Set & Light: Winter 2017 (Issue 122)

Set & Light

www.stld.org.uk

Issue 122: Winter 2017

from the Society of Television Lighting and Design

INSIDE: MEDIA CITY VISIT | SHOWLIGHT REPORTS | LIGHTING THE PROMS | KOI WINNERS STLD_122 pp1_??.indd 1

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Tungsten to Daylight CTB

Urban Effect Give tungsten a sodium look

Daylight to Tungsten CTO

LED Conversion

Fluorescent Correction

Zircon Filters

LEE Minus Green

Diffusion Media Neutral Density

Diffusion Grid Cloth Tough Spun Flexi Frost

ND

Conversion • Correction • Diffusion

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editorial

Highlights from Showlight and an invitation to our AGM We have a few more Showlight highlights in this issue for you (turn to page 9). And I must give a special mention to one of our committee members, Alan Luxford, who works tirelessly to help us out while balancing his day job brilliantly.You can read all about that day job on p16.

Our next AGM will take place at Television Centre on the evening of 15 January. It will be preceded by a tour of the new BBC Studioworks facilities, which we can thank in advance for hosting this event as a long-standing sponsor member. Booking will be necessary to gain entry – further information will be dropping into your inbox soon.

All visit invitations and membership notices go out electronically now, so if we don’t have your email address then you will miss out.

Contact Chris Harris, our membership secretary, at members@stld.co.uk. This also applies to sponsor members: if your details changed, email sponsors@stld.org.uk.

The next issue of the magazine will be out in spring 2018. The deadlines are 16 February for advertising and 23 February for editorial, which includes sponsor news. Contact editor@stld.org.uk for a full media pack.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all in 2018.

Emma Thorpe Editor

OFFICIAL NOTICE I hereby give notice that the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Society of Television Lighting & Design will be held on 15 January 2018 at 7pm at the new BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, W12 8QT. Members should register with secretary@stld.org.uk for the AGM. This will automatically enrol them on the TVC tour. A official flyer will be emailed out once details are confirmed.

John O’Brien Secretary

contents 4

STLD visit: MediaCityUK

28

Lighting: Television Centre

9

Showlight: Amy Mae Smith

36

Information: PLASA and STLD training course

10

Showlight: Programmers’ panel

39

Awards: Knights of Illumination

13

Showlight: James Simpson

43

Sponsor news

16

Profile: Alan Luxford

60

Sponsors’ directory

21

Lighting: The Proms

67

Committee contact details

y Set & Light is the journal of the Society of Television Lighting and Design and is published three times a year. ISSN 2055-1185 Editor: Emma Thorpe Email: editor@stld.org.uk Web: www.stld.org.uk Production Editor: Joanne Horne Sponsor news: Emma Thorpe Email: sponsornews@stld.org.uk Advertising: Emma Thorpe Email: adverts@stld.org.uk Cover photo: The Proms by Bernie Davis

Printed by: Gemini Print Deadlines for the next issue: Editorial: 23 February 2018 Advertising: 16 February 2018 Advertising is accepted only from sponsor members of the Society

© Society of Television Lighting and Design 2017 Set & Light | Winter 2017

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stld visit

(h) Media City: the home of Jeremy Kyle, The Voice, Dragons’ Den, Blue Peter and many more

Northern powerhouse Words & photos: Steven Benson

The fact that STLD members from as far away as Norwich, Southampton and Cardiff travelled to Salford for the October STLD visit was an acknowledgement of the significance of MediaCityUK as home of ‘the most technically advanced HD production facility in Europe.1 Members were joined by 10 second-year students from Rose Bruford College in Sidcup taking a module in Creative Lighting Control.2 The visit was structured around a visit to the studios of Coronation Street, the world’s longest running TV soap, which, two days after our visit, was to start using its first two LED-only studios.3 A couple of STLD members who were on the visit (Nick Mobsby and Richard Bunting) had been involved in the choice of equipment and facilities provided, both at Dock 10 and at the Coronation Street complex.4 Chris Chisnall, Head of Lighting, Coronation Street, was our host and used three of the complex’s studios to explain and

demonstrate the development from all-tungsten to all-LED lighting over recent years. We started in the interior set of Roy’s Rolls (a café) in the tungsten-only studio (a). Here, Chris explained the theory of colour temperature, demonstrated ¼ and ½ blues coming off the soft lights outside the window, giving the daylight feel, and – especially for the students – gave an introduction to the problems of shadows caused by placing keylights downstage of the actors when one or two mic booms are on set (b). He also identified the problems of colour temperature changing as the lamp’s brightness was varied.

We moved on to another part of the set: The Rovers Return (c). ‘Established’ in 1902, it was somewhat incongruous to see it pioneering what Chris called the first generation of LED studio lighting. DeSisti provided LED lamp heads for the current set build when the production moved from the centre of Manchester just under four years ago. Lit to a level of about

1 www.Mediacityuk.co.uk 2 www.bruford.ac.uk/courses/creative-lighting-control-ba-hons 3 required as the production moves from five to six episodes per week 4 LSI (through Nick Mobsby) was asked to get involved with Media City at the planning stage, when Rick Dines was putting the lighting specification together for David Carr (who was Peel’s overall technical consultant). LSI supplied and installed the lighting and scenery hoists, pantographs, dimmers, production and house lighting control, power and control systems, as well as the luminaires appropriate for each studio. These included HQ1–6, the Philharmonia Hall, BBC Sports and BBC Breakfast, as well as a media facility for the University of Salford (next door to Dock 10). All of the above is, of course, in addition to the six studios (and the backlot), now completed for ITV’s Coronation Street at Trafford Wharf

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MediaCityUK

(b) A demonstration to students of the need for soft light downstage to prevent the creation of shadows from cameras and mic booms

(a) Chris Chisnall, Head of Lighting, Coronation Street, on the set of Roy’s Café, which uses entirely tungsten luminaires

(d) Pint anyone? Mine’s a small 201 and large 202: the first generation of LED lighting at The Rovers Return. Dimmable, but with fixed colour temperature.

300–400 lux, the world-renowned pub interior (d) is under the daily management of one of four regular LDs, but always under Chris’s over-seeing eye. The LED Fresnel lamps are in smaller housings than the 1kW Pups they replaced but, of course, they generate far less heat, requiring a much smaller cooling plant, with less associated heat waste and noise.

Chris described these as first-generation LED because although they give a constant colour temperature when dimmed, that temperature is fixed at 3,200K and so the lamps still require gel if they are to be used to create any daylight effect. The other main limitation in a studio context is that the light is available only in Fresnel form, and soft light still has to be created from a soft box or by being bounced off a piece of poly in the grid (the latter resulting in more spill than would be ideal, with the resultant waste of light and energy).

To see the ideal solution to these limitations we crossed over Coronation Street itself to the new studio area and on to the set of the salon flat. This has been newly built in one of the two new LED-only studios (e), where the lighting equipment list comprises lamps made by DeSisti and The Light.5 The biggest additional advantage of these lights is that they have variable colour temperature (3,200K–5,600K), which

5 Spanish company The Light supplied about 70 of its Velvet Studio softlights (www.thelight.com.es) through Octica, the UK distributor.

(c) STLD member Paul Middleton captures what is arguably the most famous set in the world of TV soap operas: The Rovers Return

(g) The ETC Ion desk, which runs the entire operation

(e) The salon flat: the first of two all-LED studios that came online a week later

(f) Taken from the fourth wall, you can see the two windows through which ‘daylight’ comes from a variable (3,200K to 5,600K) LED panel lights

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(l) Andrew Hill, Assistant Editor, BBC North, TV News, explains the facilities available in the BBC Breakfast studio

(i) Add virtual red and blue and a real-life Lineker and this set takes on a new significance

(j) Students tried out the Oculus Rift system at the BBC’s production laboratory, the Blue Room

makes the creation of daylight around windows no more than the touch of a button (f); no longer does the cast have to be banished from the set for an extended break while electricians climb ladders to add or remove gels. The advantages to production are evident. Also available using this new technology are panel LED lights, which allow soft light to be easily created and managed without the need for softboxes.

These newest generation lights control brightness by pulse code modulating the light emitters at 40kHz – well above anything that can be sensed by the camera, even at ultra-high frame rates, let alone the human eye. The benchmarking system of the TLCI (Television Lighting Consistency Index), although no longer referred to on a daily basis, is offering a figure of better than 92 per cent on these lights.

Chris revealed his initial deep suspicion of LEDs when first asked to consider them to light a continuing drama but, having seen their advantages, he admits he’d be reluctant to go back to tungsten, especially given the compact studio size used on this programme. A shallow grid means adequate height can be obtained without cavernous ceilings. Each intersection of the grid has its own DMX socket and, to facilitate the termination of all lines, each outlet is fed via a patch bay, so only those outlets used are patched, thus avoiding having numerous DMX lines in the grid connected only at their source and hence unterminated (g).

While on the set, a spontaneous Q&A session followed.

Nick Mobsby (now with DeSisti) and Richard Bunting (LSI Projects) were with the visit and were able to provide firsthand information about the technical spec and the workflow of the project. Chris, who formerly trained as a cameraman with BBC, stressed how important it was to have a 6

(m) The end of a very enjoyable day: note the hot-spots on the set for presenters and guests but also the low grid and small LED luminaires

(k) A damp day in Manchester: the BBC Breakfast set doubles as the home of the regional TV opt-out North West Tonight

broad appreciation of all aspects of television to undertake the role of an LD. For example, an understanding of the camera, lens and the chip size has led Chris to devise a line-up procedure with the lens at f4 (it’s ‘sweet’ spot) with the LEDs running at 4,400K. This gives latitude in matching colour temperature when it comes to operating the cameras in ‘real’ scenes on the set (balancing against pracs, for example).

From Coronation Street we walked across the canal to the main studio complex at Dock 10 (h).We began in the studio (HQ4) rigged for Jeremy Kyle.We were fortunate enough to have one of the studio’s electricians,Taras Kochan, and one of its directors, Matt Woodward, present and so we were able to ask questions of people actively involved in the studio’s use.The rig appears to be a big one, but it has to cater for three shows that alternate in the space and it’s more cost effective to leave the luminaires for all shows in position than it is to rig and de-rig for one show only. Matt explained how the access routes to and from the set are lit at a slightly different colour temperature so that when participants storm off the set and are chased into the green room (a specially built one so that camera and sound facilities have a fighting chance of seeing and hearing what’s going on!) it seems that they are going somewhere they are not supposed to go. Here a subtle, but significant, input from lighting contributes to the editorial of the programme. No pictures of the set available for legal reasons.

We looked in on a four-day rig for The Voice at Dock 10’s largest studio: HQ1. (The HQ comes from the last two letters of the postcode!) It was operating as a hard-hat area, with speaker stacks being hauled a long way towards the roof, so we were limited in what we could see, but this massive show requires meticulous planning to ensure that set, lights, audience

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MediaCityUK

seating and TV equipment comes together in the hands of several dozen people. Two days later, the studio was being brought alive for the blind-audition stage of this year’s competition, where the judges press their button and turn in their chair to see whom they have selected.

Through the scenery dock and we found ourselves in a well-known, although not immediately recognisable, set.

Match of the Day shares the studio (HQ3) with other footy programmes, but since so much of the set is virtual (its characteristic red and blue tones are VR, not emulsion!) it took a moment so realise what we were seeing (i). Andrew Garnett, Studio Operations Manager at Dock 10, explained how the sensors high on the studio walls were sent distinctive signals from each camera electronically and interpreted in virtual 3D space to identify each camera’s unique position. The proper perspective of the set was then applied accordingly. We left Dock 10 via the lighting gallery of one of the dark studios: a 14-station classroom layout where any control surfaces could be patched through to any device on the studio floor. Such a control area was far away from the heat and noise of dimmer rooms. Operational lighting made the bank of monitors a pleasure to look at.

The day finished with a visit to the BBC North facilities across the piazza.We went to the BBC Blue Room in Quay House. Given that the market moves faster than any organisation – even the BBC – it is important that those working in a production environment are kept abreast of the latest technology.The Blue Room is a production-friendly laboratory (j) where (currently) Oculus Rift is set up to allow production staff to experiment with 3D worlds and models as ways of visualising what may be possible for TV production.

Although marketed as gaming, the technology offers much more; the ability to enter worlds in VR (Virtual Reality) and ER (Enhanced Reality) before committing to a huge set build is something that is catching the production imagination. Colin Warhurst, one of the technologists and an Indie filmmaker, explained how marketing hardware is affecting viewing habits.

“How many of your TV remote controls now have a Netflix button?” Where we go looking for media – especially news – is of great significance. BBC News currently has an agreement with Amazon and with Google in the UK to default to BBC News in any search. But for how long? A Smart TV opens with a pageful of icons.We have to select what and from whom we want to be told things; there is no longer a default to BBC One. And finally, a visit to the BBC Breakfast studio (k).

Originally built on the edge of office space with windows looking out over Salford, this was going to be the sports unit.

But sport took up a position on the ground floor with a less salubrious view, and BBC Breakfast decided that if the rear of the set (real windows) were to be it replaced with screens (l) then any view could be created as the backdrop to the programme. STLD visitors sat on the red sofa (m) and were amazed by the close proximity of the overhead LED lighting.

This visit was enjoyable, not just because we were able to visit the sets of recognisable and much-loved programmes, but because those talking about their particular area did so with a passion and knowledge that was inspirational. It was good for the society, too, that a significant number of students took the trouble and time to travel such a distance.

It is with such people that the future of the society lies.

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showlight 2017

Amy Mae Smith

Slasher theatre: Sweeney Todd on a budget Words: Andrew Dixon Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd has been seen on stages in the West End and Off Broadway in New York – even in my own Questor’s in Ealing (brilliant lighting!). Amy Mae Smith was challenged to light a production in 2014 in Harrington’s Pie and Mash shop in Tooting. She assured her dedicated Showlight audience: “In this talk I promise you one lighting joke.”

With a nightly audience of 32, a power supply of 13A and no budget to hire quality LEDs, Amy Mae relied on birdies.

“They are cheap and, in silver, look like architectural lighting during shop hours.”

The shop chosen had an amenable owner who intended to refurbish after the show had completed its run. Amy Mae understood that the temptation to cut corners in such a venue must be resisted and that safety and hiding lighting away would be a priority.

Candles played a big part in the lighting so Amy Mae used the warmth of dimmed tungsten lamps to help enhance the atmosphere, but contrasted them with blue light to bring drama to some lighting changes. However, she had to use dark red for the main murder.

Lee 200 was used to identify Sweeney,

Credit: John O’Brien

especially as he came close to the murder. To save some money she used Lee 241 in the rig. (That was her lighting joke – just think ‘four candles’.)

When the show transferred to the West End, into an empty space soon to be reopened as a restaurant seating 70,

the pie shop was built within it. The available power supply became reasonable, so she could use the odd Source Four and 1K floods and even hide lights behind grills to keep the restaurant uncluttered. She consulted Lighting Designer Paule Constable, who advised her to keep the feeling of the original rig.

The transfer to New York was even more of a contrast, with 130 seats and a real lighting crew, but the hindrance of safety lights ruining her blackouts.

Amy Mae concluded with some lessons learnt in a site-specific venue: n Restrictions can lead to some inventive solutions n Relationships with cast, crew and location owners are key n Safety first – just because you are out of a theatre environment don’t be tempted to take risks n Don’t overload yourself – take breaks n Do the basics and do them well n Site-specific shows can be a great confidence booster – if you can work in a pie shop, you can do anything We heard many varied talks at Showlight but Amy Mae’s story and coolness made this a high point for many.

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Exploring the role of the Lighting Programmer Words: Iain Davidson Iain Davidson writes:Thirty years ago, when I was a console operator, I reckoned it was the best job in the world: all the craft of lighting but none of the responsibility.Times have moved on, with the arrival of moving lights, LED fixtures and tech such as pixel mapping, and, as a lighting director, I need their help.This Showlight session, chaired by Bernie Davis, looks at how the vital role of lighting programmer varies in different genres of lighting.

The panel Bernie Davis Panel chairman, 30 years as a lighting director across all genres of the craft.

Stuart Porter Best known for commercial theatre, for the past 30 years he has worked throughout the industry as a lighting designer, associate and programmer.

Brad Schiller Professional automated lighting programmer, product/ business manager (Martin Professional) and author.

Ross Williams Since 1995 he has worked as a freelance lighting programmer and designer. Specialising in broadcast, his work has spanned theatre, concert touring, television, live events and film We had suggestions for papers about programming, so we thought we would combine them into a panel looking at the relationship between the lighting designer and the programmer. Bernie started by asking the panel how they work with lighting designers in their particular genres.

Brad: In live events there are various styles of relationship: you get the data-entry style, where the designer knows what they want and they tell you what to input.You also have the collaboration style, very common in live events, where the designer says I kind of want something with this feel, a little twinkle in the chorus, and you collaborate with him and bring in your ideas and help to put together the look of the show.

Then there is the one I call ‘I’ll be back’, where the designer says we have got 20 songs to do, I’ve got to go and talk to the artist; I’ll be back! He comes back later and says ‘show me what you have, make that a little more blue, twinkle there, next song...’. Then there is the all-in-one: the LD and the programmer is the same person, so it’s all happening in the person’s head. In the live events industry we mainly see the collaboration and the ‘I’ll be back’ styles.

Stuart: It’s slightly different in the theatre as the programmer often acts as the interface between the designer and the technical side; we have to work in a collaborative style to deliver that particular product. We will work closely together and I reckon we will have a strong relationship.

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Ross: TV is collaborative; I see myself as being there to assist in any way I can. Most of the productions I work on have very limited time: if I had to wait around until I was told what to do we would run out of time quickly. The way I see my role is to make a start and, if I can get it all done by the time the LD turns up, all the better. I like to build looks while the LD is setting, so by the time we sit down together, we have something to refine. Everything I do is the designer’s concept – it’s their show, I never want to take away from that – but the more I get done, the quicker we get through the day.

Bernie: At a previous Showlight we had a presentation from the Eurovision Song Contest team and some people were surprised to learn that often they were the ‘editors of the look’ and no longer purely the designer. It still stays as the designer’s concept; what are your thoughts?

Stuart: I see myself in a supportive role.You are not there to take over; the show will suffer if you suddenly say this is what I want to do. As an operator you can input ideas but I respect that the designer is in charge, whether or not I think he is doing a good job.

Brad: The designer has a lot going on – not just the lighting.

As was discussed in an earlier session, the designer’s work can be 10 per cent lighting and 90 per cent politics. There is a lot of responsibility on the programmer to get on with the 90 per cent of lighting to allow the designer to do the other stuff without worrying.

Bernie:You don’t feel there is a danger that the programmer takes over?

Brad: Some do... but they don’t last very long!

Bernie: Working on a show with Lionel Ritchie, I left Ross to get on with programming, went to find out where the artist was standing and came back to a programmed look that was great. The programmer is empowered to make decisions but is prepared to adapt to the LD’s view.

Brad: Sometimes you spend a lot of time building a look and you feel you own it. The designer comes back and wants to make changes; you have to because it is the designer’s role.

It can be difficult because of all the effort you have put in.

Ross: The designer brings the overview, which makes the difference between average lighting and good lighting.

Bernie: I want to jump back to look at genres. Are the programmers aiming to create completely different things? If I can mention my observations: in theatre they are aiming for something completely in the desk, ready for someone to say

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Programmers’ panel

Pictured from left: Bernie Davis, Stuart Porter, Brad Schiller and Ross Williams Credit: John O’Brien

Go LX and everything happens perfectly every time. Live events change with each performance; you put something up but it has to change with the venue, or change with the way the number is played, or the set order changes. TV is for one performance only and never has to be repeated again. Have I got that right?

Stuart: Absolutely. If I’m doing a live event I can set the desk up to how I want it to be, I know where everything is and the ‘buskerbility’ is there. For a show, 90 per cent of the time you take the ‘buskerbility’ out of the desk and hone it down to one button. Although there are crossovers, we use a different kind of console in theatre than we do on events. If I’m programming for a musical or a show, I start by bearing in mind that someone else is taking it over.You never plot it for yourself: you plot it for the show, the designer and for the duration that the show runs, so that it can be maintained, which can be years. If setting up a West End show, you may allow for a later tour because there will be less time to reprogramme.We take it down to smaller key elements, which can limit what we do, but midi and timecode assist monumentally and you widen it out a lot more.

Brad: If I’m programming a corporate that I know I will be operating, then I just need to set things up for myself, but if I’m doing a tour, then I have to set it up in such a way that the lighting designer – and there may be more than one during a tour – can understand it and be able to do updates and make changes. That’s a different style of programming.

Bernie: Speaking from the TV side of things again, I never plan things knowing cue numbers because no one will ever call them as they do in theatre. Taking, for example, the Royal Variety Performance, in theatre you would expect cue numbers to be called but, if we’re lucky, we get ‘Go Lights’!

Ross: Because I’m running my own shows I put a lot of effort, detail and notation into the desk, which makes for an easier show. This means I can look up at the TX monitor and keep an eye on the show. For us, the show is never really finished; we are always rebalancing as we go along. An organised structure allows me to do that. The sacrifice is meal breaks and overnights.

Bernie: Technology has changed a lot over recent years – has that put an extra load on programmers?

Stuart: The size is something that has changed. My first shows used 18 Varilites, modern shows use many more fixtures, additional parameters, Led etc but recent desks are cleverer, doing more work behind the scenes. It’s important that the desk manufacturers keep up with these demands otherwise things become too big and you lose control.

Ross: When I started I was using 12 cyberlights putting some gobos on the set and if something went wrong it wasn’t the end of the world, now I control hundreds of fixtures covering the whole set and the artist. I’m triggering game play and sound. What I do has a critical effect – the only person in control of all of this. And a lot less time than when I had just 12 Cyberlights!

Bernie: Do you have concerns for the future?

Brad: There is a danger that folks spend all of their time looking at screens, pushing buttons, creating macros and layouts and forget there is a show happening on stage.

Programming has got very technical and geeky; I’m hoping for a more creative interface. We have to remember the art that is out there on stage.

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Programmers’ panel

Ross: Computers are good at mathematics – leave us to make the creative decisions; we need to get back to this.

own desk is that I can set it up on the train, in the hotel, any time I can, as time is limited on the show.

Brad: We have seen some great strides, going back to the days of 18 Cyberlights, to create a ‘ballyhoo’ would require marking multiple positions and creating chases, which took forever, whereas now we press effect go. Things like pixel mapping mean we can create shapes using a video file, which is great and saves a lot of work.

Roger Simonz: Is programming such a specialism now that it is the end goal or do you want to be the designer?

Bernie: When you watch a show, can you notice and recognise the effect engine in use?

Stuart:You can spot a lot of the effects because people tend to use the first few on the list every time. Desk manufacturers are working hard to change them, spreading and varying them, making the effect more detailed, so it looks different each time.

Q&A

Ken Billington: How many days of preproduction before I show up?

Stuart: A couple of days getting the profiles set up in the desk then, while the techs are setting up, I will set up the patch.

Brad: For a corporate I will spend three days setting up the desk and the patch.

Ross: As much time as possible. The advantage of using my

Stuart: I have been a designer but I get my shot of creativity from reprogramming shows. I like my supportive role.

Brad: The thing I like about programming is that I don’t have to deal with that 90 per cent politics.

Ross: I spend more time lighting than the lighting director sometimes; I like the collaborative aspect. I’ve learnt a lot from some of the best designers but I prefer to be part of the team.

Durham Marenghi: Should a lighting designer be allowed to do the patch?

Stuart: I don’t know many designers prepared to do the patch!

Bernie: I’ve done it but know I shouldn’t.

Ross: I agree with that!

Bernie concluded the session by thanking Stuart, Brad and Ross. Ross and Bernie were both winners at this year’s KOI Awards – turn to page 39.

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30:01

showlight 2017

James Simpson

A vision for visualisation Photos: John O’Brien

James Simpson at Showlight

Still image from the Floral Hall visualisation

James Simpson works in his dream job as the Lighting Visualiser at the Royal Opera House. He has a Master’s in 3D CGI and a vision for how visualisation could revolutionise the entertainment industry. At Showlight he demonstrated why it is all so exciting.

How do you know if you have made a bad production? Is it the first phone call from the client? Maybe the script isn’t fully developed? In rehearsal, with the actors? Or you see the set for the first time and it feels too big? Is it in the tech, when you see it all come together, or after the first night when you get the reviews?

There is a tool to help us identify a bad production – visualisation. There are two streams of visualisation: technical – eg, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), which can give a tangible representation of things such as sightlines – and pre-visualisation, which allows us to see the concept. If we can create a space that allows the director and designer to get together to realise how much of a monster they are creating at the earliest opportunity then this is called pre-visualisation.

At the Royal Opera House (ROH), the main issue is time.

To give you an idea of a typical day: the crew come in at 7.30am to ready the set for the day’s rehearsal at 11am.

Rehearsal continues until 2.30pm. A revival may get five or six of these tech/dress rehearsals; a new show may get 10 or 12. We try to create as much as possible offline. In an ideal world we would have a second opera house next door, with an identical lighting rig and doppelgangers of the whole crew and just bring it across when ready; but that’s all too expensive. So we have a virtual opera house, which is mainly WYSIWYG at the moment but we do have other great tools.

One of these is photorealistic CGI, as used in the film industry and in architecture. It is incredibly accurate; you can have a photometric file with data from the manufacturer and you can have physically based materials with known

reflective/dispersion properties, which can then be captured by a ‘real’ camera (actually a software device that you can adjust for ISO speed, exposure and colourimetry). It’s about as close to real life as we are going to get.

Pictured above right is an image of our Floral Hall; it’s very beautiful but not an exact representation. The main problem with this type of visualisation is that it is only 10 seconds long but took two weeks to render using software that processes all the data to allow viewing from all angles with full detail.

It’s a great way to communicate ideas with higher fidelity.

On the other hand, if we use a 360-degree camera to take an animation/rendering, we can put that into a virtual reality headset, which you can pick up for a couple of quid and plug into a smartphone.You can also record a live 360 image and stream it to a virtual reality device. I have a live demonstration here at Showlight, next to the STLD stand, where you can see for yourself how it works. What you will see is the ROH in digital format; you can walk around it, explore the scenery, sit in the audience seats and play with the light. The idea of this is that the set designer can be there on our stage with their scenery right at the white card model stage. They can start to see their idea right at its conception and this allows them an opportunity to look at it before reality hits.

We are developing this in conjunction with the HoloLens.

This is ‘mixed’ reality – part of the family known as extended reality, which also includes augmented reality, as used on mobile phones with apps such as Pokemon Go. We are hoping that a design team can be on stage or in an empty rehearsal room, or even in a meeting room, with a 1:50 scale version of their set projected though this system and then start to manipulate the set.You could even work with people at a distance – they can remote in from, for instance, a base in London with the director in New York.

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Image A: Cirque du Soleil has been developing similar technology

Pictured: James places a VR headset on Jessica Allan

Image B: The creative possibilities of augmented reality for your audience

At this point, James called up Jessica Allan to don a headset to demonstrate the system. He showed a VR version of ‘Frankenstein’ at the ROH and said that, once fully operational, they could build in gesture control, which would enable objects to be picked up and moved, allowing rehearsal of scene changes.You could give the actors headsets, with the production team sat at the production desk in an empty room, and watch rehearsals with scene changes; you can even build in pyrotechnics.

ITV Sport Studio I UEFA Euro 2016, Photo by Chris Hollier, Courtesy of ITV Sport

Long term, we hope to bring in DMX feeds and automation servers and program to enable a full tech rehearsal in an

empty room. For a producer, this means you can start to create a show before you incur lighting and set costs.

As it happens, Cirque du Soleil has been developing similar technology, which it presented at a Microsoft conference recently (image A). It demonstrated three people networking in a virtual space, moving ‘primitive’ shapes, along with a director who joined them from a remote location. People are represented by an Avatar and, with the headset and a ‘handle’ in each hand, you can tell where the head is and what your hands are doing. Facebook is doing this already and you can go online as a digital version of yourself.

How will augmented reality affect us in the theatre? James showed a video of a whale leaping out of the floor of a sports hall and landing with a huge splash. Imagine the creative possibilities if your audience could view this in a performance (image B).

WHITE LIGHT Lighting

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If you can create a whale jumping out of the floor, you can create anything. As an LD, you can fill a floor with a red wash, Photoshop-style, or have a barndoor cut soft on one side and sharp on the other.You can create safe pyrotechnics right in front of the audience. With everyone watching using head mounted displays, you can create a new type of performance.

At the ROH we have investigated these technologies in digital form as audience outreach; we have VR experiences, such as using a 360-degree camera on stage to allow the audience to select any view.We have a project to ‘motion capture’ dancers and recreate their movements in VR.You can interact with the story and your presence will change what they do.

With augmented or mixed reality, you can create a production anywhere in the world. I like to imagine Trafalgar Square with ballet dancers dancing on the lions.Walking by, your mobile phone notifies you of a performance.

Visualisation is a very broad term: these technologies are just a couple of ways of achieving new visualisations. Here are some soundbites I have picked up: ‘visualisation is a decision enabler’; ‘half the time and twice the value’; ‘save time, save money, better product’, The last one is the most important; the Royal Opera House is aiming to create a better product.

Report by Iain Davidson

Contact us for more information. +44 (0)20 8254 4800 www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk Info@WhiteLight.Ltd.uk

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profile

Alan Luxford

Celebrating 50 years with Strand Words: Lee Baldock Like many in the stage lighting business, Alan Luxford picked up the lighting bug at school. In his case, it was in Brighton in the mid-1960s. As a pupil in the technical theatre team, he was in the thick of it when the school hosted a visiting production from the recently-formed National Theatre. He remembers the actress Gerladine McEwan among the cast, but it was the lighting technicians whose attention he wanted.

“I said, ‘I quite fancy stage lighting as a career, which company should I apply to?’ and they said there was only one – Strand Electric.”

Later, when the school was having a lighting system upgrade, he met Strand Electric’s Eric Baker. “I asked him, ‘How do you join Strand Electric?’ and he said, ‘You write to the Managing Director, Jack Sheridan’. So I wrote and they asked me to come to 29 King Street, Covent Garden, for an interview.”

This was 1967, and Alan, aged 16, attended the interview in school uniform.

Seated across the desk was the great Fred Bentham, who had joined Strand in 1932.

After discussing his knowledge of Patt 23s and the like with Bentham, Alan won a second interview, and then a job.

Initially, he was sent to work at another Strand-owned company, just along the road at 32 King Street. Watts & Corry, a stage engineering firm whose London office was run by Alan Cohen, made sets for theatres and for a new-ish television soap opera called Coronation Street. When Cohen left two months later to work for Theatre Projects, Alan moved to Strand Electric.

Learning light The focus of Strand’s King Street office was the showroom, in those days run by Len Jordan, known to everyone as ‘The Maestro’.

“He had been there for donkey’s years and what he didn’t know, nobody knew,” Alan says. “I learnt a lot about demonstrating spotlights. I suspect he did it deliberately, but he was quite lazy about doing demonstrations – he used to get me to do them and that’s how I learned.”

Behind the showroom was a full demonstration theatre, where regular lectures on lights and lighting would be presented by Fred Bentham, members of the 16

research and development (R&D) team and guest speakers, including Lighting Designer Francis Reid. “The lectures were open to the public,” says Alan, “but we were always oversubscribed; you had to turn them away at the door. People used to come from far and wide to hear those lectures.”

One lecture in particular he remembers kept him busy changing Cinemoid colour filters. “Fred had a very good lecture on colour: about how you can fool the human eye. We had a bank of Patt 23s on the balcony front and I used to change the filters in them. He’d start off with primary green, which in Cinemoid was #39, and your eyes would get accustomed to that green, and then you’d put another colour in and he’d say ‘If you thought #39 was green, what about this?’ and your eye would think it was also green. He’d go through the ranges of green and eventually back to the first colour, which your eye would now think was blue.

Then he’d say, ‘Well, you think this is blue?

Well what about this one?’ ... and so on.”

The lectures and demonstrations also provided a testing ground for Strand’s latest control systems. “The IDM [Instant Dimmer Memory], which was the first production memory control system, was first demonstrated in that theatre,” says Alan.

(Incidentally, the Strand Office at 29 King Street was also the setting for another first: the inaugural meeting of the STLD, which Alan attended on 30 October 1974. He has been closely involved with the society ever since.)

“I was in the showroom for quite some time learning about it all,” continues Alan.

“I was experimenting with Tutor 2 projection effects: oil effects and psychedelic stuff. I thought this was where I should go, but I was told ‘there’s no future in optical effects’. I don’t know how they had that foresight because it’s true today: it’s all video.

So I joined R&D.” In October 1969, Strand was taken over by the Rank Organisation in the first of four changes of ownership that Alan would experience during the next 50 years. Until that point, Strand had been a private company led by Jack Sheridan, son of Philip, who had founded the company with Arthur Earnshaw in 1914. It was a huge change, but a change for the better.

Rank Strand “It was the best thing that could have happened to Strand,” says Alan of the Rank acquisition. “They were in great difficulties at the time with IDM; it was a failure. The prototype worked, but when they sold it to various theatres, both in the UK and overseas, they had to do a lot of work. The one in Budapest, one of the engineers was there for a year. The Coliseum worked eventually – we put a big manual wing in the basement, which I helped to wire up. The commissioning engineer was Rick Dines, who then went to the BBC.” The solution for IDM was a replacement system called MSR (Memory System Rank).

MSR was developed by a new generation of engineers recruited by Head of R&D Martin Moore from among the UK’s top universities and based at the Rank premises in Brentford. “That’s when people like Dave Bertenshaw and Tony Brown and some of the other great engineers came on board, to develop MSR,” says Alan.

“At the same time, we had an Advanced Control Group, a hush-hush group based down in Kingston upon Thames, run by a guy called Alan Payne. They were developing the DDM (Digital Dimmer Memory), which became the very first software-based lighting control system. It went into Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as lots of theatres in Germany and overseas.”

Launched in 1971, DDM was the successor to IDM/MSR and soon became recognised as the state of the art in memory lighting control. It was followed by a more affordable evolution: the successful MMS (Modular Memory System), which would go on to be installed in over 200 venues worldwide.

“The R&D guys were out of this world,” says Alan, reflecting on the innovations of the period. “They were brilliant people, developing stuff that was way ahead of its time. Look at the Lightboard that went into the National Theatre in 1976: it was a Richard Pilbrow spec, obviously, but Strand engineered it. It was 1,000 channels and you could record any channel at any speed; it controlled lights, carousel projectors and colour changers. It used a DEC PDP11/15 computer, but that was too slow, so Bertenshaw made a hardware computer

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Alan w

Alan unboxing a Strand Cadenza PC, Moscow, 1988. Credit: LSi archive Alan with Rick Dines (right) at PLASA Show in 1993.

Credit: LSi archive

Alan with Martin Moore, 1988. Credit: LSi archive This picture: Alan with the MMS controller at Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, 1974. Right: With the Patt 765 prototype,1973. Credit: Alan Luxford

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Alan with Strand Lighting boss Chris Waldron, October 1993.

Credit: LSi archive Alan (right) with LD Andrew Bridge. Credit: LSi archive

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Alan with Peter Rogers, October 2008. Credit: L

Alan, left, with the Philips team. Credit: LSi archive

Credit: ET Now

Alan with Ed Pagett, left. Credit: ET Now

to do processing before it went into the desk – brilliant. When Rob Halliday gave a lecture at the Computer Museum at Bletchley Park recently, he talked about the Lightboard and these computer buffs were saying ‘Strand did what in 1976? Amazing!’.”

Television lighting Alan’s focus in R&D was on luminaires, and he worked on the development of the ground-breaking 700 Series of tungstenhalogen lamped fixtures, launched in 1973.

“Before then, there were no tungstenhalogen lamps; everything was a tungsten lamp in a big envelope, which used to go black inside,” he says.

The 700 Series included the Pattern 765 CSI followspot. “I did a lot of work with the BBC to make it the followspot of choice,” says Alan. Over the coming years, he would spend a lot of time in the BBC, where Strand was helping to colourise the White City and Television Theatre studios. “I used to go to Television Theatre and Television Centre every week and work on programmes like 18

Alan with Amber Etra and Peter Rogers. Credit: ET Now

Top of the Pops and The Morecambe & Wise Show. I watched and learned from these fantastic lighting directors... I used to sneak into other studios and watch dramas being lit. It was incredible how those guys would train.” Among those whose work he admired, he recalls names such as Bert Postlethwaite, Clive Thomas, Ken McGregor, Eric Wallis and Bill Millar.

UK sales Later, Alan moved from product development to sales, covering the south of England. “There were some big projects,” he says, recalling switching the old 1930s Strand ‘Light Console’ at Theatre Royal Drury Lane to a new MMS control system when A Chorus Line arrived there from Broadway in 1976. Another memorable project was the supply of a new control system for his local opera house, Glyndebourne, in 1977. “They had the 200th MMS; we handed over a set of golden keys for that,” he says, adding: “MMS revolutionised lighting. Modular Memory System it stood for, but everybody said it was ‘Martin Moore’s

System’. It was the first affordable, customised control system [and] the first console anywhere to have an encoder wheel; it was patented but we didn’t enforce it. If we’d enforced all the patents Strand had, nobody else would have been able to make anything!”

As a key supplier, Alan became closely involved with his local venues in Brighton.

“The Dome was my local theatre. I was there when ABBA won Eurovision in 1974.

Tommy Thomas was the lighting director.”

Later, in 1977, he oversaw a technical supply to the new Brighton Centre. “That was a massive job,” he says. “We put in 138 5kW sockets with 120 dimmers and an MMS, and I used to light all the concerts. My only real claim to fame was that I lit the very last Bing Crosby concert. I lit him on the Monday and he died on the Friday. I don’t think it was my lighting that killed him.”

Overseas In 1978, Alan moved to export sales. One of his first visits was to Split in Yugoslavia, where the Croatian National Theatre,

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Alan Luxford

ber 2008. Credit: LSi archive

Alan with Tim Burnham, former Group President of Strand Lighting, now of Tempest Lighting Inc, March 2013. Credit: LSi archive

Alan with David Cusworth, left, and Ken Berreen, right.

Credit: ET Now

rebuilt following a disastrous fire in 1970, was re-equipping. Strand won the contract for the supply of all the lights, dimming and more, as Alan recalls. “I used to get on very well with the people there. They said, ‘We need curtains’ and I said, ‘we can do that’.

And then, ‘We want flock wallpaper’ – so I got a sample book from my local hardware shop in Brighton, took it to Split and they ordered all the flock wallpaper from it. They did all the circle fronts with velour, all the curtains were velour and they had this nice red flock wallpaper!”

Australia became a regular destination, with Alan making four-week visits three times each year. At the height of his export sales career he was away from home for 256 days of the year. He says, “It was hard because my kids were quite young, but it was the job I had to do.”

Russia was another key market. Here, Alan would develop long and fruitful relationships with leading suppliers and venues over many years. “In 1987 I got involved as Assistant Lighting Director for

Alan with Tim Burnham, Ivan Myles and David Cusworth. Credit: ET Now

the BBC at The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

We lit operas and ballets for the BBC. I was console op. I was determined to sell the Bolshoi a new control system – it took me at least five years to get them to buy a Galaxy.” He adds: “I sold the very last Strand Galaxy system to the Kremlin – that was when we had just been taken over again.”

Acquisitions In September 1996, Rank sold Strand Lighting to asset management company Schroder Ventures, whose five-year plan was, of course, to sell the company at a profit.

The five years went well, Alan recalls, with growth and investment in new product ranges, but after five years they found nobody wanted to buy. “And they didn’t have another five-year plan; they had no vision of what they could do with Strand.”

It would be five more frustrating years before a buyer was found.

Eventually, in 2006, US-based Genlyte Group, a giant in commercial and industrial lighting, which had acquired Vari-Lite in 2003,

made Schroder an offer for Strand’s US and Asia offices but only ‘certain assets’ of the European operation. For Strand Lighting’s 60 UK staff, Alan included, the expected acquisition turned into a sudden redundancy.

However, Strand still needed to service Europe, so a plan was formulated that saw dealer Barndoor in Holland appointed as sole dealer, while a skeleton crew of Alan Luxford, Ken Berreen and Igor Cernitori looked after the customers. Eventually, in June 2007, Genlyte did open a new Strand Europe operation, based in Crawley, Sussex, with Alan as General Manager. He would run the European operation for two years.

In 2008 Strand Lighting became part of one of the largest lighting companies in the world when Genlyte was acquired by Philips Lighting. Further changes came in 2009, when Philips added New Zealand-based stage lighting manufacturer Selecon to its entertainment lighting portfolio. Selecon, however, had its own European managers.

Once again, corporate-level changes affected Alan directly and he was out of a job, Set & Light | Winter 2017

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Alan Luxford

although it wasn’t long before he was invited back to service his customers in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Philips Strand September 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of Alan’s first day at Strand Electric.Today, still looking after his customers in Russia and much of Eastern Europe, he is as busy with Strand as he ever was.

The entertainment lighting division within Philips Lighting has matured, with Strand Lighting sitting alongside its stablemates Philips Selecon and Philips Vari-Lite, while LED technology is making its mark on all product ranges. Open up the latest Philips Strand television Fresnels and you’ll find high-tech, water-cooled LED light engines, while on the outside they maintain the familiar look and feel of a traditional luminaire.

Maintaining traditional lighting standards in the midst of all this rapid technological change is something Alan takes seriously: he still feels there is much to be learned from those television lighting directors he worked alongside in the 1970s and 80s, who produced such quality results with tools

A familiar face graces the pages of Strandlight magazine. Credit:Theatrecrafts.com – thanks to Jon Primrose

that were, by today’s standards, relatively simple. To help reinforce knowledge of the basic principles of lighting, the STLD runs regular training courses.

When it comes to the company of 2017, Alan says: “What I like about us now is that we have such a great bunch of people; we look after each other and we’re a great team. In the old Strand days, there would be fisticuffs, literally, in the office – and then

they’d go to the pub! I’ve seen that happen.”

Among the highlights of his half-century career, Alan picks out his time working in television lighting and in export sales as being particularly enjoyable periods. Ultimately, however, the young lad who went to his interview in his school uniform and discussed Pattern 23s with Fred Bentham, is – 50 years later – proud to have been general manager of Strand Lighting in Europe.

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Credit: Chris Christodoulou

Twenty-five years of lighting the Proms Words & photos: Bernie Davis There’s nothing that the Proms like more than an anniversary and this year’s season celebrated several, from the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to 100 years since the birth of Ella Fitzgerald, to 100 years since the October Revolution of 1917. All these milestones in time give excuse to extending the concert programming every year, letting it include a wider and deeper look at anything musical.

But the Proms also had one or two anniversaries closer to home this year: 90 years ago the BBC became custodians of the Henry Wood proms and it is 25 years since I started lighting the Proms.

This world-famous classical music festival is an institution that started before the BBC’s involvement when, in 1895, the owner of the Queen’s Hall in London invited the young and charismatic conductor Henry Wood to run a series of informal and inclusive concerts to encourage a wider audience to enjoy classical music.

Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts, as they were first known, consisted of a wide range of music at affordable prices and were set against a backdrop of palm trees and fountains. The audience were allowed to walk around, eat and drink and even smoke, although patrons were asked to refrain from striking matches during the vocal numbers. Echoes of that informality continue to this day, with a non-seated audience getting to see some of the best orchestras in the world for just a few pounds a ticket.

After 22 years the festival’s funding ran out and the newly formed British Broadcasting Corporation stepped in to run the promenade concerts by Sir Henry Wood and his Symphony Orchestra, as they were then known. It was only in January 1917 that the BBC itself was formed (the corporation, not the company which preceded it) and, by July 1917, the BBC and the Proms became linked. Thanks to the BBC, Newman’s original aim of bringing music to a wider audience went further than he could ever have imagined.

Sir Henry Wood in the ruins of the Queens Hall

When the Second World War was announced, the BBC ‘decentralised’ its music department and stopped supporting the Proms. For two seasons, Wood found private sponsorship and continued the concerts for two more years using the London Symphony Orchestra, until a bomb destroyed the Queen’s Hall in 1941. The following year, the Proms moved to the current venue of the Royal Albert Hall and the BBC took over again. It is now difficult to imagine the Proms without those three great brands: Sir Henry Wood, the BBC and the Royal Albert Hall.

I tried to research when the Proms were first televised using the BBC Genome project (a digitised, searchable database of programme listings from the Radio Times from the first issue in 1923 to 2009). The first reference I can find is in July 1953, when the First Night Proms concert appeared on TV in between the cricket from Headingly and The Quatermass Experiment. I wondered what had Set & Light | Winter 2017

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prompted BBC Television to eventually visit what was already a BBC institution and then it dawned on me: in June 1953 the BBC televised the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. No doubt they would have expanded their outside broadcast fleet and were looking for new programmes to cover, and what fitted the post-coronation, post-war patriotic mood of the country better than the Proms, opening that year with the National Anthem.

I joined the BBC in 1970 as a junior engineer and even then it was a thrill to be sent to cover a prom concert. I remember slipping into the hall to listen to Widor’s Toccata and Fugue on the magnificent Willis Organ, with its 10,000 pipes measuring up to 32ft in length.

It was not until 1993 that I got to light the Proms for the first time. I attained the job of Engineering Manager One in BBC OBs in 1989. I should explain that the EMs not only planned the technical aspects of outside broadcasts, they also did the lighting. This might seem strange to an outsider – indeed, many EMs started their career in strictly engineering roles and were only taught to look after the lighting as part of their job – but much of the lighting in outside broadcasts was heavy engineering more than fine art.

(Try lighting St Paul’s Cathedral for tube cameras and you’ll find how heavy the engineering gets!)

The first TV broadcast of the Proms, from the BBC Genome Project In my quest to learn more from my colleagues I had visited the Proms that summer and had been shown round by Lighting Director John Livingstone. When John took redundancy that year, I went to Clive Potter, then Head of Lighting in OBs, and offered to take over the Proms lighting. It was as simple as that. I knew the Classical Music department a little having lit a concert or two for them, as well as helping on the Young Musician programmes in 1990, and I was bursting with that confidence that only comes with inexperience.

The first person I turned to was Paul Devine, who had been Meteorlites’ Crew Chief for John, and he was a font of knowledge about how the Proms worked. But there was one more hurdle to jump. The BBC was very engineering-led in those days and usually an EM would plan the Proms for five years, then take over the lighting for five years and then move on to let someone else take over. My colleague, Barry Luckhurst, had planned the Proms for a few years and clearly felt it was his duty to take over the lighting, but I think Barry would be the first to agree that lighting was not his highest ambition. He proposed that we did it between us but somehow that never really happened. And so my first season started.

I had not worked with Paul before but had heard of his reputation, earned in the hard school of rock and roll lighting. He had been Iron Maiden’s lighting designer for a while, and was well known for being somewhat merciless with his crew. He was famous for phrases such as ‘I’m not going to sack you – I’m going to come up there and punch your lights out, and then I’ll sack you!’. I was not entirely sure that Paul was the ideal person to deal with musicians and the sensitivities of the 22

BBC Classical Music department, but I soon came to realise two things: one, these are exactly the skills you need and two, he was so much more than this notorious and well-fostered hard veneer. Paul proved to be a very skilled and dedicated crew member. He was very exacting, but only because he cared about the show. And he did not suffer fools, even if the errors were committed by me or even himself! I soon learned to have nothing but the highest regard for Paul and I learned so much from him.

The Royal Albert Hall is a formidable place to work, in both its scale and grandeur. The building predates even the Proms, having opened in 1871. Initially lit with gas, electric lighting was added in 1888, which one patron described as ‘a very ghastly and unpleasant innovation’. (In case anyone is any doubt, I was not lighting in those days.) The roof consists of a steel framework supporting the glass, which used to let daylight in originally, and the addition of a canvas awning, which allowed the light to be excluded when required.

Even when I first started work at the hall, I remember large power supplies on pillars around the gallery, which would have been for lighting the events. By the 1960s, the now familiar ‘mushrooms’ were fitted in an attempt to make the acoustics acceptable, if not exactly good, and over the stage, three large acoustic panels helped to project the sound out to the audience and down to the stage.

Without these in place, the sound disappeared up into the roof and the orchestras had trouble hearing each other play, and so getting these at the right position is a vital part of the Proms set-up.

Amplified concerts do not suffer from the same problems and the panels can be flown out of the way.

A few years before I started with the Proms, Paul had worked with John to create a better lighting method than the old ladder beams over the stage. In those days, any maintenance or adjustment meant clearing the stage for ladders or Tallescopes to access the lighting – not a popular thing with an orchestra laid out for a concert with Radio 3’s microphones in place. Paul and John came up with a box truss that surrounded the acoustic panels and included two diagonal wings upstage to complete the backlight positions and a fixed and linked advance truss for solo key lighting. The light sources used were 5Ks for the main backlight, with a ring of 2Ks to get the back of the stage, then two crossed 10Ks for most of the front light, with a row of par cans to cover the back of the stage. A ring of Cadenzas around the truss acted as specials for the conductor and soloists.

Between the acoustic panels were – and still are – trusses that the panels are attached to. In those days, the trusses were filled with fresnels, controlled by the Royal Albert Hall electricians, for lighting Proms when the TV cameras were not there. Only about 10 concerts were on TV and most of the others were simply an orchestra on stage and we did not need to be there.

With a rig like that, the crew had to climb the truss several times a day to focus, refocus and maintain the lighting, and our usual crew for a TV broadcast was two climbers, one dimmer person, one desk operator and the crew chief. The desk was a Celco 90 with a Q-Patch to rationalise the channel numbers. Fine balancing of the orchestra levels was achieved by using the channels’ trim pots on the desk.

For me, the worst part of the original design was the way two crossed 10K fresnels were used to provide the front light for the larger part of the orchestra. Not only was I trying to use barn doors to create a shape that was not rectangular, the lighting for a live event was vulnerable to a single lamp failure. It was a fairly simple swap to rig two six-lamp par bars instead of each 10K and, using the individual pars, I could create the shape of the orchestra easily. What’s more, a single par failing would be barely noticeable for most of the broadcast.

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The Proms

This proved so successful that I replaced the 5Ks that back-lit the orchestra with single six-lamp par bars the following year, and so a programme of continual slight improvement, year on year, began.

Every year, we would look to see what could be changed to make things better, more flexible and even cheaper where possible.

On any show that I work on I keep notes of what I would do differently if I were to do the show again, and every year there were a few changes made that helped improve things. Over 25 years there have been a few game-changing moments – significant steps rather than slight tweaks. The first was the arrival of the Source 4.

In truth, the Source 4 profile had been around for a little while when I started on the Proms but they didn’t offer much to me over the cadenzas I was using. However, one area of difficulty was the key lighting for downstage soloists. The advance truss was not low enough but could not come in any more without blocking sight lines. The gallery was a good angle for faces but the only thing bright enough at that distance was a follow spot, and follow spots took up gallery space, so losing ticket sales. What’s more they have significant fans in them and so are too noisy for the classical audience standing nearby. Fine for an amplified prom but not for day-to-day use. But then the five-degree Source 4 came out, and the figures seemed unbelievable. I need 400 lux at the solo position and it looked like a 575W profile could deliver 200 lux over the 75m throw gallery to the stage. Being a professional sceptic, I put three in one bay at a good angle for the soloist to the left of the conductor and three more in the matching bay opposite for the soloist to the right – and to my surprise I had so much light I could take one from each bay and put them in a third bay at the ideal angle for a piano concerto.

The great thing about using the gallery rather than the advance truss was that we could focus lights without having to climb over the orchestra. In fact, we later dispensed with the advance truss completely. However, lighting from the gallery was not without its problems – between radio and TV there are a lot of hung microphones and you have to light through a forest of slings!

The next game-changing moment was brought about thanks to Blue Peter. The BBC Philharmonic orchestra had been involved with a project in which Blue Peter presenters and the Blue Peter brand had fronted a concert designed to bring classical music to a younger audience.The familiarity and attraction of the presenters drew in an enthusiastic audience to enjoy bite-sized chunks of accessible classical music and, to add to the occasion, the event producer had used lighting to create a younger concert feel.The project was so successful it was decided to bring it to the Proms and I was asked to light the orchestra in coloured washes and to use haze and gobo beams.The event producer was quite creative and very demanding, which I enjoyed.

They had some budget, too, and the Proms department agreed to divert from its usual rule of ‘Only white light for classical music’.

The Blue Peter Prom was not televised but TV production happened to look in during rehearsals and were a little surprised by what they saw. “Why can’t we have lighting like this on our programmes?” they asked. “Because you always insist on white light and no colour,” I said.

To be fair, there were other issues too: the MAC 500s and MAC 600s used were too noisy for Radio 3 on a regular acoustic concert and TV was not keen on the use of lit music stands as they tended to block many of the shots, but now there was a taste for change.

Another game changer was just about to happen: the introduction of new TV channels. BBC Choice and BBC Select came about as part of the new digital broadcast platform and the BBC had new channels to fill with not much extra budget to do it.The channels became BBC Three and BBC Four, the latter being an extension of BBC Two and

Pictured from top: The motor hoists and aluminium skin that replaced the canvas awning in the roof; a Proms rig in 1995; looking to the gallery from the stage through a forest of slings; an orchestral rehearsal with a full stage and only white light allowed Set & Light | Winter 2017

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Pictured: Above, a Proms stage lighting rig from 1993 and, below, how it is today

an obvious place to broadcast extra proms.The first year we added five more concerts; that soon increased to 15 extra concerts, all broadcast on BBC Four.The shows were budgeted as individual programmes and the BBC Two shows had the larger budgets. But with a little creative accountancy, we were able to increase our lighting rig with Studio Spots and Studio Colors for the whole season and still deliver the lighting at a reduced cost per concert, thanks to the additional concerts now bringing in money. And it was agreed that the BBC Four programmes could use colour on the organ, although not 24

the BBC Two programmes.The Proms moves on one step at a time...

It is fair to say that the lighting team at the Royal Albert Hall is unrecognisable in their quality and professionalism today compared with how they were when I started on the Proms. In those days the electricians looked after the lights as well as other electrical maintenance, and concerts did not get the attention they deserved.

If I visited the proms on days when we were not looking after the lighting, the balance did not look good, and it was common for lights that should have been on to have been missed out. I proposed

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that we took over for the whole season and used the hall trusses.

It meant that Radio had to pay for crew on non-TV days but they got a better product and we could look after their needs throughout the season. This gave us the rigging space for the new moving lights, too.

But there was one area that still needed improvement. Having to climb the truss to focus soloist backlight and conductor key lights was a real hassle, especially as they would change positions at the drop of a hat. I wanted fixtures I could focus from the desk but the Studio Spots did not do a good TV white and nothing else was silent to Radio 3’s satisfaction. I tried a moving yoke with a Source 4 profile but although the pan and tilt used 16-bit resolution, it was clear that the stepping motors did not and, after a couple of seasons, we started to look elsewhere.Then one year, two new fixtures came to my attention: the VL1000 and the ETC Revolution.We held a shootout at ELP’s depot a few months before the Proms that year and both looked promising in different ways.The VL1000 was more flexible and although the colour mixing was not great, at least it had colour mixing.The Revolution had better optics but used a scroller and I was not keen on the options where you had to choose between shutters, gobos iris, and so on.

However, the decision was made for me as the VL 1000 would be ready for the Proms that season and the Revolution would not.

The VL1000s were a great success and, during the digital TV expansion, I managed to move from four to nearly 30 over a few years, replacing the Studio Spots and the yokes. Economies had to be made but strangely, the increased rig needed a smaller crew. We no longer needed to keep climbing the truss to focus profiles and that, in turn, made the rest of the rig more reliable. I started to run the lighting desk myself on all but the bigger shows and, over a few years, we went from the original LD plus five to just LD plus two.

The next fixtures to move on were the Studio Colors, replaced with the MAC TW1s when they appeared, and at last we could have warm colour washes.We managed to afford enough TW1s to have a fairly comprehensive stage wash with them, as well as lighting some of the scenic elements around the stage, such as the organ woodwork.

But it wasn’t just the lighting design that had to move with times.

After the Blue Peter moment, Production would sometimes ask if we could do more to make the Royal Albert Hall itself look more modern.

With other TV shows advancing their appearance, the Proms were stuck with the same hall looking as it had for decades. Production did not like the large red panels either side of the organ but what can you do with a large red panel? Light it or leave it dark are just about the only options. I suggested that if they put some kind of scenery in front of them, at least I could light that.We ended up with two very large gauzes, about 5m high by 12m long, with three VL1000s per side to light them. It wasn’t great but at least we could offer other colours.

But then Production was not happy with the red velvet drape that separated the back of the stage from the first row of seating behind the stage. Again, the only options were to light it or not light it and, with musicians or choir immediately in front of it, option two was not often available. Again I suggested that we needed something to light and a hard, flat panel was provided. As with the gauzes, the options were limited but at least it was not a red drape.

But larger forces were at work and, in 2010, the programme commissioner got involved. She had been pushing to update the look of the Proms but was constantly getting the answer ‘But you can’t do that with an orchestra’, so she set up a day of experiment. She hired Watford Town Hall, brought in a BBC orchestra and had the OB company bring in as many different cameras as they could borrow: Q-Ball cameras, HotHeads, jibs, even remote-control cameras on track to weave between the orchestra. They played a few pieces in the

Pictured: Top, the hall with red panels and red drape at rear then, above, with plain gauze and hard panel at rear

morning and then convened in the afternoon to discuss what might be acceptable and what was not acceptable. I was also asked to give a presentation on the lighting with a view to what might be possible.

I demonstrated what 600 lux looked like and explained that this was the level needed to read music comfortably. I then showed recordings of some proms with top shots of the stage with empty chairs and instruments left lying around – the result of one piece that didn’t use all the players – and frankly it looked a mess. Shot from the front looking up at the organ it looked better but you can’t cover an orchestral piece like this. I explained that using lit stands would mean I wouldn’t need to use white light and could light to a lower level but the orchestras and the TV directors did not want that and so we were stuck with lighting whatever was on stage to a bright level, and lighting could not improve that. I was greeted by a sea of surprised faces; no one had ever explained that to them. The programme commissioner took me to one side and asked what I thought would improve the look of the shows and I said to get the design elements down to the stage. The first thing we can light in a design way is the organ and you can’t see that from anything but a wide shot or a low-angle shot from the front. I suggested we put LED panels at the back of the stage and use abstract graphics to complement the mood of the music. By that summer, the money had been found and low-resolution panels were provided. I bought a Green Hippo Critter to generate the graphics (single-output, standard-definition graphic server) and then had to learn how to program it. That was fun and became a whole new outlet for creativity.

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Credit: Chris Christodoulou

Credit: Chris Christodoulou

Credit: Chris Christodoulou Pictured from top: An early Last Night of the Proms in rehearsal and, below it, more recently in full swing; Dr Who comes to the Proms 26

The designer was also charged with making other improvements.

Production didn’t like the fountain that traditionally went in the middle of the arena. It caused problems as it had to be removed regularly during each season to fit staging into the arena for some of the more unusual layouts of concerts and everyone apart from the promenaders were pleased to see it go. However, it was felt that something had to replace it and so the large Proms floor sticker that you now see every season was introduced.The promenaders hate change and tried to pull it up the first time it appeared but they seem to have accepted it now.

The promenaders are a unique collection of people!

The other thing that Production did not like was the row of flower troughs along the front of the stage – another tradition that, with the fountain, dates back to the very roots of the Proms. They decided to replace them with LED light boxes instead. It is fair to say that this was not successful; the light boxes have now gone and no one misses them.

At the same time, I managed to get the large gauzes either side of the organ painted. No longer a vast expanse of white gauze, they gained a painted design that looks like the arches around the gallery.

They now take light very well and many viewers think they are looking at Albert Hall architecture rather than scenic gauzes.

Over the last 15 years or so the Royal Albert Hall has gone through a process of lighting improvements of its own, which over time has transformed the building. We used to rig pars to light the organ pipes and all the gold columns in the gallery (all 60 of them) but the hall now has LED lighting to do this, which we use as part of our rig. The hall also owns a comprehensive rig of automated lighting, mainly consisting of BMFL spots and Robe DL7F washes, but these are mostly rigged on the stage trusses, which we need to clear for our orchestral rig, and so this all gets stored for the summer.

Of course, not all the proms are straight orchestral concerts and a few times in the season we have need for the entertainment style of fixtures. In such a tight schedule, there is no time to rig for the occasional show with different needs and to hire lights for two months to use just a handful of times is a bit wasteful.The solution we have come up with is to rig some of the hall’s BMFLs and DL7F washes in places where they would be of use and have a deal by which we only pay for them on days they get used.We have a similar deal with ELP to have eight Clay Paky Mythos spots for beam work either side of the stage, too.This works well for everyone; we don’t need to schedule crew for rigging and derigging and we can decide even during a rehearsal that we are going to use them as long as the cost is agreed.

Some of you will have seen the Ibiza Prom from 2015 and, if you haven’t, I recommend looking it up on YouTube – it was a lot of fun.

It was a full-on lighting frenzy, yet the only additions to the regular rig were the lasers.

Twenty-five years later and the 2017 season included a Stax Music prom; a couple of jazz proms; an evening of John Williams’ film music; a concert celebrating the music of Scott Walker; another celebrating the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzie Gillespie; two performances of a fully-staged Oklahoma just for the Proms; several operas, including the regular visit from Glyndebourne Opera; and, of course, finishing with the massive party that is Last Night of the Proms. And, apart from the occasional addition of eye-candy floor lights, the standard rig coped with it all.

After 25 years of continual, if gradual, improvements, where do we go from here? My aim is to make the orchestra lighting more energy-efficient. The Auras and the Robe DL7F washes are, of course, already LED, as is much of the architectural lighting, but the largest use of tungsten lighting on this show is the orchestra

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Credit: Chris Christodoulou

Credit: Chris Christodoulou

Pictured: Ibiza Prom, top and centre; above, First Night 2017

itself and, in particular, the backlight. The orchestra uses the best part of 100kW, all on and all running at significant levels. How good it would be if this was not producing heat that warms up an already over-hot Royal Albert Hall in summer. However, there is a small stumbling block to overcome: my budget does not pay for power.

The price increase for using modern LED lights can’t easily be offset against power saving but, with the continual improvement in modern fixtures, I think we are in a position to start to change things soon.

Something to watch out for in the coming years. And with 2017 still with us, we have already started discussing the 2018 season and, I can promise you, it will be ground-breaking yet again.

Back to the statistics: I realised while researching this article that I have now lit about 20 per cent of all the Proms seasons that there have ever been and, more than that, I have lit more TV proms than everyone else who has worked on the Proms put together – a record unlikely to be equalled in the future.

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Bringing Television Centre back to life Words and photos: Nick Mobsby I was in my office at LSI Projects on 8 September 2014 when John Dunkley, whose official title was Project Manager, BBC Studioworks, called me. The subject was the urgent removal of kit from BBC Television Centre (TVC) as Lend Lease was commencing demolition.

I arrived on site with a team from LSI on 24 September 2014. Little did I realise that these works in the dimmer rooms of TC8 and TC6 would be critical to the story that follows.The studios from where the equipment was taken are no longer in existence. Everything from the end wall of TC3 is now part of Telvision Centre’s new hospitality and residential development – but I get ahead of myself.

After the 14 ADB Eurodim cabinets from TC8, one from TC9 that others had removed and four from TC6 were safely stored in a cold, damp TC1, together with some spare processors and the modules the Studioworks electricians had removed, it was time to decide how to bring the three remaining studios back to life.The story below describes some of the issues that had to be addressed prior to the successful reopening of TC1 on 31 August 2017 with the recording of The Jonathan Ross Show.

Late in 2014, discussions took place as to what should be used and where to put the three remaining studios,TC1, TC2 and TC3, back into service at minimum cost, ideally reconnecting the new dimmers to the existing cabling.The original scope of works at TVC did not include any work in the studio boxes.

These were to be left as ‘lock and leave’ areas and it was assumed all the electrical services would remain operational.

There were a variety of thoughts with TC3. For example, the existing dimmers were from Dynamic Technology; there were 19 racks, each with a capacity of up to 305kW dimmers, although they were not fully populated, giving an originally installed 195 channels of 5kW dimming. With only 18 ADB Eurodim two-dimmer cabinets with a total of 810 by 5kW dimmers, and one cabinet of 90 2.5kW dimmers, to cover a historic 28

requirement of over 1,500 channels , this created a major problem of allocation and future studio working – or did it? The concern that I had at that time was that if we were replacing all of the upstream power supplies and distribution and changing the dimmer cabinets, could we reuse the existing wiring. Early on we realised that the answer for TC3 was ‘no’: the existing cabling was not up to current electrical standards, was not low smoke and fume and its condition would need to be checked, tested and re-certified. I did not believe we would get an electrical contractor to reconnect this cabling.

TC1 proved to be equally difficult; it had been completely rewired at the end of the 1980s and a substantial quantity of DEW dimmers were installed at this time, complete with then all-new power distribution. James Eade was called in to take a look at the cabling and suggested that the existing cabling would be compliant to reconnect as long as a contractor would certify the installation, having thoroughly tested it.The main issue was that multicore cables had been used to carry the specified dimmer circuits from the dimmer cabinets to the lighting hoists.T Clarke Electrical, which was undertaking the main building electrical rewire, excluding the studio boxes, stated that as there was no manufacturer’s name on the multicore cable, nobody could certify it safe for use, particularly as the overall studio design had to produce a reliable minimum maintenance system for a period of 15 years from opening in 2017 and these cables were approaching 30 years old.

I was asked to think about what was needed to bring back Studios TC1, 2 and 3 into operation.The problem was that the initial budget had been based on switching them on again after new electrical supplies had been installed into the existing dimmers and distribution from a completely new electrical system.

This was necessary as the BBC gas turbines had been sold. Gone also was the central infrastructure electrical distribution, so the three remaining

studios and ancillary rooms all needed to be rewired and refed from a standalone electrical system being installed as part of the Lend Lease construction works within the Studioworks-leased remaining building aspects of TV Centre.

The site was constantly changing as the brief given to T Clarke Electrical via AECOM consultants was to bring the building up to the current electrical codes and other safety systems. This created a carte blanche to remove old equipment, and thus services. Items that we thought were being kept were removed and lost forever.

This happened to the old dimmers in TC2: they were there one day and gone the next. Ultimately, their removal was a good thing for future usage, as the reliability of the old dimmers and the electrical system was such that it would not have lasted a further 15 years.

TC2 was an issue throughout the design process as to whether this should be refurbished, used as a store or left with new feeders for later refurbishment. On 1 April 2015 it was confirmed that TC2 would need a full rewire as there was no separate earth cable per circuit (CPC); it was almost certainly original and did not conform to regs. It was thought that maybe dimmable bars/outlets wired to a Socapex patch panel in the dimmer room might be a possibility, with bought or hired-in mobile dimmers to be used.

At this time, before design works had started, it was confirmed that TC1 was not complying with current regulations due to the lack of separate earths, not being low smoke or fume and, thus, would probably not be recertified by the company winning the lighting refurbishment tender. It was discovered that some of the feeder multicores had been laid without containment en route to the lighting hoists and, therefore, might have mechanical damage. It was decided that it would be mad to put back 1200 dimmers. Whether these should be 5kW or 2.5kW, with some dimmed and more direct, was the other major consideration. For cycs, maybe

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we could install raw power sockets wired back to the dimmer room for use with mobile dimmers.

There were similar discussions concerning TC3 as to whether dimmers should be rated at 2.5 or 5kW and whether we should put back fewer than the original 495 dimmers. Early on, the original idea was to install the ex TC8 dimmers as a way of controlling the cost. Cyclorama lighting was again a consideration: should these be fitted with dimmers or simply wired back to a patch in the dimmer room so that touring dimmers could be connected when required. DMX was an essential addition, as was the case in the other two studios.

There were fundamental questions that rolled through this process: what was the future in luminaire technology? should LED sources be catered for? should the dual sources be retained? All substantial questions, all with resultant costs, all of which were not funded at this point of the refurbishment!

On 3 March 2015, I submitted an estimated cost of rewiring all three studios, based on many different scenarios, so that a new project cost plan could be put forward for consideration.

I was then asked, on 14 May 2015, to write a specification that could be used as part of the tender process for the bringing back into operation the lighting schemes in Studios TC1, 2 and 3.

Probably the single biggest issue that had to be considered throughout the design and, certainly throughout the installation, was asbestos.When the original decision had been taken to retain three studios, the Lend Lease works had included the removal of asbestos within the studios. However, even if an area had been cleared, asbestos could exist behind switchgear, socket outlets, within cable trunking or behind or within items that were still attached. Due to asbestos contamination in the cable routes within the studio boxes, none of the old supply cabling or existing cable containment could be used.This necessitated further system design changes to replace all the main cable routes, and meant that all switch rooms needed new supply cables.

New cables could not be connected to old switch boards.

To be fair to all concerned, Studioworks was presented with a

Fig. 1: TC3 prior to works commencing

series of major issues, all of which required a substantial increase in funding if the studios were to be brought up to current electrical and safety standards without actually spending any monies on dimmers or suspension hoists.

Costs needed to be confirmed so a series of meetings were held. The early meetings resulted in a requirement to put back what had been there before, which was a totally saturated rig. It was hoped that all of the existing motorised lighting hoists could be reused, even though they had not been powered since the studios were last used. An area where there was consensus on what should be done was with lighting control, although had Galaxy still been supported, I believe these would have been selected.

Throughout this period, dimmer allocation remained an issue but, at this stage, we were still not sure what was happening in TC1. With only 18 salvaged dimmer 5kW channel-capacity cabinets available, how would we deliver what was a substantial compromise of what the established lighting professionals thought were essential? In mid-July it was confirmed that the dimmer room in TC1 was now being cleared completely, so now the design had to be based around about 810 dimmers for use in TC1 and TC3, with 90 2.5kW dimmers for TC2.

The design process was simplified and strengthened when it was decided that John, Andrew James and myself would

form the core committee to carry out the design works for the new installation, with further support coming later from Russ Merriman, who became the LSI Project Manager for the rewire project.

The biggest issues that had to be addressed were dimmer/circuit allocation, data network format, hoist control and hoist refurbishment, lighting control systems, temporary power, wallbox locations, houselights, energy efficiency, work lights and how all of this would be accommodated.

If we take a look at each of these requirements in turn, this should help to explain the design process that was undertaken and the reasons for some of the decisions:

Circuit and dimmer allocation

The dimmer and circuit allocation was probably the biggest issue of all as it was clear that no further dimmers would be made available. Eighteen 45-way 5kW cabinets and one cabinet of 90 2.5kW dimmers were all we had to play with, plus a 24-way ADB Eurorack cabinet that had originally been used for houselights in TC8. Early on, the 90 by 2.5kW cabinet was allocated to TC2 as this space was lower in height and, therefore, luminaire ratings were expected to be lower.

It was decided that on each of the 42 installed TC2 lighting hoists, the three 5kW dimmer outlets would be reconfigured to provide one 16A socket fed from a 2.5kW 15A dimmer Set & Light | Winter 2017

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outlet. One outlet would be blanked off and the third would be fed from a raw supply where the 16A feed would be split via two 10A Type C MCBs to a pair of 16A sockets. This approach should futureproof the studio as a multi-purpose space – maybe a small conference location within a technical building or even a theatre – also future proofing use of moving lights and LED sources. In addition to the centre studio hoists, there were 26 motorised pantographs, which were positioned around the studio to provide cyclorama locations. It was agreed that each of these would be fed with a 16A raw power outlet, thus providing an overhead total of 42 dimmer channels and 68 channels of raw power outlets.

The balance of the 48 dimmer channels was allocated over the studio gantry and the studio walls. Andy James finally got this to work with four 2.5kW dimmers in each of the two gantry boxes and 40 2.5kW dimmers over eight wall/simple socket boxes located around the studio walls. Three 63A three-phase and neutral supplies were agreed: one on the gantry and two on the studio floor. These enable a multiplicity of items to be powered by using suitably rated breakout boxes.

In TC1, great concern was expressed that with such a large studio, the number of dimmer outlets needed to remain high; others noted that the use of moving lights meant a lot of the dimmer channels had not been used. In the original dimmer scheme for TC8, during the 1990s’ refurbishment, Rick Dines, then of BBC PID, had specified that every dimmer channel should be fitted with a dim/direct switch.This allowed each channel to be bypassed, giving protected direct power, or to be fed via the dimmer.

This helped ensure that whichever way the studio usage went, there would be capacity for LED or moving lights, as each socket could be switched daily to suit the needs of a production.

For TC1, it was agreed that on each of the 247 lighting hoists, where originally there were three 32A sockets corresponding to three dimmer outlets, in the new design one 16A BS4343 would be a 25A dimmer outlet, one would be removed and blanked off, and the third would be fed from a raw supply where the 25A feed would be split via two 16A Type C MCBs to two 30

pairs of 16A sockets: a pair per MCB. A total of 247 ways of 5kW dimmer feeds and 247 direct raw power feeds are provided on these centre TC1 studio lighting hoists. In addition, on wall two there are 12 under-gantry lighting hoists used for luminaire storage that have no connections. On wall four there are five under-gantry hoists; these have a 25A raw service connected via a 32A BS4343 socket and then parallel wired to two pairs of 16A sockets, each via a 16A C Class MCB. This makes 252 hoists with a raw power feed.

Hoists marked with a C symbol have four additional socket outlets provided, with 32A BS4343 located in a cluster on each of the hoists, which also carry a set of four cyclorama outlets. Some of these hoists have four separate dimmer channels and some of them are paired with other hoists and fed back to the dimmer channels. This makes a complete wraparound four-channel cyclorama lighting system based on the original Strand 4 cell Top Cyc. This system required a further 124 channels of dimming. These were retained as the top cyc and ground-row trolleys still exist and, should a large cyc wash be needed, it was felt it was worth keeping this system. In addition to this, 44 dimmer channels were allocated to the gantry, of which 20 ways were paired down to 20 outlets on the studio floor, as often the gantry outlets are less used than the floor. A further 100 5kW dimmers were allocated to the studio floor, which, after deducting the 20 paired circuits, results in 495 5kW dimmers housed in 11 ADB Eurodim 2 cabinets. As a side note, we did not realise at this time that three of these cabinets had been originally equipped with 10kW modules, which left us short by 30 channels. ADB came to the rescue; it had recently sold some Twin Tech dimmers (still available from new owner Clay Paky) and had taken back some Eurodim 2 cabinets and crates, so it was able to sell us the six new dimmer support crates we needed.

Finally, TC3, which I think tested Andy for some while as he tried to get the phases right and the channel combination/locations to match the requirements. TC3 always needed more dimmers than were available as it was decided that the long bar hoists should each have two dimmer channels. So, on

each of the 96 existing centre studio lighting hoists are located three BS4343 32A sockets, originally corresponding to three dimmer outlets. In the current system, two BS4343 sockets will correspond to a 25A dimmer outlet, the third with be fed from a Raw supply where the 25A feed from the Raw Supply shall be split via two 16A Type C MCBs to two pairs of 16A sockets – a pair per MCB. A total of 192 ways of 5kW dimmer feeds and 96 Raw power feeds are required for these centre TC3 studio lighting hoists. In addition, there are seven under-gantry lighting hoists, which have no dimmer channels but which each contain two Raw 32A BS4343 socket outlets. Overhead, this totals 110 Raw power feeds on the 103 lighting hoists and 192 5kW dimmers.

Like TC1, some hoists were equipped with additional cyclorama dimmer channels. Again, the same solution as that for TC1 was adopted, with this neatly working out to require 40 additional channels of dimming, bringing the overhead total to 232.

When it came to consideration of what to do about dimmed circuits on the TC3 gantry, Andy decided that 2.5kW dimmers would be fine and this enabled us to reuse the 24-channel ADB Eurorack. This can now be seen bolted to the end wall in the TC3 dimmer room. Eighty-three 5kW dimmers were allocated to the studio floor wall boxes, bringing TC3 to a total of 315 5kW dimmers, neatly fitting with seven 45-channel cabinets, with a further 24 by 2.5kW feeding the grid.

Hoist refurbishment

The oldest hoists turned out to be those in TC2, probably from Telestage, with TC3 using Evans Stage and Studio hoists with a curly cable management system from the 1970s and TC1 using Colortan hoists, dating from 1989.

None of these had been run during the closure period and, therefore, all of the them would need to be put back in service and, if necessary, repaired, re-tested and recertified. It was decided that due to the changes in circuit allocation and, in some cases, the reductions in dimmer rating and the addition of installed data, all the hoists feeder cabling that rises and falls should be replaced. This design was fine of the flip flop trays of TC1 and TC2 but the

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Evans Stage and Studio hoists in TC3 utilised a Kopex-type raise and lower solution, with a hopper on top of the hoist, which did not work as a lot of the Kopex feeders were hanging out of the hopper. Worse still, the Kopex was not flameproof or low-smoke and, in many cases, had been jointed. All of this had to be replaced.

Eventually, alloy Kopex was found to be the solution, with the Kopex coiling reasonably well into the hopper or lobster pot – the name given to the metal collector on top of the hoists.

Additional ones were added so that, with the addition of the data cables, cables could be balanced over the Kopex drops.

Data network

A thorny question was whether to provide an Ethernet-type network and then utilise conversion nodes from network to DMX, or to send DMX only, or to send both and be as future proof as possible.The fastest turnaround time would undoubtedly be achieved by having direct access to DMX at the luminaire plug-in points and also network data, such that if a large rig comes in, more universes can be obtained using portable nodes or by putting nodes within wallboxes or the patch bay. It was decided that every hoist should have DMX and network, technical wallboxes should have connections and both DMX and network data should be returned to separate patch bays to be located on the gantry.This future proofed the whole installation and ensured that whatever data standard is in use 10 years hence, the studios can run in network mode or DMX mode or both. Both seems to be the best option because it allows for multiple universes to be set up as required, show by show.

The selected nodes for network conversion to DMX were the ELC DLN6x, which is a six-port DMX-toEthernet node with a five-port Ethernet switch in a single 1U-high unit. The DMX distribution amplifiers selected were the Swisson XSP-5R-5R5 nonRDM-compatible double five ways, housed in a 1U 19-inch rack. In each of the power wallbox locations where the DMX and network were located, and also in each of the patch bays, a GSL LED rack light was installed. All of the products were selected as Studioworks found them to be of excellent quality at

Fig. 2

earlier installations it had undertaken at its Elstree facility. Each rack and power wallbox was fitted with a mains distribution unit from Byrant Broadcast.

At the end of the installation, Andy asked if it was possible to change to RDM-compatible DMX distribution amplifiers. This is currently being looked at because, since the design completion 19 months previously, RDM usage has rapidly increased. It is important to remember that if RDM is being used, then any processing equipment must be able to pass the RDM data; many companies now produce DMX splitters that are one way or have other units that are RDM compatible.

Lighting control systems

This was a Studioworks design and resulted in it choosing an ETC Cobalt console for each of the three separate lighting control rooms. In addition, a visit to BBC Glasgow at Pacific Quay to review hoist control systems saw a similar concept adopted for each of the TVC studios. Fig. 2, above, shows the Pacific Quay installation where an ETC Congo Junior is mounted on a swing arm on the studio wall under the ‘electrician’s panel’.This keeps the console against the

wall when not in use and hinged up to a level operating position when in use.

Each of the three TVC studios had such a solution adopted.

Hoist control systems

Again, this was Studioworks’ part of the project and involved the team visiting a number of sites around the UK to look at different types of control system. The core requirement of the system was that it should be easy to use by riggers, logical in its operation and able to cross barrel between the steel wire roped hoists safely, such that, when programed, cross barrelled groups would always move together, even if only one hoist was selected. The system in use at BBC Scotland, and supplied in 2007, is one that the local crew helped to define the logical operations and functionality of the touchscreen-based controls. This is the system with the famous ‘up and doon’ push buttons!

This was the one that was selected for TVC and, in the 10 years since first delivered, the touchscreen technology has been updated significantly, allowing large screens to be used for a better geographic type layout and easier hoist selection. Fig. 3, overleaf, shows the Set & Light | Winter 2017

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Fig. 3

lighting hoist layout and the cyclorama motorised pantographs highlighted in light grey.

The actual format of the operation is user configurable, which is set up by access to the programming functions accessible under password access. Like the old toggle switch system, a red and green preset are provided and the touchscreen confirms what is under control. A screen display can also confirm if an upper or lower positional limit has triggered and also if the overload or slack wire limits have triggered.This helps the user to immediately see why a hoist has stopped moving.The system has a direct wire cable connection for the up movement and an additional cable for down, with no movement in either direction if one of the buttons is not held down to confirm movement can take place, like a deadman’s switch. Fig 4, above right, shows part of the TC2 electrician’s panel: the Congo Junior is fitted against the wall and outputs visual data to the next screen along on the right.

House lights

The original design brief was to be as energy efficient as we could be within the infrastructure elements of the systems being installed in the studio. The greatest current consumption was the decision taken to reuse the dual source luminaires as, when asked, a lot of the lighting directors approached by the design team felt that the studios would be more attractive to potential renters if left equipped with the ‘twisters’.

Having adopted these high loads, the pressure was on to find a low-energy house-light system. Andy was keen that TC2 should be equipped with house lights that could be used when the 32

Fig. 4

studio was rented for theatre, conferences or launches. To this end, tests were done with ETC LED profiles, with combinations of ETC Colorspot Pars. The adopted solution was to use the ETC Deep Blue Colorsource Pars fitted with 50-degree horizontal lenses.

These were spaced in rows over the studio and are shown in Fig 5, opposite.

Time was spent testing LED solutions to try to find bright enough and costeffective solutions – unfortunately, with little result. In earlier projects such as Dock 10 and BBC Pacific Quay, we had secured a low-energy, high-light-output solution using fluorescent fixtures and, once again, we turned to the proven Impact 2 with four 80W T5 3,000K fluorescent lamps from Key Lighting in the UK. Having used these extensively, we carried out calculations and the Impact 2 fittings were selected for TC1 and TC3, with associated battery backs to achieve emergency lighting over the body of the studios.These were located in between all of the lighting and scenery hoist tracks. In each of these studios, the lights were all switched on and off together, with local controls located around the studio walls with red and green illuminated push buttons.

Work lights

With areas such as the studio floor fire lane, gantry and staircase all needing illumination, discussions took place how best to light these. Once we had settled on LED sources, discussions then took place about how to achieve working lighting and also how could we improve the earlier solutions. The improvements came in the form of an old theatrical condition, which is to provide white and blue lighting around the technical access

areas, so that white can be used for setsups and then blue for rehearsals.

This was achieved by LED strips mounted down the staircases and also along the gantries. Overhead batten fittings were employed as well to achieve an even wash of white and blue – all of which is switchable from the electrician’s panel. Battery packs were fitted to the white lighting to ensure that in mode, when emergency lighting is required, the white fittings with their battery packs automatically illuminate.

Wallboxes and configuration

Lots of discussions took place about wallboxes, what they should contain, what service belonged where and where they would be located. The wallboxes can be broken down into broadcast, power and lighting versions.

Studio floor broadcast and lighting wallboxes were set at 23U; studio power boxes, gantry boxes and grid boxes were set to 12U. Broadcast boxes were installed empty, save for an MDU, so that the appointed broadcast contractor (Dega Broadcast Systems) could come along with containment and power provided to each wallbox.

The power wallboxes were effectively wallboxes with 13A technical power fed from a UPS supply and others fed from a direct raw supply. Within the wallbox, a mains distribution unit, rack light, ELC network node, DMX and network connection panel and the panels of 13A twin sockets are provided.

In the lighting panel, dimmed outlets are provided to match the configuration.

In addition, some wallboxes have a 150A three-phase service fed to the wallbox.

Internally, this is then split down into a 125A temporary power three-phase

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Television Centre

Ceeform (mounted on the side of the wallbox to make cable routing easier across the Firelane) and a suitable isolator, a 63A three-phase connector with RCBO protection and a 32A three-phase connector again with RCBO protection.

The project

The project, like all projects, had its ups and downs. As we were getting started it was found that the TC1 roof required a replacement of the acoustic panelled ceiling hanging underneath it. This added considerable cost to the project and resulted in more than a three-month delay while work was undertaken and a new acoustic ceiling installed.

We continued with the multicore solution that we had pioneered in earlier installations, where we delivered hoist three-phase motive power, dimmed circuits and raw circuit power, all in one cable. Canbus and Up/Down control, and DMX and network were all dealt with separately. While these cables had to be made specially for us by Batt Cables, the physical cable pull to each hoist was easier than lots of singles; being specially made, we could, of course, size the cables to suit.

When the costs for the broadcast chain came in from the tender, they were greater than expected and it was thought that TC2 would be mothballed.

However, careful design has resulted in this studio being fully refurbished.

The refurbishment of the lighting and scenery hoists was sub-contracted to I Studio, which undertook each studio within our project timeframe. Some remedial works were carried out by James Churches and the LSI team.

Generally, each of the hoists worked first time after having been depowered for nearly four years at the point of recommissioning.

Works started on site in February 2016 and were concluded in September 2017. Along the way, various additional items were added, such as a storage area, exterior lighting, red and blue lighting, studio audience lights and other minor changes.

Rather than conclude here, I felt it would be a good opportunity for Studioworks’ Andrew James to add some words about what they wanted and why some of the decisions were made and their hopes for the future:

Fig. 5

Brainstorming

In the early days of the project, I was invited by Television Centre Project Manager John Dunkley to attend a bi-weekly meeting to discuss the lighting aspects, identifying the need for a detailed specification of requirements.

It was during this time that Nick and I met at the LSI offices in Woking, with the intention of clarifying a few areas that were unclear to us both. This turned into a four-hour-long session, fuelled by gallons of tea. We were able to come up with the answers to the questions we had but, more importantly, this got the creative in both of us up and running and we had some great ideas that gave the project the jump-start it needed.

It’s theatre, darling

Early on in the project, I wanted to take a look at a recent theatre installation to see innovation in the theatre world

and ensure we weren’t missing out.

I contacted Vince Herbert at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, who kindly agreed to show me around. It was a fascinating visit, looking at everything from hoist barrels (pods in RSC nomenclature) and motors to patch panels and networking. One relatively small thing I wanted to bring across to TVC was not a new innovation but one that has existed in theatres for many years: the blue working lights, also known as the ‘blues’. I’m going off the timeline, but Nick and I incorporated this in our brainstorming session and came up with the solution I will talk about later.

Hoists go up, hoists go doon

The decision was taken to replace the old and original toggle-switch control panels with a modern, computer-based control system. The decision wasn’t just down to cost but also the ongoing Set & Light | Winter 2017

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maintenance required to keep the old panels working. I was tasked with finding the best possible replacement. This involved going to see various hoist control systems in operation. The chosen system was an AED touchscreen control solution, which we saw at BBC Pacific Quay. I spent a long time looking at how the AED system worked and was able to convince both the Studioworks team and LSI that we needed to have some work done on the control side to meet our needs. These requirements were quite detailed but some headlines include fast touchscreen response time, two types of grouping and height memory – the latter two elements requiring the ability to be saved as a ‘show’ and recalled as and when required.

Whites and blues

One item I wanted to improve on with this project was working light in the studio. The firelanes at ground level were always well lit but the gantry level was dim. To rectify that, and as previously alluded to, I wanted to implement a system of white light for rigging and blue lighting for rehearse/record. The only question was ‘how?’. The answer: cheap LED tape-lighting. We decided to install LED tape around the gantry at foot level and on all steps leading up to the galleries and onwards up to the grid.

Supplemented by overhead white LED tube lighting on the gantry, rigging is no longer an operation that requires a torch. All technical wallboxes have a built-in white/blue light strip, as do the gantry-level DMX and Ethernet patch bays. At ground level, we came up with a custom light fitting that houses a white-and-blue tube, along with shutters, so that the light can be controlled to fall only within the firelane.

All the lighting can be controlled from the electrician’s panel and lighting gallery, so that during a show, if the gantry lighting is distracting, it can be switched off.

Dimmer and power distribution

This could take up the whole magazine, with perhaps a supplement in the next issue! I will cut to the part where we know we have 11 racks of ex-TC8 5kW dimmers, seven racks of ex-TC6 5kW dimmers and one rack of ex-TC9 2.5kW dimmers. The 2.5kW was a 34

Television Centre

natural fit to TC2, where I decided the requirements for installed 5kW dimming were no longer necessary, today’s cameras having better light sensitivity.

This then left me puzzling for quite some time how to effectively use 18 racks of dimmers across the two bigger studios. Studio TC1 previously had more channels than the entire 18 racks.

One major consideration was that many of today’s shows use moving and/or LED lighting alongside regular dimmed channels. I collected lots of lighting plots from various shows facilitated by Studioworks, from old Television Centre and from current shows at Elstree, and sat down in a dark room for many long hours working out how we could achieve what we needed to achieve with the given resources. It became clear that we needed to add non-dimmed power to the lighting bars for the LEDs and moving lights, which then freed up dimmer channels that were previously bypassed to create raw power. From that came the thought of improving the speed of rigging and turnarounds by building the common ‘lunchbox’ into the hoist. By installing a 32A raw feed to every bar in TC1 and TC3, and then splitting this out to two 16A feeds, we had enough raw power at every bar to either add a portable 5kW dimmer, a couple of 2.5kW portable dimmers or direct plug-in of moving/LED lights. Add a DMX outlet on every bar and bingo and every plot I reviewed of the various show styles now worked.

One further modification came about when I looked at the longevity of the ADB dimmer racks and how we could ensure they would last for another 15 years. I had noticed that an ADB dimmer rack we have at Elstree never needed any maintenance, ‘it just works’.

Our Elstree team couldn’t tell me why this was the case but one thought that crossed my mind, knowing that we had to perform regular maintenance and repairs to the equivalent Television Centre dimmers, was that perhaps it was a newer generation. It then dawned on me that the Elstree racks are used on EastEnders where they (at the time) only used dimmed power and not bypassed raw power. This meant they never remove and replace dimmer modules and there is no wear and tear.

This led to the fitting of bypass switches to all the Television Centre dimmer modules, so now, if you wish to make a

dimmer a shorted module, you can simply flick a switch rather than have to replace the whole module.

Lighting networks

I based the lighting network design on simplicity. We have numerous users coming in on a show-by-show basis and the last thing they want to spend their time doing is trying to understand a complex lighting network setup.

Like Elstree, I decided to stick with Artnet as our control protocol of choice.

This is mostly due to media server compatibility, along with the fact that we haven’t been able to break it yet. At the time of writing, we have a large-scale live show in TC1 using 16 universes of Artnet and the system isn’t even getting warm.

To achieve this, we have an Ethernet switch at both the front and rear desk in the lighting gallery (LVCR) and an Ethernet switch in our Ethernet patch bay on the gantry. The switch on the gantry feeds a number of EthernetDMX nodes, which in turn are patchable to DMX splitters. The DMX patch bay comprises the nodes, along with DMX splitters every other row, with the gaps filled with rows of five-pin XLR DMX lines feeding hoists and wallboxes and, of course, house dimmers.

Cameras

As part of the project, I went to IBC in Amsterdam with my engineering and vision hat on to look at cameras/vision mixers/routers/4K/HDR, etc.We bought Sony 4300 4K cameras and a 4K vision mixer for TC1, along with 1700 and 2500 cameras for TC2 and TC3, respectively, each with new Sony Vision Mixers.

How is it going?

So far, the new facilities have had tremendous feedback and there are only minor tweaks to be made. The studios have been packed with shows since opening and bookings are filling up fast into the new year.

My thanks must go to Nick, Russ, James, Mark and Al and all at the LSI team for keeping up with my crazy ideas, and to John Dunkley for reigning in many crazier ideas.

We have arranged a visit for STLD members in January, so hopefully you will have a chance to see the revamped studios for yourselves.

A longer version of this article, with full technical detail, can be found at www.stld.org.uk

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PLASA’s 40th anniversary show featured 200 brands. The event at Olympia London from 16 to 18 September also included an enhanced seminar programme made up of more than 100 industry experts.

These included Rockart Design’s Nicoline Refsing, celebrated for her work on Eurovision. In Bringing the Rock ’n’ Roll Experience to Live Events, she explored how high-end brands want to adopt more dramatic and immersive storytelling techniques, while in Playing with the Edge of the Light: Bringing Puppetry to Life at Little Angel Theatre, David Duffy, Head of Production at Polka Theatre, discussed the challenges and rewards of lighting puppetry. Forty Years of Lighting Design, with Theatre Projects’ Richard Pilbrow, Kelli Zezulka from the ALD and Lighting Designer David Hersey looked back over four decades of lighting design in the UK, while 2057AD: What Will Theatre Be Like in 40 Years’ Time? took a leap into the future and then stood time on its head, looking back from 2057 to 2017.

Improving Our Approach to Mental Health focused on the joint effort between the PSA (Production Services Association) and PLASA to improve the industry’s approach to mental health, and In Can Pigs Still Fly?, the three original founders of Flying Pig Systems – Nick Archdale, Nils Thorjussen and Tom Thorne – were joined by Simon England, with whom Archdale created Wholehog’s forerunner, the DLD6502, and Peter Miles of SpotCo, who helped to fund the Flying Pig venture. Together they discussed the context of the creation of the Wholehog in 1991-2, the challenges they faced and whether such a disruptive lighting control technology could – or should – happen in today’s market.

New to the PLASA Show this year was the Knights of Illumination (KOI) lighting designers’ showcase. A collaboration between the KOI Awards, Hawthorn and PLASA, it showcased the shortlisted and winning designers of the 10th annual KOI Awards, which took place on the Sunday evening at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. To close the evening, industry charity Backup was presented with a cheque for £5,000 from KOI Headline Sponsor Claypaky (see overleaf for a full report).

PLASA Show will be back in 2018, from the 16 to 18 September.

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PLASA / STLD lighting course

‘The best training course ever completed’ (possibly) The second STLD lighting course was delivered by Iain Davidson and myself at the BBC Academy at Wood Norton, Evesham, in early November, writes Charles Osborne.

Lighting training has taken place at Wood Norton since the early 1950s, with many STLD members passing through. After the BBC stopped offering its training outside the organisation, there was a shortage of multicamera lighting training opportunities.

Several people approached me and asked what was available and the idea of an STLD course was born. There was some debate over costs and what people would be prepared to pay, but generous support from Philips Strand Lighting has helped make the training affordable.

Iain and I searched for a suitable location and the BBC agreed to offer its two studios at Evesham to the society. The studios offer a perfect learning environment with a flexible range of equipment and sets. The equipment is augmented with a selection of the latest LED fixtures from Philips Strand Lighting.

After the usual introductions, the training began in earnest. For the trainers, judging where to begin and how fast to proceed is the first challenge. Questions, shared experiences and comments from the delegates soon help to reveal prior knowledge and areas of training need. This also results in the delegates learning from each other as well as from the trainers. The aim is to make the training highly practical, and with seven on the course divided into two groups with a studio each, this was easily achieved. For those with a background in theatre and events, understanding TV camera technology and lineup was an important session. Colour quality and light source choice was also covered in detail.

There is a lot to cover in five days and choosing what to leave out is the hardest part. It is important that the delivery is engaging, and most people especially enjoy the practical sessions. We try to encourage planning and plotting before putting the lamps in place. This all helps the thought process and develops the skills required for larger projects.

As trainers, you have to know the subject as questions from delegates will find the slightest gap in your knowledge. Being a trainer has taught me so much about the subject! At the end, feedback is the confirmation that all is well. On the last

course, one attendee wrote: “Without sounding sycophantic, the best training course, I have ever completed!”

The course fee includes a year’s membership of the society and this has helped to broaden and boost membership.

Enquiries about the next course, expected in spring 2018, are already coming in – email training@stld.org.uk to register your interest.

Thanks to the sponsors and to the BBC Academy, without whom the training would not be possible.

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Reporting into the Lighting and Technical Supervisor, your duties will mainly consist of maintaining our style of lighting across all of QVC’s digital platforms. A typical shift will consist of lighting for live shows and pre-recorded content, you will use your expertise to identify and fulfil the lighting and technical requirements of the shift and to ensure quality benchmarks are maintained and sales maximised.

Duties on any one shift may include; camera line up and vision control, lighting a set from scratch, managing the routing of video between studios and control rooms or setting up mobile Wi-Fi devices to connect to our broadcast systems.

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Experience of using the Congo JR lighting console and robotic camera operation would be an advantage.

Working in a live studio environment, the pace is fast so if you think you’ve got what it takes then please apply!

At QVC we see it like this, you spend a third of your life in work, so work happy* Live better

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Knights of Illumination

KOI: A view from the middle of the room Words: Andrew Dixon Photos: John O’Brien

PLASA means KOI, which means a lovely night out with friends and acclamation for lighting jobs well done.

This year we gathered at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, in such large numbers – nearly 500 – that the foyer was tightly packed with chattering luminaries and the start of dinner delayed.

Our table included the TV lighting awards judges Stuart Gain, John O’Brien, Jane Shepherd and Stephen Neal and the STLD committee members who, with me, had helped to select the short lists (Alan Luxford, Chris Harris and Web Site Co-ordinator Ian Hillson). We all had a very jolly time.

The awards ceremony was introduced by the CEO of Headline Sponsor Claypaky, Pio Nahum – such a dedicated sponsor, with Osram, of so many lighting gatherings. Pio reminded us that KOI was all about design and talent rather than profit. He said that manufacturers like Claypaky had to listen to design professionals. He thinks that 47 per cent of manufacturing staff will be replaced by robots but the creative professions will prosper.

Our MC for the evening was Ola Melzig: a man known for his contribution to the management of Eurovision and the Commonwealth Games programmes. The award fanfares were a bit over the top, or in the case of accompanying sound, under the bottom!

I know how much care goes into choosing the nominations for the TV part of the awards, so I’m sure the deliberations for the Theatre (chaired by David Benedict) and Concert Touring & Events (chaired by Jessica Allan) awards entail a great amount of work, too. Well done and thanks to all involved.

The Light Initiative Television Award for Events: Presented by Dave Mooney, Project Manager

Nominees: n Bernie Davis for Festival of Remembrance n Philip Brines for Proms in the Park n Ben Cracknell for The Olivier Awards Winner: Bernie Davis, for BBC One’s Festival of Remembrance “This annual event is always appropriately lit with care and an awareness of the sombreness of the occasion.The traditional poppy falling is a poignant moment in the proceedings and the balance of the lighting here is superb. Every poppy that falls could be seen individually.The various emotions in the event are conveyed though the quality of the lighting and create both a reflective and powerful atmosphere.”

The Philips Vari-Lite Television Award for Drama: Presented by Amber Etra, Marketing & Communications Manager

Nominees: n Larry Smith for Dark Angel n Chris Ramage for Emmerdale n Dominic Clemence for Hetty Feather Winner: Dominic Clemence, for CBBC’s Hetty Feather “A children’s drama show that has the production values of something with a much greater budget.The lighting approach was carefully executed and with great use of atmosphere, where appropriate. Naturalistic and mellow lighting complemented the settings and costumes perfectly.The continuity between interior and exterior scenes was beautifully balanced.”

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awards

The SLX Television Award for Light Entertainment: Presented by John Wallace, Managing Director

Nominees: n Tim Routledge for Ball and Boe: One Night Only n Martin Kempton for Peter Pan Goes Wrong n Gurdip Mahal, Rob Bradley and David Bishop for The Late Late Show with James Cordon

Winner: Martin Kempton, for BBC One’s Peter Pan Goes Wrong “Although this production was lit for television, it looked convincingly like a stage show, with stage lighting used to great effect.The chaos of the piece was conveyed by artistic, technical and logistical lighting skills.The piece was lit to enhance the chaotic and hysterically funny plot, but with perfect timing and control. A masterpiece in how to light a theatrical production for the camera.”

The Green Hippo Television Award for Video Graphic Display: Presented by Tom Etra,Technical Manager

The Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith Amber Etra of Philips Vari-Lite, pictured with judge Stuart Gain, presents the award for Drama

Nominees: n Alberta Torres for Let’s Sing & Dance for Comic Relief n David Newton for Strictly Come Dancing n Nicholas Reyniers for Tonight at the London Palladium Winner: David Newton, for BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing “The graphics on this show are always stunning, but with the addition of 3D content on the dance floor, the result is supremely successful.The various dance styles and themes are expressed through these graphics with style and imagination. Although ambitious, ‘Strictly’ would be unimaginable without the graphic input of backings and, of course, floor.”

The Altman Lighting Television Award for Small Productions: Presented by Jaime Friedstadt, International Sales Director

Nominees: n Richard Bowles for Battle for No 10 n Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey for The Euros n John Gallagher for The Top Table Winner: Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey, for ITV’s Euros 2016 “Both indoor and outside venues were made to look stunning, with the lighting equipment hidden very effectively. Challenging exterior roof-top setting for broadcast day through to night gave a real sense of time and place and allowed for really interesting lighting.With such large-scale wide shots, the close-ups were never compromised.”

STLD Award: Announced by Stuart Gain, STLD Chair “This category has been introduced this year as the committee felt it wanted to acknowledge the talents of those who support lighting directors in their work and would not normally be nominated for any other category.This year we have chosen a very well-respected lighting programmer, who has worked with many of us here tonight for his unwavering support to television lighting designers.”

Winner: Ross Williams 40

Win Davis Light I

Winner of the award for Drama, Dominic Clements, with Philips Vari-Lite’s Amber Etra and judge Stuart Gain

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Knights of Illumination

Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey acept the award for Small Productions from Jaime Friedstadt of Altman Lighting, pictured with judge Stuart Gain

The KOI sword Tom Etra of Green Hippo presents David Newton with the award for Video Graphic Display, pictured with judge Stuart Gain

The presenters, nominees and winners on the night

Winner of the Event award Bernie Davis, centre, with Dave Mooney of Light Initiative and judge Stuart Gain

Pictured left: MC for the evening Ola Melzig.

This picture: John Wallace of SLX and judge Stuart Gain look on as Martin Kempton accepts the Light Entertainment award

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Advertising in Set & Light for 2018 Published three times a year, Set & Light carries reviews of STLD meetings and events, recollections from members, student news and information, Sponsor News and advertising. It is a high-quality publication with a wide distribution to lighting professionals.

Sponsors are able to take out advertising in the magazine. While the magazine does not have the largest of circulations, it reaches a very concentrated target of readers, who read the magazine cover to cover and even keep issues for future reference.

The magazine is supplied to members of the STLD and its Sponsors.

The sale of advertising in the magazine is limited solely to Sponsor members of the STLD. Contact us for a media pack.

Please be aware that the society is run by professional lighting people, who have full-time careers. All of the money raised from ad revenue goes towards running the society.

SPRING 2018 Advertising deadline 16 February Editorial deadline 23 February Publication date March SUMMER 2018 Advertising deadline 15 June Editorial deadline 22 June Publication date July WINTER 2018 Advertising deadline 19 October Editorial deadline 26 October Publication date November

Advertising and editorial contact: Emma Thorpe, Editor Email: editor@stld.org.uk Tel: 07850 709210 STLD_122 pp1_??.indd 42

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AC-ET A.C. Entertainment Technologies at tradeshows Representatives from AC-ET’s Film & TV sales team were at the KitPlus show at MediaCityUK, Manchester, on 7 November and the IBC 2017 show at RAI, Amsterdam, from 15–19 September.

The company showcased its supply of leading broadcast lighting solutions. The brands, many of which are UK-exclusive, offer flexible, efficient alternatives to more traditional studio lighting technologies, without loss of quality or volume of output.

n Quasar Science – Increasingly used in Hollywood and across the USA, Quasar Science’s Q-LED Crossfade Linear Lamps (pictured above) combine the benefits of a self-ballasted variable-white LED source with a compact, low-profile form factor.They provide everything from traditional three-point subject lighting to general area lighting, making them ideal for lighting actors or environments, and they can also be used as a direct replacement for fluorescent tubes in traditional fixtures.The new RGB-X Rainbow Linear Lamp adds RGB LEDs to create full colour-changing looks, as well as variable white output. n VisionSmith – ReLamp from VisionSmith is a cutting-edge LEDbased lamp replacement module. Units can be dropped into most popular Fresnels as a substitute for traditional incandescent lamps, converting the luminaire to LED operation. Cutting-edge technology ensures comparable output, excellent colour rendering, plus colour stable and flicker-free operation. Relamped fixtures can be run alongside existing technologies, allowing users to easily benefit from the lower power consumption, reduced heat output and the reliability afforded by converting to a modern LED-based light source. n DMG Lumière – The innovative DMG Lumière SL1 range has been created by a collaboration of gaffers, cinematographers and LED lighting specialists to satisfy the highest standards and needs of the motion capture industry. Functions include incredible colour quality, with a CRI of 94 and TLCI of 90-94, and a very fine colourtemperature tolerance. The fixtures have an incredible size / weight / power ratio and come with frosted diffusion, which is easily removable, as well as a 360-degree mount as standard. The fixtures are available as variable-white, tuneable between 3,000K and 5,600K. n RatPac – Using industry-leading LumenRadio CRMX wireless technology, RatPac’s AKS system allows users to control lighting fixtures directly from their mobile phone, tablet or PC. The Cintenna wireless receivers can plug directly into the back of the lighting fixtures themselves and require no additional rigging hardware. n Tourflex Cabling – AC-ET’s in-house custom cable assembly service can produce all popular types of power, signal and multicore cables used by the broadcast sector. With over 40 years of experience in this field, AC has earned a reputation for providing quality, reliable cabling to short delivery deadlines. Due to its large

Compiled by Emma Thorpe ~ email sponsornews@stld.org.uk

assembly capacity, high-priority orders are often turned around within 24 hours and over weekends where required.

AC-ET will also be exhibiting at the following shows: n BSC Expo 2018, Battersea Evolution, London, 2–3 February 2018 n BVE Expo 2018, ExCeL, London, 27 February to 1 March 2018

AC-ET partners with Steve Warren to develop Chroma-Q UK and Ireland sales Well-known industry face Steve Warren is now working in partnership with AC-ET to develop sales of Chroma-Q®’s award-winning lighting fixtures range, as the brand’s exclusive dealer for the UK and Ireland.

This follows the appointment by Chroma-Q of Steve’s new company, Lighting Distribution Consulting, to assist the development of its international sales and distribution channels outside of North America.

AC-ET will undoubtedly benefit from Steve’s wealth of industry experience, with a particular focus on raising awareness of the product range among UK lighting designers and other users in the touring and live events sector, as well as other major entertainment markets.

The latest generation of Chroma-Q LED products have won multiple awards and garnered much praise from users for their high performance. These include the new Color Force II™ colour-mixing LED cyc and wash light, the Inspire™ colour-mixing LED house light and the Space Force™ variable-white LED soft light.

For Chroma-Q UK and Ireland sales enquiries, contact AC-ET on +44 (0)1494 446000, email sales@ac-et.com or Steve Warren on +44 (0) 7802 980 608, email steve@chroma-q.com.

Tourflex Cabling launches new website Tourflex® Cabling, the cable manufacturing service of AC-ET, has just launched its new dedicated website: www.tourflex-cabling.com.

Tourflex Cabling builds cable assemblies to customers’ specific requirements in its manufacturing facility in High Wycombe, not far from London. The level of customisation even goes down to adding specific heat shrink labelling, RFIDs and barcodes as required.

Phill Capstick, AC-ET’s Managing Director, said: “Custom cable assemblies for entertainment, film and TV are an important part of the business, but it’s always been difficult to explain the full range of what we’re able to do as there are thousands of options. Having a dedicated site for Tourflex Cabling helps us to do this.”

The business makes a huge variety of single- and three-phase power cables, adaptors, extensions, spiders and looms, with connectors from industry-accepted brands such as Tourmate® Multilock, Tourmate® Powersafe, Neutrik and Socapex. Data cables include specialist Tourflex® Datasafe™ DMX lighting control assemblies; Cat 5E, Cat6A and Cat 7 Ethernet, as well as Fibre,Video and Audio. There are lots of industry-specific applications, including Set & Light | Winter 2017

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motorised hoist power and control, HMI, MSR and BAC cables with specialist connectors for film and TV – Tourflex Cabling is able to accommodate virtually all of them.

Phill says: “We’ve recently invested heavily in testing equipment so that each and every cable assembly manufactured in-house conforms to the high build quality that our customers require. We’re looking to further develop the website over the coming months to provide more details of the products and services that we supply and the connectors that we use, including our wide range of Tourflex raw cables and specialist Tourmate connectors.”

For the full range of products, visit www.tourflex-cabling.com.

ARRI DoPchoice Intro’s light-shaping gear for ARRI Just in time for the latest additions to the ARRI SkyPanel range introduced at IBC 2017, DoPchoice unveils an entire line of light directing and softening equipment. Designed to enhance the amazing new S360-C, and other models, there’s the all-new Snoot for spill-light reduction, Snapgrid® for light direction and Snapbox™ for light softening. The octagonal shaped Octa 5 and Octa 7 and popular Snapbag® softboxes are now available in more sizes just to fit the S60. The sturdy Double-Bracket gangs a pair of ARRI S60 SkyPanels.

The accessories require no additional hardware for mounting.

“We pride ourselves on helping filmmakers and broadcasters gain the most creative light control, so our team is excited to have been called on to custom-design and manufacture products for the new SkyPanel S360-C,” says Stefan Karle, Founder and Managing Director of DoPchoice in Munich. “Best of all, they are ready for shipment through ARRI, in time for the S360-C delivery.”

The new Snapbox instantly creates a five-sided rectangular light box, giving users the opportunity to encase their light fixture. The 15-inch-thick Snapbox can work with a single S360-C or more of the fixtures for a powerful, diffused light. It attaches to the front of the S360-C and comes with diffusion and blackout for light control.

Constructed of rugged fabric, Snoots shade the camera from spill light coming off the sides of the fixture. With a Snoot, the S360-C can be placed above or beside the subject without spill light affecting the camera.

If more directed light is needed, there is the DoPchoice’s Snapgrid.

Sized to fit ARRI’s new light, the self-unfolding and self-tightening light controlling grid (40-degree beam angle) quickly attaches via hook and loop to the front of the Snapbox, Snoot or panel itself.

In addition to light softening and directing tools, DoPchoice’s Double-Bracket, made of extremely high-tensile-strength aluminum, gangs two S60 Skypanels together for twice the output.

As an option for producing an even softer light, the Octa 5 (5ft diameter) and Octa 7 (7ft diameter) soft boxes can house the S60 as well as smaller SkyPanel fixtures. Octas can be deployed with or without front diffusion.

AURORA Aurora continues to invest in energy-efficient light sources. The broadcast lighting specialist is expanding its range of LED and low-energy light sources with a significant intake of new equipment.

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Commenting on the investment, Head of Lighting at VER and Aurora,David March says “As lighting technology continues to move forward we are witnessing a definite shift in the preference for specifying LED products. To properly reflect this growing trend, we are making sure we have the very latest technology available to clients operating throughout all areas of our industry.”

Following on from the recent purchase of Chroma-Q Space Force, Rosco Silk 210 and Mole Richardson Vari-Soft Softlights, Aurora has now grown its inventory to include a number of powerful LED spots and versatile effects.

Two key additions to the company’s spot range are the Philips SL LEDSPOT 300 – a compact mover that features ultra-precise beam control – and the highly accomplished GLP impression X4 and X4XL, for the delivery of powerful, automated colour in a choice of sizes. Expanding their effects offering, the company has added the award-winning TMB Solaris Flare wash/strobe, Chroma-Q Color Force with its super-intense colour capabilities, plus the SGM Q-7 colour multipurpose flood/strobe fixture.

Summing up the ongoing Aurora investment, March says: “We are incredibly proud to be working with some of the UK’s leading LDs and crews, so it is of paramount importance that we support them with the latest innovations in technology. This latest intake of powerefficient equipment further underlines our commitment to the BAFTA Albert initiative; by growing our product portfolio we are able to provide viable options to traditional light sources, which offer real savings on energy while ensuring that clients retain the freedom to expand and explore their creativity”.

Aurora Lighting ventures into The Crystal Maze

Aurora is working alongside Lighting Designer Gurdip Mahal and Gaffer James Tinsley on Channel 4’s reboot of The Crystal Maze.

Based on the classic format and filmed at The Bottle Yard, Bristol, on a custom-built set created by original series designer James Dillon, the aim was to remain faithful to the feel of the iconic zones, while adding a contemporary look to update the show for a modern audience and enhance the new areas.

Gurdip says: “The sheer scale of the show presented a number of challenges for the crew. With so many small studios and unique spaces, lighting the production was both new and exciting and presented a few difficulties, which the crew were able to resolve.”

The lighting specified for the show allowed the crew the flexibility to seamlessly shift between scenes and to custom create specific moods for individual zones. A variety of automated fixtures, including Martin MAC Viper Profile, Clay Paky Sharpy and GLP X-4s, allowed the addition of colour and movement. A number of Fresnels

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were also incorporated into the design – particularly useful in delivering the tungsten warmth of the Nineties original.

Gurdip says: “Everybody worked hard to create the right look for the show. We had some fantastic support from Ben Taylor and the team at Aurora, who made some key investment in new products, specifically for The Crystal Maze.”

Of particular note was the level of LED products that Aurora were able to make available. Recognised by the Albert initiative as a supplier that supports an environmentally sustainable future for the TV industry, Aurora always strive to offer low-energy alternatives to traditional light sources. The Crystal Maze set was no exception, with a selection of Chroma-Q Space Force heads providing highly controllable, ambient illumination, while a mixture of TMB Solaris Flare, Phillips SL Strip and Rosco Silk 210s added texture and effects throughout the set.

Head of Lighting at Aurora and VER David March says: “Bringing such a revered classic show back to our screens can be a huge responsibility. Gurdip and the whole production team have done an incredible job, not just in recreating the look of the original but also making it slick, stylish and modern.”

BBC STUDIOWORKS BBC Children in Need returns to Studioworks BBC Studioworks provided studio facilities and full post-production services from Elstree for the annual BBC Children in Need Appeal Show for the fifth consecutive year. The annual charity fundraiser was transmitted live from Studioworks’ 11,800sq ft Studio D on 17 November in front of a studio audience of 500.

Setting the studio Set assembly in Studio D began on 10 November, as the colossal all-singing-all-dancing stage required 60 hours of building and technical rigging from Studioworks’ crew. Controlled by six lighting desks, more than 170 pieces of lighting equipment were fitted to illuminate the set and a 10 camera set-up was configured to capture all the action, including Sony 2500 and 1500 cameras, a Technocrane, a jib and hand-held cameras.

Studio D’s Sound Gallery was the backbone of the audio set-up, with a Riedel intercoms system allowing for seamless backstage communication between the crew, and a Studer mixing console capturing contributions from presenters’ and guests’ microphones.

Strictly, EastEnders and the return of Anne Robinson In addition to the live action in Studio D, a number of one-off specials of popular programmes were screened. Studioworks’ George Lucas Stage 2 at Elstree was utilised for a Strictly Come Dancing special.

Recorded in early November, six legendary Blue Peter presenters from the past 60 years entered the glitz and glamour of the ballroom in a bid to win the Pudsey Glitter Ball Trophy.

Studioworks also facilitated a special celebrity edition of The Weakest Link in Stage 8 at Elstree, with seven brave celebrities facing the wrath of Anne Robinson in a bid to win £15,000 for the children’s charity.

EastEnders’ yearly contribution to the show was also prerecorded by Studioworks. The cast performed a selection of the most famous songs and dances from the classic musical Oliver!.

featuring fundraising and regional stories, were managed in the multiplexer – a bespoke build in Studioworks’ Elstree Post Production Village – and intercut with performances from the studio. EVS XT3 servers recorded this content on to a new Avid Nexis system. All fundraising, thank you and appeal film VT content was played into the studio from the multiplexer during transmission. Highlights montages were also cut for inclusion into the live programme.

However, not all the post-production action took place on the night. Activities began in late October, running up to the live show, as Studioworks’ Avid Symphony suites cut material for multiple live show features, with Avid Pro Tools used for dubbing and voiceovers.

This included the Strictly Come Dancing special, as well as EastEnders’ performance of Oliver!.

Once the live show had ended, Studioworks continued editing into the night, with the turnaround of a 75-minute highlights programme for delivery and broadcast on BBC One on 19 November.

John O’Callaghan, Head of Studios and Post Production at BBC Studioworks, said: “The Children in Need Appeal Show makes full use of our technical services and expertise. From building the set and implementing the complex lighting and audio requirements, through to managing pre-recorded specials and synchronising a multitude of live feeds. This is an example of large-scale event television at its best and we were delighted to help bring the show to life.”

CLAYPAKY Claypaky AXCOR 300: Small body, mass appeal The new Axcor 300 family of moving LED fixtures brings Claypaky’s no-compromise quality and performance to the broad mid-market.

The range consists of a spot light, a wash light and a beam light, all driven by a white LED engine with a rated power of up to 180W. The quality of their effects, their construction and their high light output derive from the high-end products that Claypaky specialises in.

The AXCOR SPOT 300 has 17 gobos on two wheels, including seven high-quality dichroic rotating gobos. Weighing just 20kg and measuring a little over 500 mm, this unit incorporates features that are not often found in models of this size, such as a rotating prism, a motorised iris, a soft-edge filter, a 16-bit dimmer, and an eight to 40-degree zoom.

The AXCOR BEAM 300 has an even more compact body – less than 500mm – and is able to emit a super-concentrated solid beam with a beam angle as small as two degrees and a surprising light output. The wealth and quality of its colours and aerial effects, its electronic focus and its 140mm-diameter front lens make the Axcor

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Beam 300 the ideal beam moving light in any application area and the perfect replacement for a Claypaky Sharpy!

The AXCOR WASH 300 has a 140mm front PC lens and linear 5.5 to 42-degree zoom. Producing colours is its speciality: it is fitted with all the components you need to produce any shade of colour you desire, with a light diffusion uniformity comparable to higherend models.

The AXCOR 300 models boast cutting-edge electronic and software technology, with all the features that enable optimal fixture management and maintenance over time.

With a physical size, power consumption and price-point that disguise its strength and creative potential, the Axcor 300 range enables a new world of expression in touring, events, TV, theatre and installed lighting markets. Now, more designers than ever before can achieve their biggest ideas.

CHROMA-Q KitPlus Manchester 2017 and IBC 2017 Chroma-Q® broadcast LED lighting products were showcased at the KitPlus show at MediaCityUK, Manchester, on 7 November and the IBC 2017 show at RAI, Amsterdam, from 15–19 September on the stand of A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. The Cine Gear Expo award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force™ variable-white LED space-light / soft-light source has been adopted by leading television studios and specialist rental companies, including the Marjan Television Network, Aurora Lighting and Pixipixel.

The fixture weights only 8kg, with a built-in ballast, passive cooling for exceptionally quiet operation and outputs of up to 26,700 lumens of diffused white light. Other features include variable control from 2,800K to 6,500K, flicker-free operation on camera, homogenised optics, theatrical grade dimming and wireless DMX / RDM options.

Also showing was Chroma-Q’s multi-award-winning Color Force II™ fixture. From the makers of one of the most popular LED battens, the next-generation Color Force ll delivers formidable output and superior colour blending, all with smooth, even coverage.

The fixture’s homogenised colour mixing produces both strong saturated colours and delicate pastels, with no unsightly colour shadowing. Powerful enough to light nearly 12m, the Color Force II is perfect for a wide range of applications where a powerful throw is needed.

Chroma-Q Space Force chosen by Persian network The award-winning Chroma-Q® Space Force™ fixture has been selected to provide powerful soft lighting for the studios of Wimbledon, London-based Marjan Television Network: one of the leading broadcasters to the Persian-speaking world, with more than 25 million viewers.

Marjan, which has just completed a major refurbishment of its studio lighting infrastructure, broadcasts a wide range of entertainment programmes to viewers across the globe.These include Persianlanguage versions of well-known British favourites such as The X Factor, Come Dine With Me and Spitting Image, as well as producing several hours per day of live output programming from its studios.

Among the technical requirements for the studio upgrade, Marjan wanted a powerful yet energy-efficient white soft light that could deliver a high-quality output with good colour rendition on camera.

The award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force was ideal for the 46

Copyright: Marjan Television Network Ltd studio lighting, having an output of up to 26,700 lumens, with controlled colour temperature from 2,800K to 6,500K and a CRI / TLCI of up to 97.

Despite weighing in at only 8kg, it has an internal ballast and passive cooling (no fans), which renders it very quiet when in use.

Like other Chroma-Q fixtures, it has variable PWM, which gives it flicker-free operation, and it can be wirelessly controlled.

The studio facilities also feature the Chroma-Q Color One 100X™ RGBA LED PAR, which provides colour-mixing lighting effects during broadcasts.

DE SISTI De Sisti opens a UK sales and projects operation De Sisti has been a world leader in professional lighting systems since 1982. Innovation, technological research, high-performance products, and attention to detail and international safety standards are a priority. All products are designed, manufactured and tested at De Sisti’s factories, where total quality control is the primary goal.

De Sisti has made substantial investment in its products, system upgrades and development to ensure users benefit from the technology advances. As part of this investment De Sisti has opened De Sisti UK to support existing and potential customers based in the UK and Ireland, and to provide project design, support and a complete installation support if required.The office is currently based close to Junction 11 of the M25 to make access across the UK easy with support for TV studios, rental companies and photographers.

The office is set up to provide full product support. It is equipped with the latest demonstration and loan stock and provides quotations for equipment and projects, as well as offering a complete design service covering all aspects of film, TV and photographic studios – lighting, lighting control, suspension, electrical and the building itself.

At IBC 2017 in Amsterdam in September, De Sisti launched a number of new products and upgraded all the LED arrays within the Fresnel range, ensuring that brighter sources were employed while, at the same time, improving CRI and TLCI figures to sit within the 92 to 96 band. The Fresnel Rain Protected range was shown now with an F7 at 160W, the F10 HP at 330W and the F14 HP at 580W. At a recent demonstration in the factory, De Sisti showed these being sprayed with high levels of water, which carefully runs out of the products due to the water drainage system built into the

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housing, ensuring no damage to the internal components – a great benefit with the UK’s unpredictable weather.

The recent addition of Vari-White technology to the Fresnel and the SoftLED range ensures that studios can be lit with the ability to set the colour temperature from the lighting console without any change in intensity and immediately, without gel or climbing ladders.

In drama, this can help the move from day to night or to simulate different artificial sources, such as street lights shining through windows, just by means of a fader movement or key stroke.

In news and current affairs studios, these fixtures can help to balance one skin tone to another, changing immediately to suit those on camera, making them ideal for long-running news programmes with multiple guests.The technology provides adjustable colour temperature from 2,800K to 6,600K on a continuous basis for theatre lighting designers. For TV lighting directors, a step basis is provided, where set colour temperature changes of 400K occur for every 10 per cent variation in DMX intensity.The latter ensuring that TV lighting directors always know exactly what temperature they are working at.

The Fresnels continue to utilise the same high-quality shockresistant German glass lenses they have had since 1982 – these being fitted in their original incandescent versions, as well as throughout the LED Fresnel range, which now spans from 30W to 580W. The universal power input from 90V to 250V ensures a true smooth dimming range from zero to 100 per cent at any of the AC input voltages, making them ideal for use on shoots where the power is from different supply sources. The 30, 60 or 120-360W of soft light via the De Sisti SoftLED 8W versions are also operable on batteries.

The vari-white and the standard tungsten or daylight fixed colour-temperature versions operate using the installed self-stabilising active cooling system. This thermal stabilisation is managed by an internal thermal sensor and the central processor unit working with the fixture’s array heat-sink and the integral silent fan cooling. This maintains the array at a constant temperature, thus ensuring array longevity and fixture stability, with the silent hydro-bearing fan operating at a slow speed. The thermal stability also ensures that when DMX dimming is in use there is no shift in colour temperature.

De Sisti hold a patent on the optical system, which operates in the same way as the incandescent Fresnels, with an array and a reflector moving towards and away from the Fresnel lens. Unlike other manufacturers, the Fresnel units always ship with a four-leaf barndoor and colour frame and are available with optional pole-operated yokes, Chimera and speed ring and other options. Some first-generation De Sisti luminaires have been installed in studios for more than five years, with recent tests showing that in 24 hour-a-day studios, the hours have exceeded 35,000 without light output or colour degradation.

The SoftLED range launched earlier this year provides a wide range of wattage ratings and physical sizes. Construction from rugged and lightweight aluminium extrusion ensures a rugged housing, while the black oxidized low-glare finish ensures that the fixtures are designed to stand up to the daily usage of rental and studio applications. Accurate honeycombs provide the opportunity to ‘key’ from the softlights, as well as shaping and controlling the beam spread. The range spans from 60W,with SoftLED1, to 120W with SoftLED 2, 180W with SoftLED 4 and the 360WSoftLED 8, which is a highly intense source suitable for area washing. All are available in dedicated tungsten or daylight colour temperatures or as a Vari-White version, which is proving to be incredibly popular with the SoftLed 8, producing over 1000 lux at a distance of 3m.

To complement the range of LED soft and keylights, De Sisti has upgraded its range of suspension solutions for pantographs, motorised

hoists and a new low-cost push-pull telescopic drop arm. It recently secured a large order from Riverside Studios to supply 147 Lite Mini Hoists for its new Studio 1, opening next year.The hoists are being purpose manufactured to match a detailed specification prepared by Riverside.The hoists are controlled by a De Sisti AED hoist control system of a similar type to the six systems delivered to the three refurbished studios at Television Centre.With its logical approach, this touchscreen-based control system is designed to be easy to operate by an inexperienced and frequently changing rigging crew.

New lower-weight capacity pantographs and the new telescopic drop arm are further additions to the suspension range, ensuring that even low-height studios can benefit from the De Sisti D Smart Grid, which uses a unique aluminium extrusion and can contain integrated dimmed and direct power, Ethernet and DMX or video and audio data. These solutions are extremely cost effective and, most importantly, ensure that the grid solutions are managed by specialists rather than being part of a general building contract.

The UK operation is managed by Nick Mobsby, who has considerable experience of designing studio solutions as well as managing projects in his previous role as Projects Director at LSI Projects. The UK operation will provide spare-parts support for existing products, including those that have been out of production,.

Please enquire as we may be able to help from stock or perhaps manufacture missing parts. We have loan equipment available for those wanting to try out any of the kit.

At the recent STLD visit to Coronation Street, Head of Lighting Chris Chisnall demonstrated three different generations of De Sisti equipment, from incandescent fixtures to early LED to the latest in LED softlights. He showed how sets are now lit in the two new studios, primarily using only 240W soft lights, where the honeycombs help to control the light simulating keylight, and a few occasional 60W modelling Fresnel keys, which are added for closeup work. Chris also has some of the rain-proof versions, with further lights on order

De Sisti become a sponsor of the STLD in the hope that we can bring up-to-date information to the readers of the magazine ,as well as showing some of our latest projects. Please drop a note to nick@ desistilighting.co.uk if you would like to be put on the regular mailing and newsletter list.

DOUGHTY Music in Romsey sings the praises of Doughty Romsey Abbey is a 12th century church – the largest parish church in Hampshire. It has been used as a performance venue by Music in Romsey (MIR) since the early 1970s. MIR hosts an extensive series of concerts there throughout the year. Musicians involved range from local choirs and bands to international soloists and orchestras.

However, the group has always struggled to ‘raise’ their performers due to a lack of any special staging.

Bob Smith, Stage Manager for Music in Romsey, said: “In the past we’ve had to use whatever we had to hand – literally; old beer crates with sheets of hardboard laid over the top come to mind. We then had some wooden platforms made, which could be stacked and placed on trolleys, and these were used at every concert when Set & Light | Winter 2017

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staging was needed until about four years ago. They were 1.3m sq and 24, 12 and six inches high – and very heavy. So we began to look for something lighter. I met representatives of a number of staging suppliers but it was Doughty Engineering that ticked all our boxes.”

Bob worked closely with Laurence Dyer at Doughty to agree on the quantities and sizes of Stagedeck. Bob said: “Each stage is different and the abbey, being some 900 years old, is not metric, so we had to ask for a number of ‘bespoke’ items, some of which, I understand, have now made their way into the Doughty catalogue.”

Bob and Laurence worked together to design various pieces of kit around the abbey. Most of what has been supplied, however, is off the shelf – seven bases each measuring 1,000mm by 1,000mm by 1,000mm and 100 bases measuring 1,000mm by 1,000mm by 250mm, as well as a number of other items, including bespoke safety rails and steps.

Bob said: “Doughty has helped with the many problems of fitting ‘standard’ sized blocks into a very non-standard building. Laurence has been particularly helpful with advice and problem solving. He and I are able to discuss problems as they arise and generally solve them.

In fact, he has never said that such and such is impossible. He recently visited during a stage build – one of our largest stages for some 200 singers – and saw a solution to a problem that had been irritating me for a very long time.” He added: “Easydeck has made a huge difference to our group, in particular to my stage building team.”

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Technology, said: “We are pleased to be working with Eaton, a locally based company with global reach in the lighting and live event industry. The partnership enables our students to gain a variety of experiences, from work placements to having access to industrystandard equipment and the latest expertise, all of this helps to prepare them for an industry career on graduation”.

Eaton has also welcomed USW ‘year in industry’ placement student Edward Smith to the Zero 88 team. Edward said: “Placements make perfect sense; as well as providing skills and training opportunities, it gives a good and realistic idea of the job options on graduation.”

During this sandwich placement, Edward has fulfilled a product support role. “I run console demonstrations, training sessions and answer customer queries. I also beta test console software and report any issues that may be present, along with suggesting new features.”

Zero 88 Product Manager Jon Hole said: “We’ve had close connections with the University of South Wales, and affiliated RWCMD, for over a decade. In the Zero 88 office alone, 13 of us have backgrounds at USW, covering a diversity of courses including Lighting Design, Stage Management, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Human Resource Management and Accounting & Finance. We’re determined to continue strengthening this highly productive relationship even further.”

EATON / ZERO88

ELATION

Eaton strengthens ties with university

Butch Allen uses Elation ACL 360i™

Live entertainment lighting control specialist Eaton has enabled the University of South Wales (USW) to enjoy the power and flexibility of a Zero 88 FLX console, which has been added to its lineup of lighting control options.

This increases its stock of Zero 88 products, which already includes distributed dimming (both Alphapack and Betapack) and manual control of its new 1:8 scale mini rig from a Jester 12/24.

Eaton is also supporting modules on the USW’s Lighting Design and Technology and Live Event Technology BSc courses. First-year students visit the Welsh factory in Cwmbran as part of their ‘introduction to lighting’ module, while second years sit the ‘Control technology’ module that has been developed by the Zero 88 team. For the first time, final-year students can work with Eaton employees during their ‘Group projects’ module, where they must design and produce a piece of hardware or software, supported by a marketing strategy.

Stuart Green, Course Leader for BSc (Hons) Lighting Design and

Lighting Designer Butch Allen created a stunning visual design for American rock band Paramore’s Tour Two US tour using a bevy of Elation Professional’s compact ACL 360i™ beam effect lights.

Supplied by LMG Touring for the fall leg of the tour, which wrapped up on 17 October, 72 of the single-beam moving effects formed the aerial lighting focal point throughout the show.

“I needed a very small fixture with big output,” Allen said. “The lights were in the projection field for video, and minimising shadows without sacrificing the lighting look was a challenge.The ACL 360i fit the bill perfectly.” Allen, who was using the fixture for the first time, praised its intensity and named its small size and low weight (33cm tall and 5.2kg) as important factors in its choice, as well as the ability to fit the budget.

The ACL 360i effects lined three concentric truss circles over the band – 12 on the inner, 24 on the middle and 36 on the outer – and were framed by rows of strip lights. “I love this fixture; it’s fast and gives 360 degrees of endless chaos,” said Allen. “It’s a fantastic

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fixture and was the saviour of our budget. True bang for the buck!”

Each single-beam ACL 360i light houses a 60W RGBW LED and projects a narrow four-degree beam.With the ability to rotate continuously in both pan and tilt, the large number of beam fixtures created a gorgeous swirling effect on to a backdrop cyc, with everchanging rays of light projected on to the stage or out to the audience.

LMG Touring, a full-service touring provider that operates offices across the US, stocks a wide range of Elation products, including over 200 ACL 360i fixtures, and supplied both the lighting and video package for Paramore. In order to speed load in and load out on the tour, LMG had the ACL fixtures mounted on custom pipe brackets, in groups, to easily go on and off of the circle trusses. “The Elation ACL 360i has a good price-to-performance ratio, which gives the possibility to do a large matrix like this without blowing up the budget,” said Craig Mitchell, Director of Touring at LMG Touring. “They’ve been very reliable for us: a great fixture and clients like them.”

Stage Production Co. chooses Elation effects for Birmingham’s Crane Full-service production company, Stage Production Co, is supplying all the production for a new and unique multi-purpose event space in Birmingham (UK) called Crane and has turned to Elation Professional products to fulfill the lighting brief.

Crane, which opened on 29 September, is a huge space with a raw, industrial feel in the heart of the Digbeth district of central Birmingham. Along with elevated ceilings, iron beams and exposed brick work, the space is defined by two five-ton rolling cranes that span the width of the building and roll down its length on steel girders. The venue is run by The Rainbow Venues, which owns a complex of other converted warehouse event and club spaces in the area, many of which Stage Productions has been supplying production for over the last eight years.

Flexible lighting rig Every week, a DJ or other artist performs at the 3,500-capacity venue.

Crane’s stage changes periodically to cater to special events but the main lighting, a rig of Elation Rayzor Q12™ LED moving heads, Platinum Beam 5R Extreme™ moving head beam lights, ACL 360 Matrix™ LED moving panels and Protron 3K™ LED strobes, stays the same. “We supply all production every day and every week for every event,” says Stage Production’s Jordan Lake, Managing Director at the Birmingham-based company, which supplied all staging, lighting, LED screens, rigging, truss, sound and crew for the venue. “The stage will change some weeks to meet the needs of particular events but the main lighting rig remains the same on a semi-permanent basis.”

Production design for Crane was handled by Jordan, with lighting design by Ben Butler. Stage Production gave itself the brief of ‘taking things to new levels’, which, Lake says, worked well in a venue that had two giant cranes. “Our design incorporates three LED screen squares, each larger than the other and layered across the stage,” he says.

“When viewed from the front, it appears as one solid square screen but as soon as you step off-centre, the whole structure appears to pull out of itself and the different levels become apparent.The lighting is extremely important in such a vast space.With clever visuals and using the Elation lighting effects, we created some great optical illusions.”

Creative effects With a number of different acts playing Crane’s stage weekly, the customisable characteristics of an intelligent lighting package shine through. The compact RGBW Rayzor Q12 moving heads are

arranged in a four-by-four grid across the back of the stage, with the ACL 360 Matrix fixtures used in a row across the back of the stage as backlight. “The ACLs are rigged at the back of the stage but at ground level,” Lake says of the automated five-by-five matrix LED panels. “We wanted to make use of their bright chunky beam and fire it straight through the LED mesh screen panels and the truss structure. It works well and gives the whole stage depth. It makes the screen structure appear imposing and almost sinister. With a little bit of creative pixel-mapping we get some nice mid-air effects.”

Lake says the Platinum Beam 5R Extreme beam lights were chosen for their power and are placed all the way down the venue on the steel girders to immerse the crowd in the show. “The lights down the sides are so versatile because we can get the all-important beam look, which is crucial to the style of the venue, especially with the beam reduction gobo for a very narrow beam,” he says. “But when we add in the frost we get a nice wash, perfect for when the venue hosts corporate events and we need to throw colour around.”

No super club is complete without lots of strobes, so every beam light was coupled with a Protron 3K LED strobe. “When they all go off at once and chase down the venue the effect is astonishing,” says Lake.

“The Protron 3Ks all down the room are fantastic and we get some brilliant strobe chases.They are so bright and when we put them on full blind mode and blast the CO2 jets, the crowd go wild.” The lighting rig, which offers an abundance of effects possibilities on its own, works with a host of other club staples, including CO2 jets, CO2 dumps, RGB lasers, confetti stadium shots and confetti blasters (supplied by Dynamite FX) to create a truly customisable festive atmosphere.

Elation LED chosen for Survivor finale For the season finale of Survivor: Game Changers earlier this year, Lighting Designer Victor Fable decided the time was right to add more LED fixtures to the lighting rig of the competitive reality TV series and turned to new-generation LED fixtures from Elation Professional for the task. “We wanted to move to more LED and try something different without taking away the success of past live shows,” said Fable, who has traditionally used a profusion of discharge lamp fixtures on finale shows. “We wanted to see how much could be rolled over to LED and see how much more bang we could get with the extra fixtures it allowed us to use.”

As good as ever The rig consisted of well over 250 lighting fixtures, including 80 Fuze Wash Z120™, 26 Fuze Wash Z350™, 40 Colour Chorus 12™, 10 Colour Chorus 48™ and 16 Satura Spot LED Pro™, all Elation LED fixtures, along with Elation Platinum SBX™ and FLX™ hybrid luminaires and other lights. “It’s the most LEDs we’ve had on a Survivor show,” says Fable, who lit his 11th live season finale. “The show looked as good as ever and the client was very happy.”

Fuze The LD has worked with Fuze series fixtures before and says he realised the finale was a good opportunity to replace the VL5s he normally uses. His search for a new colour-changing wash light with unique on-camera aesthetics, yet one that was LED-based, ended when he found the Fuze Wash Z120 and Fuze Wash Z350. “I had given up on finding a light that had the same characteristics as a VL5, which has been a cornerstone of countless shows,” he says. “That changed when I was introduced to the Fuze. The first thing that attracted me to it was how it softly diffuses light. It fills all the roles for me that the VL5 would play, even though it’s an LED fixture, Set & Light | Winter 2017

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whereas the VL5 is an incandescent.”

The Fuze units were placed at several different positions: in the rig, on the floor and even hidden behind and inside scenery elements. The LED wash lights use a single-source lens system that emits an extremely even beam with a lens face that appears as one colour on camera: a non-pixel look that is unique on the market.

Fable says he also chose the Fuze fixtures because of the greater flexibility they provide with helpful features like a wider zoom.

“Without question, the Fuze has turned into my go-to light. From humans to scenery, the Fuze hits the mark.”

Colour Chorus and Satura Spot The 1ft and 4ft Colour Chorus LED batten wash lights (RGBA) were used to uplight hard scenery from behind plants, used for downstage lighting and screen surrounds, and employed when the set needed a broad stroke of light. “These are great strip lights, very bright and with a good colour range,” Fable says. “They come in different sizes, which makes them quite flexible, and they gave us another opportunity to save by not running cable and dimmers.”

The Satura Spot LED Pro, a colour and gobo changing moving head with RGBW LED engine that can be used for several purposes, was used for audience colour washes and splays of pattern, as well as for framing around the screen surrounds.

LED benefits The move to more LED fixtures gave other benefits besides the ability to put more lights in the rig – namely, less cabling, fewer dimmers and greater reliability. “Also, once the set was in, it was hard to change anything in the rig as it was hard to get to it, but using LED made it easier because there were no bulb burnouts to contend with,” Fable says, adding that even though the scenery was finished late in the process, it was easy to add in extra Fuze fixtures where more light was needed.

Discharge-based fixtures still found their way into the finale show rig, some in the form of Elation Platinum SBX and Platinum FLX hybrid moving heads, which Fable used to replace the VL Spot fixtures he has typically used on finales. Used in both spot and beam mode, the SBX and FLX fixtures were most prominent during the winning ballyhoo of audience sweeps, when the last survivor and winner of the million-dollar prize was announced.

The Elation lighting fixtures were supplied by Victor Fable Lighting and Kinetic Lighting. Fable worked with ‘the best team of lighting professionals’ and thanks Nick McCord (ALD), Esteban De La Torre (Programmer), Robbie Dick (Gaffer), and David Rosen (Account Rep).

ETC ETC introduces ColorSource CYC ETC’s newest addition to the ColorSource® fixture family is the ColorSource CYC. A dedicated cyclorama fixture with the sole purpose of creating smooth washes of light on a cyclorama or wall, ColorSource CYC produces a wide range of bold colours using a unique, all-LED five-colour mix of red, green, blue, indigo and lime.

ColorSource CYC eliminates the need to replace expensive lamps and highly-saturated coloured gel that burns through after a couple of shows. Furthermore, these fanless LED fixtures consume a fraction of the power of other standard CYC fixtures. However, lower power consumption doesn’t equal reduced light output. In fact, it’s possible to 50

light a full cyclorama with a fraction of the fixtures typically required.

With a compact and lightweight design, this affordable fixture blends in with the background. ColorSource CYC can be set up quickly on a stage floor or hung from a pipe with ease, meaning it’s no longer necessary to lug around large, clunky boxy fixtures or set up ground row after ground row or border after border.

Each fixture includes an optional hanging yoke, power in and through connections for easy installation, and standalone presets and sequences, making installation and set up a breeze.

With the new ColorSource CYC fixture comes an update to ETC’s CYC Tool. This powerful fixture app will do the work for you, calculating the number of fixtures required and how far apart to space them to get full cyclorama coverage. The latest version of the CYC Tool is available to download now via iTunes and Google Play.

HES announces new hires High End Systems is pleased to announce the addition of three new employees. Terry Heisler comes to High End Systems as West Coast Regional Sales Manager and Clint Wingrove has signed on as Southeastern Regional Sales Manager. In HES Engineering, Ian Clarke has joined the company as R&D Product Development Manager.

With over 30 years of industry experience,Terry Heisler was on the touring circuit for many years before starting a lighting design company in Canada. After moving to Chicago in 2007,Terry has combined design, management and sales with such companies as Lightswitch, ILC and VER. He says: “I started my design and programming career using High End fixtures and Hog desks.The product line is now stronger than ever and I’m excited to be working with HES/ETC.” Clint Wingrove worked as Sales Manager for Oasis Stage Werks and Lighting Consultant for Utah Jazz before joining PSLP Inc in 2010 as South Central States Representative. Clint says: “I believe High End Systems’ lighting and control products are unparalleled in the industry and I’m thrilled to be a part of this team. I look forward to supporting our existing dealer base and introducing new customers to our product lines.”

Ian Clarke brings over 30 years of industry experience, including touring, electronic design and development, product development and project management. For many years he worked with Light & Sound Design, PRG and his own firm Clark Projects Ltd. Ian says: “I am excited to be joining High End Systems for this new chapter and look forward to continuing the rich history of innovation.

Having the resources and industry presence of ETC behind us will be of huge benefit to our product design program.”

General Manager Becky Koester says: “We feel fortunate that we were able to attract this caliber of industry professionals. Ultimately, each position allows us to better serve our customers and the industry. High End Systems now has balanced domestic sales coverage, as well as added leadership in our engineering organisation; this all adds to the momentum and strength of our brand.”

GLP 1, 2 or 3 celebrates 40th anniversary with GLP The legendary German children’s quiz show from ZDF, 1, 2 or 3, celebrated 40 years on air and 1,000 episodes with a 150-minute prime-time show from the MMC Studios in Cologne. Moderated

by Steven Gätjen and Elton, prominent guests included actress Stephanie Stumph, comedian Bülent Ceylan and singer Mark Foster.

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Credit: Paul Gärtner MBTV, the production company for ZDF, awarded the lighting design work to mo2 design, run by Lighting Designer Manfred ‘Ollie’ Olma. A long-time user of GLP fixtures, he made the most of it, specifying more than 100 impression X4 atomS, as well as 92 GT-1 hybrids and 60 impression X4.

“We arranged the atoms in two rows: next to and underneath the videowall. Together with the performing area in front, this videowall is a central part of the show and it was accentuated by the atoms. The idea came because we originally decided to use the compact atom only as an effect light. However, due to the rich output, the 30W LED engine and the zoom, these lamps are actually great all-rounders,” says Olma. Matthias Allhoff, who is responsible for planning at mo2 design, adds: “The highlight of these fixtures is the connectors, which make it possible to link large quantities quickly, without problem, and maintain visual harmony. This makes these small lamps very flexible.”

As for the GT-1 hybrids, Olma used these in the show performance to achieve a basic look, using the Beams as effect lights to accentuate his lighting design. The impression X4, on the other hand, was used as a workhorse for audience light, bathing the guests at the TV recording in a rich colour palette.

Technical equipment for the production was provided by the Cologne-based MLS magic light + sound.

application possibilities incredibly flexible,” he says.

However, to maximise the impact of these lights, direct contact with the manufacturer was also invaluable, particularly in asking detailed questions. Huber says: “Following discussions with Oliver Schwendke, we have been able to apply a few ideas for other accessories and a short time later the first prototypes were realised.”

Oliver Schwendke, Key Account Manager at GLP, adds: “For us, the feedback from customers such as Winkler Multi Media Events is extremely important. We always try to listen carefully to understand the concrete requirements of the customer. Then we get together with our product developers and are always amazed at the thought-out solutions that are presented to us.” In this instance, he says, the X4 atom Flex Connector emerged from Winkler’s input: a ‘buckling element’ enables two X4 atoms to be connected to each other at different angles of up to 90 degrees.

Another co-operation involving the X4 atom took place this year at Frankfurt’s prolight + sound in the PRG Festhalle. Here, Light Designer Jerry Appelt had the idea of blocking the X4 atom in clusters of six devices; within a few weeks, the X4 atom Sixbar was created.

This is a case in which six X4 atoms can be tilted about the horizontal axis and, in addition, each headlight can be rotated individually by up to 15 degrees. The result is a look that is modelled on the classic ACL set, but with six 30W RGBW LEDs and a zoom range of 3.5–35 degrees.

Roni Huber summarises the success story of the small luminaire in this way: “Winkler recognised the potential of the X4 atom at an early stage and expanded it further with GLP in terms of flexibility and possible applications. We are very excited about the creative ideas that are coming from the industry.”

Picture courtesy of Winkler / tpc

Winkler Multi Media Events expands the potential of GLP X4 atoms Since investing in more 300 GLP X4 atoms at the end of last year, Swiss company Winkler Multi Media Events has found that this small lamp from Karlsbad has developed into a serious and versatile contender. The wide application possibilities range from small to large events, as well as popular TV shows.

Back in February this year, Lighting Designer Matthias Kern from broadcast service provider tpc switzerland ag used multiples of the X4 atom in gigantic matrix displays at the Swiss ESC (European Song Contest) preliminary voting round. Further assignments followed, most recently the SRF show Ich schänke dir Lied (‘I’ll sing you a song’).

The X4 atoms were used in different arrangements for this emotion-laden Saturday night TV show – as a large matrix between the theatre audience and in a circular truss structure above the stage for the grand finale.

For Roni Huber, Head of Technical Design at Winkler, this versatility is one of the success factors in the cleverly designed detail. “For the X4 atom, there are a whole series of adapters, connectors and suspension constructions available. This makes the

200 GLP JDCIs at 36th MTV VMA awards The 36th edition of the MTV Video Music Awards was broadcast live from the Forum in Inglewood, California recently.Within the vast, creative stage set, designed by Stufish’s Ric Lipson, GLP fixtures had a mighty role to play, with 194 of its new JDC1 hybrid strobes being deployed by 22 Degrees’ LD Bob Barnhart and supplied by PRG.These had a huge presence across the set, distributed among the overhead canopies, the two layers of outer rings, in the back of the arena (as eye candy in camera backgrounds) and on the overhead main stage area.

The designer was first exposed to GLP’s versatile new strobe at LDI last year. He discussed the possibility of hitching the yoke of GLP’s X4 Bar batten ont o the new JDC1 with GLP Inc President Mark Ravenhill. “Mark came back to me the next day and indicated that the engineers thought it was possible,” he says,“and when he told me earlier this summer that the unit was shipping, I thought this would be a good show to try them out on.”

The JDC1s were augmented by other fixtures from the GLP Set & Light | Winter 2017

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HSL HSL lights Horse of the Year Show

Pictures courtesy of Stufish Entertainment Architects catalogue, including 12 X4 Bar 10s and 42 X4 Bar 20s, as well as eight GLP X4 atoms and 50 GT-1 hybrids.

Barnhart’s mission had been to encompass the entire room in lighting. “The goal was to change the Forum into an environment people had not seen before when coming to the Forum,” he said.

“From a lighting standpoint, LED tape was the theme, with over 12,000ft of LED RGBW tape requiring more than a 400A threephase supply to power it.” From a scenic perspective, this included five stages, all merged into one giant platform, with P!NK using every stage in the building for her performance.

Barnhart said of the JDC1s attributes. “To my knowledge, it is the only fixture that has a tilt capability, which is a great feature. It allows you to focus the attention of the fixture on certain areas just for a moment. It would also be a cool feature on an upstage wall or on the floor and use the movement as hypnotic undulation.”

Alongside him at the desk was long-time associate (and lighting director) Travis Hagenbuch, the two men having collaborated on the MTV event since 2015. Other key members of the crew included Programmers Pete Radice (PRG) and Patrick Boozer, who were also credited as lighting directors.

Hagenbuch also assisted with some of the product selection. “We both agreed that since the rig was large and needed to service so many stages, while still feeling like one cohesive show, a simple approach would be best in terms of fixture choice,” he said.

The JDC1 is designed in sections and the lighting team made full use of this, treating the top and bottom colour sections independently and the strobe as a third effect. These were controlled on an ETC Eos T1 by Boozer, who also made use of some of the built-in macro effects, describing the JDC1 as ‘a very solid fixture’.

Like Barnhart, Hagenbuch is a big fan of the JDC1’s tilt facility and the wipes across the pixelised strobe bar. “The wide spread of the colour LEDs has a lot of potential for being a short throw wash light, in addition to a colour blinder and pixel surface, but we’re definitely interested in seeing optional lenses to make the beams tighter for longer throws like we had at The Forum.”

Summing up, Barnhart said: “Production had wanted an environment and a performance space that encompassed the entire arena and I think that vision was fully delivered!”

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HSL supplied lighting, trussing and rigging equipment to the two main arenas at the 2017 Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) for Event Producer and Artistic Director Nadia Raibin and her company, The Production Team.

Nadia and The Production Team have been involved with HOYS for over 20 years. Their brief to HSL included providing theatrical lighting for a number of equestrian-based entertainment and display acts, as well as lighting for the main international show-jumping competitions, working hunter and driving classes.

On site, the HSL crew collaborated with Event Technical Director Ben Fox and Lighting Director and Operator Mark Strange. Simon Stuart project managed for HSL. In addition to all the standard competition events taking place in the main Genting Area, there were a number of dramatic moments where lighting was used to ramp up the excitement and anticipation, as well as displays such as Atkinson’s Action Horses, which were theatrically lit. These were interspersed with craziness from the Prince Philip Cup Pony Club teams and special moments like the winners’ laps and awards presentations.

HSL’s team was led onsite by Andy Skirrow and Charlotte Stevens, together with Nick Bryan.

Genting Arena This was a vast 67m-long by 30m-wide space filled with lumeneating special soft-fibre material spread across the arena floor, which hosted all the main competitions over five action-packed days of horse-centric sport, fun and entertainment.

Mark has worked on the event for many years and explained that it is an evolving scenario,which demands a degree of improvisation.

Normally, he will see all the shows that need lighting only on the final dress rehearsal, leaving him one fast-and-furious night of programming before it opens the next day to get everything into the console.

He and Ben, together with Simon this year, were all involved in specifying the lights, for which Simon recommended the Vari*Lite 4K beam washes for their output and versatility.

HSL installed hundreds of metres of pre-rigged trusses, which were used for all the lighting positions.

A massive effort went into prepping these trusses at HSL, complete with wiring looms that dropped on top in exactly the right places. It was critical that this part of the setup was completed swiftly, so that the arena floor – delivered in a fleet of artics – could be laid immediately afterwards.

A 4m-diameter circular truss was also installed in the middle of the space, just below the house video scoreboard.

The main moving lights were a combination of Philips Vari*Lite 4K beam washes and Robe BMFL Spots, distributed along the length of the trusses, with Philips SL Hydrus 350 hybrids rigged onto the circle truss. They were all picked for their brightness, to fill the vast space, and hit the high lux levels needed on the arena floor.

Reliability was important, as there was limited access to the trusses because of the flooring and the care it needed, so the ideal scenario was not to have to repair anything. Further to that, the rig needed to be rock solid to minimise the chances of rogue moving lights spooking the horses.

These were joined by almost 400 1K floods creating the base

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look. This dense concentration of point sources produced a nice, even shadow-less spread across the sand with no hot spots.

The Genting trusses were rigged on double-braked one-tonne Litec EXE-Rise hoists, which are super quiet and quick. Due to the accuracy of the speed control, these worked perfectly for raising the long trusses smooth.

Four Robert Juliat Cyrano follow spots were positioned around the corners of the arena. Follow spots were used to pick up riders as they entered and exited the ring and were on hand for the awards presentations, winners’ laps of honour and some of the display shows. The same follow-spot operators have been utilised for some years, so they are familiar with the parameters of highlighting horses, as well as providing invaluable continuity for the show crew.

The arenas operated for long periods, starting from 5am, when the public were admitted for the first exercise sessions, with the daily event programmes starting at 7am and continuing until 11pm.

The show was programmed and operated from a ChamSys console, with all the dimmer racks and hot racks stored up above in the NEC roof catwalks to keep the space below as clear as possible.

Over the years, Ben and Mark have fine-tuned the lighting of high-profile equestrian events like this. Lighting horses is tricky; they don’t like shadows and need to see where they are stepping, so contrasts such as bright spotlights and pockets of darkness have to be avoided, yet the environment also needs to be moody and dramatic at times. It also has to be lit for recording and video / internet streaming.

Another challenge this year was working with a completely new rig. While HSL was involved in a rental supply capacity in 2016, this year they took on the full lighting production role. Mark and Ben particularly enjoyed having the BMFLs this year.

Another added bonus was that moving lights were used to spot the correct positions of cones for the upcoming driving classes and jumps for the next showjumping sessions, allowing the floor teams to mark out the arenas quickly, speeding up the changeovers.

In the ‘Top Spec’ Arena 2, lighting was a lot more straightforward.

A proliferation of in-hand showing and breed classes took place here, lit with super-wide PAR 64s on six-lamp bars, rigged on individual trusses flown in a U-shape. A series of 400W MBI floods were supplied for the collecting ring area.

A long truss was hung above the main entrance, populated with Philips LED Spot 300s projecting HOYS custom gobos, combined with SL 350 LED washes providing its signature purple wash.

Hazers and smoke machines were used to help ramp up the atmosphere for the theatrical lighting moments: a task that took a little while to master but proved well worth the effort.

Andy and Charlotte worked with 12 local crew on the in-and-out, and both organisers and the venue commented that it was great to have all the lighting and rigging coming from one company.

HSL supplied equipment for the Horse of the Year Show

LCA

Rosco, Manfrotto, Briese, Chroma-Q, Cineo, LitePanels, Bebob, Quasar Science, RatPac – to name a few.

Located in the heart of the motion picture and broadcast area in the north of Paris, LCA Lights, Camera, Action France will be headed by Yann Blitte and Gregory Merlet. Blitte has 20 years of experience in the film and broadcast industry, recently working as Technical and Operating Director of Panalux. He began his career working for a rental company, quickly progressing to Warehouse Manager. He then moved to a new rental company based in Saint Denis, Paris, where he helped to build the company. For the last seven years, Blitte has been at Panalux.

Gregory Merlet started in lighting 15 years ago as a gaffer working on TV programmes, clips and live shows. From here, Merlet worked on implementing lighting in many different areas, including stage, events, film sets and TV studios. With the combined experience of Blitte and Merlet, LCA Lights, Camera, Action France will offer all customers exceptional technical knowledge and support.

Nick Shapley said: “LCA Lights, Camera, Action has been serving the UK market for nearly 20 years and with the current buoyant state of the industry in France, it was obvious that Paris should be the location of a new company.” He added: “I am delighted that Yann has agreed to head LCA Lights, Camera, Action France.”

Blitte said: “LCA Lights, Camera, Action has a reputation in the UK of offering some of the most innovative products in the industry and I believe we can do the same to support the French film and broadcast industry with exciting and quality products.”

LCA Lights Camera Action launching in Paris

LSI

LCA Lights, Camera, Action is delighted to announce it will soon be opening an office and warehouse in Paris, France. LCA Lights, Camera, Action France will offer a one-stop shop for lighting, grip, power, distribution, cables, consumables and much more. The facility will be open for rental houses, TV and film studios, independent lighting directors and cinematographers looking to purchase a wide range of products from major manufacturers, including LiteGear,

LSI Projects have had another busy summer with projects for both BBC and ITV in the UK, as well as starting a four-studio complex in Malaysia for RTM (also called, confusingly, Media City).The refurbishment of Television Centre in London has seen LSI on site over 18 months, working in the three remaining studios – TC1, 2 and 3.

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They have rewired and updated 250 hoists in TC1, 42 in TC2 and 96 in TC3, installed new touchscreen hoist control panels, lighting facility panels and house lighting and control.They have also provided new ETC Congo lighting desks and been involved with the refurbishment of the original ADB Eurodim dimmer racks installed over 20 years ago and still going strong. BBC Studioworks decided to refurbish and update the existing equipment, with many of the original Berkey Colortran ‘double enders’ being redeployed, some 40 years after they were first installed.

LSI has also been busy for ITV in both Manchester (Coronation Street studios 5 and 6 – see page 4) and Leeds (Emmerdale) with new grids, power and data infrastructure, as well as new Fresnels and softlights from Desisti and The Light.

It has also been doing more theatre work, with the refurbishment of the Victoria Palace Theatre in London (in preparation for the Broadway hit Hamilton) and the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. In the Middle East, they have been working on the Oman Convention Centre, Dubai Opera House and the 500-seat Royal Opera House in Muscat.

In India, they are supplying and installing lighting equipment for the new International Convention Centre in Mumbai.

MARTIN BY HARMAN HARMAN Professional Solutions awarded distribution of the Martin by HARMAN portfolio With effect from 1 November, the full range of Martin by HARMAN professional lighting will be supplied and represented in the UK by HARMAN partner Sound Technology Ltd. Since 2008, Sound Technology Ltd has distributed HARMAN audio solutions and services to customers, supplying a wide range of market sectors including touring, theatre, stadia, performing arts venues, nightclubs, houses of worship and cruise ships.

Representing a major expansion for the Hertfordshire-based company, a new dedicated professional lighting team incorporating sales, marketing, support and service is being established, with Ritchie Reed already in place as Business Development Manager, Professional Lighting. A familiar figure in the industry, Ritchie has worked in the entertainment lighting world for over 20 years, including Key Account Manager for Theatre and UK Sales Director at Martin Professional itself until April 2016.

“We are immensely proud and excited to be representing the full Martin portfolio.” says David Marshall, Managing Director, Sound Technology Ltd. “While we see clear synergies in terms of customer base and market sectors we already operate in, our new professional lighting team will be focused exclusively on the management and development of the Martin brand in the UK.” The return to UK distribution from a direct model will result in streamlined logistics for customers, with Sound Technology holding substantial Martin stock in the UK and a supply of spare parts locally.

Sound Technology’s 4000 sq ft demonstration facility is already equipped with Martin lighting and will be expanded with additional fixtures. It is the perfect environment for customers to test the latest products, including the acclaimed new MAC Encore™ Series.

Jonas Stenvinkel, Group Director Entertainment EMEA, HARMAN Professional Solutions, says: “We are very pleased about this expansion of our partnership. Sound Technology has been our distributor in the UK for many years, and with their strong representation across the country, we believe the expansion of our great partnership will lead to 54

a mutually beneficial future for both companies.”

For more information visit www.soundtech.co.uk/professionallighting/martin or call 01462 480000.

PHILIPS Philips Lighting’s VLZ Profiles for South Africa’s Idols Philips Lighting’s latest lighting fixtures are playing a key role in enhancing the quality of the television pictures for the current series of South Africa’s televised talent contest, Idols.

Delivering crisp backlight beams and a high-quality keylight, the LED-based new Philips VLZ Profile fixtures from Philips Entertainment Lighting are providing a quality of light output that enables even more finely colour-balanced television pictures for the latest series.

Produced by entertainment and broadcast on Mzansi Magic channel 161 DSTV, Idols is currently in its 13th season.The lighting designer for the seventh consecutive year is Joshua Cutts, one of South Africa’s leading practitioners of the art of lighting entertainment shows for television. For this year’s run, Cutts, along with Director/Executive Producer Gavin Wratten, wanted to build on the show’s highly successful 12th season by further enhancing the set and lighting design.

“I was looking for two things,” says Cutts, “a strong, iconic backlight and a strong profile with framing capability for my keylight.

It was also important for the television cameras that these fixtures had low levels of green within the lamp and reflector.”

Cutts found what he was looking for in the Philips VLZ Profile when he was introduced to the fixture by Philips Entertainment Lighting’s local sales partner, DWR Distribution.

“I was excited by the VLZ as a powerful LED profile, which I could use as keylight,” says Cutts. “I was amazed at its brightness and the colour of the white LED on a person’s skin. It was great to see an LED profile competing perfectly with the existing large profiles on the market. The VLZs have great optics, so my iconic backlight is sharp and crisp, which is a great bonus.”

Cutts praised the Philips VLZ’s light output. “I am enjoying the colour temperature of the LED source,” he says. “The quality of the output is outstanding and refreshing. The great colour temperature has allowed me to set the white level of my cameras to 6,000K, making the other light sources on the stage – LED screens and LED washlights – appear more accurate in their colour. What I see with my eyes in the venue is now what I see through the camera on screen. All the colours are richer and fresh.”

He adds: “Dream Sets provided all the technical equipment for Idols and their project manager, Eben Peltz, and I have worked closely

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together over the past few years to raise the technical standard of the show. New technology like the VLZ allows us to do just that – and keep it exciting. They delivered way beyond my expectations and I would happily use them again to create great television.”

Grant Bales-Smith, General Manager EMEA, Philips Entertainment Lighting, said: “The VLZ family of fixtures is a result of our commitment to providing the professional show lighting market with lighting tools that meet both the practical needs and the required performance standards of leading lighting professionals.

High-quality lighting is essential to the production of beautiful television pictures and we are delighted to be fulfilling that need.”

Philips Lighting’s VLZ range sets a new standard Philips Lighting has announced the availability of the new Philips VLZ range of moving head luminaires for professional show lighting applications. Using the latest Philips LED light engine and providing advanced colour and beam control, the three VLZ models set a new benchmark for performance consistency in stage and TV lighting.

Responding to feedback from leading lighting professionals, the challenge for the design team at Philips Entertainment Lighting was to improve upon the industry-standard Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Series.

The resulting Philips VLZ range has a smaller footprint, improved beam quality and additional features based on the latest LED technology, while maintaining the familiar Vari-Lite colour performance and programming workflow.

The three fixtures – the VLZ Spot,VLZ Wash and VLZ Profile – are dedicated to their individual functions, yet designed to work in unison.

All deliver fast, accurate and repeatable movement on all functions.

“With the VLZ we have kept the best features of the successful VL3000 Series and brought them up to date with our latest light source technology,” says Martin Palmer,Vari-Lite product manager at Philips Entertainment Lighting. “While each fixture is engineered for its specific role, their shared systems greatly enhance the consistency of performance across the range and, importantly, reduce the cost of on-the-road maintenance. The VLZ range’s advanced colour and beam control combinations will make it the go-to choice for lighting designers.”

All three VLZ fixtures use the Philips Vari-Lite CMY-CTO colour system, familiar to lighting designers worldwide for its creation of seamless mixed colours. Complementing this, dual fixed-colour wheels with linear control give access to all the Vari-Lite colours and split-colour combinations that users expect. In addition, colour shake and colo-r wheel spin control have been added to every model, further extending the creative options available.

Using the same 620W LED engine, all Philips VLZ fixtures produce an 8,000K colour temperature light output with variable CTO adjustment. They can also be frequency-tuned and are equipped with gamma shift for cameras. Lighting designers and directors are assured of consistent colours, effects, programming and performance across the range, reducing time spent adjusting for variations between fixture types. ‘Standard Mode’ operation delivers another major advantage, as the VLZ sets a new standard for quiet operation.

They spent a lot of time perfecting their LEDs and the result is the PhotonBeam 80 LED. Based on remote phosphor technology, the new fixture offers a near full spectrum and a high-CRI light output. From the outside it looks like an old-school redhead – they have adapted their PhotonBeam Redhead casing to offer an LED solution.

Consuming just 80W, it provides similar output to a 300W openface Redhead. The unit can be powered from mains or 11–17V DC. The PhotonBeam 80 can operate on standard V or Gold mount camera batteries with an additional battery plate that connects to the unit.

The Square One light looks just like a traditional 1x1 LED light. It is in fact a fluorescent fixture that utilises 12-inch long 5/8-inch tubes. It shares the high CRI and soft lighting for which good-quality fluorescent fixtures are known There are none of the spectral limitations typically associated with similar LED-based fixtures.

Unlike most other flo lights, though, the Square One draws only 64W. This means it can be mains or battery powered. It provides more light than comparable fixtures pulling 100W and weighs 2.5kg.

A removable set of barn doors are included, which can be used to house honeycomb grids, diffusions panels, colour filter or gel.

PRG XL PRG UK strengthens TV & Film team PRG has appointed Caroline Hill and Mark Davies to its UK TV & Film account management team.

Caroline joins from Panalux Broadcast and Events where, for five years, she oversaw the delivery of a diverse range of events, including fashion shows, television series, rigging for feature films and, most recently, the lighting and rigging elements of the factual show World War One Remembered: Passchendaele for the BBC. Caroline studied lighting and entertainment electrics at college before going into the West End theatres as an in-house electrician, followed by a move to PRG as a moving light technician. Caroline says: “My favourite moving light is still the VL5 because the key to the fixture is the prep and tuning of the mechanical parts. The success of the fixture is down to the attention given in the prep.”

The TV & Film account management team also welcomed Mark Davies earlier this year. Joining PRG as a lighting project manager over 10 years ago, Mark went on to head up his department before moving into his current account management role. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of technical lighting systems.

TV & Film market leader Kelly Cornfield said: “Caroline and Mark will support our continued growth in this sector.”

PHOTON BEARD Photon Beard have been around for 131 years. They took a long time to enter the LED market because they believed that a lot of the LED lights did not offer good enough light quality.

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ROBE ATM Poland chooses Robe ATM is a leading television production company in Poland with a substantial complex and seven studios in the lively Praga district of Warsaw, plus a head office in Wroclaw offering another two expansive studios spaces, all of which are constantly busy.

The ATM Group was founded 20 years ago and is now a public company with around 500 employees, a fleet of OB vans and substantial equipment inventories. It services a variety of productions from conception to completion across Poland and further afield.

The company’s inventory includes moving lights, conventionals and LED fixtures. In recent years it has invested in Robe, initially with LEDWash 800s, followed by LEDWash 1200s and, most recently, 50 Spikies.

The first Robes – LEDWash 800s – were purchased for the Euro 2012 soccer championship hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine.

Project Manager Wojtek Lampkowski explained that Robe’s LED wash was the first good example of that genre of moving lights.

The lights are used to service their own productions and are also available as part of the assorted technical packages offered to other production companies booking the studios.

ATM works with numerous LDs and DoPs, both freelancers and those working full time for the company across the two sites, and it is considered a good proving ground for new and emerging technologies.

The first purchase of LEDWashes was for 26 pieces, delivered by Robe’s Polish distributor Prolight, and the experience was so good that from that moment forward, ATM decided it was going to buy only Robe LEDWashes. There are now over 100 LEDWash 800s in stock and ‘they work absolutely all the time’, says Wojtek.

Annually, ATM produces 10-12 major TV shows, each of which will have around 10 episodes. Shows include popular music and dance shows such as The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, Polish Idol, etc.

The Spikies were purchased in the last year because ATM was looking for something small and unique. After seeing the versatile little fixture at the Prolight+Sound expo in 2016 when it was launched, the company placed its order and, since then, the Spikies have been constantly in demand.

The Spikies were immediately specified on Dancing with the Stars and Polish Idol by LD Artur Szyman and they will be used shortly on the new series of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Wojtek thinks the Spikie is a winner because it’s new, small and ‘fast with good output’. He first started working with Robe products when he joined ATM and adds that the good relationship they enjoy with Prolight and the superlative backup and support is fundamental to their decision to purchase the brand.

Robe gets a hot date The latest series of Take Me Out Mzanzi – aired on M-Net’s Mzanzi Magic network in the South Africa market – was recorded over six weeks at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg, featuring a lighting scheme designed by Rob Grobler, with equipment supplied by rental specialist Gearhouse South Africa.

Produced by Rapid Blue, the show has a style book and specific look that has to be followed, explained Rob, who chose over 130 Robe fixtures to assist him in achieving this task on the lighting side.

The methodology by which the various creative departments can arrive at these aesthetic conclusions is left entirely to the expertise 56

Credit: Duncan Riley and imagination of the local production teams and professionals.

Beforehand, Rob received research material from Rapid Blue and watched numerous YouTube videos of other editions before drawing up the lighting plot, which featured Robe’s original DL range of LED moving lights, with 12 DLS Profiles, 24 DLX Spots and 24 DLF Washes.

These were joined by 14 ColorSpot 700E ATs, 36 Robe LEDForce LED PARs and 24 Robe CityScape 48s.

The set was designed by Michael Gill and built for the show by Sets Drapes Screens (SDS), from the Gearhouse Group of Companies, following the guidelines of UK broadcaster ITV. The lighting was largely designed around the set and, where possible, Rob and Michael made sure that the two visual elements were harmonised and symbiotic.

The fixtures were positioned all over the trussing to give as much flexibility as possible and make the lighting work for almost any challenge and from any position.

The 20 DLX Spot and 10 DLS Profile units lighting the panel members either individually or as a group – depending on the state at the time – were grouped close together, so much so that they had to be individually powered up to avoid bumping into one another.

The DL series is a favourite of Rob’s, who has used them for a selection of different TV shows over the last four years. “They are great fixtures for TV – they just work,” he says.

In his first DL experience back in 2013, the lights were straight off the container, cross loaded on to the lighting truck bound for So You think You Can Dance and he had no idea of what to expect! “When you start understanding the colour mixing system and how differently the lightsource works alongside the other fixture parameters, you start seeing how they are absolutely perfect for these TV shows,” he says.

One of the challenges of lighting Take Me Out Mzanzi is dealing with the camera angles and the slightly idiosyncratic way in which it is shot, especially when the host starts moving in and around the 30 panel guests, with the cameras following him.

At this stage, Rob has to ensure the general light levels are correct, as well as having the flexibility to light each of the individual panel members, who are spread out over a large area. In addition to this, getting light to where it is needed when obstructed by the set also calls for some thinking out of the box and, as a consequence, Rob has already redesigned for next season.

The show flow and operation is completely integrated. Once a panel member has decided they are not interested in the single person, they buzz out and that one button push triggers several lighting and video effects/cues and sometimes audio triggers. A MIDI platform was used to make this work, linked to a piece of custom software written especially for the game.

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ROSCO Rosco and DMG Lumière: creating brilliance We’re thrilled to welcome film, television and broadcast LED specialist DMG Lumière into the Rosco family. Founded in Lyon, France, in 2014, DMG Lumière is known for its versatile Switch range of LED soft lights. These fixtures are designed and built by technicians for technicians to provide filmmakers the mobile, robust and power-efficient lighting tools they need on set.

Visit www.dmglumiere.com to learn more about the range – now available from Rosco.

Stage Electrics’ Sales Director Anna Western says: “As ChamSys consoles are an industry favorite with a strong global presence, building a relationship with ChamSys was a natural progression for us.” Since becoming a main dealer, Stage Electrics have already made considerable investments towards their commitment with ChamSys. As well as investing over £45,000 in stock, Stage Electrics have also held both staff and customer console-training days, which proved to be well received by all who attended.

Anna added: “As a technical supplier with substantial stocks, adding ChamSys to our inventory makes perfect sense to meet the needs of our professional lighting clientele. We are now able to support end-user and wholesale customers using ChamSys products.”

UNUSUAL RIGGING Unusual Rigging gets hit West End show on the road

DMG Lumière’s Nils de Montgrand and Rosco’s Stan Miller

Major expansion to popular RoscoLED Tape Rosco Laboratories has announced a major expansion of its popular line of RoscoLED Tape products.

“We’re very excited to share this expansion of our RoscoLED Tape line with the marketplace,” said Tracey Cosgrove, Rosco’s Director of Products. “We listened to feedback from our customers and responded with a suite of new products and accessories, creating a complete range of LED tape solutions for architectural, broadcast set design, and film & television lighting applications. With a host of new colour options, broader colour temperature ranges, power and dimming solutions and aluminum mounting profiles, lighting designers have a range of products at their fingertips to achieve their visions, all from a single manufacturer.”

The newest additions to the RoscoLED family of products maintain all of the qualities of the original RoscoLED products, including superior colour rendering, with CRI and TLCI over 90.

Designers can achieve the look they require, from vibrant colours to warm, subtle hues, with tape options including RGB + Cool White, RGB + Warm White and RGB Amber.

STAGE ELECTRICS

Unusual Rigging are no novices when it comes to the technical ins and outs of Miss Saigon. The company worked on the original show when it opened in the West End nearly three decades ago and again in 2014, when the show reopened to rave reviews at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Boubil and Schonberg’s Miss Saigon began touring this summer and, once again, Unusual Rigging have been brought on board to ensure the success of the musical as it tours the UK and Ireland.

The show ran at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin until the end of November, when it moved to the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Production Manager Helen Guest said: “The tour itself is based on the version of the show that ran at the Prince Edward Theatre but with some additions that were introduced in the Broadway version earlier this year. The set is a mixture of new-built elements and a refurbishment of a set that we used in Korea. All in all, it is actually a bigger show than that in London – even though it’s a tour! We transport 16 45ft trailers, and Unusual Rigging are tasked with overseeing all the rigging elements of the production.”

With the Unusual team, headed by Simon Stone, being brought on to the project in April 2017, they were supplied with a hefty brief. “We basically supply all the hoists, control and rigging to the flown lighting, sound and set,” said Simon. “We are responsible for the design and calculations for how we lift the elements in the venues on the tour and we send riggers to every load in and load out to move the show.”

The show uses 64 hoists, 236ft of truss and a 56ft ladder beam.

Helen added: “We have a helicopter in the production that weighs in at over three tonnes and is transported in four sections, which have to be built together onsite. Unusual Rigging not only provides the hoist for doing this but offered advice and expertise on how this could be achieved during the design and build of the helicopter.

Credit: Johan Persson

Stage Electrics announced as a main dealer for ChamSys Stage Electrics are now the main dealer for ChamSys lighting products.

First launched in 2004, ChamSys consoles and MagicQ software quickly became a favoured choice for lighting engineers. ChamSys lighting control is used for a variety of different applications, such as festivals, concerts, conferences and other live events.

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For future venues, we also have to get this into the building via a dock door several metres from the stage, and so Unusual will be working out how to do that, too.”

Another complex element is the storage of the set pieces in the wings. To enable the wings to have enough room for the performers, a lot of the larger set pieces – some of which are quite heavy – need to be stored above head height, so Unusual has devised a way to hang them safely – the result being five large pieces stored in the wings on 12 chain hoists.

Space – or lack of – is a common challenge for touring productions, especially when trying to create the same spectacular effects that audiences in the West End are treated to, but in much smaller venues. “Most of the venues are large enough to recreate the same show. Norwich is the exception and here we will adapt the show to fit the venue, but with Unusual’s guidance and expertise this is totally achievable,” said Helen.

She added: “It is always a privilege to work with Unusual Rigging.

They provide a team of highly skilled professionals, who are completely committed to doing their utmost best to get the production installed in each venue and moved between venues. This involves a great deal of time and effort, as some venues are quite difficult and the hours tend to be long. But their knowledge and expertise are essential for the safe and smooth running of the production.”

A little Imagination and Unusual thinking lights up Central Saint Martins for Tech Fest 2017 Technology with Heart was the theme of Jaguar and Land Rover’s inaugural Tech Fest, which took place at Central Saint Martins in London in September. Organised by London-based creative agency Imagination, the event explored how technology contributes to the auto industry.

Jay Plomer, Senior Production Manager, Imagination, said: “The venue for this event is a fantastic space but it is a listed building and, right from the start, we were told it would not be possible to install any fixing points into the walls and ceiling. This posed the challenge of how to light all exhibits in a big area within the space – and so we brought Unusual Rigging on board to help us solve that problem.”

Paul Rhodes, Senior Rigging Supervisor, Unusual Rigging, said: “We’ve worked with Imagination long enough for them to know how much we relish a challenge like this, so we got our heads together to devise a way in which to light the venue effectively while taking every care not to impinge on the fabric of the building in any way.”

Unusual proposed a freestanding truss structure that attached to the existing lift shaft, thereby providing the necessary height. Jay said: “Unusual did an enormous amount of R&D to ensure that this was the most cost-effective and safe way to achieve the goal.”

Unusual also installed a temporary 3.5m by 6m screen in the platform theatre area of Central Saint Martins. Paul added: “The screen, with its rigging and motors, came in at just over 1,200kg but, luckily, this was a fairly straightforward install and the theatre grid was a very friendly rigging area.”

Jay said: “There is never any doubt that Unusual is absolutely the right company for challenges like this. Unusual Rigging is incredibly loyal to Imagination, and that works both ways – it has done for a long time. Imagination proposes some pretty crazy ideas to Unusual Rigging and they embrace them, working tirelessly to help us execute the end goal for our clients.”

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VERSION 2 Sounds Like Friday Night with Version 2 Sounds Like Friday Night, fronted by Radio 1 DJ and presenter Greg James with Radio 1 Xtra’s Dotty, was live from BBC Television Centre in White City, London, in November and December.

The lighting team is led by Lighting Director Oli Richards and Console Operators Russell Grubiak, Theo Cox and Alex Pocock.

Realising Oli’s design is BBC Gaffer Bob Bandoo and his team of studio electricians. The lighting team is rounded out by experienced Crew Chief Paul Evans and his team of Technicians.

WHITE LIGHT White Light supplies Venus in Fur in West End Following a Tony Award-winning run on Broadway, Venus in Fur has made its London debut, opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Starring Natalie Dormer and David Oakes, the critically-acclaimed two-hander follows a meeting between enigmatic actress Vanda Jordan and director Thomas Novachek, with Vanda determined to land the leading role in Thomas’s latest production. As a leading supplier to West End theatre, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment.

The lighting designer for the show is Hugh Vanstone, who says: “The play itself dictates a lot about the setting and lighting as the action takes place in a New York rehearsal room while a thunderstorm rages outside. The room is initially lit with fluorescent strip lights but also has a small improvised lighting rig, which the mysterious Vanda commandeers to soften the mood in her attempts to win over Thomas.”

This meant that Hugh had to implement two clear distinctions with his design: “The way I approached this play was to ensure there was a marked contrast between the blandly lit fluorescent room and the more atmospheric theatrical lighting. The first thing I did was install a version of the ‘rehearsal lighting rig’ in the actual rehearsal room, which Natalie could use to set the mood.”

Hugh also worked alongside Set and Costume Designer Rob Howell. He says: “It’s quite a striking set design, featuring a raked floor pushing through the proscenium into the house with a steeplyangled ceiling overhead. As a result, there was no opportunity for overhead lighting; something I had to work around.”

Hugh drew on the Martin MAC Viper Washes to provide bright Photo courtesy of Darren Bell

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lightning effects, along with a range of ETC Source 4 Lustr 2s, conventional Source 4s, Fresnels and birdies. Perhaps most significantly, the rig also contained the recently launched Philips VL1100 LED, making Venus in Fur the first West End production to utilise this highly-anticipated product.

Hugh says: “When I was designing the rig, I spoke to WL’s Technical Director Dave Isherwood, who informed me that WL had become one of the first companies to invest in the VL1100s. I asked if I could try them for this show and he said ‘yes’. I used these fixtures to provide the tightly-focused highlights for the actors during key moments – something they delivered with superb precision.

“I was impressed with the VL1100s. It’s a great improvement on the conventional tungsten version as it is brighter and the colour mixing and frost function are both improved. Because of the LED engine, the beam intensity and consistency is much better. They are also virtually silent, making them perfect for a play like this and I can see them becoming a popular fixture for many lighting designers.”

Hugh adds: “I had a great experience working on Venus in Fur.The play gives the lighting designer carte blanche to show off and WL once again proved to be the perfect choice to allow my design to shine.”

WL provides lighting for Dinosaurs in the Wild Dinosaurs in the Wild is a unique and exhilarating blend of liveaction theatre, theme-park fun and the latest palaeontological knowledge, which transports visitors back 67 million years to encounter living dinosaurs as they have never been seen before.

The multimillion-pound experience launched at the NEC, Birmingham, in June. It has now moved to Manchester’s EventCity, before arriving in London early next year for an eight-month long run on Greenwich Peninsula.The show uses cutting-edge audio-visual effects and dramatic storytelling to create an unforgettable prehistoric adventure.The lighting designer for the show is Adam Bassett, from Woodroffe Bassett Design, and he approached White Light to supply the majority of the lighting equipment and lead on the installation.

WL Project Manager Paul McLean worked closely with WBD to provide the technology that would help fulfil their design. He says: “We have worked on many large-scale themed attractions, both in the UK and abroad. That said, this project stands out in the sense that there is a large emphasis on lighting as props or as scenic integration, which meant we had to reach out into the commercial lighting market for many of the fixtures that were used. The attraction consists of 16 main zones, each of which had a very different feel, so it was our role to source lighting that would enhance each one.”

Paul worked closely with John Coman of WBD, Project Manager and Associate Designer, to ensure their design was achieved in each individual space. Paul says: “We visited the site numerous times to walk around and assess which fixtures would be the most suitable and ended up supplying some unusual kit, such as EPA Agrifloods, which are typically construction/working floodlights, although still dimmable. While these might not usually be used on an exhibition in show state, when coloured up, they created the exact feel that Adam and John were looking for.”

The Pre-Entry Zone installation alone includes over 70m of Blue LED tape, 51 Dimmable Agricultural Floods, 30 LED Technologies Floods, 110 Schnick Schnak C30 Strips and 10 Schnick Schnak M-Dot Clusters, along with several custom LED instrument-control panels and Elation TVLs for the green-screen area.

WL installed about 140m of LEDFlex DMX FLEX 32 tape with individual pixel control into the two Chronotex Time Pods (CTP) and the escape tunnel towards the end of the attraction, which worked

Photo courtesy of Dinosaurs in the Wild out at about 24 universes of DMX over Artnet. Each chair in the time machines is also fitted out with LED nodes, all being DMX controlled.

WL also built several LED custom fixtures, including 16 2m by 1.5m vari-white panels, which were installed above the virtual windows of the Dinosaur Lookout Area to create four skylights, each comprising of four panels. Paul explains: “We used over 250m of vari-white LED tape in these to provide a CT range of between 2,800K and 6,500K. After a last-minute design change, we also built 12 custom Amber linear fixtures onsite, with these being installed overhead in the disembarkation zone leading into the labs. We also supplied Tryka Module 1s, which were installed at floor-level lighting throughout the various tunnels and corridors, some triggered by PRI, which allows the floor to illuminate as it is walked across.”

For the other laboratory areas, WBD called on Lighting Assist to source a range of medical X-ray displays and commercial shop fittings to give maximum authenticity. WL also supplied ETC Irideons, Source 4 Mini LED and Selecon Accents. The total fixture count came in at about 700 units, along with 550m of LED tape.

Almost the entire rig is LED, except for about a dozen fluorescents in the Animal Lab and a handful of flashing beacons dotted around the tunnels.

The lighting setup was controlled via a Pharos LPC40. Paul says: “Shows like this are entirely dependent on repeatability, reliability and integration. It is a 4D experience, combining the usual array of different elements such as 3D video, audio and stage machinery. The designers needed to pull all these together to ensure it was a truly immersive experience that was repeatable and technically reliable.”

The Pharos is fed three individual SMPTE timelines and a variety of MSC commands, along with several switch/contact closures, which are triggered by the actors as the show progresses through the space.

WL began work in March at Scena in Croydon for the build phase, working closely with the build crew and props department, and stayed on site for six weeks at the NEC to ensure that everything was in place prior to the June opening.

Paul says: “Due to the fact that the various technical and scenic aspects are reliant on one another, we knew that certain elements would change during the install period as the design progressed and was finalised. A large part of our role was to be adaptable to the various changes and to ensure that what we supplied elevated what is an intricate and complex space.”

Dinosaurs in the Wild is now at EventCity in Manchester until 2 January, 2018. It moves to London at the Greenwich Peninsula from 12 February, running to 30 September, 2018. For further information and to book tickets, visit: www.dinosaursinthewild.com.

Paul says: “Dinosaurs in the Wild was a great example of us finding a lighting solution that was bespoke to this particular project. The different zones and themes meant our only choice was to source lighting from very specific industries or to custom-make it for this show. With our resources and expert staff, we were able to supply fixtures that were not only ideal for each zone but also helped enhance the entire experience for visitors.”

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sponsors’ directory

A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (Ian Muir) Centauri House, Hillbottom Road, Sands Industrial Estate, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 4HQ Tel: 01494 446 000 ~ Fax: 01494 461 024 ~ Email: sales@ac-et.com ~ Web: www.ac-et.com/film-tv Anna Valley (Part of Shooting Partners group) (Mark Holdway, Doug Hammond) Unit 13, Mount Road Industrial Estate, Feltham, Middlesex TW13 6AR Tel: 020 8941 4500 ~ Fax: +44(0)1932 761 591 ~ Web: www.annavalley.co.uk ARRI CT Ltd (Andy Barnett, Siobhan Daly, Lee Romney) 2 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1LX Tel: 01895 457 000 ~ Fax: 01895 457 001 ~ Email: sales@arri-gb.com ~ Web: www.arri.com ARRI Lighting Rental Ltd (John Colley, Mike O’Hara) 2 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1LX Tel: 01895 457 200 ~ Fax: 01895 457 201 ~ Manchester 0161 736 8034 (Jimmy Reeves) ~ Email: mohara@arrirental.com ~ Web: www.arri.com Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd (David March) Aurora Lighting Hire Ltd, Unit 21, Ockham Drive, Greenford Park, London UB6 0FD Tel: 020 8813 2777 ~ Email: Dmarch@ver.com ~ Web: www.auroratv.co.uk Barbizon Europe Ltd (Tom McGrath) Unit 5 Saracen Industrial Area, Mark Road, Hemel Hempsted, Hertfordshire HP2 7BJ Tel: 01442 260 600 ~ Fax: 01442 261 611 ~ Email: tmcgrath@barbizon.com ~ Web: www.barbizon.com BBC Studioworks (Karen Meachen) Room N101, Neptune House, BBC Elstree Centre, Eldon Avenue, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 1NL Mob: 07970 115 998 ~ Email: karen.meachen@bbcstudioworks.com ~ Web: bbcstudioworks.com BBC Academy (Tim Wallbank) Room A16, BBC Wood Norton, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 4YB Tel: 0370 010 0264 ~ Fax: 0370 010 0265 ~ Email: bbcacademy@bbc.co.uk ~ Web: www.bbcacademy.com CHAUVET Professional (Michael Brooksbank) Unit 1C, Brookhill Road Industrial Estate, Pinxton, Notts NG16 6NT Tel: 01773 511115 ~ Email: mbrooksbank@chauvetlighting.com ~ Web: www.chauvetprofessional.eu Chris James & Co. Ltd (Barry Frankling) 43 Colville Road, Acton, London W3 8BL Tel: 020 8896 1772 ~ Fax: 020 8896 1773 ~ Email: info@chrisjamesfilter.com ~ Web: www.chrisjamesfilter.com Chroma-Q (Ian Muir) Centauri House, Hillbottom Road, Sands Industrial Estate, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 4HQ Tel: 01494 446 000 ~ Fax: 01494 461 024 ~ Email: sales@ac-et.com ~ Web: www.chroma-q.com Cirro Lite (Europe) Ltd (John Coppen, David Morphy, Frieder Hockheim) 3 Barrett’s Green Road, London NW10 7AE Tel: 020 8955 6700 ~ Fax: 020 8961 9343 ~ Email: j.coppen@cirrolite.com ~ Web: www.cirrolite.com Claypaky S p A (Davide Barbetta) via Pastrengo 3/B, 24068 Seriate (BG), Italy Tel: +39 335 72.333.75 ~ Fax: +39 035.30.18.76 ~Email: davide.barbetta@claypaky.it ~ Web: www.claypaky.it Dedo Weigert Film GmbH (John Coppen, David Morphy) 3 Barretts Green Road, London NW10 7AE Tel: 020 8955 6700 ~ Fax : 020 8961 9343 ~ Email: info@cirrolite.com ~ Web: www.dedolight.com Doughty Engineering Ltd (Julian Chiverton, Mark Chorley) Crow Arch Lane, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 1NZ Tel: 01425 478 961 ~ Fax: 01425 474 481 ~ Email: sales@doughty-engineering.co.uk ~ Web: www.doughty-engineering.co.uk

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Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

Eaton – Zero88 (David Catterall) Zero 88, Usk House, Lakeside, Llantarnam Park, Cwmbran NP44 3HD Tel: +44 (0)1633 838 088 ~ Mob: 07802 464484 ~ Email: enquiries@zero88.com ~ Web: www.zero88.com Elation (David Martin, Key Account Manager) Elation Professional B.V., Junostraat 2, 6468EW Kerkrade, The Netherlands Mob: +44 (0) 7495 051413 ~ Email: david.martin@elationlighting.eu ~ Skype: ElationDavid ELP (Ronan Willson, Barry Denison-, John Singer, Darren Fletcher) 15 North Gate, Alconbury Airfield, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 4WX Tel: 01480 443 800 ~ Fax: 01480 443 888 ~ Email: info@elp.tv ~ Web: www.elp.tv ~ Elstree Office: 020 8324 2100 ~ Manchester Office: 0161 300 2922 ETC (Mark White, Jeremy Roberts) Electronic Theatre Controls Ltd, Unit 26-28,Victoria Industrial Estate,Victoria Road, London W3 6UU Tel: +44 (0)20 8896 1000 ~ Email: uk@etcconnect.com ~ Web: www.etcconnect.com Film & TV Services Ltd (Eddie Fegan) Unit 3, Matrix Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7PH Tel: 020 8961 0090 ~ Fax: 020 8961 8635 ~ Email: mail@ftvs.co.uk ~ Web: www.ftvs.co.uk Fountain Television Ltd (Mariana Spater) The Fountain studios, 128 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley HA9 8HP Tel: 020 8900 5800 ~ Email: Mariana.spater@ftv.co.uk ~ Web: www.ftv.co.uk GLP (Noel Smith) 7, Heron Units, Heron Road, Sowton Industrial Estate, Exeter, Devon EX2 7LL Tel: 01392 690 140 ~ Email: N.Smith@glp.de ~ Web: germanlightproducts.com Green Hippo (Tom Etra, James Roth, Anastasia Nikolaou) Unit 307 Parma House, Clarendon Road, Wood Green, London N22 6UL Tel: 020 3301 4561 ~ Fax: 020 8889 9826 ~ Email: jamesr@green-hippo.com ~ Web: germanlightproducts.com Hawthorn Lighting (Dave Slater, May Lee) Crown Business Park, Old Dalby, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 3NQ Head Office: 01664 821111 ~ London Office: 020 8955 6900 ~ Email: info@hawthorns.uk.com ~ Web: www.hawthorns.uk.com HSL Group Holdings LTD (Simon Stuart, Mike Oates) Unit E&F, Glenfield Park, Philips Road, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 5PF Tel: 01254 698 808 ~ Fax: 01254 698 835 ~ Email: hire@hslgroup.com ~ Web: www.hslgroup.com Jands (Jack Moorhouse) Centauri House, Hillbottom Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP12 4HQ Tel: +44 (0)1494 838 323 ~Fax: +44 (0)1494 461 024 ~ Email: jack.moorhouse@ac-et.com ~ Web: www.jands.com/lighting Key Light Hire Ltd (Alex Hambi) Unit 24, Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal NW10 7QP Tel: 020 8963 9931 ~ Fax: 020 8961 236 ~ Mobile: 07949 686 802 ~ Email: alex@keylight.tv ~ Web: www.keylight.tv Kino Flo Lighting Systems (John Coppen, David Morphy) 3 Barretts Green Road, London NW10 7AE Tel: 020 8955 6700 ~ Fax : 020 8961 9343 ~ Email: info@cirrolite.com ~ Web: www. kinoflo.com LCC Lighting (Lee Rickard) P.O. Box 78, Guildford, Surrey GU3 2AG Tel: +44 (0)1483 813 814~ Email: sales@lcc-lighting.co.uk ~ Web: lcc-lighting.co.uk Lee Filters Ltd (Eddie Ruffell, Paul Topliss, Ralph Young) Central Way, Walworth Industrial Estate, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5AN Tel: 01264 366 245 ~ Fax: 01264 355 058 ~ Email: ecruffell@leefilters.com ~ Web: www.leefilters.com

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sponsors’ directory

Lights Camera Action (Nick Shapley) Unit 14, Fairway Drive, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 8PW Tel: 020 8833 7600 ~ Fax: 020 8575 8219 ~ Web: www.lcauk.com Litepanels Studio Lighting EMEA (Spencer Newbury) 16152 Saticoy St,Van Nuys, CA 91406, USA Tel: +31 629 29 6575 ~ Email: Spencer@Litepanels.com ~ Web: www.litepanels.com LSI Projects (Russell Dunsire, Richard Bunting) 15 Woking Business Park, Albert Drive, Woking, Surrey GU21 5JY Tel: 01483 764 646 ~ Fax: 01483 769 955 ~ Email: richardb@lsiprojects.com ~ Web: www.lsiprojects.com Lupo Lighting (Damien Lovegrove) Fir Tree Farm, 59 North Street, Nailsea, Bristol BS48 4BS Tel: 01275 853204 ~ Email: damien@lovegroveshop.com ~ Web: www.lupo.lighting Martin by Harman (David Stewart) 6th Floor Salisbury House, London Wall, London EC2M 5QQ Mob: +44 7976 786 768 ~ Email: david.stewart@harman.com ~ Web: www.martin.com Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. (John Coppen, David Morphy) 3 Barretts Green Road, London NW10 7AE Tel: 020 8955 6700 ~ Fax: 020 8961 9343 ~ Email: info@cirrolite.com ~ Web: www. msegrip.com MEMS Power Generation (Mark Diffey) Beechings Way, Gillingham, Kent ME8 6PS Tel: 08452 230 400 ~ Fax: 01634 263666 ~ Email: sales@mems.com~ Web: www.mems.com MULTI-LITE (UK) Limited (Martin Carnell) 15 Airlinks, Spitfire Way, Heston, Middlesex TW5 9NR Tel: +44 (0) 208 561 4501 ~ Mob: +44 (0) 7970 224313 ~ Fax: +44 (0) 20 8561 8041 ~ Email: MCarnell@Multi-Lite.co.uk ~ Web: www.multi-lite.com OSRAM Ltd (Terri Pearson, Andy Gilks) 268 Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire SL1 4DX Tel: 01925 273 360 ~ Email: displayoptic@osram.co.uk ~ Web: www.osram.com/pia Panalux Limited (David Baker) Panalux Broadcast & Event, Unit 30, Perivale Park, Perivale UB6 7RJ Tel: 020 8832 4800 ~ Fax: 020 8832 4811 ~ Email: info@panalux.biz ~ Web: www.panalux.biz Philips Entertainment Group Europe (Amber Etra-) Rondweb Zuid 85, Winterswijk 7102 JD, Netherlands Tel: +31 611 030 083 Philips Lighting UK Ltd (Stuart Dell) Philips Centre, Guildford Business Park, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8XH Tel: 07774 122 735 ~ Fax: 01296 670 956 ~ Email: stuart.dell­­@philips.com ~ Web: www.lighting.philips.com Photon Beard Ltd (Peter Daffarn, Mike Perry, Simon Larn) Unit K3, Cherry Court Way, Stanbridge Road, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 8UH Tel: 01525 850 911 ~ Fax: 01525 850 922 ~ Email: info@photonbeard.com ~ Web: www.photonbeard.com PLASA (Norah Phillips) Redoubt House, 1 Edward Street, Eastbourne, Sussex BN23 8AS Tel: 01323 524 120 ~ Fax: 01323 524 121 ~ Email: norah.phillips@plasa.org ~ Web: www.plasa.org PRG XL Video (Kelly Cornfield, Mat Ilot) The Cofton Centre, Groveley Lane, Longbridge, Birmingham B31 4PT Tel: 0845 470 6400 ~ Email: kcornfield@prg.com / milott@prg.com ~ Web: www.prg.com/uk

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Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

Pulsar Light Of Cambridge Ltd (Andy Graves, Paul Mardon, Snowy Johnson) 3 Coldham’s Business Park, Norman Way, Cambridge CB1 3LH Tel: 01223 403 500 ~ Fax: 01223 403 501 ~ Email: andy@pulsarlight.com ~ Web: www.pulsarlight.com Richard Martin Lighting Ltd (Steve Wells) Unit 24, Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal NW10 7QP ~ RML Admin: Lantern House, Old Town, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 0LW Tel: 020 8965 3209 ~ Fax: 020 8965 5562 ~ Email: info@richardmartinlighting.co.uk ~ Web: www.richardmartinlighting.co.uk Robe UK Ltd (Ashley Lewis, Mick Hannaford, Steve Eastham) 3 Spinney View, Stone Circle Road, Round Spinney Industrial Estate, Northampton NN3 8RQ Tel: 01604 741 000 ~ Fax: 01604 741 041 ~ Email: info@robeuk.com ~ Web: www.robeuk.com Rosco (Cristian Arroyo) Blanchard Works, Kangley Bridge Road, Sydenham SE26 5AQ Tel: 020 8659 2300 ~ Fax: 020 8659 3151 ~ Email: contact@rosco.com~ Web: www.rosco.com Schnick-Schnack-Systems GmbH (Erhard Lehmann) Mathias-Bruggen-Strasse 79, 50829, Germany Tel: +49-221-992019-0 ~ Email: erhard.lehmann@schnickschnacksystems.com ~ Web: english.schnickschnacksystems.com SGM Light UK (Anthony Van-Sertima) Unit 8, St Johns Court, Sevington, Ashford, Kent TN240SJ Tel: +44 (0) 1233 460 400 ~ Mob: +44(0) 7769 711 594 ~ Web: www.sgmlight.com Sony UK Ltd (Daniel Robb) The Heights, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0XW Tel: 01932 816 368 ~ Fax: 01932 817 014 ~ Neil: 07774 142 724 ~ Email: Jane.Green@eu.sony.com ~ Web: sonybiz.net/uk Specialz Ltd (Dave Smith) Unit 2, Kingston Industrial Estate, 81-86 Glover Street, Birmingham B9 4EN Tel: 0121 766 7100 & 7110 ~ Fax: 0121 766 7113 ~ Email: info@specialz.co.uk ~ Web: www.specialz.co.uk Stage Electrics Partnership Ltd Encore House, Unit 3, Britannia Road, Patchway Trading Estate, Patchway, Bristol BS34 5TA Tel: 03330 142100 ~ Fax: 0117 916 2828 ~ Email: sales@stage-electrics.co.uk ~ Web: www.stage-electrics.co.uk The Hospital Club Studios (Samantha Dunlop) ­4 Endell Street, London WC2H 9HQ Tel: 020 7170 9112 ~ Fax: 020 7170 9102 ~ Email: samd@thehospitalclub.com ~ Web: www.thehospital.co.uk The London Studios (Dave Stevens, Jerry Kelleher) Upper Ground, London SE1 9LT Tel: 020 7157 5555 ~ Fax: 020 7157 5757 ~ Em­ail: dave.stevens@londonstudios.co.uk ~ Web: www.londonstudios.co.uk Tiffen International Ltd (Kevan Parker) East Side Complex, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Bucks SL0 0NH Tel: +44 (0)870 100 1220 ~ Fax: +44 (0)1753 652776 ~ Mob: +44 (0)7545 440973 ~ Email: kparker@tiffen.com ~ Web: www.tiffen.com TMB (Paul Hartley, Bill Anderson) 21 Armstrong Way, Southall UB2 4SD Tel: 020 8574 9700 ~ Fax: 020 8574 9701 ~ Email: tmb-info@tmb.com ~ Web: www.tmb.com TSL Teknique Systems Ltd PO Box 3587, Glasgow G73 9DX Tel: 07860 290 637 ~ Web: www.tekniquesystems.com Unusual Rigging (Mark Priestley) The Wharf, Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire NN7 3QB Tel: 01604 830 083 ~ Fax: 01604 831 144 ~ Email: mark.priestley@unusual.co.uk ~ Web: www.unusual.co.uk

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sponsors’ directory

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

Version 2 Lights Ltd (Nick Edwards) Unit 4 Wessex Road, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire SL8 5DT Tel: 020 3598 6938 ~ Email: info@v2lights.co.uk ~ Web: www.v2lights.co.uk White Light Ltd (Bryan Raven, John Simpson, Jason Larcombe) 20 Merton Industrial Park, Jubilee Way, London SW19 3WL ~ Tel: 020 8254 4800 ~ Fax: 020 8254 4801 ~ Email: info@WhiteLight.Ltd.uk Web: www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk ~ Hire Tel: 020 8254 4820 ~ Hire Fax: 020 8254 4821 ~ Sales Tel: 020 8254 4840 ~ Sales Fax: 020 8254 4841 XTBA (Chris Cook, Fiona Fehilly, Simon Peers) Unit 2, The Old Curatage, The Street, Caston, Norfolk NR17 1DD Tel: 020 8882 0100 ~ Email: dmx@xtba.demon.co.uk ~ Web: www.xtba.demon.co.uk

education members Bucks New University (Catherine Williams, Acquisitions Librarian) Buckinghamshire New University, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP11 2JZ Tel: 01494 522141 (extension 4521) ~ Email: acq@bucks.ac.uk ~ Web: http://bucks.ac.uk Exeter College (Atila Mustafa, Lecturer for Film & TV Production) Victoria House Learning Centre, 33–36 Queen Street, Exeter, Devon EX4 3SR Tel: 01392 400500 ~ Email: info@exe-coll.ac.uk ~ Web: www.exe-coll.ac.uk

sponsors’ directory The STLD interactive Sponsors Directory has been available for sponsors’ use for over a year now. It is proving a very useful tool for the STLD and, we hope, for those of our sponsors who now use it. Its main advantages are that it enables the STLD to display up-to-date and accurate information about your company on its website. In doing so, it also helps us update our records and ensure that we have accurate mailing and invoicing details.

STLD sponsor companies can make use of this facility by contacting Bernie Davis at sponsors@stld.org.uk with the name and email address of the person who will become the company’s ‘sponsor user’. They will be registered on our secure database and will then be able to modify their company’s information within the sponsors directory.

Please note that the directory can now enable companies to be searched for by category and area.

Bernie Davis – STLD Sponsor Liaison

index of advertisers ARRI 15 BVE 8 Chroma-Q 12 ClayPaky 38 Doughty 7 Elation 35 ELP BC ETC 36 Lee Filters IBC QVC 37 Tourflex Cabling 20 Unusual Rigging 27 White Light 14 64

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membership application

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membership application

MAPV18, 03-08-2016 PG2

Annual subscription fee for Membership is: £75 Full; £50 Affiliate, Retired and Overseas; £25 Students.

When you join or renew your membership of the STLD, you will receive an invoice that details; your annual membership fee, the STLD’s bank account details and the subscription fee due payment date.

The best and the preferred method for paying for your membership is by direct bank transfer to the STLD’s account using the following format as the payment reference.

YOUR SURNAME/INV*** (INV*** being the number of the STLD’s membership invoice) STLD Bank Account and VAT details: Bank: HSBC Sort Code: 40-07-14 IBAN: GB45MIDL40071411171518

Account Name: The Society of Television Lighting Directors.

Account Number: 11171518 VAT Registration: GB 551 463 648

Member benefits information available at: http://www.stld.org.uk/benefits.php Current membership rates are available at http://www.stld.org.uk/membership.php

Please return the completed form to: Chris Harris, STLD Membership, 4 Fenbourne Close, Shelfield, Walsall, WS4 1XD Any questions please email members@stld.org.uk

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society committee

Society Committee

Chairman Stuart Gain 07774 161 996

chairman@stld.org.uk

Treasurer Mike Le Fevre

Secretary John O’Brien

07956 305 662

07717 170 288

secretary@stld.org.uk

treasurer@stld.org.uk

Sponsors Liaison + Administration Officer

Exhibitions + Membership

Chris Harris

Bernie Davis

07775 846 972

07860 662 736

Deputy Chair Andrew Dixon 07885 731 865

andrewdixon@stld.org.uk

Magazine Editor, Sponsor News Assistant Sponsor Liaison + Advertising Sales + Diary

Emma Thorpe 07850 709 210

sponsors@stld.org.uk

members@stld.org.uk

Publicity Andrew Harris

Website Ian Hillson

07973 745 583

editor@stld.org.uk

Student Representative

Jacob Shooter 07895 185 615

Picture courtesy of Chris Capstick

publicity@stld.org.uk

Robert Horne 07762 562 434

roberthorne@stld.org.uk

Alan Luxford 07867 536 522

ianhillson@stld.org.uk

Paul Middleton

07720 446 921

paulmiddleton@stld.org.uk

John King

07860 759 294

jacobshooter@stld.org.uk

Rick Dines

07780 707 169

rickdines@stld.org.uk

Jonathan Taylor

07774 698 847

alanluxford@stld.org.uk

johnking@stld.org.uk

jonathantaylor@stld.org.uk

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Elstree Light & Power Lighting - Power - Rigging

Hire of equipment and services for Studio - Location - Events

Cardington: 01234 744222 Manchester: 0161 300 2922

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