Set & Light: Spring 2014 (Issue 111) by STLD_Magazine

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Issue 111: Spring 2014 www.stld.org.uk

Set & Light from the Society of Television Lighting and Design

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202 Half CTB B

216 White Diffusion

273 Soft Silver Reflector

652 Urban Sodium

210 210 0.6 ND

Th Think LEE ZZZ OHHÀOWHUV FRP ZZ ZZ OHHÀOWHUV FRP

204 Full CTO F ull CT O

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Editorial

What were you up to in 1974? We want to know!

t’s our 40th anniversary – woohoo! We will be celebrating with a separate special edition of the magazine in the summer and a special anniversary celebration meeting on 30 May, details to be confirmed. We had a busy and successful AGM last month. It was held at the Musical Museum in Kew and we had a good turnout. We were given a personal tour around the museum before sitting down to the AGM and a buffet afterwards. The full report is on page 4. We have also had some great visits in the last few months, the latest being an exciting morning at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which you can read about on page 18. And we have a good line-up of events planned for later this year, so keep an eye out for the publicity and get yourself signed up! It’s great to see some LDs sending in articles about their own experiences and projects in distant lands. We welcome any articles from our membership about work you have done. It’s great to see what people are doing and what innovations they are using. I appeal to all members to send in your memories, events, situations and projects from 1974. And younger members can also contribute stories of what you have been doing this year. We want to make our special edition one to remember! The next issue of the magazine will be out in July 2014 (see below for Sponsor News and advertising deadlines). So, enjoy this issue and get writing!

Emma Thorpe Editor

Contents 4

STLD event: AGM and Musical Museum visit

Training: ITTP Conference

STLD visit: Madam Butterfly

Lighting: Gary Barlow

Event: BVE

In memorium: Kevin Fitz-Simons and Bill Lee

Information: Rates of pay

A View from Across the Pond

STLD visit: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Sponsor News

Lighting: India TV

Society Sponsors

Recollection: TV Centre and R E Poulton

Index of advertisers

Set & Light is the journal of the Society of Television Lighting and Design and is published three times a year. ISSN 2055-1185 Editor: Emma Thorpe and Bernie Davis E-mail: editor@stld.org.uk Web: www.stld.org.uk Production Editor: Joanne Horne Sponsor News: Emma Thorpe E-mail: sponsornews@stld.org.uk Advertising: Paul Middleton E-mail: adverts@stld.org.uk Cover photo of organist Chris Barber by: John O’Brien

Printed by: Andus Print, Brighton

Deadlines for the next issue: Editorial: 20 June 2014 Advertising: 16 June 2014 Advertising is accepted only from sponsor members of the Society © Society of Television Lighting and Design 2014

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD event

An evening of notes Words: William Dudman Photographs: John O’Brien A piece of personal history

The Musical Museum in Brentford holds a world-standard collection of automatic musical instruments and is highly thought of by enthusiasts from many nations. It is, I suppose, a true global player. The collection’s founder was Frank Holland: a clever, delightful and somewhat eccentric man, who began it all by housing his private collection in the nearby redundant St George’s Church, where he also lived and eventually died in 1989. He opened the collection to the public in 1963 and it became known as the ‘Piano Museum’. My first experience of both Frank and the museum took place in the mid1960s (soon after I joined the BBC) when my mother gave him a family heirloom of a very large upright piano made by Muller in 1863 and featuring an oil painting of St Cecilia, the goddess of music, as a centrepiece. The piano was purchased by ancestral members of my family from one of the Crystal Palace exhibitions. Frank had a varied and relevant career prior to opening his museum. After leaving Ardingly College in Sussex, he served a five-year apprenticeship with the British Thomson Houston Company at Rugby. His first job after leaving BTH involved travelling all over the country installing cinema sound equipment for RCA Photophone. His career then took him to Rediffusion, where he spent 12 years experimenting on and developing equipment utilising the heating effect of microwaves. His expertise took him into piano factories to apply radio frequency heating techniques in the manufacture of keyboard lids and soundboards. Working in Canada during the 1950s, he became involved in importing pianos from England, mainly for schools and education. It was here his collection was born. He began collecting music rolls in 4

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the Western States and eventually returned to England in 1958 and imported a Steinway reproducing piano, together with 16 cases of music rolls. The only address shown on this equipment was ‘Holland – London’, but they still found him. No postcodes needed then! My abiding memories of Frank are not of his expertise, nor his collection, but his eccentricities. He would often wear a Dickensian Fez-type skullcap and, due to the lack of electrical sockets in St George’s Church to power his various machines, I was amazed and concerned to see a tree of multi-socket adaptors extending over 2ft from the wall sockets. When making a cup of coffee, there were strict instructions to the side of the single gas ring stating the exact heating period required to boil a cup of water.

A piece of musical history

As we enter into the music room, brimful of crotchets and quavers mingling with the breathing whirrs of spring and early electric motors, we leave our modern world of brash beaming rectifiers for a nostalgia of snuffed candlewicks and paraffin glows. Our senses are first drawn to a large, caged, ‘orchestra’ music box, made in Switzerland in 1899, which fills our ears with sounds of struck bells and plucked metal, calmed by the windy strains of a reed organ nestled within. We are then called across the room by the soft mellow tones of a German disc Polyphon of similar vintage. Our reveries are soon dashed by the clangs of a neighbouring Tomasso hand-driven street piano and the demanding attention of a small stuffed monkey ghostly seeking Victorian pennies from the pockets of bemused listeners. Away then to witness a robotic trio of two violins and a piano made by the Mills Novelty company in 1915, powered by early electric current, controlled by a paper roll and brought

Pictured: Organist Chris Barber (main picture); Frank Holland (inset)

to life by the drop of a coin. Across the room once more to hear Sergei Rachmaninoff playing ‘Flight of the bumblebee’ on a magnificent Ampico Grand reproducing piano, reading from a paper scroll cut by the hands of the great man himself. Our final musical treat of the evening is upstairs in the Concert Hall, where organist Chris Barber unleashes the imposing sounds of the mighty Wurlitzer organ and talks of its historic journey from America into the hands of Frank, interrupted by a guest appearance, from 1934 and for many years, at the Odeon Cinema in Kingston upon Thames. As the final applause fades away we find ourselves once more in the present day under the watchful gaze of the STLD committee, and with the Gain control set to 11, we embark upon our 40th AGM. The evening concludes with competing slices of pie, eagerly washed down with wine and ale. Our thanks for this memorable and atmospheric event go to Les McCallum.

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AGM/Musical Museum visit

Pictured: Guide Roy Huddlestone with a barrel organ (above); William Dudman’s mother gave Frank a family heirloom (below)

The Chairman’s report, presented at the STLD’s 40th AGM, 30 January 2014 I would like to start by thanking Les McCallum for again coming up with the idea for this venue for the AGM. The trip around the museum has been great, and seeing and hearing the Wurlitzer was a definite highlight This is the STLD’s 40th anniversary year and a lot has changed since then. In the early days, most of the members were from the BBC or ITV and the word ‘freelance’ was almost unheard of in television. I am told that at the first meeting, the entertainment was provided by strippers. Unfortunately, the only stripping that happens these days is performed by the Treasurer when he strips the budget! Our first meeting of last year was the AGM on 17 January, which we held at the Cinema Museum. This was another excellent suggestion by Les and proved to be a great venue. We were also treated to a talk by Jeremy

Hoare on his family’s history in entertainment. Our thanks go to Jeremy and Les, together with his Corp of Commissionaires. February saw us venturing into the depths of Kent to visit one of our newer members, MEMS. Several members braved the cold to be amazed at the scale of the operation at MEMS. I don’t think many of us were aware just how many generators they have. Having had a full tour of the site, we were treated to an evening of wining and dining and a football match at The Gills Priestfield Stadium. Our thanks go to MEMS and our own Emma for doing the liaison work. 27 February saw a soiree at The Mulberry Bush. This followed a screening of the story of Television Centre – Tales of TV Centre – which was held at the BFI. A number of members were able to meet

afterwards to reminisce. 7 May saw the long-awaited trip to Salford to see the new studios. This had been planned for a while and it was great to see it actually happen. Later in May was the date for Showlight. This once again proved to be a great event and lived up to expectations. A number of STLD members were involved, both on the Showlight Committee and as delegates. We sponsored a number of places in return for writing articles for the magazine and this certainly gave us editorial material for the magazine. The next Showlight will be in four years’ time and we will have to wait to see where this will be. 22 June saw an LED meeting hosted at Sky. This was given by Alan Roberts and was a joint meeting with the GTC and EBU. About 40 people attended and had an insight into the Continued overleaf Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD event

AGM/Musical Museum visit

The society’s 40th AGM was held at the Musical Museum in Brentford

Continued from previous page technicalities of calibrating and standardising LEDs. Any questions, just read the article. Our thanks go to Alan and Sky for this meeting. 5 July was the date for the excellent visit to Lord’s, the home of English cricket. This was an idea from the ‘King of Meetings’, Andrew Dixon, who once again produced a meeting of real quality and a chance to visit an iconic venue. Many ‘suited and booted’ members were treated to a rare look round the pavilion and museum, together with the usual vitals! October was the annual PLASA Exhibition, which was this year held at ExCel London. The STLD was there as usual, and many familiar faces came along to say hello, along with some new ones. The KOI awards were held on the Sunday at the ExCel centre, which made the journey from PLASA a case of an escalator rather than a tube or bus. We would again make the request for nominations for this year’s awards as the time will go very quickly to the closing date. 23 November saw another wellattended meeting, when we were able to see behind the scenes at the London Coliseum, with a performance of Madame Butterfly to end the evening. 6

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Our thanks go to the technical staff, who gave us an interesting tour. For those who were not able to attend a meeting last year, all of the above have, or will be, featured in the magazine. One very important part of meetings is that everyone is able to participate through reading the magazine. I would like to thank the whole committee for all the work they have put in during the year. We are losing a few members this year and I would particularly like to thank Richard Bowles and Mike Farmer for all their work during their time on the committee. I would also like to mention John King, who has decided to retire from the magazine advertising role. He is, I am glad to say, still remaining on the committee. The job of selling advertising space has been particularly difficult as it is the first thing to go when companies are tightening their belts. John has done a great job in trying to keep companies on board and I’m sure we would not have sold as many adverts had it not been for his efforts. Paul Middleton has bravely taken on this important role and I’m very grateful to him for this and wish him well. I’m also pleased to announce that Chris Harris, David Laskey and Alan

Luxford are to join the committee. We still try to increase our membership, but this is proving more difficult than first thought. As you will hear, our finances are in need of protection and things have not been easy in the present climate. I intend to work closely with Mike during this year to try to stop the slide. There are a number of areas we are going to look at carefully to see if there are savings to be made. We have had good successes with the diary (now making a small profit) and the magazine costs remain on a level despite the fact we now have professional help with the production these days. One last plea is again for all members to check their standing orders if they use this method of payment. You would be amazed how many members are still paying rates that were introduced many years ago and have still not amended the amount. In case anyone is unsure of the procedure with standing orders, it is the Account Holder that needs to instigate any changes. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my report and I would move its adoption.

Stuart Gain Chairman

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Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD visit

A Blind Summit puppeteer operates Sorrow, with Pamela Helen Stephen as Suzuki © Robert Piwko

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Madam Butterfly

Dancer Ayano Honda © Robert Piwko

The butterfly effect Words: Jane Shepperd Photographs: Robert Piwko On Saturday 23 November, 18 members of the society and their guests took their seats in the Dress Circle of the London Coliseum to watch the English National Opera’s revival of the late Anthony Minghella’s only opera: a production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. Minghella died at the age of 54 in 2008 after a distinguished career as a writer (Morse), songwriter and playwright, television director (Truly, Madly, Deeply) and film director. He spent five years deciding which opera to choose and how to adapt to the stage the skills gained from his direction of, among other films, Cold Mountain and The English Patient. He chose Madam Butterfly and made this universal tale of devotion in the face of deception and betrayal an exotic collaberation, with his Hong Kong-born wife Carolyn

Choa as Choreographer, Set Designer Michael Levine, Costume Designer Han Feng and Lightning Designer Peter Mumford. The production, steeped in the theatrical traditions of the Far East, was first seen at ENO in 2005 and this 2013 revival is directed by Sarah Tipple. The opera is the story of a 15-yearold Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, known as Madam Butterfly, and her arranged marriage to an American naval officer, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. Pinkerton leaves her soon after the wedding to seek a ‘genuine woman, borne there in God’s America’, but telling Butterfly he will return to Nagasaki in the spring when the robins nest. Pinkerton, a thoroughly unendearing character, abandons Butterfly in a hill-top house, prudently bought on a 999-year lease, with a

contract renewable monthly. Cio-Cio-San has converted to Christianity to marry her faithless groom and is renounced by her community. She is ‘Rashamen’: the derogatory term for the mistress of a westerner. Three lonely years pass while the penniless Butterfly and her loyal servant Suzuki wait on the hilltop overlooking the harbour for the return of Pinkerton. She rejects a Japanese suitor, declaring herself an American and a wife, and produces her trump card: the son she has borne Pinkerton. The child bears the temporary but haunting name of ‘Sorrow’ as Japanese custom dictates until his father returns to choose his permanent name. The sound of a canon announcing the arrival of Pinkerton’s ship begins a night of vigil for Butterfly, Sorrow and Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD visit

Suzuki, which ends at dawn when the American consul and Pinkerton’s new American wife, Kate, come to ask CioCio-San to give up the child to his father. Butterfly will give the child only to Pinkerton, who arrives to find her body – she has taken her own life with her father’s knife. Minghella won the 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Opera for this ‘glossily beautiful’ production, but the combined talents of the set, lighting and costume designers make it particularly visually rewarding. On an unraked stage, Michael Levine has built a glossy black block floor curving up to horizon, over which the most theatrical and dramatic entrances are made. Above this is a reflective black sloping ceiling and between the lacquered effect of the floor and the ceiling is framed an almost cinematic letterbox of white or a few lit colours for glorious silhouettes and moving tableaux. The Japanese principle of ‘Ma’ or empty space between two structural parts seems perfectly chosen. The downstage set consists of a series of black framed ‘paper’ screens, which slide in grooves to form the simple geometry of rooms and backings. Their delicacy echoes the fragility of Butterfly’s existence. From time to time the elegant economy of the imagery is interrupted by the whirling colours of the chorus, sometimes acid and startling, with metallic fans, silk ribbons, flowers or paper lanterns. One the simplest effects is that of strings of falling blossom, forming an irregular curtain across the stage as the backing to a duet. Sorrow, somewhere between two and three years old, is played by a child several years older in most productions. Here, however, the offspring of deception is a traditional Japanese Bunraku puppet, operated by three black-clad puppeteers working in sight but out of mind. Sorrow has a small face wizened and knowing, old before his time, and in the hands of the puppeteers of the Blind Summit Theatre, his every gesture, turn of the head and movement is so perfectly nuanced that I was convinced of his humanity. The blood pouring from Cio-Cio-San’s death wound is symbolised by yards of bloodred silk unspooling across the stage as the perfidious Pinkerton returns to witness the result of his treachery. It is 10

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a breathtaking image but my eye was inexorably drawn off to the side to the little puppet figure of Sorrow in his sailor suit, a tiny American flag in his hand. Not a dry eye in my seat.

The London Coliseum

Current home of English National Opera, the Coliseum, which opened in 1904, was designed by Frank Matcham, an innovative Victorian/Edwardian theatrical architect responsible for more than 200 British theatre and variety palaces between 1890 and 1915. An English Heritage plaque states: “His theatres are particularly notable for their exuberant exteriors – he was quite prepared to mix architectural styles from Tudor strapwork to rococo panels, military insignia to classical statuary. They also set new standards in providing good sightlines (he pioneered the use of steel cantilevers to support balconies) and high safety standards with the inclusion of fireproof construction and emergency lighting.” The Coliseum was designed as a Theatre of Varieties or Music Hall, the largest in London, for the impresario Oswald Stoll. ‘The People’s Palace of Entertainment’ was intended to be the largest and finest music hall of its age: its original slogan was ‘Pro Bono Publico’ – ‘for the public good’. During the Second World War it became a canteen for Air Raid Patrol workers, and Winston Churchill spoke from the stage. Post-war, it hosted American musicals until 1961, when it became a cinema for seven years. In 1968 it became home to Sadlers Wells Opera, which became English National Opera in 1974 and the building was purchased. The theatre has the widest proscenium arch in London at 55ft, 34ft high and with a stage width of 80ft. The stage was built with a triple revolve of three concentric rings, the largest 75ft across, and the theatre was one of the first to have electric lighting. The auditorium seats 2,558 and the acoustics in the balcony are said by the cognoscenti to be the finest in the house. To have been allowed an insight into the mechanics of the production and invited to stand on the stage of the Coliseum before experiencing a performance of such beauty made me profoundly grateful to the STLD and Peter Mumford for the opportunity.

London’s Coliseum recently revived its 2005 production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madam Butterfly through popular demand. “It is one of our crew’s favourite productions in our repertoire,” said the Coliseum’s Head of Lighting, Kevin Sleep. Both the original 2005 production and its revival were lit by renowned British Lighting Designer Peter Mumford. I caught up with him several weeks after the STLD’s visit during a whistle-stop return to London. So what, for him, is so special about this production? He explained: “I have worked on three productions of Madam Butterfly over the years, all enjoyable, but this one is very special as I had known its producer, Anthony Minghella, as a personal friend right back to when I first worked with the person who became his wife-to-be, Carolyn Choa, on some televised experimental dance pieces in the late Eighties.” [Choa is Associate Director and choreographed this production.] Madam Butterfly was Minghella’s opera debut and he turned to people he trusted to realise it creatively. “He had the ability to charm everyone, quite genuinely. He gave confidence to them and so got the best creative output back from them,” explained Mumford. In this production, the most striking feature of Michael Levine’s Japanese-inspired set is that the stage itself is a large, curved (or rather, faceted) mirror. There is also an overhead, flat, tilted space mirror that precludes the use of overhead lighting. The only lighting on stage from above is provided by eight VL1000A/S, four each, stage left and stage right, which are mounted on long vertical boom arms flown from the grid. Each are lowered into one of five height positions above the stage at various times throughout the show. In the Coliseum, they are flown by hand on double-balanced counterweights, while in the New York production it is done by précis hoists. “I am not someone who minds if there is a ceiling piece in the way; you just have to work around it,” said Mumford. He took the problem of having nowhere directly overhead to hang lights from and

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Madam Butterfly

Dina Kuzenetsova as Madam Butterfly, Alun Rhys-Jenkins as Goro and Pamela Helen Stephen as Suzuki © Robert Piwko

Mumford on Minghella, Madam and more Interview by: Peter Phillipson made it an advantage. In the New York MET’s version there are 10 moving lights as the stage is deeper. They help form the sculpture aspect of the design. The wing scenery consists of inferred doors and windows, which are packed with ballet booms supporting 146 Thomas PAR Cans, 55 ETC Source 4s, four ADB Warps and 11 Robert Juliat 1.2kW profiles, used both to provide a fixed four-colour wash of unsaturated secondary colours and as specials. They are used mainly to provide individual colours and are only really all in use together at the end of Act 1, a wedding scene, producing a ‘kind of white’ as a full-up finish, as Mumford explained. The location of the tilted overhead flat mirror, the main featured faceted

floor mirror and the tightly masked doors and windows makes the wouldbe cyclorama become a letter box projection screen, with startling effect. The flown Strand Iris backlighting of the projection screen is quite low off of the deck, in line with the bottom edge of the tilted flown mirror. Consequently, with this and the ground row backlight, the intensity of the light from the reduced area screen is high due to the advantage of the close proximity of the backlighting. The mirror has been made in three different ways over the years. “It was almost too reflective to be begin with,” said Mumford, “and actors had to wear special shoes initially so as not to spoil its surface.” There are seats where the audience see both the actors in person

and by reflection. The reflections in the main ground and flown mirrors are central to the crispness of the lighting. Normally when any surface is lit, even when it is painted matt black, it produces a certain amount of diffuse reflection, often an ellipse of light on the stage seen from all directions. Generally, this produces visual noise, which may or may not matter to a particular scene in a play. But with a mirror, it is possible to make the surface sing, brightly, when lit from one direction with respect to the audience, or look completely dark when lit from another angle. Here, the light from the side booms lights the actors directly, the rest being bounced off of the mirror into the opposite wing, making any Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Madam Butterfly

STLD visit

actor look bright against the dark mirrored surface. Then, secondary reflections from the costumes reflect, this time towards the audience in the mirror’s facets, creating a type of mirage with no visual clue as to how it is being achieved. The prominence of this specular reflectance leaves the observer with a tireless ‘otherness’ to the lighting. No wonder the audience believe the whole show is lit solely from the eight moving lights on show. There are only six Source 4s providing some cross-lighting from the front of house. In the past there were more but this has been cut down. There is no lighting from the pit and no other lighting on stage directly overhead. There are 12m of Howard Eaton M16 Battens on the top tread upstage of the floor mirror that catch the actors as they stand at the top of the mirror’s curve. There were plenty of other lanterns rigged. However, 150 out of the 350 that the venue owns were left unused and ready for other productions in the repertoire to save time. Only the VL100AS were hired (from PRG). The three 2,500W Kupo Xenon followspots used both internal and external frost to make them into long-throw beamlights, but more tightly controlled. What was pleasing was how this bold and simple arrangement was so effective with its interaction with mirrors, the screen and the hidden cross lighting. The stage looked like one giant floodlight optic. The attention to the focusing and re-focusing and programming of the rig between the many changeovers is meticulous. For example, the eight moving lights are often used to back light screens from upstage that are moved around the stage from scene to scene. The accuracy of the aim of the moving head, coupled with the absolute relative position of the screen being lit, is critical, else a member of the public in the stalls might just receive an eyeful of glare instead. The Coliseum’s Ian DuncanFrench keeps a good eye on the continuity of the focusing following the constant changeovers to other 12

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shows. “We have a great team and often the same person will be on the day of changeover and rig the same boom as last time,” he explained to STLD members during our visit. “Each person prides themselves in being accurate about the re-focusing. We make good focus notes, we take photos of moving light positions and sometimes use Focus Track and even draw sketches if need be.” They have 29 people in the lighting department: one head of lighting, one deputy, three lighting supervisors, one CAD supervisor, one stores and workshop supervisor, three senior technicians and 19 lighting technicians. “We often have three repertory shows on at once,” said Kevin. “The logistics to managing is key. A few months ago we also had to completely rewire our dimmer storage area, replacing all of the dimmers themselves and much of the containment of the cabling from there to the fly floor and the stage without letting the theatre becoming dark, even for a few days, by using 600–700 temporary channels of dimming.” After a trial of a few candidate products, ADB Eurodim Twin Techs were used. “One test we did was to dim a single MR16 right out without the need for any dummy load,” he added. It suits the venue to have its dimmers in one location instead of hanging local single dimmers on the bars with the lanterns themselves, which suits venues such as the National Theatre. During my interview with him, Mumford related how he had started out. He said: “I began not in lighting as such but I attended a theatre design course under Ralph Koltai at The Central School of Speech and Drama.” Initially, he was not focused on lighting but studied the entire genre of design. For example, he learnt how to design scenery and later experimented with theatre projection. He joined an experimental multimedia group, Moving Being, and later moved to Cardiff. “The projection was all live then, in the sense that you had to show moving film. My introduction to lighting was really to avoid it

washing out the projections, and soon I decided that if I designed lighting, I could avoid clashes with projection in the first place.” In the late Seventies he began collaborating with choreographers including Richard Alston, Ian Spink and Siobhan Davis. He also taught a course relating choreography to visual art at the London Contemporary School of Dance at The Place, an affectionate term for the studios in Dukes Road, London. He became lighting designer for Second Stride for 10 years, lighting many dance performances. In 1987, television beckoned and he lit and sometimes directed programmes specifically dedicated to dance – for example, Dancelines for BBC2 and Channel 4. He started TV directing regularly, including an adaption of Swan Lake, and he was Director of Photography for Francesca Zambello’s film The Little Prince. When lighting straight plays or dance, Muford explained: “I like actors to know where the lights are, like they know where the chairs and props are.” Recently he lit Ibsen’s Ghost, directed by Richard Ayre, at the Almeida Theatre in London. “Sometimes productions become so large that it is refreshing to actually just reach up and touch the lights in a small venue.” He has no quarms about modern technology. He thinks that MAC Auras are quite okay to light faces, but of course he likes Source 4s. He thinks that scrollers are very impractical in quiet rigs and will become a thing of the past. When asked what impact LEDs will have on colour filters, he said: “Sometimes I use plain white LEDs but with a filter – it is not a daft as it might sound. Colour 181, for example, a deep rich blue, is very hard to emulate with LED colour mixing. I think that blue filters will never die out.” It was a real pleasure talking to Peter and, like me, he shares the interest in crossovers between different lighting disciplines: something he is keen to explore while he is Chairman of the ALD.

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CUT. SHAPE. FOCUS. TUNE. ARRI presents two additions to the popular L-Series of LED Fresnels: the L7-TT is a tuneable tungsten model that is 20% brighter than the L7-C, while the active cooling option for all models reduces size and weight for location shoots, portable kits, events and studios. ARRI L-SERIES. TRULY CINEMATIC.

www.arri.com/qr/stld/l-series

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Event

David Morphy of Cirro Lite with the Dedo range

Humble fixture is the star of the show Words & photos: Bernie Davis BVE 2014 returned to East London’s ExCel. Although it is really a broadcast exhibition (the clue is in the name), a few lighting companies took up stands there and it was a good chance to catch up with old friends of the STLD. LCA’s Nick Shapley was showing the now-extended range of Cineo Lighting TruColor LED products, including a neat clip-on soft hood. These units are bright and seem to be very good colour rendition. Nearby, Rosco’s Tom Swartz was demonstrating the Rosco View’s clever method of actively controlling the light through windows. Tom is a longstanding member of the STLD from the now defunct STLD Canada. He is 14

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hoping to get back to the UK later in the year and would love to meet up with STLD members. AC ET were there selling, well, almost everything you could want! Their stock goes deep into every corner of lighting. It is always good to meet up with David Morphy of Cirro Lite, and of course they had a display of the evergrowing Dedo range of LED products and also the Celeb LED panels from Kino Flo. All very high-quality products, as you would expect. The Doughty stand seemed very busy, showing their vast range of lighting hardware. Doughty are a great little engineering company, and more

from them in the next issue. But for me, the product of the show was a humble fixture you could easily miss. The clever people at Photon Beard have taken a Blonde head and fitted it with a discharge source. As they pointed out, on many occasions you can end up with lines of expensive and beautifully engineered fresnels just used for bounce. Now it is fair to say that a blonde does not have the best of optics – they are simple and lightweight – but you know exactly what you are getting. These are a good cheap option for those utility lighting functions in the daylight colour range. I looked at it and thought ‘Has no one thought of that before?’

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BVE

Celeb LED panels from Kino Flow

The Doughty stand

Rosco’s Tom Swartz

BVE 2014 was held at the ExCel again

AC ET’s stand

The Photon Beard stand

LCA’s stand Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Information

LDs convene to discuss rates of pay Words: Bernie Davis I have been hearing rumblings about studio days getting longer and longer, and earlier in the year, an almost unique meeting took place where many of the bigger name TV lighting designers actually found a day when they could meet up to talk about the current state of things. The STLD took more than a passing interest in this, not least because many of those attending were STLD members. After a good email exchange, the meeting agenda was drawn up and the meeting convened over lunch, chaired by Chris Rigby (the meeting, not the lunch!). The heart of the discussion was based around an increasing trend in studio hours being longer than ever before. A shortage of studio space has meant productions need to fit into a day, and the old set-and-light-the-daybefore seems to be giving way to overnight rigs, followed by on-camera times the same morning. Panel shows and quizzes are often scheduled for three recordings in a day, with little tolerance for schedule-slip during the day. Consequently, the slightest delay just extends the day further, and, of course, lighting are always in first – and so are working the longest days. For many yearsm productions have been offered a fixed daily rate by lighting designers, but we are now hearing that other categories have all adopted hourly rates of pay, and on long days, we are beginning to be left behind. Cameramen, for instance, often charge rates of £450 to £550 per day, with overtime after 10 hours. Indeed, it is not just camera staff; we have also heard that floor managers have presented a rate card of £450 for a 10-hour day, with overtime after that. Sound seem to be more or less aligned to cameras, and directors have been meeting to discuss their problems that are similar to ours. Even lighting operators have stuck 16

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together to start charging a rate based on 10 hours, and so they can easily be earning more than the lighting designer who has remained on the old daily-rate scale if the day is a long one. While it is not right, or justifiable, to compare jobs and money earned, there are a couple of observations to be made. First, that on a 12-hour day a cameraman might well be getting £600 (£500, plus two hours at £50). Second, they might well be on site for a shorter time than the lighting team. And third, production seem to have accepted these rates because people spoke to each other and stuck together. And a fourth observation: not too many years back, the lighting director was seen as the most senior of the craft team and had the highest grade.

Bedtime versus overtime

The discussion went around different aspects of our working practices, and a variety of experiences were aired – travel days, for instance. Some productions seemed to think that a day spent travelling should be paid less than the daily rate – or not at all. Most people at the meeting felt there were deals to be made here, depending on how far and what the rest of the schedule had to offer. I note that the floor managers on their rate card offer a lower rate for ‘long-haul travel’, but personally I think that if a travel day stops me working on another show then it is a day’s work. Surprisingly, even the definition of a working day differed around the room. I always felt that on site was working hours, with local travel to and from site not usually counting. A notable proportion of those there did not include meals as part of the hourly count either, and so 11 hours counted as a 10-hour day (assuming they had a meal break) with overtime starting after that. Historically, this probably goes back to film style of working which then influenced electricians’

conditions in studios. The discussion took us on to what rate the overtime should be, and it was very apparent that no one in the room was trying to make more money out of this. The consensus was that the days were getting too long and that overtime costs might focus the minds of the schedulers. Indeed, my recent experience with long studio days was that no one was looking with glee at the extra money they would make. They just wanted to finish and get some sleep! The general feeling was that there should be graduated overtime, perhaps single time up to 12 hours and time-and-a-half after that. There was also quite a strong feeling that after 14 hours, people should really stop. These extra-long days also raise the question of the safety of those driving home after a very long day. Unless production provides hotels or taxis, they have no control over the actual driving time late at night. The truth is that it has to be the individuals’ responsibility to ensure that they get home safely, even if that means requesting a taxi. The recent closure of BBC TV Centre has meant that studio work has been moved out to Elstree, Maidstone, Pinewood and, of course, Salford. Some of these might well be nearer to where you live, but certainly not all of them.

A benefit, not a penalty

The bottom line was that extending the length of days enabled production to squeeze more into a studio day and so save costs, and we should make sure that enabling long days should be presented as a benefit to production and not a penalty. But at the same time, we need to look after our own interests and so need to make the conditions reasonable for both sides. We noted that daily rates varied from £450 per day upwards, and the general feeling was that the daily rate should be for a 10-hour day, with

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Rates of pay/Light Relief event

overtime at 1T up to 12 hours and 1.5T from 12 to 14 hours. Then it could possibly be as much as 3T after that. Don’t forget, the aim is not to punish production, more to focus minds on just how much of a problem such long days can be.

By Design Day 2014 – for giving, not forgetting

Collective conclusion

So what exactly was the purpose of this extraordinary meeting of lighting designers? Well, it was certainly a good lunch! And hearing other people’s experiences was useful and fascinating. But what will we do next? The collective intention was to present some kind of expression of intent for lighting designers to adopt an hourly working practice. I should point out now that the STLD is not in a position to take the discussion to the employers, but we are certainly there to encourage the discussion and to spread it beyond the small group that day. And, of course, a meeting like this cannot dictate to other working lighting designers what to charge, any more than they can dictate to production companies what the rates should be. But what it can do is open up channels of communication that can help dispel some of the false information spread by productions about how we individually work (‘LD XX works for this rate as a buy-out.’) Well there will always be deals that suit productions and lighting designers and of course no one wants to undermine that. Maybe there will be buy-outs to cover a collection of long and short days, and, of course, these are entirely reasonable and it will always be up to the individuals to agree these. Where this all goes from here we wait to see, but I am already hearing of LDs sticking out for rates and conditions along these lines, and generally successfully, too. Hopefully in the next few months we will hear more about the collective plan and its reception, and, of course, we will keep you informed. If you have any contributions to make to this discussion, do please contact us; we would love to hear about your experiences and views.

“We really can’t tell you how much this saved our home and family.” “For everybody who contributes to Behind the Scenes, thank you. You helped save my life.” “I can’t thank you all enough. Light Relief does lifechanging work, and my life has been changed by what you do.” Without the help of either Light Relief in the UK, or Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, these people – and many more – would have been in real financial difficulties as a result of illness or injury. A major fundraiser for both charities is By Design Day, being held this year on Thursday 24 April. You can make a personal donation, hold a collection at work or – if you are a lighting designer – you can support the day by giving a day’s royalties to one or both of these charities. To date, Light Relief has awarded more than £60,000 in grants to help lighting professionals and their families, while Behind the Scenes has issued almost $450,000 in grants to professionals working in all disciplines. And calls for our assistance are increasing on a daily basis. Without your support, our work would not be possible. Both organisations are registered charities, so contributions to Light Relief can be easily gift aided by UK taxpayers, making them worth even more. Donors who have been lucky enough to slip into the top tax bracket are also eligible for tax relief. Contributions to Behind the Scenes are tax deductible in the US. The exact amounts of all personal contributions will be kept confidential. So please, put Thursday 24 April 2013 in your diary and help us to help others. Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD visit

Charlie unwrapped Words: Bernie Davis Photos: Bernie Davis & Helen Maybanks The Theatre Royal

Pictured from right to left, Chief LX Steve McAndrew, Alan Jacobi, Bryan Raven and Mark Fox

Under the stage showing the massive hydraulic rams

Hydraulic control position

Set & Light | Spring 2014

Theatre visits always prove popular as STLD meetings, and when I found myself working at the Theatre Royal last year, I started talks on how we could set up a meeting there. I soon realised that the only way to do justice to all the points of interest at this iconic theatre was to make it an allday meeting. It probably would have been less stressful if the chosen date had not fallen during a Tube strike, but by the time we knew, we were already well down the organisation path, and a straw poll said that most members would be able to get there anyway – and I am pleased to say they all did! Our two hosts for the day were Steve McAndrew, Chief LX for the Theatre Royal, and Mark Fox, Advertising Manager and Marketing Co-ordinator for the Really Useful Group. Mark also acts as the theatre archivist and proved to be a good source of knowledge and information about this theatre and, in fact, any theatre we mentioned. After gathering for tea we went to the stage to see close up the set for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Steve started by giving us an outline of the rig and the stage structures. Before every performance, all the lighting and all the technology used in the show is tested, and for the matinee, that test meant we had to leave the stage at 11am. For a while we sat in the stalls and watched as some of the key elements of the scenery were operated – and Charlie depends on some complex machinery. At one point, two remotely-controlled trucks manoeuvred their way around the stage. The trucks are completely cable-free, relying on battery power for lighting and motion. The guidance looked to be similar to that used for robotic cameras in news studios, and on the back of the scenery you could see what looked like sections of white drainpipe that the trucks used to calculate their precise positions. One very impressive structure was used to lift a glass elevator over the stage. The elevator emerged on a lift, then rose up and out on the end of a hydraulic arm – the sort you see on the back of a truck for lifting loads on and off, but equipped with position sensors to give accurate position feedback for the automation controller. Storage space is clearly at a premium, and many larger set pieces have to be stored by flying them in the wings. We then split into two groups for a backstage tour. First of all, my group went under the stage to see the historic structures that have been used as stage lifts. In the past, as today, theatres competed to impress audiences with their effects, and the Theatre Royal installed four massive hydraulic rams to lift and angle the main stage lift. And don’t confuse hydraulic with the modern oil-driven pistons and electric motors – this was powered by the Thames! The London Hydraulic System was a 19th century method of power distribution delivering pressurised water from the Thames at about 800 pounds per square inch, which then powered

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Charllie and the Chocolate Factory

STLD members went under the stage to see the historic structures that have been used as stage lifts

factory equipment, lifts and, in this case, theatre equipment. Although electricity eventually proved more versatile and popular, the London Hydraulic System only closed in 1977. The Theatre Royal equipment is Grade 1 listed and has recently been renovated, although it now relies on pumped water rather than the Thames. To the rear of the sub-stage we could see a more recent electric lift, and downstage, the most recent addition. All this leaves very little space under the stage, yet somehow they had managed to squeeze in the hydraulic arm for the glass elevator with, genuinely, only a fraction of an inch to spare. Part of our route took us far backstage to a cross-over area just behind the stage to see a working paint frame, the only one left in London. A paint frame is a structure that allows a scenic artist to paint a cyclorama from a fixed height while the cloth is moved to allow access to different heights. Demand for this skill has slowly declined over the years, but we were lucky enough to see Gordon Aldred, scenic artist, at work. The other tour took us to the grid to see the extensive installation supplied by Unusual Rigging. Modern shows use heavy scenery – this is an unavoidable fact. The old ways of wood and canvas frames have given way to steel structures and heavy automation as audiences demand more spectacular productions. This was a main consideration in the planning of Charlie right from the start. The Theatre Royal is an old building with limited strength, and so Unusual Rigging were called in to enable the design to meet expectations. The weight of every flown structure had to be calculated and reviewed all through the design process so that the grid

Paint frame

Winch amid just some of the additional steel Set & Light | Spring 2014

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STLD visit

Pipe gantry with Oompa Loompas, photo by Helen Maybanks

could be made fit for purpose before the installation started. It was soon clear that the old counterbalance flying infrastructure would have to be stripped out as it was really designed for scenic cloths and not much else, and a whole new system had to be designed and installed. While automation for flying seems expensive, it actually presents a cost saving as it reduces the labour costs quite significantly – for instance, this show uses five technology crew for all the flying and movement, whereas The Phantom of the Opera has 15 fly-men alone and Miss Saigon had 45 stage crew. The fly bars are set at only three-inch spacing, enabling easy grouping of lines to take heavy sets, and the lines have to alternate sides of the stage for their counterbalance weights simply for the space. The total weight flown over the stage, including the winches, ended up as 46 tonnes, and as some of the lines are double-purchase, the total counterbalance weight comes to 60 tonnes, making a total weight on the grid of about 100 tonnes! The grid had to be strengthened by the addition of more than 100m of steelwork, and they also had to strengthen the head beams to resist the loads imposed by the new counterweight cradles, which are four times the capacity of the house flying system. The original flying system had a capacity of just 160kg per line, which would never be enough for this production, and the new system upped the capacity to 600kg. Five new winches were added to allow the lifting of up to 12 tonnes between them. 20

Set & Light | Spring 2014

The largest of the set pieces ended up being the pipe gantry, which weighed in at 4,500kg, rising to 6,000kg with cast on it. This is lifted by two double-purchase winches on eight 12mm steel wires, with all the loads transferred directly to the roof trusses rather than the grid. All of this grid renovation took place in a two-week pre-production period and used a bespoke lift on the stage to get all the steel work up. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is probably one of the heaviest and certainly one of the most ambitious shows ever to appear in the West End. Oscar-winning Sam Mendes, who directed the show, had stipulated that the stage noise level had to be as low as possible, and this meant that the choice of lighting equipment needed to meet this requirement was a little limited. Lighting Designer Paul Pyant and Associate Lighting Designer David Howe first received ground plans in November 2012 and quickly staked claims on the spaces they needed to define the space. Moving lights were essential but the noise limitations meant extensive use of Martin TW1s and VL1000s. The original design concept was that some LED units were added to provide colour, although when they realised just how good the MAC Auras were, they added a few more just for the general work. Scrollers were avoided to keep the noise down, so allowing for the essential projection – graphic design by Jon Driscoll. Projectors are fed from four MAC Pros and four Catalysts, with four more as backups. In March 2013 the show loaded in, and by May 2013, they

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Charllie and the Chocolate Factory

The stage during the load in, photo by Helen Maybanks

Douglas Hodge and members of the company, photo by Helen Maybanks

were in preview performances. During the production period they used two programmers for the Grand MA desks – one for the main lighting and the other for all the technology and smoke. And by technology, I do not mean moving lights, more like mechanical squirrels and other bespoke effects supplied by Howard Eaton. The show was eventually merged to one desk for the run. The extensive set electrics were also supplied by Howard Eaton. Another assistant Lighting Designer helped with coordinating the follow spots: three 4K Robert Juliat spots out front and two 1.2 Robert Juliat spots at the sides. There are also some ‘emergency standby’ follow spots in case the telephone box goes errant! Up to now, they haven’t been used, but it is always good to have a fall-back plan. Cueing is, of course, complex, with plenty of use of midi cues and time code. There is also a trigger they refer to as PTC, or ‘Pikey Time Code’ – a bleep emitted by the Glass Elevator that can trigger lighting. Lighting equipment was supplied by White Light, who seem to equip a significant proportion of all West End productions these days. I asked how the budgets worked for these shows as the initial outlay must be enormous, with returns only being generated in time. I gather that companies such as White Light effectively speculate on the shows, knowing that profits come later as long as the tickets keep selling – a process far removed from the TV way of hiring at daily rates, but the only way shows such as this could ever get off the ground.

The theatre has a fascinating history going right back to Charles II when, after the puritan rule of Cromwell when all the theatres were closed, Charles granted a Royal Charter to Thomas Killigrew – Groom of the Bed Chambers – to open two companies of players together with William Davenport, and to build them two theatres. These eventually became the Theatre Royal and Covent Garden, so giving them a monopoly on London Theatre in those days. I had always wondered why it was referred to as the Theatre Royal Drury Lane when the front is in Catherine Street and the main side is in Russell Street. Of course, the building has changed a lot in the years it has been there, and originally the theatre was built on a strip of land in Drury Lane, and was hemmed in by buildings in Catherine Street. It could only be approached through narrow alleys. In time, the buildings were bought up and they became the auditorium, but not before the theatre had to be closed due to the plague. It finally reopened, only to be destroyed by fire in 1672, after which it was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. Late 19th century and early 20th century theatres tried to attract audiences with ever more spectacular shows, from the strange to the monumentally ambitious. The Theatre Royal has witnessed specially trained flocks of sheep, a car crashing over cliffs (costing £700 alone!), and a production of Ben Hur complete with obligatory chariot race with 16 horses, a treadmill to allow the horses to run without leaving the stage, and even a moving cyclorama 35ft high that moved in the opposite direction to give an added sense of speed and movement. The Whip, staged in 1909, must have been quite a spectacle, with a representation of the 2000 Guineas with real horses, and even a train crash. In recent times, the Theatre Royal has hosted premiere productions of some of the biggest West End shows, including Miss Saigon, 42nd Street, Billy Elliot the Musical, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific and My Fair Lady. Soon after a reopening in 1812, an unusual event occurred where King George III and the Prince Regent both turned up to the same performance and the audience were treated to the spectacle of the king boxing the prince’s ears. To avoid future embarrassment, the theatre made the lower rotunda a no-go area to royalty and instead designated the theatre sides as King’s side and Prince’s side, which remains to this day. The theatre is also unusual in having two royal boxes, one with the royal crest and the other being the Prince of Wales box, so named after the Prince of Wales, who came to see Billy in 1974. And the verdict on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Well, I’ll be honest, I didn’t really expect to enjoy the show as it isn’t really my sort of thing. But in fact it was really good! The clever use of the projection and the fantastically inventive technology fits well with the history of this great theatre; the lighting was great, of course, and I found myself really drawn in to the show Our visit to the Theatre Royal was an informative and entertaining one and we must thank Steve McAndrew and Mark Fox for being charming hosts, and also Alan Jacobi of Unusual Rigging and Bryan Raven of White Light for generously paying for lunch. Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

Delhi telly Words & photos: Mike Baker

Pictured: Mike was sent a PowerPoint presentation by the design company Sconce India for for India TV’s 24/7 news programme, which included visualisations

Towards the end of October 2013 my phone trilled. It was a call from my friend and mentor: Alan Bermingham. “How’s your Hindi, Mike?” Although we do converse on Skype from time to time about this and that, language is not normally the topic. Besides, my language skills are worse than minimal, so why was he asking? Wind the clock back a few decades: Alan was a lecturer at BBC Wood Norton from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. In fact, it was he who was in charge of the lighting course when it was five weeks at Evesham followed by a three-month attachment to Television Centre. Having got that far after being interviewed by Derek Lightbody in an upstairs office at Shepherds Bush Green, it was down to Alan to nourish my growing interest in the art of creative lighting. After Wood Norton, Alan went on, via other postings, to become Head of Lighting at TSW, as well as making many 22

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working trips abroad – 40 in all – including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Aha! Now you see where we are coming from. Now more of a retired person than a working one, Alan was offering to pass the baton to me. He went on to explain that he had been approached by one Ajeet Khare of Canara Lighting for someone to help with one of his clients: India TV. The email actually said: “They are interested in hiring the services of a Lighting Director on urgent basis.” Baton accepted, CV despatched and a long list of questions prepared. Emails flew back and forth. By mid-November I knew the size of the studio (17m by 11m) the grid height (6m: scaff tubing matrix at one-metre intervals) and it was situated in New Delhi. A design company called Sconce India had designed and was building on site a set for a 24/7 news programme. It was to go live on 9 December. My immediate task was to come up

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India TV

with a workable lighting plan, rigging and focusing schedule, using the fixtures they currently had, to light a set I hadn’t seen in a studio I hadn’t visited and with people I hadn’t met. No pressure then. I telephoned India TV and spoke to Prakash (Senior Engineer) whose excellent English put me at ease and gave me most of the information I needed to start planning. For small lighting plans of this kind, I use Corel Draw. Pankul (the senior designer at Sconce) sent me a PowerPoint presentation, including visualisations and a floor plan. They reminded me of a project that Dave Evans and I had worked on in Abu Dhabi the previous year; the ‘look’ was very similar: a set almost entirely lit by LEDs. Prakash sent me an inventory of lamps, which were mostly fresnels made in India by Canara Lighting: 2Ks, 1Ks, 650s – the bread and butter of our craft. Had I been to India? No. This was likely to be a bit out of my comfort zone but everything was ‘sortable’, as I had found on previous foreign trips. I made an appointment to see the nurse at our health centre expecting to come back with a sore arm. She clicked away at her keyboard to check my health records. “Whereabouts in India?” “New Delhi,” I replied, having only just found out that it is in the north of the country. “Are you likely to be wading around in paddy fields?” she asked with a smile. Negative. “Well, you don’t actually need any extra jabs: you’re OK for that region.” Returning home with a spring in my step, it was back to the PC and more phone calls to India TV and Pankul at Sconce India. Pankul told me that on a previous job, he had not been happy with the spill light from excessive soft light, which had spoiled the look of the set. Perfect – that was what I wanted to hear. I have never been a great fan of soft light; a little goes a long way, sometimes literally! Although the studio had several Cool Lights of various size, I wanted to come up with a non-softlight solution. I planned neat and tightly barn-doored key, back and hard fill light for each of the three areas of the studio. I calculated that the existing lamps would provide enough light to give 500–600 lux at lit positions. I wanted to use one 2K to key the left-hand desk (with up to three presenters) and two 2Ks to key the right-hand desk (with up to five presenters/interviewees), using the desk angle as a takeover point. Each position would have an individual back light. A small sport desk in the corner would have two standing reporters. This would be lit by 1Ks and backlit by 650W lamps. Each of the main key lights would have a backup light alongside as this was to be a 24/7 operation. My one concern was that I could see some backlights were going to be on the steep side. I plotted a few Cool Lights as a belt-and-braces possibility, although I wanted to avoid using them if at all possible. Prakash described some aspects of the background that were down to him. A large Barco screen was to be the centre feature with additional smaller LED screens to be purchased locally. So the working colour temperature of the studio needs to be considered. The existing studio lamps are all at 3,000K. While the Barco screen can be set easily to anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000K, the LED screens bought in the Indian equivalent of Currys (Curries?) will be fixed at 6,000K or thereabouts. I think about this during a telephone conversation with Prakash and suggest a ‘solution’. The timescale (or budget) does not allow for a major purchase of daylight colour

temperature lamps. So what if we ‘half blue’ each tungsten source? I wanted the cameras (SD) to be working around It’s an LED takevoer: set and screens F2.8–F4 so that we would have some visual separation between presenter and background. I talk this through with Prakash saying that it is not an ideal solution as the lamps will all be running hotter than I would like and the half CTB filters will need replacing from time to time. But, by white balancing the cameras at around 4,600K, at least the LED screens will not look unacceptably blue. A gentle reminder from Pankul that there is also a requirement to be able to change the colour of the higher part of the (six-metre-high) set from time to time. “Would Camara’s own LED PAR lights be up to the job?” Prakash was keen to get an order in before I arrived. My concern was that the set – which went all the way up to the lighting grid – would have to be front lit, and reflections would be an issue. I checked out their spec on line and advised him accordingly. My other concerns that would affect the rig and focus times were: 1) How easy was it to rig and move lamps? 2) Did all lamps have barn doors? 3) Did they have A-frame ladders or some kind of hoist? 4) Pantographs or drop arms? 5) Working hours and manning levels 6) Rehearsal schedule Then there were the necessary contractual, travel and visa arrangements. Alan was able to advise me on the ‘what to do’ list, and very helpful that was. Once all the bureaucracy had been sorted, I had to move quickly. It was 21 November. My visa application was being processed by an organisation called VisaGenie, based, appropriately enough, in Southall. A letter of invitation had arrived from India, flight tickets were booked by myself ,and India TV was happy to pay a percentage of my fee upfront. All looking good. Finally, visa in my hand, e-tickets printed, lighting plot and filter requirements emailed, and accommodation and transport arranged, I was ready to go.

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

Pictured: D-Day minus 5 in Studio D (top); the A-frame ladders were kept busy (above left); set building was ongoing (above right)

D-Day minus 5

I travelled to Heathrow and took the overnight flight with Virgin Atlantic of some nine hours, which brought us into Indira Gandi airport at around midday local time. Local time, incidentally, is five-and-a-half hours in advance of GMT. I didn’t know that there were half hour time zones! Alan’s friend of many visits, Suri, met me and

Above: India TV headquarters in Noida

Set & Light | Spring 2014

accompanied me around the south of the city to Noida in Sector 82, where India TV is situated. It was an interesting journey through the chaotic traffic on roads that made the M25 look like an empty car park. There were families of four on one motor bike – without helmets – ducking and diving through incessant traffic jams; cattle grazing on the central reservation of dual carriageways; and cyclists and bullock carts coming towards us in the ‘fast’ lane the wrong way! Prakash welcomed me to the rather nice Broadcasting Centre that is India TV. He was aware of Western digestive systems being less resistant to local bugs and, when a glass of water was placed in front of me, he immediately put his hand over the top and requested bottled water for Mr Baker. Yes, we’re talking Delhi belly, and it was the one thing I certainly did not want on a short working trip! A short tour of the complex followed before seeing ‘my’ studio for the first time. Studio D was a veritable hive of activity: drilling, sawing, hammering, talking and shouting as the set was being built on site, right there, in front of me. There were workmen all over the place and I noted that none of the desks were in position (or as I soon find out, even built) I also find out that I wasn’t in possession of the final plans showing amended desk shapes and positions when I submitted my plot. No time for recriminations; we have to get cracking and

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India TV

Mr Shekar and his team of electricians lose no time in starting to rig. The ladders are out and the lamps are going up to positions as per my plot. The pantographs were not quite what I anticipated: I was expecting them to be of the ‘pull-down’ balanced variety. Uhoh: they were of the wind-up/down variety ,which could only be done from grid height. This was not going to be a quick rig or focus. The rest of that day and much of the following day was spent getting the lamps into the right position and at the right height. Communication between myself and the team was enabled by Prakash himself, who was very much a fulcrum for all the people working there. The working day tended to start around 10am, with lunch around 3.30pm, and I was rarely back to the hotel for an evening meal before 9pm. The hotel was part of the Radisson Blu chain and was absolutely first class. On the first evening, as I relaxed at the dinner table, the waiter asked if I would like ice with my sparkling water and I had said ‘yes please’ before I suddenly remembered that ice and tap water are a no-no for us Westerners in India! Avoid tap water, ice and salads. There was another occasion later in the week when I almost brushed my teeth having run my toothbrush under the tap. I boiled the kettle and sterilised my brush! Was I being too pedantic? Possibly, but I survived the week without any tummy problems at all. Alan said that in over 20 visits to India he had only been troubled on about four occasions.

D-Day minus 3

I finally get down to focusing. I am aiming for about 400 lux at the desk positions, which I can only just achieve with the 2K Solara lamps with half CTB. I keep Prakash informed at all stages of the pluses and minuses of doing this and encourage him to plan in the longer term for a ‘daylight’ solution. There is still a huge amount of noise in the studio from the ongoing set building, which makes my work more difficult, but there’s nothing that can be done about it and I put it down to the Indian way of doing things. There is a small scene dock where more work is done but the bigger jobs are done in the sunshine, which is pretty well guaranteed. The LED PARS are due to arrive from the factory in Bangalore, a four-hour flight away.

Pictured: The James Jib being built (above); the scene builders had interesting ideas about electrical safety (inset)

D-Day minus 2

By now I had my most important lamps focused, although the height of the set forced me to look at alternative ways of getting some of the back lights at a good working height. I involved Pankul (the Designer) in my deliberations as I wanted to mount some small lamps on the set. More ladder work: the LED PARS were put in position and, surprise surprise, the reflections I feared were there for all to see. Put that on work in progress and stay with the main issues: well-lit people. I had hoped that with just one day to go, we would have ba full day rehearsing with the actual presenters in their positions to sort any remaining issues. But as the evening wore on, it was clear that that was not going to happen. The good news was that the set was now virtually finished, the noise levels had diminished and I was quietly confident that it was all going to work. Then the Jimmy Jib came in. I had always known that a Jib was going to be used but had not been around to discuss its position during planning. It was a pretty big one for a smallish studio, as can be seen in the picture above. The other three cameras squeezed into what was left of the studio and I metaphorically sat back to watch how the show would be shot. It was not going to be easy. I returned to my hotel knowing that the following day was going to be long and somewhat unpredictable. Little did I know how long!

D-Day minus 1

Above: Scenic workshop: the great outdoors

A lot of people, a lot of opinions and quite a few suits, but not nearly enough proper rehearsal that us ex-Beeb people are used to. Prakash was running on all cylinders as he dashed around co-ordinating the whole operation. One of the logistical nightmares of this otherwise welldesigned studio is that there is no quick way of getting up to the Production Gallery. Although the windows of the gallery can be seen from the studio floor, you had to have a pass to open at least one of the many doors, and the corridors and steps all conspired to make the journey take minutes on end! The gallery was quite workable once you got there but I was very disappointed to find that lighting were in a separate cubicle instead of being alongside the vision control operator. Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

India TV

Pictured: Studio D gallery (above left); the set was looking super, but would the people lighting come up to muster (top); well, at least we can see them (above right)

My visit to this area was quite brief as there always seemed to be higher priorities on the studio floor. I would have liked to look at monitor and camera line-up in more detail, as well as operational lighting within the gallery, but time did not allow. Having said that, I did manage to get all cameras looking at the same piece of card for a white balance for a time in an attempt to have some consistency between cameras. I also made a case to Prakash to get a lux/colour temperature meter to be used in the studio centre with the same objective. It had been a long day, almost 13 hours, and I finally sat down for my evening meal at about 11pm. I was looking forward to seeing the show go live the following morning but Prakash had warned me that most of the time the screen would be full of ‘ticker’ messages and ads scrolling this way and that. I was hoping for wide shots showing the set in its full glory.

D-Day

I had set my alarm to catch the opening of the show on the TV in my room but missed the first hour. No wide shots, lots of ads and scrolling stuff, and just a little bit in the middle through which you could see the people. But that was what I was there for: the people lighting, wasn’t it? (Apparently they had shown the studio in all its glory at the beginning, while I was asleep.) This was not a work day for me as once the studio was live 26

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there was little I could do. I did visit the studio to say farewell and to thank all the people who had worked hard for me all week and tried to understand my Western ways of lighting. On return to the UK I wrote a short report on the week, which I submitted to Prakash, as I always do on trips of this kind. There have been some issues since my departure. Prakash sent me some screen grabs and asked me for suggestions, which I happily gave. Jimmy Jib shadows were, unsurprisingly, one of the problems. I discussed with Prankash the need for cameras and lighting to work together as a team to minimise issues such as this. That’s the one really good thing about the BBC way of working that has stuck with me: teamwork. A few weeks later, I contacted Pankul (Designer) to see if the studio was still looking as good as we had left it. He laughed and told me that the look had had great reviews in the Indian Press and my name had actually appeared in print in one paper! It had been a fascinating, if challenging, mission and there were times when I was maybe pushing the lighting envelope a bit far for local taste. Time will tell. I do still have a few months left on my visa should India TV want a bit more tweaking. Thanks are due to Ajeet of Canara Lighting, Prakash of India TV, Pankul and Roop of Sconce India, and Alan Bermingham and his friend Suri.

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Information

RTS awards

Win for Davey’s ‘never distracting’ design Words: Bernie Davis The Royal Television Society Craft and Design Awards 2012/2013, which were hosted by Brian Conley, took place on Monday 18 November 2013 at The Savoy, London. This year’s winner of the RTS Craft Award for Lighting (Multicamera) went to Dave Davey for Dancing on Ice. The judges said: “The winner’s beautiful use of colour enhances the action to create a magnificent spectacle. The lighting is both immersive and complementary. Never distracting or overwhelming, it brilliantly focuses the viewer’s attention on the action itself.” Dancing on Ice also went on to receive the award for Best Camerawork for Multicamera.

Also nominated were Gurdip Mahal & Ross Williams for The Voice and Chris Kempton for Comic Relief 2013, Funny for Money. Success in the Production Design – Entertainment & Non Drama went to Simon Kimmel for Sports Personality

of the Year 2012 (Unspun for BBC One). The judges said: “The winning design has an energetic set which effectively marries light and stylish design. Delivering a ‘good night out’ for the viewer, it deals well with the design constraints of the studio audience.” The other nominees in this category were Dominic Clasby & Stephen Bryce for Derren Brown: Apocalypse (Objective Productions for Channel 4) and BDA Set Design Team for BBC News (BBC Productions for BBC One). The STLD would like to congratulate all those nominated this year.

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Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Recollection

It’s a small world Words: Andrew Dixon

There are times in life when one realises just how many different bits of it fit together. I have lived with the image of TV Centre, as seen on the cutaway diagram displayed in the South Hall of TVC, for what seems like forever. I have been going to my local church for just as long and for most of that time with a good friend, now nearly 90 years old, called Ivan Poulton. Whenever you stood in front of the picture of the Centre, there in the bottom left-hand corner was written the name R. E. Poulton. I found out only a couple of months ago that ‘R.E.P.’ was Ivan’s father. Since then, Ivan has given me his own copy of the drawing (about 23in by 18in) and other booklets that have enabled me to link him, via his dad, to TVC. It seems that the drawing was probably commissioned in 1958 by Higgs and Hill, who built the Centre. (I used to cycle past the building site on my way from Earls Court to school in Wood Lane). I assume someone on their staff was a fan of Flight 28

Set & Light | Spring 2014

magazine, as it was Flight’s illustrators who specialised in such drawings. Their drawings were done by ‘Engineer Artists’, a term used by the doyen of such art, Max Millar (not Max Miller!). I don’t have another example of R.E.P’s cutaway drawings but in a book specially published by the Science Museum to celebrate 90 years of such work, there are examples which you might recognise. Edward Iliffe and Edmund Dangerfield saw the appeal of such drawings just after the safety bicycle was invented before the First World War, and the magazines Cycling and The Cyclist employed artists to portray mechanical developments. They were pre-eminent in the field of technical journalism after the formation of the publishing company Iliffe. Their later titles included The Autocar, Motor Boat & Yachting, Flight and The Aeroplane. A lot of Millar’s drawings appeared in children’s books. Maybe that’s why these pictures look so familiar. Didn’t Weetabix packets and the Eagle use such drawings, or is my memory playing tricks with me?

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TV Centre & R E Poulton

Pictured: R. E. Poulton’s cutaway diagram of Television Centre (opposite page); R.E. Poulton (Richard Edward Poulton, above); Ivan Poulton, his son now living in Ealing aged 89 (right)

Anyway, R.E.P. spent most of his working life alongside Millar at Iliffes. The merry band of young artists not only used engineering drawings as their basis for the illustrations, but would visit factories, crawling about halffinished engines and planes. They were encouraged to make models to help them understand the construction of the machines they were drawing. The 1950s and 1960s seem to have been the golden era for such art, as the artists were treated like VIPs when they visited factories. Pen drawings eventually gave way to coloured illustrations, and, presumably, computer-aided graphics have now taken over entirely. TV Centre will never again be as R. E. Poulton saw it back in the 1950s, but thanks to his artwork, those of us who worked there, can be reminded of some of the magic that was enshrined in that tailor-made building. Andrew Dixon joined the BBC in 1968 as a Direct Entry Engineer in Telecine (#26 on R.E.P’s drawing). Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Training

Spotlight on training Words: Graham Jaggers Photographs: Giles Penfound/tv-bay

A TV recording was made

Delegates from the TV industry, universities and students listened to guest speakers

Graham Jaggers

Set & Light | Spring 2014

The crew was made up of students from Kingston University

Pinewood Studios hosted the conference

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ITTP Conference

On 27 February this year Pinewood Studios hosted the inaugural conference of the Institute for Training in Television Production (ITTP). The aim of the conference was to bring together professionals from the TV industry and those involved with media training to hear their views, and improve communication between educators, employers and students. Delegates from the TV industry, universities and students listened and interacted with guest speakers and expert panellists. All share a common interest in TV training and how people subsequently find a role in the industry. The ITTP started from an article in TV Bay Magazine written by camera and lighting colleague Graham Reed. He lamented that, despite three years of expensive degree-level education, many new entrants to the TV industry seemed to lack the most basic practical skills and understanding. In the wake of this article, a number of experienced TV professionals also involved with training, got together with Graham to discuss his observations and examine what, if anything, might be going wrong and what might be needed. It seemed some employers were still having difficulty recruiting suitable staff despite a number of well-established bodies such as Creative Skillset and BKSTS, which accredit universities, and the availability of TV courses on a wide range of subjects. So the present system seems not to work as well as it should. We decided the first thing the fledgling ITTP should do was to create an opportunity for people involved in education to get together with people from the TV industry. The ballroom at Pinewood was chosen as the venue for this conference. To make this event possible, we obtained generous sponsorship from TV Bay Magazine, Avid, Sony IABM Training Academy, Procam and Film and TV Services. The founder ITTP members donated their skills for free. The conference day was divided into four main sessions. A panel of experts expressed their views before opening up the discussion with delegates. BBC Radio 4 World At One presenter Roz Morris expertly moderated each session. A TV recording was made and the crew were students from Kingston University. The main topics were: Skills the Employers Need; Training and the Future; Adding Professional Value; and The Value of Accreditation. Between each session delegates could network while enjoying a drink and a bite to eat. We were hoping to stimulate debate and we weren’t disappointed. Each session produced constructive and lively interaction between the panel and the delegates, including the students operating the cameras. During the breaks, I left the lighting desk and talked to undergraduates, university lecturers and industry professionals. There seemed to be differing views on what to expect from the current training climate. What follows is my personal summary, not an official view from the ITTP. It seemed to me that university lecturers regarded degree courses as broad-based training. They hoped to give their students ‘employability’, but accepted that many will not go on to work in the industry as there are so many graduates chasing so few jobs. They saw their task as one of encouraging intellectual development around the topic rather than providing specific vocational training. Some wished it were easier to establish links with the TV industry. Undergraduates enjoyed their time at university but

resented accumulating £9,000 a year of debt on courses that might not have a job at the end of it. Some wondered, for example, if they would have been better off trying to get straight into an equipment hire company to gain experience. Employers often looked beyond qualifications when selecting who to employ. Involvement with projects or demonstrating extra personal qualities helped to shortlist applicants. As much of the industry is freelance, getting a start often still means being recommended by someone already established. I feel we have to acknowledge that the seismic shift in the TV training landscape happened a long time ago. That fondlyremembered era when large TV organisations employed permanent staff, ran their own training schemes and paid people while they honed their skills on the job was before today’s graduates were born. There are some good courses out there and attempts to create more apprenticeships. It is up to us who have gained experience to find ways of passing it on and keep the standard world-class. The ITTP will continue its efforts to be a bridge between TV professionals and education providers. It is keen to develop as a professional body and can be found at www.ittp.co.uk and followed on Facebook and Twitter. Graham Jaggers is an experienced DoP and Lighting Director who has also taught at Ravensbourne and Kingston University.

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

Gary Barlow in Afghanistan Words & photos: Darren Fletcher

Pictured: Camp Bastion

Right from getting the first call from Jo Juson, the Production Manager at ITV, asking me to light something that was quite far away, quite dangerous and quite a challenge (no more information would be available to me until I signed the NDA), I thought this one was perfect for me, and after a few rearrangements, I decided to sign up for the mystery project. The paperwork was quickly dealt with and the second call from Jo lasted a little longer than the first, opening with: “We don’t have a lot of time to organise all this, but...” It then became apparent that I would to need complete and pass the following tasks in a time space of about two weeks: 1. Statement of health 2. ITV occupational health form 3. International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan media embed request form 4. Media ground rules form 5. Afghanistan visa 6. MOD Green Book: Working arrangements with media for use throughout the full spectrum of conflict 7. Full medical 8. Inoculations for polio, tetanus, diptheria, TB, hep A, typhoid 9. Blood test 10. Anti maleria tablets 11. Body armour fitting “Hello... .are you still there?” “I’m in!” I replied. I then needed to work on the purpose of the trip: to light a Gary Barlow concert in Camp Bastion for the troops. However, this wasn’t the usual quick drop into camp, perform and out – usually in daylight – as we all see in the news bulletins. This was to be a one-hour special, recorded outdoors at night, with Gary gathering a band together from the personnel on camp and featuring their stories. A recce was out of the question, so after a meeting with the executive producer and director to get a feel of what they were after, I had to rely on information from various members of the team that had been out there. I now realised that, while of course I had the full support for anything from production, I was essentially going to be a team of one – LD, Console Op, Electrician and Rigger all combined. The first essential question of how much power was available was answered (63A, three-phase) but the next question of how much kit I could take was a little more 32

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difficult to pin down. I was asked to spec the kit, cost it and, more importantly, quantify the size and weight of the equipment to be flown out. This ended up being eight large flight cases, two dimmer racks and a stand and grip dolly. The look we were after was an LE concert-style feel, but not so much of the smoke and beams. My initial thoughts went towards what some of the old concert party-style shows from military camps may have been like in years gone by, so it was definitely going to be a tungsten look overall, not too much colour. I tried to think of what might be available on the camps of those days and attempted to replicate it in some way. I decided on the festoon and a few coolie shades to set the look and then be more up to date with the rest of the rig. I picked a selection of ARRI 500/650/1K/2K fresnels for the keys, backlights and fills, and some Source 4 Junior 25/50 for specials. Add some floor pars to scatter about the stage, and this would be all my fixtures for the stage and audience lighting. For the stage backings and other set pieces, which was unspecified at this stage, I took with me a selection of Thomas Pixel Pars, Pulsar Chromaflood 200 TC and Chroma-Q Studio Force D12, V12. Dimming and hard power came from two Avolites Power Cubes, and control was a Jands Hog 500. I took out quite a large selection of stands and various grip gear to cope with most situations, especially as there was a weather cover back-up of an indoor location, which would not be seen unless we needed to use it (due to a sand storm, we nearly did). For possible interview situations I packed two Litepanel 1x1 Bi-Colours. After the unconventional equipment delivery, it was time to do a quick recce of the area that would be used to stage the concert. This was a little larger than had been explained to me back in the UK, but all was fine. As the arena space was created around me using shipping containers and various military vehicles, I claimed my two positions FOH that would be my main lighting positions. My two FOH stands were Mobil Tech ALPs kindly loaned from the camp’s own event stock, saving a lot of weight and bulk on our shipping. On completion of the FOH positions for my main keylights and specials, my attentions turned to the stage, which was made up of two tank transporters parked with great precision side by side. This is where I ratchet strapped stands to various parts of the vehicles to get my backlight and fill positions. The next day, as requested back in the UK, my cherry

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Gary Barlow

Coolie shades

The equipment is delivered

ARRI 650s in action

The crew

Transporters form the stage

A sand storm threatened to move the concert indoors Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

Gary Barlow

Rehearsal night

picker arrived. It had taken 50 minutes to be driven from its normal working location in one of the RAF maintenance hangers on the other side of the camp. This now allowed me the dual purpose of hanging my festoon strings and also helping our work party to hang the camouflage nets on the containers behind the stage and then attach the colours of the various regiments on camp. The coolie shades were then suspended from flag stands on stage, and floor pars placed along the front edge. I used the chromafloods and pixel pars to give the backings some colour, colder colours working best against the warm stage look. Two Husky patrol vehicles were then parked either side of the stage. This is where the Studio Force LED units came in useful; I attached these to my main stands in front of the stage and combined the two different colour-temperatures together, which worked well on the sand colour of the vehicles. It was then back into the cherry picker as the light fell to do a first focus, ready for rehearsals. Rehearsals went well and I got a few looks programmed into the desk. A few rig tweaks later and we were ready for the first of two recordings the next night. Security was extremely important. When troops are in a more social setting they are quite vulnerable, so guardian angels are put in place to keep watch of the whole site, giving the troops a welcome opportunity to enjoy the concert. Even so, all military personnel on camp are armed at all times, making it a more unusual audience than normal. We were told we now had 360-degree sniper support and could start the concert. Unfortunately, we were only two numbers in when there was a security alert and we all had to return to our tents. This left us with one more chance to get the concert recorded the following evening. Thankfully, the following evening went without incident and the troops enjoyed a most memorable concert from Gary and, of course, their own fellow personnel, causing many a tear and thoughts of home. All in all, a very memorable and interesting job, with many challenges along the way. I must thank all the people involved in our safety and welfare during our visit to Camp Bastion, and especially the British Forces who continue to live and work out there. 34

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In memorium

Kevin Fitz-Simons

Saying goodbye to ‘one of the good guys’ A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd deeply regrets to inform the industry that beloved colleague Kevin Fitz-Simons passed away peacefully at home in the early hours of Tuesday 31 December 2013, aged 53. As Northern Lighting Sales Manager for AC-ET’s Leeds office, Kevin held an important senior role in the company. He was an extremely well-liked and respected colleague, and a larger-than-life character. Kevin was also very well known in the industry, with a diverse career spanning over 30 years. During this time, he built an incredible number of customer relationships and friendships. After leaving St Francis Xavier’s College, Liverpool, in 1978, it was while Kevin was studying for a BSc in chemistry at the University of Newcastle that he caught the ‘theatre bug’. This led to his decision to leave after two years to pursue a career in his new-found passion. Kevin began his industry career in 1980, working as assistant electrician at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre. He was subsequently promoted to Chief Electrician from 1982 to 1985. This varied role saw him designing shows and liaising with incoming companies and lighting designers. For the next two years, Kevin decided to test his production skills as a freelancer, touring the world in several assistant lighting designer/production electrician roles for various international shows, followed by a spell working in the West End. From 1987 to 1989 he worked with the Tyne Wear Theatre Company (at the Newcastle Playhouse & the Tyne Theatre), the National Youth Theatre of GB, Edinburgh International Festival and the Northern Ballet Theatre. Kevin then took up the prestigious position of Chief Electrician/Head of Lighting for the English Shakespeare Company, followed by Opera North, touring one side of the world to the other over the next six years. From 1994 to 1999, Kevin returned to education to study for an NVQ at Edge Hill University College. He then used his considerable industry experience to become a lecturer in stage management at LAMDA and teach a theatre studies, lighting & production management degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. At the same time, he undertook production roles for various tours, shows and venues, including the West End and Liverpool Playhouse. Kevin then spent three years working as Operations Manager at Playlight Hire in Manchester. In October 2002 he joined A.C. Entertainment Technologies’ Leeds office as Northern Sales Executive. Kevin became Office Manager in June 2009 and was then promoted again in November 2010 to Northern Lighting Sales Manager – a role he held until his passing. Kevin played a pivotal role in the growth, development and management of the A.C. North sales office over the years and was a true team player with those colleagues and customers who had the pleasure of working with him. A loving husband and father, in his spare time Kevin played trombone – ‘very badly’, to quote the humble gent

himself – for his local brass band, the St John’s Mossley Band. Jonathan Walters, UK Sales Director of AC-ET and founder of the company’s Leeds office, comments: “On behalf of everyone at AC-ET, we would like to express our deep sorrow at the passing of our beloved colleague. We are all in a state of shock and devastated by Kevin’s passing. He was a great friend and colleague, well loved by everyone, and will be sorely missed. During his long career in our industry, he made many good friends along the way. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family at this very difficult time. “On behalf of Kevin’s family, we would like to thank the many industry colleagues who have left kind messages for him. As many of you have commented, the world has lost one of the good guys.” David Leggett, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of AC-ET, comments: “I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Kevin’s family. I had the pleasure of working with him as a colleague over the last 11 years or so. He was a true gentleman, with a lovely temperament, and a largerthan-life personality. Kevin was massively respected and loved by everyone at AC-ET and assisted many of our current Northern sales office staff with their career development. He will be sorely missed.” Kevin is survived by his wife, Jean, and his two daughters, Shona and Kirsty. His family can be very proud of him: the incredible number of condolence messages received for him from so many of his industry colleagues and friends are a true measure of the lasting impact he made during his successful career. Kevin’s funeral service was held on 20 January at St John’s Church, Vicarage Drive, Dukinfield, Cheshire. It was attended by many of his former industry colleagues, suppliers and friends. Set & Light | Spring 2014

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In memorium

An affectionate farewell to Bill Lee I was recently afforded the doubtful privilege of saying ‘a few words’ at Bill’s funeral. Doubtful only because one discovers all the gaps in the history of a man you thought you knew well. And it’s hardly appropriate to make stuff up – well, not much anyway. Here I am, lumbered again. First up, Bill was quite the youngest old man I’ve ever known. Every new innovation fascinated and never daunted him. New processes, equipment, computer developments and digital photography were embraced, understood and used by Bill. In recent years, having moved to Tankerton, his interest in still photography was re-energised. His innovative pictures may have started with a bit of flaking paint on a boat in Whitstable Harbour, plus a hazy sun, a bit of de-focus, a dollop of Photoshop and lots of imagination. The local photographic club soon learned about Bill’s approach to portraiture and what could be achieved with a couple of Dado lights in the right place. But I’ve started at the wrong end. Bill began his working life at 16 as a clapper loader at the then Sound City Studios, Shepperton, this humble start being interrupted by the beginning of the war. In 1938, influenced by this threat, he joined the RAF and, after training as an electrician, found himself in Canada training aircrew. Demobbed in 1947, Bill decided to try his luck again at Shepperton and, with the aid of his pre-war contacts, was once again employed as a clapper loader. In 1950, now married, Bill emigrated to Canada and back into the aircraft industry. Unfortunately, his wife was unhappy there, so they returned to the UK, where he started a photographic business. At this point my detective work has failed: quite how Bill developed over the next few years until the young sprog John Watt came across him at AR (Associated Reddifusion), I can only guess. The guess is that his electrical and photographic knowledge, plus film 36

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experience, got him through the door of the fledgling AR. As I can testify, the commercial companies had to recruit, some would say gamble, on people from outside since the only experienced crews, directors, etc, were within the hallowed walls of the BBC (and they weren’t moving as commercial TV was considered a bit dodgy and might never catch on – maybe they were right!). If Bill was part of this ragbag of disparate individuals, he was in good company. Now I can be a little more sure of my ground as, when I moved from racks to lighting in 1960, the only forum for lighting people was at the meetings run by Strand Electric, as it then was, in their demonstration theatre in Covent Garden. There they provided a convivial atmosphere, lubricated by the odd glass. I sat at the back not daring to join in discussions by the luminaries of the day: Bentham, Bob Gray, Bert (Barnacle) Wilkins, a posse from the Beeb and, of course, Bill, who was by now head of lighting for AR, London’s first commercial station. So this was my first meeting with a special man who was to become a good friend and a mentor, too. Perhaps the real pioneering days were coming to an end for Bill and the whole team at AR, where directors, designers, makeup and wardrobe were learning to ‘do television’ almost as they went along. Bill found himself teaching the team how to cope with those cumbersome, erratic and temperamental cameras. Everything was live, of course – all adrenalin and gaffer tape, plus the ability to guess which chassis to thump if the line scan ran out of sync. Strictly would pay good money for such an effect today. From the beginning, Bill strove for good photographic pictures, helping to tell the story, moulding the light to create the illusion and magic of performance by the best actors of the day. He effortlessly changed hats to provide the pizzazz needed for entertainment shows, or the clean,

unobtrusive lighting needs of magazine or documentary-style programmes. ‘The News’ was from ITN at 10pm, more than enough! Just when we all thought we had it cracked, by the late Sixties the powers-that-be decided to introduce colour into our lives. They might have reconsidered if they knew the electricity bills they were running into. Bill was dispatched, along with other departmental heads, to America to see how they did it. They ‘did it’ on 525 lines NTSC (never twice the same colour). I remember an American exec telling us to learn by their mistakes and then go home and make original mistakes of our own. My guess is that Bill made fewer than the rest of us as, in 1966, AR sold a series of spectaculars to America as a summer replacement for the smash Red Skelton Show, billed as Britain’s first colour show and shot in the newly rebuilt Wembley Studio 5. (See Martin Kempton’s amazing website at www.martinkempton.com for the real technical stuff.) Suffice to say, the show was set and struck weekly to accommodate other productions and was shot both in colour and monochrome simultaneously on two sets of cameras at levels of around 4500 lux (give or take 500 foot candles in English). Featured were The Everley Brothers, Dusty Springfield, 12 elephants, 12 lions, six tigers, five leopards, two pumas, jugglers, clowns and a highwire act: eat your heart out Britain’s Got Talent. Among this chaos, Bill produced some stunning pictures. His team lit such pioneering shows as Double Your Money, Take Your Pick, Opportunity Knocks and Ready Steady Go. He lit a memorable Midsummer Night’s Dream again for America, again in simultaneous colour and monochrome. In 1968 the then IBA threw all the balls in the air for the first time and reallocated the commercial licences. AR bit the dust. Now Bill found

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Bill Lee

Pictured: Bill Lee (top); funeral flowers (above)

himself at Teddington for the new Thames Television – at least it was closer to home in Weybridge. With the much-improved technology, Bill could really indulge his creativity. His talents in portraiture were second to none; one felt perhaps those jokes about Rembrandts were not so far from the truth watching a stream of dramas from those studios down by the river. His pallet may have been limited, his brushes a little broad, but by God he had a go. His series, Edward & Mrs. Simpson, comes to mind as one of the first classic drama series to have us glued to our seats. In the mid-Seventies Bill joined a steering committee to form a professional lighting association along with the late John Treays and others. Remarkably, the first open meeting was attended by 93 people. Interestingly, the subject discussed and chaired by Bill was ‘Should writers have a visual imagination?’ – heady stuff. This first gathering led to the formation of the STLD, and the rest is history! He was chairman from 1980 to 1982. Relationships with lighting designers abroad were stronger than today, and Bill’s links with Scandinavia and Holland particularly so. He was invited by Danish Radio to light a Strindberg play and to stay on to run workshops demonstrating his techniques more widely. More recently, Bill enjoyed teaching at Ravensbourne College, as always anxious to unselfishly share his knowledge and thoughts. For many years, Bill served on the National Illumination Committee, a body which spawned Showlight, now a respected four-yearly international conference. So perhaps from this incomplete series of ‘snapshots’ you will see that many lighting designers owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Lee, who showed us how to make good pictures even on a bad day. I already miss his lively mind and inspirational ‘batterycharging’ conversation.

Letter

SIR: Some may remember my name – I was a BBC studio Lighting Director, retiring in 1985. I wanted to say how much I admire the lighting on ‘Strictly’. The effects, with searchlights and floor painting with light, are truly amazing. The lighting element on this production makes a tremendous contribution to the success of the programme. I suppose working with much more sensitive cameras than we had allows these effects to punch through so effectively. ‘Monty’ Moncrieff, who regularly lit ‘The Black and White Minstrel Show’, running for nearly 20 years from the early Sixties, pioneered the idea of using the floor as part of the lighting design. I remember watching one production of ‘Minstrels’ from home where Monty produced a chessboard pattern on the floor using Pattern 23 profile spots. It was most effective, with dancers dressed as chess pieces. It took quite a lot of courage to do this in what, if I remember correctly, was a live show. Congratulations to the ‘Strictly’ LD [Mark Kenyon], who has managed to take these early ideas to such successful results. Yours, John Summers submitted via the STLD website

John Watt Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Lighting

‘And the Oscar goes to...’ Words: Bill Klages

Pictured: The Motion Picture Research Council is credited with the development of the small studio crane (by Houston-Fearless)

In the 26 July issue of TV Technology, the article ‘LEDs and the colour rendering issue’ mentioned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (‘the Academy’) and its current project investigating solid-state lighting technologies for motion picture production. Perhaps in the optimistic hope that there may be other useful solid-state light sources in the future, the phrase ‘which includes LED emitters’ is tagged on to the Academy’s description of its field of inquiry. To my knowledge, LEDs represent the only solid-state lighting technology at this time. At any rate, the current published results of the Academy are worth further examination, particularly as they apply to broadcast production.

other advances, the Motion Picture Research Council is credited with the development of the small studio crane, a mainstay of early network-television production (see picture, above). The current organisation, The Science and Technology Council (‘the Council’), revives this tradition and is under the auspices of the Academy. In the Council’s words: “The primary purpose of this investigation is to provide the industry with data needed to properly evaluate the impact of using SSL (solid-state lighting), as well as to provide a framework for the evaluation of future light-emitting technologies as they are developed.” This is a very ambitious project.

The Council

The work of the Council is quite unique. To access a portion of this very comprehensive review of colour reproduction, direct your browser to the Academy’s website and the introductory page for the Solid-State Lighting Project: http://www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/ssl Notice on this page the links to ‘Symposium Videos’. This group of seven short talks is narrated by Jon Erland, a renowned motion picture visual-effects technologist. Starting with the ‘Science of Colour’, Jon, in a wonderfully entertaining manner and with formidable authority, covers the entire scientific field

Since the 1920s, various motion picture industry-supported research groups have been organised to address specific technical issues in the industry. The sponsorship of these efforts shifted back and forth between organisations that not only included the Academy, but also the Association of Motion Picture Producers, The Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers, and the American Society of Cinematographers. Interestingly, one such group from the past was called the Motion Picture Research Council. Among its 38

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The Academy reports

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A View from Across the Pond

of colour and illumination and how it applies to camera reproduction. I suggest that the reader watches all the talks as they illustrate the very thorough manner in which the Council approached this subject. There is a great deal of information about the complexities of dealing with light sources whose colour spectrum is discontinuous.

Macbeth Colour Chart

To illustrate the colour differences between light sources, the Council’s report makes use of the Macbeth Colour Chart to evaluate the colour rendition of the various sources. The commercial lighting industry is fixated on the Colour Rendering Index (CRI). However, as I have previously mentioned, a better scale has been proposed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly the Bureau of Standards). I have reproduced the three colour charts for you to make a subjective comparison (pictured right, bearing in mind that the reliability of printing this reproduction is probably uncertain). However, we can still make the judgment that there is a great similarity between the Macbeth and Colour Quality Scale colours, as well as a great disparity between both of these and the eight de-saturated colours commonly applied to formulate the Colour Rendering Index of a source. To a scientist, the CRI represents a very forgiving and inaccurate standard and the reliability of its value should be carefully considered. The Council’s study is in agreement with this statement.

Discontinuous light sources

As you look at the Council’s videos and the graphs illustrating the spectrum of the LED sources and fluorescents tested, they dramatically show the peaks and valleys of colours in the case of the LED, and the rather narrow spikes of high energy of a fluorescent lamp. The study is very adverse to the use of fluorescent sources, saying they would be impossible to correct. In fact, you might come to the surprising conclusion that the LED source is a more adaptable discontinuous source. This conclusion is rather alarming at this point in time due to the very extensive use of fluorescent sources in motion picture production (and television) for quite a number of years. The Council’s study does not offer any practical solution to solving the use of any discontinuous source other than redesign. It does offer the conclusion that no practical gels or filters exist with an inverse discontinuous spectrum that could be applied. Also, even if they existed, the loss of light would reduce the efficiency of the source to the point that any advantage that might have

existed is lost. The report does anticipate that the spectrum of LED sources for motion picture (and television) lighting will improve in time, which, in the case of LEDs, has proven to be true. Prepare for some disappointment as the study does not specifically identify the actual three LED fixtures tested, so you will not be able to contact your favourite supplier with a manufacturer’s model number.

Ultraviolet

In the Council’s very thorough treatise, one important fact was omitted. Of all the sources with discontinuous spectrum, the LED does not generate energy in the invisible ultra-violet part of the spectrum. Light sources such as metal halide, HMI, xenon and fluorescent light produce significant amounts of UV energy, which can do great damage in a short period of time to plastic gels, artworks, transparencies, etc. This is a very advantageous characteristic of LED sources.

Emperor’s new clothes

There is a group of camera test videos listed on the introductory page that can be loaded and viewed; these videos bring a sense of reality to the Academy’s study. Experts in the areas of makeup, costumes and props comment on the results of using the different illuminants. There are side-byside comparisons of each of the three LED sources against the identical scene as rendered and balanced for tungsten light. The tungsten light is assumed to be the ideal. This is where the plot thickens. Although the differences between the rendering of the subjects under the discontinuous spectrum of the LED sources and the standard are noticeable, even the experts seem to have difficulty in describing the degree of disparity. It is my opinion that under the broadcast environment – with all of its departures from the ideal inherent in the system from acquisition, transmission and, finally, display – these slight differences in colour reproduction are insignificant issues. As I have stated in the past, the more significant issues relative to the use of an LED source are instrument performance and initial investment. Bill Klages has won seven national Emmy Awards for TV lighting design and and has received 28 Emmy, Monitor and Ace awards and nominations. In 2012, he was inducted into the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame – the only Lighting Director to receive this honour. We would like to thank Bill for allowing us to reprint his column here and he invites readers to share your thoughts with him at billklages@roadrunner.com. For more of Bill’s articles, visit newklages.com Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Information

Clay Paky to sponsor Showlight 2017 Following a hugely successful Showlight in the Czech Republic last year, and with a little over three years to go to the next one, incoming Showlight Chairman John Allen has announced that Clay Paky, a world-level reference brand in the sector of professional lighting systems since 1976, is to be the main sponsor of Showlight 2017. Organised by lighting professionals for lighting professionals, Showlight exists to give people time to talk, discuss ideas and mix with some of the bestknown names in the lighting industry. It is only the support given by companies such as Clay Paky, by providing generous ‘seed’ money, that enables Showlight to take place. Clay Paky’s Marketing Director, Pio Nahum (pictured), said: “It is a big honour for us to bring Showlight to Italy. Our country has had a great influence in the development of performing arts and related technologies – you only have to think of how famous Italian theatre, opera and ballet are. For centuries, in every Italian town, even the smallest ones, there has been a theatre, and La Scala in Milan has always been an

Set & Light | Spring 2014

international icon of theatre and, over the centuries, has been the birthplace of many new stage technologies. Italy is also one of the countries where modern show-lighting was born and where many international manufacturers of innovative theatrical products are based. “I am sure that lighting designers will be enthusiastic to come to Italy for this event. All of us at Clay Paky will do everything we can to ensure delegates can enjoy proverbial Italian hospitality and be inspired by our history and culture.” John added: “We are delighted to welcome Clay Paky as main sponsor. The agreement, coming so early in the organisation of this quadrennial event, ensures that Showlight 2017 can continue our aims and ambitions to offer both delegates and exhibitors the highest quality programme of speakers and social networking opportunities.” A specific venue is still under consideration, but companies wishing to take an exhibition stand, or anyone wishing to register as delegate, can email info@showlight.org to be put on the mailing list for information as it becomes available.

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Showlight/KOI awards

The search is on to find this year’s Knights The Knight of Illumination Awards, organised by the STLD, ALD and Clay Paky, provide public recognition for the outstanding achievements of experts in lighting design, video & graphic display, and projection design who are working for UK productions across a range of professional areas. We are pleased to announce that submission for the 2014 awards is now open. There are some rule changes for 2014 that you should be aware of. Please read closely below before entering: RULES 1. Nominations must be for lighting or graphic display design for a TV show first broadcast in the UK between 1 August 2013 and 31 July 2014. 2. The judges will need the following: n The name of the programme n The category in which the

nomination should be judged n The name of the Lighting Designer or Director of Photography and, if possible, contact details n A clip of the programme for judging 3. The nominations can be made by ANYONE within the television industry. 4. Submit a show by filling in the details requested in the submission form. Nominations can ONLY be accepted if supported by a recording in any valid format, or a link to online content of the show showing the lighting or graphic display at a reasonable resolution. You will receive an email confirmation of your submission. Please note that short-listing will not be possible until after 31 July 2014 and so the web link must be valid at that time. 5. More than one show can be nominated, even those by the same

lighting or graphic display designer. If you want to nominate another show, go back to the submission area and fill in the data requested. ACTIONS REQUIRED BY 31 JULY 2014 n Submission by filling in the submission form n Submission of a recording in any valid format, or a link to online content showing lighting or graphic display at a reasonable resolution. If the recording is longer than 10 minutes, please indicate which section should be judged. Details of where to send the DVD or viable web link will be supplied. n Please note that short-listing will not be possible until after 31 July 2014 and so the web link must be valid at that time. The submission form can be found at http://knight-of-illumination.com/ categories/submission-television

Touch the light! What if you could reach out and touch the light? Craft it, colour it, move it – directly and without feeling like there’s a machine between you and your design...

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Sponsor news

Sponsors: don’t miss out on being featured here. Email your news to sponsornews@stld.org.uk for inclusion in the next issue of TV Lighting.

AC-ET AC-ET mourns Kevin Fitz-Simons

A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd deeply regrets to inform the industry that beloved colleague Kevin Fitz-Simons passed away peacefully at home in the early hours of Tuesday 31 December 2013, aged 53. As Northern Lighting Sales Manager for AC-ET’s Leeds office, Kevin held an important senior role in the company. He was an extremely well-liked and respected colleague, and a largerthan-life character. Kevin was also very well known in the industry, with a diverse career spanning over 30 years. During this time, he built an incredible number of customer relationships and friendships. Kevin’s funeral service was held on 20 January at St John’s Church, Vicarage Drive, Dukinfield, Cheshire. It was attended by many of his former industry colleagues, suppliers and friends. See page 35 for a full obituary.

AC-ET sponsors racing driver Jack Goff in 2014 Dunlop MSA BTCC season

A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd is proud to announce its continued sponsorship of promising young UK racing driver Jack Goff, who is a hotly-tipped contender in the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. Jack returns with RCIB Insurance Racing Squad to drive the Vauxhall Insignia for a second full season. AC-ET was delighted with Jack’s performance in his 2013 debut BTCC Championship last year. He achieved great pace over the season, including being second fastest for most of the race day at Silverstone and a well-earned second-place podium finish in the final round at Brands Hatch after a climactic battle for position with outgoing BTCC champion Gordon Shedden. Fittingly, the first race of the 2014 BTCC Championship – on Sunday 30 March – takes place at Brands Hatch, so Jack will be hoping for another positive outcome on the circuit that provided his best result last season. AC-ET has supported 22-year-old Jack while he competed in three successive Renault Clio Cup seasons, helping him to attain the goal of winning the championship in 2012.

Chroma-Q® launches new models

Chroma-Q® are pleased to announce the launch of two new models, available from A.C. Entertainment 42

Set & Light | Spring 2014

Technologies with immediate effect. Compact, energy-efficient, colour-changing LED house light: The new Chroma-Q Inspire Mini™ LED house light is a powerful and compact multi-purpose creative lighting tool that complements the award-winning Inspire™ fixture. The Inspire Mini continues to utilise some of the innovative core technologies found in the incredibly popular Chroma-Q Color Force range. The fixture has a wide 65degree beam angle and features a shorter housing, designed for venues with low ceilings or balconies. Rugged, cost-effective show intercom beltpack: With a reputation for innovative effects, control and data distribution accessories, we have turned our attention to the audio sector with the launch of the new Chroma-Q ShowCom™ – a compact, rugged, cost-effective show intercom beltpack. ShowCom combines professional-level, reliable production communications with operation that is simple enough for anyone to use, making it perfect for stage and theatre shows, education drama facilities and many other applications.

AMBERSPHERE A buzz around the B-EYE

2014 looks set to be the year of the B-EYE: the latest innovation from the Clay Paky stable of moving light fixtures. The design and effect possibilities of the K20 and its smaller sibling, the K10, are best seen when the lights are in action; even a thorough study of the written documentation doesn’t really seem to quite do them justice. Exclusive UK and ROI distributors Ambersphere Solutions were on hand to provide support and service at one of the B-EYE’s latest outings – the recordings of The Jonathan Ross Show for production company Hot Sauce and at The Graham Norton Show for So Television. All the fixtures for these recordings were supplied by Aurora Lighting Hire, which has a well-established reputation in television lighting and know exactly what works best on camera. Ambersphere Solutions provide an exclusive service of sales, distribution and technical support for Clay Paky products.

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Compiled by Emma Thorpe – sponsornews@stld.org.uk

Pictured: Anna Valley supplied LED and projection displays for the 60th anniversary of Sports Personality of the Year, including a 56m x 4.8m curved LED screen

ANNA VALLEY Splash!

A second series of the very popular ITV show Splash! returned in January 2014. This live Saturday-night show features Tom Daley and some rather nervous celebrities, bravely training to dive live in front of millions on each week’s show. Splash! comes direct from the Inspire Leisure Centre in Luton, where Production Designer Dominic Tolfts and Lighting Director Gurdip Mahal transform the pool into a spectacular aquatic entertainment environment. The set includes a main screen in Toshiba 6mm LED, plus multiple column towers of Duo12 12mm LED. Splash! is produced by Twofour Broadcast for ITV1 and is enjoying a seven-show series run.

Sports Personality of the Year

Anna Valley was selected by leading event and brand experience agency innovision to supply LED and projection displays for the 60th anniversary of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Working with innovision’s Technical and Project Directors, Jaie Genadt and Peter Germond, the show was held at the new First Direct Leeds Arena, with a capacity audience of over 11,000. Designed by Rudi Thackray, the stunning set was dominated by a 56m x 4.8m curved LED screen, which was positioned on the balcony level of the structure. A further 188 panels of Pixled F30 was used on the ground level to provide a dramatic visual backdrop to entrance, interview, orchestra and show branding areas. To finish off the high black gloss stage design, 500m of LED ribbon was encased into the surfaces to create feature lines on the striking scooped stage as well as the transparent sweeping staircase. All screens were controlled via a Christie Spider X20 and were fed images from Lighting Designer Gurdip Mahal and from the live outside broadcast Six audience relay screens, using Panasonic 21k and 12k projectors, made sure everyone in the arena got to see this landmark show Anna Valley used a variety of displays on this show, including Toshiba High Resolution 6mm LED, Lighthouse DuoLed 12mm LED, Pixled F30 LED, X-Flex and Panasonic 21k and 12k Projectors.

X Factor final top of ratings

The X Factor Series 10 reached its annual peak on 15 December with a top-of-the-ratings show for The X Factor Live Final 2013 at Wembley Arena. Set & Light | Spring 2014

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protection rating; dimming, dimensions, weight, power draw, lamp holder type, and mounting; and reflector type, lens type and scrim size. Download the app at https://itunes.apple.com/ us/app/photometrics/id733009338?mt=8

ARTISTIC LICENCE

Anna Valley was proud to continue to supply the AV elements of the various sets designed by Florian Wieder for the entire series, including LED walls, portals, creative LED and projection. The ITV1/2 series, including Auditions, Bootcamp, Live Studio Shows and Arena Finals, runs from August to December. Anna Valley’s team of AV technicians delivered complex additional set pieces, including arches and chandeliers for the acts designed and built on site, to order, overnight.

Sky News – news wall

Shooting Partners & Anna Valley were commissioned to procure, provide and install an impressive 8.4m by 4.2m Barco OVL 708 Projection cube wall with image manipulation equipment to Sky News. Sky News Jon Bennett’s vision was for a very large screen, close to 16:9 ratio and greater than 4K resolution, video wall. Christie’s X20 provides the high-resolution image manipulation. The X20 maps vision mixer and studio router live video and high-resolution graphics to the Barco canvas. The result has been very impressive both on screen and within the Sky newsroom.

ARRI ARRI offers lighting resource with new Photometrics App

The new ARRI Photometrics App for iPhone and iPad gives quick access to the properties and luminous outputs for ARRI’s renowned light fixtures. Created for lighting and cinematography professionals, this free application is now available from the iTunes store. Once downloaded, this valuable tool puts a wealth of information right at your fingertips, whenever you need it – whether on set or shooting in remote locations. Upon opening the application, users can begin selecting from one of five product categories: Daylight, Daylight MAX, Fluorescent, LED and Tungsten. Select the appropriate fixture, and information can be accessed regarding: luminous output; beam diameter; beam angle; flood, middle and spot photometrics; luminous distribution graph; camera exposure and aperture information; metric and imperial units; bulb selection and light properties including colour temperature, CRI and 44

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Wayne Howell, inventor of Art-Net and CEO of lighting control specialist Artistic Licence, is speaking publicly about various aspects of lighting control protocols this year. At the first engagement, Wayne joined a panel discussion on Controls Systems Security at the Smart Lighting Controls Europe one-day conference in London on 27 February. Wayne was enlisted in particular for his expertise in DMX, RDM and Ethernet control protocols. Wayne will also be giving a seminar at the popular PLASA Focus conference in Leeds this year. To be held on Tuesday 29 April at 11.30am, the talk will be aimed at the DMX-DALI crossover market, an increasingly relevant area as the historical boundaries between the entertainment and commercial sectors become less well defined. The seminar should prove invaluable for anyone seeking an introduction to DALI, or for more experienced users seeking advice on how to solve commonly encountered integration issues.

AURORA Aurora and Robbie Williams – for one night only!

Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd supplied full TV lighting facilities to Robbie Williams – One Night at the Palladium on 8 November for a very special performance of swing songs old and new. The evening was a one-off to introduce his new album, Swing Both Ways, which was released a week later. Following in the footsteps of his Swing When You’re Winning album, this covers a mix of classics and new songs. The audience were in for a treat on the night as Robbie was joined by none other than Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, plus Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets. Robbie also performed duets with Miss Piggy, Rufus Wainwright and Lily Allen. Nick Edwards, Managing Director of Aurora, said: “Lighting Director Oli Richards approached Aurora early on with an interesting concept. Oli had the vision of creating a staggered celling sculpture out of Martin MAC Auras. The

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Compiled by Emma Thorpe – sponsornews@stld.org.uk

Pictured: Visual content for Jessie J’s European tour ‘Alive’ was powered by Avolites Media’s industry-leading Ai infinity 8 Server with eight full HD outputs

Auras were required to be rigged on individual scaff drops to make sleek, smart vertical drops. Aurora worked closely with rigging experts Actus Industries to develop these bespoke custom pipes. Richards’ rig also featured Martin MAC Vipers and Clay Paky Sharpies. Aurora were also able to provide some new beautiful retro tungsten lights, including vintage Mole Richardson Two Lights and the new James Thomas Patt 2013s. Oli’s team included Moving Light Operators Theo Cox and Alex Pocock, Vision Supervisor Daryl Bidewell, Lighting Gaffer Seb Williams and Head Rigger Stephen ‘Nipper’ Fitch. For the lighting system, 13 of the house fly bars were used, seven of which to suspend MAC Auras on Aurora’s custom-made scaff drop arms with TV Spiggot attachment on the end. These tubes resulted in no visible rigging between the tube and the fixture. The rigging challenge was the short load-in time for lighting. Over 140 moving heads and strobes had to be rigged, powered and tested from the console in seven hours to leave a clear stage for the set to come in. The nature of the event meant all the equipment over stage was flown from the house fly bars, with offstage lamps suspended from trusses installed by Aurora. The custom-made Aurora drop arms all needed to be installed in perfect straight lines; this task was made trickier by the final seven fly bars in the venue only coming in to 17ft off the floor. All was complete with only seconds to spare, leaving the stage ready for the set and the rig ready for Cox to start programming. Cox says: “The kit was impeccable: I don’t think we had one piece of equipment fail during the entire period. There was a sense of satisfaction after the show from all of the lighting and vision team, knowing that we had done a particularly good job with this one!”

Stock update

Aurora are pleased to announce they have added a variety of new stock to their ever-expanding kit list.

Showtec Sunstrip Active DMX Battens are new to our rental stock. The everpopular fixture is a firm favorite in both TV and events. Available now fully flight cased. We have continued our obsession with all things Mole Richardson. We now stock 20 pieces of Mole Richardson ‘classic’ 2-light blinders. Complete with barn doors, these make fantastic set practicals. Available to hire with smart, black flag stands. James Thomas PATT 2013 has also been added to rental stock. The PATT 2013, which was a joint design project between UK Lighting Designer Tim Routledge and James Thomas Engineering, offers a retro eye-candy appeal with a modern twist.

AVOLITES Avolites Media is at the heart of Jessie J’s Alive tour

Avolites Media Ai Media Servers have been used to power the stunning visuals that punctuated British-born superstar Jessie J’s latest heart pumping European tour ‘Alive’. Designed by Show Designer Vince Foster, with visual content created by Paul Caslin, the widescreen-style set comprised three portrait-hung LED screens upstage, while the curvaceous set was visually sculpted using 600 horizontally positioned BARCO MiStrips. The content featured a mix of pre-recorded content and live camera feeds mixed by Vision Director Steven Price, all powered by Avolites Media’s industry-leading Ai infinity 8 Server with eight full HD outputs.

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Video specialists Creative Technology supplied the Avolites Media intelligent video mapping technology along with the LED screens, MiStrips and the technical team to run it. During the show, each piece of pre-recorded content was triggered in Ai by time-code. In addition, Foster could control the output level of the video and he could also bring up a second layer of content, such as block colour, for the transitions between songs. As well as the pre-recorded media content, four cameras provided ‘live’ camera feeds to two I-Mags either side of the stage. The system has been configured to take advantage of the Ai Server’s extremely low latency, which was of the upmost importance to Director Steve Price. The Ai server is designed to offer both pre-sequenced and live control, which enables the operator to seamlessly mix between a timecoded show and live performance – a fundamental part of this show. Jessie J will be touring the UK again from June 2014.

Avolites Titan masterclasses across the UK

Avolites are travelling across the UK to bring Titan Version 7 to you. Our masterclass dates will be continuously updated, so follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information. From foundation to advanced level, along with the whole product range, masterclasses cover features from workspaces, patching and groups, to controlling fixtures, palettes and playbacks, as well as timings and more. Current dates are as follows: Leeds: 26 & 27 March (Foundation and Advanced) Leighton Buzzard: 2 & 3 April (Foundation and Advanced) Norfolk TBC: 15 April (Foundation) Belfast/Dublin TBC: 8, 9 & 10 April (Foundation, Advanced, Advanced Plus) Edinburgh TBC: 14 & 15 May (Foundation and Advanced) To book on to any of these courses, email jocelyn.cervera@avolites.com

Clay Paky with Maroon 5

There’s little doubt that Maroon 5 are riding high at the moment. This is a band who radiate confidence and selfassured accomplishment in their live performances. Here in the UK and Europe in January to complete a date sheet interrupted by front man Adam Levine’s TV commitments to the US version of The Voice, another outfit might have opted for a pared-down version of their stage production for just a few shows. Not so for Maroon 5. With a stage set, laser show, video and lighting design by Eric Wade, a veteran of the likes of Usher, Mariah Carey and Eric Clapton, this was a show to blow away all of those January blues. There were Sharpies, Alpha Profile 1500s, Alpha Wash 1500s and Sharpy Washes on the show organised by a crew from Neg Earth

Northern Light invests in Clay Paky LED fixtures

NL Productions, the Edinburgh-based events arm of Northern Light Stage and Technical Services Ltd, has become a major stockist of Clay Paky fixtures in Scotland following a considerable investment with the manufacturer’s UK distributor, Ambersphere Solutions. NL Productions has purchased 30 of Clay Paky’s latest industry-leading luminaires, including A.LEDA WASH K10s, Sharpys, Sharpy Washes and Alpha Spot QWO 800s.

CLAY PAKY Clay Paky B-EYE: opinions and first-hand accounts at the debut

Only a few days after its official launch, everyone is already talking about it. The video of the Clay Paky demo show at Plasa in London clocked up over 10,000 views in the first 24 hours. Curiosity for the new B-EYE was huge, also thanks to the engaging advertising campaign that accompanied the launch with its ‘bee-concept’ look. After only one month, the B-EYE had already won prizes at Plasa and LDI: the two biggest world awards in our industry on both sides of the Atlantic. And its stage debut shortly followed. In January 2014, BEYEs were installed on the lighting rig at the Brit Awards Launch Show and, after that, they were used in The Jonathan Ross Show, broadcast in Britain by ITV. The new B-EYE has been specifically mentioned for many live events, television shows and corporate gatherings. The latest arrivals in the Clay Paky range will soon be thrilling audiences all over with their special effects. 46

Set & Light | Spring 2014

DOUGHTY Doughty Engineering supplies vital components to Great Hall at The Leys School, Cambridge The Great Hall is a stylish, professional-level theatre within

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Compiled by Emma Thorpe – sponsornews@stld.org.uk

Pictured: Doughty Engineering supplied vital electrical and rigging components for the Great Hall at The Leys School in Cambridge

the school grounds of one of England’s premier independent schools, The Leys in Cambridge. Designed by local architects Bland, Brown and Cole, with consultation from theatre consultants Charcoalblue, the Great Hall comprises a 337-seat theatre with retractable seating that transforms into a 600-seat assembly hall; a drama department incorporating three classrooms; a 120sq m drama studio with its own technical gantry, control room and backstage area; a 100sq m dance studio; social areas including a coffee bar and art gallery; and three science laboratories. Working alongside lighting specialist White Light, Doughty Engineering supplied vital electrical and rigging components including internally wired bars and all facility panels, with the team from White Light overseeing the integration of power distribution and data networking on the project. White Light’s Senior Project Manager Tony Coates specified 49 customised facility panels to be installed by M&E contractors Munro in every likely rigging location around the theatre, in order to maximise flexibility. Doughty manufactured the facility panels to incorporate purposemade, location-specific combinations of lighting and power outlets, plus tie-lines for audio, Ethernet, DMX, loudspeakers, video, intercom, cue lights, paging microphone and infra-red assisted hearing outlets. Doughty also manufactured 14 demountable, internally wired bars for installation above the theatre’s tension wire

grid and around the stage, and a curved IWB for the balcony to provide front-of-house rigging positions. An IWB overhead grid was also supplied by Doughty for the drama studio, along with a further 21 customised facility panels in anticipation of future expansion.

The changing face of Doughty Engineering: Company restructures as business goes from strength to strength

Doughty Engineering, the leading manufacturer of rigging, suspension and lifting equipment for the film, TV and theatre industry, has announced a restructuring of the company as the business continues to flourish year on year. Laurence Dyer, previously UK Sales Representative, is now Sales and Customer Services Manager, having inherited the title from Julian Chiverton. Julian remains Sales Director at Doughty but the change enables him to take a back seat in the main office and focus on growing the business, as well as building and maintaining customer relations both in the UK Set & Light | Spring 2014

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and overseas. Dan Phillips continues in his role as Project Sales Co-ordinator, while Mike Guglielmi, previously UK Sales, now heads up the export department, where Vickie Thake, Jenny Ambrose and Julie Eady have recently taken up new positions. Finally, Samantha Hawkins has joined the sales team to look after UK sales and administration following the retirement of long-standing staff member Christine Drinnan. Currently standing at 65 staff at its 32,000sq ft facility in Ringwood, and with more than 1,700 items in its product range, Chiverton said internal change was vital as the company continues to grow. Much of the company’s continuing success is attributed, according to Dyer, to Doughty’s growing reputation in the broadcast arena and the popularity of its products in TV studios.

ELP Over the festive season, ELP crews were celebrating Christmas with LD Bernie Davis on a number of the BBC’s landmark broadcasts, including the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College, Cambridge, the Midnight Mass Service and Christmas Day Service from Westminster Abbey. The Cambridge event made use of ELP’s 500, 650, 1K and 2K Arri fresnels, plus assorted Source Four profile spots, while both services from the Abbey also featured an assortment of fresnels and Source Fours, with the addition of over 300 ELP par cans. Darren and the team at ELP Manchester provided LD Joe Breslin with moving lights and generis for BBC Scotland’s Hogmanay show. Nineteen Clay Paky Sharpys and nine VL1000 TSDs provided the core visual effects. Celebrity diving show Splash! returned for a second series during January and February, with ELP supporting LD Gurdip Mahal once again. Similar to the pilot series, this two-month temporary installation into a swimming pool in Luton involved building a 22-metre, fully -nclosed, transparent platform bridge. It was made from ELP’s stock of super truss, hung and lifted into position using Lodestar one-ton motors. Weighing in at 2.5 tonnes, the bridge safely contained 20 moving lights, plus 20 Source Four profile spots. ELP’s vast stock of Sharpys were used as effect lighting. They provided texture and gobo patterns on the water, which were visible to cameras above and below the water line. From a show about celebrities diving, to a competition show about hair cutting, diverse productions come thick and fast for ELP. Hair is a new six-part TV series for BBC Three that showcases the skills of young British amateur hair stylists. Set in an empty warehouse in Stratford, LD Dave Evans worked with ELP Gaffer Greg Fitzgerald to transform the building into a competitive salon. ELP chroma battens, fresnels and redheads made up the lion’s share of the equipment list, along with a dozen 500W Springball soft 48

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lanterns. These unusual tungsten lighting sources provide 360-degree output and are lightweight and fast to assemble. ELP have been working with LD Chris Kempton on a series of comedy stand-up DVD shoots from the Hammersmith Apollo. Comedy celebrities such as Miranda Hart and Jack Whitehall were filmed. ELP equipment was able to complement the house rig with specific TV lighting. Moving lights such as Clay Paky Alpha Beams and Martin MAC 600s, plus additional follow spots and par cans, were brought in to elevate the lighting to TV levels. A remembrance tribute for Nelson Mandela took place at Westminster Hall soon after the great man’s passing. Bernie Davis was the LD and ELP provided crew, lighting, rigging and power distribution for this sombre occasion at which many senior-level government officials were in attendance, along with musicians, artists and figures from public life. ELP’s Manchester base has been busy providing a variety of dry hire and production services at Media City. Shows such as Mastermind, A Question of Sport, Hacker Time (CBBC) and The Slammer (CBBC) have all had ELP equipment supplied by the ELP Manchester team. LD Andy Stagles created a beamy new look for Mastermind using a wide variety of moving lights from ELP. The equipment list included VL1000s, Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, Alpha 700s and MAC 700 spots. In contrast, a predominantly generic rig containing 650s, 1Ks and 2Ks was supplied to LD Lee Allen for the CBBC production of Hacker Time. The Slammer, another CBBC show from Media City, took a wide selection of ELP kit, including Clay Paky Sharpys, Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, VL35 Wash, MAC 200 performance, MAC 301s and Sunstrips. Andy Stagles was the LD.

ETC ETC Source Four LED shines new spotlight on 1960s scandal with PRG

A new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in London has introduced audiences to two innovations: the story of Stephen Ward, who was at the centre of a political scandal in the 1960s, and a huge lighting rig that includes 65 ETC Source Four LED luminaires specially purchased by dealer PRG. Lighting Designer Peter Mumford decided he wanted his rig to be as dynamic as the tabloid-worthy musical and chose a large number of Source Four LED luminaires after seeing their versatility on King Kong in Melbourne The largest part of the ETC Eos-controlled rig for Stephen Ward is moving lights, says Mumford, but he used the Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires as his ‘generics’, providing cross wash and side lighting. The set is made up of a series of automated concentric

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curtains that, in combination with additional set pieces, work to create the many different locations required by the show. Because of the smooth, rapid changes from location to location, it was important for the lighting to be able to react quickly and quietly. PRG supplied all the lighting and control system for Stephen Ward. Jon Cadbury managed the lighting on the production for PRG from their office in Covent Garden, just a short walk from the theatre. Lighting and Video Operator Andrew Bruce was equally pleased with the way his ETC Eos desk interacted with the lighting, adding that Programmer Victoria Brennan was able to create a magic sheet that mimicked and tracked throughout the show. This enabled him to see a plan view of the rig, changing the lantern selection on the fly as necessary to help identify individual fixtures. Stephen Ward chronicles Ward’s rise and fall from grace in what became known as the Profumo affair. It was one of the biggest political scandals of the generation, leading to ministerial resignations and Ward’s criminal conviction and suicide, yet most of Britain has forgotten about it. With this musical, Lloyd Webber has brought the issue back to the public eye in an attempt to salvage Ward’s reputation and prove he was wrongly convicted.

Channel 10 News becomes first studio in Israel to use ETC Source Four LED

When the managers for the news studio at TV station Channel 10 in Jerusalem were looking for new lighting, they knew they would need something small but high powered for their relatively compact studio. They invited ETC’s Israelbased dealer Danor Theatre and Studio Systems to visit and discuss a range of different products. The managers were impressed by the white-balancing features on the Source Four LED Studio HD model, which makes it easier to balance the lighting against high-definition studio cameras. Even with the two presenters sitting next to one another, the colour temperature of the Source Four LEDs can be adjusted from 2,700K to 6,500K to perfectly complement their individual skin tones. The managers also appreciated that the fixtures didn’t require any external dimmers, and that they have such a long life – up to 50,000 hours – which all helps to reduce costs. The Source Four LED Studio HD comes in fixed- or

variable-focus zoom models, and a convenient soft-focus diffuser kit is also available. It is one of four arrays in the Source Four LED family, which also includes Lustr+, with a full colour spectrum; Tungsten for 3,000K warm whites; and Daylight for 5,600K cool whites.

Rick Fisher applauds ETC’s Source Four LED CYC

Multi-award-winning Lighting Designer Rick Fisher has singled out ETC’s new Source Four LED CYC adapters for special praise while working on a production of Howard Brenton’s Drawing the Line at Hampstead Theatre in London. He used six Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires alongside conventional Source Four® units and was amazed at how well their colour and intensity blended. The CYC adapter makes a lighting inventory even more flexible. Any Source Four LED can be transformed into a powerful tool to light cycloramas when its lens barrel is removed and a Source Four LED CYC adapter added. Typically, a cyc light can only be used for one purpose, so when a design doesn’t include a backdrop, the fixture goes unused. In contrast, if there is no cyclorama to light, the CYC adapter can be removed and the Source Four LED luminaire can be applied to other lighting tasks. Fisher’s design for Drawing the Line also uses two ETC Selador Desire D40 Ice luminaires and three Selador Desire D40 Fire units to bring extraordinary intensity to the performance. Ice adds a range of colour from the cool end of the spectrum, and Fire brings a warm wash of amber, orange and red.

GREEN HIPPO People on the move

Green Hippo has added to the team, while familiar faces have moved up in the very green Unit 307 at Parma House in London. Simon Harris, a familiar and loved face in the AV industry, has been with Green Hippo for over six year. Joining as part of the sales team in a company of six, Simon quickly took on the role of Head of Training, being at the forefront of world-class training. Teaching the award-winning software worldwide, Simon has gained an incredible reputation, inspiring AV individuals, technicians, students and enthusiasts alike with the skills to Set & Light | Spring 2014

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programme a show. In December, Simon (pictured top) took on his new role as User Experience Manager, bringing in new responsibilities. He is now the ‘point of call’, managing the interaction between users and the products and with his vast technical knowledge bridging the gap between end-users and development. Ryan Brown, who joined the company just over a year ago In December, Simon (pictured middle), making his debut at the 2012 PLASA show London, started as a product specialist, also working with support and testing. After quickly establishing himself as a confident and technical individual, his promotion to Product Manager has opened up a new direction for the Hippotizer range. Ryan now manages the production and development of all Hippotizer products and looks forward to the coming year. Our last but by no means least addition to the team is Emma Marlow In December, Simon (pictured bottom), who joins Green Hippo as General Manager, handling the day-today and long-term running of the business and also keeping the Hippos in check. Emma joins us after previously working in fast-growth IT, telecoms and consulting companies.

Hippotizer handles 80 universes at Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show

Over 80,000 fans became animated pixels at the Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show featuring Bruno Mars. Five outputs from four Hippo HD Genlock machines controlled the wireless audience LED ‘display’, plus 220 LED Ayrton MagicPanel™ 602s on the stage. PixMob technology made the audience participation possible, alternatively managed by the lighting desk and Hippotizer control. Hippotizer has proven itself time and again to be America’s favourite media serve and has been used at the last five consecutive Super Bowl Halftime Shows. New to the Hippotizer range this year are the compact 1U Rackoon with six layers of full 1080p HD playback and unrestricted output, and the 1U Chipmunk with two layers of HD on a single output with licence upgrades for full Hippotizer flexibility and control. TMB is the exclusive distributor for Hippotizer in the Americas. 50

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HAWTHORN Over the past six months, Hawthorn have added a lot of new toys to their range. These include the Glow-Up Strip 100: a quality, battery-operated wireless LED batten (IP65) fixture from Clay Paky. With great optics, a motorised zoom and Radio DMX, the Glow-Up Strip 100 allows for quick set-up in tricky situations and is ideal for use in temporary events and tours. The new versatile and spectacular Clay Paky A.LEDA BEYE K20 is a state-of-the-art LED wash-light: an amazing ‘beam-light’ and projector combined into one for stunning graphic effects. The SGM P-5 has taken the popular Palco 5 as its design base and transformed it into an IP65-rated fixture, suitable for outdoor use. This full coloured LED wash incorporates RGBW and tunable white for a very powerful flood. The Glux LED Screen BAtn series features carbon fibre construction for an ultra-light, thin and aerodynamic structure, as well as Glux angled edge structure for maximum 90-degree curved assembly The ETC Source Four lustre LED seven colour profiles maximises the superior mixing capabilities of the x7 Color System™ to offer the most flexible range of colour. From high-intensity whites to soft tints and supple, vibrant colours, the Source Four Lustr+ achieves theatre-quality colour rendering. You can smoothly transition from one colour to another on the fly, vary the feeling of a scene, or go bold with effects. And finally, the Alpha QWO 800 (HPE) spot and profile is another excellent tool from Clay Paky. An 800W light source that produces an intense sparkling light, it is small, with lightweight construction, impressive zoom range, excellent brightness, uniform beam, silent operation and low consumption.

HSL JLS exit on a high note with HSL

Hugely successful UK pop band JLS completed their final tour just before Christmas, complete with bold and vibrant lighting and visuals design by Dave Lee, and lighting equipment for the tour supplied by HSL to live producers Production North. The four members of JLS – JB Gill, Marvin Humes, Aston Merrygold and Ortisé Williams – are moving on to pursue solo careers and new projects five years after bursting on to the music scene as runners-up on the 2008 X-Factor series. Since then they have had numerous number-one hits, completed four major tours and sold over 10 million records worldwide. It was important to ensure that JLS fans had these final live appearances imprinted indelibly on their memories, so a real sense of spectacle and occasion was needed, and this was the starting aesthetic. Above the stage three trusses provided lighting positions, the front one of which was split into two sections and a

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‘lollipop’ truss – a 30ft run with a circle at the end – was positioned above the thrust and the star-shaped B-stage. This lollipop truss flew in and out at punctuative points of the show and was rigged with eight Martin MAC 2K Wash moving lights, six MAC Vipers, eight Atomic strobes and 12 truss toners – all for the thrust and star-stage positions. Beneath the star-stage, five 4-lite Moles were installed to up-light through the mesh grills on top. On the front truss were MAC 2K Washes and 4-cell Moles per side facing the audience. The three onstage trusses each measured 70ft long and were all constructed from HSL’s Thomas Low-Pro truss. Rigged across these was a mix of MAC Vipers, MAC 2K Washes, Atomic Strobes and 2-cell Moles. Ahead of the tour, four days of production rehearsals at LH2 facilitated some intense lighting programming sessions to get the 30 songs in the set programmed into the desk. This ensured that JLS had a colourful, lively and fun visual environment in which to celebrate the highs of their careers so far.

HSL passes grammar test

Blackburn, UK-based lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied lighting and a brand-new LED product to the highly acclaimed and much anticipated first full production tour by super-hot trip-hop trio London Grammar. On the tour, HSL supplied a new GoldPix 77 LED surface. This is a 500mm X 500mm panel populated with seven X seven warm-white LEDs with very narrow beam optics. It is incredibly light, robustly built and ideal for touring and making a high-visual impact. The tour’s stylish and off-beat visual design was created by Steve Bewley, who rose to the challenge of producing a scalable and flexible rig that would look good wherever they played. The heterogeneity of venues on the tour included some more unusual places and spaces, and all the kit also had to fit into one 26-tonne truck! Bewley, well known for his innovative work with Enter Shikari, Shikari Sound System & Dizzee Rascal, started with a 9m X 2m strip of GoldPix 77 upstage, which was sub flown just off floor level from the rear truss. Fourteen Clay Paky Sharpys and eight Sharpy Washes were the main moving lights and essential workhorses of the rig. In the full rig configuration, seven Sharpies were on the

back truss, with the rest on the floor to keep a clear-looking stage with clean straight beams of light. The most noticeable fixtures on the stage were 12 X JTE PATT 2013s, their distinctive, brushed aluminium, dish-like appurtenance adding a scenic dimension to the show. Bewley controlled all the lighting using a grandMA2 light – his desk of choice – and also ran video content for the LED stored on a grandMA VPU. Bewley worked alongside his crew of Tim Spillman and Andy Rowe, and the tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates and Ryan Hopkins.

JAMES THOMAS ENGINEERING Andy Walters leaves James Thomas Engineering

James Thomas Engineering has announced the imminent departure of its Sales Manager, Andy Walters, after a career spanning 21 years with the company. Walters, son of the company’s co-founder John Walters, has chosen to take up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join specialist UK model makers Amalgam. Walters’ passion for cars is legendary: he has collected model cars his entire life and was instrumental in establishing James Thomas Engineering as a sponsor of Jack Goff, the industry’s adopted racing driver and BTCC champion. “Amalgam is a very well-respected, highly-specialised UK Set & Light | Spring 2014

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manufacturer of scale model cars for top-end clients,” says Walters. “Hard though it will be to leave JTE, I am very excited by the prospect of new horizons that this move gives.” “Andy is an irreplaceable member of the JTE team, both in terms of his character and the unparalleled experience he brings to the company,” says Operations Director Paul Young. “As such, it will be difficult to fill his role, especially at such short notice. However, we all agree this was too good an opportunity for him to miss and he leaves with the blessing and good wishes of the team.” Walters’ duties will be shared among the James Thomas Engineering team in the short term. Enquiries should be directed to Paul Young while JTE search for a new Sales Director to head up its expanding team.

distribution store; local dry storage and a fast turnaround with electric hoists and lighting truss on site

MARTIN BY HARMAN HARMAN’s Martin LEDs enhance customer experience at iconic BMW World

As one of Munich’s most popular attractions, BMW World is a unique and extremely important showcase for the premium automaker. Whether visiting BMW World as a tourist or there to pick up a new car, BMW World offers an extra-ordinary brand experience to customers. Today, BMW World features an eye-catching HARMAN Martin colour illumination on the outside of the building – a dynamic lighting scheme that has now been extended indoors as a daylight solution. As one of the world’s great luxury automakers, the atmosphere surrounding presentations of the various car models must be perfect, avoiding both shape and colour distortion. Therefore, especially high demands are put on the lighting environment. An extremely even daylight illumination is required – a uniform level of light that must be guaranteed no matter what the ambient conditions, time of day or time of year. Martin Professional LED-based Exterior 430 luminaires have been installed and produce optimal results, meeting the highest standards and requirements of luminosity and colour rendering at BMW World.

HARMAN’s Martin Professional M6: More than just a lighting console

KEY LIGHT HIRE The company that brings you the finest lighting, power and grip now brings you the space to go with it. Located adjacent to our premises in Park Royal, Key Light is proud to present Studio 24: a dynamic space ideal for music videos, rehearsals and a variety of ‘concept filming’. Equipped with its own production office, Studio 24 boasts the full lighting inventory of Key Light Hire and Richard Martin Lighting. The 1,200sq ft facility is located just off the A40 and A406 and is near to Park Royal and Hanger Lane Tube Stations on the Piccadilly and Centre Lines, respectively. There is secure off-street parking for production vehicles; an on-site lighting and mains 52

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Martin Professional’s new M6 is a state-of-the-art lighting console that functions as a highly advanced visual control surface. Designed to control everything from conventional and moving lights to the most advanced media server, the M6 has been designed for today’s demanding multimedia shows and tomorrow’s challenges. Incorporating the latest available technologies with an industrial multi-core processor, solid-state drives and customdesigned high-brightness touch screens, the M6 is capable of delivering up to 64 DMX universes directly from the console’s network ports without using costly external processors. With advanced features like a LiveBlender™ T-Bar, FastDial™ rotary encoders, Paired Playback buttons and BriteTouch™ display, the M6 is Martin’s most advanced console design ever. It offers a total of 44 playbacks, including dual Main Go sections, 10 motorised faders and 12 additional faders, as well as a total of 17 encoders for parameter access. Based on the mature and well-proven M-Series software platform, the M6 provides users with the ultimate control surface for fast programming and extensive playback control, all from one console.

HARMAN’s Martin Professional Share Your Passion contest winner receives first-hand lighting R&D experience In late 2013, HARMAN’s Martin Professional put out a call to lighting designers around the world, whether a

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professional lighting designer, small-venue producer or industry newbie, to share their passion for the lighting industry. With hundreds of entries, a one-minute-long video from 22-year-old Ricardo Dias from Portugal managed to convince Martin he was the most passionate member of the lighting industry. His creative approach to lighting earned him, along with his father, a round-trip visit to Martin’s headquarters in Denmark for a two-day tour of a lifetime. Dias’s creative approach to lighting design was the most impressive point of interest to Martin. The recession continues to impact the lighting industry in Portugal, so the lack of proper equipment forces Dias and his crew of three or four friends to be creative when hired for a gig. During events, the team has to make on-the-fly repairs and adjustments on the hardware side and customise software, so they continuously turned to the Martin forum and YouTube for inspiration. As a student of electronics at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, Dias is used to working in the cross field between hardware and technology. One of his recent school projects was an application written for the Microsoft Kinect that allows him to control the light with simple gestures. His next step is a project combining gestures and voice control of light in a stage environment. Dias is also head coach for a robotics football team and he is hoping to attend the upcoming world championship ‘Robocup’ in Brazil this summer. Additionally, he is the President of a Youth Association consisting of professors and students at his university, where he organises and promotes extra-curricular lectures and workshops, providing support to student projects. During their visit, Dias and his father visited the Martin production facilities in Frederikshavn and HQ in Aarhus, where they had a tour of the R&D department and experienced a lighting demonstration in the Martin showroom. They also spent time with Martin employees, such as Ricardo’s long-time industry hero, Product Manager Paul Pelletier.

HARMAN Professional appoints Joachim Bogetvedt as Sales Manager, Nordic, Martin Professional HARMAN Professional today announced the appointment of Joachim Bogetvedt as Sales Manager, Nordic, Martin Professional. Based in Kristiansand, Norway, Bogetvedt will lead sales and initiatives for Martin Professional across Northern Europe, reporting directly to Steen Matthiesen, Vice President EMEA Sales, Martin Professional. Bogetvedt began his career in private lighting and audio rental and sales and joined Martin Professional Scandinavia in 2009 as Key Account Manager, Norway. Bogetvedt earned his degree in business and administration from the University of Agder, Norway.

PANALUX HiLo by Panalux

HiLo is a unique softsource fixture designed and built by Panalux, a world-leading creator of lighting solutions developed specifically for the film, television and entertainment media industries. Forming part of Panalux’s exclusive range of low-energy creative lighting products and systems, HiLo is perfect for large-scale spacelight installations or as a stand-alone, controllable softlight, combining flexibile operation with energy-efficient cost savings of up to 90 per cent to easily outperform more traditional products. Producing a soft, diffused, uniform light with a single shadow, HiLo can be used individually or in multiples to provide incredibly consistent illumination; and with local control or remote operation via DMX, output intensity is easily managed, evenly, from 0–100 per cent, with colour temperature governed progressively between 3,000 and 6,000K. For added flexibility, HiLo can be used in conjunction with a selection of accessories, including eggcrates and conventional spacelight textiles. The unit is also fully compatible with modern camera systems, including Panavision, Red and Alexa. The Panalux energy-efficient range of proprietary lighting solutions, including HiLo, has been recently welcomed by some of the world’s largest productions, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Mordecai and Exodus, where fixtures have been an integral factor in the production design process.

PHILIPS A beautiful quality of light for The Voice

The Voice LD Oscar Dominguez has won a 2013 Emmy Award for his design using Vari-Lite luminaires. Now in its fifth season, The Voice on NBC has become one of the most-watched reality talent competitions worldwide. Throughout the run of the production, which features three stages of competition concluding with live performances, the pressure placed on the competitors to showcase their unique talents is rivaled only by the pressure placed on the crew to make sure the show is both technically sound yet exciting to watch. Behind the scenes, Dominguez and his lighting crew have accomplished all this using a rig that relies heavily on VL3015LT Spot, VL3515 Spot, VLX Wash, VL3500 Wash, VL3000 Spot and VL550 Wash luminaires, all supplied by Illumination Dynamics. Previously nominated for his work on the fourth season of “The Voice”, as well as his design for “The Tyra Banks Show”, this was the first Emmy win for Dominguez, who won in the category of ‘Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for Variety Series’. Having been with The Voice since its inaugural season, no two lighting plots have ever been the same but there have always been two constants: the use of Illumination Dynamics as the authorised dealer and the reliance upon Vari-Lite luminaires. The Voice features three rounds of competition: the blind Set & Light | Spring 2014

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auditions, the battle rounds, the knockouts and then the live performances. Since the lighting package does not stay the same during each of the rounds, it is up to Dominguez to reconfigure the plot to best match the needs of each new set-up. For this to work, the lighting instruments have to be both reliable and have multiple feature characteristic, which is why Dominguez specified 44 VL3015LT Spot, 12 VL3515 Spot, 48 VLX Wash, 22 VL3500 Wash, 62 VL3000 Spot and 155 VL550 Wash luminaires for his Emmy-winning design.

Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity have been breakdancing around the UK’s biggest arenas in a dynamic show entitled ‘Limitless’. Lighting Designer Neil Trenell’s beat-perfect show design featureS sophisticated pyrotechnics and a backdrop of stunning video visuals, all cleverly punctuated with intense bursts of light from an array of Philips Showline LED SL NITRO 510s. Trenell’s lighting trusses carried a number of LED wash and profile fixtures, peppered at regular intervals with Showline SL NITRO 510s. Although he used only 14 in total, he used them in a multiplicity of imaginative ways, including full-on audience blinders, single snare accents, and flash flares.

be staged in mainland Europe – will take place this summer when PLASA Focus: Brussels open its doors in the heart of Belgium’s capital city on 1–2 July. PLASA Events reports that initial interest from exhibitors has been very positive, with over 30 companies already applying for space in Brussels, including brands such as ADJ, Chauvet, d&b audiotechnik, Robe and Shure. Having introduced the successful PLASA Focus event model in Leeds, UK, in 2009, and subsequently in various cities across North America, PLASA has long been aware of the market’s desire for more of this type of event in Europe. The BeNeLux region was one of the first to be considered for a regional market focus. The Focus event in Brussels marks the start of a threeyear initiative to expand the reach of the PLASA Focus brand in Europe, creating more opportunities for the PLASA community to meet regional audiences, in particular those customers that do not otherwise visit major international trade shows. The second launch event will take place in Scotland towards the end of 2014. Further details will be released in the coming weeks. Any company interested in exhibiting at PLASA Focus: Brussels should contact David Westbrooke at PLASA Events – david.westbrooke@plasa.org.

PLASA

PLASA launches new international online job service

Philips Showline SL NITRO 510s are beat-perfect for Diversity tour

PLASA organisational restructure begins in 2014 with key staff changes

Following a comprehensive review and analysis of the PLASA organisation, the PLASA boards and staff have recently completed new strategic and operating plans to guide the organisation through the next several years of its development. While the strategic plan focuses on building membership from all areas of the entertainment technology industry, enhancing member value and the continued development of PLASA’s programs that serve the industry, the operational plan details the structure, tactical approach and financial resource required. Fundamental to the successful implementation of both plans is a revised senior management structure that will see three executive directors (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer), plus six divisional directors – of Membership, International Programs, Sales, Marketing, Events and Media. Matthew Griffiths and Shane McGreevy currently fill the positions of CEO and CFO respectively. The COO post will be recruited in the first part of 2014 and will be based out of PLASA’s New York office. Lori Rubinstein will retain her Executive Director responsibilities in North America during this transitional period until the new COO is fully in place.

PLASA Events turns its focus to Europe

Europe – In response to growing industry demand, PLASA Events Ltd has announced that two new PLASA Focus events will take place in Europe during 2014. The first of these new events – and the first PLASA Focus to 54

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PLASA announces the launch of its international interactive job board. With its focus on the creative industries, the PLASA Job Board offers its members – and the creative industries at large – an easy-to-use and highly targeted resource for online employment connections. Both members and non-members can use the new PLASA Job Board to reach qualified candidates, with members receiving special pricing. Employers can post jobs online, search for qualified candidates based on specific job criteria and create an online resume agent to email qualified candidates daily. They also benefit from online reporting, which provides job activity statistics. To search available jobs, post job openings or upload a resume, visit jobboard.plasa.org. For job seekers, the PLASA Job Board is a free service that provides access to employers and jobs in the creative industries. In addition to posting their resumes, job seekers can browse and view available jobs based on their criteria and save those jobs for later review if they choose. Job seekers can also create a search agent to provide email notifications of jobs that match their criteria.

Professional development programme launched

Free registration is now open for the PLASA Professional Development Programme, which runs alongside a sold-out PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The Professional Development Programme provides visitors to this popular trade event with free access to over 20 seminars and demonstrations delivered by some of the industry’s leading experts, and provides an opportunity to learn new skills and have questions answered.

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PRG PRG light the stars at the NTAs

22 January saw the National Television Awards 2014 at London’s O2 Arena celebrate the best of UK television. Hosted by Dermot O’Leary, PRG supported Dave Davey in delivering this high-profile live TV event. PRG Account Manager Mick Healey worked alongside Production Managers Ali Brody and Craig Becker from Indigo Television to ensure the main show and red carpet all ran smoothly. The lighting rig consisted of PRG Best Boy 4000s, Clay Paky Sharpys and Alpha Beam 700s and VL3500 Spots and Washes to cover both the stage and audience. Lighting Gaffer was Dave Hallett, who was supported by PRG Project Manager, Mark Davies. Photos © Scott Davies.

Top Gear Live at SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Top Gear Live’s eagerly anticipated debut in Scotland consisted of five shows from 17–19 January, hosted by the three star presenters: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Lighting Designer for the show, Steve Sinclair of KCrew Ltd, has been lighting Top Gear Live internationally since 2003. PRG’s Account Manager, Andrew Strachan, worked with Steve to provide a mixture of lighting fixtures for the rig. The rig consisted of VL3000s spots, VL3500 washes, GS Beams and Impressions X4s. PRG also provided the rigging for the event, which included over 60 CM one-tonne motors and over 200m of truss. Martin Bellamy from PRG was the Project Manager for the shows, with Richard Griffin heading up the lighting crew onsite as Crew Chief. The SSE Hydro is soon to be hosting some exciting events for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, including gymnastics and netball. Opened late in 2013, the arena was designed by internationally-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster to ensure that its amphitheatre-style arena is perfect for the sports programme. The high-octane Top Gear Live shows set the scene at the arena for their very own suitably sporting theme.

Rich Rowley joins PRG as Chief Sales Officer UK

Production Resource Group are pleased to announce that Rich Rowley has joined their senior management team in the UK as Chief Sales Officer. Working closely with PRG’s account managers, his focus will be on the commercial side of the business, driving change in approach and customer focus. PRG’s offering to the various markets will be reinforced with the knowledge and expertise Rich brings from 25 years in the industry.

For the past seven years Rich was a director at XL Video and during this time, he headed their drive into the corporate and special events market, leading to numerous awards in that sector. In both 2011 and 2012, he was noted by Event magazine as one of the top 100 influencers in the corporate events industry.

PULSAR Pulsar sponsors Cambridge e-Luminate Festival

For the second year running, Pulsar is sponsoring the Cambridge e-Luminate Festival. A series of events, workshops, and projections, the festival aims to connect ambitious art with imaginative technology, while shedding new light on low-carbon innovation. Aiming to enable the work of the artistic and creative minds involved with the festival, Pulsar has supplied a range of ChromaRange LED lighting fixtures to support the creation of more interactive and breathtaking installations, which were the hallmark of last year’s pilot. In addition to supplying the wicked wavy wall for Millers Music on Sussex Street, Pulsar worked with light-artist Susie Olczak and her series of Colour Shift installations. Pulsar provided lighting to illuminate the foyer of Cambridge law firm Taylor Vinters, and also was sole lighting contributor to her piece transforming the Wilkins’ Screen at King’s College. Utilising 18 TriColour ChromaFlood 200s and a specially programmed Pharos control system with motion sensors, the installation creates a dynamic colour-changing effect across the screen, mimicking the movements of people passing by.

RICHARD MARTIN LIGHTING Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops is one of the most iconic TV shows of our time, showcasing so many bands and artists over the years and holding a special place in so many of our hearts. None more so than Richard Martin Lighting’s (RML) as this show was where we started. So, it is still such a great privilege to be asked to be involved in the annual Christmas and New Year specials. This year the shows were filmed at Riverside Studios, where all three stages were packed full of vibrant set pieces and lights, as well as some of the best acts around right now. These include Rudimental, The Saturdays, One Republic and Chase and Status. Dave Gibson was also reinstated as LD, making it even more nostalgic! The vast lighting rig included Sunstrips, Sharpys, Alpha Beam 300s and 700s, ROBIN 100 LEDBeams, MAC 500s, 8 Lites and MAC Auras. A show of such magnitude, with so much going on throughout, means that it is an ideal opportunity for LDs to try out some of the newer fixtures that are now available. Dave saw this opportunity and took it with both hands, using both our Chauvet Nexus 4x4 and our most recent purchase: the Philips SL NITRO 510. The latter is a cutting-edge LED Set & Light | Spring 2014

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strobe with six unique control zones, which allow ultimate flexibility while built in chases aid in creativity and simplicity.

Fortune bhajis

Comedy is great for taking stereotypes and turning them into something hilarious we can all relate to! Whether it is about the working class, the upper class, Scousers, Cockneys or your local pub, the closer to the bone, the better! Comic actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar has done just that with The Kumars. A new series of the show, which was originally broadcast on the BBC from 2001–2006, is now being filmed at London Studios for Sky by Hat Trick Productions. The show, which won Emmys in 2002 and 2003, takes a classic Indian family of various generations and turns the characters into hilarious stereotypes. The old deaf gran who is far too opinionated for her own good, the mother who must feed everyone to within an inch of their lives and the over-enthusiastic local business man – all contribute to why the show was so successful. Chris Kempton lights the show with fixtures provided by RML. These include Alpha Spot 300s, Alpha Wash 300s, MAC Auras and Sunstrips. The concept of the chat show is the family having (celebrity) guests in. These sometimes includes singer, and so the fixtures are also used to create a kind of house-party feel. Since the previous series, Sanjeev has gone through a divorce and he and his family are living in the flat behind their gift shop in Hounslow. With many antics to be had and laugh-out-loud CCTV footage from the shop, the completed episodes were aired in January.

Celtic connection

As leading moving-light suppliers, RML are constantly finding ways to adapt and renew their business strategy to continue to provide first-class service for customers. One change has involved finding ways in which we can strengthen our position outside of London and still be able to provide the same service in other studios and facilities around the country – something we have successfully been doing in the South for 30 years. The BBC have moved lots of their shows to the Pacific Quay Studios in Glasgow and Dock 10 Salford in Manchester, and so for us, the natural thing to do was to find local companies that we could work with who could support our equipment and LDs. In Scotland that came from Tony Kennedy and his team at Teknique Systems Ltd. The relationship has been so successful that we are now working with them outside of those TV studios. Most recently, this was at The Celtic Connections 2014 – the largest annual winter festival of its kind and the UK’s premier celebration of Celtic music. More than two thousand artists played at 300 events in 20 different venues over the month of January. Working alongside other local companies, the lighting equipment provided by RML included one of our most recent purchases: the SGM P5 Washlight. It was a great opportunity to get them out there and they worked perfectly to create the bright and colourful look. Allan 56

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Brown was the Electrical Manager and, together with Richard Jarret, Console Op, they designed the look of the show and chose VL1000TS, Chroma Flood TCs and Alpha Wash 700 HPE to complete the look.

Richard Martin Lighting invests in Philips Showline SL NITRO 510s

RML have made a major investment in Showline’s cuttingedge SL NITRO 510 LED strobes. The company – which recently celebrated 30 years of working on projects including Top of the Pops, Children in Need and Comic Relief – says it purchased the SL NITRO 510 luminaires predominantly to meet demand for a versatile fixture designed to create a striking visual impact for TV and rock and roll.

ROBE Robe announces acquisition of LiteWare product range from GDS

Robe Lighting s.r.o., the Czech-based entertainment lighting multinational, announces the acquisition of the complete range of LiteWare portable battery LED products from UK company Global Design Solutions (GDS). With immediate effect, the sales, marketing, manufacture and support for this award-winning range will be transferred to Robe and will be available through both the company’s subsidiary offices and extensive global distributor network.

Robe for TPi Awards 2014

Robe once again sponsored the annual TPi Awards with the supply of over 300 moving lights for the 2014 event. Produced by TPi Magazine and Mondiale Publishing, and staged at the Novotel West London in Hammersmith, the event honours the technical and creative achievements of the live production/event industry over the preceding 12 months. The lighting equipment included 32 Pointes, 82 CycFX 8s, 28 MiniMes, 90 LEDBeam 100s, 44 LEDWash 600s, 20 DLF Washes, eight DLS Spots and 28 MMX Spots – all from Robe’s ROBIN range. The stylish and appropriate lighting for the gala dinner, attended by over 1000 industry professionals and presented

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by Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ front man Huey Morgan, was designed primarily by Nick Valdez from rental company Siyan. Working alongside Nick, LD James Scott, of Times Design, programmed and operated on the night. The 300-plus moving lights were supplied by Robe and rigged by Siyan.

Robe gets a taste for Chef Games

A new reality TV series, Chef Games, has just made its debut on Israeli TV’s Channel 2, with lighting designed by Dakar Azulay. The show was recorded in Studio 5 of the Globus Group Studio complex in Jerusalem, produced by German-based Constantine Entertainment and lit with the help of Robe ROBIN MMX WashBeams and ROBIN LEDWash 1200s, which were instrumental to Azulay’s design.

popular reality TV show MasterChef France, series four of which was recorded at La Plaine Studios, St Denis, Paris, and broadcast on the TF1 network. Seligman-Forest has lit all four series of MasterChef France for producers Shine France. The MasterChef franchise is the world’s best-loved TV gastronomic phenomena – and he has used more and more Robe lights over the years on this and all his other work. Robe is definitely his moving light of choice. For the three months of shooting the MasterChef France episodes in the special studio workshop, his lighting rig contained four ROBIN LEDWash 1200s, 39 ROBIN LEDWash 600s, 20 ROBIN LEDWash 300s and eight of the small super-quick-and-bright ROBIN LEDBeam 100s.

ROSCO Projected imagery links modern-day life with historic architecture

Robe has a Voice in Germany

Robe moving lights were once again specified by Lighting Designer Manuel da Costa for the most recent series of the popular TV singing contest, The Voice of Germany (VOG). The series was recorded at Studio Berlin and produced jointly by a Dutch/German collaboration between Taipa and Schwartzkopff TV. It was broadcast on Pro7 and Sat 1 channels, where it was again a big hit with viewers. Da Costa has lit all three editions of VOG to date, and once again he worked closely with Set Designer Florian Wieder, of Wieder Design, and Video Content Producer Falk Rosenthal to create an elegant visual environment. All of them drew on their previous VOG experiences to produce a different aesthetic from the last series, and within that framework, to ensure that each of the artists would receive a diversity of visual treatments that ensured that they all looked different and that the mood of their songs was encapsulated for viewers and live audience. A total of 188 Robes were supplied by Magic Lighting & Sound from Cologne. These comprised 98 ColorSpot 2500E ATs, 62 ColorWash 2500E ATs, two ColorBeam 2500E ATs and 26 ColorWash 1200E ATs.

Robe provides gourmet lighting for MasterChef France

Top French TV Lighting Designer David Seligmann-Forest, for Lite4life, again specified Robe products to light the

ZimmerFrei artists’ collective and Radiance35 use Rosco custom gobos to provide a view into the 21st century potential of well-preserved medieval buildings. Lighting design firm Radiance35, in collaboration with the ZimmerFrei artists’ collective, created Through the Walls, an award-winning, artistic lighting installation in the SaintJacques district of the city (near Brussels’ Grand-Place). The key idea from the artist was to project imaginary openings on to the facades of the buildings in order to engage the curiosity and imagination of those walking by and help them envision present-day spaces, interiors and places of life and work inside the district’s beautiful medieval structures. The Saint-Jacques district of Brussels is characterised by its urbanism and is one of the best-preserved medieval communities in Europe. The designers at Radiance35 projected 20 custom glass gobos throughout the neighbourhood to highlight the district’s architectural identity, attract attention and encourage visitors to explore and consider living or working in one of the buildings. Through the Walls won two awards, including the Special Jury Award for the Association of French Lighting Designers, and recognition from the Master of Public Work awarded by the Federation Wallonia-Brussels.

Copenhagen’s Blue Planet Aquarium immerses its visitors in the world of the sea

The design goal of The Blue Planet, Denmark’s new national aquarium, was to make the aquarium’s visitors feel like they had entered the world of the sea surrounding it. Using Rosco’s X24 Effects Projector, Lighting Designer Jesper Garde Kongshaug created a realistic and controllable water effect to accomplish that goal as he projected that effect throughout the vast concourse areas inside the aquarium. Aquariums are filled with the ethereal, wavy effect of light shining through or reflecting off of the various pools and tanks of water in their exhibits. Copenhagen’s new Blue Planet Aquarium wanted to incorporate those effects into its ‘swirling water’-inspired design to bring the visitors ‘into the world of the fish and the life they live under the sea’. Kongshaug knew that, in order to immerse the visitors in an Set & Light | Spring 2014

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©AdamMørk

underwater experience, he would need to generate his own reflected water effect. Over 40 Rosco DMX-controlled X24 Effect Projectors were installed throughout the building’s 53 aquariums, which gave Kongshaug complete control of the speed, direction and coverage of the projected water effects he created. Working with Rosco’s colour lab, he created a custom dichroic colour wheel that slowly circulated the blue, green and cyan colours Kongshaug chose to emulate the Kastrup Harbour outside the aquarium’s walls. Kongshaug’s stunning lighting design brings the swirling waters of the sea inside the aquarium to accomplish the immersive vision of the design. He chose Rosco’s X24 to make The Blue Planet’s visitors feel like they are in the water with sea animals from around the world.

STAGE ELECTRICS West Side Story

Ground-breaking when it made its 1957 Broadway debut, West Side Story’s modern musical take on the tale of Romeo and Juliet has been beguiling audiences ever since. Its themes of love, hate, the desire to belong and crossing cultural divides have remained every bit as pertinent, ensuring soldout performances around the world for over 50 years. The 2008 UK tour of West Side Story was the first production at which Stage Electrics provided video as well as lighting. Now, after a sell-out season at Sadler’s Wells, the show has once more hit the road, with Stage Electrics again supplying equipment. After fitting up and technical rehearsals in Wimbledon, the tour began in Liverpool. From there the Sharks and the Jets have been continuing their rivalry across England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, ultimately taking in 18 different venues before finishing up at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, in August next year. Produced by Ambassador Theatre Group, the company and production team chose to continue the relationship with Stage Electrics that was forged on the 2008 tour. Although the way the show works hasn’t changed since that tour ended, there have been ongoing technical updates while it has been staged in other countries. Working on the show are Production Manager Simon Gooding, Senior Production Electrician Dino Anthony, Re58

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lighter Adam Sutton and Touring Chief Electrician Adam Frost. While large, the set is comparatively straightforward – upstage is a large white cyc, on each side a structure that represents the outside of New York apartment blocks. The cast can climb up and down these ‘houses’ (as the crew call them), aided by moving ladders (in the style of American fire escapes), while the structures themselves are on a downstage pivot, allowing them to move. Much of the show’s scene setting is done using the video package supplied by Stage Electrics. A Panasonic PT-EX12KU LCD projector projects imagery on to the white cyc, the content hosted by a Catalyst media server and backup, triggered from the lighting system. The projector is controlled by the show’s ETC EOS lighting console, also supplied by Stage Electrics, along with a comprehensive lighting package. This includes Source Fours, Martin MAC 700s, Vari-Lite VL3000s and VL3500s, ChromaQ Color Force 72 LED battens and over 50 Rainbow colour scrollers. Further atmosphere is added by the Color Force battens, which light the cyc, adding depth and different dimensions to the backscene, while shadows cast by the houses are used as an integral part of the design. Adam’s most difficult task comes each time the show moves to a new venue, especially as they vary considerably in size. Side Towers are pre-loaded with Source Fours, which can just be wheeled in, but re-lighting the show each time involves good, old-fashioned hard work.

TIFFEN Lowel is the lighting division of Tiffen. Although it is well known for its location lighting, it also has a series of LED fixtures, designed to bring studio quality to productions of all types and sizes. Lowel Prime LEDs are brighter than many similarly sized studio LEDs, with a wide, 50-degree beam angle. They are available in dedicated high CRI daylight or tungsten colour models and are fully DMX addressable, dimmable and controllable. There is also a host of available accessories. Lowel Prime models are available as 200, 400 and 800 daylight and tungsten fixtures, reflecting customers’ wishes to use these portable lights outside and on location as well as in the studio. The LEDs selected for the lights make them brighter than many similarly sized studio LEDs. Outputs are 22, 43 and 74 foot-candles at 12 feet for the 200, 400 and 800 models respectively, all with a wide, 50-degree beam angle. All models are compact, 44.9 x 38.0 x 8.9cm for the 200, 63.3 x 38.0 x 8.9cm for the 400 and 68 x 48.2 x 10cm for the 800. The efficiency of LEDs and the design of the lights mean that all models offer quiet, fanless operation drawing only low power from 90–250VAC power and are fully DMX addressable, dimmable and controllable. Using a new light source has opened up new possibilities. Unlike tungsten or fluorescent primes, these lights use arrays of sources that comprise many LEDs. Daylight models have a small quantity of tungsten colour LEDs, and tungsten models have a small quantity of daylight LEDs integrated into their arrays. This allows a degree of colour balancing as it is

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Pictured: Although well known for its location lighting, Lowel also has a series of LED models, available as 200, 400 and 800 daylight and tungsten fixtures

possible to give the two colours in each fixture separate DMX addresses, so allowing minor adjustment of their relative set-up levels. This can be used for applications needing colour proximity matching to other sources. The colour range is approximately 100–200K. LED technology now offers a choice of performance. Everyone is familiar with tungsten and fluorescent light sources, but not so much about LED light, which is generated in a completely different way. Quality matters throughout the scene-to-screen chain – including capturing the full range of colours in a lit scene. The ability to do this changes with the spectrum of the light. Here LED light sources differ; some are better than others, and this is measured as the Colour Rendering Index (CRI). The Lowel LED Primes are quoted with CRI of 91+, a high value that gives confidence that the pictures will look good.

TMB ProPower® RPD Power Distros reach major milestone – over 1,000 systems sold

TMB and AC Power Distribution have celebrated the delivery of the 1,000th ProPower Rack Panel Distribution (RPD) system. The latest ProPower RPD rack was handed over at a special ceremony at TMB’s global headquarters earlier this month.

Custom-configurable ProPower RPD power distribution features a comprehensive range of cULus Listed panels, with virtually every type of connector, voltage rang- or special purpose distro device used in the North American live event and entertainment industries. Over 150 panels are available, with more being added regularly. Panels and their positioning in the rack are selected by the customer, and each RPD system is built exactly as specified. In addition to power distribution panels, an entire family of systems has been engineered using ProPlex® Data Distribution unified signal management systems. The most recent addition to the wide range of ProPower RPD choices is a 1U panel with eight USB outputs for charging mobile devices and powering USB LED goosenecks (included). RPD rack systems are normally shipped within 10 business days from order, completely ready to use, and are housed in high-quality ATA flight cases. ProPower is a registered trademark of TMB, which is exclusive distributor of ProPower RPD, ProPower DP, ProPower CE RMD and ProPower CE HPS.

UNUSUAL RIGGING Unusual Rigging wows Earls Court in ‘most ambitious British Military Tournament to date’ It promised to be the most spectacular British Military

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Tournament to date and it didn’t disappoint. In front of an audience of thousands and HRH the Duke of Cambridge, the tournament presented dramatic reenactments, nailbiting high-speed chases and daring stunts. And as show organiser Nick Mattingley of IMG explained, none of it would have been possible without Unusual Rigging on board. They have a somewhat historical relationship with Unusual Rigging. Four years ago, IMG approached Earl’s Court as they wanted to stage a reincarnation of the Royal Tournament, and Unusual Rigging was recommended as a company that would oversee the project from the technical stunt side of things. Unusual has worked with them every year since. While the shows have always been astounding, with the future of Earl’s Court as the event’s venue in question, Nick was determined that this year’s would be the most visually stunning yet, and working with the Unusual team, he devised a rather complex brief, which Unusual’s production assistant Jim Dugan and his team then had to turn into a reality. This year’s theme was ‘Legends’. Lord Nelson, Laurence of Arabia, code breaking at Bletchley Park and a cyber attack led by pirates in a north African state all featured, but Nick explained that audiences want more than a simple re-telling of a story. “Today’s audiences, especially the younger members, expect to see things come to life – a re-enactment is not enough to engage them, and this is where Unusual comes in, making all the trickery and stunts possible and plausible.” This year, a Lynx helicopter was rigged to fly into the arena, and on arrival, four marines abseiled out, swiftly followed by another two abseiling from the roof of the arena. The little-known-about full-sized Olympic swimming pool at Earl’s Court also played a major part, with a U-boat submarine present at the start of the show. A UAV drone supplied by Boeing was rigged to fly across the arena, while four runs of flags were winched up to demonstrate the telegraphic signals of the marine vocabulary to read Nelson’s famous flag signal: “England expects every man will do his duty.” The learning curve on this show over the past four years has been incredibly interesting. For this particular show, Unusual installed over 500m of truss and have been flying all sorts in: field gun walls, 6m x 9m projection screens, a Boeing Scan Eagle and a Lynx Helicopter, as well as a massive quantity of lighting and sound equipment. 60

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Walking (vertically) in a winter wonderland: Unusual Rigging brings a touch of theatrical magic to New York’s Fifth Avenue with STREB acrobats

When the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York revealed its legendary holiday windows to hoards of shoppers with a performance by STREB Extreme Action Company, Unusual Rigging was on hand to ensure the event created a much-talked-about spectacular. Having never before made a big event out of its windows unveiling, Bergdorf Goodman decided to change its demure attitude and approached STREB earlier this year with a request for a show-stopping extravaganza. This year’s theme, Holidays on Ice, features display windows devoted to various annual American celebrations, and STREB acrobats opened the show by dancing down the outside walls of the Fifth Avenue store, not unveiling the windows until they reached ground level. Nate Terracio, STREB’s production manager, said: “We were asked to create a showpiece that would really get everyone talking and we visualised a troupe of dancers making their way down the front of the store, climaxing in a grand unveiling. Robin Elias, Unusual’s Technical Director, has been contracted to STREB since London’s pre-Olympic event, One Extraordinary Day, and we knew he would be able to help us problem solve and create an elegant solution for this project.” One Extraordinary Day was a series of extreme action acrobatics, which began at the Millennium Bridge and culminated with 32 dancers taking the London Eye to new heights as a performance space, pitting their bodies against the extraordinary height and the disorientation of constant rotation. Robin appointed a US rope access company to carry out the work and, while it is highly unusual for them to work in the entertainment sector, they were happy to work under Robin’s supervision. Each dancer was harnessed in such a way that they could ‘dance’ hands-free, while Robin designed a three-point pick-up on their harness, which kept them all orientated in the same direction, facing down towards the sidewalk. Robin added: “Safety is paramount and it’s always a challenge to devise a solution that keeps the dancers safe,

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while allowing them to perform confidently without feeling restricted by the harness.” The dancers were not his only concern, however, and the building itself threw some interesting challenges into the mix. Robin explained: “The roof of the Bergdorf Goodman building is complicated – delicate and not symmetrical – so we needed to create the five belay points on the face of the store while ensuring the fabric and architecture of this iconic building was not being damaged or compromised.” As with many jobs of this nature, Nate said time constraints added to the challenges: “We were approached very suddenly for this event, with limited advance time. What’s more, there are laws in New York City that ban this kind of activity, so we had our work cut out pulling strings in the mayor’s offices while Robin was pulling strings at Bergdorf Goodman.”

WHITE LIGHT White Light welcomes Ken Berreen as Distribution Sales Manager

Entertainment lighting specialist White Light is proud to announce the appointment of industry veteran Ken Berreen as the company’s Distribution Sales Manager. Ken brings to the role more than 30 years’ experience with lighting and sound technology, having worked at all levels of the entertainment industry. Previous roles include project management, lighting design, installation, hire and sales experience, most recently as European Sales Manager for well-known stage lighting manufacturers. In his new role, Ken will focus on delivering White Light’s innovative products and quality customer service to both new and existing markets across the UK and Europe.

White Light delivers CORE solutions for Sky Sports Studios: CORE Lighting and Pulsar fixtures light up new multi-use TV space

Sky Broadcasting recently turned to entertainment lighting specialist White Light for equipment and advice for the new production setup in their sports programming studio space.

The project – revamping Sky studios 4 and 5 for the new football season – involved combining the two spaces with a new layout and design concept. For the project, White Light supplied CORE Lighting Colour Point uplighters, Pulsar Chromascape AR111 fixtures, Robe 300 LED washes and ETC Source4 Mini profiles. “The idea was to bring Sky’s entire Saturday football programming under one roof – literally!” said Iain Davidson, Lighting Director at Sky, who oversaw the lighting installation on the project. “Sky Sports always like to push the boundaries and give you a challenge.” Based on the idea of combining the spaces, designer Toby Kalitowski created a large organic roof piece for the space that straddled both studios. This would serve as the main presentation area for Sky Sports programmes Saturday Night Football and Match Choice. Iain worked closely with White Light’s Jonathan Haynes on the installation, which posed two unique challenges. Firstly, the large roof piece designed to bring the spaces together had blocked half of the existing lighting hanging positions in the studio. Secondly, the production design called for five large front-projection screens, meaning managing light levels and spill would be a top priority. With these two pieces essential to the new design, Iain would need to find fixtures that not only fit in the space but also had tight control of beam spread and brightness. It was agreed that the header, which was made to look like a stadium roof, would be accompanied by practical units that could be rigged and de-rigged every week. He set two other requirements for the fixtures: a cool tungsten colour temperature suitable for TV and DMX control of the fixtures. After seeing some of the units at Plasa Focus Leeds, and testing them on camera, Pulsar Chromascape AR111 fixtures were chosen to fit the bill. The high brightness LED units come in stainless steel housing and consume just 17W per fixture. A total of 144 Pulsar fixtures were used to cover the studio space. Once he had solved the overhead lighting for the studio, Iain focused his attention on adding colour to the space. To get light and colour underneath the header, the units would have to be placed on the floor and in view of the audience and cameras. For the floor units, ‘light quality and colour range were the first consideration – but they also had to look good on camera’, Davidson added. The setup would also have to allow for a studio audience, making safety a key concern, so he chose Colour Point LED uplighters for the Set & Light | Spring 2014

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task. These latest products from CORE Lighting are battery operated and wirelessly controlled, with a sleek look, and are incredibly quick to set up, which is important considering they are being moved from studio to studio depending on which show they are being used on. “The Colour Points are very neat and were perfect for this project,” said Davidson. “We purchased six for the studio and the best part is not having to worry about cables!” These units have been so successful that another six units have just been delivered. The installation, which had strict deadlines, went off without a hitch. “Jonathan from White Light was able to help procure all the units to meet the deadline and, of course, negotiate the right price,” said Iain. The lighting rig was installed in the summer of 2013 and was ready in time for the new football season. The new set is in use across several Sky Sports programmes including FL72, Sportswomen, Weekend Warmup and Saturday Night Football.

XL VIDEO XL Video creates new ‘Centre of Excellence’ team for Media Servers

XL Video is excited to announce the creation of a new ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Media Servers and Control Systems. The team, whose expertise will be available to clients of XL Video worldwide, will be led by Christian Dickens, Media Server and Control Systems Manager at XL Video UK. Christian, who has recently joined XL Video, has almost 20 years’ experience in audio-visual technology. For the last six years, he has specialised in the field of Projection Mapping and Media Servers, and it is this expertise that makes him the ideal leader for XL’s new team. Before joining XL, Christian’s projects included projection mapping Nokia’s Secret Room at Mobile World Congress 2013, and Veuve Cliquot’s interactive display at Selfridges London. XL Video already has a strong reputation in the field of media servers and its range of solutions include Catalyst, Pandora’s Box, D3, Resolume, Ai and Hippotizer. XL Video’s previous media server-led events have included the mapping of the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury for Coldplay in 2011, the UK launch of the Mercedes Benz Actros Truck in 2012 and will.i.am’s highly acclaimed recent #willpower tour. Also new at XL Video’s Bromsgrove location is media server specialist Project Manager Nick Diacre, who brings with him a wealth of industry experience. Nick has worked on a variety of projects, including those with a focus on 3D 62

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visualisations, digital production, mapping and software control systems.

XL Video Netherlands moves to Amsterdam

XL Video, leading supplier in video equipment and services for the events industry, has chosen the city of Amsterdam as the new location for their operation in the Netherlands. The new Amsterdam sales office benefits from its central location in Europe and is within the dynamic and creative environment of Houthavens, Amsterdam. The office’s new address, from January 2014, is: XL VIDEO THE NETHERLANDS, Haparandaweg 67 E3, 1013 BD AMSTERDAM. It will act as both a meeting point for clients and partners, as well as its regular daily operations.

XL Video supplies 2014 National Television Awards

XL Video supplied a large high-definition LED screen, media server control, projection relays and screen management for the hugely popular 2014 National Television Awards, hosted by Dermot O’Leary at London’s O2 Arena. The 2014 NTAs have been hailed as one of the best to date. While winners Ant and Dec, who are celebrating 25 years in showbusiness, won two awards, and Doctor Who collected 2014 NTAs for Drama and Drama Performance (Matt Smith) is in its 50th anniversary year, XL Video celebrated its own NTA landmark – as video production supplier for the 10th consecutive year for Indigo Television. XL Project Manager Paul Wood has worked on the NTA’s since the company was first commissioned to provide video back in 2005. The 92 qm Absen F-6 6mm highresolution upstage screen that XL supplied was integral to Set Designer Chris Webster’s stage design. It is the first time LED has been used for this (in the past it’s been projection), and it was scenically masked to appear as a 13m-wide hemisphere. The screen was used for the playback of TV show footage, awards information, stings and graphics etc. All were replayed via XL’s Catalyst Media Server and Control system comprising two catalysts, one ‘on the air’ playback machine and a broadcast feed via a Barco Encore control system. This was co-ordinated and run by Jonathan Bond. Four projection relay screens were positioned around the O2 to ensure that everyone in the arena had a good view of all the excitement and action unfolding onstage. The stage-left and right screens were 26ft wide, and two more in the centre of the auditorium were 20ft wide. All relay screens were fed using the live TX broadcast mix.

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07860 759 294

johnking@stld.org.uk

Website Richard Bowles 07973 152 682

Picture courtesy of Chris Capstick

leeallen@stld.org.uk

Les McCallum 07940 280 268

lesmccallum@stld.org.uk

ianhillson@stld.org.uk

Rick Dines

07780 707 169

rickdines@stld.org.uk

richardbowles@stld.org.uk

Jonathan Taylor

07774 698 847

jonathantaylor@stld.org.uk Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:34 Page 64

Society sponsors

A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (Gordon Smith) Centauri House, Hillbottom Road, Sands Industrial Estate, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 4HQ Tel: 01494 446 000 ~ Fax: 01494 461 024 ~ E-Mail: gordon.smith@ac-et.com ~ Web: www.aclighting.com

Ambersphere Solutions Ltd now incorporating MA Lighting (Glyn O’Donoghue) Unit 13 Alliance Court, Alliance Road, Park Royal, London W3 0RB Tel: 020 8992 6369 ~ E-Mail: glyn@amberspere.co.uk ~ Web: www.ambersphere.co.uk

Anna Valley (Part of Shooting Partners group) (Mark Holdway, Doug Hammond) Unit J12 Brooklands Close, Windmill Road, Sunbury-On-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7DX Tel: 020 8941 4500 ~ Fax: +44(0)1932 761 591 ~ Web: www.annavalley.co.uk

ARRI CT Ltd (Andy Barnett, Siobhan Daly, Lee Romney) 2 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1LX Tel: 01895 457 000 ~ Fax: 01895 457 001 ~ E-Mail: sales@arri-gb.com ~ Web: www.arri.com

ARRI Lighting Rental Ltd (Tommy Moran, Mike O’Hara) 2 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1LX ~ Tel: 01895 457 200 ~ Fax: 01895 457 201 Manchester 0161 736 8034 (Jimmy Reeves) ~ E-Mail: mohara@arrirental.com ~ Web: www.arri.com

Artistic Licence Engineering Ltd (Wayne Howell) 24 Forward Drive, Christchurch Industrial Estate, Harrow, Middlesex HA3 8NT Tel: 020 8863 4515 ~ Fax: 020 8426 0551 ~ E-Mail: sales@artisticlicence.com ~ Web: www.artisticlicence.com

Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd (Nick Edwards) Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd, Unit 21, Ockham Drive, Greenford Park, London UB6 0FD Tel: 020 8813 2777 ~ Mobile: 07710 261 838 ~ E-Mail: nick.edwards@auroratv.co.uk ~ Web: www.auroratv.co.uk

Avolites (Koy Neminathan) 184 Park Avenue, Park Royal, London NW10 7XL Tel: 020 8965 8522 ~ Fax: 020 8965 0290 ~ E-Mail: koy@avolites.com ~ Web: www.avolites.com

Barbizon Europe Ltd (Tom McGrath) Unit 5 Saracen Industrial Area, Mark Road, Hemel Hempsted, Hertfordshire HP2 7BJ ~ Tel: 01442 260 600 ~ Fax: 01442 261 611 E-Mail: tmcgrath@barbizon.com ~ Web: www.barbizon.com

BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd (Danny Popkin) 77–79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW Tel: 020 3327 6900 ~ E-Mail: danny.popkin@bbc.co.uk ~ Web: www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com

BBC Academy (Tim Wallbank) Room A16, BBC Wood Norton, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 4YB Tel: 0370 010 0264 ~ Fax: 0370 010 0265 ~ E-Mail: bbcacademy@bbc.co.uk ~ Web: www.bbcacademy.com

CHAUVET® Europe Ltd (Michael Brooksbank) Unit 1C, Brookhill Road Industrial Estate, Pinxton, Notts NG16 6NT ~ Tel: 1773 511115 X.204 ~ Mobile: 07977 208435 Skype: michael.brooksbank.uk ~ E-Mail: mbrooksbank@chauvetlighting.com ~ Web: www.chauvetlighting.co.uk

Chris James & Co. Ltd (Barry Frankling) 43 Colville Road, Acton, London W3 8BL Tel: 020 8896 1772 ~ Fax: 020 8896 1773 ~ E-Mail: info@chrisjamesfilter.com ~ Web: www.chrisjamesfilter.com

Cirro Lite (Europe) Ltd (John Coppen, David Morphy, Frieder Hockheim) 3 Barrett’s Green Road, London NW10 7AE Tel: 020 8955 6700 ~ Fax: 020 8961 9343 ~ E-Mail: mail@cirrolite.com ~ Web: www.cirrolite.com

Clay Paky S p A (Davide Barbetta) via Pastrengo 3/B, 24068 Seriate (BG), Italy Tel: +39 335 72.333.75 ~ Fax: +39 035.30.18.76 ~E-Mail: davide.barbetta@claypaky.it ~ Web: www.claypaky.it

Set & Light | Spring 2014

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Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

Doughty Engineering Ltd (Julian Chiverton, Mervyn Lister, Stephen Wright) Crow Arch Lane, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 1NZ Tel: 01425 478 961 ~ Fax: 01425 474 481 E-Mail: sales@doughty-engineering.co.uk ~ Web: www.doughty-engineering.co.uk

Eaton (David Catterall) 20 Greenhill Crescent, Watford Business Park, Watford, Herts WD18 8JA ~ Tel: +44 (0)1923 495495 ~ Fax: +44 (0)1923 228796 Mob: +44 (0)7921 742803 ~ E-Mail: DavidCatterall@eaton.com ~ Web: www.eaton.com

ELP (Ronan Willson, Tony Slee, John Singer, Darren Fletcher) 15 North Gate, Alconbury Airfield, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 4WX Tel: 01480 443 800 ~ Fax: 01480 443 888 ~ E-Mail: info@elp.tv ~ Web: www.elp.tv ~ Elstree Office: 020 8324 2100 ~ Manchester Office: 0161 300 2922

Electronic Theatre Controls Ltd (Mark White, Jeremy Roberts) Unit 26-28, Victoria Industrial Estate, Victoria Road, London W3 6UU Tel: 020 8896 1000 ~ Fax: 020 8896 2000 ~ E-Mail: mwhite@etceurope.com ~ Web: www.etcconnect.com

Film & TV Services Ltd (Julie Fegan, Eddie Fegan) Unit 3, Matrix Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7PH Tel: 020 8961 0090 ~ Fax: 020 8961 8635 ~ E-Mail: mail@ftvs.co.uk ~ Web: www.ftvs.co.uk

Finelight Ltd (Simon Perrott) 708B, Tudor Industrial Estate, Abbey Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7UY Tel: 020 8453 0049 ~ Mobile: 07968 581 440 ~ E-Mail: simon@finelight.co.uk ~ Web: www.finelight.co.uk

Flashlight Ltd (Andy Dodd, Rob Williamson) Unit A3, Axis Point, Hill Top Road, Heywood, Greater Manchester OL10 2RQ Tel: 01706 625 866 ~ Fax: 01706 620 756 ~ E-Mail: sales@flash-light.org.uk ~ Web: www.flash-light.org.uk

Fountain Studios (Mariana Spater) The Fountain studios, 128 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley HA9 8HP Tel: 020 8900 5800 ~ E-Mail: Mariana.spater@ftv.co.uk ~ Web: www.ftv.co.uk

Gekko Technology (Ian Muir) Units 3–4, Cotton Drive, Dalehouse Lane, Kenilworth CV8 2UE Tel: +44 (0) 844 800 5326 ~ E-Mail: ian@gekkotechnology.com ~ Web: www.gekkotechnology.com

Green Hippo (Samantha Bailey) Unit 307 Parma House, Clarendon Road, Wood Green N22 6UL Tel: +44 (0)203 301 4561 ~ E-Mail: sam@green-hippo.com ~ Web: www.green-hippo.com

Havells-Sylvania Ltd (David Short) Havells-Sylvania Ltd, Avis Way, Newhaven BN9 0ED E-Mail: david.short@havells-sylvania.com ~ Web: www.havells-sylvania.com

Hawthorn Lighting (Dave Slater, May Lee) Head Office 01664 821111 - London Office 020 8955 6900 info@hawthorns.uk.com - www.hawthorns.uk.com

HSL Group Holdings LTD (Simon Stuart, Mike Oates) Unit E&F, Glenfield Park, Philips Road, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 5PF Tel: 01254 698 808 ~ Fax: 01254 698 835 ~ E-Mail: hire@hslgroup.com ~ Web: www.hslgroup.com

James Thomas Engineering Ltd (Paul Young) Navigation Complex, Navigation Road, Digilis Trading Estate, Worcestershire WR5 3DE Tel: 01905 363 600~ Fax: 01905 363 601 ~ E-Mail: pauly@jamesthomas.co.uk ~ Web: www.jamesthomas.co.uk

Key Light Hire Ltd (Alex Hambi) Unit 24, Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal NW10 7QP Tel: 020 8963 9931 ~ Fax: 020 8961 236 ~ Mobile: 07949 686 802 ~ E-Mail: alex@keylight.tv ~ Web: www.keylight.tv

Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:34 Page 66

Society sponsors

Lights Camera Action (Nick Shapley) Unit 30, 8 Taunton Road, The Metropolitan Centre, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 8UQ Tel: 020 8833 7600 ~ Fax: 020 8575 8219 ~ Web: www.lcauk.com

Lee Filters Ltd (Eddie Ruffell, Paul Topliss, Ralph Young) Central Way, Walworth Industrial Estate, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5AN Tel: 01264 366 245 ~ Fax: 01264 355 058 ~ E-Mail: ecruffell@leefilters.com ~ Web: www.leefilters.com

Lightfactor Sales Ltd (Peter Coles) 20 Greenhill Crescent, Watford Business Park, Watford, Hertfordshire WD18 8JA Tel: 01923 698 080 ~ Fax: 01923 698 081 ~ E-Mail: info@lightfactor.co.uk ~ Web: www.lightfactor.co.uk

Lighting Logic Ltd (Mick Cocker, Matt Miles) The Hopkilns Building, Goblands Farm Business Centre, Cemetery Lane, Hadlow, Kent T11 0LT Tel: 0845 260 0540 ~ Fax: 0845 260 0541 E-Mail: mick@lightinglogic.co.uk ~ Web: www.lightinglogic.co.uk

Litepanels Inc (Spencer Newbury) 16152 Saticoy St., Van Nuys, CA 91406, USA Tel: +31 629 29 6575 ~ E-Mail: Spencer@Litepanels.com ~ Web: www.litepanels.com

LSI Projects (Russell Dunsire, Nick Mobsby) 15, Woking Business Park, Albert Drive, Woking, Surrey GU21 5JY Tel: 01483 764 646 ~ Fax: 01483 769 955 ~ E-Mail: nickM@lsiprojects.com ~ Web: www.lsiprojects.com

Martin Professional Plc ( Mike Walker) Martin Professional PLC, 7.G.2, The Leathermarket, 11–13 Weston Street, London SE1 3ER Tel: 020 3207 2975 ~ E-Mail: michael.walker@martin.dk ~ Web: www.martinpro.co.uk

MEMS Power Generation (Mark Diffey) Beechings Way, Gillingham, Kent ME8 6PS Tel: 08452 230 400 ~ Fax: 01634 263666 ~ E-Mail: sales@mems.com~ Web: www.mems.com

MGC Lighting Group (James Greig) 1 Sovereign Centre, Farthing Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 5AP Tel: 01473 466 300 ~ Fax: 01473 240 081 ~ E-Mail: uksales@mgc-lighting.com~ Web: www.mgc-lighting.com

OSRAM Ltd (Terri Pearson) OSRAM House, Waterside Drive, Langley, Berkshire SL3 6EZ Tel: 01753 484 275 ~ Fax: 01753 484 165 E-Mail: displayoptic@osram.co.uk ~ Web: www.osram.com

Panalux Limited (Ed Pagett, Simon Roose) Unit 21, The Metropolitan Centre, Derby Road, Greenford, London UB6 8UJ Tel: 020 8832 4800 ~ Fax: 020 8832 4811 ~ E-Mail: info@panalux.biz ~ Web: www.panalux.biz

Philips Entertainment BV. (Mike Goldberg) Marssteden 152, Enschede 7547 TD, the Netherlands Tel: +44 (0)7974 752646

Philips Lighting UK Ltd (Sharon Banting) Philips Centre, Guildford Business Park, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8XH Tel: 07774 122 735 ~ Fax: 01296 670 956 E-Mail: sharon.banting@philips.com ~ Web: www.lighting.philips.com

Photon Beard Ltd (Peter Daffarn, Mike Perry, Simon Larn) Unit K3, Cherry Court Way, Stanbridge Road, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 8UH Tel: 01525 850 911 ~ Fax: 01525 850 922 E-Mail: info@photonbeard.com ~ Web: www.photonbeard.com

Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:34 Page 67

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

Pinewood Group (Simon Honey – Head of Studio Ops, Peter Lawes – Production Lighting Manager, Paul Darbyshire – Operations Director) Pinewood Road, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH Tel: 01753 785 200 ~ Fax: 01753 656 103 ~ E-Mail: simon.honey@pinewoodshepperton.com ~ Web: www.pinewoodshepperton.com

PLASA (Norah Phillips) The Professional Lighting and Sound Association is a trade association representing companies and individuals who work in the TV, film, entertainment, installation and leisure industries. Its aim is to develop and promote all aspects of the industry on a worldwide basis, acting in the common interests of its membership. Redoubt House, 1 Edward Street, Eastbourne, Sussex BN23 8AS Tel: 01323 524 120 ~ Fax: 01323 524 121 ~ E-Mail: norah.phillips@plasa.org ~ Web: www.plasa.org

Production Resource Group (Mick Healey,Kelly Cornfield, Martin Locket) The Hoover Building, Western Avenue, Perivale UB6 8DW ~ The Cofton Centre, Groveley Lane, Longbridge, Birmingham B31 4PT Tel: 0845 470 6400 ~ Fax: 0845 470 6401 ~ E-Mail: prglighting@prg.com ~ Web: www.prglighting.co.uk

Projected Image UK Ltd (Jim Douglas) Unit 17, Hoults Estate, Walker Road, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne NE6 2HL. Tel: 0191 265 9832 ~ Fax: 0191 265 8742 ~ E-Mail: gobo@projectedimage.com ~ Web: www.projectedimage.com

Pulsar Light Of Cambridge Ltd (Andy Graves, Paul Mardon, Snowy Johnson) 3 Coldham’s Business Park, Norman Way, Cambridge CB1 3LH Tel: 01223 403 500 ~ Fax: 01223 403 501 ~ E-Mail: andy@pulsarlight.com ~ Web: www.pulsarlight.com

Richard Martin Lighting Ltd (Richard Martin, Steve Wells, Amy Helps) Unit 24, Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal NW10 7QP ~ RML Admin: Lantern House, Old Town, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 0LW Tel: 020 8965 3209 Fax: 020 8965 5562 E-Mail: info@richardmartinlighting.co.uk ~ Web: www.richardmartinlighting.co.uk

Robe UK Ltd (Ashley Lewis, Mick Hannaford, Steve Eastham) 3 Spinney View, Stone Circle Road, Round Spinney Industrial Estate, Northampton NN3 8RQ Tel: 01604 741 000 ~ Fax: 01604 741 041 ~ E-Mail: info@robeuk.com ~ Web: www.robeuk.com

Rosco (Cristian Arroyo, Tom Swartz, Laurie Giraudeau) Blanchard Works, Kangley Bridge Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5AQ Tel: 020 8659 2300 ~ Fax: 020 8659 3153 ~ E-Mail: marketing@rosco-europe.com~ Web: www.rosco.com

Schnick-Schnack-Systems GmbH (Thomas Werr) Mathias-Bruggen-Strasse 79, 50829, Germany E-Mail: thomas.werr@schnickschnacksystems.com ~ Web: english.schnickschnacksystems.com

Sony UK Ltd (Daniel Robb) The Heights, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0XW Tel: 01932 816 368 ~ Fax: 01932 817 014 ~ Neil: 07774 142 724 ~ E-Mail: Jane.Green@eu.sony.com ~ Web: sonybiz.net/uk

Specialz Ltd (Dave Smith) Unit 2, Kingston Industrial Estate, 81-86 Glover Street, Birmingham B9 4EN Tel: 0121 766 7100 & 7110 ~ Fax: 0121 766 7113 ~ E-Mail: info@specialz.co.uk ~ Web: www.specialz.co.uk

Stage Electrics Ltd (Mark Burnett, Adrian Searle) Third Way, Avonmouth, Bristol BS11 9YL Tel: 0117 938 4000 ~ Tel Mark: 07890 271 535 ~ Tel Adrian: 07836 540 421 ~ Fax: 0117 916 2828 E-Mail: sales@stage-electrics.co.uk ~ Web: www.stage-electrics.co.uk

The Hospital Club Studios (Samantha Dunlop) 4 Endell Street, London WC2H 9HQ Tel: 020 7170 9112 ~ Fax: 020 7170 9102 ~ E-Mail: samd@thehospitalclub.com ~ Web: www.thehospital.co.uk

The London Studios (Dave Stevens) Upper Ground, London SE1 9LT Tel: 020 7157 5555 ~ Fax: 020 7157 5757 ~ E-Mail: dave.stevens@londonstudios.co.uk ~ Web: www.londonstudios.co.uk

Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:34 Page 68

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

TMB (Paul Hartley, Bill Anderson) 21 Armstrong Way, Southall UB2 4SD Tel: 020 8574 9700 ~ Fax: 020 8574 9701 ~ E-Mail: tmb-info@tmb.com ~ Web: www.tmb.com

TSL Teknique Systems Ltd PO Box 3587, Glasgow G73 9DX Tel: 07860 290 637 ~ Web: www.tekniquesystems.com

Unusual Rigging (Mark Priestley) The Wharf, Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire NN7 3QB Tel: 01604 830 083 ~ Fax: 01604 831 144 ~ E-Mail: mark.priestley@unusual.co.uk ~ Web: www.unusual.co.uk

VectorWorks (Martyn Horne) Computers Unlimited, The Technology Park, Colindeep Lane, London NW9 6BX Tel: 020 8200 8282 ~ Fax: 020 8358 9479 ~ E-Mail: 3ddesign@unlimited.com ~ Web: www.vectorworks.uk.com

White Light Ltd (Bryan Raven, John Simpson, Jason Larcombe) 20 Merton Industrial Park, Jubilee Way, London SW19 3WL Tel: 020 8254 4800 ~ Fax: 020 8254 4801 ~ E-Mail: info@WhiteLight.Ltd.uk ~ Web: www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk HireTel: 020 8254 4820 ~ Hire Fax: 020 8254 4821 ~ Sales Tel: 020 8254 4840 ~ Sales Fax: 020 8254 4841

XL Video Ltd (Malcolm Whittall) 2 Eastman Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 7DU Tel: 01442 849 400 ~ Fax: 01442 849 401 ~ E-Mail: info@xlvideo.tv ~ Web: www.xlvideo.com

SPONSORS DIRECTORY

XTBA (Chris Cook, Fiona Fehilly, Simon Peers) 35 Fernleigh Road, London N21 3AN Tel: 020 8882 0100 ~ Fax: 020 8882 9326 ~ E-Mail: dmx@xtba.demon.co.uk ~ Web: www.xtba.demon.co.uk

The STLD interactive Sponsors Directory has been available for sponsors’ use for over a year now. It is proving a very useful tool for the STLD and, we hope, for those of our sponsors who now use it. Its main advantages are that it enables the STLD to display up-to-date and accurate information about your company on its website. In doing so, it also helps us update our records and ensure that we have accurate mailing and invoicing details. STLD sponsor companies can make use of this facility by contacting Bernie Davis at sponsors@stld.org.uk with the name and email address of the person who will become the company’s ‘sponsor user’. They will be registered on our secure database and will then be able to modify their company’s information within the sponsors directory. Please note that the directory can now enable companies to be searched for by category and area. Bernie Davis – STLD Sponsor Liaison

Index of advertisers Anna Valley ARRI Clay Paky Doughty 68

Set & Light | Spring 2014

40 13 IBC 29

ELP ETC Lee Filters Litepanels

BC 41 IFC 27

Unusual Rigging White Light

34 31

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:34 Page 69

Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:35 Page 70

Set & Light | Spring 2014

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:35 Page 71

www.b-eye.it

Before B-EYE there were only drones

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Phone: +44 (0)20 8992 6369 info@ambersphere.co.uk - www.ambersphere.co.uk

STLD_111 SOCIETY SPONSORS:TL 85 Spring 2005 02/04/2014 12:36 Page 72

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If your studio or location lighting production is heading for Manchester, Media City or the Sharp Project, then who better to supply your equipment than the crew with the best local experience. • • • • • •

Flexible dry hire and great value production packages Energy saving LED lighting systems State-of-the-art digital lighting and controls Own fleet of mobile power generators and trucks In-house structural design, rigging and staging expertise Local production office, local crew and local knowledge

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