for the regional office in Atlanta. Additionally,
AVI has promoted Alan Jackson to sales engineer in their Tampa office and hired Jay Padilla as project manager for their Electronics
Specialists team. Eva Griggs has joined AVI’s
Detroit office as sales manager while Neil McCauley has joined their Nashville office as account manager.
Hoffman Communications has hired
summer interns to support their community
and summer shows: Alexandra “Sandy”Yarusso
will assist with lighting, Andrew Allen and Nick
Snyder will assist with creative production and
Nick Abrahamson will assist with audio engineering.
In a move to facilitate its growing operation, Kinetic Lighting has hired Michael
Zatz as electronics technician. Zatz will work
in Kinetic’s Repair Department.
Lamina Ceramics, manufacturer of
award-winning high power LED light engines,
announced the promotion of Robert Burdalski
to chief operating officer (COO).
Leviton Manufacturing Company
has appointed Brian Hansen to the position
of north-central region
specification engineer
for its Voice & Data
Division. Hansen will
provide technical sales
support for the company’s comprehensive
line of data communication products.
Brian Hansen
MDG
announced the appointment of ThiBrian Hansen
erry P. Fletcher to
the position of
sales director responsible for MDG
products.
Thierry P. Fletcher
SurgeX,
a
manufacturer of
professional AC
power products
and control systems, has
appointed Chicagobased LoFT AV as
its new independent representative
forNor- Barbara Cessna
thern
Illinois,
Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and
South Dakota.
Frank Bush, president of Bravo Mat International, has named Mountain Productions
Northeast U.S. Distributor.
Color Kinetics Incorporated has hired
Wendy Kaplan to join Kevin Jennison as an
additional sales representative for the New
York region.
Bryan Hinckley has been named to the
new position of business manager for Electrosonic Design Consulting, an independent
division of Electrosonic Systems, Inc. (ESI).
GearSource, has created a new online
project LED Source (www.LEDsource.com).
LED Source delivers a range of LED products
from leading manufacturers through their ecommerce Internet site.
Lighting
industry veteran, Steve
Hoffman,
announced
the creation
of his new
c o m p a n y,
G ob oM an,
the first pri- Steve and Rebel Hoffman
marily online
gobo lighting distributor. GoboMan is the joint effort
of Steve and Rebel L. Hoffman, both of whom
previously worked for GamProducts, Inc. A
downloadable PDF version of their catalog is
available on their website, www.goboman.com.
TO GET LISTED
IN ON THE MOVE,
IN THE TRENCHES,
SHOWTIME OR
WELCOME TO MY
NIGHTMARE,
SEND YOUR
Steve &INFO
Rebel Hoffman
AND PICS TO:
[email protected]
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
13
INTERNATIONALNEWS
Eurovision 2006 A Monster Of A Show
ATHENS, GREECE—The 51st annual Eurovision Song Contest was a monster of a
show, and we’re not referring to Finnish winner Lordi and their rock anthem “Hard Rock
Hallelujah.” We’re talking about the 250+
MAC 2000 Washes, 200+ MAC 2000 Profiles
and a world-first 20 Maxedia digital media
systems used to provide video content in
and around the performance area. German
production company PROCON Multimedia AG produced the 2006 event. PROCON
served as the main technical contractor and
supplied the huge Martin lighting package.
The main stage platform included a 13meter-wide circle with hydraulic moving
panels made with Barco O-Lite 510 modules.
Surrounding the stage platform was a series
of six hydraulic moving staircases for video
imaging all lit by Barco ILite 6 XP LED tiles.
The panels allowed individual backdrops
to be projected, creating a custom atmosphere for each song. The entire LED system
was controlled by 20 Martin Maxedia media
servers.
Nearly all the MAC 2000 Profiles and
Washes were located in a huge grid rig with
some MAC 2000 Washes positioned on the
floor. Lighting control was from a GrandMA.
“I used the 2K’s for the complete lighting—
there was no tungsten or TV lighting—even
all the key lighting was done with the 2K’s,”
LD Ollie Olma stated.
Because of the large amount of OLite
and ILite tiles built into the set, video and
video delivery played a
major role in the show.
The 20 Maxedia’s were
distributed as such: one
cue master Maxedia
with backup located
at FOH; a Maxedia and
backup at each of the
6 staircases, all in HD; 3
Maxedia’s with 1 backup for the round light
floor and panels, all in
HD; and 2 Maxedia’s as
content masters, one for
the HD content and one
for the SD content.
Eurovision
Lights Become Fine Art In Japanese Museum
ATAMI CITY, JAPAN— In January 2006,
295 Martin Architectural Cyclo 04 DMX fixtures were installed in the 200 meter escalator approach to the MOA Museum here. Each
escalator (14 in all running both directions)
extends over 30 meters and is encased within
the natural environment of Momoyama Hill.
A circular domed hall 20 meters wide by 10
meters high is located at the mid-point of the
journey and serves as a multipurpose room
and space for artistic expression.
The dome shaped ceiling of the circular
hall is illuminated in soft shades using 52 Cyclo 04 DMX units. The Cyclo 04 DMX is an RGB
plus white 28W T5 fluorescent color changer
capable of generating nearly all colors or
white light of any color temperature. The
Cyclo 04’s are equipped with a diffuser front
lens to project an even field of colored light
by completely diffusing the light from each
tube. Additionally, color filters are incorporated to emphasize the LD’s required color variation. As visitors approach the room from the
illuminated passage, the beautifully colored
dome appears gradually, its presence signaling passage to a completely different world.
Cyclo’s are also installed on both sides of
the escalator passages, illuminating pleated
walls, which rise in a natural gradation. Col-
or mixing sequences in the passages last
four minutes and illuminate the space in six
color variants. In the domed hall four color
scenes reflect current out door lighting levels, such as a sunrise or the brightness of a
full moon night.
Lighting designer for MOA Museum of
Art’s escalator passage and domed hall was
Toshimi Yanase of Tokyo Butai Showmei Co.
Ltd. He commented about his work, “It is
designed to represent a mysterious and unknown world for the visitors and for them
to also feel excited during the long escalator ride. Soft colors are programmed to
Escalator approach to the MOA Museum
14
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
create a peaceful atmosphere which goes
along with the character of the Museum.”
Entrance Dome to the MOA Museum
Beautiful Lights For The Beautiful South
LANCASHIRE, UK—HSL is supplying full
lighting production and crew for the Beautiful South’s new “Superbi” tour, designed and
operated by Dave Byars, and currently on its
first UK and Irish leg. Byars is renowned for
the quirky, skilful blending of imagination
and idiosyncrasy in his designs. The starting
point for the tour was custom-made set of
drapes, consisting of ruched red wine colored stage drapes, borders and riser scrims
and a gray upstage tab drape.
When the gray tabs open, they reveal a
nine by six meter panel of SoftLED LED backdrop, which is driven by content stored on
a RADlite digital media server, also triggered
by the Diamond 4. Byars has created specially created video clips for the SoftLED.
Byars is using Robe fixtures for the first
time – eight ColorSpot 575 ATs and 15 ColorWash 575 ATs, divided between the back
truss and the floor, with three Washes on the
front truss. The rear truss fixtures are rigged
onto a series of graduated length drop arms,
so they gently follow the curvature of the
drape.
There’s also 12 Robe ColorSpot 250s
stood on the risers pointing frontwards,
and 8 Robe ColorWash 250s on the front
truss washing the band along with 8 Source
Fours for key lighting. With the band playing a mixture of theatres, concert and sports
halls on this leg of the tour, he wanted small
versatile units that were appropriate to the
available stage space
Superbi
Summit Steel has installed a large
trussing mother grid in the roof of the
newly refurbished Roundhouse for De
La Guarda’s exhilarating, zany, hi octane
Fuerzabruta–the first show staged at the
legendary performing arts venue since it
reopened last week. Project manager Jay
Call and the Summit team worked closely with De La Guarda’s technical director
Ale Garcia throughout. As you would expect, the show contains a myriad of aerial
stunts, lots of water, fun, and plenty of
animated audience interaction.
The mother grid—measuring 22 meters at its longest point—is suspended
on nineteen static points and tensioned
off to the external ring of roof beams running around the building. It’s constructed
from 4 spines of 52 cm JTE trussing and
nine spreaders made from 30 cm trussing which are used for the positioning of
the set pieces, automation and lighting
equipment utilised for the show. The only Roundhouse rigging points
are ring beams attached to the roof, most
of which only offer a 1 ton SWL at 2.5 metre centers, with a maximum of 20 tons
loading in the roof. Lifting the grid into
position was a major challenge. Most of
it was constructed on the floor, and then
lifted into position on hoists, in the process being towed around the building’s
own iron structural supporting beams. It
was then dreaded off at approximately
nine meters by being attached to steel
wire ropes containing rigging screws to
achieve an accurate height.
Apart from the challenge of lifting
the mother-grid into place, another
brain teaser was making the loading
spread and work throughout the entire roof. The largest—and the heaviest—set piece is a Perspex water tank
weighing 2.5 tons when fully loaded
with water and people. This traverses
the whole length of one of the trusses,
transferring the load across several
points as it does.
The Roundhouse has the great advantage of a CableNet tensioned wire
grid in the roof—installed by Slingco, and specified by architects John
McAslan’s following the concept design
by theatre consultants Charcoalblue’s
Andy Hayles.
House Gets
Extreme
Makeover
NEWPRODUCTS
InfoComm 2006
In this special edition of New Products,
we’re featuring some of the offerings found
on the floor of the recent InfoComm show
in Orlando, Fla.
Main Light Industries displayed their new SoftLED/Scrim™, an RGB LED matrix attached to a
heavy-duty indoor/outdoor scrim that appears
transparent, allowing other scenic elements or
projections to be viewed along with the SoftLED/
Scrim content. Two new RGB LED content packages titled MLI LED 1 and MLI LED 2 were developed
in conjunction with Idyll Hands Imagery. Each royalty-free and copyright protected CD-ROM collection contains 99 clips developed for use with Main
Light’s RGB LED products.
High End Systems’ new Collage
Generator™ patent-pending software
enables DL.2 fixtures to create seamless panoramic projections from multiple digital luminaires, all controlled
from a lighting console.
Fred Mikeska with the Vista S3,
a compact version of the Vista
console that connects to a computer
with a USB cable.
Brother, Brother & Sons V-Base Projector Yoke
adds automated pan and tilt functions to Digital
Projection’s HL12000 DSX+ projector. U.S. distributor Act Lighting demonstrated the yoke’s accuracy
by repeatedly targeting the head of an arrow located approximately 75 feet away. In addition to
controlling pan and tilt, the unit can also control
selected parameters of the projector via a standard
DMX 512 lighting console, including projector on/
off, mechanical shutter, zoom, focus, orientation,
shift, brightness, contrast, color temperature, color
and control channels.
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PLSN JULY 2006
Bill Fehermann, founder of Electrol
Engineering, with the new 12-channel
12A dimmer, the first new product since
Electrol was aquired by Lex Products.
www.PLSN.com
Ted May, technical sales for TechniLux, with the SGM Palco 3. The RGB color
mixing fixture features 49 Luxeon LEDs,
manually adjustable pan and tilt, and
five interchangeable lens options.
Chris “Chippa” Curran, TMB operations
manager, with the ColourPix Low-Res Module System, designed for architectural fixed
installations or custom touring applications.
Chad Yeary demonstrates Vivien Virtual
Event Design software on the Cast Software
booth.
Barco’s new MiStrip LED display is slim,
high pixel density strip that debuted on Bon
Jovi’s current tour. The strips are available in
5’, 2.5’ and 15” lengths and can be combined
to create free-form displays.
Robert Berlanger of Show Distribution discusses chain hoists with a potential customer.
Roberto Malvaez and Adessa Hubbell
with Nicolaudie’s Sunlite computerized lighting controller. The newest version includes
a new visualizer and improved layers.
Element Labs new Stealth LED display is a
modular 40cm x 40cm low mass, transparent
mesh that collapses in an accordian fold for easy
transport. It is currently on tour with Madonna.
The Elation booth showing an LED display made of X Curtain Tubes. The DMX-triggerable display lists for $15K for the wall and
the software.
Blaine Engle, sales director for the James
Thomas Engineering Pixel Range (R), and Tray
Allen, sales manager for JTE (L) with the new
Pixel Arc C with Luxeon K2 LEDs.
Jan Huewel, president of Coolux GMBH (L),
discussed the newest version of Pandoras Box media server with Scott Riley. Version 3 of Pandoras
Box is time line-based and has 24 layers, 12 for video
and 12 for still graphics. The product is distributed
in North America by Coolux International
in Agoura, California.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
17
SHOWTIME
Brad Paisley Tour 2006
Crew
Lighting Company: Spurlock Lighting & Design Inc. & TLS Inc.
Lighting Designer/Director: Dean Spurlock
Lighting “Chiefs”: Brian Carico, Chaim Chavarria, Marshall Blair
Production Manager: Kevin Freeman
Tour Manager: Brent Long
Stage Manager: Lenny Rogers
Rigger: Matt Jumper
Gear
15
36
36 12
8
1
4
4
2
Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot Vari*Lite VL2500 Spot Vari*Lite VL2500 Wash Vari*Lite VL500 8-Light Molefay Lycian Truss Spot
Reel EFX DF-50 Haze Machines
CITC FogMax Fog Machines
Vari*Lite Virtuoso DX Consoles
Avenged Sevenfold Tour 2006
Crew
Lighting Company: Delicate Productions Lighting Designer: John McGuire
Lighting Director: Ken Sorrell
Lighting Crew Chief: Shawn Jurgensen
Lighting Techs: Mary Wistrom Production/Tour Manager: Ted Keedick Stage Manager: Kenny Leath Gear
14
16
8
18
9
7
12
12
8
4
2
2
1
Martin MAC 2000 Profiles High End Systems Studio Beams High End Systems Cyberlight Turbos Diversitronics 1K Strobes Thomas 8-light moles Robe 8-light LED moles 8-light scrollers single cell cyc lights Thomas ACL lamp bars Thomas PAR 64 lamp bars High End Systems F-100 Fog Machines Reel EFX DF-50 Haze Machines Flying Pig Systems Hog iPC Console
Univision UpFront
Venue
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY
Crew
Producer: Alex Hadad
Lighting Company: Scharff Weisberg
Production Manager: Joe Valentine
Lighting Designer: Carlos Colina
Lighting Director: Ramon Furelos
Automated Lighting Operator: Ken Hudson
Lighting Technicians: Bob Hale, Chris Komishock
Set Design: Jorge Dominquez
Set Construction: Acadia Scenic
Rigger: Tony Pol
Video Director: Jason Rudolph
Video Company: Roca Video
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PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
Gear
18
16
11
6
30
19
12
2
1
1
2
2
2
3
40
8
12
12
35
5
2
Vari*Lite VL2500 Spot
Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot
Martin MAC 2000 Performance
Martin MAC 2000 Wash
Coemar iWash Halo
Coemar ParLite LED
ETC Source Four 10º Lekos
Robert Juliat 2500W Aramis Followspots
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2 Console
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog Back-up
MA Lighting GrandMA Console
Reel EFX DF-50 Haze Machines
Real EFX Fans Turbo
Box Fans
Hoist 208V ½-ton motors
20”x20”x10’ Truss Box
12”x12”x10’ Truss Box
60” Plasmas
Element Labs Versa Tubes
Main Light 16’x33’ SoftLED Curtains (High Res)
DPI 28SX DLP Projectors
Venue
Gear
Marriot Marquis Ballroom, New York, NY
Crew
Producer: Tansey Designs
Lighting Company: Frost Lighting
Production Manager: Jason Shallow
Lighting Designer: Patrick Rice
Automated Lighting Operator: Andrew Dooley
Lighting Technicians: Jesse Wilson, Marshall Macomber
Rigger: Frost Lighting
Video Company: Scharff Weisberg
1
6
6
6
6
6
6
2
MA Lighting grandMA console
Vari*Lite VL3000s
Martin MAC 700 Profiles
Martin MAC 250 Wash
Custom 8’ Chandeliers
1
/2-ton CM Motors
61” Plasmas
Projectors
2006 Leo Awards
Gear
1
8
4
Venue
8
The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, BC, Canada
8
26
Crew
28
Producer: Troika Productions & Events One Management Inc. 52
Lighting Company: Presentation Services
1
Production Manager/Lighting Designer: Gary Rodman
16
Automated Lighting Operator: Ryan Ehlert
10
12 Lighting Technicians: RE Productions
12
Set Design/Construction: Propellor Design
2
Rigger: Denis Keenan
2
Staging Company: RE Productions
2
Staging Carpenter: Brenden Flemming
2
Video Director: Serge Kijner
1
Jands Hog 1000
Martin MAC 250E
Martin MAC 300
High End Systems Technobeams
High End Systems Trackspots
ETC Source Four Pars
ETC Source Four Lekos
AC Lighting ChromaQ Scrollers
ETC Sensor Rack
8’ Prolyte Truss
10’ Thomas Truss
1-ton 35’ Chain Motors
Airwall Clamps
10.5’ x 14’ Video Screen
42” Plasma Monitors
32” LCD Comfort Monitor
27” Flat Screen back Stage Monitors
Folsom Screen Pro Seamless Switcher
Sebastian Professional’s “L.A.’s the Place
Venue
Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, CA
Crew
Producer: Katie Serafin/Oxul Inc.
Lighting Company: ELS
Production Manager: Katie Serafin
Lighting Designer/Director: Bud Horowitz
Automated Lighting Operator: Alex Reardon
Lighting Technicians: Matt Elliot
Set Design: Joe Kale
Set Construction: Scenic Express
Rigger: Branam West Coast
Staging Carpenter: Tom Yokas
Video Company: InSync Productions
Gear
1
1
8
27
31
6
6
2
3
2
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2 w/Wing
ETC Expression 2X
Vari*Lite VL1000AS
Martin MAC 2000 Profile
Martin MAC 2000 Wash
Color Kinetics Color Blast 12
Martin 3000 Atomic Strobe
Reel EFX DF-50 Haze Machine
Rosco 1600 Smoke Machine
Le Maitre LMG Low Smoke Generator
h Res)
St.Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Benefit
www.PLSN.com
JULY
2006
19
19
JULYPLSN
2006
PLSN
INSIDETHEATRE
S
By JacobCoakley
Photos by LisaMarieHall
ubtlety doesn’t exist in Las Vegas. Ask a
local and they’ll probably tell you it’s a
new Starbucks drink. But don’t tell this
to the designers and crew of Phantom—The
Las Vegas Spectacular. Despite a title that includes the word “Spectacular,” despite a budget that ballooned from $25 million to $40
million, despite recreating the interior of the
Paris Opera House from 1894, LD Andy Bridge
still insists the strongest design element of the
show is subtlety.
“It’s meant to be the Paris opera house
in 1894—gaslight. So we can’t over-light it
and make it look modern. That’s the trick,”
Bridge says. He backs this up when he says
“It shouldn’t be too overtly spectacular and
bright and brassy. Darkness is our friend. We
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PLSN JULY 2006
100.0607.20-24.indd 20
don’t want to overlight things just because it’s Vegas. So
we’re keeping that
chiaroscuro feel still.
But we can expand it out
into the auditorium.”
And there it is; the reason for
”Spectacular.” Because the theatre really is meant to be the Paris Opera House, circa
1894, and the show really has expanded into
the auditorium. The façade of the Paris Opera
house is from the center of the stage deck
, and proscenium that extends around the
sides of the theatre and merges with three
levels of box seats filled with mannequin audience members in period dress; these box
levels wrap around the auditorium which will
be dwarfed under a 90-foot diameter dome
housing the famous chandelierwhich also
has a few new surprises. If, that is, all this can
be built in time.
The day before the first technical rehearsal
Bridge surveyed the controlled chaos. “I just
counted and there are 72 people in the auditorium building at the moment construction people. There are two worlds going on.
Upstage is sort of familiar theatrical country,
but from the orchestra out is construction
land. From here upwards you can almost say
you’ve got a show.” He turns, gestures at the
construction crew and laughs. “But they’re
very late at it.”
Rick Baxter, the production electrician for
Phantom is similarly sanguine. “They’re still
building the theatre. Day by day they’re still
ringing out circuits in the dimmer room. As
they ring stuff out, I get to go plug it in.” Baxter
has been working on the Phantom install for
over a year, overlapping with his work on the
Hairspray install at the Luxor. Currently he’s in
the side boxes of the theatre, where the mannequins will eventually go, pointing at the
steel conduit that needs to get anchored and
explaining how the show’s circuitry just keeps
getting bigger.
“January 2005, when they were laying out
circuitry for this theatre, I was working on Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang back in New York. Fisher
Dachs, who is doing the layout for all the electrical, came to us and wanted to know how
many circuits to put everywhere. We had no
drawing, no plot for this show. So we told them
what would be best for a Broadway show. We
knew nothing about 226 units that would
have to go here to light the mannequins—so
we scrambled to find circuits to light the mannequins. We actually robbed circuits that had
been designated for house lighting. We just
didn’t have enough circuits here to deal with
all the stuff they added.”
And this was after the animatronics idea
had been tossed. The mannequins were originally designed to react to singular events in
the show, like the famous chandelier crash.
Perhaps in a move towards subtlety, this plan
was scrapped.
“Nobody down there is going to be looking up here when the chandelier crashes,” Rick
says, then points up into the dome at the four
levels of steel rings that are the chandelier
mock-up. “They’ll be looking at that.”
And for good reason. The 90-foot dome
in the center of the ceiling is supported by 16
ribs. Each of these ribs is a runway for a wheel
guiding a wire that is attached at one end to
a winch in the catwalk above the dome and
at the other end to a point on a chandelier
section. With four points on every section, this
means that each of the four sections of the
chandelier is movable, and can be guided to
any location in the auditorium.
“Rather than one lump going up, it sort
of has balletic choreographic life of its own.”
Bridge elaborates.
And this balletic life is guided by Fisher
Technical Services, Inc.,
www.PLSN.com
6/30/06 12:29:01 PM
Cirque Du Soleil Brings Abby road To Las Vegas Strip
By TerryLowe & Kevin M.Mitchell
T
he amazing combination of Cirque du
Soleil and The Beatles and how they
came together for a permanent installation at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas is
something of a magical mystery tour. As the
Beatles are notoriously protective of their
music, it took a personal friendship between
the late George Harrison and Cirque founder
Guy Laliberté to make it possible. Sir George
Martin and his son Giles Martin got involved,
and the two, working from Abbey Road’s
master tapes, created unique collages and
arrangements that have never before been
heard. Add Celine Dion’s long-time lighting
designer, Yves Aucoin, and more video than
has ever been used in a Cirque show, and
you’ve got one of Las Vegas’s most anticipated and talked about entertainment events.
The show, which previewed last month,
started rehearsals in September of 2005 in
Montreal. The 60 cast members are now performing the extravaganza in a custom-built
theatre in the round with panoramic video
projection. That, of course, brings with it all
kinds of technical challenges, including the
lack of a backstage, no wings, and a stage
roughly the size of a tennis court with performers entering from below and above not
that any of that scared Aucoin.
“They called me and they said we have
this project with the Beatles and I was, ‘Ah!’ ”
laughs Aucoin. “ ‘That is the one I want!’ ”
An Intimate Show
Typical of the untypical take that the
Cirque creative team takes on projects, the
show is a dazzling combination of music and
theatre. In just one special moment, an arrangement of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
is performed with “stars” in the sky. This effect
was created using Color Kinetics iColor Flex
LED strings adapted for this production.
“We always try to have the audience be
part of the show,” Aucoin says. “So we always
try to have some tricks with the video and
the LED strings.” Adding to the effect are
“bed sheets” cloth that stretches the height
of the theatre that has images projected on
it and also moves out into the audience. He
adds that working with the old school projection screens (no LED screens were used)
was challenging because he had to keep the
light off of the projection surfaces. Working
closely with video director Frances LaPorte,
they were able to work around technical
challenges and create the intimacy the creative team was aiming for.
We have spent many nights together to accomplish this, to have it work
and hit with the music,” Aucoin
says. The sheer familiarity
of this music was another
challenge, as the audience
certainly has ideas of their
own of how these songs
“look.” So the creative team
had to come up with unique
approaches to presenting
a particularly number. The
show utilizes music from
1962 to 1969, but isn’t a
“Now it is fun, but I have
spent four months sitting in this
theatre almost 18
hours a day….”
“g r e a t e s t
hits” approach, and
artistically there is a mostly
psychedelic approach to the show.
Not that it’s a retro feel technically.
“I’m the type of guy who works a lot with
moving lights rather than conventional lights,
and for this show, it turns out to be all moving lights,” Aucoin says. “When I put my list
together, I went around and it turned out
that Vari-Lite had everything I needed for this
show. As of today, Vari-Lite is still the sexiest
moving light.” (The theatre, built from the
ground up in the old Siegfried and Roy spot,
had some conventional lights that were refurbished for this show.)
“I have ADC dimmers, a (MA Lighting)
GrandMA 2, a GrandMA main desk, and another little MA light,” he says. “We have 28
– Yves Aucoin
DMX universes on this rig—it’s huge.” Aucoin
says that assistant and project manager Cal
Goad did a fantastic job working it all out. “I
like to be sitting behind the desk programming, but I need someone to make sure that
it is working properly.”
Eight Robert Juliat followspots are used,
as are several low fog machines.“Even though
on this show I have a bigger budget, you need
to work with tools you feel good about, with
people you feel good about. Like Vari-Lite—
I’ve been doing business with them for a long,
long time. It’s the first time that I’ve rigged
www.PLSN.com
100.0607.20-24.indd 21
with just one moving light company and for
now they don’t let me down. So it’s good.”
Being a 360 degree show it’s tough to find
spots for the cameras, and with 28 video projectors it’s complicated on all levels. But new
technology is helping overcome the complications. Demark-based Brother, Brother &
Sons, for example, supplied four V-Base automated projector yokes for the four runaway
screens.
“I’ve done Celine in 360 before, and I consulted for Wynn Hotel the La Rêve show next
door—but man, story continues on page 42,
crew & gear on page 24
PLSN JULY 2006
21
6/30/06 12:29:28 PM
continued from page 20
lighting package), who gave Baxter the name
who’s been comof a company called Valence that makes and
ing in at midnight to practice
distributes large lithium-ion batteries.
the flying—the only time they can
“Because they want the chandelier to stay
get the space because of the intense
lit for about a half an hour every show and
construction schedule. And they’re not
there’s two shows back to back in Vegas, that
the only ones working on it. Howard Eameans one hour of burn time on the battery,”
ton Lighting from London has designed
Baxter says. “We found these 40 amp-hour
all of the electronics and fixtures for the
batteries that Valence distributes that weigh
chandeliers, a mixture of LEDs and globe
15 pounds. They’re just little light-weight
fixtures, run wirelessly using a City Theatthings. There’s a three month lead time on
rical wireless dimming system. The four
those, too, because they had to get shipped
sections of chandeliers use 104 DMX512
from China. Valence actually got them to us
control channels.
in about two months. They were great. They
It’s a good thing they’re using wireless
were very helpful. They understood our deadcontrols. Beyond mobility’s sake, there’s
line time.”
almost too much weight on each of the
A day before tech everyone understands
chandelier sections. Each section was limitdeadline pressure. The dome, one of the maed to 500 pounds, and the structures themjor set pieces of the show, even though it’s
selves came in at 250 pounds each, leaving
in the audience, has been through multiple
only 250 pounds for everything else that
design iterations, and is still not quite ready.
had to be loaded
onto each section. In September of 2005 the original lighting
design called for “moving lights all over the
Then they discovplace, back lighting everywhere,” says Baxter.
ered they would
Lighting Designer: Andrew Bridge
But all that would have required 600 amps
need an additional
Associate Designer: Vivien Leone
three-phase just to turn it on. Understand90 pounds of batAssistant LD: Mike Jones
ably, the hotel pulled the plug on that idea.
teries to power
Production Electrician: Rick Baxter
The next reincarnation included a lot of LEDs,
everything, which
Moving Light Programmer: Patrick Schulze
but the price tag on that was about $400,000
didn’t leave a lot
Producer: LV Theatrical Group, Inc.
and the producers balked at that. So in the
of extra weight for
General Manager: Gill Theatrical Group
the instruments. end the dome ended up being lit with LEDs
Production Manager: Jake Bell and David Benken
and fiber-optic rope light using Fiber-Star ilHoward
Eaton
Lighting Rental Package: PRG Lighting
luminators. The Color
ETC System Install by Four Wall Lighting for the Venetian
Kinetic fixtures are
When Howard Eaton originally
Opera Façade: Scenic Technology, Colorkinetics, City
powered using DMXTheatrical WDS, LED Power Supplies, and TPR Fibreoptics
came in with the fixtures to install controllable
City
Deck Candles: Scenic Technology, Howard Eaton
on the sections, they discovered
Theatrical PDS 750TR
Lighting Limited
power supplies.
they would need an additional
Proscenium: Hudson Scenic
As Bridge says,
90 pounds of batteries to power
Dressing Room: Hudson Scenic
“We’ve got a ton
everything, which didn’t leave a
Chandelier: Fisher Technical Services (Automation), Copof stuff up there in
per Creek (Lighting Installation), Howard Eaton Lighting
lot of extra weight for the instruthe dome. We just
Limited (Design of LEDs and Control) and City Theatrical
ments. They went back
won’t have it for or
(WDS Transmitter & Receiver)
3 weeks!” He laughs
to the drawing board and
Dome and Side Boxes: Copper Creek, Fibrestar,
before going into
Colorkinetics
detail about why the
Lightning Effect: Adirondack Scenic
dome is so important to get right.
went back to the
Rooftop Façade: Adirondack Scenic
“We could light it quite boldly and brassdrawing board and
Rooftop Drop: Adirondack Scenic
ily, but it would look wrong, so I’ve got a ton of
designed
more
Organ: Spoon Group, City Theatrical WDS, Howard Eaton
kit that’s doing candle flicker effects and just
LEDs and cut the
Lighting Limited Candles
number of globes. very subtle stuff like that. So when we’re doLair Mirror: Spoon Group, City Theatrical WDS
ing an opera on the stage the light hopefully
A further assist
enervates from the stage, so it’s not just flatcame from Rick
lit, it’s got sort of dimensions.”
Lamp at PRG (proOn the other hand, he knows how to
vider of the rental
make it pop when necessary. More
equipment going into the dome
includes three Studio Due Space
Flowers from their distributor in
Canada, (also used in the short-lived
We Will Rock You) and a Lightning
Strikes strobe unit they’re going to
hang off a beam on the center line,
along with its 450-pound battery.
And there’s still more light to come.
“We have a huge lightning bolt
thing made out of neon, an entire
drop. Neon from top to bottom,”
says Baxter. “Adirondack Scenic
made it for us and we’re going to do
a big lightning flash.” He laughs a
little. “We haven’t even turned it on
yet. We didn’t have power to turn it
on yet. Now we have power, but we
haven’t had a chance to test it yet.”
100.0607.20-24.indd 22
“(The original lighting design
called for) moving lights all over
the place, back lighting
everywhere. But all that would
have required 600 amps
three-phase just to turn it on.”
– Rick Baxter
So has all this flash completely obliterated any ideas of subtlety yet? Not quite.
“It’s striations,” Bridge says, referring
to alternating bands of darkness and light.
“Maria Bjornson, the set designer who
unfortunately passed away, always wanted striation and darkness as part of our
friends. Striations in the lake, candles being
held to faces. All that. So we’ve emphasized
that a bit more.
“A lot of the proscenium—which we
had in the original production, and the
expansion of it we’ve done here—as an
overall overview picture, it’s all glorious
and ornate and gold. But if you look at it
closely there’s lust, there’s rape, there’s sex
on that proscenium. What I can do with the
new moving light system is, during the lair
scenes, where Phantom’s underneath the
lake, we can emphasize some of the grotesqueness of that. So I can just bring in
the guy’s horns. So we can emphasize, will
Phantom kill Christine, or will he rape her?
Or what? There’s a sexual predator around;
it’s not really Disney. And the great thing is
because it’s slightly wider and higher, we
can play with darkness a lot more. Beams
of light and just cross-light in one direction. So you can make it look a lot more
mystical.”
And will mystical powers be necessary to get it all finished in time? Not
according to Bridge.
“I’m not worried,” he says. “The good
thing is that we’ve done Phantom for
over 20 years. So the general picture and
the emotions you can get from the general pictures is done. We don’t have to
make up lots of new cues. We just have
to get the original ones working better,
bigger.”
Better, bigger—that doesn’t sound
so subtle, but it does sound an awful lot
like Vegas.
7/1/06 1:33:16 PM
ETC 05° Source Four Ellipsoidal 750W 120V
Altman 3.5x6 Ellipsoidal 500W
ETC Source Four PAR NSP w/
MCM Reflector 750W 120V
ETC Source Four PAR MFL w/
ETC Source Four PAR WFL w/
ETC Source Four PAR MFL 575W 120V (work lights)
Altman PAR64 NSP 1000W
Altman PAR64 MFL 1000W
PAR36 ACL 250W 28v
Strand Fresnel 5K
Strand Fresnel 2K 6” Bambino LA
Strand Fresnel 1K 5” (Bambino)
Strand Mizar Fresnel 500W
Strand Mizar Fresnel 300W
Thomas Birdy MR16 50W EXN w/dimmable electronic trans
former 125V to 12V
Thomas Birdy MR16 75W EYC w/dimmable electronic trans
former 125V to 12V
Thomas Birdy MR16 75W EYF w/dimmable elec tronic trans
former 125V to 12V
L&E Mini-Ten 500W
L&E “New Style” Ministrip 6’-0” x 30 Lt x 3 Circuit w/MR16 75W EYC
w/Hanging Hardware
L&E “New Style” Ministrip 4’-0” x20 Lt x 2 Circuit w/MR16 75W EYC
w/Hanging Hardware
L&E “New Style” Ministrip 2’-0” x 10 Lt x 2 Circuit w/MR16 75W EYF
w/Hanging Hardware
L&E Nano-Strip 1’-8” x 10 Light x 1 Circuit w/MR11 35W FTF
Lightning Strikes 70K Strobe
16
6
3
3
2
6
`
22
14
35
8
5
6
9
10
22
7
5
6
17
20
16
12
82
10
2
4
2
2 12
12 Martin Atomic 3K Strobe
High End Systems Dataflash AF1000 Xenon Strobe 110V with High Output Lamp.
Reiche & Vogel NS1000 Beam
light 1000W 24V Followspot with concentric spill ring, top hat, remote transformer and infrared sighting devices
Wybron Coloram II Color Scroller for followspots
White Light customized yokes and stands for followspots
Pani PS250 Beamlight 250W 24v with remote transformer (used as followspots)
Note: All automated lights sup
plied with ACT speed slot hang
ing hardware
Vari*Lite 3500Q Spot 1200W 208 volt w/ top hat
Vari*Lite 2500 Spot 700W 120V
Vari*Lite 1000TS 1000W 120V w/ top hat
Vari*Lite 1000AS 575W 120V
Vari*Lite 500 1200W 120V w/ pastel
Martin MAC 2000 Performance 1200W 120V with electronic ballast
Martin MAC 2000 Profile 1200W 120V with electronic ballast
Martin MAC 2000 Wash 1200W 120V with PC lens w/ top hat
High End Systems Studio Beam 700W 120V
High End Systems Studio Color 575W 120V w/ snoot
Wybron BP-2 GLC 750W 115V w/ City Theatrical Motorized Yoke
Ocean Optics Seachanger Color Engine
Wybron 10” Coloram II Color Scroller
Wybron 10” Coloram II Color Scroller
Wybron 7.5” Coloram II Color Scroller
Wybron 7.5” Coloram II Color Scroller
Wybron 4” Coloram II Color Scroller 4
Wybron Coloram 24-channel power supplies
Flying Pig Systems Hog IPC
5 Flying Pig Systems Hog IPC Widget DMX Super 2048
Flying Pig Systems Hog IPC LCD touch screens 15”
A/B DMX Switchbox 1-12 Uni
verse
City Theatrical 512 channel DMX controllable wireless transmitter
City Theatrical Dimmers 15A 24V
City Theatrical wireless receivers
Complementing the show inside is a new
front feature show at the Venetian, designed
to create excitement for the show at the (literal) street level. “Phantom Storm” is an outdoor lighting and sound show utilizing moving lights and projected Phantom graphics
on the walls of the Venetian along the strip,
accompanied by excerpts from the show’s
soundtrack.
The show uses eight Robe ColorSpot
1200 AT moving head fixtures, chosen for
their small-footprint and high output, protected from the elements by WeatherShields.
Various Phantom graphics, including the famous mask, are rotated through the unit on
glass gobos.
Unique to this show is audio control right
from the Grand MA console. The console generates internal 24-hour SMPTE time code and
sends MIDI triggers to a Roland SP-404 sam-
www.PLSN.com
100.0607.20-24.indd 23
20
20
20
18
20
16
6
4
8
14
5
2
4
8
18
150
6
150 4
19
17
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24 1
pler and the building’s Unison Architectural
lighting system, cueing all sound and dimming exterior building lights, while running
the shows lights, thus eliminating the need
for a show control program.
The show begins every evening at 8:45
p.m. and runs every half hour with the last
show at 11:45 p.m. with a four-minute run
time. Produced by Robert Capucci, Paul Vella
and Patricia Diefenderfer at the Venetian,
performances began with the first preview of
Phantom and will continue until mid-July.
PLSN JULY 2006
23
6/30/06 12:30:36 PM
1
1
1
3
30 continued from page 21
Gear
Video
26 Digital Projection Highlite 12000Dsx projectors w/ lenses
5 Digital Projection Lightning 30sx+ projectors w/ lenses
18 Green Hippo Hippotizer HD media servers w/ custom software
2 MA Lighting grandMA lighting desk w/networking processors
6 MA Lighting Network Signal Processors
1 Raritan Paragon II KVM switching network base
4 Raritan Paragon II user stations
2 Cisco data switches
2 High End Systems Catalyst
4 Netgear FSM7328 data switches
4 Brother, Brother & Sons V-Base moving projection yokes (plus 3 spares)
4 ETC Net2 Nodes control interface
4 Planar Touch screens
1 Adobe Production software
22 12 2
2
1
12 16 12 130 5
5
12 6
20 100 1
1
6
4
6
8
2
2
1
1
9
70 2
70 9
2
Stardraw Remote Control Software
Sencore pattern generator interactive projector calibration software & hardware
Sencore Projector Pro Quantum Data 802b Test Pattern Generator
Dtrovision DVI Matrix Switchers
ThinkLogical fiber optic DVI extenders
Furman power conditioners, UPS and rack lights
LED Rack Lights
Motu MIDI Time Code Conversion
MIDI Solutions T8
Brainstorm SR15+ Timecode Distripalyzer
19” View Sonic Monitors
Lighting
54 64 56 30 21 24 48 200 125 6
40 8
Vari*Lite VL-3500Q
Vari*Lite VL-3000 Q Spot
Vari*Lite VL-2500 Spot
Vari*Lite VL-3000Q Wash
Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes
ETC 05º Source Four Lekos
ETC Source Four Pars
Altman Micro Strip Mr-11
Robert Juliat Ivanhoe 2,5Kw
HMI Followspots
WildFire WF-LT40S +Eclipse 2
WildFire Fluorescent DMX 4’
Color Kinetics ColorBlast 6
City Theatrical PDS 750TR
City Theatrical PDS 375TR
Color Kinetics iW Blast 12
Color Kinetics iW PDS-150 DMX
Color Kinetics iW Profile 80 x 80
Color Kinetics iColor Flex SL
Light System Manager
Color Kinetics iPlayer-to-DMX
interface
MDG Atmosphere ADV
MDG Low Fog Q
MDG Max 5000 ADV
MDG Max 3000 ADV
MDG Mini Max
MA Lighting grandMA consoles
MA Lighting grandMA Light
console
MA Lighting grandMA PC
MA Lighting NSPs
ETC Touring Dual Node Net/2
MA Lighting NSP Network Manager
ETC Net2 Touring Dual Nodes
ETC Net2 Rack-mount Nodes 4-out
ETC Net2 Rack-mount Nodes 2-in
2-out
2 ETC Net2 Portable DMX Nodes
4 ETC Net2 Video Nodes
14 Pathway 6-way Opto-Splitters
12 ETC Sensor CEM+ 96-channel
Dimmer Racks
24 ETC 24 Relay Panel Smart Switches
3 AMX 15-inch Portable
2 AMX 12-in Wall Mount Touch Screens
2 AMX CP-4 Wall Mount
Touch Screens
4
2
4
12 2
7
2
4
1
1
5
5
AMX NI-2000 Processors
AMX AXB DMX 512
Dell Rack-mount PC
Cisco Catalyst 3560-48 Network Switch
Cisco Catalyst 3560-24
Network Switch
Cisco Catalyst RPS-675
Redundant Power Supply
Cisco Catalyst 3550 Fiber
Core Router
Fiber Optic Backbone
RC4 Wireless TX32D
32-channel Transmitter
RC4 Wireless TXD Series
High Power Antenna
RC4 Wireless RX4 STD 4 x
150W Receiver/Dimmer
RC4 Wireless RX4 STD 4 x 50W
Receiver/Dimmer
Crew
Guide, Show Concept Creator: Guy LaLiberté
Director, Show Concept Writer: Dominic
Champagne
Director of Creation, Show Concept Creator: Gilles Ste-Croix
Associate Director of Creation: Chantal
Tremblay
Theater and Set Designer: Jean Rabasse
Costume Designer: Philippe Guilottel
Lighting Designer: Yves Aucoin
Assistant LD and Project Manager: Cal Goad
Head of Lighting: John Bartley
Assistant Head of Lighting: Michael Cassera
Moving Lights Programmer: Yves Aucoin
Lighting Board Operator: Robert Brassard
Lead Moving Light Tech: Dexter Bryant
Lead Follow Spot Operator: Curt McCormick
Follow Spot Operators: Katie Barry, Stuart
Pitz, Viva Sallee, Vincent Sims, Eric Ludacer,
Brian Wise, Steven Mac
Lead Atmospherics: William Allen
Atmospherics and Networking: Alan Pilukas
Video Projection Designer: Francis LaPorte
Acrobatic Rigging Designer: Guy St-Amour
Make-up Designer: Nathalie Gagné
Props Designer: Patricia Ruel
Puppet Designer: Michael Curry
24
PLSN JULY 2006
100.0607.20-24.indd 24
www.PLSN.com
6/30/06 12:31:09 PM
Moving at the
Speed of
Moving Lights
“The quality of the products
in general has become much
better and more reliable,
and that is the key to
a successful product.”
– Eric Loader
Eric Loader
Intelligent lighting
history continues at
ADJ-founded Elation
By Kevin M.Mitchell
[On September 25 of this year, it will be
exactly 25 years since the first Vari-Lite system
was used on the Genesis “Abacab” tour in
a bullfighting ring in Barcelona, Spain. To
celebrate this anniversary PLSN will be running
an ongoing series of profiles of many of today’s
automated lighting companies. This article is
one of those profiles. – ed.]
E
ric Loader remembers well when he first
experienced the intelligent light. “It was
at a concert during the mid 1980s. Then
later, the first product I saw up-close was the
Clay Paky Golden Scan and Coemar Robot.
“It was just like seeing the first computer
during the typewriter age.”
Yet for him—and many of us—it doesn’t
seem like 25 years.
“It seems like it’s been a few years,” says
Elation’s director of sales. “Time has gone by
fast. What has changed a lot in the industry is
the accessibility of the product and that goes
hand-in-hand with the pricing. The quality of
the products in general has become much
better and more reliable, and that is the key
to a successful product.”
Loader adds that when he first saw the
technology up close, he was not alone in seeing the writing—and the wiring—on the wall:
the next step was to develop the technology
to make it more reachable to the masses. This
was not a new idea to the Davies brothers,
Scott and Chuck, who were always about figuring out the more-for-less part of the market
since they founded American DJ in 1985.
But Loader points out that the early days
of intelligent lighting wasn’t all rainbows and
sunshine. “There was a liability,” he sighs. “The
components developed back then were taken from other industries,” so it wasn’t always
a comfortable fit right off
the bat. Also, all the tours
had to send a specialized technician on
the road just to deal
with the frailties of the
products then being
made.
American DJ, Elation’s
parent company, introduced intelligent lighting in the form of the
Star Tech Series in
the early 1990s.
Elation’s Focus Spot 250
www.PLSN.com
PRODUCTIONPROFILE
CREW
& GEAR
Crew
G
Photos by Steve Jennings
Lighting Vendor: PRG
Lighting Designer/Director: Marc
Brickman
Lighting Programmer: Mark “Sparky” Risk
Laser Operator: Mark Grega
Laser Technician: Al Domanski
Production Manager: Roger Searle
Tour Manager: Nick Belshaw
Gear
By SteveJennings
I
f you were among the few to catch David
Gilmour’s first U.S. solo theatre tour, you
can count yourself among the very lucky,
given he would normally be seen in an arena or stadium setting. We have seen some
great performances from him of late; his
show at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002 that
was recorded for a DVD and that rare performance that only Bob Geldolf could pull
off, the reformation of Pink Floyd with Roger
Waters at the Live 8 spectacular in London
last year. It’s been twelve years since we’ve
seen a Pink Floyd tour, so Gilmour’s outing
has been long anticipated. In support of his
third solo album On An Island, he plays it in
its entirety for the first half of the show, then
all Pink Floyd songs in the second half, some
of which have never before been played live.
We spoke with lighting designer Marc Brickman about covering the show and he graciously wanted to turn the spotlight
over to his colleagues on the tour.
Production manager Roger Searle
has been in the business since he apprenticed with The Who in 1967. He’s
subsequently worked with “everyone
from Cliff Richard to Judas Priest.” Phil
Taylor, Gilmour’s long standing guitar
tech got him involved in this tour.
“This is a four-truck production,”
he says. “I’m technically just the production manager though with this
whole team of people, everyone is
conversant with the needs of others and
therefore everyone looks out for everybody
else, which works well.
“I’ve worked with a lot of the crew we
have here over the years. Marc Brickman
and I have done a few ‘Brits Awards’ shows
in England. Colin Norfield, the FOH engineer,
and most of the stage crew and I have all
done various tours together over the years.
There are actually only six of us in the business; we just move around a lot,” he jokes.
One of the challenges of a theatre tour
is dealing with different sized venues. Searle
and company had a unique way of dealing
with that from the start. “We conspired from
day one that we would stage the same show
everywhere,” he said. “Because we are ending
the tour with three nights at London’s Royal
Albert Hall and they had another non-music
production the afternoon of our third show
day, the only way that we could do that was
to have them use our sound system and fly
our lighting rig out of the way. The Albert Hall
26
PLSN JULY 2006
100.0607.26.indd 26
has fixed trusses, so I said to Marc, you’re not
going to like it, but we have to have three
straight trusses. We had to make the lighting rig narrower than maybe we would, but
again we wanted the same show and stage
configuration for each show we played so
the stage footprint of some fifty feet wide
by about twenty-six feet deep will fit everywhere. We actually had carpet cut that size
and I said to all the venue people who sent
me a stage plan, if it doesn’t fit on the carpet,
we can’t do it. But it’s worked everywhere. We
put the same show in NY’s Radio City Music
Hall as went in to the Grand Rex in Paris, give
or take a laser or two!”
Mark “Sparky” Risk is the lighting programmer and he has worked with Marc
Brickman on several projects, including Paul
McCartney’s tour in 1989. The “carpet” restriction works for Searle, but how did it affect
the lighting design and programming? “The
starting basis of the show was the size of
the venues we’d be playing, which restricted
“There are
actually only six of
us in the business;
we just move
around a lot.”
with some Syncrolites thrown in for good
measure. “The Vari*Lite VL500s are new to
me,” says Risk. “They were straight out of the
factory in Europe and onto this tour. I hadn’t
used the new 1K Syncrolites before either.
The Vari*Lite 3000s I’ve used extensively—
it’s the best profile moving lamp I’ve come
across by a country mile.”
Though he seems to be enjoying his
new toys, Risk cautions that this particular
rig requires some extra head work. “In many
ways you have to put more thought into
it if you’re working with a smaller number
of instruments. We only have twenty-two
moving lights in the air, a large number of
strobes on the floor, and VL2500 Washes
and the VL500s on torms for side wash.
Smoke, of course, is of paramount importance to us. It’s essentially our set, with a
great deal of thought and effort going into
making it work for us.”
Mark Grega is the laser operator. After
working with Brickman on the Momentary
Lapse of Reason and the Delicate
Sound of Thunder tours, he was
asked to join Gilmour’s tour. His
Pangolin computer system drives
the laser graphics and scanning
effects, while an NSI console controls the beam stops. Two lasers,
one 8-watt and one 50-watt, provide the coherent light effects
for the tour. Grega explains why
these particular lasers are effective. “One of the laser systems is
a copper vapor,” he says. “It has a
copper core that is heated up 477 degrees
Celsius and that turns it into a gas. It actually puts out a gold beam. Most lasers are
monochromatic so usually they only have
one wavelength. A copper vapor laser has
about three usable wavelengths (colors) to
work with: a whitish beam, a forest green
beam and a gold beam. The other laser
system is a YAG. It puts out a beam at 532
nanometers, which is that emerald green
colored beam which we use specifically for
entertainment purposes because of the
sensitivity of your eye. On one end of the
spectrum is red and on the other is blue
and in the middle is green and 532 is the
most sensitive wave length for your eye.”
How do these lasers differ from Gilmour’s other shows? “On past Floyd tours we
used ion lasers. We had argon and krypton
lasers that we would blend together to
create a white beam which had the entire spectrum so you could make purples,
blues, yellows, etc. After their shows in
C
- Roger Searle
what Marc could do design-wise. From that
point on, the idea was that we were not going to program something to deliberately
look like a Pink Floyd show. Floyd shows
happen on such a huge scale, that to try and
emulate a show of stadium scale in a theatre
show with three straight trusses would have
been madness; you have to approach it as a
David Gilmour show. On this tour we have
about thirty songs programmed. The whole
first half of the show is David’s new On An
Island CD, which we’ve lit to hopefully compliment the subtle nuances of the music. The
second half is all Pink Floyd songs, some of
the regular favorites and some that the casual fan may not be quite so familiar with. It’s
a wonderful blend of material that you never
tire of listening to, some extremely subtle
and others where we like to blitz the senses.
It’s all about ebb and flow.”
Except for the strobes (Martin Atomic
3Ks) and the lasers, the entire lighting system is automated. The majority are Vari-Lites,
18 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
10 Vari*Lite VL2500 Washes
16 Vari*Lite VL500Ts
10 Vari*Lite VLM moving mirrors
4 Syncrolite MX1000 1Ks
20 Martin Atomic 3K strobes
1 VLPS Virtuoso lighting console
1 LaserScope 50-watt YAG Laser
1 Spectronika 8-watt Copper Vapor Laser
2 Pangolin Computers
1 NSI 48-channel console (laser control)
2 6800 Cambridge Scanner Sets
2 MDG Atmosphere Touring Version haze
machines
3 Jem ZR33 fog machines
3 Dry Ice Machines (assorted makes)
Europe—they did fourteen shows there—
Marc and David Gilmour wanted to add a
little something extra to the U.S. dates. So
lasers were added to ‘Echoes’ and some of
the old ‘laser songs’ from past tours—‘Wish
You Were Here’ and ‘Comfortably Numb.’
It’s funny; on the ride back to the hotel last
night, one of the backline techs described
‘Echoes’ as ‘biblical.’ ”
Given the nature of the beast, it’s not
surprising that the production might
transport you to a different time and place,
perhaps even one with historical significance. But in this case the song alludes to
a place under the sea where “everything is
green and submarine.” Maybe it’s a sign of
the times, or maybe it’s just that Gilmour is
poised, relaxed and having fun.
“David’s doing these shows because
he wants to,” says Searle. “He’s having a
great time. The reaction of the fans as
well as the general press has been great. If
David decides to do more shows, I know
we’ll all be there.”
www.PLSN.com
6/30/06 5:47:59 PM
•••••••
The Many
Revolutions of
High End Systems
• • • • • • • • •Lighting
• Manufacturer
• • • Comes
• •Full •Circle
•••••••
By Kevin M.Mitchell
er
ris
el
liv
eau
or Lowell Fowler, chairman and one
of the founders of High End Systems,
the evolution of “intelligent” lighting
technology has come full circle.
Fowler started Blackstone Audio Visual in
1972, and in 1977 he had a fateful meeting
with Richard Belliveau. The two were “working on intelligent lighting then, but in
a different way,” Fowler reflects. “We
used intelligently-controlled slide
projectors, really smart ones
that could animate to music,
do panoramas, and create
wild polarized animation
effects. Now it’s come full
circle with High End’s
new Collage Generator
software feature on the
DL.2 [digital luminaire].
The brochure copy we’re
writing for this is similar
to the copy we wrote for
the multi-image shows we
were making in the ‘70s!”
“Intelligent lighting has
“I think
B
rd
been an evolution that
cha
i
R
intelligent lighting has
has been taking place
throughout history,
been an evolution that has
going all the way
laboratory to
been taking place throughout
back to the Magic
manufacture close
Lantern times,” Beltolerance dichroic
history, going all the way back
liveau says. “Motors
filters.“These filters
and electronics were
to the Magic Lantern times.”
turned out to be esadded to lights in the
sential for the manu- Richard Belliveau
1950s… But my first
facture of today’s aupersonal experience with
tomated lighting.”
a remote-controlled color
On the reliability of the
changer operated by a lighting
early intelligent products in gendesk was the Pan Can produced by Peter
eral, he says; “Interestingly enough, reliability
Wynne Willson in the mid 1980s.”
was an issue with non-microprocessor scanIn 1986 High End Systems was formed out ners and then later with gyroscopic lighting.
of Blackstone Audio Visual in Austin, Tex- Adding the microprocessor didn’t change reas, not long after they introduced their liability that much. Improved mechanical sysfirst remote-controlled lighting product, Laser tems and higher temperature materials have
Chorus. This remote-controlled laser scanner been responsible for many of the improvesystem could operate with 12 multicolored ments to reliability with today’s automated
low-powered lasers.
lighting.”
“There were so many revolutions in this
Another breakthrough was Intel-
produced
by a lithographic
lM
Bil
process. Two
years later came
their
Studio
Colo
r
575, their first moving-yoke wash fixture.
Studio Spot 575, the Studio Beam, and the
x.Spot followed.
Despite the complexity of these products,
for High End, time spent on research and development has stayed about the same. “R&D
or
labeam. Released in 1989, the moving mirror
fixture was buoyed by its use on Dire Straits’
1991 On Every Street world tour.
“Intellabeam changed the way the concert industry looked at the new definition
of automated lighting,” Fowler says. “Having
a moving mirror able to have so many functions, with so much speed and flexibility …
that was a revolution, and a great design tool
for its day.” Out of that technology came Cyberlight in 1994. More accurate, powerful, and
manageable, it featured the first LithoPatterns,
an advancement in optical thin-film gobos
www.PLSN.com
F
industry, and that was one
of them,” Fowler says. Belliveau, realizing that there
was stringent government regulation on any laser over .5 milliwatts, came
up
with the idea of creating
Fo
ell
a
product
that came in just
w
o
L
under that. Suddenly audience
scanning was possible, and installing “about 24 of those units in a club was
really just awesome.”
The Color Pro color mixing luminaire soon
followed. “The Color Pro used an additive dichroic color mixing system that allowed a red,
blue, and green light source to be combined
to a single output,” Belliveau explains. “Color
deviation is highly perceivable to the human
eye, especially when operating lights side by
side.” High End then created Lightwave Research, an optical
wl
[On September
25 of this year, it
will be exactly 25
years since the first
Vari-Lite system
was used on the
Genesis “Abacab” tour
in a bullfighting ring
in Barcelona, Spain. To
celebrate this anniversary
PLSN will be running an ongoing
series of profiles of many of today’s automated
lighting companies. This article is one of those
profiles. – ed.]
PLSN JULY 2006
27
PLSNINTERVIEW
Nelly Furtado
Embala
by RobLudwig
I
n 1999, Valy Tremblay launched Proluxon
(www.proluxon.com), a company dedicated to supporting visual designers and
helping them make their concepts become
reality. One of the early pioneers in previsualization in Québec, he recently partnered with industry veteran Andre Girard to
bolster a company that strives to live on the
cutting edge of technology. From playing
with batteries and bulbs as a child, to harnessing the power pre-visualization in the
present, he strives to stay ahead of the curve.
PLSN: How did you get
started in lighting?
Valy Tremblay: I was in third grade
and was playing with batteries, wires and
bulbs [Laughs]. I just don’t know where it
came from; it’s always been there and just
evolved. I used to pick up old TVs from the
garbage and dismantle them when I was
eight. It probably started in another life.
I just don’t know [Laughs].
When you started
working, you moved
towards touring.What
led you to that?
When I was a teenager, I used to go to
concerts a lot. I saw myself doing that, so it
was kind of a dream for me that was possible to go towards. I also wanted to travel
around the world.
I went to the producer and I
told him we could save $20,000 and I’d
charge him $10,000. He didn’t ask
me how; he just understood
he was making $10,000,
You did that for a
while, and in 1999 you
started Proluxon. For
a company that specializes in 3D modeling,previsualization and renderings, that was kind
of ahead of the curve.
What made you decide
to do that?
Staying ahead, focusing on new stuff
and slowing down on touring. I started
so early that in my early 20s I was already
a technical director. I was involved in this
business since I was a teenager. I started
doing shows when I was 14 or 15, I was
doing clubs, but don’t tell anyone, and
I was touring in clubs by 16. When I got in-
28
PLSN JULY 2006
volved in the real business, I got going pretty fast. I moved to lighting and technical
directing pretty early. My goal is to always
stay ahead and bring in new technology. So
that’s why, in 1999, and probably the last
part of 1998, I had my eyes on WYSIWYG. I
liked it a lot and I knew that nobody around
was doing that. I inquired a little bit, and
at one point, I asked myself a question: do
I buy a house or a big computer and WYSIWYG? WYSIWYG was pretty expensive at
that time–it was around $10,000 and with
a $15,000 computer. It was my first real investment. So, I had to decide if I buy a house
and do my lawn every week, or do I develop
something new. It’s a Canadian company,
Cast Software, that developed WYSIWYG, so
they were close to me. It wasn’t like going
to California to inquire. It was just jumping
in the car and knocking on their door to say,
“Hi, I’m Valy and I want to know more about
your product.”
I met Ben Sanford at that time. He’s still
at Cast. I spent a day with them and went
through the software. It was kind of my first
training. I was already doing a bit of AutoCAD and I’ve been involved with computers
since Apple II.
www.PLSN.com
How did you develop
a market while
pioneering a new way
of pre-production?
It was early. And the market in Québec
is a bit different than the rest of the continent. The level of business was a bit low
but I wasn’t doing only that. Proluxon was
programming, 3-D modeling and using
WYSIWYG. I believed in it, but I was already
a consultant and I kept selling my service
as a technical director and consultant to
producers. I always remember the first time
I sold my services. I was the technical director so I had the budget in my hands. I went
to the producer and I told him we could
save $20,000 and I’d charge him $10,000.
He didn’t ask me how; he just understood
he was making $10,000, so he agreed to go
Place des arts de Montréal
Mowtown
Eros
Motown
ahead. At that time, I had to
put the board on my kitchen table with the screens
on the sink counter.
When you go to a proGinette
ducer you don’t know, it
was hard to try to explain
to him to just invest and save money, since
you can’t touch it or see it and it’s not something real. But the first few gigs, I was in
charge of the budget and I already had a
relationship with the producer and I could
say, “You won’t hire me again if I mess up
as a technical director, so, as technical director, I suggest you save some time and save
some money.” So I had two commitments
at once.
studio, you are going to spend your money
on lighting not drafting.
Where does most of
your business come
from today? Are you
still TD’ing? And the
rest of it?
About 75% percent is the studio, sometimes even more. We now specialize in sup-
Eros
porting visual designers and that can be
any support. I still program light boards
for a few designers that I’m close to. I also
do a lot of R&D for them. The main focus
of Proluxon is supporting visual designers
and that was confirmed with my recent association with Andre Girard. We are a team
that can support any designer in any way.
Our motto is, “Just Imagine!” We’ll manage
everything else.
What does the future
hold for Proluxon and
Valy Tremblay? Where
do you go from here?
From here? Things are limitless! I want
to keep the Proluxon’s team growing. Since
visual design involves always more and
more technologies, knowledge and work, I
think that designers sometimes need a full
team behind them to achieve their design.
I want to keep ahead of the curve. After all
these years, I’m still ready for new challenges
and I have the same enthusiasm I had at the
beginning of my career.
Now everybody seems
to be into pre-vis, so
it’s gotten easier,
hasn’t it?
Yeah, and other companies are developing other software, so it’s gotten very
competitive. I would say the hardest part
is to bring someone into the studio. Once, I
get them here, even a producer or director
who doesn’t know much about lighting or
manipulating lighting, the sale is done, right
away, 100% of the time.
It’s pretty much getting
them to walk through
your door…
You just have to make him move between his office and my studio. When I
wasn’t involved in any other part of the gig,
that was the hardest part. But then producers started talking. They would talk between
each other and say, “You know, I saved money because that guy has a studio and we
did a big part of the production there and
it was great.” So, it was hard to start up, but
after that it just kept going.
The lighting designers got interested
pretty fast, too, so I started to sell WYSIWYG. That’s not where I make much money, but the goal was to spread the software
all around because when an LD comes in
with a piece of paper, half of the budget
goes towards the drafting. So, I propose
to them to use their own WYSIWYG, and
if they need a complex 3-D model, or any
kind of support, including training, we’re
always there. Then, when you come to the
100.0607.ADS.indd 30
7/1/06 12:00:29 PM
INSTALLS • INDUSTRIALS • FILM/TV • THEATRE • CONCERTS
Interactive Video Enhances Lounge Experience
LAS VEGAS, NV - The award-winning Tabu Ultra
Lounge at the Las Vegas MGM Grand was recently
updated to include the use of a new interactive video
technology that often surprises guests. A series of visual effects serve as a virtual texture on the concrete
tabletops of the main lounge and remain a subtle
background decoration until movement is detected.
When, for example, a patron places a glass on the table,
the “Human Locator” senses the movement and the
projection is modified through a series of nine effects.
Realisations.net, a design firm that encompasses
entertainment concept and architectural scenography, provided the system design and integration. For
the Tabu project, it was important that the aesthetics
of the effects not be video game-like. The mood of the
Tabu Ultra Lounge is one of sensuality through the use
of high fashion imagery.
Both still image and video files were used to create the artwork that is projected through the Human
Locator. The still files are modified with a realistic water
ripple effect, a fire halo effect, a gentle blur effect that is
similar to removing the droplets from a steamy mirror,
a sand effect where the “sand” of one image is swept
away to reveal another image below, an alien bubbles
effect where strange molecules are bounced over the
image through the user’s movement, an image rotate
and an infinite image scroll.
Video files are treated with a video flip effect
where “shutters” open and close to reveal a second
video playing in the background and a video scratch
effect where the movement of the guest’s hand takes
over the play and rewind aspects of the video loop.
Human Locator also allows the MGM Grand staff
to easily insert corporate logos into predetermined
effects to create unique environments for private parties. The user interface is described as “very operator
friendly” and it offers feedback in the booth so that the
VJ has real time status of the effects.
The parameters of the software are modifiable
and allow many types of interactions to be the trigger
for the effects. These parameters were defined in the
initial phase of the project and the content created by
Realisations was adapted for this particular installation.
Video Creates
Backdrop for
Hard Rock
Lighthouse Technologies Manufacturing Becomes RoHS-Ready
commitment to having all Lighthouse products be
the best choices for our customers as well as for the
environment,” said Mark Chan, managing director
for Lighthouse Technologies. “We are proud of the
commitment that the company has taken to be a
leader of environmentally responsible technology
corporations.”
The first fully RoHS-compliant product Lighthouse is the new R4 fanless display monitor, which
made its first US appearance at InfoComm 2006.
32
Refreshing Production
at Refreshing
Times Conference
LD Michael Cerione
balances needs of camera
with needs of projection.
34
Prescription For A
Corporate Event
Turn-key production
for corporate events
cures all.
35
InfoComm New
Products
Projection galore from
Orlando at this year’s
InfoComm.
HONG KONG–Lighthouse Technologies Limited
recently announced that its manufacturing facility
has been upgraded to meet the new European RoHS
(Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances) directive and is now 100% RoHS-ready, as
well as ISO 9001 and ISO14001 certified. The transition to RoHS compliant manufacturing requires not
only upgrading production facilities but also securing supply of lead free components.
“Our ISO14001 and RoHS direction reflects our
BARCELONA—Behind
the
basement bar at the Hard Rock
Café in Barcelona a unique video display is providing an eyecatching backdrop for patrons.
Projected Image Digital supplied,
installed and commissioned 60
Element Labs Versa™Tube LED
fixtures for the back wall of the
basement bar.
The award-winning Barcelona site is the busiest HRC venue
in Europe – situated right on the
buzzing aorta of Plaça de Catalunya. After a successful VersaTile
installation in the London Hard
Rock Café, that it was decided a
similar feature was a ‘must have’
Inside...
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
31
NEWS
Georgia Aquarium Swimming in A/V
ATLANTA—An 18-month project was
recently completed for the new Georgia
Aquarium in Atlanta, with Electrosonic providing all the AV hardware for the world’s
largest aquarium including video and show
control components for its five galleries and
4D theatre. The Georgia Aquarium has some
100,000 animals representing 500 species
from around the globe housed in over 8 million gallons of fresh and salt water.
The aquarium’s plaza, or atrium, is highlighted by five stacked bands of Barrisol fab-
ric running the length of the area forming a
“wave-wall” on which a 75’ long teaser video
about the five galleries is projected. Eight
double-stacked Panasonic PT-D5500UL
edge-blending projectors provide the visuals. “Because the fabric comprises a wave
wall (with each band weaving in and out in
a different plane) and not a defined screen,
figuring out how and where to mount the
projectors was a challenge,” notes project
manager Dan Laspa, whose team hung the
projectors from the ceiling 40 feet in the air.
The themed galleries vary
in their equipment complements although all of them use
Electrosonic ESCAN show control. Chedd-Angier supplied the
video production throughout
the galleries.
One of the exhibits, Tropical Diver - The Coral Kingdom,
has been called a gallery of
living art. At its center is one
of the largest living reef exhibits of any aquarium in the
world; the recreation of a tropical Pacific coral reef even has
waves crashing overhead. Two
Christie LX32 projectors flank
the entrance to the gallery
which play synchronized video
showing what it’s like to swim
through the reef from a fish’s perspective.
The Georgia Aquarium’s 4-D Theater,
now playing “Deepo’s Undersea 3-D Wondershow,” offers a unique experience to up to
250 guests per show by combining 3-D HD
video, live actors and interactive special effects synchronized to the video. Two Christie DS+8K projectors, a 20x35-foot Stewart
screen, and ESCAN show control make up
the system.
In addition to project manager Dan Laspa, key Electrosonic personnel for the expansive, year-and-a-half Georgia Aquarium project were lead engineer/site manager/lead
commissioning engineer David Schrider;
lead installer David Boudreau; commissioning engineer Robert Horton; programmers
Mark Hogan and Ryan Sims; and sales engineers Chris Conte and Ken Wheatley. Brasfield & Gorrie was the general contracting
firm for the aquarium with Heery acting as
client reps on the project.
“Electrosonic was selected for our expertise on big projects; our ability to integrate
such diverse areas and functions as the galleries, plaza media presentation, paging system and 4-D Theater; and our core group of
products which work together efficiently and
Video Creates Hard
Rock Backdrop
for Barcelona. The Barcelona VersaTubes are
designed as a long flat line of tubes stretching the entire length of the bar. A mirrored
wall at one end creates an infinity effect.
The Tubes are fixed in place by a special panel, designed by PID and fabricated
by the shopfitters, Davies, also based in
London. This was attached to the wall and
the Tubes are then slotted into it – leaving
a stylish stainless steel finish between each
tube and easy access for removal if needed.
The tubes are controlled by an Element Labs C1 controller, specified by PID
as a simple to use and operate solution for
general fixed installations. It has a Compact
Flash card memory and can store up to 256
memories. PID also made a custom 8-button
controller for HRC Barcelona, which selects
eight different sequences of content, created by Paula Reason of Cadmium Design
and PID utilizing material from PID’s digital
content catalogue which was treated and
re-rendered to suit the application.
All the on site installation and commissioning was undertaken by PID’s Rob Smith.
32
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
Lighting and
Video Harmonize
for Women’s
Conference
DALLAS—The Refreshing Times
Women’s Conference is an annual event
produced by Daystar Television Network.
Shown on air live across the network, it is
also recorded for a post-production live
concert DVD/CD each year.
As Daystar’s lighting director, Michael
Cerione’s first task was to white balance
the cameras. His approach was to color
correct the incandescent lighting to match
the moving lights for the cameras. “I used
_ CTB on all of the keys, fills and backs,” he
said.“By doing this, our video engineer had
plenty of headroom to still white balance
with the camera’s 3200K filter.”
Keith Buresh of Level 2 Design was
responsible for the scenic design, which
played a major role in the production.
Cerione had to be very careful to keep the
key light from washing out the color wash
on the set.“I used 2K De Sisti Fresnels with
barndoors for the main talents’ keys. Since
our scenic designer used a lot of textures
on the stage, all being lit by the movers, the
large barndoor of the 2Ks help to keep the
keys from washing out these textures. Also,
the 2Ks worked well at giving great even
lighting on the front singers.The musicians
were keyed with 19° and 26 ° (ETC) Source
Fours with 750-watt (lamps).”
For fill light, Cerione used ETC Source
Four PAR six-light bars with barndoors
on either side of the stage. In addition to
working as fill lighting for the musicians
and singers on the stage, these lights were
also used to key the audience for those
time when the director wanted reaction
shots from the crowd. To soften the key
and fill lighting, Cerione used Lee 254 New
Hampshire frost.
For back lighting, several High End
Studio Command 700s were used on the
talent, and according to Cerione, they also
“worked great” for lighting the drape on
stage from the truss and from the floor.
The square panels on the backdrop of the
set were covered with projection material
and backlit with several Vari*Lite VL3500s.
“The shutter on the VL3500s worked great
here,” Cerione commented. “We were able
to cut everything in nicely.”
A number of Martin MAC 2000 Profiles
were used cover the panels and square
blocks with gobo projections from behind.
Several more were rigged on the FOH truss
for breakups on the stage and across the
audience. Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
were placed on the side trusses and midstage trusses to pan the audience and to
add color to the floor. Vari*Lite VL2500s
were placed on the stage floor “for movement,” while Robe 1200 Spots were placed
on the upstage, mid-stage, and FOH truss to
project gobos on the stage floor and on the
set pieces.
Barco projectors were used off stage
left for I-mag and for graphic projections
on a large custom RP screen upstage center. A Martin Maxedia provided the graphics and video content.
“Of course, we did not have nearly
enough time to program, especially the
Maxedia,” laments Cerione. “It would have
been awesome if we had more time to create additional content.” Nevertheless, the
client was reportedly extremely pleased
with the outcome.
A/V The Right Prescription ForCorporate Event
DENVER—A leading national pharmaceutical company spent three days awarding and
motivating their sales force at the newly constructed Hyatt Regency at Colorado Convention Center, in a meeting titled “Winning for
the Patient.” Teaming with BI Worldwide Media and Events, LionFish Design and Sunbelt
Scenic, AV Concepts provided all aspects of
video and lighting for the high end program.
The set included two 12’ x 16’ screens
situated on either side of the stage to keep
the audience engaged in all the on-stage
activity. A Grass Valley Kayak SDI Switching
package supplied by AV Concepts was used
for I-Mag and recording functions implementing two 75:1 Canon lenses and one
tri-ax camera on a 32’ jib, while projecting
onto the screens with converged Panasonic
7k DLP projectors. Both 42” and 50” plasma
monitors were added to the scenic to display graphics and used as teleprompters
and speaker monitors.
While the hard scenic elements remained the same, the environment dramati-
cally changed with the aid of the lighting.
AV Concepts provided automated lighting,
including the Martin MAC 700 Profiles and
MAC 250 Entours, as well as conventional
lighting and dimmers, all controlled by an
MA Lighting GrandMA console. For added
flair, a 48’ x 24’ fiber optic drape was incorporated into the set.
Having been included in the planning stages early, AV Concepts was able to
provide CAD drawings, schedules, technical expertise, and all video and lighting
equipment. Terry Linskey of BI Worldwide
was pleased with the quality and range of
services. “There are programs where the
ability to one-stop-shop can be invaluable.
AV Concepts has always provided me with
state-of-the-art
technology, unrivaled
technical support, and knowledgeable account management. Because my clients
are demanding more, and with quicker
turn arounds, it’s been great to rely on one
organization who completely understands
all elements of my program.”
A Touch of Video Adds Class for Il Divo
BENELUX, FRANCE—Video creates a simple
but classy, high-impact visual component of the
incredibly popular Il Divo tour, which kicked off
in the U.S. and is now playing to record audiences throughout Europe. The video, supplied
by XL Video, was integrated into the production
by lighting designer Mark Cuniffe, who also shot
some of the footage, with direction from artistic
director and choreographer Luca Tomassini and
working closely with tour director Steve Martin.
Four Barco R12 Plus video projectors are
mounted in portrait format (on their sides) attached to specially made brackets fabricated at
XL Video UK. The brackets are attached to four
Genie 25 Superlifts, positioned behind the stage.
The lifts are cranked up to the right height each
night so they project onto four elegantly shaped
arched projection screens framed on the stage
side by a scenic row of majestic Corinthian pillars. The electric screens roll up and down at certain points during the show.
Seven songs of well-planned video run
during a 15 song set, each clip bringing its own
atmospheric ambience and texturing to the
stage. The content is stored on two Doremi hard
drives, each machine with both channels running simultaneously, triggered by an audio feed
from Pro Tools. The images for the four arches
are each split between two projectors, shifted
34
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
and sized to fit the arch using the R12’s internal
geometry.
The playback footage was produced by Marcus Viner and the Blink TV team, working with
Cuniffe, and programmed onto the Doremis by
Richard Turner. All the content was made at 90
degrees and then rendered as two PAL sources,
one for arches 1 and 2 and one for arches 3 and
4. Each source is constructed from two layers
and projected at 90 degrees.
The footage is extremely varied. The opening ‘quick change’ sequences were shot during
US production rehearsals at Wallingford, Connecticut and then edited in the UK. The stunning footage of Bournemouth Beach for “All By
Myself” was shot by Mark Cuniffe before being
graded and made filmic at Blink’s production
facility in Chichester. When the tour transferred
to Europe, three full edit systems went to Dublin together with Viner, Turner and Blink’s Helen
Springer in addition to Richy Parkin and Mark
Davies of XL Video, to ensure that the video
playback elements were integrated seamlessly
into the show.
For the larger European dates and all of the
first US leg, four locally sourced cameras were introduced, with Parkin and Davies adopting the
directorial and chief engineering roles respectively and Parkin cutting the mix.
VIDEO PRODUCTS
InfoComm SPECIAL EDITION
In this special edition of New Products, we’re featuring some of the offerings
found on the floor of the recent InfoComm show in Orlando, Fla.
Digital Projection had a bevy of new
products including four new Titan projectors, three new Lightning SX+ projectors,
and the Highlite 14000 HD projector.
Lighthouse Technologies new R4 hi-res LED display
is the first Lighthouse product to be RoHS (Restrictions on Hazardous Substances) compliant for lead-free
products. The R4’s fan-less design is convection cooled
to minimize noise.
Besides winning an award
for their Turbo Intelligent Digital
Disk Recorder, Grass Valley debuted the HDC Robotic Camera
System with HD-SDI output and
multi-format HD support such as
1080/60i/59.94i/ 50i/30p/25p/24p
as well as 720/60p/59.94p/50p.
Daktronics’ new 4mm ProStar modular LED display. Also on
display was an 8mm pixel pitch
ProTour modular LED display.
Dataton’s Watchout 3.1.1 multi-display production and presentation system.
Impact’s
Illuminator
Truck Mounted 15mm LED
Display hi-res 10-bit Digital
Chromatek Processing. The
truck features a video control room supporting most
broadcast playback formats
and takes as little as 30 minutes to set up.
Mark Holt of Sanyo showing
the automatic edge blending capability of the PLC-EF60A projectors. The camera feeds alignment
information to the two projectors
which perform lens shiifting to
align the projectors. Sanyo also
showed several new projectors
including the PLC-XF46N, PLVHD2000N, PLV-ND100, and the
PLV-80, a 3K ANSI lumen WXGA
projector with uncompressed
wireless video.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
35
D ave M atthew S B and
Photo credit: Rudy Arias
Energized by New Set and Video Elements,
an Unusually Animated DMB Hits the Road
Bruce Rogers
Crew
& Gear
Fenton Williams
Aaron Stinebrink
By Kevin M.Mitchell
A
nother summer, another anticipated
Dave Matthews Band’s tour. For the
third year in a row, for reasons only
the band knows, they chose St. Louis’ outdoor UMB Pavilion to kick it off on May 30.
“This is my 35th time I’ve seen him,” one
fellow blurted before the show. Then, completely unprovoked, he launched into exuberant detail about past DMB experiences.
Little did he know he was in for a very
different DMB show, one that might—
gasp!—be like a rock concert.
The show kept the 20,000 fans on their
feet. It’s noted afterwards that, in
addition to the ramped up technical aspects, the normally semi-stoic
band, known for their stand-in-oneplace-and-play approach, seem unusually animated and energized.
“I think they are,” agrees Fenton
Williams, LD and scenic designer for
DMB. “I think they are having a lot
of fun. I don’t know if it’s having that much
lighting behind them and more visual elements happening, or if they are just excited
about this particular tour.”
Crew
band puts an enormous amount of faith
and trust in him, as he practically has carte
blanche in putting the lighting aspect of
the shows together. He is quick to acknowledge the “problem:” “Let’s face it,” he says.
“Because of musicianship and songs that
inspire rabid devotion, the band could put
on an amazing show on the side of barn
with a pair of spot lights borrowed from a
local high school.” Yet he and the other creatives involved are slowly and subtly kicking up the concert experience a notch with
each tour.
“The last tour was really the first time
we went out with a full set,” he says. “But it
was very organic.” They had turned to Bruce
Rogers of Tribe Inc. for that one, and did
spares), and it’s being manipulated like a
lighting effect, Williams says. “That’s the
biggest change; using video as a tool.” It’s
taken them a long time to come around to
using a more pronounced video element
because he was worried about it being, well,
un-DMB-like. “I don’t want it to be overbearing,” he continues emphatically. “Tonight
the video might be a little overbearing, but
after four shows we’ll hit a groove where
we know how to drop it in and out. I think
we have enough elements to develop and
grow with through the tour.” As it turns out,
a few days later he was asked if someone
from that first show would notice anything
different about show number five in Detroit: “There would be a little
less video. It’s just a matter of
not overdoing it. It’s finding
a chorus where a certain element worked but then pulling it
down for the verse and moving
everything forward to the front
screens. It’s leaving a little more
space between, so it becomes
more effective overall.”
There’s no carefully scripted set list to
work from, no 20-25 songs in play, but in
theory, more than 120. Williams and Stinebrink have about 65 songs partially programmed and hope to have another five
worked out in the next few days; otherwise,
they receive that night’s set list for the show
about an hour before the band goes on. It’s
different every night and they have to be
ready for anything, so the crew meets and
“We go through it, and figure out video elements that will fit in and do it differently
every night” Williams says. If the band does
throw them a big curve and puts in a song
they haven’t programmed, they have a couple of generic “cool” and “warm” pages, etc.,
ready to work with.
Sure enough, on this night, the band
“That’s the biggest change,
using video as
a tool. “
The Space Between
Fenton Williams has been out with DMB
on every tour since the first one in 1991. “I
went out just to help as tour manager, and
the band just exploded,” he recalls from the
back of a coach, worn from the day’s work,
relaxing as best as one can hours before the
maiden show. He lights a cigarette and says
that after that first tour he found himself
running lights and “I have loved it ever since.
And they’ve given me such a platform to
work with. I love to have their input because
they are all so creative, but it’s also nice to
just run with things and do the job.”
DMB is Fenton’s exclusive client, and the
36
PLSN JULY 2006
- Fenton Williams
for this one as well. This time, though, they
went in the opposite direction and came
up with an asymmetrical industrial looking rig packed with lights and video. Williams stresses that it was very much a collaborative effort, with programmer Aaron
Stinebrink and production manager Hank
McHugh weighing in as well.
But it starts with Williams, who says he
drew up some general set and light ideas
in VectorWorks before shooting it over to
Rogers. “I had an idea of a wall but I’m not
a set designer like Bruce is. He can take an
ugly idea and make it pretty,” he laughs. He
also credits Omaha-based Theatrical Media
Service’s Pete Franks: “They are just brilliant
at figuring out problems you run into.”
The video is being controlled via three
High End Systems Catalysts, all at work (no
www.PLSN.com
Crew Chief: Pete Franks
Programmer/Board Operator: Aaron
Stinebrink
Techs: Bob Chaize, Steve Finley, Mike
Rinehart, Zak Viviano
Production Manager: Hank McHugh
Tour Rigger: Norman Gomes
Stage Manager: Steve Nimmer
LD/Scenic Designer: Fenton Williams
Scenic Designer: Bruce Rogers
Lighting Contractor: Theatrical Media
Services, Inc., Omaha, NE
Video Supplier: Dark Sky Video
Lighting Gear
2 MA Lighting grandMA consoles
1 MA Lighting grandMA Light console
2 MA Lighting grandMA NSP console
25 High End Systems Studio Beams
15 High End Systems Studio Command
700s
12 High End Systems Studio Colors
6 High End Systems Cyberlight Turbo (3
modified to truss spot configuration)
4 Syncrolite SX3K-2s
28 Vari*Lite VL3000s
2 MDG Max 5000 Touring Foggers
46 Columbus McKinnon 1 ton motors
15 Tomcat 91” Double Hung Pre-Rig Truss
25 James Thomas Engineering
PixelLine 110ec
PixelLine 1044
20 James Thomas Engineering PixelPar 90
Bruce
Rogers R
PixelArc
1 Motion Labs 16 channel motor
controller
1 Motion Labs 32 channel motor
controller
18 Doug Fleenor Designs 125 Data
Splitters
Gear
Video Gear
3 High End Systems Catalyst Pro v4
Media Servers
4 Sony D-50s
Shows Trussing
Steady As We Go
Despite that huge variable, the
show is broken down into three phases. The first phase is fairly low-key until
about the fourth or fifth song when
there’s a kabuki drop that reveals
three huge video screens and a bank
of lights. For phase two the videos display close-ups of the band exclusively from
four digital cameras. “The last seven or eight
songs we’re using the Catalyst and breaking up the screens, but it’s a bit up in the air
now,” Williams says.
“Watch Fenton during the show,” Rog-
says. “We had vague ideas of what we wanted, but it was a lot of songs to find video
content for.” Careful attention was paid not
to use any video clips that would define a
song for an audience member. “The video
isn’t telling them what to think or how to
feel, and that way you’re not compromising
what the music means to the individual.”
“For the first time, there are no dimmers
being used on this show,” says Franks, who
has been the band’s lighting crew chief
since 2001. “Everything is LED or moving.”
Standing backstage before the show, Franks
is asked what the most challenging aspect
of the show will be for him. He shrugs. “We
don’t know; we haven’t done the show yet!”
Despite a month of pre-programming on a
soundstage in Connecticut, and three days
in St. Louis for set up and rehearsals, the
crew seems almost downright clueless as
dark room and you only see daylight coming from and returning to the hotel.” He
thinks a little harder, and comes up with a
final, more convincing challenge. “Oh, well
really it’s being away from my wife everyday. That’s the hardest.”
He smiles and adds with a laugh, “better
put that in case she reads this.”
“For the first time, there are no dimmers
being used on this show.
Everything is LED or moving.”
- Pete Franks
ers says. “Only about 40% of any song is programmed; Fenton makes the rest up on the
fly. He’s like a jazz musician.” Sure enough,
during the show, Williams and Stinebrink
are on their feet and fingers are flying nonstop over the two MA Lighting grandMA
consoles. One of the challenges is for the
two to work together, and not crash into
each other, physically or artistically.
As to the complications and pressure
of doing a show so on the fly every night,
Stinebrink says he follows Williams’ lead in
setting a look, and then he tries to see how
he can enhance that, layering elements on
top of his to complement what he’s doing.
“The visual element will keep changing,
as we’ll catch a riff and run with it, playing off the band. It’s a lot of fun, and as the
tour progresses, we’ll get into a rhythm. It
makes it more fun—and it sure keeps you
into what is going on up on stage!”
Stinebrink adds that this is his first time
working with Catalysts on such a grand
scale, and working in additional video elements was a new aspect as well. A great
deal of time was spent finding the right
video content for a song, even though it’s
only used for a third of the show, and even
then just moments of small subtle abstract
color patterns are used.
“A lot of the footage came from showfootage.com, and Fenton got some additional pieces from his new company Dark
Sky Video, which he co-founded,” Stinebrink
to what exactly is going to go down tonight
at this complicated 11-truck show. Yet the
laid-back feeling the band exudes is persuasive throughout.
“In the past, in addition to conventional
lights we’ve had scrollers which have their
own set of challenges and require a lot of
maintenance,” Franks says. “We don’t have
to worry about that stuff now.” He adds
that another new element is the addition
of four Syncrolite SX3K’s. Also being used
are 25 High End Systems Studio Beams, 15
Studio Commands, 12 Studio Colors, and 28
Vari*Lite VL3000s.
Screenworks (account rep Erik Foster)
provides the LED walls and low-res panels,
including one 12 by 16-foot and two 9 by
12-foot Daktronics 13mm. Video director
Mike Lane calls the cues and AD Jeff Crane
handles shading and effects. Mike Rinehart,
Bob Chaize, Steve Finley and Zak Vivano
supply additional technical support. Norman Gomes is the tour rigger.
Everyday
Back at tour bus, Williams is finishing a
cigarette as he contemplates a question:
What is the most challenging aspect of
all this? He taps the butt down and thinks
carefully before speaking. “I would say that
conceptualizing an idea out of thin air is
tough, though it is fun as well. Also, the
month-long programming sessions, when
you’re working weekends as well in this big
www.PLSN.com
100.0607.36-37.indd 37
ar
reached long and pulled out one
song that the team wasn’t officially
prepared for, but “We have the system
set up so we can just go with it. But
yes, they are bringing back old songs
and I love it.”
PLSN JULY 2006
37
6/30/06 12:49:20 AM
VIDEO DIGERATI
Full-Court Press
Before the Game
By VickieClaiborne
W
hat do you do for the pre-game
player introductions of a multimillion dollar sports team that changes the entire look of their show but that
hasn’t already been tried? You add video.
Well, that’s been done, you say. Okay, it has,
but not quite like this.
At the end of the Dallas Mavericks 200506 season, the owner of the team decided he
wanted to have a completely different vibe for
the playoffs, so he and his creative staff contacted High End Systems about the possibility
of using a Catalyst 4.0 Media Server and Orbital Head [mirror head accessory that fits onto a
projector to reposition it – ed.] in their show.
High End responded by providing eight media
servers, eight Orbital Heads and, in partnership
with Christie, eight Roadster S+16K projectors.
All of this equipment had to be integrated
into the existing pre-game show that runs
approximately 1 minute 47 seconds, and also
includes a full lighting rig and Jumbotron LED
display. Well, that was no problem because the
16K ANSI lumen projectors are plenty bright
enough to handle that challenge.
Where do I fit into this? I was brought in
to program and as a liaison between HES, the
Mavericks creative staff and the content developer, Bill Strother (www.williamstrothercom).
Due to the nature of this event, we were required to use custom content featuring highlights from the 2005 season showing each of
the team’s best players in their shining glory.
All of those shots were then assembled along
with digital animations of the Dallas Mavericks
logos into a piece slightly less than two minutes in length. It was
also to accompany
the theme music
“Eminence Front” by
The Who.
What was the
projection surface,
you ask? Large
screens? No way!
The entire floor of
the basketball court
was used as a 90foot long projection
canvas. We were
very lucky with this
particular surface
because it has little
extra color and it does not have a million
graphics plastered everywhere. However, we
did have to be concerned with the brightness and contrast levels of all of the images
we used simply because the basketball court
isn’t white; it’s varnished wood, and images
can appear dull.
With regards to programming cues, I
kept movements between positions controlled with slow movement (crossfade
times), while creating simple geometric formations with the projected images to allow
the video to be viewed optimally from all
Gear
angles. Each move was timed to match the
music and highlight sections of the content
being shown, while all of the in-house automated lighting was kept off of the court and
focused into the crowd to add to the energy
in the room.
The setup for this event took lots of manpower and determination. Two weeks prior
to the first game, the techs arrived to rig all of
the seemingly endless runs of fiber optic cable, Ethernet and power cables. Approximately three days before the first show I arrived to
begin programming with the content developer. All of this sounds pretty straightforward,
but there’s
a list of reasons
why
this event
was one of
the
most
challenging.
Take, for
example, the
availability
of the venue.
It is home to
the local pro
hockey and
arena football teams,
both
of
which were in the middle of their seasons and
have events nightly in the arena. Do you know
how long it takes ice to cure?
Then there is the physical location of the
servers, which were in the catwalk. Between
navigating the elevators, stairways, ladders
and security gates, it took about 20 minutes
to get from the console to the servers. Then
there was another 75 feet between the servers and the projectors, which were hung
from trusses and flown about 75 feet below
the catwalk. The DMX512 control signal was
converted and sent over Ethernet before be-
Between navigating the
elevators, stairways,
ladders and security
gates, it took about 20
minutes to get from the
console to the servers.
38
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
8
8
8
8
8
16
1
1
1
8
8
High End Systems Catalyst v4
Media Servers
High End Systems Catalyst
Orbital Heads
Christie Roadster S+16K Projectors
Fiber Optic Transmitters
and Receivers
DVI-to-fiber converters
High End Systems AF1000 strobes
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog III
Flying Pig Systems DP2000 DMX
processor
Linksys Network Switch
local monitors located
at the servers
local monitors located in the
control booth
ing converted back and input to the media
servers and Orbital Head. (Hint: make sure
your connector ends are crimped correctly,
and that your cable is rugged enough to
handle the distance, bends, turns, corners
and rough handling.) The video signal from
the media servers was output as DVI (digital video interface) and sent over fiber optic
cable to the projectors, where it was converted back to DVI. The remote focus, zoom
and lens control of the projectors was controlled from the console with Catalyst v2. All
of these factors contributed to the complexity of the event.
In the end we were able to overcome
all of these obstacles and run the show successfully for the duration of the demo period,
including three basketball games and two
hockey games. But, as is often the case in our
world, the show must come to an end. If you’d
like to see more pictures and a video from
this event, please visit my website at www.
vickieclaiborne.com.
Vickie Claiborne (www.vickieclaiborne.com)
is a freelance programmer and instructor. She
can be reached at [email protected].
VIDEO WORLD
Outrunning
Your Video
By PaulDuryee
day that we transfer all this data via fiber optic
cable like the audio guys do. Lighter cables,
less line loss – it’s a good thing, right?
Encountering
Resistance
Meanwhile, back at the ranch we have
our switcher set
up at FOH, we
have our 150foot run to get
backstage, and
we have another 100-foot run
to get up in the
air and across
to the projector.
So how
much line loss
do we have? As
an example, the
impedance of
a typical RG-59
cable is about
10 to 12 ohms per 100 feet with a digital
signal at 1GHz. We have a 250 foot run with
one break. We have run video 350 feet in the
past with no problems, so why are we having problems today? Most likely because of
return loss caused by the connectors in the
line at the break. If this was one continuous
run, we might get away with it.
We could also get by using RG-6 instead.
At 1GHz, RG-6 is typically 7-9 ohms per 100
feet. We are able to sneak through enough signal to make pictures. The signal will be down
27dB because of the losses but hopefully we
can pull it up and have decent images.
Better still would be to use RG-11. At 1 GHz,
RG-11 is typically less than 5 ohms per 100 feet.
We’ll have pretty pictures and no grief. But if
we’re going to stick to RG-59, we would typically install some kind of buffering amp with
an equalizer to help compensate for the line
loss. Or we could install a booster amp on the
front end and simply force the signal down the
line. All of these options involve more connectors and active electronics that add noise to the
signal path. Your best bet for the best image is
short runs without breaks.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just stick
with plain vanilla RG-59 and not have to worry about line losses? It might be possible. The
impedance of the line depends on a number
of factors other than frequency. I have heard
rumblings about manufacturers coming out
with RG-59 rated for HD-SDI or 1GHz RG-59.
If I find out more or I can get a sample, I will
let you know.
Wouldn’t it be great if
we could just stick with
plain vanilla RG-59 and
not have to worry about
line losses? It might
be possible.
Setting The Standards
A typical analog composite video signal
will be approximately 4.2MHz or below. Analog HD signals are about 25MHz. An XGA signal will be around 40.7MHz. So there is about
a 10 fold difference between a composite video and an XGA signal. That also means that
the impedance of the cable will be considerably higher for the XGA signal.
So what happens when we go to digital signals?
One of the precepts behind today’s formats was ease of upgrade and integration
by using existing cables and connectors to
make the jump to digital. But this kind of
came back on us. Yes, you can use regular RG59 for HD-SDI runs, but you had better make
them short or line loss will haunt you. (BTW,
RG stands for Radio Guide. It is the part of the
military specification for transmission lines.
The current spec is MilSpec-C-17 if you want
to go read it!)
SDI will be either 270Mbs (4:3 aspect ratio)
or 360Mbs (16:9 aspect ratio). HD-SDI will be
1.5Gbs for its variations. For exact numbers
and variation, please refer to SMPTE-292M.
There is also a standard referred to as
Dual Link that is typically 3Gbs and is being used most commonly in digital cinema.
If you can set up to cover this format, you
should have few, if any, problems transporting signal.
Personally, I think we have reached a plateau at 1080p. I know we can get higher resolutions and faster clock speeds, but I believe
the industry will hold here and wait for everyone to catch up. I am also holding out for the
and crimpers. I am stunned at how many
people think that you can just pull the
shielding off and squeeze on a new connector. That’s like saying you can solder
with 50 pounds of lead and a blowtorch,
which pretty much describes how I solder!
Leads need to be cut to the proper length.
Ends need to be clean. Crimps need to
be set to the right depth using the right
dies. And none of that guarantees that the
connector will behave properly. RF signals
are sensitive to all of these factors. A bad
crimp can leak RF and now you and the audio guys (face it, there is very little sound
about these creatures!) are fighting it out.
Cable manufacturers will have a con-
Whatever Can
Go Wrong. . .
nector or can at least recommend a connector to go with their cable. Many often
sell the crimps, dies and strippers as a kit to
go with the wire. Having these on a jobsite
has saved my fat from the fire on more than
one occasion.
It’s really a case of the right tool for the
job. With this rig set up back stage, we probably will not have any issues. Intercom is easy
to run if needed. And make sure there are
spares on hand.
Paul Duryee is an audio guy who switched
to video once he completed Hooked On
Phonics. He currently hides in Nash-Vegas and
can be harassed at [email protected].
S
o you set up your rig and the projector tells you that no signal is detected.
Better to fail now than in the middle of
the event. You check your source selections;
they’re good. You check your outputs; they’re
good. You cable test the lines; they’re good.You
realize you are trying to send HD-SDI down a
350-foot run of
regular RG-59.
That could be
the problem.
The variety
of video signals
we work with
today provide
us with unlimited opportunities for Mr. Murphy to rear his
ugly head and
remind us how
much he really
doesn’t like us.
So here are
some tips to remember so that when Señor
Murphy gets himself on the call list you can
send him packing.
In the meantime, remember Mr. Murphy. He likes to eat connectors. Keep lots
of spares on hand along with strippers
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
39
TECHNOPOLIS
It’s Getting Hot In Here
According to John, one of the main causes
of damage to any moving light is heat. If the
unit gets too hot it’s going to fail, or, short of
that, shut off, cool off, and reset itself. Actual explosive meltdown failure is rare, though a lamp
can blow when stressed by high temps. So don’t
block the air vents during use, and be careful not
to allow any other units to shine directly onto
a moving lamp housing. That will just bake
the thing, and cause ugly shadows to boot.
To help keep things cool most of the more
modern moving lights come equipped with
several fans, usually those nice quiet ones borrowed from Silicon Valley. The fans usually run
continuously to carry the heat away from the
very hot arc lamp inside. An arc lamp stays on
once the arc is struck (dimming is done mechanically by blocking the beam proportionally with a dimmer that is out of the field of
focus) and the lamp gets hot. So we have fans.
By the way, did you know that some moving
lights have variable speed fans, allowing us to
reduce noise during a show’s quieter moments? Many units also have an air filter, but
the fans can get clogged regardless.
John is a big advocate of preventive maintenance. So are we. Let’s replace the lamp before it fails (most of the better units clock the
lamp hours), then clean the cooling fan(s) and
any air filters with compressed air. This kills two
birds with one puff of air. When an arc lamp
has reached the end of its useful life it should
be replaced, cold, before it fails, and before it’s
hanging useless twenty feet in the air with ten
minutes to curtain. Reset the lamp clock if the
unit has one. Blowing out the unit with clean,
dry compressed air gets the dust off of the fans
and other moving parts and will help keep our
Anytime I open a modern piece of gear I
marvel at just how close the mechanical and
electronic tolerances are, and how small the
parts have become. The good news is that
most modern automated lighting luminaires
are extremely reliable, and built on a modular
design. The “less good” news is that it has become far more difficult to get inside something
and bend a piece back into shape, replace a
diode, or even reconnect a broken wire. You
can usually still get in and replace a fuse or ballast, but if a high-dollar unit goes completely
bonkers, it’s time for another call, this time to
the manufacturers’ tech line. Most mid-level to
high-end fixtures are modular and fairly simple to troubleshoot, at least to a board level. It’s
much easier (especially with a helpful tech on
the phone) to isolate the problem to a single
PC board, replace it and send the bad one back
to the dealer or manufacturer for repair.
The price to send a unit in for service can
usually be determined, or at least estimated,
ahead of time; but, is it worth it? If the repair
price is too high the item is one step away from
becoming a doorstop. Therefore, it can’t hurt
to open the thing up and try a major teardown/rebuild.
If you’ve got a unit that needs some tinkering, you can really enjoy yourself tearing the
thing apart, and maybe even getting it back
together later. As we all know, if it moves, it’s
going to break, and if it breaks, it can be fixed.
That’s no less true today than it was when automated lights first became commercially available. What has changed is that they are lasting
much longer without a breakdown (engineers
call that MTBF, mean time between failure). So
crack the case and, maybe, just maybe, you’ll
find a bobby pin stuck inside and bring the
unit back to life. Yes, it happened to me once; it
was in a dance studio…
By JohnKaluta
John Kaluta is the author of The Perfect
Stage Crew, The Compleat Technical Guide for
High School, College and Community Theater,
available through the PLSN Bookshelf. He can
be reached at [email protected]
www.PLSN.com
et’s be
honest,did seeing
the “No user serviceable parts inside” label on
electronic equipment ever keep
one of us from opening up a dodgy
unit to try to fix it, or even just to see how it
worked? I doubt it. I’ve opened up microwaves,
stereos, VCRs and, of course, many a lighting unit to try to get it working, or keep it
working. And so have you. Even the most
courageous of us might pause, however, when it’s a thousand dollar (or several
thousand dollar) item on the bench.
Well, it’s time to make a judgment call. We
want to get inside a quite expensive moving
light to tweak it: Should we crack the case? Most
of us are going to crack the case. Just what can
be done in there before we make a doorstop
out of the thing? Plenty. I just spent a few hours
with a colleague in Bowie, Md., named John
Farr (www.johnfarrlighting.com). Until now I
only knew him by reputation, a reputation as a
“pro’s pro.” He opened up a few of his moving
light units and gave me the lowdown on how
to keep ‘em running. A quick reminder
before we begin: pull the plug before
opening the fixture up.
Can They Put This Stuff
Any Closer Together?
L
lights on the job. Get
in the habit of holding the fan blades still
when you’re blowing
them out because
some of them can
generate a back
voltage that will
likely destroy the
electronics that
ruin the fan.
Generally,
the
cooling fans can’t be
oiled or lubricated, as the bearings are sealed, so
just keep them clean and they’ll last a nice long
time. And, if a fan fails, just remove it, replace it
and go back to work.
OK, we’re inside, let’s have a look around.
There are the dichroic filters, “dimmers” (shutters, actually) and there are the gobos. Dust
these off with compressed air. Cleaning the
inside filters and lenses with isopropyl alcohol
(or an alcohol-free glass cleaner such as a Zeiss
wipe) and a soft, lint-free rag is probably a good
idea. Sliding mechanisms with nylon bushings
are self-lubricating and don’t need any oil or
grease; it will only foul up the works. Metal-onmetal moving parts can be lubricated with the
proper high-temperature oil, just check with
the manufacturer for the proper lubricant and
keep the oil away from the optics.
Try to find the belt that drives the tilt mechanism. Better have a good look at that belt. It
should look smooth and feel pliable, with no
kinks or cracks. If it looks like the belt that’s
holding up your pants then now is the time to
replace it (you can stop by J. Crew and get a
new belt for yourself later). Replacing a worn
belt in the shop under ideal circumstances will
take fifteen minutes or so; on the job it’s next
to impossible, particularly since you haven’t
got a replacement on hand anyway. Luckily
the belts usually last a good long time, so replacing them is not a huge burden. You should
have a few spares on hand if you use a lot of
moving lights. There’s at least one belt for the
pan mechanism, too. Don’t oil the belts.
Let’s plan on replacing a few of the stock
gobos the next time we get in here.
PLSN JULY 2006
41
WELCOMETOMYNIGHTMARE
BIDDING A *#!& FAREWELL
Y
ears ago, I was on tour with an extremely successful rock band from
the ‘70s and early ‘80s. After they had
been off the road for some time, they resumed touring, claiming that it would be
their “farewell tour.” (They had previously
made the claim at least three times.) After
four or five shows into their stadium tour,
they and their management decided, at the
last minute, to do a production videotape
of their show, without filling the crew in on
all of the details. Load-in was well under
way for this show. The truss canopy was already built, and the lighting was well on its
way to being completely hung. The floating
stage was built (it was not connected to the
canopy) and covered with monitor gear, the
mains yet to be hung, lighting truss and road
boxes from every department.
First, there was a panic from the crew,
then anger set in as we were told that, be-
cause of sight lines, the stage would have
to move three feet stage-right. Apparently
camera angles, seats sold and building configuration were the determining factors.
Everything came off the stage, and it was
moved with the help of every department’s
crew, local stagehands and lift-trucks. Eightyplus people murmuring curse words as they
shoved. The one and a half hours it took to
move the stage put us all in a scramble to
complete the load-in. Corners were cut teching for the show, but the show went off alright. Later, I found that all of the “key” camera position footage was cut from the video
because the offset stage looked ridiculous.
What a terrible waste of time, manpower
and money. I look back at this incident and
still get pissed.
seamless screen.”
It was complicated because even in
HD format it was not big enough to fill
the screen, so they “tricked” the video
processing by using unusual image sizes,
high definition pictures and high-speed
cameras. The screens were translucent,
enabling
the
audience to see
both sides and
through it. “So
you have an image and the action in the same
frame.
And
those are 16,000
lumens.” And he
also used the
four projectors
on the moving
yokes to project
everywhere on
the stage, the
set, the artist,
etc.
There
are
28 Green Hippo
Hippotizer media servers all synched together. It borrows technology from video
gaming and allows LaPorte to use eight different layers of high-definition images. “I’m
able to tweak the color, the contrast, put in
some effects—all in real time,” he says. “So
where as before I was always going back
to the editing room to make changes, now
I can follow the rhythm of a creation. If I
decide to change the color completely, go
to a dual-tone effect or reduce the speed, I
can do it all in real-time. For me, it is a big,
big step for the creation of a live show.”
The source material was shot with
high-definition cameras and was directed by
LaPorte. The 1960s style was a challenge, he
says, because he wanted it to have that feel
without being dated. “This show will remain
for at least a few years, and I wanted it to be as
timeless as possible.”
Charlie “Hammer” Zureki
[email protected]
All You Need Is Love
continued from page21
this show is it tough! Suddenly you
have 60 artists and you want to see them
and you want to see their costumes and
you don’t want to seem flat. And you always have to repeat the same effect three
or four ways. Plus you’d like to have gobos,
but not in the audience’s face… and if it’s
not in their face you go to the other end
and it is flat. But we are so pleased that we
struck a balance.” Keeping the washes on
the inner truss and the spots on the outer
truss helped to keep the balance.
“Now it is fun, but I have spent
four months sitting in this theatre almost
18 hours a day….”
Video Immersion
Putting in as many hours was video
director LaPorte. While this is his third
Cirque show, he says that it is the first one
that involved so much projection.
“It is a very immersive experience,”
LaPorte says. “We tried to involve the images as much as possible, giving the idea
that the audience is inside the experience. So for the first time I’m doing images from beginning to end.”
He admits that going with traditional projection might seem like an unusual choice, but he didn’t want a standard
video format, or even a theatre or cinema
format. “I wanted something more graphic, a more panoramic view. So its basically
five Digital Projection projectors blended
and double-stacked shooting on a curved
screen. We wanted to make it one big
42
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
The Speed of Moving Lights
Those lights were aimed more at the club
market, in which the company was already
dominant. Fast forward to 1999, when Elation
was founded, and the focus was still the club
scene,
though
m o r e
high-end
and technology
driven.
In more
recent
years,
Elation
has gone
Elations Design Spot 250
after the
production market, Loader says.
Another challenge was the sheer expense of
the products.
“I think at first, it was always just scanners
and moving heads, and it was in the $1,000plus range,” he says. “And those usually featured gobos, and then they got into rotating
gobos and prisms, and then more and more
features got put into products. Today we have
color mixing, zoom, and more.”
Despite the onslaught, Elation continues
to make conventional lights—dimmers, PAR
cans, followspots—and Loader doesn’t see
those going away any time soon.
“I don’t think so, but never say never,” he
says.“There is still a big market for mirror balls
and pin spots, for example. Of course, PAR can
sales weren’t what they were 10 years ago for
anybody, but they are still here.”
Reliability is Number One
Elation is building on what they’ve been
able to do with the intelligent lighting technology by starting in the “middle.” Aimed at
clubs, churches, industrials, trade shows, the
“goal has been to give products with as many
features as we can.”
History moves on, and so has this company’s contribution. The evolution of Elation has
gone more from scanners to moving heads,
starting with 250-watt products, moving
onto 575s, and they are preparing to release a
700-watt fixture. “Again, we’re putting a lot of
features in the products like rotating gobos,
motorized irises, variable frost, etc.” The challenge is that it all comes at cost, and not just
the one on the sticker.“The more features, the
bigger the package gets, and the heavier it
gets, but we’ve been able to put together the
right package, one that meets the need to be
compact, but includes a lot of features.”
So it’s now 25 years since the automated
lighting industry became a viable force in the
market, and there are, by any standards, a lot
of good companies creating good products.
It’s arguably an LD’s market with plenty from
which to pick and choose. So what do the
pros want and expect in intelligent lighting
products today?
“Reliability is number one,” he says. “Then
of course, it’s performance how it delivers on
a technological level. Finally, people want
a return on their investment.” And that, for
Loader, is perhaps the biggest challenge at
hand for those out there buying automated
lighting equipment.
“I think everybody is always coming out with the
newest, latest, greatest thing.
But sometimes manufacturers have not stayed with the
product. They have not stayed
the course with the product; rather they have moved
onto the ‘next thing’ too
quickly, and rental companies are unable to
make
money on what they just
bought. Though the tech
got more expensive, the
rental prices were unable to keep up.
“So our goal now is to give our customers
not only what makes a good return, but products they want and can keep around. There
are ways to keep a product fresh—software
updates, etc. But hardware updates require
more investment. You have to think about the
product’s life and how long it’ll be on the market. Plus there is the cost in getting involved
in the market.”
But who has this crystal ball?
“That’s the challenge,” he sighs. “A lot of
effort here goes into marketing, training…
and what you put out there, well, you have
to make sure it’s a winner.”
Scott Davies
Scott Davies
Chuck Davies
High End Systems
The cost
of applying
advancing technology
on stage is dropping
nology rapidly.
lighting.”
digital
He adds that designers are hungry for a
new look on their stage, and
that High End’s recent Studio Command
products are trying to meet that need with
a unique lenticular array optical system and
patented electronic strobe system.
“With our digital lighting products, High
End Systems is at the forefront of another
revolution,” Fowler adds. “We’re giving professionals new creative tools to take their
designs over the top.”
www.PLSN.com
time for creating the increasingly sophisticated products has not really changed too much
in the last ten years,” Belliveau says. “This is
because of the likewise sophisticated components and subsystems that are now
available.
“However, what I do see changing is the lifespan of the products
themselves. As we head toward
light-valve operated lighting,
or what we call digital lighting,
the improvements and
changes to the technology
will be more rapid. Where
automated lighting companies today may use existing inventory that is five
to ten years, or even older,
to do competitive bidding,
that life of the marketable automated lighting inventory will
drop to three or four years
maximum. This means
that faster payback must
be
realized
by
those
in
the
rental industry.”
Even so, the cost
of applying advanced
technology on stage is
dropping rapidly. “When
this technology is used
correctly, small and medium
shows can greatly enhance their
audience appeal. Images created by DVD
on a light valve create an emotional environment on stage that conventional gobo
lights cannot achieve.”
Belliveau points out that in the mid
1990s, High End Systems led the change
from metal gobo type lights to full color
glass gobos. “Now High End leads the way
with patterns projected by light valve tech-
PLSN JULY 2006
43
FEEDINGTHEMACHINES
SHOWGO ON
THE
WILL
“But what if I die?”
That was the response from the sick LD
when I told him to go back to the hotel and
get better. At some point in our careers we
will experience a show situation in which we
are working with people who are ill or when
we are sick ourselves. Unfortunately, the
age old credo, “the show must go on,” often
takes precedence over our own well being.
Of course, no production is worth dying for,
and in the same light we must consider what
benefits we really provide to a show when we
are feeling under the weather.
When the LD Gets Sick
Hours of late nights, high stress, poor
eating habits and usually dirty conditions will
lead most humans to some state of illness.
Although there are many preventative
measures that can help, sooner or later
we are bound to become ill. I remember a
certain theatrical production where the LD
was not feeling well all through load-in and
the early part of pre-production. He was
overworked, overstressed, hungry and sleep
deprived. (Duh! He is an LD!) During the
conventional focus he nearly fainted a few
times while looking up at the rig. I decided
that enough was enough and suggested
that he return to his hotel room to get some
rest. I suspected that if he could rest for a few
days that he would be in better shape come
show time. First I rounded up the master
electrician, producer and lighting crew chief
and explained the situation to all of them.
Then they all helped me to assure the LD that
we could cover all that needed to happen in
the next 48 hours without him. Only with
total moral support from his team did he feel
comfortable enough to get some rest.
During the show he would call to
the spots, lean over and puke his guts
out, then turn on the mic again
in time for the next spot call.
I think he actually slept for thirtysomething hours straight! After some rest
and medication he was able to return for
the final rehearsals and show. Of course we
had all pitched in to cover while he was out,
and he was pleasantly surprised by the
amount of work that had been accomplished
without him.
The point here is that sometimes you
need to help out a co-worker and let them
know when to throw in the towel. Frequently,
when we are very sick and overworked it can
be difficult for a person to choose their own
health as a priority.
Sick as a Dog
When we’re touring, there is usually
no backup person ready to fill in running
a console for a night. There are very few
people who can take over a show at the last
minute calling spots and operating a desk.
Unfortunately, this means that the touring
lighting director often has to run the show
no matter what! I witnessed an amazing
display of this one evening while touring with
Metallica. My good friend Butch Allen would
run one desk and call spots and I would run
the other desk. He had been extremely sick all
day long and he stayed on the bus as long as
possible (looking and feeling awful). As show
time approached, he mustered up enough
strength to come to FOH and fulfill his duties
to the best of his ability.
Although his playback that evening
was nowhere near his normal outstanding
performance, he did manage to call all the
spot cues with near perfection. I helped pick
up as much console operation as possible so
he could concentrate on the spots. Still, he
was busy bumping flash keys throughout
most every song. Often during the show
he would call to the spots, lean over and puke
his guts out, then turn on the mic again in
time for the next spot call. As soon as the
show was over he returned to his bunk on
the bus to help ensure he would heal as
quickly as possible.
I don’t recommend operating shows in
his condition, but usually there is little choice
in the matter when on the road. I think that
Butch did the best he could by resting and
medicating all day so that he could use all his
strength during the two-hour show.
Going to the Hospital
Of course there are those rare times when
a person is so sick they cannot continue with
a production. A friend of mine was recently
working with a production as a consultant
for their digital lighting. On the first day, the
LD/programmer said he was feeling bad and
he needed to go to his room to rest. The next
By BradSchiller
morning, everyone discovered that he was so
sick he had checked into the local hospital
overnight. Now my friend found himself
staring at a console he did not know and
being asked to program and design a show.
The LD made the right choice by deciding
that his health was more important than a
simple corporate meeting event. He knew
that someone on the staff would cover and
guarantee that the production continued as
normal. Remember, there will always be more
shows, but you only have one life.
Staying Healthy
Every bookstore in the world has volumes
of books on how you can remain healthy, but
here are some sure fire tips that can help
when working in our industry.
• Wash your hands often – You spend all
day touching that lighting console, which
is often touched by others as well.
• Eat well – Your body can only take
a limited amount of cold fries and burgers
at 3am.
• Get some rest – Sleep rejuvenates your
body and mind. Skip the bar one night and
go to bed early.
• Vitamins are your best friend – Many
people take vitamin C to keep their immune
system strong. Daily multi-vitamins are
good, too.
• Drink lots of water – Our bodies are made
of mostly water, so drink as much as you
can to keep fresh.
• Get some fresh air – Sitting in a venue
behind a console for 15 hours a day
can be draining. Go outside, sit for thirty
minutes and soak up some sun and
fresh air.
• See a doctor – When you start to feel bad,
go to the doctor, or ask the production
office to call for an on-site medic. It is much
better to have a professional diagnosis and
treatment than to continue to suffer.
It’s Not About
the Lights
One key element to remember is that in
most cases, the production is about the act or
event, not the lights. If you have to go to the
hospital, the show will find a way to continue.
With some simple preventative measures you
can usually avoid these situations, but you
should also be prepared for when you are sick.
When our bodies are not well we usually do
not perform at our best and the production
will suffer. Whether a concert, theatrical
event or corporate work, all productions can
continue without any specialized lighting.
There is no show worth sacrificing your health
and life over.
44
Contact Brad at [email protected].
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT
Radiance
Followspot
Mark Rabinowitz (left) and Jack Gallagher with Strong
showing their newly redesigned Radiance follow spot.
By NookSchoenfeld
for short or long throws, so there is no need
for different lenses.
Their new iris mechanism is made from
nichrome steel and will not stick when the
temperature inside the fixture rises. On top of
this, Strong has given us separate shutters for
horizontal and vertical masking of the beam.
This is a treat
for those occasions when
a round spotlight beam is
not wanted.
Picture yourself lighting
podium speakers
without
spilling light
onto your set.
The color
boomerang
is your standard six-color
self-canceling
type. It accepts
the
same
nine-inch gel
frames
that
fit their Super
Trouper line
of followspots, so you can interchange them.
The instrument also comes with two types
of stands. You can choose from a heavy-duty
base for permanent installations, or a lightweight (16 lbs.) tripod for trouping the fixture
from gig to gig. The height of these stands
can be adjusted as needed. The instrument
is 54 inches long and weighs 96 pounds. Two
people can easily set it up in minimal time. The
new “low profile” yoke design allows for a tilt
range of 75°. Of course, it can pan 360°. The
yoke allows for exceptionally smooth pan and
tilt operations.
From a 150-foot throw this fixture can
flood out to a 39-foot diameter with the iris
wide open with an illumination of 22 footcandles. When zoomed all the way in and the
iris cut down to a pin spot, the diameter of the
beam is a mere two feet wide and the illumination soars to 191 footcandles—very impressive optics to my eye.
Strong had been beta-testing units before
they started shipping and it appears to have
paid off. They got some valuable feedback
from a show on Broadway and as a result they
have moved some of the controls around to
make it easier to operate. There’s no better
design engineers that those out in the field
using the products in real life situations every
day. The newly redesigned followspots began
shipping in June.
The Radiance followspot fills a need for
a medium-sized followspot for a variety of
application where a large followspot is too
much. It’s has a good intensity with nice
features that make it easy to operate. It’s
manufactured in Omaha by people who have
been doing this for a very long time and are
very good at what they do. The Radiance
is
definitely
worth
checking
out
(www.strongint.com).
Strong built a custom
electroplated reflector
for this fixture that they
claim ramps up the
efficiency because of the
quality of the nickel
reflector. It appears to
produce intensity levels that
rival xenon followspots.
www.PLSN.com
S
trong Entertainment Lighting recently
started shipping their latest in a long line
of followspots. The Radiance is a lightweight fixture designed to be used for small
installations and shows that do not require
extremely bright followspots with long throw
distances. But don’t let that fool you; this spot
cuts quite nicely from a 150foot throw.
The 110volt
fixture
draws only 10
amps. It can
plug into any
standard convenience wall
outlet that you
will find in a
ballroom
or
in your bathroom. It uses
an 850-watt
metal halide
lamp capable
of a hot restrike, which
can come in
handy should
you lose power during a show. Bulb replacement is simple
and quick; it can be done in a minute.
The optics in this fixture will surprise you.
Strong built a custom electroplated reflector
for this fixture that they claim ramps up the
efficiency because of the quality of the nickel
reflector. It appears to produce intensity levels that rival xenon followspots. The optics
produce a perfectly flat field to this viewer’s
eye with a color temperature of 6000K. It’s
a nice beam.
The Radiance boasts of a new technology they are calling the “true zoom focus.”
Through some clever engineering they have
created a fixture that can keep a sharp edge
as the operator zooms from full flood to a pin
spot size.
The zoom and focus are adjusted by one
handle. Likewise, if the lighting director wants
a soft edge over the zoom range, the operator
can oblige. Instead of a standard cabling system that adjusts the zoom lens and the focus
lens together with a fixed distance from each
other, this one has a cam system that moves
the two lenses in relation to each other while
the entire mechanism moves so that the focus
stays constant. The zoom mechanism works
PLSN JULY 2006
45
ROADTEST
Clay Paky Alpha Wash 575
and Alpha Wash TH
By PhilGilbert
A
lways looking for the next big thing,
most of us keep one eye and one ear
turned to our inbox, our mailbox and
our trusted co-workers, eager to learn about
the latest and greatest LED this or digital that.
But no matter what the buzz-product of the
day is, we still end up using the same gear for
most of our work.
Call it a workhorse, a go-to item, or an old
friend. No matter what you call it, there is a
tool that is the first thing you think of for most
situations. For me, that tool would be a moving head wash fixture of some variety. Sturdy,
reliable, bright, and accurate would be just a
few of the words I would use to describe an
ideal candidate.
After taking Clay Paky’s Alpha Wash and
Alpha Wash TH for a spin, I may just have
found my next old friend.
The Gear
The Alpha Wash is a 575-watt movingyoke color wash fixture that includes all of the
standard amenities we expect to see these
days, as well as a
couple of extras. Starting from the bottom,
the metal base plate of the fixture includes
the four-position quick-release clamp system
that is becoming
common.
The power supply
can
be
quickly
switched
between
100-120V
and 200240V operation from a side-mounted switch. DMX
connections are provided on parallel 3-pin
and 5-pin connectors, and the fixture includes
both pan and tilt locks.
Menu navigation is fairly intuitive, with the
only drawback being the limit of four characters displayed at a time, making for a few confusing truncations. The on-board display can
be quickly inverted at any time, without the
need to dig into the menu structure.
One of the nicest features of the
display is the ability to navigate and
make adjustments to the settings
without connecting the fixture
to power. An internal rechargeable battery powers the on-board
display so that lighting techs can
quickly adjust settings and address
fixtures before power is available at
the fixture.
The clam-shell covers on the head are
easily detached via six quarter-turn fasteners
while the covers on the base are slightly less
convenient, with fully threaded screws holding them in place. This won’t be an issue for
most people, as these covers do not have to
be removed for voltage adjustment or dayto-day maintenance.
Color mixing is provided by a standard
cyan, magenta, and yellow dichroic gradient density color mixing system. Linear
CTO is standard, as well as a 5-position color
wheel with two slots filled by the factory with
saturated red and blue filters and two slots
I was truly blown
away when I first
saw this fixture
turned on.
A-Z of Lighting Terms
Author: Brian Fitt
Pages: 256 Book/Paperback
Your #1 resource
for continued
education.
46
PLSN JULY 2006
(not counting the open position) left empty.
Dimming is provided via a hybrid flag
system, while an energy/lamp saving mode
reduces power to the lamp
by 50% after a fixed period
with the fixture blacked out.
Strobe functions are provided by a dedicated flag with
a wide range of speeds and
modes.
One of the most notable
features of the fixture is its
incredible zoom range which
the factory claims as 4°-80°.
The TH model adds a 3-inch
top hat that significantly reduces halation
when the zoom is at its most narrow setting,
while reducing glare to the audience as well.
The base model offers two channels of linear frost capabilities, one light and one heavy.
The TH model replaces one of these channels
with a beam shaping “ovalizer.”
DMX control is provided via an ‘extended’ 16-channel mode or a ‘standard’ 14channel mode which reduces pan and tilt
to 8-bit control.
$36.95
This pocket-sized A-Z guide will be
of use to all those in the industry,
particularly students, who have
heard expressions or terms and
wondered what they meant.
Although most technical books have
glossaries, The A-Z of Lighting
Terms has expanded on many of
these terms using illustrations to
clarify some of the more complicated principles, formulae and laws.
Impressions
Most of us have seen this lamp in other
fixtures, and I was truly blown away when
I first saw this fixture turned on. It looked
significantly brighter than several different 700-watt fixtures on stage, and would
certainly hold its own next to a lot of
1200-watt fixtures.
Dimming is incredibly smooth (even below 15%), and the energy/lamp saving mode
is transparent to the end user. The strobe
functions offer a very good array of speeds,
and all modes, including random, take effect
instantaneously.
Color mixing is outstanding, and was the
most talked-about feature by the show’s directors. Reds were punchy and shades of every color were very even, without any hints of
‘mottled’ oranges or blue-greens.
The zoom range is incredible and very
responsive. I especially liked the TH model,
as the slight amount of bleed in the tightest
Lighting Control
Technology and Applications
Second Edition
Author: Robert Simpson
$79.99
"A work of awesome scholarship...
It's eminently readable, with
ultra-clear diagrams...This is the
definitive book the industry didn't
know it needed by an author totally
on top of his subject - it's a must for
anyone who needs to know what's
under the bonnet of a lighting
control system." Lighting Equipment
News
www.PLSN.com
zoom range was eliminated. The “ovalizer”
that comes with this model is also a nice addition, while the two channels of frost (in the
base model) are for the most part overkill in
combination with the zoom.
Pan and tilt are fast and extremely accurate, and I especially like the base that supports the unit. Smaller than the bases of many
fixtures today, the Alpha Wash is a bit more
manageable than most, and can be handled
by one person.
Conclusion
Take the first opportunity you have to
get your hands on some of these fixtures and
I don’t think you’ll be sorry. The Alpha Wash
and Alpha Wash TH are a promising glimpse
into what will surely be a successful product
range by this Italian manufacturer.
Special thanks to the Technical Theatre students at the Westlake High School Fine Arts Facility for their help with this review. Phil Gilbert
is a freelance lighting designer / programmer.
He can be reached at [email protected].
What it is: Clay Paky Alpha Wash 575
and Alpha Wash TH
What it’s for: Color mixing color wash
for general wash, set painting, cyc lighting, key or fill light
Pros: Bright, user-selectable voltage,
3-pin or 5-pin XLR inputs, internal
self-recharging battery allows menu
operation without connecting to power,
energy/lamp saving feature, 4°-80°
zoom, top hat reduces halation, smooth
dimming, outstanding color mixing, fast
and accurate movement
Cons: Menu display somewhat cryptic,
only two of four color wheel slots
are filled
MSRP: Alpha Wash 575: $8555, Alpha
Wash TH: $9110
Concert Lighting - Second Edition
$47.95
Techniques, Art and Business
Author: James L Moody
Thoroughly updated with new sections on Computer Aided Drafting,
moving lights and other new equipment and techniques. A real-life look
at what a lighting designer doesfrom fighting for contracts to designing a show. Special emphasis on
rock-and-roll concert lighting.
Concert Tour Production
Management $31.95
Author: John Vasey
All you need to know about
concert touring by an industry
expert. Appendices provide
industry standard forms and
information. Only book dedicated to production management
for concert tours.
Order on-line TODAY
at www.plsnbookshelf.com
ROADTEST
Look Solutions Unique Hazer
Photos and Text By JasonRoland
F
or the last two years I’ve used many of
the leading brands of haze and smoke
products.When it came time to purchase
something for my own business, I wanted to
know if there might
be a better product
on the market to
suit my needs. Initially, Nathan Kahn
of Look Solutions
USA Ltd (formerly of
Theatre Effects) contacted me on the Light Network (www.lightnetwork.com). He had seen my posts about
the concerns I’ve had with these units and
offered to send a demo unit of the Unique
for my review. He assured me I’d be quite
happy with its quality. I can be as cynical as
they come, so this was something I had to see
for myself.
no haze in the room. It was right before one
of our main acts was to go on. Had this been
virtually any other haze machine, five or ten
minutes might have passed before I could
get it up and running. I plugged
it in and within
a minute it was
hazing the room
again. That alone is
worth the price of
the machine.
Why can’t every
manufacturer do this?
It’s simple and easy.
Why All the Fuss?
As any lighting professional knows, a
good haze is rather important when it comes
to creating the proper atmosphere. There are
many brands out there, some big names and
others not so well known in the US. Look Solutions falls into this category, primarily because their US office has been open a scant
two years. The machines are manufactured
in Germany and outside of North America
they are a more recognizable name. They are
sold in North America through the Waynesboro, PA-based distributor. Look Solutions has
come up with some innovative features. That
set their machine apart from others and earns
it a closer look.
Will it Clog?
I’ve seen my share of machines clog up.
Okay, I fess up; I cursed at those machines
and still do. No matter how much you clean
them, they can clog. In some cases, it is the
design of the machine that is to blame. I
know of one company who claims that their
machine only needs to be cleaned after using a specific amount of fluid. In my personal
experience, the machine needs to be cleaned
weekly in order to run correctly. Look Solutions spec sheet says that this machine never
needs cleaning. I must admit, I did not run
the machine long enough to test this. I have,
however, talked with a few others who own
a Unique; they have reported no clogging
after heavy and repeated use. If you look
at the heating tube of the Unique you’ll see
that the coil is larger in diameter than most.
You’ll also notice
that more air is
pumped thru
the coil. When
the machine is
shut down, air
continues to be
fed thru the coil
to purge it. It
also has a cleaning cycle that it
runs as it operates.
My personal feeling is
that the larger diameter tube
and added air flow is what allows
their claim to hold true.
Support
Finally, no matter what product you
buy, it’s only as good as the folks who
stand behind it. I’ve had great e-mail support from Nathan and the guys at Look
Solutions. They have answered every question I’ve come up with. I’ve known Nathan
from his time at Theatre Effects and he has
always gone above and beyond.
There you have it; the Unique Hazer puts
out a tremendous amount of haze, it warms
up very quickly and the LED display is easy to
read and easy to operate. I’ve told it like it is and
now I invite you to contact Look Solutions and
get a demo unit for yourself. Try it side by side
with
whatever
hazer or
fogger
you use now.
I’d be willing to bet you’ll
want one of your own after a few days. As a
side note, when you do request your demo,
you might want to demo the Unique2.
They have already redesigned and updated
the Unique to include a built-in timer and
several other upgrades.
What it is: Look Solutions Unique2
Haze Machine
What it’s for: Haze and smoke
atmospheric effects
Pros: ED display easy to see, easy to
use, 100 steps of control, less than one
minute to warm up, high output, quickrelease fluid hose, never needs cleaning
Specs
The machine runs on 120 volts and has
a 1300-watt heating element. It has onboard
DMX as well as analog and stand-alone control. A timer remote is sold separately. It offers
a bright LED display. While other manufacturers seem to have an obsession with thumb
click wheels or dip switches that are difficult
to see in the dark, Look Solutions has made
this system of control very easy to see and understand. Simply put, you can control the fan
and pump in steps of 0-99 from the display.
You can also set the DMX address and switch
between modes. The machine will remember
your settings when you turn it off. Another
very cool feature is a warm-up time of less
than one minute.
Cons: None that are apparent
How Much: $1415 MSRP
Features
Let’s talk about that digital display. Why
can’t every manufacturer do this? It’s simple
and easy. You can easily turn on and off the
machine and adjust its output. Trust me; you’ll
need to adjust the output too. Do not even
think of running the machine at its full setting. It’s more like a fog machine than a hazer
at that point. In the large ballroom I was in, we
ran the pump on a setting of 12 and the fan
at full. Another interesting feature is that the
tank is held in a bracket on the back of the machine and it features a quick-release coupler.
This makes it ideal for changing tanks midshow or for travel, as you can release the fill
tube and cap the tank so there are no leaks.
Now for the truly good stuff. Did I say it
takes less than one minute to warm up? Right
in the middle of my gig, one of the banquet
servers decided to take it upon himself to
unplug the hazer. I did not realize it until,
strangely enough, all of a sudden there was
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
47
THEBIZ
Them
Changes
L
ighting designers, like most freelancers, tend to be peripatetic. An extended gig is usually more like two months
than two years, and outside of Hollywood
and New York (as long as you have a union
card) life leans towards the itinerant rather
than the permanent. And even on the coasts
you’re only as good as
your last credit.
But the same entrepreneurial
streak
that allows someone
to subsist or even
thrive in that kind of
self-employment arena becomes the core
support beam for business ventures down
the line, and more and
more erstwhile LDs are
taking their experience
off the road and trading their union cards
for corporate cards.
“You don’t leave
lighting—it’s in your
blood,” says Bob “Flash”
Finical, who was once
the LD for classic country artists including Lee Greenwood, Mel Tillis and the Oak Ridge Boys, and who parlayed
22 years of road work into Theatreworks, a
lighting sales and rental company he started
in Branson, Miss. in 1997. “But today, instead
of dreaming about lights, I dream about
buildings and the lights that fill them—in
inventory.”
Making the transition from road warrior to
shopkeeper may be easier as the lighting industry continues to consolidate: a landscape
of fewer, larger conglomerated companies
tends to create opportunities for new startups. That’s particularly true when technological innovation accompanies it, and the LED
revolution has hardly played itself out yet.
An example of that kind of opportunity is how Finical leveraged his geography.
“What worked here in Branson wouldn’t have
worked or worked as well in Southern California,” he says. “One of the big differences
between freelancing as a lighting designer
and running a lighting shop is that as an LD,
you’re at a venue because you know there is
a need for a lighting design. Why else would
you be there? But figuring out whether an
entire market needs lighting, and what kinds
of lighting it needs, is a completely different
thing. Being able to figure that out successfully is the distinction between freelancer
and entrepreneur.”
Jim Crisman, who spent 18 years on the
road with music artists such as the Lost Boys,
had an even more difficult transition. After
the theft of a truck containing all of his un-
insured equipment in Philadelphia years ago,
he was, as he puts it, “reduced to rubble in a
single night. The lesson about going from LD
to businessman, this was the litmus test for
that transition for me.”
Crisman went to work for Merv Griffin,
for whose company he lit huge premieres
By DanDaley
the next phase of his career was well-planned.
A key point was to remember that, as much as
he enjoyed freelancing as an LD, clients hold
your professional life in their hands. “I really
gave substantial thought to how to structure
a rental and supply business in which the
workplace was as rewarding as it was chal-
“I really gave substantial thought to
how to structure a rental and supply
business in which the workplace was
as rewarding as it was challenging.
I’m still working on that, but it’s
definitely doable.”
48
PLSN JULY 2006
– Chas Herington
for films like Armageddon and Con Air and
events like the Democratic National Convention. He later joined Coast Wire, where he did
sales. Crisman says it was a difficult fit at times.
“You’re trading the security of a paycheck for
the freedom to do things your way,” he says.
“The inclination is to try to run someone else’s
company the way you would run yours.”
Crisman fought that tendency, instead
learning from Griffin and Coast CEO Frank
Zorbino lessons in the distinction between
client and customer, a crucial one in the transition from LD to businessman. “I knew how
to make a band happy, or a promoter happy,”
he says. “From that experience working for
others, I learned how to make everyone happy. I learned the bigger picture that you don’t
always get as an LD.”
Crisman formed Entertainment 1 in the
Los Angeles area with partner Billy Davila,
which does equipment sales and touring
supplies, a niche with definable parameters
in the city with a dense entertainment industry. “I don’t know that I’d want to go through
that experience again, especially the theft.”
He says.” But I know it’s what’s helped me tremendously in making the successful transition from LD to this.”
Chas Herington started Zenith Lighting in
Orlando when he came off the road six years
ago, but he had been thinking about it for
far longer. After extensive touring since 1978
with artists including Madonna, Dire Straits,
The Pretenders, Bob Dylan and The Steve
Miller Band, Herington wanted to make sure
www.PLSN.com
lenging,” he says.“I’m still working on that, but
it’s definitely do-able.”
On more practical matters, Herington
says the biggest difficulty in the transition
is adjusting to the huge amounts of paperwork common to any new business and to
the lighting industry, where job rentals can
involve hundreds of individual pieces, all of
which have to be accounted for. “All the compliance issues, dealing with OSHA—this is the
hellish part of the business, compared to the
relatively simpler life of an LD,” he says.
Greatest lessons learned? “That it’s a seasonal business in Orlando and in the summer to make sure we have stuff cross-rented
to other production companies and tours.
And to focus in on lighting pieces that other
companies might find too expensive and shy
away from. It’s a way to establish a niche no
matter where you are.”
Evolution may be good science but it’s
not always good business. Before jumping
out into the void of owning a static business, you need to make sure you’re temperamentally suited for the rigors of that life.
You also need to learn how to delegate. Bob
Finical says it’s harder to keep up with all the
changes in the technical side of the industry as he runs Theatreworks, so his strategy
is to make sure his employees do, and he
guides the application of that knowledge
as he grows the business.
F. Scott Fitzgerald questioned the possibility
of a second act in American lives. The people
outlined here prove it can be done.
PRODUCTGALLERY
Leprecon PD
Motion Labs PD
By RichardCadena
“You do it.”
“No, you do it.”
“I’m not going to do it.”
“Well, I’m not going to do it either.”
The dimmer tech was arguing with the audio engineer about who was going to turn off
the power to the power distro. We had been
touring with the same system for a while but
this morning we ran into a slight problem. After the house electrician tied our feeder cable
into the company switch, the dimmer tech
flipped the switch and there was a loud pop
and a bright flash of light, followed by a big
puff of smoke rising slowly above our PD. He
jumped back and stood like a deer caught in
headlights, except that the look on his face was
more like a frightened puppy than a deer, and
as his face drained of all its blood he looked
more like a polar bear than a puppy.
“Turn it off!” Someone yelled at him. It
might have been me. I’m not sure with all the
excitement. Eventually the tech regained his
composure, heard the instruction and quickly
turned off the switch.
We stood in disbelief, wondering what to
do. Since the house electrician made his exit
shortly after tying in and right before we tried
to energize the system, it was up to one of us
to make it work.
“I’ll do it,” I said. I figured that since I was
about twice the age of the other guys, it was
my moral obligation to protect the women
and children. I stopped for a moment to think
about it. What had caused the fault? Could it
be the cable? The connectors? The PD itself?
Coming up with no answers, I decided to
take a logical approach. I turned off all of the
breakers on the front panel of the PD. Then I
turned off the main breaker on the back of
the PD. I disconnected all of the multi-core
output cables coming out and all of the
Camlock cables going into the PD. Then I
stepped up to the switch.
I paused for a moment, held my breath,
looked away, and turned it on. Nothing—no
bang, no flash, no puff. Okay, I thought, it’s not
the feeder cable. So I turned off the switch
again, plugged in the Camlocks and tried it
over again. Again, nothing happened. Off
the switch goes again. I turned on the main
breakers to the PD, held my breath, looked
away and turned on the switch. Each time I
kept expecting to hear the bang, and each
time I was left waiting. This time, I turned
off the power, plugged in all the multi-core
cable, and flipped the switch on one last
time. Nothing happened. The meters on the
PD read “120/208V.” Everything looked fine. I
finally turned on all the circuit breakers and
everything came to life. The PD was working.
That night, I kept one eye on the PD and
one eye on the console. I knew that whatever had caused the initial fault had not
repaired itself. It might have been a loose
component that shorted inside of the PD
and maybe it had been blown up, literally,
by the fault. Still, I didn’t feel comfortable
for the rest of that tour. After the show, I took
some white gaff tape and marked it for repair
when it went back to the shop later that week.
Power distro is not rocket science, but it
does require great care and craftsmanship to
produce a quality product that will take the
abuse of the road. It also requires intelligence
to operate safely. Power distribution products
have evolved over the years to become one
of the most reliable pieces of gear on the road
today, despite the incident that day. Here is a
sampling of some of them.
1
2
Lex DB200NQ-PTT
TMB ProPower FB
3
4
6
AC POWER 2
5
PRG S400 Rack
CW Limited Roadcase
7
Indu Roadpack
8
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
49
PRODUCTGALLERY
Manufacturer
AC Power
Distribution
Applied
Electronics
Web Address
www.acpowerdistribution.com
www.appliednn.com
Model
CJ1200 Cam Mini-Spider
120/208v 3phase 400a Camlock
3 - 3-phase 5-wire Camlock outputs
CFST480
120/208v 3-phase 400A Camlock w/flow-thru
2 - 19-pin 240V Socapex with 12 - L6-20 receptacles, courtesy duplex & voltage test jacks
CFS720
120/208v 3-phase 400A Camlock w/flow-thru
PD-ALD (automated lighting distribution)
120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Cam
type connectors (pass-thru
available). Main breaker available.
3-phase/single phase/20-400amp, CamLok, hardwire or
Twistlock
120/208V AC 3Ø 800A Per
Phase- Cam-Lok
120/208V AC 3Ø 400A Per
Phase- Cam-Lok Feed-thru
120/208V AC 3Ø 400A Per
Phase- Cam-Lok Feed-thru
2 - 19-pin 120V and 2 -19-pin 240V Socapex
receptacles, 2 - courtesy duplexes & voltage
test jacks
8 210V 6-circuit Socopex outputs with branch
breakers and 12 Edison duplex outputs with
branch
breakers
Twistlock, Soco, U-ground
ATA style
aluminum
lined rolling
rack/NEMA
Type1
120/208V AC 3Ø 800A Per Phase- Cam-Lok
Type 1
PD-Custom/Portable or Permanent
DADCO
www.dadco-llc.com
DAD 2400 SC
Super Cam thru Spider Box
DAD 6SP FT3
Socapex Distro
DAD S9U FT3
Half & Half Distro
2-000-010-0001
2-000-010-0003
Entertainment Power
Systems
www.entertainmentpowersystems.com
2-000-010-0007
BO-L21PBG
CD-ML2-208-Motor
CW Limited
Indu-Electric North
America, Inc
Leprecon, LLC
www.cwlimited.com
Input Voltage;
Outputs (number - current - voltage Type of
Current; Connector Type
- connector type)
Enclosure
RC-Proj-Mtr-120V
120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Camtype connectors, 1 pass through
6-120V 20A Edison, 12- 240V L6-30 Twist-Lock,
3- 120V 20A 19-pin
Leprecon PD Series - Portable, Custombuilt Power Distribution
120/208V; 300A, 400A optional
1 or 3Ø switchable, 200A; 6-wire
Cam type connectors, optional
Pass-Through
duplex Edison, L-5, L-6, L-14, L-15, L-16 & L-21
Aluminum
series Twistlocks, 120 or 208V 19-pin Socapex,
lined ATA
20A stage pin
roadcase with
castors
www.leprecon.com
100 amp 3Ø, 5-wire male
Cam tails
Motion Laboratories,
Inc
200A 3-Phase to (21) 30 Amp Nema
DB200NQ-PTT-S3
www.motionlabs.com
www.prg.com
Quantum Energy
Design
www.qedinc.tv
TMB
50
PLSN JULY 2006
5-wire Cam panel mount male
Video PD
Lighting PDs
120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Cam
type connectors
MaxPac
120/208V; 200A 3-phase; Cam
type connectors
120/208V 400-amp Cam-Lok
ATA shock
mount road
case
NEMA Type 1
NEMA type
1, steel box,
within a road
case
Rolling ATA
flight case
120/208V 3phase; 250Amps;
Cam in/thru
Any combination
ProPower RPD
120/240V or 120/208V; up to
400A 1Ø or 3Ø; Cam-Lok or Pin
& Sleeve
Wide selection of
configurations available.
ProPower DP
120/240V or 120/208V; 30A 1Ø
or 3Ø, 50A 1Ø; Pin & Sleeve or
Twist-lock
www.PLSN.com
N/A
Custom design allows for variable configurations; Twistlock, 19-pin, PowerCons, stage pins,
Edisons
6 x L21-30 (120/208V, 3 Phase, 5 Wire
Twistlock)
single, dual and 3-phase 120/208V
outputs available
TR range (Touring PD)/ Motor control.
Installation motor and power pd.
www.tmb.com
Pagoda
- NEMA
3R rubber
Pagoda
- NEMA 1
rubber
(21) 30 Amp 120 VAC 2P 3W straight blade out- Power Station
lets, NEMA TT30-R. feed-thru: 5-wire Cam panel
- NEMA 3R
mount female
weatherproof
Type 7841, 1200 Amp Cam-Lok Pass-Thru 208Y/120VAC, 60HZ, 3-phase,
6-100A 120V stage plugs, 3-100A 208V stage
Plus
5-wire, 400A per leg, Cam-Lok
plugs, 2-20A duplex receptacles
Type 79944, 4800 Amp See-Thru Cam
208Y/120VAC, 60HZ, 3-phase, 5- 4-208Y/120VAC, 60HZ, 3-phase, 5-wire, 1,600A
Spider
wire, 1600A per leg, Cam-Lok
per leg, Cam-Lok receptacles
Type 3781, 48-Circuit DMX Remote
208Y/120VAC 60HZ, 3-phase, 5- 48 x 2.4kw 120v outputs via 16-Socapex recepSwitchboard
wire, 960A, AC or DC, Cam-Lok
tacles. (2 per 6-channel)
Series 400 Power/Data Distribution
System
PRG
(15) 20 amp duplex receptacles (Edison)
Non-conductive, NEMA 1,
upgradable
to NEMA 3R
(3) 100A - 125V studio pin receptacles
(3) 20A - 125V duplex receptacles
www.lexproducts.com
www.mole.com
2-19 Pin Socapex trype outlet 240V, (2) 20A
duplex 120V outlet plus (12) 20A 240V L6 20
outlets
120/208V; 225A 3-phase;
4 x 6-Circuit 208V 20Amp 19-pin multi; 6 x 120V Aluminum
Cam-type connectors in & pass 20Amp Edison duplex; 2 x L6-20 208V; 2 x L5-20
lined ATA
through, G/N reversed
120V
roadcase
2 x 6-Circuit 120V 20Amp 19-pin multi; 2 x
6-Circuit 208V 20Amp 19-pin multi; 4 x 120V
20Amp Edison duplex; 2 x L6-20 208V, 2 x L5-20
120V
4 x 6-Circuit 120V 20Amp 19-pin multi; 4 x 120V
20Amp Edison duplex
120/208V 20A, L21-20, twistlock
1 - 20A - 120/208V L21-20 twistlock, 3 - 20A
Plastic
- 120V duplex Edison
120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Cam
1 - 50A 3-pole CS6369 125/250V, 12 - L14-20
ATA flight
type connectors, hardwired
20A 120/208V, 3 - 20A Edison duplex 120V
case - alumi120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Cam 120/208V; 400A 3-phase; Cam type connectors,
num lined
type connectors
10 - 30A - 120V L5-30 twistlock, 6 - 20A - 120V
duplex Edison
300A Motion Picture DBS100DT-B412
Mole-Richardson Company
6 Socapex type outlets plus
Roadpack Series
www.indu-electric.com
Cam to 15 Duplex DB100A-A401520
Lex Products Corp
NEMA Type 1
3
19”
Custom rolling
road case
Self-contained 3U
rackmount
aluminum
and steel
enclosure.
(Optional
top mounted
receptacles
available.)
19”W
e of
osure
Dimensions
Type 1
14.5”L x 10.5”W x 10”H
style
num
olling
NEMA
e1
e1
num
ATA
case
24”L x 13.5”W x 11.5”H
Compliance
UL, cUL
Weight
Retail Price
77 lbs
N/A
43 lbs.
N/A
Three-fer in a box design is a convienient way to split feeder runs without clusters of tapping Ts
and three-fers. Also available in 2-in/3-out (parallel) configuration.
Specifically designed for moving lights.
45 lbs.
N/A
Ideal for small applications with both 120v and 240v moving lights.
20”W x 20”D x as required
UL
24”L x 10”W x 12”H
20”L x 20” W x 10”H
UL 1640 ETL
$8,995.00
PM-360 power monitor (included in this model); LSC 5-way DMX distro (included in this model);
Complete system UL rating standard. Other configurations available upon request
POA
Custom configuration for any application - PM-360 Power Monitor System available, LSC 5-way
DMX splitter available.
TBD
75 lbs.
45 lbs.
$2,400.00
Available 2-in, 6-out; 4-in and 4-out; *480V units available
$2,595.00
36 breakers for individual control of 6 circuit Socapex-type outlets plus 2 120V duplex outlets
$2,495.00
Moving light distribution center with L620 outlets and 240V Socapex outlets. Socapex outlets can
be configured with 120V combinations.
Custom engraving optional
22” x 24” x 27”
125 lbs.
$9,456.98
22” x 24” x 24”
100 lbs.
$8,462.88
22” x 24” x 21”
75 lbs.
$7,253.68
8.25”L x 5”W x 4.33”H
2.5 lbs.
$175
flight
alumiined
42”L x 20”W x 42”H
290 lbs.
$3,512
24”L x 21”W x 25”H
75 lbs.
$2,300
onducEMA 1,
dable
MA 3R
24”W x 24”D x 41.5”H
UL, cUL, CE for
Europe
140 lbs.
num
ATA
se with
ors
As Required
UL components
TBD
stic
oda
MA
bber
12” x 12” x 12”
oda
MA 1
ber
Station
MA 3R
rproof
9” x 9” x 9”
A
hock
t road
se
Type 1
Other variations and optional weatherized version avail upon request.
Cable case comes with 100’ #2 5-wire feeder cable hardwired to distro. Other combinations available upon request.
Also includes 200A main and a 3-phase meter panel.
varies (based on con- Removable doors can be universally mounted flush on all 4 sides of the distro; completely
figuration and ratings) customizable configurations; maximum truck load density; adjustable main breaker; 100% rated
continuous use branch breakers; digital multimeter with over 45 3-phase readings; 19-pin indicator cluster lights; public main breaker lockout; non-conductive enclosure; upgradeable to NEMA
3R rain tight in use
P.O.A.
Heavy-duty Power Distribution systems can be configured using wide assortment of power and
load options including rack-mount dimmers, duplex (2) with breakers, digital voltmeter, digital
amp meter & Littlite Raklite(s).
32 lbs.
n/a
Heavy-duty molded rubber enclosure is fully insulated, providing shock, impact, corrosion and
weather resistance. Also available as UL Listed NEMA 3R weatherproof with covers throughout, or
as NEMA 1 indoor with covers on female cams only.K15
24 lbs.
n/a
Overcurrent protection: (3) 100 amp single pole, (3) 20 amp single pole branch circuit rated breakers
27.5 ” L x 18.5 ” W x 18” H
65 lbs.
n/a
Enough outlets to hook up 21 RVs. Suitable for outdoor events, corporate functions, festivals,
concerts, etc. Rubber enclosure increases safety, durability and ease of use.
23.75”W x 12”D x 11”H
58 lbs.
n/a
A complete line of pass-thru plus distribution boxes are available.
UL cUL
14.25 x 24.5 x 8.25
38.25”W x 12.25”D x 22.75”H
ETL
31” D x 22.5” W x customer specified
height
19” W Front Panel; 17” W Body; 15” Deep
UL 1640
72 lbs.
A complete line of see-thru spider distribution boxes are available.
133 lbs.
A complete line of DMX remote switchboards boxes are available.
variable
variable
All Motion Labs Power Distribution units are modular and allow for application specific configurations by the end user
55 lbs.
$2,300.00
Designed specifically to fit in the same rack as the new 3-space rack mount motor controller. Will
also work for other portable power distribution applications.
Intregrated power and Ethernet data distribution system with modular design. Single rack can
support up to 72 1.2KW devices w/ single, dual and 3-phase 120/208v outputs. Rack includes:
flush mounted rocker breakers, digital LED power metering, hot-swappable rack modules, L620
and Neutrik 208V outputs, rear 120V convenience outputs, system master power switch, front and
rear LED lighting system. Truss-mountable power/data breakout boxes with built-in power safety
interlock attach to rack via custom power/data trunk cable. Optional FOH module w/ 10 DMX512
inputs plus 2 10/100Mb Ethernet connectors, 120V Edison and 208V Neutrik power connectors for
remote console power. System data distrubution through 10/100Mb/sec Ethernet and DMX512
inputs. ArtNet compatible. Capacity for 3rd part signal processing devices. All devices software
upgradable.
100% rated branch breakers, overrated
internal X-Ploy cable. Power coat finish.
m rollg
case
47”H x 21”W x 26”D
ETL
Varies upon
configuration - 305 lbs.
fully loaded.
Varies upon
configuration
type
l box,
a road
se
g ATA
case
28”H x19”W x 18”D
UL1640, UL508A
TBA
Varies upon
configuration
Varies upon
configuration
Varies upon
configuration
cond 3U
mount
num
steel
sure.
onal
unted
tacles
able.)
Comments
Varies upon configuration
19”W x 6”D x 5.25”H (12” depth also avail.)
UL, cUL
Configuration can be specified from numerous input/output panels. Optional dimming and signal
panels available. UL listed. 19-pin “pin out” indicator display. Heavy-duty aluminum construction.
Professional grade touring distro.
Wide assortment of available distro packs. UL listed. Multiple units may be customized in a larger
configuration. Heavy-duty aluminum and zinc-coated steel construction.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN JULY 2006
51
Road Case
Utilizing new technologies, materials and design innovations,
By Kevin M.Mitchell
E
verything else in the industry is susceptible to trends and technological
advancements, so it’s no surprise that
changes are afoot with companies who focus
on protecting your gear from gig to gig.
“Three things that I found to be most
important now is protection, truck pack and
customer service,” David Chandler, president
of Kangaroo Cases LLC, says. “Basically, cases
have to be able to fit, and so customers still
want the two-foot by three-foot or two-foot
by four-foot cases. Some take it a step further,
with every case being the same size. They feel
they get a better bang for the buck.” Chandler,
who has been making cases since the 1980s
as Stage Right Case Company and officially
opened Kangaroo Cases 1996, adds that customer service seems to be more in demand as
customers who show up with a smashed latch
or a lost wheel and are going out on tour the
next day are wanting immediate service.
“One trend is that anything you can imagine that can be incorporated [in a road case]
is being incorporated,” says Joe Calzone of
“
Calzone Case
Co m p a ny,
which
also
shares common ownership with the
Anvil brand.
“It’s
about
helping clients do their
job
rather
than just carrying things.
I believe that
there is much
more of a
need to have
some functionality with
the case, that it can be used as part of a production. Also, everyone is looking for laborsaving situations.”
“What we’re hearing is that everyone
wants to save weight, because less weight
means less freight, and fuel costs are killing
everyone,” Jimmy Harding, general manager
of Olympic cases, adds.
L–R: Tony Asbury and Jimmy Harding
“
the load-in and load-out is getting better all the time
cases are much
more regional.
And while they
ship all over the
U.S., more customers want
to buy locally,
so they can
just show up
and get something repaired
quickly.
So
what
makes a good
case, anyway?
“It depends
on the customer,”
Harding
says. “A lot are
looking at the cheapest price and that’s never
been Olympic’s market. We want to build the
best quality case we can, one that does everything on the road that it’s supposed to.”
For Chandler, it needs to be designed to
protect what’s in it. Then you need to use good
materials. Calzone says that a component of a
long-lasting case is how well all the components fit together. “The excursions need to be
such that the material fits in double angles, a
perfect fit. It needs to be such that it can withstand being impacted, which we know happens all the time.”
The materials used to make the case are
changing, with manufacturers eyeing new materials or new uses for old ones. More seem to
be turning to birch-made cases, its advantage
being that you’re able to get more strength on
the interior.
Olympic recently inked a deal with a UK
company to manufacture a new product line
called the Q-Case. “It’s a brand new style of
case. It has the same strength as traditional
cases, but depending on the size, you can reduce the weight of the case by as much as
50%,” Harding says.The patent-pending design
There is much more
of a need to have
some functionality
with the case, that it
can be used as part
of a production.
- Joe Calzone
Calzone/Anvil Case
A Material World
“Cases have become much more complex
than when we started in the 1970s,” Calzone
says.“Traditionally it was much more simple—
some foam-lined cases that would house basic
equipment. Now we have trap doors, multiple
partitions, mirrors, tables… almost anything
you can image is incorporated.”
“We saw a huge transition the way cases
were being built and designed mainly during
the dot com craze of the late 1990s,” Harding
says. “We were building plasma cases by the
hundreds, for example.”
“I think the demand for a better case has
come,” Chandler adds. “People are looking
closer at the case, wanting good quality bolts,
screws and T-nuts.” He also says that he thinks
52
PLSN JULY 2006
www.PLSN.com
Devil in the Details
At Kangaroo, 1.6 pound polyeurathane
foam isn’t used, but instead they use the 2.0
pound version of foam. They also use a twopound polyethylene foam, the kind found on
especially heavy consoles. It’s very rigid, sometimes referred to as “plank” foam. For hardware, Chandler says that TCH is “good, solid
hardware” and they use it exclusively.
“We foam to the specific piece of equipment,” Calzone says. “It can be as simple as
putting in a foam block; other times with these
heavier light fixtures you need to support
interior with different materials such as twoinches by four-inches and frames to address
the weight issue. We’ve been leaning towards
different high density foam, some of which is
cases with a special poly paint
that holds up as good and is less
expensive. We still feel there is
such a demand for the ATA cases
though.” Harding says they do
anything from the standard ABS
laminate or use things like Formica, Nevermark, or Wilson Art.
He says for them, fiberglass laminates are gaining in popularity.
“It’s a little more expensive,
but much more durable, and
takes to heat better,” Harding
explains. “From time to time, delamination occurs. These cases
sit in sun, and the glue can bubble, expanding and contracting.
Fiberglass
doesn’t
contract
and expand.”
When asked which part of the
case most often fails, most agree
it’s the casters. “When you’re
pushing cases over uneven surfaces, and bang it into the curb,”
Calzone says. Chandler adds with
a laugh: “Or a stagehand is rolling
a case, sees a threshold’s coming
up and figure they should pick up speed when
it’s better to take it easy.”
Calzone has been trying to deal with that
issue by installing caster T-nuts which allow
the customer to simply switch out the caster
him or herself from the outside, rather than
doing it from the inside of the case or having
the shop do it.
As far as what is on the horizon, Calzone
says they are focusing on the translation of information prior to building a case for a client.
Utilizing CAD, they are showing 3-D images of
the case prior to production—inside, outside,
spun around.
All are always on the look out for new
material, though cost is a factor, Calzone
points out. “There’s an interesting product
by GM called Alucobone and it’s very lightweight. But it costs about $400 per 6-foot by
10-foot panel, about eight times the price of
plywood.” So whereas a typical plywood case
might cost $600, one made of this material
costs $4,500.
But the future for the case industry as a
whole looks especially bright. Harding says
Olympic got new owners last year and the
first thing they did was commission Price Waterhouse Cooper to do a study—not just on
the company, but the whole industry.“It came
back as a very promising report,” he says.
“There’s just so much new technology everyday—new projectors, new LEDs… Everyday a
new product comes out that our customers
are sucking up, and all these new products
need cases.”
- David Chandler
Kangaroo Cases
hard as wood. So now we can build up with
these different densities of foam but still keep
the weight down as the yoke and head are still
hanging properly without the nose of the fixture touching the bottom of case.”
Opinions are strong when it comes to
latches and hinges, too. Chandler: “We prefer
not to use valance spanning latches because
when it’s not latched, it’s a thin piece of metal
that sticks out and you can cut yourself. Also
they are fragile. A twist-catch or butterfly latch
has two pieces, so you have to route both
sides. It’s cheaper and easier to do it the other
way, but we feel this way is stronger.”
The advantage with the low-mount butterfly latch is that when the lid is open or off, it
will latch to the top of itself. “It’s a small thing,
but if you’ve been backstage, you see people
leaving those latches open.”
Harding laughs when asked what kinds
of hinges are used at Olympic: “Hundreds!” he
says. “Almost anything imaginable. The standard is continuous hinge piano hinge and we
carry it in steel and nickel plated but we also
manufacturer with slip hinge or strut hinge,
depending on what the customer is looking
for. We’ve done cases in brass hinges.” He adds
that typically most of their cases are fastened
with a blind rivet, either aluminum or steel.
They get their hardware from Penn Fabrication because they “have tried every hardware
manufacturer out there and we find the quality
and service we get from Penn is far superior.”
Looks count too, though.
Chandler says they stay away from fiberglass but “We do paint our birch touring
www.PLSN.com
uses honeycombed aluminum or plastic panels, and they are the only company in the U.S.
authorized to manufacturer them. The plastic
version is similarly priced to traditional cases,
though the aluminum version is priced higher
because they can carry a lot more weight.
“But we’ll still maintain our plywood products because a lot of customers are resistant
to change,” he says.
“A lot of case companies, including us, were
putting laminate on wood itself, and if you’re
not set up to do that perfectly it’s a disaster,”
Chandler warns. “Even people who know how
to do it know it’s hard. So the people who
are purchasing are expecting a better case.”
Kangaroo’s laminates come in 15 colors that
“is nice if it’s a large company that has equipment they ship all over the country—you can
color code it per city. Or you can color-code
by department.”
But then the thing has to move.
Chandler says that there is still the issue of
the quality of wheels. They like to use two-inch
by four-inch red polyurethane Colson Casters,
which handles 600 pounds per caster. “Polyurethane casters are becoming more popular,
as these casters give a little smoother ride,”
Calzone adds. “The load rating is 400 pounds
or greater per caster and on some of these
lighting cases, you need that extra protection
because they are usually putting more than
one fixture in a case.”
“A stagehand
is rolling
a case, sees
a threshold’s
coming up and
figure they
should pick up
speed when
it’s better
to take
it easy.”
PLSN JULY 2006
53
MARKETPLACE
Support Our
Advertisers
Let Them Know...You are Seeing their ads in PLSN
Our advertisers enable you to receive
PLSN for
FREE!
Employment
Lighting Designers/Directors Needed
Part Time – Seasonal
.
Truss and Staging Sales Representative.
International manufacturing company
requires experienced Sales Representative to market and sell full line of standard and custom aluminum truss & staging products to North American exhibit
and entertainment markets.
Must be self motivated, technically
competent and organized as well as a
proven closer. Only those with detailed
knowledge of the North American truss
& Staging market should apply.
Computer literate and must be able to
read engineering drawings.
Travel up to 50% of the time may be
required. Must be willing to relocate.
Please provide salary history & requirements.
All replies to [email protected]
54
Impact Lighting & Production, Northern California’s leading Event Lighting &
Production Company is seeking qualified Lighting Designers and Directors
to Design, Install, & Operate temporary
lighting systems for Corporate Events,
Concerts, and Tradeshows.
PLSN JULY 2006
Head of Automation
Zumanity
Cirque du Soleil, the internationally renowned
French-Canadian theatrical production company,
is seeking a highly motivated Head of Automation
for its production of Zumanity at the
NYNY Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The successful applicant will have 5+ years experience with theatrical or other automation systems
and 5+ years experience with contemporary show
control systems for large-scale productions. Experience as a control show board operator and/or
strong mechanical skills in troubleshooting stage
machinery and hydraulic software
issues are preferred.
If you are interested in this position, please apply
online at: www.cirquedusoleil.com Please
remember to include your salary
requirements with your resume.
No Phone Calls Please
Requirements are as follows:
•Extensive knowledge of Intelligent
Lighting Fixtures & Consoles
•Proficiency in Vectorworks, MS Office,
& Experience w/ Rental Software
Programs
•Experience Running Union & NonUnion Crews
•Excellent Oral & Written Communication
Skills
•Attention To Detail
•Ability To Work Long Hours Under
Pressure
•Must Own Reliable Transportation
Hourly rates based upon experience
with some Concert work available on
day rate/1099 contract.
Please E-Mail resume and cover note
including contact information to Errol
Stewart at the following email address:
[email protected]
www.PLSN.com
Account Manager
Meeting Services, Inc. (MSI Production Services) a premier Full Service
Rental & Staging Company is looking to
expand its sales force. With our clients
and events all over North America, you
can either move to the company headquarters in beautiful San Diego or sell
from where you are.
Applicants must be experienced
in selling: Corporate Theatre, General
Sessions, Break-out Rooms, or Special
Events. Comprehensive knowledge of
Audio, Video and Lighting as well as willingness to travel is also a must.
MSI offers an excellent salary, commission and benefit package. Interested
applicants should apply to:
Meeting Services, Inc.
ATTN: John Brinkman
9220 Activity Road
San Diego, CA 92126
Fax: 858-348-0079
Email: [email protected]
EOE
ADVERTISER’SINDEX
COMPANY
PG#
PH#
URL
COMPANY
PG# PH#
URL
A.C. Lighting, Inc.
47
416.255.9494
www.aclighting.com
Nutech
44
800.681.8954
www.nutechpower.com
A.C.T Lighting, Inc.
7
818.707.0884
www.actlighting.com
Olympic Case Co.
49
888.246.5525
www.olycase.com
AC Power Distribution, Inc.
49
818.848.4004
www.acpowerdistribution.com
Orion Software
27
877.755.2012
www.orion-soft.com
American DJ
9
800.322.6337
www.americandj.com
Paradigm
12
954.933.9210
www.paradigmlighting.com
Applied Electronics
13, 31
800.883.0008
www.appliednn.com
PR Lighting LTD
1
253.395.9500
www.omnisistem.com
Atlanta Rigging
35
404.355.4370
www.atlantarigging.com
Precise Corporate Staging
30
480.759.9700
www.pcstaging.com
Branam
3
661.295.3300
www.branament.com
R & M Materials
14
800.955.9967
www.rmhoist.com
Bulbtronics
6
800.227.2852
www.bulbtronics.com
Robe America
2
954.615.9100
www.robeamerica.com
Calzone Case Co.
45
800.243.5152
www.calzonecase.com
Robert Juliat USA
5
203.294.0481
www.robertjuliat.com
Chauvet Lighting
29
800.762.1084
www.chauvetlighting.com
Roc-Off
41
877.978.2437
www.roc-off.com
Checkers Industrial Prod.
17
800.438.9336
www.cableprotector.com
SeaChanger/Ocean Optics
25
727.545.0741
www.seachangeronline.com
City Theatrical Inc.
48
800.230.9497
www.citytheatrical.com
Staging Dimensions
19
866.591.3471
www.stagingdimensionsinc.com
Coast Wire & Plastic Tech., Inc.
38
800.514.9473
www.coastwire.com
Studio Depot
5
323.851.0111
www.studiodepot.com
Compulite
15
954.578.8881
www.compulite.com
Techni-Lux
C2, 39
407.857.8770
www.techni-lux.com
Creative Stage Lighting
16, 24
518.251.3302
www.creativestagelighting.com
Theatrical Media Services, Inc.
42
402.592.5522
www.tms-omaha.com
CW Limited
53
248.624.7702
www.cwlimited.com
TLS
52
866.254.7803
www.tlsinc.com
Dadco LLC
43
818.768.8886
www.dadco-llc.com
TMB
17
818.899.8818
www.tmb.com
Doug Fleenor Design
16
888.436.9512
www.dfd.com
Tyler Truss Systems
23
903.877.0300
www.tylertruss.com
Elation
C4
866.245.6726
www.elationlighting.com
Vista Systems
33
602.943.5700
www.vistasystems.net
Element Labs
10
512.491.9111
www.elementlabs.com
Wybron
8
800.624.0146
www.wybron.com/plsn
ESP Vision
17
702.492.6923
www.espvision.com
Xtreme Structures & Fabrication
6
903.473.1100
www.xtremestructures.com
High End Systems
37
512.836.2242
www.highend.com
James Thomas Engineering
41
865.692.3060
www.jthomaseng.com
Legend Theatrical
35
888.485.2485
www.legendtheatrical.com
MARKET PLACE
Leprecon/Cae Inc.
18
810.231.9373
www.leprecon.com
City Theatrical Inc.
48, 54
800.230.9497
www.citytheatrical.com
Lex Products Corp.
11
800.643.4460
www.lexproducts.com
DK Capital
54
517.347.7844
www.dkcapitalinc.com
Light Source
4
803.547.4765
www.coolclamps.com
ELS
54
800.357.5444
www.elslights.com
Lightronics
C3, 54
800.472.8541
www.lightronics.com/plsn
Kangeroo Cases
54
800.890.1073
www.kangaroocases.com
Look Solutions
24
800.426.4189
www.looksolutions.com
Light Source Inc.
54
248.685.0102
Martin Professional
C1
954.858.1800
www.martinpro.com
Lightronics
54, C3
757.486.3588
www.lightronics.com/plsn
MDG Fog Generators Limited
34
800.663.3020
www.mdgfog.com
New York Case Company
54
877.692.2738
www.newyorkcasecompany.com
Mole-Richardson Co.
32
323.851.0111
www.mole.com
RC4
54
866.258.4577
www.theatrewireless.com
Navigator
16
615.547.1895
www.hiretrack.com
Upstaging
54
815.899.9888
www.upstaging.com
Control Systems for Live
Entertainment
Second Edition
Set Lighting Technician's Handbook
Film Lighting Equipment, Practice, and
Electrical Distribution
$44.99
Control Systems for Live
Entertainment provides essential
information for technicians, engineers
and designers interested in how control systems and computers are used
in the live entertainment arena.
Specifically covering control for lighting, lasers, sound, video, film projection, stage machinery, animatronics,
special effects and pyrotechnics for
theatre, concerts, theme parks,
themed-retail, cruise ships, museums,
corporate and other events.
Sound
ng
Ligh
ti
Staging
"In plain language, Box discusses
day-to-day practice on the set, current
equipment in use and extensive tricks
of the trade useful to everybody from
the director of photography to the
gaffer, rigging crew, best boy and
lamp operator....Box thoroughly
demystifies the world of film lighting."
- Ray Zone, American
Cinematographer Magazine
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
A-Z of Lighting Terms
Author: Brian Fitt
$36.95
This pocket-sized A-Z guide will
be of use to all those in the
industry, particularly students,
who have heard expressions or
terms and wondered what they
meant. Although most technical
books have glossaries, The A-Z
of Lighting Terms has expanded
on many of these terms using
illustrations to clarify some of the
more complicated principles,
formulae and laws.
Stage Manager
$44.99
The Professional Experience
Author: Larry Fazio
Author: John Huntington
Third Edition
Author: Harry Box
BOOKSHELF
$54.99
"Larry Fazio presents the journey of a stage manager, from
interviewing for the position
through striking a theatrical production. He describes what
does-and sometimes, does notmake a good stage manager
based on his own experience
and that of other theatre professionals." - Janine Rauscher,
Dramatics
Your #1 resource for continued education.
Lighting Control
Technology and Applications
Second Edition
Author: Robert Simpson
$79.99
"A work of awesome scholarship... It's eminently readable,
with ultra-clear diagrams...This
is the definitive book the industry
didn't know it needed by an
author totally on top of his subject - it's a must for anyone who
needs to know what's under the
bonnet of a lighting control system." Lighting Equipment News
Illustrated Theatre Production Guide
$34.99
Author: John Holloway
A step-by-step approach,
Illustrated Theatre Production
Guide contains a brief history of
physical theatres and the development of various forms such as
thrust, proscenium, and black
box venues. Operation of theatre
equipment is covered in detail in
the chapters on rigging and curtains. Instructions for operating a
fly system and basic stagehand
skills such as knot tying and drapery folding, are clearly outlined.
www.PLSN.com
Concert Tour Production Management
$31.95
Author: John Vasey
All you need to know about concert
touring by an industry expert.
Appendices provide industry
standard forms and information.
Only book dedicated to production
management for concert tours.
Concert Lighting - Second Edition
$47.95
Techniques, Art and Business
Author: James L Moody
Thoroughly updated with new sections on Computer Aided Drafting,
moving lights and other new equipment and techniques. A real-life
look at what a lighting designer
doesfrom fighting for contracts to
designing a show. Special emphasis on rock-and-roll concert lighting.
Order online TODAY at www.plsnbookshelf.com
PLSN JULY 2006
55
LDATLARGE
I
’ve worked with a lot of different
production managers. Each one has their
own style, their own way of getting things
done. Many PMs are hands-on guys who are
on stage for a good portion of the day. It
is their show and they feel responsible for
everything that goes on. During the course
of the day they will put out fires that range
from lack of rigging points to dry cleaning
last night’s clothes on a Sunday when you’re
playing Peoria. Some are really good at what
they do and some pretty much suck. But they
all have one thing in common: They run the
show. And as a lighting designer they can be
your best asset...or your worst nightmare.
A production manager generally
has a Rolodex full of names of people he
has worked with before. I like to be in these
in big capital letters. I want to be the first guy
they think of to call when they get a new
project. So there are two things I try to do.
First, I have to deliver the artistic goods, but
second, I like to be known as the easy guy in
the class who plays well with other children.
So basically, half of my job is based on talent,
half on personality.
I heard some good jokes last
month:“What’s the difference between a FOH
audio engineer and a puppy?”
Answer: “After a while the puppy
stops whining.”
Of course this is not true of all audio mixers, but it certainly pertains to quite a few.
These guys that constantly complain need a
new career. I have no time for you and neither
does a production manager. I recently worked
with a guy who had more talent mixing a band
than anyone I had ever heard. But outside of
his audio gig, he was constantly complaining about something. This guy added drama
and more work for the PM. I imagine he has
plenty of work because I’m sure he’s not in the
production manager’s Rolodex.
Next joke: “What’s the difference
between God and a rigger?”
Answer: “God doesn’t go around calling
himself a rigger.”
By riggers, I’m talking about the guys who
climb around building rafters and hang structures over everyone’s head, not the riggers in
the movie biz who run electric cables all over
the sound stage. Don’t get me wrong, these
fly guys are a very important part of the show.
But they often think that no show could happen without them. The fact is, they are being
utilized less in our business each year.
There was a time when every show I was
on had a rigger who would climb as well as
work with the local riggers at each venue.
Those days are past. Half the shows on which
I work, I mark the points and the local riggers
call the steel lengths and make the bridles.
Riggers have become stage managers as well,
or come up with some other gig on a show
because production managers don’t need
them for every show. Why has all this changed
over the years? Could it be overpriced
attitudes? Maybe.
56
PLSN JULY 2006
Next joke: “What’s the hardest thing
about being a lighting guy?”
Answer: “Telling your parents you’re gay.”
By no means am I bashing gay people here
because I actually have quite a few friends in
the lighting business who are gay. The joke is
funny because of the fact that lighting techs
sometimes can whine as much as anybody.
But we’ve covered this in the past. If you want
to cry about the long hours or the fact that
nobody ever lets you program a console, go
work at McDonalds. The pay rate is similar, but
my long night ahead.” As I was leaving catering I noticed the caterer stacking a case of my
soda into the cooler. I looked at the PM and he
had never left his seat at the table. But somehow he got this done for me. The fact that he
went an extra inch will result in me going an
extra mile for him.
Chris Lamb and Chris Gratton are two
top-notch PMs who I would work with anytime, anywhere. I’ve watched these guys sit
calmly while a crewmember comes to them
to gripe about what’s bothering them. After
listening they would calmly ask if they were
done, then give some advice that can be best
interpreted as, “Are you done venting? Good.
Hope you feel better. Now get over it.” These
If you want to cry about the long hours or the fact
that nobody ever lets you program a console,
go work at McDonalds. The pay rate is similar,
but they have better benefits and you can stay
home and watch TV. Shut up and gig.
By NookSchoenfeld
But they will offer good advice because they
have been doing lighting for years.
They will also let me as a designer complete the construction and programming of
a show before they pass judgement on the
finished project.
I did a tour several years ago where the
PM was an ex audio guy. He took one look at
the video elements that were incorporated in
the design and nixed them on the spot at the
first load-in. He wouldn’t even let us hang it
to see what the concept looked like. He also
insisted on dumping the audio trucks before
the lighting. Nobody who is sane does this. I
played nice as long as I could until I realized
the guy was an idiot. I knew I never wanted
to work with this loser again so I voiced my
opinion. I was surely removed from his Christmas card list.
Last year I was loading-in an arena-sized
tour design I had done when the PM came up
to me all concerned. “There are no lights up
there. We need lots of truss and stuff for a giant rig. This doesn’t look like the drawings you
sent.” I reminded him that we were only three
hours into the setup and once all the video
and stage elements were up, it would look
huge, like the renderings he signed off on
last month. It did. When the artist walked into
the arena later that day, he looked at the PM
and said, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Great job, dude.” The PM got all the kudos he
needed and my name remains in his Rolodex
for another year.
E-mail Nook at [email protected].
COMING NEXT
MONTH...
•Automated Lighting:
The Back Story
[email protected]
they have better benefits and you can stay
home and watch TV. Shut up and gig.
Nobody goes to school to become a
production manager. They all started with
another gig and got thrown into the fire
somewhere along the line. Of course it’s my
personal opinion that the best PMs started
out as lighting guys. They see the whole picture because they have been the first ones in
and the last ones out at many gigs. They are
aware that at the end of a workday, the lighting designer still needs dark time to himself
to program while everyone else is at the bar.
Last month I was eating dinner in the catering
area when a PM asked me how the chow was.
I said, “Fine, but I could use some Mountain
Dews and their caffeine to get me through
guys have to make a lot of important technical decisions during the day. While they also
have to soothe the feathers of ruffled technicians, it is something they would rather not
dwell on. If you wish to remain in the Rolodex,
don’t ask for answers to petty problems. Sort
it out yourself.
These guys both started out as lighting
guys and know how to run a load-in properly.
They know that the riggers need some space
to work. But they also realize that the lighting
crew can build their trusses and lay the cable
on them while keeping them off the rigging
marks. Everyone could work at once. They
don’t judge a crew on the first day and don’t
offer advice until they realize that it would be
helpful to all parties involved in the project.
www.PLSN.com
The long history of automated
lighting begins much further
back than you might think.
We’ll take a look at just how
far as we continue our series
of articles leading up to
the 25th anniversary of
the launch of the first
Vari*Lite fixture.
•Let’s Get Ready
to Rumble!
It’s part theatre, part soap
opera and part sheer athleticism, and WWE senior production manager John D’Amico
oversees 200 shows per year
with RAW and SmackDown.

Power To The People! Page 49

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