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 Set & Light.

AC-ET

AC-ET appoints Ian Muir as TV & Film Development Manager

A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd are pleased to announce that well-known industry figure Ian Muir has been appointed as TV & Film Development Manager for the company ’ s UK and International Sales territories.

Ian brings a wealth of TV and film lighting industry experience to the new role from his previous position at Gekko, where he worked for over six years as Business Development Manager for the LED lighting brand. Prior to this, Ian held various sales roles involving managing relationships with customers and suppliers in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Based in AC-ET’ s High Wycombe head office, Ian will work alongside the sales, marketing and purchasing departments to develop and implement the company ’ s business plan for the TV and film market, to exploit their growing presence and customer base in this sector.

Ian will also be responsible for helping to raise customer awareness of AC-ET’ s UK-exclusive TV and film lighting brands – including Mole-Richardson, Chroma-Q®, Jands, Spotlight and Prolights – as well as promoting Manfrotto and Avenger, Arri, Daylight Grip & Textiles, and other brands for whom the company is a dealer.

Complementing these brands, AC-ET’ s Cable, Lamp and Gel Express services are primed for fast turnaround of custom-specified TV and film consumables. Popular lines include tungsten and discharge lamps from Sylvania, Osram, GE Lighting and Philips; specialised and custom cable assemblies such as Powerlock, BAC, Socapex and Head to Ballast extension cables; colour effect and correction lighting filters from Procolor, Lee Filters, Rosco and Gam; as well as all other essential consumables. AC-ET launches exclusive new Prolights range of value lighting solutions

A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd are delighted to have been appointed as the exclusive UK dealer for the Prolights brand.

The range of lighting, video and effects products was recently officially unveiled at PLASA Focus, Leeds, receiving a great deal of interest and an overwhelmingly positive response from a wide range of visitors to the show.

The Prolights range offers designers innovative technology solutions that deliver reliable, creative tools at a price that all productions can afford. By taking advantage of high-efficiency production methods, products deliver the ideal balance between quality and value to professionals looking to maximise the return on their investment.

Featuring exceptional build quality, performance and reliability, each product is manufactured using carefully chosen components and materials, and undergoes rigorous quality-control procedures to deliver reliability and satisfaction time and time again.

The impressive lighting range features over 200 highperformance product lines from a wide selection of LEDs, including Pars, battens, moving lights, matrices, Fresnels, Profiles and effects, to Platinum 2R, 5R and 15R beam lights.

In addition to being appointed the exclusive UK dealer for Prolights, AC-ET will be offering the range in selected European and international territories – please contact the company for information on availability.

AMBERSPHERE

Ambersphere and Robert Juliat find the X Factor

The production values on The X Factor Live Tour certainly maintain the look and feel of the TV show. Video plays a large part in this, with two IMAG screens stage left and right reminding the audience of the journey the performers have completed prior to each act’ s performance. On the stage itself, part of the video wall is used as a sliding reveal for the artists ’ entrances, while the TV dynamic is continued in the design of the stairs, the independent stage thrust and the higloss flooring. Add to that a lighting rig that begins with 59

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

Clay Paky Sharpys just for starters and it is clear that for a followspot to cut through and make its mark, it would have to be something powerful, very bright and with a clarity of focus to work with the camera work effectively.

Step forward, the Robert Juliat Lancelot: a 4,000W discharge unit that is fast becoming accepted as the longthrow followspot of choice for large live events and concerts. Now part of the family of manufacturers that are exclusively distributed and serviced by Ambersphere Solutions, Robert Juliat are much more than the company best known for architecture and theatre lighting. The quality of build and features that characterise Robert Juliat units are fast becoming as sought after in the touring market as they are in the more traditional theatre sector.

Lighting Director Jonathan Rouse explained that the light level on the performer was paramount because The X Factor Live is all about the artists who have earned their place on the tour. The audience feel they know them as individuals, and part of The X Factor Live experience is seeing their favourites in the flesh.

ANNA VALLEY

Sky Creative hires Anna Valley for Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere.

Anna Valley was chosen by Sky Creative to provide a full audio visual solution, including projection mapping of The Guildhall, for the Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere, which aired on Sky Atlantic on 7 April.

Stars from the TV show took to the red carpet, including Sophie Turner, Iain Glen and Liam Cunningham.

The event was attended by over 400 guests,including fans and those involved in the making of the show. It was organised by Sky Creative and included a screening in the Grand Hall, as well as an after-party in the venue ’ s crypt.

Anna Valley provided four Panasonic PT-DZ21KE projectors and the AI Media Server to map the front of The Guildhall and playback content as the VIPs arrived.

Alongside the projection mapping, Anna Valley provided a D&B Line array system, which was used to provide an atmospheric soundtrack to the projection mapping.

Inside the Grand Hall was a 32ft projection screen to play back the premiere using two Christie 18k J Series Projectors. Anna Valley also provided audio via another line array system and full stage and scenic lighting.

In the Crypt for the after-party, Anna Valley provided a pumping D&B PA system and dramatic lighting for the room. Live Euro television debate

On 2 April, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, traded blows in their second live debate over whether Britain should stay in the EU.

Transmitted live on BBC Two from the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, this fascinating debate featured a large curved Toshiba 6mm LED screen from Anna Valley. Designer Chris Webster transformed the Radio Theatre stage with the Anna Valley screen as a bright and dynamic cyclorama. The lighting direction for the debate is by Mark Kenyon The BBC joins event agencies to talk future technology at Anna Valley showcase

Event professionals from the BBC and agencies including Innovision and Grass Roots have discussed future technology at Anna Valley ’ s Open Day showcase.

The Open Day, which took place 2–3 April at Anna Valley ’ s new West London office, was set up to showcase the AV rental company ’ s LED, projection mapping, RFID, cameras, 4K and digital media offerings.

BBC News ’ s Lead News Director, Barton McFarlane, who works on BBC events as well as television shows including Newsnight, said that the organisation was looking into using projection mapping and 3D technology. He praised Anna Valley ’ s new AV4 LED technology, citing its use both in studio and at BBC events. Looking to the future, guests discussed AI technology and Google Glass. The Link

Produced by STV at the BBC studios in Glasgow, The Link is a new quiz for BBC One daytimes in which three teams battle it out to spot the link between a growing number of clues. The quicker they can spot the link, the more chance they have of walking away with thousands of pounds.

Production Designer Chris Webster chose Anna Valley ’ s LED displays for the show. The specification includes a central screen in Toshiba 6mm, podiums with AV4 4mm and floor walkways in Duo 12 12mm LED. Good Morning Britain

We worked with ITV Production and Graphics to provide and install a range of set display technology for the new breakfast show for ITV, which is presented by Susanna Reid, Ben Shephard, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher. These included an LED ‘Ticker ’ with image processing, plus various sizes of set dressing monitors and signal distribution

ARRI

The ARRI Rental Group strengthens its team with appointment of Dana Ross

The ARRI Rental Group is pleased to announce that Dana Ross has been appointed to the role of International Marketing Executive.

Sponsor news

Reporting to the group ’ s CEO Martin Cayzer, Ross will represent the company in Los Angeles, managing and further developing relationships within the industry to continue the growth of the business and brand.

Previously Director of Creative Relations with Technicolor, Ross is a film-industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience. He started out at CFI Motion Picture Laboratory, first as a projectionist and later as a color-timer and laboratory contact, joining Technicolor in 2001 after 23 years at CFI. During his time at CFI, Ross also developed a passion for stills photography, and in particular, a love for working with an 11x14 large-format plate camera. This passion, combined with many years working closely with directors of photography, has seen him take studio portraits of numerous cinematographers. ARRI unveils L5 LED Fresnel

ARRI is pleased to announce the newest member of the LSeries: the compact and lightweight L5. The L-Series started with the L7: an LED Fresnel with the same light qualities as a traditional tungsten Fresnel but with the added features of full CCT tuneability and colour selection. The L5 now extends this successful line of products in a smaller, moreportable form.

The L5 is approximately 45 per cent brighter than a 300W tungsten Fresnel, but only consumes 115W. When compared to the L7, the L5 is half the weight and size. In addition, the L5 maintains all the popular features of its larger sibling, including tuneability from 2,800K–10,000K; green/magenta correction; hue selection; saturation control; and on-board DMX for communication with third-party control products.

New features available on the L5 include a PowerCON power connector and an on-board battery input that permits industry-standard batteries to power the L5 without any sacrifice in terms of features or light output. The resulting increase in portability opens up whole new application areas, giving productions with the L5 the tremendous freedom to move and work fast.

The L5 comes in three versions: the L5-C (colour), L5TT (tungsten tuneable) and L5-DT (daylight tuneable). While the L5-C is the most versatile in regard to colour tuneability, the L5-TT and L5-DT are 25 per cent brighter than the L5-C and still offer a limited CCT tuning range.

The L5 addition to the L-Series perfectly complements the L7, allowing for more mobile lighting and a wider range of power classes for television studios. Its compact size and low weight allow the L5 to be rigged in tight places and hung from low ceilings. The L5 is also ideal for cramped location shoots and interview setups. Low heat allows safer and more comfortable shooting conditions. This versatility and superb light quality make the L5 a highly anticipated addition to the award-winning L-Series family.

AURORA

Aurora Lighting Hire stock update

Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd have extended their eve- increasing inventory to include the MAC Viper Performance, RUSH MH 3 Beam and MAC Quantum Wash.

The MAC Viper is a full-feature framing fixture that delivers an output and performance never before seen in a fixture this size or one using so little power. Unlike other fixtures in this class, the MAC Viper Performance does not forgo an iris or animation wheel – they are both included along with a framing system and rotating gobos.

The RUSH MH 3 Beam is a powerful beam moving head that blasts an intense and narrow long-throw beam for spectacular mid-air looks and effects. It houses a fixed gobo wheel and colour wheel with a multitude of effects possible from a dimmer, strobe effect, eight-facet prism and focus.

And the Quantum features tight beams, beautiful wash fields, a market-leading colour palette and uniform mixing that combines to accommodate the most demanding applications, offering brightness and perfection. Combining an impressive 750W of RGBW LED power with Martin ’ s market-leading optical system ensures that the 1:6 zoom on the MAC Quantum Wash operates with maximum output and superior performance. Sport Relief

Aurora are proud to have been the main supplier of lighting equipment and crew to all three of the main arenas for the BBC’ s Sport Relief.

Friday 21 March saw millions of viewers tune in to BBC One and BBC Two to enjoy an evening of fun, comedy, entertainment and sport live from the Copper Box Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, hosted by David Walliams, Gary Lineker and Davina McCall.

For Aurora, the main focus was to transform the arena from a sporting venue into a large-scale TV broadcast studio. Effectively, along with their production partners, they were challenged to transform the Copper Box into ‘TC1’ (the BBC’ s now-defunct flagship studio and former host of Sport Relief).

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

In-demand TV Lighting Director Gurdip Mahal was tasked with designing and overseeing lighting across all three of the live arenas. Gurdip was creatively supported by his team of console operators, including Russ Grubiak, Ian Reith and Martyn Rourke.

The Copper Box had a substantial moving-light rig consisting of Martin Vipers, Martin Stagebars, Clay Paky Sharpys, VL2000 Washes and Super NovaFlowers. They also supplied all the tungsten lighting, dimming and an extensive mains distribution package, which included powering the outside broadcast facilities. During the week, they utilised the venue ’ s power and switched to twin-set generators for the rehearsal and broadcast day.

For the velodrome and aquatics arenas, they tied in to the in-house field-of-play lighting systems and added to these rigs with ARRI HMI fixtures. Gurdip specified a large number of Martin MAC Aura LED Washes.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of the British public, the current Sport Relief total stands at £53,370,743 and that money will change countless lives forever, both at home in the UK and across the world.

London Light merge with Aurora

Aurora has secured a deal with London Light Production Services Ltd: a UK-based theatre, corporate and special events lighting company.

London Light’ s rental business has merged fully under the Aurora umbrella with immediate effect. The coming together will benefit existing customers of both parties, with a new increased inventory pool. This integration, combined with substantial equipment investment, reflects the forward momentum at Aurora.

Aurora expand team

Aurora are pleased to welcome Graham Baskeyfield in the role of a Financial Consultant. Graham, through his company F in FD, will be supporting Nick Edwards and his team with the continued development and growth at the company. Primarily, Graham will be responsible for heading up Aurora ’ s in-house finance procedures, as well as taking on other special projects.

AVOLITES

Avolites Ltd appoint Fairlight BV as their exclusive distributor in the Netherlands

Avolites Ltd and Avolites Media Ltd have appointed Fairlight as their sole distributor for the Netherlands as of 1 May in their exciting new agreement.

Their relationship with Fairlight goes back well over 20 years and the foundations they have built allow them to hit the ground running. Avolites have arranged dates for seminars, workshops and a comprehensive marketing campaign to expose the Titan and Ai platforms to the Dutch market. Avolites supports the next generation of LDs at Rose Bruford College

Students at London ’ s Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance have used an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II to stage a concert as part of a specialist module on lighting design for live music.

The students opted to take ‘The Concert Lighting Project’ , which was offered in addition to their theatre lighting design courses by Rose Bruford Programme Director and Lighting Designer Hansjorg Schmidt.

Avolites ’ Head of Training Amy Schofield visited the college to demonstrate the Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II consoles, with specific lighting design for live music tuition from LD Dave ‘Bickie ’ Lee, who has worked with high-profile pop acts including One Direction and Westlife.

The students were tasked with creating a lighting design for a concert at Rose Bruford’ s 150-capacity theatre, working together on lighting design and programming, and taking it in turns to control using the Avolites consoles on the night.

The collaboration was part of Avolites ’ ongoing relationship with schools and colleges, and echoes its commitment to training and support. Avolites – The next chapter!

On 19 May Avolites announced a restructuring of the board of directors, with Managing Director Richard Salzedo stepping back into the role of Director, and Steve Warren ascending to the role of Avolites Group MD.

Founder shareholders Steve Warren, Richard Salzedo and Financial Director Meena Varatharajan purchased Avolites from previous owners Carlton TV in 1991. Since then, Richard has worked for Avolites as Research Engineer and R&D Director, overseeing hugely successful projects such as the Sapphire and industry-changing Avolites Pearl console before moving on to become Managing Director. He now hands the reigns of control to Steve, who started with Avolites in 1984 and in his 30 years with the company has been employed as Electrical Wireman, Test Engineer, Service Engineer, Technical Sales and, ultimately, Sales Director.

Steve ’ s passion for integrating video with lighting control has driven the formation of Avolites Media Ltd and the purchase of the technology within the Ai servers. The capabilities of these have been showcased at the London 2012 Olympics, powering the world’ s largest video screen, and again for the volumetric ‘LED Forest’ at the recent Sochi Winter Olympics.

Sponsor news

CHROMA-Q

Chroma-Q Studio Force LEDs light multinational bank’ s European HQ auditorium

The European headquarters of a leading multinational bank located at the heart of London ’ s Canary Wharf financial district has upgraded its video conference auditorium lighting to a cutting-edge LED system featuring Chroma-Q® Studio Force V 12™ premium performance fixtures.

The building ’ s state-of-the-art technical facilities include a video conference auditorium featuring an HD broadcastquality studio environment and production suite. The facility is used regularly for the bank’ s worldwide inter-branch presentations, as well as international conferences bringing together industry leaders, financial sponsors and investors to explore market and sector trends.

When the bank was planning to install a new video wall at the front of the auditorium, it required a suitable lighting system that would not only provide good illumination of the stage area, but which was low maintenance, camera-friendly and would not create glare on the large video wall directly in front of the fixtures.

After extensive testing ‘ on camera ’ in front of HD broadcast cameras to check for any issues with flickering or colour rendition, the bank’ s technical team was impressed by the performance of the Chroma-Q Studio Force V 12 variable white LED fixtures.

The extensive Chroma-Q Studio Force LED lighting range is designed to deliver the highest levels of performance from a lighting instrument for today ’ s most demanding TV, film, broadcast and studio applications.

The bank’ s auditorium lighting installation features a row of Studio Force V 12 fixtures fitted with the optional lightbank kit, to provide a softlight above the stage area that is not too bright for the audience or the person speaking, and does not reflect on to the video wall behind the stage. In addition, a second row of the fixtures is fitted with the optional diffuser box attachment, to provide a floodlight source that has been set to the perfect light level and beam angle via barn doors on the front of the units.

CLAY PAKY

Clay Paky Sharpys beat the British weather for Celebrity Big Brother 2014

This year, popular British TV series Celebrity Big Brother evicted each voted-out participant along a ‘ catwalk of shame ’ under the piercing, bright spotlight of the Clay Paky Sharpy.

Prolific award-winning Lighting Designer Gurdip Mahal was tasked with providing a standout lighting design for the show, which was watched by more than three million viewers across the UK. Mahal opted for the high-impact effect of the Clay Paky Sharpy in order to deliver a strong rock concert-style atmosphere.

Mahal used 32 Clay Paky Sharpys encased in watertight Clay Paky ‘IGLOO’ domes and positioned them in various locations outside and on top of the Big Brother house.

One of the key challenges for Mahal was the weather. The show was filmed for six weeks over the UK winter so it was crucial that the Sharpys were kept dry. Mahal and Lighting Director Martyn Rourke worked with show gaffer James Tinsley to find the best option and elected to use Clay Paky polycarbonate IGLOO domes. Each dome is fitted with an automatic cooling and heating system and is designed to ensure that the projection remains flawless without any loss of light or any kind of image distortion.

Eurovision ’ s LD is ‘blown away ’ by the power of Clay Paky

TV lighting designer extraordinaire Kasper Lange was ‘blown away ’ by the power of the Clay Paky fixtures used in his highly efficacious lighting design for TV event of the year, Eurovision.

Denmark-based Lange worked with Eurovision ’ s Creative Director Per Zachariassen to create a huge, structural lighting design that complemented the show ’ s titanic ‘diamond’ stage. Lange crafted a clean, architectural-lighting look that allowed the angular stage to ‘ open and close ’ , creating a dynamic mix of open and intimate lighting looks.

A crucial part of a much larger lighting rig, Lange specified 178 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures to frame the set’ s giant 110m by 30m LED back wall. The powerful punch of the Sharpy Wash added further definition to the wall, while reflecting the sharp lines of light that ran throughout the Eurovision set.

In addition to the Sharpy Wash 330, Lange specified 32 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s as part of the huge lighting package supplied by a collaboration of Danish hire outfit

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

Pictured: Eurovision LD Kasper Lange specified 178 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures to frame the set’ s LED back wall. Copyright: Ralph Larmann

LiteCom and global production house PRG.

The Alpha Beam 1500 belongs to the special category of fully automated ACL fixtures. In addition to its high luminous efficiency (185,000 lux at 10m) the fixture also holds a powerful effects engine for shaping and animating the beam for intense long-distance and mid-air effects such as those seen in Lange ’ s Eurovision design.

Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 thanks to Conchita Wurst with the song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix ’ , and now will organise the next edition of this great musical event. The Clay Paky B-Eye goes for gold at Sochi Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

World-renowned Lighting Designer Durham Marenghi has used a selection of Clay Paky products, including the new A.leda B-Eye K10 and Sharpy Washes, to deliver a truly spectacular lighting design for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of Sochi’ s 2014 Winter Paralympics.

With a stadium audience of over 40,000, plus tens of millions of viewers tuning in worldwide, the Winter Olympics have been a much-anticipated event. Marenghi used a lighting rig originally specified by Lighting Designer Al Gurdon for the Winter Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies to create a spectacular new design for the Paralympics Ceremonies.

© Joe Kusumoto

The Sochi Paralympic Opening Ceremony was billed as a vibrant and captivating event focusing on the power of spirit and featured everything from live performances to Oscarwinner Aleksandr Petrov ’ s beautiful animation of the Firebird – a creature found in Russian fairytales. The show ’ s lighting was big, bold and bright in order to complement the enormity of the event and reflect the overcoming of barriers.

The B-Eye K10 is one of the latest additions to Clay Paky ’ s LED-based moving light range A.leda. The awardwinning effects light offers both wash and beam effects, with individual LED control for each of the lights ’ parameters.

The B-Eye K10 has 19 individual LED light sources and features an unmatched optical system with a remarkable zoom range of 4–60 degrees. The Knight of Illumination Awards announces launch of ‘KOI South Africa ’

The Europe-based Knight of Illumination Awards, which celebrate outstanding achievements in lighting design, are expanding internationally with the launch of ‘KOI South Africa ’ in 2015.

Organisers Pio Nahum and Davide Barbetta from Clay Paky, Jennie and Durham Marenghi, and The Fifth Estate ’ s Sarah Rushton-Read announced that work is already in progress for next year ’ s debut South Africa KOI Awards, which will run alongside the trade event Mediatech in Johannesburg.

Mediatech is scheduled for 15–17 July 2015 and the southern hemisphere event will run in addition to the existing London awards.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of the launch of the European KOI Awards 2014, which will take place this autumn in the UK.

Durham, an award-winning lighting designer in his own right and co-ordinator for the Knight of Illumination Awards, said: “The lighting industry increasingly receives huge support from companies across South Africa. We are keen to celebrate great lighting design wherever in the world that it is happening and we ’ re looking forward to working closely

Sponsor news

with our friends and colleagues in the region to create a KOI South Africa we can all be proud of. ”

Sarah, who serves as Chairman of the Concert Touring and Events category in the UK, adds: “Having visited South Africa on numerous occasions over the past few years, I’ ve been inspired by the passion that exists there not only for lighting design, but for the industry as a whole. This makes it the ideal place to launch the sister event to the KOI Awards and I am delighted to be involved. ”

Details of the location, categories and date for the 2015 event will be revealed later in the year.

DOUGHTY

Doughty Engineering receives Engineering Product of the Year accolade at ABTT

Doughty Engineering has been awarded the ABTT 2014 Theatre Award for Engineering Product of the Year, following the introduction of its new range of Drop Arms, T Bars and H Frames at this year ’ s show.

The range of complementary modular products was showcased on the Doughty stand and has been designed to allow designers to quickly create robust and professional lighting or scenic structures of varying drops and shapes.

The modular system is designed to provide a safe, flexible rigging method for suspending luminaires from a truss of fixed tubes and barrels, the wide range of configurations opening up the possibility for highly innovative lighting design. Doughty Engineering operates within the NHS

Lighting Designer Philip Lyons is always on the lookout for new products that are well designed and premium engineered so when he was appointed to update the medical illustration departments – which provide images for use in treating patients, teaching and for publication – of two major hospitals in Bristol and London, he had no hesitation in specifying a full range of studio equipment from Doughty Engineering to help him fulfil his brief.

Both St Thomas ’ Hospital in London and North Bristol Hospital have existing departments that were outdated and needed to be brought up to health and safety standards. Relocation to new premises offered the opportunity to design photographic and video studios to meet the clients ’ needs, both now and in the years ahead, to future-proof the investment.

Lyons certainly rates Doughty ’ s ability to respond to a challenge: when a new piece of equipment was needed, Doughty quickly fabricated a prototype. There are constant design challenges for lighting designers, so it’ s vital they have a partner who is able to treat such challenges as all-in-a-day ’ s work. If we can do this for our customers, then it’ s a winwin situation for everyone.

ELP

ELP supplied an enormous amount of lighting kit to US broadcaster NBC for the Sochi Winter Olympics, which took place during February. Three container loads left the UK laden with over 600 fixtures, including Fresnels, Kino Flo, Source 4s and PAR cans. “The amount of Socapex and rigging equipment we shipped was incredible, ” said Project Manager John Singer.

When it arrived at its destination, the equipment was handled by Lighting Design Group, which administered its deployment across multiple studios and sites.

No sooner had the Winter Games ended, ELP were looking forward to servicing the BBC studio at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. LD Dave Gibson specified a studio equipment list from ELP that included 20 of ELP’ s Source 4 LED fixtures. These gave Dave easy control over colour balancing within the Copacabana beach media compound. ELP also supplied an assortment of Fresnels, AVO ART dimmer racks and a Congo Junior control desk.

Dave was also directing operations for the Normandy Beaches with ELP as part of the 70th D-Day Anniversary commemorations. A studio was set up, with the infamous beaches as the backdrop. ELP supplied all of the power for the media compound with their 110kW twinset generator and a 110kW Litepower generator. Barry Denison was ELP’ s gaffer on site, with a four-man team to cover three studio locations. LD Rob Bradley travelled to France with the crew while Dave focused on design and planning back in Blighty.

ELP’ s involvement with The One Show continues as the production takes its daily magazine format on the road to be part of specials events and festivals around the country. Locations such as Glastonbury, Hay-on-Wye and the Isle of White played host to special outside broadcasts of the show. LD Dave Evans specified an assortment of ARRI fresnels, handheld lighting kits, Pixel Pars, Pixel Lines and Chromastrips. These were controlled via an ELP Road Hog Desk. An ELP generator travelled to some locations to provide site power.

BBC News unveiled a new virtual-reality European Elections studio. Based at its Elstree site, within Studio D, the corporation transformed the space with a new virtual-reality tracking system to enable Jeremy Vine to engage BBC viewers with his inimitable analysis of the full election experience. The studio comprised a multi-camera set-up of 12 cameras, five of which were virtual-reality capable. ELP supplied Space Lights, LED lighting, and about 50 MR16 silver long-nose ‘Bridies ’ . ELP also supplied a 4m circular truss for the centre of the studio floor.

The British Soap Awards have come round again at Hackney Empire to celebrate this successful TV genre. Stars from EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, among others, got the red-carpet treatment with the help of lighting by LD Nigel Catmur and kit supplied by ELP. Moving lights were out in force, with ELP supplying Sharpys, VL 1000 TSDs, Martin MAC 700 Wash and MAC TW1.

LED fixtures included Thomas Pixel Pars and MAC

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

Auras. Over 50 trusty long-nose PAR cans made an appearance, with three Robert Juliet 2.5K follow spots.

ETC

ETC Ion® takes over Billy Elliot London: Original production moves to new ETC control system

The original production of the hit musical Billy Elliot, still at London ’ s Victoria Palace Theatre almost a decade after making its debut there, has moved the show ’ s lighting to a new control system based around ETC’ s popular Ion® control console.

The new desk has replaced a Strand desk that ran the show since it opened, continuing the trend of long-running shows updating their control systems to ETC products to ensure continued trouble-free performance night after night. “Our previous desk served us well, ” said the show ’ s Lighting Designer, Rick Fisher, who won a Tony® Award for his work on the show on Broadway and a Helpmann Award for the production in Australia, “but with the show continuing to enjoy success in London, and with new productions planned elsewhere, it seemed to make sense to move the show onto a newer platform that was receiving ongoing support from its manufacturer. We knew the Ion was more than capable of running the show since it had already been used on our American tours, and we knew our supplier, White Light, had Ions available, so it just became the obvious choice. ”

The challenge of the changeover was that the show ’ s busy rehearsal schedule meant there would be little stage time and no lighting-specific dress rehearsal for the new system. After careful checking, and a few proving sessions on an empty stage, its first full performance would be in front of a paying audience. The task of transferring Associate Lighting Designer/Programmer Vic Smerdon ’ s work to the new system was therefore handed to programmer Rob Halliday, who combined his familiarity with both control platforms to ensure the changeover went smoothly and that each moment of the show ’ s precise lighting was accurately recreated.

The show now runs from an ETC Ion console, plus a fader wing and a touchscreen, with an RPU (Remote Processor Unit) rack-mounted as backup. Two ETC Net3 Gateways convert the Streaming ACN data back to DMX for distribution to the show ’ s rig of Source Four® fixtures, Source Four Revolution® automated fixtures, generic PAR cans and colour scrollers, among others. The show crew now has an iPod touch running ETC’ s iRFR software –supporting the Light Relief lighting charity – to allow them to control the rig from on stage. ETC assisted with the handover by providing an Eos Ti control desk for use at the production desk during the proving sessions.

Directed by Stephen Daldry and choreographed by Peter Darlin – both reprising their roles from the film from which the musical was adapted – Billy Elliot was written by the film ’ s author, Lee Hall, with the music composed by Elton John. The show was designed by Ian MacNeil, with costumes designed by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Paul Arditti, musical supervision and orchestrations by Martin Koch, and associate direction by Julian Webber. The London production opened in May 2005 and the show has subsequently been seen in Australia, New York, Canada, on tour around the US and in Brazil. Rehearsals have just started for the next production, due to open in Holland later this year.

The show now joins many other West End productions running on Eos® family control systems, including The Bodyguard: The Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Les Misérables, Once, The Woman in Black, Spamalot and War Horse, plus the repertoires of the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. ETC Eos Ti starts a trend on the West End

ETC’ s Eos Titanium (Ti) lighting control system has been taking over the programming duties on a growing number of London ’ s top shows, with more lighting professionals choosing the power and flexibility that the desk offers.

Vicky Brennan programmed the lighting for Stephen Ward: The Musical at the Aldwych Theatre on a Ti desk. The show ’ s set was incredibly complicated and required custom circular lighting trusses for the lighting fixtures. That created a challenge for the lighting team, who had to devise a plan to number the rig so that the lighting designer, programmer, production electricians and show crew could all understand it. Ti’ s Magic Sheets function was the answer. Ti’ s multi-touch screens meant that Vicky could pinch and pull the plan to focus in on the useful areas to ascertain the relevant channel information.

The set design included several curtains used like gauze throughout the show, sometimes serving as a wall and other times as a window. As the curtains were moved along tracks for different scenes, Lighting Designer Peter Mumford wanted to follow their paths with PAR can lighting, which meant a complex formula of timing, speed and direction. Here, Magic Sheets became a useful tool, as they could keep track of changes to the lights in real time without needing to consistently plunge the stage into darkness.

The Magic Sheets also simplified the transition of the show from Brennan ’ s team to the Aldwych Theatre ’ s house crew. While Stephen Ward was on in the West End, it was run off an ETC Eos® console with a backup Ion® desk, and the lighting staff were able to use the Magic Sheets for troubleshooting, without having to rely on a paper plan, as they would have in the past.

Stephen Ward’ s lighting rig included moving lights, LEDs and conventional fixtures rented from ETC dealer PRG. Some of the fixtures were new to some staff, but Ti’ s troubleshooting allowed the in-house staff to quickly identify and fix issues.

Ti’ s ability to control such a complex lighting design proved indispensable on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Set and Costume Designer Peter McKintosh designed a printed backdrop that was lit from behind by a wall of LED panels. Lighting Designer Howard Harrison wanted to use the screen not just as a backlit cloth, but to experiment with colour and texture as the show progressed.

GREEN HIPPO

New exclusive Hippotizer distributor signed

In March, Green Hippo welcomed Luzeiro to their distribution

Sponsor news

network as exclusive Hippotizer distributors for Portugal.

Founded in 1981 and signed by Technical Manager Sarah Cox, Luziero is involved in the theatre, dance and TV market and works with partners in sound, video and cinema to fulfil their needs.

Over the years, Luzeiro has aimed to be one step ahead of its client’ s needs, working with prestigious brands. Their range of products has continued to grow, from lighting fixtures to dimmers, consoles, cabling, rigging, curtains and scenic cloths, as well as dance floors, truss, scenic paints, sound, video, screens and effects, and extending to professional makeup and more.

Luzeiro works closely with the architects and project managers, helping them to choose the best solutions and so avoid the frequent mistakes and discrepancies that happen when projecting an idea without full knowledge of the equipment and solutions.

Luzeiro can also advise, sell, install, repair and maintain, keeping its clients near in order to help them grow and fulfil their needs.

Hippotizer GrassHoppers find new home at Phlippo in Belgium

With a 50-year history in the industry, Phlippo has become one of the biggest competitors in the Benelux area for equipment hire and full production support. Phlippo provides both dry rental of all its equipment, as well as full production support for everything from musical productions, TV shows and dance events, to touring productions, festivals and corporate events.

Phlippo consists of two companies: a rental branch, Phlippo Rental, which deals with rental activities, and Phlippo Productions, which works on all the production support. Offering a wide variety of equipment, including moving lights and control desks (Clay Paky, Vari*Lite, Martin, Robe, Highend Systems), video (2000sqm of LED screens) and sound (Digico , L’ acoustics, Martin Audio), Phlippo has, after careful consideration, decided to add Hippotizer to its product range.

Having recently purchased two Hippotizer GrassHopper media servers, Phlippo chose to use these units immediately at the prestigious Jim TV Awards on 26–27 May.

Jim TV is a high-profile Belgian music channel that hosts an annual award show, known as ‘The Jimmies ’ , which is broadcast live on national TV.

Phlippo supplied all the video, light and sound equipment for this event, including its two new Green Hippo GrassHoppers.

The GrassHoppers were used to feed content to four 16mm LED screens and one 10mm screen. One machine was used as the ‘live ’ machine, while the other GrassHopper was running parallel as a backup and the set-up was being controlled externally with an MA2-Light desk.

HSL

A date with You Me At Six

HSL supplied lighting and LED screen to the UK leg of the new You Me At Six ‘Cavalier Youth’ tour. The tour featured an inventive lighting design by Louis Oliver, who has worked with the indie rockers for the last five years, during which time they have steadily gained a solid live fan base and a cult following.

It’ s the first time that Oliver – whose other clients currently include Plan B, Chvrches and Five Seconds of Summer – has worked on a full production tour with HSL as a supplier.

Oliver discussed various visual concepts ahead of the tour with Tour Manager Mike Finn and the band’ s documentary videographer Tom Welsh. The band wanted a ‘ video look’ to the stage, and as Oliver wanted to make a bit of a statement with this, they decided to go for a high-impact upstage screen, choosing a 40ft wide by 15ft high Martin LC 20 surface.

The screen was hung in a slight curve to give additional depth. The video content that ran throughout most of the set was created by Oliver and Welsh. It’ s an interesting mix of re-edited and reworked documentary footage from the band’ s extensive archive, together with new material produced for the tour.

All this was programmed into two Green Hippo Hippotizer ‘ stage ’ media servers, which were timecode controlled and fired via Oliver ’ s grandMA2 light console. HSL has The X Factor Live!

Blackburn UK lighting and visuals rental specialist HSL had a busy spring season supplying numerous tours, including The X Factor Live UK arena tour, which ran for seven weeks, allowing fans of the popular TV series to see a selection of the 2013 series finalists, including the winner, Sam Bailey, perform live.

Lighting for the show – which is produced by Syco Music, with technical production co-ordinated by Production North –was designed by Peter Barnes. Lighting Director and operator on the road is Jonathan Rouse, and all the lighting equipment and its necessary trussing and rigging is supplied by HSL.

Barnes and Rouse programmed the show – which features an impressive array of 34 different musical numbers – during production rehearsals at LS Live in Wakefield. Their challenge was to keep it visually exciting throughout and give each song a different look and feel – a result that has been achieved with some considerable style using a dynamic mix of fixtures, meticulous programming and perfect timing.

Barnes and Rouse worked closely with the tour ’ s Creative Director Beth Honan, who choreographed the show, which features 12 dancers. Honan also commissioned the video content, which adds several layers of depth to the picture as lighting and video work harmoniously together.

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

Iain Whitehead from Production North was also involved in the technical evolution and stage set design, which features stairs, lifts and trap doors, a thrust and a B stage – all elements which help keep up the pace and spectacle! HSL provides The Link

HSL supplied 30 Clay Paky Sharpies and 30 Jarag lighting fixtures to Lighting Designer Tom Kinane for the new BBC One quiz show series of The Link.

The first 25 episodes of the show was recorded in Studio A at BBC Scotland in Glasgow and produced by STV Productions.

Presented by Mark Williams (of Harry Potter fame) and directed by Julian Smith, the show sees three teams race against time to find the link between questions and, in the process, their daring, strategy and teamwork is rewarded.

Kinane has lit a diversity of quiz shows in his career, and for this one, his creative starting point was Chris Webster ’ s set design, which had a heavy LED presence.

This partly influenced his choice of lighting fixtures, and the Jarags in particular were picked to provide a super-bright tungsten source that would contrast with the LEDs.

Kinane ’ s team included Moving Light Operator Max Conwell, who programmed on his own ChamSys console. Richard Jarvis Lighting provided the lighting technicians, including Chief Tech Daniel Kinane.

The Crew Chief was John Adamson, and the generic and white lights were operated by Richard Jarrett, both from BBC Scotland’ s in-house lighting crew.

JANDS

Jands Vista S1 controls immersive lighting for new museum educational initiative

Jands ’ compact yet powerful Vista S1 console has been specified to control dynamic light shows and changing immersive atmospheres at a state-of-the-art innovation centre in the Netherlands.

Thousands of schoolchildren are expected to visit the new ‘Innovation, Creation, Education and Recreation ’ (ICER) museum, which was founded by the local government, several schools, artists and local businesses to provide an innovation centre for young people and other visitors interested in the technical industry. Housed in an old factory, ICER is an exciting and futuristic space built for education and hands-on experience.

ICER was officially opened in May by King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

The Jands Vista S1 is connected to a touch-screen computer and partnered with a 1,024-channel DMX dongle to control a rig of 48 Chroma-Q® Inspire™ premium performance LED house lights, which wash a diverse and vibrant colour palette across areas of the space, transforming the atmosphere and mood every few metres.

Despite its compact size, the S1’ s feature-set includes five playbacks comprising of faders and flash buttons, a complete programming section with three encoder wheels, a rotary master fader and two LCD displays.

In addition to the colour washes, the S1 controls lighting for the multimedia shows, which demonstrate new products such as 3D printing and robot and solar-powered car research.

The S1 includes two DMX outputs to connect to lights and dimmers, a timecode input so shows can be synced up to other devices, and a midi input that accepts midi show control and midi timecode.

The Light Connection ’ s partner, ‘Hendriksen bv ’ from Terborg, installed the Jands Vista S1 at ICER.

Recent shows featuring lighting or media control by Vista include The Smiler rollercoaster launch at Alton Towers in the UK, international concert tours by Peter Gabriel and Bloc Party, and the Raymond Gubbay ‘Christmas Spectacular ’ at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

HARMAN’ s Martin Professional

HARMAN’ s Martin Professional announces winner of annual Young Lighting Designer contest

HARMAN’ s Martin Professional today announced Garou Blancan as the winner of its 2014 Professional Young Lighting Designer contest. Throughout the month of February, young amateur lighting designers from around the world competed for a chance to win by programming their ultimate show to a music track of their choice and submitting it to the Martin Facebook page. Blancan was

Sponsor news

presented as the winner during the 2014 Martin Professional Prolight + Sound press conference.

Blancan, a 25-year-old Belize-born Canadian, has been awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2014 Prolight + Sound Expo in Frankfurt Germany, and a Martin MG20™ lighting controller. The MG20 is a powerful yet compact controller that is easy to use and offers 10 fader playbacks, an external video screen, effects generator and a host of other features.

The winner was chosen through a simple process: Facebook users voted for their favourite shows and the three shows with the most votes were then judged by a three-person panel consisting of last year ’ s winner, Brad Helzer, Martin Professional’ s Global Product and Application Specialist, Theis Wermuth, and Pelletier.

The contest also awarded prizes for the second- and third-place winners. As the second-place winner, Ricardo Dias of Portugal was awarded Martin ’ s M2PC™ control surface, which delivers a professional suite of features directly from any PC. The third-place winner, Mihail Kisiov of Bulgaria, won a Martin USB Duo DMX Interface, which offers XLR 5P female connectors and provides two DMX 512 universes from any USB-enabled Windows-based PC. HARMAN’ s Martin Professional at 2014 Paralympic Games for creative lighting and mid-air effects

To celebrate the historic 2014 Paralympic Games, rental company Euroshow provided HARMAN’ s Martin lighting systems for a special programme featuring an ice show at Russia ’ s Yubileny Sport Palace in St Petersburg. The programme was held before the final stage of the Torch Relay. Lighting Designer Alexey Yevstifeyev, who deployed Martin fixtures based on their functionality and brightness, proposed the lighting concept of the show to feature creative lighting and mid-air effects, consisting of 20 MAC Viper Profiles, 12 Atomic 3000 DMX, 20 RUSH MH3 Beams, 48 MAC 101s and 20 MAC 2000 Wash XBs.

The ice show took place at the Yubileny Sport Palace ’ s hockey rink, with the main challenge being the limited time for installation. Taking this factor into consideration, Yevstifeyev used a combined truss mounting and floor mounting system.

By placing the MAC 101 fixtures on the floor around the rink, he was able to create a beautiful display with compact and extremely fast LED wash lights, emphasising the artist’ s movements through the reflection effects. HARMAN’ s Martin Professional announces Leading Technologies as exclusive distributor of Martin lighting solutions in Italy

HARMAN’ s Martin Professional has appointed Leading Technologies as the exclusive distributor of Martin products in Italy. Leading Technologies has been working with HARMAN since 1995 and this partnership will serve to enhance the sales, distribution and support of Martin Professional lighting solutions in the Italian market.

HARMAN’ s Martin Professional have changed their minds about the future of the TW1.

After recently announcing that they would stop manufacture of their popular tungsten wash light, the TW1, they have had so many pleas from the Save Tungsten movement that they have reconsidered their decision.

Martin Professional’ s UK Sales Director Mike Walker said they had been so impressed with people ’ s concern and affection for the TW1 that they had now decided to continue production for the foreseeable future.

PANALUX

Tektile®2 by Panalux

The Panalux TekTile®2 is a super-efficient, slimline BiColour illumination solution created by Panalux exclusively for the film, television and entertainment media industries.

It features instantly-variable colour temperature from 3,000K to 5,800K, with no shift in light output throughout the transition, via an onboard Tektile®2 controller or when used in conjunction with Panalux F-stop® 8way Controller units

The impressive specification of these new high-quality, highoutput fixtures includes: mains or battery power; local or DMX control; fully dimmable with no shift in correlated colour temperature; Panalux F-Stop® compatible; choice of mounting options; range of accessories, and optional wireless control –all housed within a sleek aluminium unit weighing just 2.5kg.

Simple to operate and just 30mm deep, Tektile®2 is perfect as an effective, balanced ‘ solo ’ soft light, or it can be connected to any number of additional fixtures to create unique modular lighting systems providing flexible, practical illumination solutions that you control.

Created by, and only available from, Panalux, a worldleading source of lighting equipment and ideas, the Tektile® family of fittings are available now at your local Panalux base. 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.

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

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 3,000K 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, was 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

Vari-Lite helps commemorate the night that changed America

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Recording Academy®, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS presented The Beatles: The Night That Changed America – A GRAMMY® Salute.

Featuring many of today ’ s top artists performing songs made famous by the seven-time GRAMMY Award-winning group, the production also included footage from that landmark Sunday evening, along with various presenters discussing the worldwide impact of The Beatles.

Behind the scenes, it was Designer Matt Firestone who was charged with bringing the events lighting to life while working on an extremely tight production schedule, which he did, relying on VL3500 Wash, VL3000 Spot and VL3500 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

For the last six years, Firestone has been involved with a GRAMMY Foundation fundraising event for MusiCares: a non-profit foundation that provides a financial safety for music industry personnel, which runs concurrent with the annual GRAMMY Awards. This year, on the back end of that event, producers also wanted to present the televised tribute to The Beatles, and so Firestone and his team were asked to reconfigure the lighting rig and be prepared to roll cameras in less than two days. Philips Strand Lighting 250ML ‘ super-efficient’ Control Console saves the day for Stark Films

For 26 years, Stark Films has been one of South Africa ’ s leading independent television production companies and its skilled resident Lighting Designer Chris Gardner recently turned to the efficiency and reliability of the Philips Strand Lighting 250ML Control Console for the studio ’ s muchneeded upgrade.

The incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use Strand Lighting 250ML console provides designers with intelligent fixture control and can control 250 channels for dimmers and 30 automated luminaires for moving lights and LEDs. Looks can be stored as either submasters for easy access or cues for traditional theatre playback. Philips Selecon provides ‘ amazing ’ LED upgrade for prime-time TV studio Red Pepper

Award-winning Set Designer Michael Gill recently worked alongside Lighting Designers Joshua Cutts and Francois van der Merwe on South African TV studio Red Pepper ’ s ambitious upgrade project, specifying the remarkable LED technology of Philips Selecon Studio Panels, SPX Zoomspot and PLcyc1 luminaires for three new prime-time game shows.

Red Pepper ’ s CEO Cecil Barry and Facilities Manager Marius Maritz (pictured right) joined forces with Gill, Cutts and van der Merwe to come up with a revolutionised set design and optimised LED lighting rig, including 14 Philips Selecon Studio Panels, six Philips Selecon PLcyc1 luminaires and eight Philips Selecon SPX Zoomspot luminaires, supplied by DWR Distribution (of whom Schalk Botha is pictured left), for the studios in Linden, Melville and Braamfontein.

The Philips Selecon Studio Panel’ s variable colour temperature works from 2,700K up to 6,000K using a mixture of amber and white LEDs. In addition, it is ideal for studio and location lighting as it can be transported around easily and can be powered on location by the camera alone.

Sponsor news

The Red Pepper upgrade project began in 2013 when the studios gained a new client, Connect, who planned to produce the three new game shows – Bounce, Ka Ching and Cula Sibone – to be aired during prime time from Monday to Thursday on the Mzansi Magic and Mzansi Wethu Channel. Red Pepper, therefore, needed a cutting-edge LED rig to deliver fantastic quality lighting for the new shows and so turned to the versatile and powerful Philips Selecon PLcyc1 and SPX Zoomspot luminaires.

PLASA

Processing fees as low as 2.6 per cent from AMEX

PLASA Membership is pleased to offer a new programme with American Express that will offer members a processing fee as low as 2.6 per cent, effective immediately. With over 107.2 million cards in force, PLASA members that accept American Express have an edge over their competition and, with this new rate, can save significantly on their annual operating costs. In addition, members have also reported higher customer loyalty and increased business because of the convenience.

Those with offices in the United States are encouraged to start saving today and sign your company on to accept American Express. For members who already accept American Express, getting the new rate is easy. PLASA’ s membership team will walk you through it step by step and you can begin to save money immediately. Email membership.na@plasa.org or call +1 212 244 1505 to get started. New European dates for PLASA Focus

PLASA Focus is set to debut in two new European locations in 2014 – Brussels in November and Glasgow in December.

PLASA Events will lay down roots in two iconic European cities later this year. PLASA Focus events in Brussels and Glasgow represent a new era for the regional show format, which launched in Leeds, UK, in 2009. Having already expanded to various North American cities, PLASA Focus: Brussels and PLASA Focus: Glasgow will answer market demand for more European events.

PLASA Focus: Brussels takes place at The Square Meeting Centre on 3–4 November. The show, which will attract visitors from across the Benelux region, has already received over 70 exhibitor applications. Those confirmed include Highlite, Robe, Chauvet, Shure, TMB, Soundsystem BVBA, EMD Music, XLR, Elation, Altman Lighting and Total Solutions.

The following month, PLASA Focus: Glasgow will be held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) on 2–3 December. As the first show of its kind in Scotland for five years, it is being warmly welcomed by the entertainment technology industry. This has been reflected in the number of applicants: over 50 exhibitor applications have been submitted, with companies such as Polar Audio, Stage Electrics, Avolites, FBT, SSE Audio, Blacklight, LMC Audio, Robe and Ambersphere already confirmed. PLASA to host pre-LDI party for Behind the Scenes

PLASA has announced it will host the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour – a pre-LDI party with music, food and drinks – from 6pm–8pm on Thursday 20 November at The Las Vegas Hotel.

The goal of Behind the Scenes Happy Hour is not only to throw a great party but also to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial support to entertainment technology professionals when they are ill or injured or to their surviving family members. Funds are granted, which can be used towards medical care, basic living costs or funeral expenses. Behind the Scenes, an initiative of the PLASA Foundation (formerly the ESTA Foundation), brings help and hope in times of great need. At this time, it will replace the Rock Our World Awards and Cocktail Reception, as that programme is being evaluated and updated for the future.

PRG

PRG for the BRIT Awards 2014

PRG were pleased to work with Lighting Designer Dave Davey and Production Managers Kate Wright and Lisa Shenton to supply the lighting for the spectacular BRIT Awards at London ’ s O2 Arena on Wednesday 19 February. With a strong working relationship with both the LD and Production Managers, PRG provided a seamless lighting package for each stage of the event. 2014 was Davey ’ s first year lighting the BRIT Awards, where he was tasked with lighting the main stage, audience and specific band performances. Davey managed to create a unique show for every performance, with the stage transformed between each act – among them, Artic Monkeys; Beyoncé; Bastille and Rudimental; Pharrell & Nile Rodgers; Ellie Goulding; Katy Perry; Disclosure, Lorde & AlunaGeorge; and Bruno Mars.

For the main show, PRG provided: 44 Best Boys, 257 Sharpy Beams, 24 Sharpy Washes, 39 Alpha Beam 700, 24 VL3500 Spots, 54 VL3500 Washes, Atomic and SGM LED strobes and a control system of Hog 4 and Compulite Vector. The show was project managed by Mark Davies for PRG. PRG provides the ultimate lighting solution for Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall

2014’ s Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) at the Royal Albert Hall has yet again seen a string of hugely successful performances given by some of the world’ s most popular concert touring artists, including Ed Sheeran, The Cure, Suede and Paolo Nutini, along with an evening of comedy hosted by Jason Manford. As has been the case for many years, Production Resource Group (PRG) provided a skilled team of expert crew along with a comprehensive lighting and rigging package.

The chock-full week of TCT events, which supports young people with cancer, has now been running for 14 years and is supported bycelebrities including rock legend Roger Daltrey.

Torrington ’ s tailored floor and specials package augments the RAH’ s existing rig and comprised: 30 VL3000 Spots, six

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

VL3500 Washes, 12 Sharpys, Atomic Colours, GLP ImpressionRZ120 and Sunstrips, as well as Mbox Extreme Media Servers and several Whole Hog Full Boars.

PRG also manufactured and supplied 12 sponsorship gobos, which were used to project TCT’ s logos onto the hall’ s acoustic mushrooms.

PULSAR

Pulsar and A.C. Special Projects deliver exterior LED lighting scheme to Madame Tussauds

Pulsar Light of Cambridge (Pulsar) supplied A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) with an energy-efficient, bespoke colourchanging LED lighting solution for the façade of Madame Tussauds London.

An international brand, with 154 locations including New York, Sydney, Hollywood and Hong Kong as well as London, Madame Tussauds gives guests the chance to get up close to some of the world’ s most famous stars, combining glitz and glamour with incredible history.

ACSP were tasked with creating an energy-friendly, flexible architectural lighting solution to help bring the exterior of the attraction to life at night, making it the focal point of its location. It was led by ACSP Project Manager Lance Bromhead, who said: “Up until now, Madame Tussauds London had minimal exterior lighting. The attraction was looking for a versatile solution where lighting could be set to suit different events in its calendar – for instance, washing the building in red, blue and white to mark the birth of the Royal Baby. ”

To achieve the desired results, nine Pulsar ChromaFlood 200 IP66 TriColour floodlights were specified by ACSP. These are used to dramatically uplight the column features of the building ’ s façade. In addition, eight ChromaBatten 200 IP66 TriColour battens are used to uplight the flat rendered panels in between. The result is a scheme that can bring dynamic colour-changing or fixed-colour looks to the facia of the building as required. Each fixture is individually controllable via a Pharos system with a built-in astronomical clock.

ACSP also supplied Pulsar ’ s ChromaStrip X3 LED strips to deliver lighting from inside the refurbished sphere on top of the building ’ s famous domed roof, and a 6,000K coolwhite Pulsar ChromaFlood 200 to illuminate the Madame Tussauds London signage on the side of the building façade.

RML

Kicking off the summer

Since Soccer AM first started in 1995 it has developed a cult following, with generations of young men spending their Saturday morning in front of the TV to tune into features such as ‘Can He Kick It?’ , ‘Big Tackle ’ , ‘Fan of the Week’ , ‘Third Eye ’ , not to mention the Soccerettes!

In addition to the weekly TV show hosted by Helen Chamberlain and Max Rushden, every year Soccer AM also hosts a live event with music and special guests. This year it included performances from legends Soul II Soul and rapper Tinchy Stryder.

Long-term LD Malcolm Reed designed the show, which was supported by Richard Martin Lighting (RML).

Malcolm always sees this show as an opportunity to use the latest products available and this year was no different: the rig included Sharpys, Nexus 4x4s, Jarag-Ls and our most recent purchase, the Clay Pay A.leda B-EYE K20.

The latter ’ s zoom ranges from four to 60 degrees and it is therefore suitable both for environments with low ceilings such as small theatres and TV studios, where large angles are extremely useful, and for shows in arenas or large environments, where a tight zoom is perfect. Girls get in line

Everyone loves a good dating show, whether it be to re-live the days when you were single and carefree, because you ’ re looking for love, too, or purely for the entertainment factor. Just look at shows like Blind Date or Take Me Out – if you get it right then you are on to a winner!

ITV Studios and GroupM Entertainment are the latest to have a go at mastering the format with new show Stand by Your Man, which began airing on Channel 5 in June. The show is hosted by cheeky Irish singer (and some might say ladies ’ man!) Brian McFadden and co-hosted by rising star Laura Jackson.

The show sees four male contestants being put through their paces in a series of fun games and challenges, each revealing more and more about their personalities. At the same time, 40 girls from the studio audience will decide which guy they like the most and stand in his line. The guy with the most girls in his line will then get to choose his favourite girl to take out on a date.

Filming for the show took place at Dock 10, Salford. The lighting was designed by Roger Williams and provided by Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The studio set is designed to look like a bar/nightclub – somewhere all too familiar for those searching for a date. This meant that Roger could be bright and brave with his chosen look, which is just what he did. The lighting spec included VL1000TS, MAC Aura, ROBIN 100 LEDBeams, Alpha Spot 700s and Chroma Battens. In addition to that, one of the main lighting features was the Chauvet Nexus 4x4.

Celebrating science

This year Richard Martin Lighting (RML) will be celebrating 30 years in the industry: a huge achievement and one we are certainly very proud of. Part of the key to our success has

Sponsor news

been evolving with changes in the industry and building relationships with other rental houses and their staff.

Those relationships have always been something that is very important to us, as is the whole ethos of working together to get the job done well, so when we were approached by Wise Productions to assist them in lighting a special anniversary dinner at the British Science Museum, we jumped at the chance. The building is steeped in history and to work in such an iconic building is always such a thrill.

Pixel Par 90s were used to wash the walls – in fact, almost every surface, and as you can see by the pictures, they gave a real depth of colour and richness to the room. The advances in LED technology mean they are the perfect fixture to have in large numbers in a room such as this one at the Science Museum. The room won ’t get too overheated, so guests can enjoy their dinner and evening. Goodness Gracious Me

This year is a year of celebrations! Not only are Richard Martin Lighting (RML) celebrating 30 years in the industry, BBC Two is celebrating 50 years of comedy. The channel has aired some of the most iconic comedy shows of recent years, including Goodness Gracious Me, the British Asian hit show, which has been revived for a one-off special.

The comedy, which starred Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia, was a major hit for the BBC in the late 1990s. The format, which started life as a Radio 4 show in 1996, ran for three series on BBC Two, and the stars also toured the most popular characters via a live theatre show. The programme was widely praised for its funny scripts and also for helping to bring British Indian culture to a mainstream audience, making it the perfect choice to be remade as part of the celebration.

Chris Kempton was instated as the LD and chose Pixel Par 90s, Alpha Spot 700 HPE, Chroma Batten 50 kits and Robe ROBIN 600 LED Wash for the sketch show, which was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Teddington Studios, London.

The special was shown as part of BBC Two ’ s 50th anniversary programming, which also included a look back at The Fast Show, one of the channel’ s other hit sketch shows.

ROBE

Battersea gets powered by Elton John and Robe

Battersea Power Station Development Company, on behalf of its shareholders, SP Setia, Sime Darby and Employees Provident Fund, hosted a concert by Sir Elton to thank everyone helping to make the development of the iconic power station a reality.

The event featured a lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, with Robe moving lights on the rig and equipment supplied by west London-based Colour Sound Experiment.

Fifteen LEDWash 300s were joined by six LEDWash 600s and 12 LEDWash 1200s, eight Pointes and eight MMX Spots, all from Robe ’ s ROBIN series.

A glittering array of celebrities turned out in force to attend and they and a capacity audience of 2,500 were treated to a rousing 90-minute set of Elton ’ s classics.

As well as Patrick Woodroffe being Elton ’ s long-term lighting designer, his company, Woodroffe Bassett Design, are acting lighting consultants for the entire Battersea Power Station development project, where their brief involves ensuring that there is continuity across the lighting of all architectural and environmental elements.

The Elton John gig was project managed for Woodroffe Bassett by Terry Cook, who was also the Associate LD, and for Colour Sound by Steve Marley. Robe announces technical partnership with RADA

Robe Lighting is proud to be working with London ’ s worldfamous Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), supplying technical equipment and resources.

The arrangement was driven by Josef Valchar, Robe s.r.o. ’ s CEO; Ashley Lewis, Robe UK’ s Key Account Manager for Film, TV & Theatre, and Matt Prentice, Head of Lighting at RADA.

RADA has taken delivery of a number of moving-light products from Robe ’ s current ranges, which were selected by Matt as especially appropriate to theatre productions, following a visit to Robe ’ s HQ in the Czech Republic.

The equipment includes DLS Profiles, DLF Washes and LEDWash 600s, together with two of the new MMX Blades – all from Robe ’ s ROBIN series.

The lights will be used across RADA’ s three main performance spaces: the 200-seater Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, the George Bernard Shaw Theatre (GBS) and the John Gielgud Theatre, all in RADA’ s central London buildings.

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

It will also provide very convenient locations for Robe to stage demonstrations, showcases and training sessions.

RADA offers vocational training for actors, stage managers, directors, designers and technical stage-craft specialists and has built an outstanding reputation for excellence, offering the best possible teaching facilities and strong links with the industries associated with its graduates. Robe USA strengthens technical support team

Czech Republicbased lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting has strengthened its technical service department in the United States with the addition of industry professional Ambrose Gumbs, who has joined the company as Technical Service Department Manager.

With increased sales and product recognition, Robe ’ s goal is to provide clients with first-rate technical support as the company continues to expand.

Gumbs was most recently with Martin Professional for nearly 14 years, where he started out as bench technician and soon specialised in lighting console and PCB repairs. As a member of the technical support and training team, Gumbs has extensive industry experience and is excited to be joining the Robe family. Robe Lighting appoints John McDowell as Central Region U.S. Sales Manager

Czech Republicbased lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting has appointed John McDowell as Regional Sales Manager of the Central United States, effective 7 April.

McDowell, based in Austin, Texas, was most recently with Creative Stage Lighting as Western Regional Sales Manager.

Due to higher sales volume and a wide range of popular products, Robe Lighting is expanding its reach in the U.S. under new CEO Bob Schacherl. This is the second new sales appointment to be announced in recent weeks in order to provide Robe clients with the excellent sales support and enhanced customer service that is expected.

McDowell has more than 25 years ’ experience in sales management with two automated lighting manufacturers, High End Systems and Vari-Lite. He also helped establish the North American distribution arm of special effects manufacturer Le Maitre, serving as President and Director of Sales.

ROSCO

Roscolux #359 keeps giving to Behind the Scenes

Rosco Laboratories and The ESTA Foundation are pleased to announce the sixth annual presentation by Rosco of the royalty check from the sales of Roscolux #359 Medium Violet to Behind the Scenes, the charity that assists entertainment technology professionals in need due to serious illness or injury.

Ed Donohue, President of Rosco – North America, said: “You have to have people you can count on, to know someone ’ s got your back. Behind the Scenes provides that support when it’ s needed most – you guys are there for everyone. That’ s not only admirable, it’ s critical – and that’ s why it’ s so important to us that every year, we have your back. This year, Rosco is pleased to present you with the proceeds from Roscolux 359 Medium Violet, $2,227, for a total to date of just over $15,000. ”

Rick Rudolph, Chair of the Behind the Scenes Committee, accepted the cheque from Ed, adding: “We are very grateful to Rosco for this ongoing gift. It allows someone purchasing something as basic to a production as a sheet of colour to feel they are part of a community that won ’t leave its colleagues without a safety net in times of crisis. Rosco was our first Pledge a Product partner and they have set an example that we encourage the rest of the industry to follow. ”

The ESTA Foundation ’ s Behind the Scenes programme provides entertainment technology industry members who are ill or injured with grants that may be used for basic living and medical expenses. For more information, to donate or to apply for a grant, visit www.estafoundation.org/bts.htm.

STAGE ELECTRICS

Stage Electrics applies its knowledge to the Library of Birmingham

The breath-taking architecture and spectacular facilities of

Sponsor news

the new Library of Birmingham drew the attention of

© Christian Richters

the press when it opened in September 2013. Sited in Birmingham ’ s Centenary Square, the library is a major part of Birmingham City Council’ s ‘Big City Plan ’ to regenerate the city centre and draw people to Birmingham from the wider world.

Described by Francine Houben of Mecanoo, its Belgianbased architects, as a ‘ people ’ s palace ’ , the complex has been designed as a major cultural destination and sets a new standard for libraries in the 21st century.

The library is joined to the existing Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with which it shares a common entrance and foyer, café and restaurant facilities, and a new flexible 300-seat Studio Theatre. The latter is a flexible venue, which caters for a prolific and wide-ranging programme of productions, events, functions, exhibitions and community activities. It is used by both organisations and, significantly, expands the range and quantity of work Birmingham Rep can produce and present.

Stage Electrics was appointed by Carillion Construction to work alongside theatre consultants Charcoalblue as the systems integrator for the Studio Theatre within the massive £188.8 million project. It was responsible for transforming the conceptual design agreed with the client into an efficient working solution. As part of the process, Stage Electrics installed and commissioned a full complement of communications, lighting, audio and video systems, taking into account the studio ’ s multi-function role.

The auditorium is served by a bank of retractable seating and a seating pit. The technical control room accommodating stage management and stage lighting and audiovisual operators is located behind the seating at mezzanine level.

A Slingco tension wire grid extends over the studio, providing a safe access floor for stage lighting and scenery rigging, while stage lighting bars and audio equipment can be rigged in any position above the grid thanks to the distribution of customised facilities panels.

Charcoalblue designed a flexible solution for the lighting. A system of moveable, internally wired ladder bars, manufactured by Stage Electrics, are attached to the vertical struts, which support the tension wire grid and can be moved to any position required. Doughty Engineering provided Stage Electrics with a number of boom arms, which can be inserted into Unistrut channels embedded in the studio ’ s wooden walls to create further rigging points. A combination of ETC Source Four profiles and Selecon Rama Fresnels, plus an ETC Ion control console and all loose cabling were among the loose equipment provided by Stage Electrics. Stage Electrics delivers bespoke solutions to Guildhall School of Music & Drama ’ s Milton Court

Stage Electrics delivered the lighting, audio and video systems to Milton Court, Guildhall School of Music and Drama ’ s multimillion-pound facility near its premises in Silk Street.

To ensure that it continued to offer students incomparable training in exceptional, modern facilities, the school’ s aim was to update and expand its site, ‘future-proofing ’ it for the next 25 years. The result is a venue that houses three rehearsal rooms, a television studio, a studio theatre, a 227-seat theatre and a 608-seat, world-class concert hall.

Stage Electrics supplied, installed and commissioned the lighting, audio and video infrastructure venue-wide, which include dimmer racks, data distribution, paging and show relay, plus custom-manufactured stage-management desks, facility panels, lighting bars, ‘ raceways ’ and loose equipment.

These bespoke solutions include custom-designed facilities panels for sound, communications, production lighting and AV, along with company switches and power distribution units that carry single-phase and three-phase power. These have been generously placed throughout the building to increase flexibility.

Unique magnetic cable hooks in the ceiling, which flip up out of the way when not in use, and purpose-built cable passes, which pierce the walls between auditoria and frontof-house areas, were designed by Stage Electrics to handle the cable management in the public areas.

Stage Electrics equipped both the studio and theatre with a GDS blues system backstage, a house- and working-light system (controlled by an ETC Unison Paradigm), ETC Sensor3 dimmers incorporating 3kW and 5kW dim and nondim modules, and ETC’ s new ThruPower modules for production lighting. The latter can be switched remotely between dimmable and non-dim functions and were installed in anticipation of a greater use of LED fixtures.

Rehearsal, performance and house lighting can all be controlled directly from each venue ’ s lighting console or from a Stage Electrics-customised panel with ETC touchscreen interface, which can be configured and programmed for all levels of technical ability.

Stage Electrics also fabricated IWBs and custom-built lighting ladders for the theatre, in addition to manufacturing portable-dimming and power-distribution solutions.

TMB

Solaris LED Flares tour with Justin Timberlake

Adding to the ‘ experience ’ in Justin Timberlake ’ s 20/20 Experience World Tour are 75 super-bright Solaris LED Flares. Selected for their amazing performance and versatility, these award-winning, RGBW wash/strobe/blinders – in a single unit! –provide over 33,000 lumens each in a variety of applications.

By specifying the multipurpose Flares, Lighting Designer Nick Whitehouse reduced the overall fixture count for the tour, saving space, energy, labour and freight, while at the same time gaining features and improved performance. Positioned on the stage, back wall, and overhead, the compact Flares can be used where conventional lights will not fit – for example, hidden in the stage and other tight spots. The Flares were

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

provided by Solotech of Montreal and Las Vegas.

Selected Live Design 2013 Product of the Year and earning the 2013 PLASA Sustainability Award, the Flare features instantaneous RGBW colour mixing, with 1200Hz refresh rate for smooth on-camera dimming. The ‘ pixel map ’ feature divides the Flare into as many as 12 sections. Saturated colours feature intense deep reds and blues, ultra-bright greens and brilliant, camera-friendly whites. Solaris LED Flare models also include the new Flare Jr, as well as Flare Micro and outdoor Flare IP (both coming soon).

UNUSUAL RIGGING

The Laureus Awards get the Unusual touch

© Ian Walton – Getty Images for Laureus

The most prestigious awards in the international sporting calendar, the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards, celebrated their 15th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur on 26 March. Attended by the greatest names in sport, past and present, the event was staged at the Istana Budaya, the national theatre of Malaysia and home to the National Theatre Company and National Symphony Orchestra.

An event such as this, which is broadcast to audiences across the world, requires a first-class setting, and once again, this was staged by production company Done and Dusted. Helping to build that set was a crew of four from Unusual Rigging, led by Senior Project Manager Steve Porter.

Working alongside Paddy Hocken, Done and Dusted’ s Technical Production Manager, Unusual also supplied winches to track two video screens, plus a variety of specialist rigging components not available in the region, to overcome the challenges of suspending the scenic elements in the theatre ’ s existing mechanical flying system.

The scenic elements included several holographic cubes, two of which measured three metres square and were flown from the flybars, while the third and larger cube, measuring six metres square, was tracked on and off stage. Helping King ’ s Theatre, Glasgow, defy gravity

When Wicked opened at the King ’ s Theatre in Glasgow in May, little did the management realise it would be the highestgrossing show in the history of the venue. Over 53,000 tickets

© Matt Crockett

were snapped up for the show ’ s sell-out Scottish premiere.

But to ensure the venue could play host to the spectacular musical phenomenon, it needed a little assistance from the team at Unusual Rigging, specifically to make the grid of the King ’ s compatible with the magnitude and distribution of suspension points required for the show.

The main problem for Project Manager Gavin Snelling in staging Wicked at the King ’ s Theatre was the overall weight of the show. The King ’ s grid was not strong enough to provide the suspension points required. Unusual was brought on board by Mike Jackson, ATG’ s external consulting engineer, to install an array of steelwork to transfer the suspension loads back to the fly-tower walls, enabling the show to be suspended without overloading the existing grid and roof structure.

Such a complex job was not without its challenges. The work had to be completed in a two-week period immediately before the Wicked get-in – any delay would have had massive financial implications. And to add to the challenge, the Unusual team had to work around the Scottish Ballet and Let It Be, both of which were taking place during the period of work.

All work took place overnight above the live shows. It was vital the stage was operational by 10am each morning, and care had to be taken not to damage the ballet floors, set, scenery and lighting.

Unusual created a mock-up back at the office to work out a system. They fabricated height-adjustable rollers to enable the beams to be moved clear of obstacles and strengthened parts of the grid to take a 22mm plyboard runway, which spread the load and created a clear route to move beams within the grid, as the existing flying system and roof structure was in the way.

WHITE LIGHT

2014 Olivier Award winners announced

The 2014 Olivier Awards, marking the best of theatre to open in London ’ s West End over the last 12 months, were presented on 13 April in a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Opera House.

The Best Lighting Design award, supported by entertainment lighting supplier White Light, was awarded jointly to four designers across two shows: to Paul Pyant and Jon Driscoll, responsible for lighting and projection design on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury

Sponsor news

Lane, and to Tim Lutkin and Finn Ross, lighting and projection designers for Chimerica, at the Almeida and then the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Another lighting designer was also recognised during the evening: Michael Hulls was presented with the Outstanding Achievement in Dance award for his body of lighting work, including Ballet Boyz – The Talent at Sadler ’ s Wells.

The Olivier Awards ceremony has become a major production in itself. Staged once again this year at the Royal Opera House, with highlights shown later on television, the show was designed by Es Devlin, with lighting by Ben Cracknell. White Light supplied the lighting rig to the show to a tight production schedule, working around the Opera House ’ s busy performance schedule. Runners raise more than £1,000 for Light Relief

A team from entertainment lighting specialist White Light recently took on a 10K running challenge to raise money for Light Relief, the industry charity that provides support for lighting professionals in extreme hardship. Dubbed ‘Team White Light’ , the group of 22 runners raised more than £1,000 for their efforts in completing the Richmond River Run in March 2014. The challenge was a full-team effort, with participants of all skill levels from across White Light departments, including hire, sales, events, technical service, operations, rigging and marketing.

On the day, top runners from White Light were Dispatch Supervisor Steve Smith, Hire Co-ordinator Josh Yard and Business Development Director Richard Wilson. An avid runner, Wilson, along with Marketing Manager Fanny Saint-Pasteur, set up the challenge as a team activity and recruited colleagues to join the cause.

XL VIDEO

At The BRIT Awards 2014 with MasterCard

The BRIT Awards 2014 with MasterCard – hailed as one of the liveliest and most compelling to date for content, production and visual presentation – featured a fresh and epic look at London ’ s O2 Arena, with an eye-catching stage set designed by Peter Bingemann and XL Video once again supplying LED screens, projection and crew.

The accompanying cameras, PPU, control systems and a Twitter feed-to-screen/moderation system were supplied and managed by Ogle Hog ’ s Chris Saunders, who continued his 20-year relationship with The BRITs.

It’ s the 12fth consecutive year that XL – and Production Manager Paul Wood – has been involved as the video contractor for the high-profile annual music awards, once again working with Papilo Productions, which manage the project for BRIT Awards Productions.

The show was presented by James Corden, broadcast live on ITV and streamed live on the internet for the first time. It included some show-stopping live performances from Bastille, Rudimental, Beyoncé, The Arctic Monkeys, Katy Perry, Disclosure, Pharrell Williams and Ellie Goulding, among others.

The main stage set design included 120 square metres of XL’ s Absen 6mm LED screen product, configured in three very elegant 12m-high architectural set pieces.

An 11m circular, close-down projection screen was flown in (downstage on the main stage) while awards were being presented on a central B stage, and this was fed by three Barco HDQ 2K40 projectors positioned at FOH.

Four Barco HDF-W26 projectors, also at FOH, were used for projecting images and texturing onto a 12m-high scenic awards statuette – a striking and prominent set feature positioned upstage centre.

© Scott Davies

© Scott Davies

XL Video towers above for The Amazing SpiderMan 2 world premiere

London ’ s Leicester Square was the venue for the world premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – the latest instalment of the Marvel Comics franchise from Columbia Pictures.

The glittering premiere was attended by the stars of the movie, including Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan. For the red-carpet exterior of the cinema, XL Video were brought in to provide a video solution, including multiple LED screens and media control.

XL Video ’ s Project Manager, Mark Rooney, selected the company ’ s new MC-7 LED, which displayed the logos and character images from the film. Despite the bright sunshine that day, the screen performed very well, with vibrant colours.

With only a few hours to rig the screens from 6am on the day of the premiere, XL’ s crew of Gary Burchett, Steven Grinceri, Rob Smith, Colin Mudd and Fabrizio Di Lelio worked closely with the Layher riggers, cladding company and production team to construct the six towering LED displays. XL Video ’ s 2 x 2 touring frames ensured that the screens were built in about 30 minutes each.

Society Committee

Secretary John O’Brien

07717 170 288

johnobrien@stld.org.uk

Sponsors Liaison Bernie Davis

07860 662 736

sponsors@stld.org.uk

Publicity Andrew Harris

07973 745 583

publicity@stld.org.uk

Lee Allen

07711 088 964

leeallen@stld.org.uk

Alan Luxford

07867 536 522

luxfora@aol.com Chairman Stuart Gain

07774 161 996

chairman@stld.org.uk

Treasurer Mike Le Fevre

07956 305 662

treasurer@stld.org.uk

Membership Robert Horne

07762 562 434

members@stld.org.uk

Website Ian Hillson

Picture courtesy of Chris Capstick

ianhillson@stld.org.uk

Iain Davidson

07811 256 283

iaindavidson@stld.org.uk

Les McCallum

07940 280 268

lesmccallum@stld.org.uk

Magazine Editor, Sponsor News + Assistant Sponsor Liaison Emma Thorpe

07850 709 210

editor@stld.org.uk

Exhibitions, Diary + Advertising Sales Paul Middleton

07720 446 921

paulmiddleton@stld.org.uk

John King

07860 759 294

johnking@stld.org.uk

Rick Dines

07780 707 169

rickdines@stld.org.uk

Jonathan Taylor

07774 698 847

jonathantaylor@stld.org.uk Set & Light | Summer 2014 51