Set & Light: Summer 2018 (Issue 124) by STLD_Magazine

Set & Light

www.stld.org.uk

Issue 124: Summer 2018

from the Society of Television Lighting and Design

INSIDE: BBC NEWSROOM RELIGHT | QUESTORS VISIT | NFTS WORKSHOP STLD_124 pp1_xx.indd 1

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editorial

Remember to opt in to hear from us in future We had a relatively busy spring and our visits to The Questors Theatre in Ealing and the National Film and Theatre School in Beaconsfield are highlighted in the magazine. (pages 15 and 20, respectively). The Head Lighting Director at BBC News Studios, Robert Horne, tells us how he managed to update its rig, and you can read part two of Paul Middleton’s interview with Hedley Versey, who gives us some fascinating insights into the good old days of lighting! Our new training scheme is going from strength to strength. Turn to page 4 to find out what attendees thought of it and what we are intending to do in the future. We will be exhibiting at PLASA so come and find us; we look forward to seeing you! All visit invitations and membership notices go out electronically now, so if we don’t have your email address then you won’t receive them. Please contact Membership Secretary Chris Harris at members@stld.co.uk to ensure you don’t miss out. Please remember to ‘opt in’ to receive future information from us. Members who have not yet opted in following the email that was sent out will NOT receive a magazine from now on. There will be no communications at all, apart from membership invoices. If you want to know what is going on, you need to opt in. The next issue of the magazine will be out in autumn/winter 2018. The deadlines are 19 October for advertising and 26 October for editorial, which includes Sponsor news. Please contact editor@stld.org.uk for a full media pack.

Emma Thorpe Editor

contents 4

Information: GDPR and STLD training

Information: KOI Awards

Lighting: BBC News

Sponsor news

Profile: Hedley Versey

Sponsors’ directory

STLD visit: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Index of advertisers

Letter: Save Stage Lighting

Committee contact details

Event: STLD / GTC workshop

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: Robert Horne

Printed by: Gemini Print Deadlines for the next issue: Editorial: 26 October 2018 Advertising: 19 October 2018 Advertising is accepted only from sponsor members of the Society

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information

GDPR / STLD training

Data Protection Privacy Policy for the STLD We at the Society of Television Lighting and Design take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to administer your membership and to provide information, details on meetings and services that you have requested from us. However, occasionally we would like to contact you with details from our current sponsors*. If you consent, we will ask you which way of contacting you would be satisfactory.Your information will be secured in an encrypted form. Under law, members will also be entitled to the following: n the right to be informed n the right of access n the right to rectification n the right to erasure n the right to restrict processing n the right to data portability n the right to object. We will not keep your records for longer than necessary. If you wish to see your personal data that we hold, we will reply within one calendar month. We can refuse or charge for requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive and give you the reasons why. For general information on GPDR, visit ico. org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1591/personal_information_online_cop.pdf * A list of our current third-party sponsors can be found on our website or at the back of Set & Light, the society’s magazine.

Tailormade courses for the LDs of the future The STLD recognises the need to provide training for the lighting directors of the future, writes Iain Davidson. We have recently designed and delivered courses that help to bridge the gap between academic courses and real-world experiences. The course is aimed at those who already have experience in programme making – for example, a camera operator, technical director or lighting programmer – but who wish to move on to multi-camera lighting. The course provides the necessary underpinning knowledge for this role but also provides hands-on experience in a studio environment without the pressures of an actual transmission. We design each course to suit the delegates attending and, to this end, we ask for a CV to help ensure we have the right mix of skills on every course. The course is delivered by a team of experienced trainers who have had long careers as lighting directors in the TV industry. We also have the support of STLD sponsor members and are grateful to the BBC Academy for the use of its facilities. If you are interested in one of our courses or have a particular training need then email training@stld.org.uk I’m pleased to report that we were able to run another STLD lighting course in May at the BBC Academy studios in Evesham. Alongside my fellow trainer Charles Osborne, we helped five delegates to broaden their knowledge of lighting and develop their lighting skills. We run these courses on an occasional basis. If you are interested, keep an eye on the website or email iain@ tvlight.co.uk. Here are some of the comments from the last group – thanks also to them for making it a great week: 4

Charlies Osborne and Iain Davidson, centre, with delegates from November 2017’s training course

“Really enjoyed the course, excellent tutors.The course covered a wide range of lighting design areas.” – lighting cameraman “Very informative course, practicals in the studio were brilliant. I would thoroughly recommend this course.” – broadcast engineer) “The course has opened my eyes further to the role of lighting.” – STLD sponsor “Great five days, excellent tutors and perfect subject matter.” – STLD member

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The newsroom is the backdrop to the glass-walled main news studio

Headlines and high lights Words & photos: Robert Horne The STLD’s Robert Horne is Head Lighting Director for the BBC News studios at London’s New Broadcasting House. Recently, he took on the challenge of updating the newsroom lighting rig, which presented more challenges than you might expect... The BBC newsroom at New Broadcasting House is the largest in Europe and was set up as the BBC moved out of TV Centre. It is a 24-hour, 365-days-a-year operation, housing journalists and support staff covering national and international stories. This makes any maintenance difficult but large-scale changes of fixtures are a particular challenge as it seems little thought was given as to how to access the lights once they were hung. The lights are on bars 30ft up, directly above the desks. They were rigged off a large mobile work platform before the floating computer floor was laid and this floor will not take the weight of a mobile platform, so access is a major problem. These issues are compounded by the fact that the newsroom is the backdrop to our glass-walled main news studio and appears prominently in every

programme, from the main BBC One bulletins to the BBC News Channel with its rolling news coverage. LEDs have seen possibly one of the biggest changes in the lighting industry ever.The idea of lower energy use and never having to change a bulb is appealing; however, it appears that the people who designed the building thought the fixtures would last forever. The problem of what happens when LED lights come to the end of their useful life is not an issue most people have had to consider yet. Most professional LED lights I have used have a life of 50,000 hours; this is just short of six years’ continuous use. As most lights are not on all the time, they are more likely to be replaced before they reach their end of life for more up-to-date fixtures. The Pulsar Chroma floods and Thomas Pixel Pars originally specified had done good service and nearly all had exceeded their 50,000 hours, most of them at full power and not having been turned off in all that time. We were, however, starting to see some failures. The main issue was a colour of LED failing but we also had

some total failures, which we put down to dead power supplies. In mid-2017, I convinced my bosses that something needed to be done.This being the BBC, the wheels turned slowly and a budget was not forthcoming. I eventually secured some money for lights but there was no solution or money available to access the lights. Fortunately, I found out that BBC Workplace, which maintains the structure of the building, had a budget to replace the strip lights directly above our lights, and this included building lightweight scaffolding to allow access. By some careful negotiation, we managed to piggyback on this project and share use of the scaffolding. The date set for the first part of this work was the Easter weekend. The studio was closed down for three days and half the newsroom was blocked off, with journalists relocated around the building. The other half would be done over the May bank holiday weekend. The race was now on to source the lights and have them ready for the specified date. I was very aware that if we didn’t hit the deadline, it would Set & Light | Summer 2018

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lighting

Lightweight scaffolding was the only option available to reach the lights

probably be another five years before we would get another chance. I was originally asked to find direct replacements for the lights. However, as neither light was still available, and the technology had moved on so much in the last six years, I set about trying to find lights with a similar look to the ones they were replacing, while being keen to have a greater level of control over the spill from the lights (complaints from journalists about lights in their eyes has been a rather long-running saga). I enlisted the help of Jonathan Haynes at White Light as our supplier and we looked at and tested a number of units. I decided on DTS Mini Bricks to replace the Chroma Floods. The brick is a well-constructed unit, with the added advantage of being supplied with a number of plastic filters that fit neatly into the front of the light. I was particularly interested in the 60-degree by 10-degree ‘letterbox’ filter, as lighting around the edge of the newsroom without blinding those working there had always been an issue. As the Pixel Par replacement I went for Chroma-Q Color One 100s. These 6

Robert at work

had the advantage of being supplied with barn doors, which I hoped would keep our journalists happy by reducing spill. We decided to make things difficult by ordering all the lights in a custom grey colour to match the lights we were not replacing. This meant we couldn’t get the lights off the shelf and had to have them custom made in the factories in

Canada and Italy. Or, at least, that’s what we thought, but more of that later. The order went in at the end of January, with the lights promised a couple of weeks before we needed them. This made me nervous as delivery dates are notorious for slipping. The first issue came from DTS in Italy, which was under heavy snow and struggling to get lights out the factory. Fortunately, the weather relented and the lights were soon on their way and safely delivered to White Light for prepping. The next problem came from Chroma-Q in Canada. It was having a problem with its paint supplier and couldn’t guarantee delivery on time. I had to decide whether to stick with the order – and risk late delivery – or use stock black lights off the shelf. I put in a call to Ian Muir at A.C Entertainment Technologies, the importer for Chroma-Q lamps, to see if he might have any leverage. He said that, by strange coincidence, he had a stock of the lights in the correct colour sitting in A.C’s warehouse in High Wycombe, 30 miles from central London. I now had my lights for a very busy Easter weekend.

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BBC News

DTS Mini Bricks and Chroma-Q Color One 100s rigged and clear of scaffolding

The scaffolding started going up after the News at Ten on Good Friday and was handed over to the Workplace team at 8am the next day. They started on their strip lights and we got access early in the afternoon to follow on behind them. Once we had removed six years of dust, our biggest challenge was the platform of the scaffolding, which blocked out the view of where a number of our lights were pointing. We had to set those blind, which was particularly unsettling as I knew we couldn’t go back to adjust them once the scaffolding had gone. One of the features of the lighting design in the newsroom was a number of red stripes across the large concrete beams from which the lights were hanging. One of the reasons I chose the Mini Bricks was that, without any filter, they gave a nice crisp stripe across these beams. Once rigged, I was feeling pleased at how they looked. However, while I was standing there admiring them, our creative director told me that they hadn’t wanted stripes originally and had actually wanted a general wash. Fortunately, I was able nip back up the scaffolding to fit the 60-degree by

10-degree filters and instantly he had the wash he had always wanted. Why nobody had thought to mention this previously, despite all the meetings we had sat through, I don’t know. We finished rigging on Easter Sunday afternoon and, with the scaffolding due to come down on the Monday, I spent a rather nervous day at home before returning to work very early on the Tuesday morning to check levels in the various plots. Apart from one complaint from a journalist about a reflection, which we were able to quickly sort out, everybody seemed happy with the new lights and there was a lot less spill onto the people working below. Also, all our lights set blind were pointing in the right direction and at the correct angle. The changeover had worked seamlessly and, fortunately, gave nothing for a certain national newspaper to complain about. The second phase of work also passed smoothly on the May bank holiday and the newsroom has continued to function with no disruption and, hopefully, will continue to do so for another five years.

An even wash from the Mini Bricks

Scaffolding made pointing the lights even more of a challenge

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profile

Recollections of a life in TV, part two Words: Paul Middleton Photos: Courtesy of Hedley Versey This article is based on an interview with Hedley Versey on 25 March 2012, with additional detail added to place his memories into the wider context of the development of TV post-war. The first part (printed in Set & Light, issue 123) covered Hedley’s early days when he first joined the BBC, and then his time in the Navy during World War Two.This second part covers his time at the BBC post-war, first as senior cameraman on OBs, then as a BBC lighting engineer and finally as head of lighting at Southern TV. It includes, for the first time, some fascinating photographs covering Hedley’s time at the BBC and ITV, discovered during a recent trawl through his archives.

Alexandra Palace (AP), 1946–47

For his first year, Hedley worked mainly in Studio A at AP, which, like Studio B, was just 30ft wide by 70ft long by 23ft high. Progression came fast at AP. After just one year in the studio as a cameraman, Hedley was made up to senior cameraman for three years on OBs.

OBs, 1947–50

Outside broadcasts post-war were initially confined to a single three-camera OB unit MCR 1, fitted with Emitrons, but this was supplemented by the rebuilding of the second pre-war OB unit MCR 2 in November 1946 during the build-up to the 1948 Olympic Games.

An EMI CPS Emitron, as used at the 1948 Olympics. This camera was rescued and preserved by John Trenouth and was displayed at New Broadcasting House during the 2012 Olympics. From pictures of the time, it seems that this camera lost its side cover very early on in its life!

After the Victory Parade OB on 8 June 1946, the next OB was three days of the Test Match at Lord’s from 22 to 24 June, with one-hour visits at 3pm and 5.30pm each day. Electronics companies EMI and Pye were involved in making sure their designs met the demands of the BBC and sought to cure the various deficiencies of the original high-intensity Emitron tubes. EMI first developed its CPS (cathode potential stabilised) Emitron and PYE produced its own Photicon tube. While on OBs, Hedley visited EMI in Hayes and met various ‘very bright people’, including James McGee. Along with W F Tedham, it was James who had developed the original Emitron (Iconoscope) in 1932, which was upgraded in 1937 to become the Super Emitron (Super Iconoscope). Testing new cameras in real-life situations is different to testing them in a laboratory. EMI was persuaded by the BBC to lend its only two prototype CPS Emitron cameras for use with MCR 2 in 1947. Thus it was that, in November 1947, Hedley ended up with one of the prototype CPS Emitron cameras taking the close-up shot of the future Queen, Princess Elizabeth, on her wedding day outside Westminster Abbey. Like most prototypes, it had no viewfinder, as they were not necessary for testing at the labs, which had their own monitors, and so they had to rig a separate monitor. There weren’t many monitors available, so standard TV receivers were used. A common problem was loss of frame lock, which caused the picture to roll. This happened to Hedley during the wedding shortly before his shot went on air. He had to frame the shot by looking down the side of camera and aiming by eye. A number of production CPS Emitrons came into use for the 1948 Olympic Games, for which the BBC paid £1,000 for

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Hedley Versey

© BBC An early PYE Photicon camera being demonstrated at a garden party in the grounds of Alexandra Palace in 1948. The young cameraman is Hedley’s son Peter, who must have decided then that a life behind the camera was for him

A BBC picture taken during the silver wedding celebrations of King George VI in April 1948 with Hedley on the centre camera. In the background is Chief BBC Announcer John Snagge © BBC

Hedley on an OB Super Emitron camera in about 1949. Cameras with Super Emitrons could be identified by the bump sticking out the side of the camera or by the extension on the chin of the original Emitron case to accommodate the longer neck of the Super Emitron tube. The Emitrons used on OBs were of a more rugged construction than the studio models

The only two prototype CPS Emitron Cameras: L–R, Denis (Monty) Montague, Hedley Versey and Dr McGee of EMI at The Regal theatre, Edmonton, in 1947. Denis is looking at his monitor on the floor to the side of the camera. There was also a large crate of electronics on the floor in front of each camera

L–R, Head of Engineering Mr Lockyer, Hedley and Tom Holmes in the drawing office at Nightingale Square in 1938. Hedley can’t remember why he was holding a micrometer, but the photographer probably thought it was a good prop for this BBC publicity photo

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Hedley tracks in for an extreme close-up on Presenter Leslie Jackson in another BBC publicity photograph. Jackson went on to become producer/ director of This Is Your Life and What’s My Line? and was the father of TV executive Paul Jackson (Red Dwarf)

the rights to televise. It built a number of small studios in Wembley to cope with the demands of different worldwide TV broadcasters. These were set up in the Olympics Broadcasting Centre at the Palace of Arts in Wembley, which became the first base for BBC OBs after the Olympics. Venues that had good daylight used the Emitron cameras, while indoor venues used the CPS Emitron because of its much higher sensitivity. With limited studio availability in the 1940s, the idea of using outside broadcast units for entertainment programmes that would otherwise have been made in a studio became quite common. In the picture above, Hedley is on a camera from Unit 3, which was the first to use the Pye Photicon camera. The increase in camera sensitivity made it viable to light factories and other venues to a good level without the very high levels of illumination previously needed by the Emitrons.

Lighting at AP

During his time on OBs, Hedley decided he wanted to get into lighting and trained on the job at AP. AP’s Herbert ‘Bertie’ Baker, Assistant Engineer in Charge in 1937 and then Engineer-in-Chief post-war, said to him: “You’ve already passed your Grade 1, if you would like to sit your Grade D, we’ll assume you could have passed your Grade 2 exam.” So he passed Grade D, which eventually became Grade C, and he was then qualified to apply to become a lighting engineer. One question he was asked at interview was about the types of dimmers. He went through them all and finished by saying that he thought that none of them were satisfactory until they could produce a transistor big enough to be used to dim lights! Thyratrons were available post-war but the first transistors had only appeared in 1946 and the first commercial thyristors did not appear until 1956 and it took several years before they could be used for lighting control. There were only six lighting engineers, as they were called at the time. There were no seniors or juniors. In 1950, these were H.O. ‘Sammy’ Samson, Otis Eddy, Sam Neeter, Bob Gray, Dicky Stelp and Hedley himself, with Desmond R ‘Cam’ 10

Hedley Versey

Campbell keeping a fatherly eye on the proceedings in the studios. Cam had originally worked with Logie Baird pre-war and was eventually given the title Senior Engineer – Lighting, although he was popularly nicknamed ‘the father of lighting’. Sammy later became Head of Lighting at BBC. He died about 1960. He had worked as an engineeer with Richard Dimbleby when he was reporting from the air over Europe during the war. Hedley left OBs and went back to AP to start lighting in June 1950. He reckoned everything good always happened to him in June! Ally Pally was lit at 100fc minimum with the Super-Emitron after 1937. The original first-generation Emitron required 250fc. The cameras worked well outdoors in sunlight but had a limited contrast ratio – hence the need to fill in at floor level, as well as from above, to prevent feet and legs disappearing into darkness when shooting in the studio. The biggest issue in the studios was that it was not easy to get a good softlight. The original lights in Studio A had been built by Kamden to meet a BBC specification. The lights in Studio B – the Baird studio – were all film fixtures from MoleRichardson, as his intermediate film system was essentially film based, using a modified 19mm Vinten film camera with 35mm film stock split in half to reduce costs. Baird had employed a film lighting cameraman to specify and operate the lighting in Studio B and the equipment was better suited to lighting for TV than the BBC-chosen equipment (presumably because of budget limitations) and so, when the Baird studio was closed in 1937, the Mole-Richardson lights were shared out between the two studios. They did try to get photographic lighting despite the limitations of the TV resolution at that time. The Studio A lamps were primarily things called Kandem lamps. “They were sheet metal, they cracked, they were appalling,” recalled Cam. Korting un Mathieson was a German firm, which became known as Kandem (K and em). They had a UK subsidiary – Kandem Electrical Ltd in King’s Road, London. The shares of Kandem Electrical held by foreign residents were vested to the Custodian of Enemy Property in May 1940. The base lighting designed by Cam after the war at AP used two main banks of lights in each studio to provide a base light. These were known as Hewitt banks. Each bank consisted of 48 100W bulbs, mounted in domestic spunaluminium reflector frames. These were later softened by hanging thin muslin cloth in front of each bank. As each bank had less output than a single 5kW softlight, they were not very useful. Hedley did not use them much as they were fixed high up, far away from the action and not easily moved. When Studio D, at 83ft by 64ft, opened at Lime Grove in May 1950, the number of these Hewitt banks had grown to 12 fixtures, each with 24 bulbs. The physical layout was 24 bulbs in a fixture, which could be moved around the studio to act as fill light for different areas. A typical Studio A rig at AP would consist of the 48 lamp softlight at the front of the set, with eight 1kW scoops stacked in two rows over the top of the set. The two studios both had a scaffold balcony walkway all around, rigged with a dozen or so 2Ks and 5Ks used for upstage keying and backlighting. Any close quarters fill was provided by 1K lamps on wheeled stands at floor level.

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Right:Wider view of the Grand Master Control in Studio B, showing the edge of the Baird intermediate film booth in the background, the top part of which later became the sound control for Studio B. Left: Head lamp basher on Emitron

A picture at the NFTM in Bradford showing Studio A with its overhead Hewitt bank of lights, with a real Super-Emitron to the left © NMFTS / Paul Middleton

Twin 500W Mole-Richardson Double Broad, later known as a Lollo; right: BBC Publicity photo showing a lighting engineer adjusting a Mole 500W ‘Pup’ for a close-up shot

All lighting was run at 115V because the main bulb manufacturers were primarily producing for the American market at that time. Followspots were used for variety acts and a few arc lights were also available for special purposes. With up to four cameras used, the Studio A floor could get quite cramped. Officially, it had three active cameras and one hot spare but directors often wanted to use all four cameras. Studio B had just three camera channels as standard. A camera crew consisted of seven people: four on cameras and three as dolly operators to track the two mobile cameras and look after cable bashing. At this time, all the crew were trained engineers and it was not until the 1950s that camerawork really became treated as a craft role rather than an engineering job. So in 1947 the studios had Mole-Richardson ‘double broads and later ‘scoops’, which used either 500W or 1kW lamps, as well as standard Mole Pups. There were no overhead suspension positions. All lighting was done from the sides via the gantry or from floor stands. There were usually four electricians in each studio to rig and actively move the lights during broadcasts. They mainly came from the theatre world so that they would know how to operate the Grand Masters in each studio, which had just 35 clutch-driven wire-wound 2,000W dimmers. A special feature of these two controls was that they were fitted with mercury switches instead of the usual knife switches in order to reduce noise, as they were installed on the studio floor rather than being hidden away in a dimmer room. In total, there was about 100kW of lighting equipment available in each of the two studios, part AC and part DC. The DC supply was for carbon arcs that could be used for effects such as lightning or when a large strong backlight effect was required. There weren’t enough dimmers to have every lamp on its own one. Two electricians would usually work on the gantry and two on the floor, refocusing lights as needed, especially during plays.

An electrician working on the Grand Master Control Board in Studio B at AP

Head lamp bashers were first used at AP, where they were mounted on a side arm to the pan and tilt head. They consisted of a single light bulb with a bent metal reflector and some diffusion placed over it. Senior Cameraman Ted Langley had a hallmark of offering fast tracks into big close-ups. The basher light allegedly got its name from the fact that it could bash into people if the tracker didn’t brake quickly enough at the end of a fast track. Lime Grove opened in May 1950 and, as lighting engineer, Hedley was scheduled at both AP and Lime Grove until the former closed in 1954 for redevelopment as the new home of Television News. Hedley said it was sad that the BBC didn’t just shut it down and leave it as it was as a museum, as it was the first highdefinition studio in the world. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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Lime Grove

It is worth noting that the five studios at Lime Grove were to be named Studios D–H to follow on from Studios A and B at AP – A for the EMI system and B for Baird. So what happened to Studio C? Apparently, a memo sent in 1950 from the senior superintendent engineer, television, explains that there was to be no Studio C at Lime Grove. This was to avoid any confusion between the control room of C and the planned Central Control Room, which would be known in BBC parlance as the CCR. Hedley mainly worked in Studio G at Lime Grove, which was designed for light entertainment programmes. He was on crew seven at Lime Grove with his friend ‘Wilky’ on cameras. There was a senior engineer in overall charge of crew. By 1956, the senior engineer had become the technical operations manager (TOM), who was responsible for lighting as well as overall studio engineering control. When TV Centre opened, the job title first became lighting supervisor, with an assistant who was responsible for setting up the lighting control console. They then became known as TM1 and TM2 before the demands of the job generated the new role of lighting director. Studio G had some manual 5kW dimmers but no central control system. The biggest production Hedley lit was The Great Little Tilly in February 1956 starring Pat Kirkwood as male impersonator Vesta Tilley. This used the whole of Studio F as a scene store to enable changeover of the sets for the 126 different scenes in the 90-minute play. Hedley remembered that is was a nightmare to light as he needed a lighting control system but didn’t have one. All that was available was a few 120A contactors that enabled a group of lights to be switched on or off together. Studio G was big but it had a kink in it. One show featured the popular Littlewoods Girls’ Choir. The opening shot started on a pair of large filigree gates and Hedley lit these with a 150A carbon arc lamp. This cast a realistic moonlight shadow of the gates down the studio. As Lime Grove had originally been a film studio, the power supplies included 110V DC as well as AC. Hedley recalled that there was one very skilled electrician at the studio who could feed an arc and make it burn continuously for 70 minutes on just one carbon without any stuttering. Most other electricians could only coax 50 minutes out of a carbon rod.

Riverside

The new Riverside Studios in Hammersmith (R1 and R2). which opened in 1956. were the first to be equipped with a lighting control console as a trial for the potential choices between thyratrons, rheostats or autotransformers expected to be used at the new Television Centre Studios. Thyristors big enough for dimmers didn’t start to become available until 1960 and were first installed at Glyndebourne in 1964. R1’s lighting control desk was installed in the vision apparatus room with the camera control units (which would now be called vision control) and R2’s was in the vision control room where the producer, vision mixer and TOM sat. Incidentally, at this time, BBC Engineering referred to the studio lights as ‘illuminators’ and they were fed at 115V AC at Riverside. The control desk in R1 used an electro-magnetic 12

A view into System C desk at Riverside Studio 1. © BBC

clutch system (System C) from Strand Electric. R2 used xenon-filled thyratrons controlled by another Strand desk. The thyratrons worked across a three-phase supply and, because of their design, were only 60 per cent of the efficiency of the transformer dimmers. Hedley produced his own circuit diagram of System C and how it all connected while at Riverside as Strand weren’t keen on providing the full information. One of the problems was that you could fade down one memory and then fade up another, but you couldn’t cross fade between memories. Hedley saw there was a simple way that you could cross fade between memories, which he discussed with Frederick Bentham and B. Bear at Strand. The response he got from Bentham was clear: “It’s not for you to tell us how to do it, you tell us what you want and we’ll work it out!” His request finally featured in the System C installed in TVC. Hedley remembers working at Riverside on Dixon of Dock Green and going outside when Sputnik was launched in 1957 to see it passing overhead at night after the transmission finished. When he was planning shows at Riverside, Hedley used to reckon on one-and-a-half minutes to rig and one minute per lamp to set the 75 lamps that made up an average rig in the studios. He used to wonder how Monty had time to focus the large numbers of Patt 23s with gobos he used in the King’s Theatre.

King’s Theatre

The BBC took over the King’s Theatre in 1954 for a while while the Shepherds Bush Empire (TV Theatre) was being refurbished with new cameras and lighting. Hedley recalled that all theatres with a proscenium arch were a curse. The King’s Theatre just had a small lighting control at side of stage rather than in the racks room.

Southern TV

In 1958, with a young family, Hedley decided it would be good to move to Southampton to join the company that had won the ITV franchise for the South of England – Southern TV. He worked there for over 20 years, mostly at the old Plaza

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Hedley Versey

Original Thorn Q-File, designed by Tony Isaacs at Thorn EMI and installed at Southern TV Plaza Studios in 1966. This replaced the original Strand System C installed in 1958

Cinema, which had been converted into black-and-white studios. The Plaza Cinema had been one of the original super cinemas built in 1932 to seat 2,100 patrons. By the late 1950s, cinema-going was declining fast as television lured audiences away and it was shut. Unfortunately, the Plaza also had a System C lighting control model just like the Riverside one, which wasn’t able to cross fade between memories. Hedley had thought that commercial TV would be very professional compared to the BBC but when he got there he found it was an amateur organisation. Lots of (cheap) youngsters had been recruited with the expectation that they would be trained by the experienced people who had come across from the BBC. The biggest thing that he missed about the BBC was the days off that were part of the AP shift system. Working seven days a week was common at Southern TV for quite some time after they went on air. At Southern he was involved with the philosophy of the design of new lighting controls with the Thorn Q-File. The first version had an intensity-level control lever that was spring-loaded and wasn’t actually a fader but increased its rate the longer it was held in either up or down position. When released, it sprung back to its centre position. Hedley did not entirely agree with this concept; he had previously conceived his own design for a lighting control desk that might have been even more user-friendly, but he was persuaded by Thorn’s great thinker Tony Isaacs. At the BBC, if you had an idea for a new piece of equipment, it took two years to design it and bring it into production. The advantage at Southern was that, in commercial TV, you could make a decision and, in the blink of an eye, put it into operation. Just like the BBC, though, the accountant in charge of studios wouldn’t spend money on keeping tapes and instead wiped and reused them. A one-hour tape cost £100 at that time and many historic and memorable productions were lost forever when tapes were reused. No one then ever expected TV shows to be repeated. Consequently, Hedley

Hedley discusses the studio layout for House Party with Programme Organiser Jean Orba. House Party started in black and white from the Plaza Studios and then went colour from the new Northam Studios from 1972–81. It was the Loose Women of its day, featuring four female presenters who discussed various unscripted topics in what appeared to be an ordinary family home. © Peter W Dickenson ARPS

Above: a view of the House Party set at Southern TV Plaza Studios under transmission lighting. © Peter W Dickenson ARPS

Above: another view of the Plaza Studios, this time an interview show with the working lights on. L–R are violinist Max Jaffa (hidden behind mic boom), Peter Pearce (scenehand wearing cans), Jim Buddle, Les Keith, Chris Bartlett-Judd (LD), Chris Emmins, Bob Long and John Dilly. © Peter W Dickenson ARPS Set & Light | Summer 2018

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profile

Hedley Versey

has very little record of the programmes he worked on over his time at the BBC and ITV. In 1967, work started on a new £2.5m colour TV studio complex on reclaimed land next door to the Plaza. Hedley had had some input into the purchasing and installation of lighting equipment for Northam Studios but felt that the architects who had designed had focused mainly on how it looked from the outside, not how it functioned internally. In his view, the main studio access doors should always be in the middle of the longest wall in the studio leading off to the scene dock, so that there could be two end walls with cycs that didn’t block studio access. The new studios opened in 1970 with the Marconi Mk VII they first purchased also needing 100fc – just like the original Emitrons at AP. When doing Glyndebourne he wanted to keep the colours that had been used for the original theatre lighting, which often involved the light coming from the same position in different scenes but in different colours. However, as he needed to use a bar of 5Ks to get the required level, it was tricky trying to fit enough lights on the lighting bars to get the required range of colours. After Glyndebourne, he hardly ever lit a TV show without having some colour filter on the lights. He lit six operas at Glyndebourne, plus La Boheme at Covent Garden and Caesar and Cleopatra for US TV, among many other productions.

In 1978, during rehearsals at Glyndebourne, the management at Southern asked whether he was going to retire or do the lighting for the Glyndebourne production that year. Having just read an article that said that people who retired at 65 on average only got to enjoy three years of retirement, whereas those who retired at 60 got to enjoy 13 years of retirement, he decided to take the easy option. Little did he know that Southern was going to lose its franchise a couple of years later! He did a bit of freelance work after retiring from Southern and deciding that he had finally learnt how to light properly. The first thing he did at home in retirement was to build himself a Z81-based computer with 8K memory made up of eight 1K memory chips. He was very lucky with his pension; he had paid enough into it (14 per cent) that he got the same pension as if he had remained at the BBC, and the MD of Southern had made an additional contribution into his scheme, which meant he got twice the pension he would have otherwise have been entitled to. The following year, the company secretary managed to rearrange the pension scheme so that they all got a five per cent increase in their pension each year and, in his own words, he has now had ‘a very nice 39 years of retirement!’. To view a promotional film of the construction of Southern TV’s studio, visit youtu.be/3g65og1sjbc

Hello dolly: The evolution of camera mountings While the general view of early TV may have been of cameras mounted on old porter’s trolleys with large bicycle wheels, the evolution of both cameras and the mountings they were placed on rapidly advanced as the demands of directors and producers grew. Cameras pre-war were mounted on ‘iron man’ camera pedestals built by EMI specifically to deal with the

Emitron cameras. These were lightweight compared to later cameras and Producer Cecil Madden even encouraged them to be handheld. These had limited movement, with furniture-sized wheels, but the central column could be raised to elevate the camera by turning a small wheel. In order to easily track the camera, it was placed on a wheeled trolley, but this didn’t allow for crabbing shots. Post-war, the same basic design was applied but with a fixed mounting to replace the heavy ‘iron man’ section. Vinten became involved post-war and started development of the crabbing dolly, which allowed for side to side movement of the camera, just as easily as tracking. The problem, as always, was how to stop all the cables on the floor getting tangled up as cameras moved from scene to scene, and to keep the floor clear. In Studio A at AP, cameras 1 and 2 were on dollies and camera 3 and 4 on ‘iron men’ unless a particularly low-angled shot was required, when camera 3 would be placed on a Vinten Film Tripod.

OBs at this time were very much male affairs, but there were camera women. The first BBC camerawoman, Barbara (Bimbi) Harris, is pictured above on a Super Emitron camera in 1946. She went on to become a vision mixer and moved to Lime Grove, where she designed a vision mixer console add-on affectionately known as the ‘Bimbi’ box. It remained in use until the studio’s closure. Bimbi then became a director at Rediffusion and later LWT

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stld visit

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A glimmering night Words: Jeremy Hoare

Photos: John O’Brien

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” The first Shakespeare play I remember going to was when I was 12 years old. It was an amateur open-air production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Grovelands Park in north London. So when an STLD invitation to see the play dropped into my inbox – with lighting designed by committee member Andrew Dixon – I just had to go. I had been to The Questors Theatre in Ealing only once before, in 1964–5 when I took photographs of a play for its director, Paul Annett. Paul was senior tracker on my first camera crew at ATV Hackney Empire, Crew 3, with Ron Francis as senior cameraman. Both of them later became TV directors: Ron was to direct Coronation Street and Paul, who sadly died recently, was producer and director on EastEnders.

The Questors Theatre

The first Questors performance took place in 1933. The theatre as it is today was designed by Norman Branson and

to the highest possible standards and also a theatre of adventure. Over its 85-year history it has staged and produced over 1,300 productions, launching the careers of many directors, actors, playwrights and designers. It is one of the largest youth theatres in Britain and the largest independent community theatre in Europe.

Amateur theatre

The theatre, as it is today, opened in 1964

opened in April 1964. Lottery funding since has enabled it to expand and improve in recent years. In 1943 The Questors’ artistic direction was summed up in a statement of aims – ‘The Quest’. It was to be an amateur, independent theatre, devoted

I have extensive experience of amateur productions myself. When I was an ATV cameraman wanting to be a lighting director, the sparks’ ETU union made it impossible for me to do anything apart from shadow the LDs, which I did on my days off. I learnt a huge amount about the art and craft of television lighting from masters such as Jimmy Boyers, John Rook and Tony Hudspith. More out of frustration than anything else, I joined an amateur drama group in Bishop’s Stortford on the proviso that I would only do the lighting. From lighting dramas, comedies, some operas and classical concerts, I learnt a lot, Set & Light | Summer 2018

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stld visit

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

which was of great use when I eventually became a lighting director with Central in Nottingham with the supportive John Watt as my boss. Tenacity and not giving up is very important.

The Questors’ adaptation incorporated modern English

The play

This much-loved tale of love, marriage and imagination kept mostly to Shakespeare’s text but brought in modern words, which was a clever idea. The spirited cast did well; some of their comedy timing was shaky at first but improved as the play continued. All of the actors were good but Anthony Curran, who played Bottom/Pyramus, was the stand-out performer; he just got better as the play went on, doing what all good actors do: reacting to the audience. The music, specially composed by Daniel Beilby, was excellent; there could have been more to cover actors moving on and off the stage. The Morris dance at the end was great fun but the star, certainly for the children in the audience, was Moon’s dog, played by either of the canine thespians, Minnie or Django. Throughout this production, the audience was well led by the creative talents of Anne Neville as director, Alex Marker as set designer, Raymond Childe as costume designer, Andrew Dixon as lighting designer and Daniel Beilby as composer.

The costumes were perfect for this production, created by Raymond Childe, who was been designing them for Questors productions since the 1970s.

Direction

Lighting

The play was skilfully directed by Anne Neville, Artistic Director for Questors. She acted first then started directing in 1991 and believes ‘you should never study Shakespeare before you’ve seen it performed!’. Anne ensured the actors made good use of the stage and moved around it – in that way, the production was fluid, ambitious, stylish and well carried out.

Set and costume design

The seemingly simple yet well-thoughtout set was designed by Alex Marker, who has been designing at Questors for 30 years. The set gave the actors an efficient space to perform on. As a set designer, Alex loves the variety of shows that come into the theatre, which always bring fresh challenges. He also acted as Snout/Wall in the play and got a good reaction from the audience for his performance, especially the comedy lines. 16

STLD committee member Andrew Dixon has had a varied career with the BBC and other mainstream broadcasters and has been lighting for 50 years, so it was a bit of a surprise that he was so self-deprecating in his talk about how he lit the play and with what. But maybe all true professionals in any artistic field are like this: wanting to get it right but never completely satisfied. He didn’t need to make excuses as the lighting was worthy of any West End production. In particular, there was a nice use of gobos, letting the actors move in and out of light, which works well in theatre but could be a problem for television. This, in many ways, highlighted the difference in the two mediums: with theatre you can get away with much more as the eye will adjust and not notice things that just look wrong on camera. I liked the use of the cyc with the

large moon and also the sunrise lighting effects – they made the production very effective. Overall, the set and lighting design must have given the actors confidence to perform on such a stage. Andrew used a fairly sparse number of lights: a mix of tungsten and LED units. The thrust stage cover is achieved with 24 650W profiles. The eight recently-acquired ETC Colorsource profiles were used to great effect with gobos inserted and Andrew added his own Pulsar LED Chroma floodlights. Other lighting designers might have used more, but to no better effect.

Conclusion

With firm direction, excellent music, good set design and polished lighting, this production had all the right ingredients for a good show ,which gave the actors a great start point. It was a very enjoyable evening and the audience left the theatre feeling well entertained. All you could ask for from a night at the theatre, this production was a pleasure to see, while reminding us that, as Shakespeare himself put it: “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

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LD Andrew Dixon demonstrates the gobos for the forest scene LD Andrew Dixon

A model of The Questors’ 2017 pantomime Set Designer Alex Marker with his 2017 pantomime set model

Director Anne Neville

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letter to the editor

MADAM: As your readers will hopefully already be aware, the EU is currently preparing new versions of its Ecodesign regulations for lighting. In the current regulations – EU1194/2012 and related regulations, including 2015/1428 – there is a clearly written exemption for ‘studio lighting, show effect lighting, theatre lighting’. The first draft of the replacement regulations, which appeared late last year, removed this exemption, while at the same time dramatically tightening the energy efficiency and other requirements that lighting products had to meet before being allowed to be ‘placed on the market’ – ie, offered for sale – within the EU. The changes would have meant that, from September 2020, no new supply of tungsten halogen light bulbs below about 3K tungsten, many good-quality LED entertainment lighting fixtures and a number of arc-source lamps could have been sold in the EU. Alerted to the changes, the Association of Lighting Designers began raising awareness first among lighting practitioners and then, with PLASA, among lighting manufacturers to the peril in these regulations. The ALD also started a high-profile campaign to alert other theatre practitioners, MEPs, MPs (including the prime minister) and members of the general public to the threat, culminating in the projection of the “#SaveStageLighting” logo inside and outside theatres across Europe just before the end of the EU’s public consultation period on the new regulations. As a result, the ALD’s online petition currently has over 82,000 signatories and the campaign is backed by many high-profile theatre practitioners and organisations. Further information can be found atald.org.uk/resources/savestagelighting. As a result of all of this activity, the entertainment industry was invited to a meeting with the EU’s DG Energy. That meeting and a simultaneous one with DG Culture included representatives from the ALD, the IALD, PLASA, OETHG from Austria,VLPT from Germany, the Association of Swedish Lighting Designers, SOLT/UK Theatre and PEARLE, the pan-European theatre producers’ league. Despite the ‘theatre’ background of many of these organisations, we were careful to discuss entertainment lighting wherever it was used, including on stage and in concerts, but also in film and television production. At that meeting, DG Energy recognised that entertainment lighting was something of a special case and asked those in the meeting to help craft a suitable exemption. We responded quickly with several proposals, then waited to see which DG Energy would accept. The next draft of the regulations, which appeared in mid-July, shows that some progress has been made, but there is also work to be done on the details. In short: n The new rules apply to light sources of between 60 and 82,000 lumen output. The latest draft clarifies that the light output is of the light source (tungsten bulb, arc lamp, LED source), independently of the rest of the lighting fixture – ie, before losses in the optical train or extra power used by cooling fans or moving light motors. n The pass/fail calculation includes allowances for different source types, different colour quality and other factors. Fundamentally, though, it is designed to ensure that tungsten light sources fail unless specifically exempted. Separate 18

Save Stage Lighting update

regulations cover Ecolabelling – the new A-G scale showing how efficient a light source is. This is a simpler calculation, lumens/Watt, with anything below 85lm/W in the G category. n There is an exemption for17 lamp bases in common use in entertainment lighting: G9.5, GX9.5, GY9.5, GZ9.5, GP9.5HPM, G16d, GX16, GX16d, GY16, G22, G38, GX38, GX38Q, P28s, P40s, PGJX50, QXL, designed and marketed specifically for scene lighting use in film studios, TV-studios,and photographic studios, or for stage lighting use in theatres, discos, during concerts or other entertainment events.” n There is an exemption for ‘colour-tuneable light sources’ that can be set to the colours that the EU defines as white light, as well as to other colours – in effect, multi-coloured additive colour-mixing LED fixtures – as long as they have at least red, green and blue emitters of defined parameters. n We feel that the majority of arc lamps in use for entertainment lighting either exceed the 82,000 lumen upper limit, pass the efficiency calculation or are exempt on other grounds, particularly because of the very small size of the actual light source. n This latest draft moves the proposed start date back a year, from September 2020 to September 2021. Within that, there are details to be clarified, particularly with regard to the definition of colour-tuneable light sources (which have to have at least red, green and blue emitters, with the specification of green feeling slightly odd), to some lamp bases we submitted, which have not been included on the EU’s list but which may be exempt for other reasons (ACL lamps for their aero use, for example), and with exactly how you measure light output and power consumption of an LED light source that may be tightly integrated into a lighting fixture.There is also a concern about whether high-powered/high light output white LED sources can meet the efficiency requirements because of the inefficiencies inherent in larger optical systems. The same team that met with DG Energy, working with a number of other suppliers and manufacturers, are now working on a response raising the points above and many other details to ensure that we achieve everything we need for entertainment lighting and that our exemptions are clearly and cleanly defined. At the same time, the new rules are in ‘interservice consultation’ across all of the other sections of the EU. This review process is anticipated to go on until the autumn. What all this means is that, six months ago, we were predicting a ‘doomsday scenario’ where the only tools that could be sold were open-faced white LED fixtures, while older tools, particularly tungsten sources, fell rapidly out of use as bulbs stopped being available. Things look better now, but there is still work to be done. And it would be great if those of you who work in television lighting could take a look through at least the list of exempt lamp bases and, ideally, the whole draft of the regulations to make sure there isn’t anything there that could affect your work and the tools you use. If you have any thoughts on all of this, we’d love to hear from you! Yours, Rob Halliday ALD – #SaveStageLighting rob@robhalliday.com

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London, Olympia 16 - 18 September

The worldwide event for entertainment technology

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event

A different approach Words: Richard Bunting Photos: Derek Halls

A joint workshop by the STLD and the GTC at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, at the end of April proved that: ‘There’s more than one way to light...’. Billed as a light-hearted and informal look at the ways in which modern studio lighting techniques have evolved, we were treated to the exploits of three very different lighting designers. With many years of television under their belts, we heard of numerous situations where the normal textbook techniques couldn’t be used and creative adaption was needed to solve the problem. The first to take to the podium was John Henshall, who is also President of the GTC as, even though he has lit shows, he started life as a cameraman and carries on today as a photographer. The Wakefield-born son of an artist (who was himself a friend of L.S. Lowry), John started his career at the BBC, being sent on a camera training course at Wood Norton. Arriving at the (then) new Television Centre in 1961, John worked on shows including The Black and White Minstrel Show and TV specials for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. He regaled the workshop audience with tales of the cast and crews of these shows, including meeting his first wife, who was a member of The George Mitchell Singers, as well as having a cup of tea with Bing Crosby after filming. Throughout his talk, John showed slides and video clips of the various places he had worked and shows on which he had worked. One of these was an opening shot of a drama (a Play for Today, I think), which was continuous for about two minutes, tracking around a bed. Being shot from a crane, it had involved a careful choreography of the scenery; we first saw a back wall of the set, which moments later had to have been carried away so as to allow the crane to continue its track around the subject. This was another example of where John dared to be different, which was, in fact, the title of his talk. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the county of his birth, but it seemed John has little fear of those in authority, even going so far as to break into his manager’s office at the BBC to gain access to his personnel file when they were worried about his formation of a union, which in fact led to the start of the 20

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STLD / GTC workshop

Speakers Bernie Davis, John Henshall and Iain Davidson

GTC member Janet North

This picture and centre: Bernie Davis in action

GTC. His work at Television Centre also included working on Top of the Pops, which allowed him to experiment with various visual effects, including fish-eye lenses and prisms. Although video tape was normally in short supply, John has managed to squirrel away quite a few examples of his work, including the now (in)famous recording of David Bowie singing Jean Genie, which was thought to have been lost from the BBC Archives. This willingness to experiment also included designing and producing a demo unit of a camera crane with a pan-and-tilt head, which he hoped to persuade Vinten’s to manufacture. Sadly, the company didn’t follow it up but, again, John had a video recording to show us that he was ahead of his time. Having had enough of Auntie’s management politics, John saw a better future in visual effects outside the corporation and so he left to run his company, Telefex, full time. He had been hiring his FX lens systems to the BBC while still there but now he was also able to become the UK distributor for Dedolights: a lighting product range that was initially scorned but quite quickly became the mainstay of the now-growing fraternity of freelance cameramen. These low-voltage fixtures weren’t thought to be ‘real’ lights, like a redhead or a blonde, but they consumed less power and had the ability to give a very sharp

profile image, ideal for gobos.Very quickly, every indoor location interview would include a breakup gobo projected onto the wall behind the subject, provided by a Dedolight. It was at this time that I first met John, selling him many Quartzcolor 2kW and 5kW Fresnels, which he used in another area of his work: TV commercials and pop videos. Indeed, John showed another example of his work, with a commercial shot in a swimming pool, lit mainly by bouncing 5Ks off the surface of the water. His commercial work included Amstrad, The (soaraway) Sun newspaper, and Nabisco, where he managed to fool his audience by getting packets of biscuits to appear to race each other (they were actually attached to a Hornby train set rigged above the set). His pop video portfolio includes work with artists such as Kate Bush (search for her track ‘The Man With A Child In His Eyes’ on YouTube, to see John’s groundbreaking internally-lit Perspex rostra from 1976). Blondie, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Elton John are all artists for whom John has worked. His TV work has included Spitting Image, where such was his reputation for his work with his crew that he ended up with his own puppet. He also worked on a live Channel 4 ‘yoof’ magazine show called Network 7 where, due to budget Set & Light | Summer 2018

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event

restraints and the requirement for some wacky camerawork, John, working with his colleague Mike Seabrook (who was in our audience), devised and built lighting fixtures from converted dustbins, sunbeds, shopping trolleys and even an ex-navy searchlight. These were often seen in shot to emphasise the ‘alternative’ nature of the programme. John appears never to have been afraid of coming forward or promoting his own work. His archive of taped material is a testament to his inventiveness and audacity, which I hope can preserved for future generations. John continues to play with lights and lenses, and he showed some of his most recent work with a mobile phone manufacturer on the differences in red-eye flash exposure across various nationalities. After a very pleasant lunch, where old friends and colleagues were able to catch up, we returned to the main cinema for the remaining presentations. Iain Davidson was next. He started his lighting career on the BBC children’s drama Byker Grove and one episode involved a party of children (including one who was blind) going in some caves. Due to the fact the caves were full of water, normal lighting, even with redheads and blondes, would be difficult, if not impossible, so Iain resorted to BBC standard-issue torches and caving headlamps. He showed part of the episode, which was remarkedly clear considering the lux levels he managed to achieve and the camera resolution in the 1980s. Another drama, set by the sea, ended up being lit by rocket flares (sanctioned by the coastguard), which again worked surprisingly well and fitted in with the storyline, giving some dramatic shadows. He also described working at the huge hangars at Cardington. Filming in such a vast space, even with windows, was difficult, but he resolved it by rigging some HMIs onto a small balloon floating above it. Luckily, by adding some spares, enough lux was achieved when a couple of them failed. Iain demonstrated that, with a bit of forethought and planning, it was possible to achieve great results with not-so-obvious equipment. Later in his career he went on to be head of lighting at Sky, where he and Don Hart were responsible for the fit out of many of the studios across the Osterley campus. To round off the afternoon, Bernie Davis gave the last presentation in which he showed there is often more than one way to light a programme. Starting his BBC career on cameras, Bernie progressed to the position of engineering manager, when he was given an opportunity to light a Royal Variety Performance Having lit many am-dram theatre shows in his youth, Bernie was able to apply many of these techniques to the show, which was a great success.This led to being asked to light the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall: a job he has carried on doing for the last 26 years, so he must be doing something right. One concert involved various musicians playing cacti in various locations around the hall. Each was to be lit in turn as they played, but to get the individual lights wired and controlled from a central point was going to be a herculean task.The answer? Get the musicians to turn on their own lamps just before they played their part. It took a bit of practice, but the result was remembered as much as the music they performed. Bernie is clearly happy doing music events as he’s also done the Christmas concert Carols from King’s for many years. This features the choir singing in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, shot in the depths of December. Apparently, the wide shots are recorded on one day, with the closeups done 22

STLD / GTC workshop

Top: The workshop was attended by members of the STLD and GTC; above: John Henshall, left, with GTC member Mike Seabrook

the next. Lighting the faces of the choirboys just from candlelight was difficult as the main rig didn’t give enough level. Luckily, Bernie had inherited the solution from his predecessor, Peter Webb, who had devised a drop-in candle holder incorporating a small pygmy lamp. With cutouts in the side, this gave enough illumination of the boys’ faces, as well as providing a nice warm glow for the wide shots. Bernie explained that he managed to persuade the powers that be at the college to allow him to fix brackets to the wall of this historic building, such that he could mount a truss structure each year they came to record. This sped up the fit-up time, as well as reducing the potential damage to the fabric of the chapel. The result allows him to fix profile lamps above the choir to give him enough lux level over the dark oak of the choir stalls. Another venue with which Bernie is familiar is Westminster Abbey, where he has lit numerous services, including a few weddings! In the past, due to the vast height of the knave, he needed 296 par cans to give him the required level. On the last occasion, he used just 20 Martin Quantums and achieved the same effect. The savings in not only power but rigging and focusing time are enormous, which goes to show that LED is now in a position to replace tungsten, not just in the studio but on location as well. All three presenters showed us their skills and experience, but were equally complimentary and admiring about each other’s work too. A thoroughly enjoyable Saturday, where we were able to recall shows, videos and commercials of the past and learn how they were put together by justifiably proud artists and their teams. I hope that more of these joint workshops will allow us to see further work from these two very different but allied crafts.

Set & Light | Summer 2018

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information

KOI Awards

Judging panels announced for 11th annual awards The Knight of Illumination Awards, now in its 11th year of celebrating the achievements of show lighting and video designers in television, theatre and concert touring & events, welcomes eight new additions to its judging panels this year. The judging panels for each of the three disciplines consists of a range of critics and specialists with expert knowledge in their field. Once nominations have closed, they will meet to select three final shortlisted designs and one winner for each award. David Benedict’s theatre panel welcomes three new judges: Zoë Anderson, critic for Dancing Times and author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion; Michael Billington, Chief Theatre Critic of the Guardian and author of State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945 and The Life and Work of Harold Pinter; and opera critic George Hall, who has written for the Guardian, The Stage and Opera Magazine. David says: “I am delighted that Zoë, Michael and George have joined the panel for this year’s KOI Awards. Their extensive experience writing about each art form across all areas of print journalism and beyond will prove invaluable in our fierce, often longargued deliberations.” New to the concert touring & events (CT&E) panel this year is Jo Beirne, video specialist from Colour Sound Experiment; Christopher Knowlton, Lighting Designer and Director of design specialist 18 Degrees; and David Smyth, Chief Rock and Pop Critic for the Evening Standard and previous Mercury Prize panellist. “It’s wonderful to see the esteemed judging panel expand this year,” says CT&E Chair Jess Allan. “Christopher brings an interesting perspective as a lighting designer working in the architectural world. Jo has a wealth of experience in the world of video, as well as many years attending gigs and working with designers, so has great insight on the workings of a show and the challenges designers face. David is our real-world perspective, with decades of experience as a rock and pop critic. It’s important to

have a juxtaposition of someone who is not working in the technical side of industry, and David’s observations of our designer’s submissions will be welcome additions to our judge’s deliberations.” New to the KOI television judging panel this year is Rachel Cooke, television critic at The New Statesman. Rachel also writes for the Guardian and the Observer and was named Interviewer of the Year at the 2006 British Press Awards. “It’s my pleasure to welcome Rachel to the television judging panel,” says Stuart Gain. “We’re delighted to have an extra pair of eyes to help us sort through the stunning nominations we receive. With the inclusion of the new judges, it’s hoped that we’ll be able to further spread the KOI name and we can continue to grow the recognition our designers deserve.” “It is fundamental to the KOI awards that the work submitted or, in the case of theatre, reviewed is judged by as wide a range of professional peers, critics and journalists as possible, and this year’s panels reflect this aspiration perfectly,” say KOI co-founders Durham and Jennie Marenghi. “Good luck to all who are shortlisted.” Nominations for the 11th annual

Knight of Illumination Awards closed on 30 June and the winners will be unveiled at a ceremony and gala dinner at London’s Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, on 16 September. Since its inception in 2007, KOI has continued to grow in stature and is now the most credible UK industry awards to celebrate international lighting and video content design for entertainment. KOI recognises work broadcast or performed in the UK across the fields of concert touring & events, theatre and television. Judging is carried out by three panels of industry experts in conjunction with industry organisations the ALD and the STLD. The KOI awards were conceived by Lighting Designer Durham Marenghi, Jennie Marenghi and Italian lighting manufacturer Claypaky, which is the headline sponsor of the event alongside Osram.The awards and ceremony are managed by specialist content creation and events company The Fifth Estate Ltd on behalf of the KOI Executive Committee, which is made up of Durham Marenghi, Jennie Marenghi, Pio Nahum and Sarah Rushton-Read, and the KOI committee of Jess Allan, David Benedict, Coral Cooper, Bernie Davis, Rick Fisher, Stuart Gain and Peter Mumford. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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information

KOI Awards

Finalists in KOI television category are named After much deliberation, The Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) judging panel for the television category has completed the shortlist of lighting and video designers nominated for their creative work in the television sector. The winners will be announced at the 2018 Knight of Illumination Awards ceremony and gala dinner, to be held at London’s Eventim Apollo on 16 September. This year’s television judging panel, chaired by Lighting Designer Stuart Gain, comprises Outside Broadcast Director Stephen Neal, The New Statesman television critic Rachel Cooke, Art Director Jane Shepherd and Lighting Director John O’Brien.

Television shortlist

The Knight of Illumination Award for Drama sponsored by Philips Strand Lighting: n Martin Kempton for Upstart Crow n Anna Valdez-Hanks for Endeavour: Quartet n Chris Ramage for Emmerdale The Knight of Illumination Award for Light Entertainment, as sponsored by SLX: n Martin Hawkins for Mrs Brown’s Boys n Dave Davey for The Voice Final n Max Conwell, Rob Bradley and Gurdip Mahal for Harry Styles at the BBC The Knight of Illumination Award for Events sponsored by Light Initiative: n Nigel Catmur for WW1 Remembered: Passchendaele n Andy Stagles for The MOBO Awards 2017 n Mark Kenyon for Nile Rodgers & CHIC Good Times NYE Concert The Knight of Illumination Award for Small Production sponsored by Altman Lighting: n Chris Kempton for The Chris Ramsey Show n Andy Stagles for Songs of Praise n David Bishop for The Singing Bee The Knight of Illumination Award for Video Design and Graphic Display sponsored by Green Hippo: n Vitor Carvalho for BBC Children in Need Rocks the 80s n Alberta Torres for Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, Series 3 n Kate Dawkins for WW1 Remembered: Passchendaele “I’d like to thank all those who took the time to nominate,” says Stuart. “As in previous years, the panel thoroughly enjoyed viewing and reviewing the incredibly high-calibre entries received this year. The growth and success of these awards has meant that each year we receive more and more nominations, and this was the best year yet. My thanks go to the sub-committee for their assistance in choosing a very strong shortlist.” 26

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AC-ET AC-ET Ireland opens for business

A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has a new sister company, A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland, registered in Dublin. Local industry face Aaron Cripps (pictured above, left, with ACET Co-Founder and Executive Chairman David Leggett) has been appointed as Managing Director. Based in County Limerick, he previously acted as AC-ET’s representative for Ireland. Prior to this, Aaron has worked as an account manager in the international sales division of AC-ET. AC-ET Ireland will supply Chroma-Q, ProLights, Avolites, Luminex, Green Hippo, D.A.D and Tourflex Cabling products exclusively, as well as many of the other leading industry brands also available in the UK from AC-ET. AC-ET’s Managing Director Phill Capstick says: “Providing exceptional customer support is at the core of A.C.’s offering. I’m delighted that Aaron will be heading up A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland. With his extensive local experience and contacts, and strong relationships with key suppliers, he is well equipped to oversee the development of A.C.’s Irish business.” For more information on the portfolio of brands available from A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland, contact Aaron on +353 (0)87 460 0202 / aaron.cripps@ac-et.ie or visit ac-et.ie

Follow-Me distribution agreement

AC-ET demonstrated Follow-Me’s remote followspot control system for the first time at Prolight & Sound 2018, Messe Frankfurt, in April following a distribution agreement. Follow-Me is a network-based software package that allows the user to harness multiple moving lights from any manufacturer in any orientation to replace old-school followspots. Independent and flexible, the system requires no sensors, belt packs or proprietary hardware and provides seamless fixture takeover with any lighting console. The Follow-Me product line offers both creative and commercial benefits over traditional front-of-house or truss-mounted followspots, including freedom in lamp positioning, multiple fixtures following a single performer, improved followspot angles and consistent timing for cues. Operators no longer have to climb truss to operate spots, seats no longer have to be removed to accommodate spots and there is no need to transport large, heavy followspots. The range includes both Follow-Me, designed for touring and larger venues, as well as a more compact system, Follow-Me Lite, for smaller venues or corporate events.

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

Syndicated in 62 countries, and with a global audience of 650m viewers, The Voice is Mongol TV’s follow-up to its production of the Got Talent franchise for the past two years. CEO Nomin Chinbat chose to bring these two world-class talent show franchises to Mongolia as part of a long-term goal to deliver national content that meets international TV standards. Lighting designer and consultant Tom Kinane, who worked on Mongolia’s Got Talent, was brought in to oversee the lighting production for the show, which is set inside a Soviet-influenced indoor circus venue, He said: “Given Mongol TV’s long-term goal to focus on producing popular international show franchises, I felt it was important for them to invest in a higher quality, more robust lighting rig sourced from Europe, which could be reused for future shows. However, they had a smaller production budget than on the European shows, so getting good value was essential as well.” Tom worked with lighting operator Sam MacLaren and his regular gaffer Richard Jarvis to source a new rig that would meet these creative and financial needs. Sam said: “Although The Voice franchise made some allowance for Mongol TV’s budget, they still set a very high standard for the lighting that needed to be met. We did a lot of research and, in the end, we were all keen to go with ProLights. Tom had good experiences using their fixtures on previous shows and we were all aware of the brand. Finally, the massive product range enabled us to put together a number of different lighting packages to give Mongol TV some options.” After an onsite shootout against several brands at different price points, the Mongol TV production team was most impressed with the ProLights option. The investment included Luma1500 and Luma700 LED spots to provide high-quality, camera-friendly gobos and keylights, ProLights Ruby beam lights to deliver punchy beam effects and ProLights Diamond37 LED wash lights to deliver beautiful colour washes, as well as a huge range of stunning eye-candy looks. The ProLights fixtures and accessories were purchased from AC-ET, which also supplied all the necessary power and data-control cabling for the fixtures through its in-house Tourflex® Cabling service. Sam said: “I’ve been a customer of A.C. for many years due to the high level of professionalism and expertise. With only four weeks in which to get all the equipment specified, ordered and delivered to set, as usual A.C. pulled out all the stops and delivered on time. There were no issues and everything just worked straight out of the box.”

ProLights deliver for The Voice of Mongolia

ProLights LED fixtures are helping Mongol TV meet the perfect balance between creative and financial needs for its production of talent TV show, The Voice of Mongolia. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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AURORA Aurora supports LD Gurdip Mahal on installation of the largest entertainment set on UK television

Sky One took over the vast space at Cardington Studios for extreme sports show Revolution. Hosted by Jackass star Steve-O and Maya Jama, Revolution is an extravaganza of high-speed action, featuring BMX riders, skates and boarders going head to head across a custom-designed course. Working with award-winning lighting director Gurdip Mahal for the eight-episode run, Aurora provided a vast array of lighting, control and rigging equipment to light up the large-scale production. To achieve the intense colour applied throughout the show, a mix of over 200 Robe 1200,VariLite VL3500 and Martin Quantum Wash fixtures were installed to provide a highly controllable, vibrant uniform wash across the cavernous interior. Almost 100 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures, with their ultra-sharp beam abilities, were also included in the mix to accentuate the dynamic on-track action. Adding a neonesque touch to the set, created by scenic designer Dominic Tolfts and art director Ben Telford, Aurora supplied over 500 Encapsulites, used extensively to accentuate the semi-industrial look of the production. Finally, to maintain control over the vast installation, Aurora provided the crew with a pair of ETC Cobalt consoles plus two full-size Hogs.

Aurora project manager Ben Taylor says: “The space at Cardington is absolutely huge, so the task of lighting it is always going to be interesting. Gurdip and the whole team have done an incredible job in creating such a stylish feel to the show, which works as a credible extreme-sports challenge while also looking fantastic, both on the track and off.”

Aurora Lighting Hire is pleased to be working alongside lighting director Chris Rigby as The Graham Norton Show embarks on series 23 in its new home at Television Centre. The 12-week run is recorded live in front of a 600-strong studio audience at the 10,800 sq ft Studio TC1, part of the newly revamped Television Centre development. Retaining the look and feel of the previous series, the show features a flexible lighting installation designed to easily blend looks created for both the main interview area and musical performance stage. In updating the specification of the previous studio set-up, the LD has perfectly replicated the show’s vibrant style with a lighting package that includes a combination of Fresnels, LEDs, automated heads and effects. Fixtures applied to the design include Martin MAC Auras, Rush Par 2s and ROBE Pointes, which provide a smooth, uniform illumination across the red sofa, plus additional wash beyond the guest interview area. On the adjacent stage, the show’s eclectic selection of featured musical artists requires a fresh new feel each week. Here, high-output, versatile Martin Viper Profiles are in place to assist in delivering colour and movement across a broad variety of moods. Chris adds to the mix by making great use of Clay Paky Sharpy, ROBE BMFL and MaxiBrute fixtures, along with an array of additional effects, including Chroma-Q Colourforce 72 and GLP X4 Bar20, to build the wide range of creative lighting looks that complement each performance. Aurora project manager Tim Massey says: “We’re delighted to be supporting The Graham Norton Show. The team has done a super job at TC1: the overall look of the main set is fantastic and the crew continues to create an incredible mix of moods to accompany the show’s diverse assortment of guest performances.”

Aurora heads back into The Crystal Maze

Aurora is collaborating once again with lighting designer Gurdip Mahal, plus gaffers James Tinsley and Adam Mitchell, on Channel 4’s hit re-boot of TV cult classic The Crystal Maze. Following the production’s hugely successful format, maze master Richard Ayoade is back in the driving seat, guiding 28

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

teams of intrepid adventurers through various themed zones to take on a variety of dastardly challenges. Filmed on an expansive set created by original series designer James Dillon at The Bottle Yard, Bristol, the show captures perfectly the charisma of the 1990s maze while incorporating a number of contemporary twists to update and enhance the look of the individual zones. The sheer scale of the set requires a truly flexible lighting package that can both maintain ambient levels and shift easily between the moods created to accompany each specific area. Combining creativity and versatility, the crew has installed a variety of automated fixtures, including Martin MAC Viper Profile, Clay Paky Sharpy and GLP X-4s, which allow swift alterations between moods or the addition of colour and movement to assist in highlighting action. The crew has also incorporated a number of Fresnels into the design, used to cleverly mirror the tungsten warmth of the original show. Aurora has invested in products specifically for the show, in particular in LEDs. As a company recognised by the albert initiative as a supplier that supports an environmentallysustainable future for the TV industry, Aurora is pleased to have furnished The Crystal Maze with a variety of low-energy solutions. Of note are the numbers of Chroma-Q Space Force, Rosco Silk 210s and Mole-Richardson 400W Vari Soft heads, which deliver highly controllable, even illumination, along with SGM P5s, Phillips SL Strip and Chroma-Q Colorforce, which add texture and effects throughout the set. Project manager Ben Taylor says: “We’re delighted to be back for this latest series. The various lighting designs created for the show are fantastic. Gurdip and the whole production crew has been wonderfully creative in building custom looks for each challenge zone, which manage to reflect the feel of the original series but with a clever modern touch.”

BACKUP Backup’s Kart-Fest 2018 raises £23,500

On a hot and sweaty day in July, the industry rose to the occasion for technical entertainment charity Backup’s fourth annual karting challenge, Kart-Fest 2018, raising £23,500 – the biggest total for any Backup fundraising event yet. The racing was hot, hard and tiring; the evening bar was cooling, refreshing and very much needed; and the winners were all rewarded for their endeavours. In first place was The Really Useful Group and its team Phantom Racers 2, in second place was 2017 winner Production Park and, in third place, was team DiGiCo. The winner of the Pit Stop Challenge was team Imagination, Media Lease’s Fastest Lap award went to Flareton Senna’s Graham Combes, while the dubious honour of winning headline sponsor Chauvet’s Slowest Lap went to the Royal Albert Hall’s Ollie Jeffrey, and winner of the Chauvet Surf’s Up Challenge for who could stay on a mechanical surfboard the longest was Jed Bason of Unusual Rigging. “It can be hard getting everyone together in this industry, as we’re all so constantly busy,” says Backup trustee and event organiser Lee Dennison. “But on the day it felt effortless and we were so pleased that 33 teams representing

all areas participated. Rivalries stayed on the track and a common shared ‘want’ to support our charity and help our family out became the focus of the day. “A massive thank you to everyone that came to Kart-Fest and to our sponsors Chauvet Professional, Unusual, Creative Technology/NEP Live Events, Autograph, IPS, JPP and the technical department. The feedback from the day has been so very positive and Kart-Fest will be back next year.” Visit backuptech.uk for information on future events or to sign up as a regular donor.You can also sign into Amazon using the Smile portal and select Backup as your charity of choice. Every sale will generate 0.5 per cent back to the charity and every penny counts.

BACKSTAGE ACADEMY Production Park pledges £20,000 to fund university places on Backstage Academy degree courses

Production Park, a unique cluster of live event-based companies in Wakefield, has announced that it will fund university places at its industry-leading training centre, Backstage Academy, making an initial pledge of £20,000 per academic year. The Backstage Academy Bursary Fund will provide a fullyfunded three-year place on one of the academy’s BA courses to an outstanding candidate for whom university would not otherwise have been an option. Funds will also be available for part-funded places and support for accommodation costs. In addition, a percentage of the fund will be allocated to provide assisted places on Backstage Academy’s outreach programmes, delivered in local communities to educate and inspire those currently disengaged with traditional education or in need of rehabilitation into a workplace environment. Production Park says the investment is just the beginning of its long-term social mobility strategy designed to support disadvantaged people with education and help them to pursue a career in the live events industry. Alongside study, successful bursary applicants will take part in a work placement and mentoring scheme, incorporating all Production Park’s companies – Brilliant Stages, Litestructures, Perry Scenic, LS-Live and Cato Music. Students will gain essential skills in set design and build, scenic decor, sound, lighting and visuals, alongside industry-recognised accreditations. Production Park co-founder Lee Brooks said: “We feel a collective responsibility to reach underprivileged people in society who may not otherwise consider higher education. We want to provide them with the inspiration and financial support they need to pursue a career in our industry. “Working towards the shared goal of delivering a live event is great for building teamwork, resilience and problem-solving – all essential life skills that could enable many young people to have brighter futures across the variety of careers on offer.” Glen Rowe, MD of Backstage Academy, said: “We are thrilled to receive the backing of Production Park to fund degree-course places and are excited about the prospect of making a real difference to the lives of young people who perhaps wouldn’t have considered higher education. “We offer a very supportive environment at Backstage Academy and recognise people’s differing abilities and needs.” Set & Light | Summer 2018

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Production Park says it aims to set a precedent with its commitment and invites other industry businesses to get involved in supporting the next generation. Companies can discuss financial investment, mentoring, work placements or other ways of getting involved by contacting Sara Gleadhall at sara.gleadhall@backstage-academy.co.uk, tel. 01977 659880.

BBC STUDIOWORKS Multiple music shows choose BBC Studioworks

BBC Studioworks has once again provided studio services to The Voice UK and BBC One’s Sounds Like Friday Night, also welcoming for the first time ITV’s The Voice Kids. The seventh series of The Voice UK – an ITV Studios production based on a Talpa format – returned to Studioworks. Occupying the George Lucas Stage 2 at Studioworks’ Elstree production hub, the ITV music show transmitted its live semi-final on Saturday 31 March and live final on Saturday 7 April. The knockout rounds, made up of two episodes, were also facilitated by Studioworks and recorded in mid-March. The second series of ITV’s The Voice Kids was also based at Studioworks. It aired in the summer and included a live final. With multiple studio set-ups for the different rounds across both The Voice UK and The Voice Kids, Studioworks’ onsite production galleries, equipped with industry-favoured HD technology, met the demands of the complex turnaround schedule required for the two shows’ parallel recording blocks. Fulwell 73 also returned to Studioworks for the second series of Sounds Like Friday Night. Produced for the BBC and broadcast in April, the live music show resided in Studioworks’ 10,800 sq ft Studio TC1 at Television Centre and comprised five half-hour episodes featuring live performances from some of the biggest stars in music. Sounds Like Friday Night’s colossal set took up the entire footprint of Studio TC1. Close to 34ft high and reaching up to the studio’s grid level, it resembled an amphitheatre, reflecting the famous doughnut shape of Television Centre. The towering structure also included multi-level platforms to accommodate some of the 520-strong audience. In addition to full technical studio support, including EVS tapeless recording, Studioworks provided Fulwell 73 with post-production services for the show’s VT content via an Avid Symphony offline and online suite, with audio dubbing via protools. “Live transmissions always create a buzz as there’s only one chance to deliver the content perfectly,” said John O’Callaghan, Head of Studios and Post Production, BBC Studioworks. “It’s a pleasure to be working with ITV Studios and Fulwell 73 again. It’s a real testament to our extensive experience and expert team in delivering such large-scale live entertainment shows.”

Channel 4’s The Last Leg and ITV2’s Love Island: Aftersun broadcast live from BBC Studioworks

BBC Studioworks is providing studio and post-production services to the new series of Channel 4’s late-night comedy talk show, The Last Leg. The show, produced by Open Mike Productions, sees 30

comedian Adam Hills and co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker provide commentary on the significant events of the past week. The series is broadcast live from BBC Studioworks’ 10,800 sq ft Studio TC1 at Television Centre. TC1’s large studio floor comfortably allows for the show’s 330-strong audience in its adjustable 600-person seating rostra, with an additional 100 audience members sat behind the presenters and panel as part of the set. In addition to the studio and gallery hire, BBC Studioworks is providing full operational and technical support in the form of its electrical, engineering and scenic teams. It is also supplying EVS tapeless recording and the provision of HDC-4300 cameras for the eight-camera set-up. The production team is also making use of BBC Studioworks’ onsite post-production services for the show’s on-the-day VT editing via an Avid Symphony online suite.Viewing files of the VTs and show records are delivered to the client via the cloud. ITV Studios’ Love Island: Aftersun was based at Elstree in Stage 8, BBC Studioworks’ 7,550 sq ft facility. The second series of the show was broadcast live every Sunday night for nine weeks starting in June in front of an exclusive audience. Presented by Caroline Flack, Love Island fans received all the latest gossip from the villa and were treated to interviews with dumped islanders, who dropping into the studio along with a different panel of celebrity guests each week. The facilitation involved live links to Mallorca via Skype. The production team also made full use of BBC Studioworks’ post-production village in Elstree for the UK-end of the VT and reversion editing for all of the Aftersun shows, whether live from Elstree or Mallorca. “From magazine shows and news bulletins, to music performances and comedy panels, 2018 has seen Studioworks further broaden its live studio broadcasting across a range of genres, and we are increasingly seen by clients as a preferred provider when it comes to live or complex productions,” said David Conway, Managing Director, BBC Studioworks. “We’re also seeing more and more clients take advantage of the co-location benefits of using our onsite editing facilities alongside their studio hires.”

Avengers: Infinity War fan event hosted at BBC Studioworks’ Television Centre studio facility

Marvel Studios’ 2018 superhero blockbuster was the first major film event to be held at BBC Studioworks’ reopened Television Centre studios BBC Studioworks facilitated a large-scale red-carpet fan event in April with Walt Disney Studios for the widely anticipated Marvel superhero movie, Avengers: Infinity War. The event consisted of a private red-carpet media line and a filmed fan show with members of the movie’s A-list cast, plus a sneak peak of some footage. Walt Disney Studios made full use of BBC Studioworks’ Studio TC1 at Television Centre for the event. The 10,800 sq ft studio was turned into a high-spec cinema with a 15m-wide screen, surround sound and seating for 600-plus fans and special guests. BBC Studioworks’ cameras, galleries and tapeless record suite were used to produce multi-camera coverage of the event. Outside the studio, the red carpet was laid from Wood Lane leading into and around Television Centre’s iconic

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Helios forecourt, where the press were gathered. BBC Studioworks’ scenic and electrical teams worked on both the external and internal studio areas of the event. “With our state-of-the-art technical infrastructure in Studio TC1, a vast array of flexible ancillary spaces and our professional talent and audience-handling arrangements, Television Centre lends itself perfectly to this kind of unique, large-scale, Hollywood-style event” said Meryl McLaren, Commercial Manager, BBC Studioworks. An unprecedented cinematic journey 10 years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their superhero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

CHAUVET Mike Grabowski lights SNY Studios at 4 World Trade Center with CHAUVET Professional

SNY Studios at 4 World Trade Center, the home of the New York Mets, has one of the most unique settings for a broadcast studio anywhere. Located on the 50th floor of 4 World Trade Center, the studio offers breathtaking views of Manhattan below. For all its glamour and excitement, though, the skyscraper venue presents challenges when it comes to lighting broadcasts. Having enough output during the day to stand out against the open-air background without bouncing light off windows is essential to making the studio’s system work; so too is having solid low ends when broadcasting at night. Mike Grabowski of the Lighting Design Group met these and other challenges at the state-of-the-art SNY 4 studio with help from over 300 CHAUVET Professional Ovation fixtures. “SNY’s Studio 42, numbered after baseball great Jackie Robinson, has a unique environment because it’s up so high,” said Grabowski. “Unlike other windowed studios in New York, which are located on the first or second floor, this one is 50 stories up, so you have a lot of open sky. Given the location of the studio, we needed fixtures that are great at the high end and able to produce a lot of clean, bright light for daytime shows. Then at night, we wanted those same fixtures to have solid low ends at about 10fc, so we could light the set while still having all the twinkling lights of the city visible in the background.” The output and low-end capabilities of the Ovation fixtures were not the only features that made them invaluable in this installation. Grabowski also placed a premium on their colour-rendering capabilities. “There are two other studios in this complex besides Studio 42,” said Grabowski. “Both of them are numbered after Mets players: Studio 31 for Mike Piazza and Studio 41 for Tom Seaver. Everything here is sports themed, so colour fidelity is essential. We need to reproduce sports team colours like Jets Green and Mets Orange. It can’t be kind of like those colours, it has to be those exact colours, so we need a great deal of finesse in our lighting, which is exactly

what the Ovations have delivered.” SNY’s lighting system utilises 316 Ovation E-910FC ellipsoidal fixtures, 24 of which have 19-degree lenses, 50 with 26-degree lenses, 191 with 36-degree lenses and 51 with 50-degree lenses. “The Ovations are distributed throughout all three studios, so they fill a wide variety of roles,” said Grabowski. “They make up all of the talent light and many of the scenic accents. Every highlight on the metal panels in Studio 31 (the Mike Piazza studio) is created by an Ovation fixture. Really, you can’t look at a shot on SNY without seeing something that is driven by the Ovation fixtures.” Studio 31 serves as a ‘chameleon’ at the station, notes Grabowski. Serving a variety of functions, it is painted in neutral grays and neutral metal accents but, through its lighting, can turn from authentic Mets Orange to Jets Green or any other colour depending on programming requirements. The design in Studio 41 is more directly driven by the look of Citi Field, home of the Mets. “We need to reproduce the colours and accents of the stadium to bring that flavour into Studio 41,” said Grabowski. “The Ovations gave us this capability. What makes this even more impressive is that a lot of the scenery we want to show off goes to the ceiling or pretty close to it, so short yoking is a must.” Also a must in this project was that all the fixtures in the three studios be powered by LED engines. “We knew we needed to go all LED because of the amount of talent positions and surfaces in the room,” said Grabowski. “Our lights needed to be workhorses that didn’t produce excessive heat. The Ovations did this, plus they have a full spectrum of colour, which allows us to pivot more easily and move between lighting scenery and talent, all while meeting the needs of this very unique broadcast setting.”

CHROMA-Q Chroma-Q acquires Jands Vista

Chroma-Q has acquired Jands Vista software and hardware lighting control systems. Jands Vista has been providing customers and end users with quality control software and hardware through a partnership with its distributors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd) and in North America (A.C. Lighting Inc) since 2004, where they relied on the A.C. group for technical support and service. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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sponsor news

Vista has been adopted by a large range of leading lighting designers, specifiers, rental and production companies, venues, shows and events worldwide. Recognising the potential for Vista lighting control systems in today’s market, and its existing synergy with the A.C. group and Chroma-Q, it was a logical move to have the Vista lighting control systems join Chroma-Q and have Vista products benefitting from the Chroma-Q in-house experience in building brilliant solutions. Vista being acquired by Chroma-Q will improve long-term support and customer care of the brand and bring a whole new range of possibilities to the marketplace. New hardware design, development and manufacturing will be done in Toronto, Canada with the help of some specially hired R&D engineers. The software development will remain in Australia with its head developer and assistants, with new software developers being added to the team. To coincide with the change,Vista will now be branded as Vista by Chroma-Q, which will herald the launch of exciting new software and hardware options. Continuing to impress with its legendary timeline, visual interface, speed and ease of use, the Vista 3 software has been developed to dramatically enhance the existing feature set while also introducing a host of major new features, such as smart FX masters, the ability to merge multiple showfiles, a new colour engine, improved fixture visualisations and a vastly expanded command line interface. Alongside the release of Vista 3,Vista by Chroma-Q will also be announcing and showcasing two new control surfaces: the Vista MV and Vista EX. “The Vista control platform is unique to the lighting industry, with its intuitive timeline and graphical user interface. We will continue developing on this aspect as well as bringing a new set of tools required for the shows of today and the future,” said Paul Pelletier, Global Brand Manager for Chroma-Q and Vista by Chroma-Q. Vista by Chroma-Q will continue to be sold and supported through its distributors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd – and in North America by A.C. Lighting Inc. During the next few months, Chroma-Q and Jands will be working together on a smooth transition for our customers and end users. If you have questions, or want to learn more, contact chroma-q@chroma-q.com.

Chroma-Q Space Force provides efficient studio lighting for Big Shed’s clients

The award-winning Chroma-Q Space Force LED space/soft light has been proving its versatility for Big Shed on several major TV and photographic projects. Manchester-based Big Shed’s 4,000 sq ft of professional studio facilities is the ideal space to shoot large sets, automotive photography, TV commercials and videos. After being impressed by a demo, Big Shed’s Justin Windle has sub-hired in the Space Force for several big-brand clients’ shoots, including utilising six units to top-light a 5 sq m, 360-degree revolving stage used to shoot stop-frame imagery of revolving cars. The Space Force’s shallow profile allowed him to gain nearly a metre in elevation compared to the studio’s old, conventional space light fixture. 32

Another project required emulating the even lighting of a large hospital floor.The six units were evenly spaced to light the 50ft-wide set and were hung, angled on their yokes, lit and ready to use in less than an hour.The fixtures were also used to light the set for a filming shoot by a major children’s TV channel. Justin said: “In my experience, the advantages of the Space Force over conventional space lights are many. They’re a fraction of the power consumption yet are very bright. They are much easier to hang and adjust, produce little or no heat output and feature very simple white colour temperature adjustment. After using Space Force, I can’t see why you would want to use traditional space lights anymore!”

Chroma-Q unveils Studio Force II

Chroma-Q has launched the new Studio Force II, a highintensity, tuneable white wash light. Using a homogenised LED source capable of delivering variable colour temperature, plus/minus green shift control and the ability to produce deep saturated colours when needed, the Studio Force II is specifically designed for TV broadcast and film applications but also performs well in other situations demanding high-quality, tuneable white light, such as touring key lights, exhibitions, corporate events and theatre lighting. The Studio Force II uses the same ColorSure technologies found in other innovative Chroma-Q fixtures to deliver consistent colour across fixtures. The Studio Force II range made its European tradeshow debut at Prolight & Sound, and was showcased at PLASA Focus Leeds and the KitPlus shows in Glasgow and Bristol. Go tochroma-q.com for more information and to find your nearest Chroma-Q dealer.

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CLAYPAKY

Millennium Road, the Scenius Profile is a good choice. The production’s lighting designer, Sha Xiaolan, used over 100 of these fixtures.” The award-winning Scenius Profile is Claypaky’s beam shaper. The fixture’s high output comes from a 1,400W OSRAM discharge lamp and is shaped by a framing system operating on four focal planes with a rotation of 90 degrees. The Scenius Profile has made appearances on several of the theatre’s large-scale theatrical productions. As well as Millennium Road, the fixture has appeared on Along the Jinsha River, lit by lighting designer Hu Yaohui. The performance was staged to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

ELATION

Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts chooses the new Claypaky K-EYE K20 HCR

The National Centre for the Performing Arts, one of China’s most prestigious and architecturally striking performance complexes, has invested in a large number of Claypaky’s latest award-winning LED HCR wash light, the Claypaky K-EYE K20, along with the another of the brand’s award-winning fixtures, the Claypaky Scenius Profile, as part of a major upgrade to the lighting rigs in its theatre and opera halls. Known locally as the National Grand Theatre, The National Centre for the Performing Arts is located in Beijing, close to Tiananmen Square. The ellipsoidal venue’s domed exterior of titanium and glass, which has earned it the nickname ‘The Giant Egg’, houses four bespoke, world-class auditoriums – the theatre, opera house, concert hall and another multifunctional theatre space. “The centre needed to update its lighting rig as the equipment that was in use was over 10 years old,” says Zhang Wei, manager of the Beijing lighting department of A.C.E, Claypaky’s official distribution partner in China, which made the sale. “As the fixtures were mainly to be used in the venue’s performance halls, the venue’s technical team had very specific requirements.” With such a significant investment, it was essential that the fixtures could offer the technical team a superior colour output in this critical theatrical setting.The high CRI and CTO correction of the LED-based K-EYE K20 HCR meant the venue was able to use the low-power LED wash fixture in much the same way as they would a conventional tungsten wash light. The K-EYE K20 HCR is the latest fixture to be released by the leading Italian brand. It features six LED chips – red, green, blue, amber, cyan and lime – to produce not only a wide range of colours and shades but a very high-quality white light. The fixture features a typical CRI value of more than 97. “The theatre is a long-term client of A.C.E,” says Mr Wei. “In making the sale to our client, we knew Claypaky products to be reliable and high-quality fixtures. The new K-EYE HCR has an intelligent colour system, with a lot of new, in-built knowledge, so is great in a theatrical application.” Speaking of the Scenius Profile, Mr Wei says: “For largescale opera productions such as the recent production of

Lumio Media chooses Elation lighting package for production company’s new studio

When independent Welsh production company Cwmni Da converted their open-plan office into a new studio earlier this year in the town of Caernarfon on the northwest coast of Wales, the award-winning television producers sought to minimise their carbon footprint by installing a more energyefficient lighting system. Lighting company Lumio Media obliged by suggesting, specifying and installing an LED lighting package of TVoptimised Elation Professional luminaires. One of Wales’s foremost production companies, Cwmni Da produces a variety of television content for Welshlanguage broadcasters S4C and C4, as well as the BBC. The company’s highly talented workforce excels at storytelling and entertaining, with national and international productions that span the gamut of television programming, from comedy and entertainment to sport programmes and children’s shows. The company is also environmentally conscious and sought a lighting solution for their new studio that was not only high quality but eco-friendly as well. “Cwmni Da is a green company and they were keen to use all LED lighting in the new studio,” said John Penny Williams, lighting director at Lumio Media, who supplied and installed the full lighting rig, as well as scaffolding and all the distribution electrics and data for the project. “Once I explained the benefits of LED to them and suggested the Elation LED lighting system, they were on board.” John first saw Elation’s new KL Fresnel line of warm-white LED Fresnel lights at 2017’s PLASA trade show in London. He later demonstrated the KL Fresnel 8 and liked what he saw. He subsequently ordered six KL Fresnel 8 and four KL Fresnel 6 fixtures for the new Cwmni Da studio. “I was impressed by the power of the KLs,” he said, noting that it’s the first Fresnel key light he has used in which the barndoors actually work. “They give a nice, clean cut, which lets you control the light much better.” Also specified for use in the studio, and another white light luminaire that John says he has been impressed with, are eight Elation TVL Panel DW softlights – a dynamic white luminaire with 480 cool-white and 480 warm-white LEDs and linear colour temperature control. Used in a white-out set for a show Set & Light | Summer 2018

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called FFIT Cymru, a lifestyle programme filmed over an eightweek period, the TVL Panel DWs were used for peak-white soft fill from behind, while the KL Fresnel fixtures provided warmer key light from the front. “The colour temperatureadjustable TVL Panel DWs are superb and the output is brilliant,” said John. “The change from a warm tungsten look to daylight is absolutely crucial and they do it well.They give a nice soft light. Also, for the price, they’re amazing really!” When more colorful looks are required the studio has 10 TVL CYC RGBW™ cyclorama wall wash luminaires at its disposal to provide floods of seamlessly blended colour or variable white colour temperature looks. Also available for ample colour possibilities are 14 SixPar 200 LED colourchanging Par lights and 16 SixBar 1000 Battens, both of which are used to light a zany satirical comedy/game show, Dim Byd), which requires lots of colour. Both the SixPar and SixBar house high-power, single-lens, six-color (RGBWA+UV) LED multi-chips for a wider spectrum of chromatic options. The Cwmni Da studio conversion from an open office space to a television studio occurred from January to March 2018, with the lighting install completed in late March. John said that the installation started as one studio but has since expanded to two studios, with the Elation gear moving back and forth as needed. According to the LD, cost savings as well as the power savings of the LED were key factors when choosing to go with the Elation products, and the fact that no dimmers were needed was also a great benefit. “The dimmers would have cost more than the fixtures!” John said. “The LED also produces much less heat and, because of that, they had no need to upgrade the HVAC/air con system.”

Elation Professional acquires M-Series controller range from HARMAN Professional Solutions

Elation Professional has announced the acquisition of the M-Series range of entertainment lighting controllers from HARMAN Professional Denmark ApS, formerly Martin Professional ApS. The asset-based acquisition includes a limited-term licence agreement to distribute current controller products using the name M-Series, as well as provide continued technical support and warranty service for prior Martin M-Series sales. Elation already has in place key personnel with expertise in M-Series technology to provide ongoing support and development of new products. This will ensure a seamless transition for the established M-Series customer base, offering continuity and continued support by Elation on past sales of M-Series controllers by HARMAN Professional Solutions. 34

Toby Velazquez, President of Elation Lighting, said: “We are excited to be able to provide a world-class professional-level control product series to our entire customer base around the world. By adding the well-established M-Series range and its R&D group, which has over 25 years of experience in professional stage lighting control, we are confident we can meet requests by lighting designers for user-friendly and powerful lighting control systems.” Eric Loader, Global Director of Sales & Marketing at Elation, added: “The M-Series range fits well into our core customer base needs and we are excited to now offer this advanced controller series. Customers who already use these products daily are hungry for new features and products that will build on the success of this exceptional product range.” “We’re pleased that M-Series users will be able to enjoy new feature developments, while simultaneously receiving continued service from Elation,” said David Glaubke, Director of Public Relations, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “At HARMAN, we are focusing more on our core audio, lighting, video and AV control products.While this is a move away from lighting control for the company, it represents increased investment in lighting fixtures and video, where we see bigger opportunities to provide value and innovation for our customers.”

Elation Fuze Wash 575 illuminates the court at World Team Table Tennis Championships 2018

Table tennis is serious business. When the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships were held in Halmstad, Sweden, in April and May, the tournament attracted a worldwide viewer audience of 400 million. When a world championship is on the line, all aspects of the production need to be in order, not least illumination of the courts and tables, which must work for TV cameras, a live audience and players alike. Lighting and sound rental company Tylösound AB served as the official technical supplier to the 2018 championships and used Elation Professional’s Fuze Wash 575 cool-white LED PAR moving head luminaires to meet the strict illumination requirements. Carefully monitored light levels Held at Halmstad Arena, with roughly 3,000 live spectators each day, the event featured eight days of live TV and was streamed live. Light levels onto three centre courts – and every area of each court – were carefully monitored. “We required a measurement of at least 1,600 lux on each 9m by 20m court,” said Paul Aladin, owner of Tylösound AB, supplier of lighting, sound, smoke and LED screens for the event.” Working with Elation, Aladin initially based his calculations on the use of 48 Fuze Wash 575 fixtures per court. “We found, however, that we got measurements of 1,600–2,000 lux using only 32 fixtures per court, so we were able to use fewer fixtures than originally planned. It worked very well.” High-quality light Thirty-two Fuze Wash 575 fixtures were rigged above each of the three table tennis courts at a trim height of 12m to 13m – 96 fixtures in total with eight held as spares. A very smooth, uniform light quality was essential, something the Fuze Wash 575 excels at, with an extremely accurate colour temperature and high CRI of 95. “We measured the CRI all over the court

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at 95,” says Aladin. “It was very consistent and measured even everywhere, which was amazing.” Tylösound had tested the Fuze fixture a month prior to the World Championships at a European qualification tournament, also held in Halmstad, and found it produced the high quality of light they needed. Prior to the first matches at the World Championships, players were consulted about the light quality and the response was positive. Aladin says that only small adjustments were made in directional positioning after the first few matches were played until all were satisfied – a positioning change easily done with the moving head luminaire. The Fuze Wash 575 was also tested for use with the super slow-motion cameras used on the event and the result was extremely good, according to Aladin. “I can tell you that even the Japanese and Chinese staff were very impressed with the lighting!” he said. The Fuze fixture was used for more than court lighting, however. The daylight white moving heads worked with colour-changing moving heads during player introductions and music breaks, as well as at a pre-event ceremony. On the tournament’s last day, while centre court was lit for the finals match, special seating was brought in on the other two courts and spotlighted using the Fuze fixtures. The Fuze Wash 575 houses a high-output 350W cool-white COB LED engine with motorised beam control, which Aladin employed when illuminating logos on the floor. The fixture has proven a popular choice when especially high demands are placed on the lighting, and its lower wattage, lower weight and lower maintenance compared to conventional 575W discharge daylight PAR lights are added benefits of the LED solution. “Initially, some people thought it was too small and that LED would not be good enough for this project but it was a big success,” said Aladin. “I don’t know what else the light could have. It’s an excellent fixture.” The Fuze was suggested to Tylösound by Swedish lighting company Bellalite, from whom Aladin says they received excellent support.

ETC ColorSource Pearl by ETC

ETC’s ColorSource family line of products has become a

known staple for affordable theatrical systems. Showing up in venues around the world, including schools, houses of worship and restaurants, these products offer a full system of lighting, control and power for a variety of installations.Today, ETC adds the ColorSource Pearl to the ColorSource family of fixtures. ColorSource Pearl is a variable white-light LED array for ColorSource Spot, Linear and PAR fixtures. This array utilises a mix of two different white LEDs, enabling a user to set the colour temperature anywhere between 2,700K and 6,500K. The Pearl array includes the same great feature set and high-quality construction as their full-colour siblings, including an impressively bright output, a simple user interface and a price point that is tough to beat. Designed for installations that depend heavily on white light, such as studios, houses of worship and architectural installations, this array features flicker-free operation and a smooth dimming curve. It’s finally possible to install a full LED rig that gives adjustable white light, without breaking budget. ColorSource Pearl holds the notable LED fixture warranty recently announced by ETC. With a five-year warranty on the fixture and an unmatched 10-year warranty on the LED array, you can be sure these fixtures are built to last. To learn more and watch the video on ColorSource Pearl, visit etcconnect.com.

SolaSpots star performers at musical awards

Held in the prestigious Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam, the third annual Amateur Musical Awards featured lighting design by Coen van der Hoeven, who specified a large High End Systems rig for the show, including 16 SolaSpot 2000s, 40 SolaSpot 1000s, six SHAPESHIFTER C1s, 20 UNO and Hog 4 control. The team’s production time was only one day, so Coen’s challenge was to get a show with 250 performers, a 16-piece orchestra and 17 show numbers up and running in just a few hours. The LD also had to reckon with a live television broadcast. He explains: “We put together a group of the best specialists in theatre.V-Productions took care of delivering the equipment, together with AED Group Holland. Their board operator Kaj van Dijk programmed the Hog 4, and we ran the show on WYSIWYG during the dress rehearsal in a sports hall. Our crew chief Tijs Winters was stolen from Stage Entertainment Holland!” Coen says he required a ‘smart lighting rig, not complicated to construct and with not too many different kinds of spotlights’. “The spots needed to be versatile, reliable and with lots of output. I didn’t want both wash and spot fixtures, but a spot that could do both – this is why I chose the SolaSpots.” The SolaSpot 2000s were placed right above the stage and Set & Light | Summer 2018

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on the floor behind the orchestra, along with the 1000s as side lighting above the orchestra and, most importantly, in and behind the 5m AMA logo. “I really like the vivid, rich colours of the SolaSpots and the very original gobo package,” says Coen. “I haven’t seen better colours in LED spots, especially when it comes to lighting people and the SolaSpots’ quiet operation is a big advantage in theatre.” An avid user since the Hog 2 days, Coen’s preferred console platform is the Hog 4. “There is no system with a better and more intuitive effects engine, and the way Hog handles timing of literally every parameter is the best. It is fantastic that the whole range communicates and is exchangeable. The Hog 4 flagship model is a very powerful tool on big live shows like the AMAs, where I use a separate page for each song or part of the award ceremony – the motorised faders are a must! And the fact that we kept our spare computer in its case says everything; with the Hog 4 I am confident that there isn’t going to be any trouble.”

GLP Leonid Poznyanskiy designs dynamic set for Songs on TNT music show

After 19 TV shows, dozens of songs, some unique performances and innovative lighting designs, created and executed by Leonid Poznyanskiy, Songs on TNT had its final broadcast on 2 June. Leonid deployed 24 GLP impression X4 Bar 20 and 24 JDC1 strobes in the production, which ran from the first episode until the last. And the final performance by the singer Nazima was made almost exclusively with the X4 Bar 20. The designer says he has been a fan of the GLP products ever since the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in 2009, when some of the first LED moving heads were placed in the sidefills. This signified to him that a new era in professional lighting had arrived. About two years ago, Leonid came across the X4 Bar 20 for the first time and, by summer 2017, he had the opportunity to use them in a project. At that time he was also working on multi-episode TV shows such as You are Super, Dancing and Dancing on TNT, which were followed by a number of concerts in the State Kremlin Palace and Crocus City Hall. So when preparation for Songs on TNT commenced, the X4 Bar 20 was foremost in his mind. “The fixture is unique and differs from the moving heads we are all used to.The X4 Bar 20 can give you a wide planar field of light that cuts the air or they can be used as simple lines of coloured ‘bulbs’ following the truss architecture,” says Leonid. Twenty-four X4 Bar 20 were placed in two dynamic rows on moving trusses and secured over the upper and lower truss tubes. Their bright effects were seen frequently. “These fixtures have a lot of advantages,” says Leonid “They are bright and have the same half-tone colours of the diodes. I can arrange them in a single line without intervals, use the zoom and tilt movement. Additionally, since it’s a TV project, it’s important that the X4 Bar lighting does not flicker on camera.” The X4 Bars used in this project proved that a successful show can be created using just the bars alone. In the final 36

performance by the singer Nazima, the linear LED solutions created a spectacular backdrop that combined a beautiful rich red colour and original geometry of wide light planes moving in space as the song’s theme developed. In addition to X4 Bars, the unique JDC1 hybrid strobes from GLP were also used in Songs on TNT. All fixtures for the project were provided by rental company Laser-Kinetics. “I can say one thing about JDC1: it’s the best LED strobe around today,” says Leonid. “I use them everywhere. All the available fixtures in Russia are travelling with me every day – and if I could get hold of more, I would order them.”

HSL SPR is launched

SPR – Special Project Resources – is a new company launched by Tim Dunn and Marcel Wijnberger and part of the growing HSL Group. Tim and Marcel have both relocated from Johannesburg in South Africa to HSL’s HQ in Blackburn. They bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in entertainment technology and live-event production, together with copious imagination and enormous energy to the HSL Group. SPR has been created to share a unique set of skills, dynamics and resources for the implementation, creation and facilitation of extraordinary and ambitious entertainment experiences on all scales and across all sectors. SPR will be dedicated to assisting clients on any or all of the technical and design aspects of their concepts and projects, delivering incredible and memorable moments, vibrant storytelling and high levels of engagement for diverse audiences through the innovative use of technologies. Tim Dunn: Tim’s industry career began as a teenager in Sheffield. Since then, he has worked worldwide on diverse shows and events, and his skills include production, set, lighting and visual design, rigging, site management, technical coordination and complex technical drawing and visualisation. Tim has been an integral part of some of the highest profile, most demanding events in the southern hemisphere over the last 24 years while he’s been based in South Africa. He has also worked in various executive roles for leading technical production company Gearhouse South Africa. Known for his flamboyance, communication skills, dealmaking and love of challenges, Tim is also appreciated for his ability to perform and make logical decisions under pressure, to troubleshoot in critical scenarios and for his direct talking and transparent approach to business. He says: “We have massive equipment resources available at HSL, with constant investment, as well as access to some very valuable human capital, all of which will be available to our clients. We are also looking forward to a lot of collaboration with a truly amazing team”. Marcel Wijnberger: Marcel was a production industry baby! His parents Otto and Linda are both larger-than-life figures in South Africa, and he has always had an insouciant passion for all things visual and technical.

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He is known for his patience, persistence and quietly outrageous sense of humour! Other skills include systems integration, IT, video and media servers, structural design and rigging, and creative strategies converging and combining lighting, audio and video. He’s worked with South Africa’s most respected enterprises in structures/mobile venues, theatre lighting and visuals, and rental/staging in In2Strutures, Splitbeam and Gearhouse SA, respectively. Marcel is looking forward to ‘working in the UK, Europe and further afield and being part of an enthusiastic, forwardthinking team of individuals where there’s a fantastic atmosphere and everyone feels included’. HSL’s MD Simon Stuart says: “I am hugely excited about welcoming Tim and Marcel as SPR to the group and am looking forward to the dynamics and vision they bring to our equation. It’s going to be a highly productive, fulfilling and enjoyable working relationship. “SPR will work in harmony with all the current HSL Group businesses and will help grow, develop and diversify the scope of our work, optimise the talent, skills and personalities we already have and take us to a new level in facilitating and delivering the extraordinary experiences that our clients all strive to achieve”.

HSL steps up commitment to theatre partnership

Hope Mill Theatre is an invigorating and ambitious alternative arts project dedicated to the production of musical theatre in Hope Mill, a charismatic site-specific former Victorian cotton mill in the Ancoats area of central Manchester, for which HSL is proud to be a technical partner. The brainchild of two young actors – Joseph Houston and Will Wheton working with producer and co-artistic director Katy Lipson of Aria Entertainment – in less than two years, Hope Mill has become an impressive multi-award-winning and critically acclaimed production space for new and experimental works presented in a unique environment. Joe and Will are acutely aware of what a huge difference having access to good production equipment can mean for a show and, with three London transfers already, Hope Mill has just appointed its first technical manager, Alice Longson. HSL is also upping its commitment to providing more and a wider range of lighting equipment for the forthcoming season and the future.

The intimate 120-seat theatre space is totally flexible and can be set up in any format. One of the first things that HSL did when it started working with Hope Mill two years ago was undertake a structural survey, which was followed by the design and installation of a trussing mother grid in the roof. This enables lighting fixtures to be installed exactly where they are needed for each show and means that every centimetre of ceiling height can be optimised. HSL was first introduced to Hope Mill via lighting designer Aaron Dootson, who lit its debut production, the tense and emotionally charged Parade. The Blackburn-based rental specialist had worked with Aaron during the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Impressed by the level of service and approachability, he reached out to HSL again when he needed to squeeze some extra value out of the lighting budget for Parade. Simon Stuart was delighted to get involved. He then met Joe and Will and realised the bigger picture and longer-term objectives for creative excellence at Hope Mill. “I was completely inspired by everyone involved, as well as the fantastic performance space at Hope Mill,” says Simon. “The vibes are amazing and the quality of the work being produced there is like a breath of fresh air, as well as being truly world class. I think all the awards are a testament to that, along with the real buzz that has emerged around the venue. We think it’s a great entertainment venture and are looking forward to being a part of more incredible works in the coming season.” While an assortment of lighting kit has been supplied over the last two years, this has now been reviewed and upped to include a standard rig of ETC Source Four profiles, 1K Fresnels, and Acclaim Fresnels, together with a variety of floods. Moving lights and other specials will be supplied as required by the individual productions. The original mothergrid has been extended with some new sections, giving more capacity for the quick and simple addition of specials. “The new kit will allow us to take fringe-style productions to the next level,” says Joe. “It is fantastic to receive this commitment and support from HSL and it is a relationship that has already helped in the success of our shows.” The old engine room – which had lain derelict for some years prior to Will and Joe taking over – has been made functional and is also becoming popular for meeting up, socialising and networking. Alice Longson and Joe Houston Credit: Louise Stickland

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Hope Mill has come a long way in the two years since Will and Joe took out a modest £10,000 business loan to kickstart the idea into which they threw their hearts and souls. Through hard work, unwavering faith and goodwill from friends and families, it has become a community that can be shared and enjoyed by all theatre lovers. They continue to add positive energy to the bustling Manchester performance scene. They are starting to receive a shows as well and their next big musical number in the autumn will be the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love.

HSL makes technology investment

Keeping up with a hectic workload being experienced across all companies, HSL Group has again increased its investment spend to keep up to speed with the newest technologies. This will help service ongoing and upcoming projects across all sectors: rental and staging, theatre, television, sporting events and concert touring. “The rapid pace at which the technology is changing and the fact we want to keep ahead of the game is driving this, together with an increase in demand. It’s vital that we can continue offering our clients the very best options for all of their shows, events and creative projects,” said HSL’s Simon Stuart. Fixtures such as the Robe MegaPointe and the Martin MAC Encore have made their mark, together with products from GLP, SGM and Vari*lite. Other top brands on the recent HSL shopping list have included Claypaky and Solaris. These choices have been influenced by specific LD requests as well as what the HSL management team considers the best and most practical solutions for the company. Martin purchases have included MAC Encore Performances, in both warm and cool-white versions, which have been busy on a variety of theatre and performing arts shows, including Macbeth at the National Theatre. Many of these versatile luminaires also serviced multiple productions during HSL’s bumper 2017–18 panto season, with 31 different shows up and down the country. Simon said: “With all the recent changes in the Martin infrastructure, it’s great to receive excellent customer support and see firsthand that the products are still in high demand, which is exactly what you want to underline a serious investment like this.” In addition to the Encore Performances – with more on the cards soon – HSL has bought substantial quantities of MAC Quantum Washes, Axioms and Auras, and added a shedload of Rush PAR RGBW Zooms to the inventory for the first time. Multifunctional is trending, and Robe’s MegaPointe is very much the fixture of the moment, so it was a no-brainer to invest in these, which have been purchased across the HSL Group for immediate use by HSL out of Blackburn and Southampton-based rental operation, GLS. More Robe PixelPATTs have been sourced as they are a firm favourite among the television LDs with whom HSL regularly works, as well as for dance events and concert tours. More Vari*Lite 6Ks have been bought – on top of the 100 plus that are out on Depeche Mode’s Global Spirit tour – for which HSL is the worldwide lighting contractor. From Philips’ Showline range, over 50 SL LEDSPOT 300s join HSL’s stock, together with 50 SL HYDRUS 350s, another hybrid beam, spot and wash fixture that been well received. 38

From GLP, the numbers of Impression X4 Bar 10 and X4 Bar 20s have been boosted. These high-performance batten fixtures have proved popular for a diversity of applications. GLS has bought more JDC1 strobes: a unique unit with a traditional single-tube element with a clear, bright-white output, combined with a full face surround of 1,320 RGB LEDs. And HSL has added substantial quantities of Solaris Flare Q+s to the stock in Blackburn. With these and another substantial investment in concert touring LED screen with all the necessary peripherals, it’s been a bumper few months! HSL’s new flightcase-making company, PackItRackItStackIt, has had to up the ante to deal with the sheer volume of new kit arriving and needing to be made road-ready, so a new CNC machine has been installed to meet the demands for quality cases. Simon said: “It makes complete sense for us to have our own case company. We can produce cool, inventive and bespoke creations when needed, as well as all the standard ranges. While they are full-on right now with all our own projects, we are planning to broaden the scope and open up other commercial opportunities”.

LIFT TURN MOVE LTM extends electric chain hoist series

LTM has extended its Entertainment LP Electric Chain Hoist series with the addition of the LP1000 Hoist. The LP1000 has up to 60 per cent greater lifting capacity, with a weatherresistant IP65 rating as standard –a key feature for the theatre and live events marketplace. With the D8 standard motor, the lifting capacity of the LP1000 is 1,600kg in one fall operation, with an equivalent smaller weight chain for the same capacity in previous versions of the hoists. The specific requirements of the entertainment industry, such as increased capacity in one fall operation, low dead weight, low noise emission and suitability for outdoor use, have been given priority throughout the design and manufacture of the LP1000 concept. LP1000 has a robust construction, is simple in its assembly and does not contain any sensitive electronics. All shaft-hub connections are built

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in a self-centering polygonal design, meaning disassembly and assembly is faster, with no special tools required. Wearing parts, such as the chain or chain wheel, can be replaced within a few steps and without disassembly of the entire chain hoist. Perfect for a happy life on the road! Available with D8, D8+ or C1 specifications, three and single-phase designs (except C1) are available. As per C1 design criteria, LP1000 has interfaces for path and load measurement. The entire chain fall is designed with a static safety factor of at least 8:1 (ISO M5, FEM 2m), meaning wear of the components is decreased and the lifecycle is extended four times to 16,000 hours (ISO M5, FEM 2m), in comparison to the previous model at identical lifting capacity. A case-hardened and manganese phosphated profile steel chain offers a higher capacity compared to conventional round steel chains. For more information contact sales@liftturnmove.co.uk.

Swiss-based manufacturer acquires LTM

GIS AG, the Swiss-based electric chain hoist and light crane manufacturer, has acquired UK distributor Lift Turn Move (LTM), a supplier of lifting and rigging equipment to the industrial and entertainment event markets. LTM, located in Bromborough on the banks of the River Mersey, was founded in 2004 and is a full member of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA), the world’s leading representative body for all those involved in the industry. Its product portfolio includes GIS electric chain hoists, control systems, material handling equipment, light crane systems and other related components. Ivan Muri, CEO at GIS, said: “We are delighted to complete a strategic acquisition, mindful of our intent to continue the growth of our product range in the important UK marketplace. I warmly welcome LTM to the GIS family and we are looking forward to working with the team. “As well as a track record of success, and a wealth of experience in supplying the UK market with our products for use in both the industrial and live events sectors, the team at LTM gives us access to unparalleled wisdom and knowledge on the entertainment market generally and we look forward to integrating this expertise into our wider organisation.” John Jones, former owner and CEO at LTM, added: “With GIS being our main supplier of electric chain hoists and crane components, the acquisition represents the perfect succession plan, while giving me the opportunity to take a step back and retire. I have no doubt that GIS will be able to fully support the further developments of LTM after my retirement. The takeover guarantees stability in the company, which was of great importance to myself, fellow shareholders and, of course, our customers. On a personal note, I wish the new LTM team a very successful future.” David King, a former shareholder, will act as CEO during a transition period. He said: “The LTM business is already an experienced and competent operation in its own right but becoming part of GIS will add to it even further. “In addition to the benefits to our customers, from an internal perspective, the acquisition will create opportunities for our team of engineers and lifting industry experts. We are all tremendously excited about the immediate and long-term future and look forward to opening a new chapter under Swiss ownership.”

MARTIN BY HARMAN LD Johanna Town praises whisper-quiet performance and tungsten emulation impact

The recent adaptation of Frankenstein at Manchester’s Royal Exchange by playwright April de Angelis marked 200 years since the publication of Mary Shelley’s famous gothic horror. To help maintain the suspense and ratchet up the tension, lighting designer Johanna Town used four MAC Encore Performance WRM provided by HSL, in her armoury of effects. The class-leading, whisper-silent performance of the warmwhite fixture was critical for the in-the-round space, as Johanna acknowledged: “Since the Royal Exchange Theatre is in the round, and the audience sits among the lighting fixtures, we needed a moving light that was super quiet and I have to say we were extremely pleased with the Martin MAC Encore. The lantern has a beautiful tungsten feel to warm white but, at the same time, is also able to be used for cold attack effects. The beam has a nice flat field with a good zoom range.” She added: “The units come with some nice breakups and water effect gobos, and we found the animation wheel useful. We used the on-board LED motion flicker (Animotion FX system) throughout the show to great effect. “Overall we were very impressed with the Encore; it felt like a high-quality moving light designed for the theatre market.” Johanna’s assessment was echoed by Mark Distin Webster, head of lighting at the Royal Exchange Theatre. “We were very impressed with our first encounter with the MAC Encore. Physically, it is a very easy unit to manipulate and rig, with handles in all the right places. Our intimate, in-the-round space means noise is a huge factor when specifying kit and the Encore is certainly one of the quietest we’ve used.” He added that he was a big fan of the single well-mapped-out mode structure. “It makes it a very hassle-free plug and play unit,” he said. “I was also impressed at how naturally it fitted into the existing lighting rig, easily emulating a tungsten profile shot one moment then becoming an effects moving head the next. It’s a great addition to the theatre lighting toolbox. In fact, we have already arranged our next hire of them with HSL.” Distributed in the UK by Sound Technology, the Martin by HARMAN portfolio has been boosted by the arrival of the MAC Encore Performance. The WRM version integrates cutting-edge LED technology with a proprietary and innovative light engine, carefully engineered to generate pristine, full-spectrum light with ultra-high colour rendition. The feature-packed moving head offers unparalleled 3,000K warm tungsten emulation, which challenges the output quality of a real incandescent light source – a feature that certainly made an impact on Frankenstein. For further information, call Martin by HARMAN UK distributor Sound Technology on 01462 480000.

National Theatre upgrades with Martin

The National Theatre has joined the growing number of high-profile organisations investing in Martin by HARMAN’s next-generation MAC Encore LED moving head fixtures. The theatre on London’s South Bank, which houses the Olivier, Dorfman and Lyttelton theatres, has embarked on a Set & Light | Summer 2018

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Martin MAC Encores in action on Translations at the National Theatre Credit: Catherine Ashmore

progressive upgrade, predominantly of its Martin TW1 halogen Tungsten Wash inventory.This month, the theatre took delivery of 42 MAC Encores from Martin dealer Stage Electrics, all of which have been installed in the permanent rig at the Olivier. According to Paul Hornsby, the NT’s lighting resources manager, the acquisition forms part of a 10-year plan. “We review which equipment has reached end of life and decide what needs to be retired first, but the decision is driven by LDs as well. We only go dark for five days a year and we managed to replace these on the rig without losing a show.” The purchase was authorised jointly by Hornsby, Matt Drury, head of lighting, and Jack Williams, lighting supervisor for the Olivier Theatre, and followed an intensive three-day evaluation against a number of competitive brands. Organised by Stage Electrics sales manager Paul Roughton, and attended by about 60 lighting designers and technicians from the NT and other London theatres, this took place on the Olivier and Lyttelton stages. “The Martin MAC Encore proved a real winner, primarily due to its colour mixing and repeated accuracy with the framing shutters,” he said. The final installed inventory comprises 29 MAC Encore Performance (24 WRM 3,000K versions and five CLD 6,000K versions) and 13 MAC Encore Wash WRM fixtures. The Performance fixtures were specified with optional enhanced frost flags and the Wash fixtures with optional PC lenses. Hornsby said that achieving the tungsten look from an LED fixture had been the initial aim. “Our start point was to recreate what the Tungsten Wash did and then look at additional feature set.” Key among the features, he said, was the quietness of operation, flexibility and energy-efficiency, as well as the power output. The new MAC Encore offers unparalleled 3,000K warm tungsten emulation and 6,000K cold, with an advanced colour mixing system, offering fully variable colour correction. Williams described the transition from the TW1s to Encores as seamless. “We switched the fixtures between runs of Macbeth and relit with the LED – it looked identical. There has been ready acceptance of the Encore among leading LDs.” On the importance of flexibility, he said: “We are in rep and we have no idea from show to show what the sets and style will be.The flexibility of the Encore is superb and we’ve been able to reduce the number of other fixtures on the bridges.” The MAC Encore offers record-breaking whisper-quiet operation. “This is genuinely impressive and a vital feature,” 40

Jack Williams and Paul Hornsby

said Williams. “Directors are looking for near silence in the auditorium during intense passages on stage. Brian Friel’s Translations is a current case in point, where we turned all the arc sources off.You immediately noticed the difference.” Drury emphasised the low size/weight ratio of the Encores and added that the ease of first-line maintenance had been another key driver. He also highlighted the general low cost of ownership, with low consumption and without the need for lamp replacement. “Energy saving is vitally important and we were all of the mindset that we would continue heading towards energy efficiency.” Roughton concluded: “We have supplied and supported Martin products for many years and the Encore range continues their reputation for top-class theatre products.” Sound Technology Ltd distributes Martin lighting in the UK, as part of the HARMAN brand portfolio. For more information, call 01462 480000 or visit soundtech.co.uk/martinpro

Martin MAC Encore Wash wins ABTT Lighting Product of the Year award

The Martin by HARMAN MAC Encore Wash has been awarded the prestigious Lighting Product of the Year 2018 at the recent ABTT Theatre Show in London. It was described by the Association of British Theatre Technicians’ adjudicating committee as ‘a suitable and long overdue alternative to a discontinued tungsten moving-head favourite’. MAC Encore is a new family of full-featured, low-weight, LED moving heads that deliver levels of light quality and consistent performance never seen before in LED-based stage lighting units. Featuring record-breaking whisper-quiet performance, both the MAC Encore Performance and MAC

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Encore Wash are available in two dedicated colour temperature variants (WRM and CLD) for a wide variety of applications where critical lighting is required. MAC Encore Wash WRM is an LED-based replacement for the much-loved, discontinued MAC TW1, offering unparalleled 3,000K warm-tungsten emulation that truly challenges the output quality of a real incandescent light source and doubles as a modern replacement for generic fixtures such as tungsten-based Fresnels. MAC Encore Wash CLD is an LED-based alternative to the MAC Viper Wash DX. The feature-packed, soft-edge moving head offers unparalleled 6,000K crisp, neutral daylight and doubles as a modern replacement for generic fixtures such as HMI-based Fresnels. On hand to pick up the award were Ian Cullen, Rob Beamer and Lauren Drinkwater from Sound Technology, the UK distributors for Martin by HARMAN. For more, contact Sound Technology on 01462 480000 or visit the Martin section of the Sound Technology website.

PHILIPS / SIGNIFY LA Opera embraces LED

LA Opera, located in the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, has invested in Signify’s new LEDbased Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Profile fixtures as part of its stage lighting rig. LA Opera’s current production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, with lighting design by Robert Wierzel, is the first production in its history lit with a predominantly LED lighting rig. It underscores Signify’s leadership in providing innovative LED lighting for the entertainment industry. Jeff Kleeman, LA Opera’s technical director, says: “We already hold a stock of Vari-Lite VL3500 Spots and Washes,VL3000s and VL4000 BeamWash fixtures, so we were very interested in the VLZ Profile when they became available recently. “Initially, we were drawn to the impressive 24,000 lumens output – they are bright, even brighter than our VL3500s. We’ve had zero issues with the exceptional light source, which creates a large and particularly even field. But there is so much more to like about the VLZ: the colour spectrum, the shuttering system, the low power consumption, which is critical for the venue, and then there’s the very quiet operation; quiet is a big deal for us.” He adds: “Our work schedule means that, although we begin the design process months in advance, it is only a week prior to load-in when we pull and prep fixtures before the get-in. There is usually a pretty tight window to rig, hang and focus the light, so the small light VLZ fixtures make that process all the smoother. They have absolutely met our expectations.” In 1987, LA Opera was the first opera company to utilise a complete Vari-Lite moving light rig, using the award-winning VL2 and VL3 luminaires to light Tristan und Isolde, designed by David Hockney and directed by Jonathan Miller. The company has been a regular user of the Vari-Lite brand ever since. Martin Palmer, Philips Vari-Lite product manager for Signify, says: “For an artistic organisation of such prestige to commit to the VLZ Profile as part of its stage lighting rig is a great vote of confidence in the quality of our world-leading LED

luminaire technology. We are delighted that LA Opera has chosen to continue its long history with the Vari-Lite brand and we look forward to working with them in the future.” Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of 16 May 2018. The legal name of Signify will be adopted across all global markets in the course of 2018–2019. Signify’s Entertainment Lighting Group comprises the Philips Vari-Lite, Philips Strand Lighting and Philips Selecon brands, as well as the Philips Showline range of LED stage luminaires.

New Philips Vari-Lite VL2600 Profile at Forest Live

The Philips Vari-Lite VL2600 Profile made a world debut at the Forestry Commission’s Forest Live shows in June. Supplied by Pearce Hire, the VL2600s were used to light performances by artists including Gary Barlow, The Script, Kasabian and Paloma Faith on this summer’s first Forest Live weekend. Peterborough-based Pearce Hire is the first company in the world to invest in these latest luminaires from the Philips Vari-Lite brand. Impressed by the fixture’s feature set, it purchased 40 VL2600 Profiles from London-based show lighting specialist Flashlight. Upon delivery, 20 fixtures were supplied to each of two Forest Live shows, at Thetford Forest in Suffolk and Delamere Forest in Cheshire. Pearce Hire’s general manager Jim Brown says: “We’d looked at several alternative fixtures and the VL2600s were the brightest. We do a lot of outdoor shows in the summer season, so we need fixtures with the light output to compete with daylight. The VL2600’s brightness and the high colour temperature produce beams that stand out.” He adds: “A big plus was the two gobo wheels: having access to that number of effects gives real flexibility. Often, fixtures will sacrifice the second gobo wheel to make room for the framing shutters, but with the VL2600 Profile there is no trade-off. They’ve got everything: the gobos, the framing, the quality optics, the colours – they’re everything you would expect a Vari-Lite to be.” For the Forest Live shows, Pearce Hire’s project manager John Huson created a flexible festival rig for the visiting lighting designers to use for their artists. Jamie Thompson, lighting designer for The Script, had his first hands-on experience with the fixtures. He says: “It’s nice to have a compact, bright, moving head profile with the stunning optics that define Vari-Lite.” Pearce Hire and its clients also benefit from the lower powered LED technology, says Brown. “Many of our clients are concerned with sustainability and environmental impact, so the lower power usage is another plus. When using our diesel generators, the lower the power demand, the better. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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PULSAR Pulsar Fixtures illuminate Singapore tower

Also, using LED means that we don’t have to spend time and resources re-lamping.” He adds: “The price is very attractive, which gives us great confidence that we’ll get the payback on our investment. If they were not so affordable, we may have had to buy fewer of them or cut back elsewhere, but the price didn’t affect our decision to go for these fixtures – they are the best of their class that we’ve seen.”

Signify appoints Brian Friborg

Signify has announced the appointment of entertainment lighting executive Brian Friborg as head of its Entertainment Lighting Group. The appointment of Brian, an experienced leader with a deep understanding of the unique requirements of the entertainment lighting business, is a clear signal of the company’s commitment to this specialist sector. Danish by birth and a United States resident, Brian has over 25 years of business experience, including 14 years at Martin Professional in North America, where, as president and CEO, he had an outstanding track record in developing sales performance. After the company’s acquisition by Harman, he played a key management role in the integration and in establishing the Martin by Harman brand. Ultimately promoted to vice president of global sales for Harman Professional’s lighting strategic business unit, he went on to deliver record revenues and profitability. “I am excited to join Signify and to help fulfil its enormous potential,” says Brian. “The entertainment production business is a tight-knit, highly skilled and creative community of amazing people. It thrives on great relationships and Signify’s brands and our team have a great heritage within it.” He adds: “My focus is on building our role in that community by doing what we know works in our business: listening carefully to our customers, end users and designers, and understanding exactly what they need. We’ll be making sure that we are customer-centric in everything we do, and that for our partners and our customers worldwide, working with us is a great experience – positive, easy and fun.” 42

Millenia Tower, developed by Pontiac Land Group, is one of the tallest buildings in Singapore. It is an architectural landmark that rises 223m and is strategically located in Marina Bay and distinguished by a large pyramidal crown. The landmark building now boasts 608 Pulsar ChromaRange LED fxtures, comprising 368 TriColour ChromaFlood200s in the apex and 240 TriColour Chroma AR111s in the transom windows on the four corners of the building below the pyramid. The products for the scheme were chosen after a competitive process of finding the right solution for the complex brief, all in time for the 2012 National Day Celebrations. Pontiac Land Group approached lighting designer Marc Largent of Magic Monkey to design a lighting scheme for Millenia Tower that would interact with the events during the National Day Parade, located only a short distance away on the Marina Bay floating platform. Largent called on various lighting manufacturers to submit proposals that would fill the ‘pixel dimensions’ of the apex. The pyramid’s 41m height is split into four tiers (each separated by catwalks to allow for ease of access and maintenance) and the lights were to illuminate a columnwidth of mesh up to the height of the next level while the sources themselves remained hidden. The Pulsar R&D team developed a custom lens plate and snoot for the ChromaFlood 200 to fit the pixel dimensions cleanly and hide direct light from the fixture. Following various light tests examining beam angle and light output, the solution offered by Pulsar was chosen because of its superior light distribution, ability to produce any shade and colour temperature of white, and smooth dimming. Other practical components offered by Pulsar included the integrated cable-management solution of Quicklink: a single lead carrying both power and DMX data, which produced a considerable saving on installation time and cost, plus the ability to address and configure the fixtures remotely through Pulsar Fixture Management. The lights are controlled by a state-of-the-art system by d3 technologies, which feeds through Pulsar’s data distribution infrastructure of 14 DS5 DataSplitters to the 40 ChromaZone controllers and 368 ChromaFlood200s. The project was a joint efort between Pulsar and its consortium partners, DiMeLED Pte and ARW Engineering Pte. DiMeLED project managed the entire operation through efficient resource deployment and co-ordination with tenants, and designed the data distribution system methodology based on system specifcations. Millenia Tower is their biggest success since inception in 2009. ARW Engineering, which undertook the installation of the electrical and mechanical systems, has been an industry veteran since establishment in 2001. It was responsible for the main electrical systems of major projects such as Marina Bay Sands, ION Orchard and LED lighting for Ocean Financial Centre. ARW produced high standards of engineering throughout the project with zero failure on the first day of commissioning.

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The Hotel Summit

Held at the Radisson Blu hotel near Stansted Airport, the annual Hotel Summit is attended by hotel managers, facilities managers and buyers. We brought our experience of hotel facade lighting to the summit, which was well received by attendees. Our sales team was kept busy, with more than 15 meetings across the two-day event. Pulsar sales and service manager Mitesh Mistry attended the event. “Over the course of the two days, we came away with a number of enquiries, which we are actively pursuing and looking forward to working closely with some big brands.” Pulsar has decades of experience in lighting hotels around the world, from exterior lighting on large hotels such as the Baku Hilton, Azerbaijan to luxurious interior lighting for the Shangri La hotel. We want to help to make your building look amazing. We can help to advise on the right approach to achieve your vision and fit your budget for any hotel lighting project, and provide high-quality visualisations so that you can see what the result would look like or compare different lighting options to decide what works best.

ROBE RoboSpot system is a winner at Eurovision 2018

Seventeen Robe RoboSpot Base Stations controlling tracking Robe BMFL fixtures provided a comprehensive remote follow-spotting solution for production lighting designer Jerry Appelt at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The high-profile, popular and much-celebrated annual singing event, resplendent with glitter, glamour and a hugely enthusiastic international fanbase, was this year staged at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. The RoboSpot system was specified onto the show by Jerry and his gaffer Matthias Rau and used extensively throughout the event’s nail-biting final and two live semifinals, which were beamed and streamed live via host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), reaching a final worldwide audience of about 200 million. Once again, the technical implementation for this, the 63rd ESC, took visual imagination to new levels of ambition and excellence for both broadcast and live staging. Under the direction of Ola Melzig and Tobias Åberg, who headed the large, highly talented technical teams, production values soared to new heights. The RoboSpot system was supplied by main lighting contractor Flashlight from the Netherlands, which worked in conjunction with Pixelight from Portugal. The RoboSpots, each with individual MotionCameras, were all from Robe’s powerful BMFL series of moving lights – a mix of BMFL Blades and BMFL WashBeams. Having these on the rig for key lighting and highlighting, with their intensity and high CRI, helped produce excellent results and perfect flesh tones. They were positioned around a variety of overhead vantage points, which meant Jerry was not restricted to using one set of followspots in a specific location/direction to highlight every performer in every shot.

Pictured top: Eurovision 2018; above: Local RoboSpot operators

With songs from 43 countries to light individually and uniquely, this follow-spotting system greatly increased the flexibility at his fingertips. He could mix and match the available followspots to get this essential element precise and exactly to his liking and for what worked best on camera and onstage. BMFL Blade luminaires were rigged to one of the front trusses, with two more single fixtures on side trusses left and right of the stage. BMFL Blades, with one MotionCamera per pair of fixtures, were positioned on an upstage truss and used for rear following, highlighting and silhouetting. Two more single BMFL WashBeams were rigged on trusses at the far end of the arena and used for long throw shots and presenter pick-ups. Again, the power of the BMFL was ideal for this application. Another two paired sets – a BMFL WashBeam and a BMFL Blade running with one MotionCamera each – were located over the stage and used for spotting people, interviews and other activities happening in the green room, which was set up at the end of the arena furthest from the stage. Cutaways showing the tension and emotions building in the green room are a fundamental element of the Eurovision drama and TV coverage, so spotting this area properly is as crucial as ensuring the performers onstage are properly lit. The 17 RoboSpot BaseStations were all located in a designated backstage area, so the operators had no direct view of the stage. Robe Deutschland’s Martin Opitz was the RoboSpot systems engineer and co-ordinated the training and technical support. His first task on arrival in Lisbon a few weeks ahead Set & Light | Summer 2018

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of the final was to train up 17 locally based operators to work the RoboSpots. Martin was impressed with how quickly they learned the system and its philosophies. “After 30 minutes, they had the basics and we all moved forward from there. The more familiar they became with the equipment, the smoother the whole follow-spotting operation became,” he said. He collaborated closely with the production’s followspot caller Torsten ‘Icke’ Berger and keylight operator Markus Ruhnke to ensure they achieved all the required shots. The RoboSpots were a great success. Flashlight‘s commercial & operational director Dennis van der Haagen said the feedback they received indicated everybody was impressed with the performance of the lighting rig generally, and the RoboSpot system as a key part of it. The striking set for ESC 2018 comprised an elegant series of interlinking geometric curves and spheres, accentuated with different LED sources, providing a universal architecture designed by Florian Wieder. Jerry worked alongside his own hand-picked front-of-house team, including assistant LD Andreas Türpe and, in addition to Matthias, Icke and Markus mentioned above, MA3D operator Jan Suiling, audience lighting operator Raphael ‘Grebi’ Grebenstein and show lighting operator Raphael Demonthy. Sebastian ‘Huwi’ Huwig operated the backwall of LED panels, while Nick ‘Nick the Greek’ Charalampidis looked after media server operation for all the delegation’s video content. Together they crafted a lightshow, which worked harmoniously with the video and scenic LED aspects. The multicamera directors from RTP were Paula Macedo and Pedro Miguel Martins and they worked alongside Troels Lund as senior multicamera director for the production. ESC 2018 was presented by Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah, Catarina Furtado and Filomena Cautela, and was won by Israel’s hotly tipped Netta Barzilai with her song ‘Toy’, with Cyprus finishing second and Austria third.

Robe helps Deutschland find a Superstar

The 2018 edition of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) featured a lighting design created by the show’s long-term LD Manuel da Costa and Jonas König of MDC Lichtgestalten and utilising over 100 Robe Pointes, which were supplied by Magic Light+Sound from Cologne. Manuel has been involved with the top TV series since the start in 2002. It was again recorded in studios 30 and 31 of the Coloneum complex in Cologne and broadcast on RTL’s Saturday night prime time. Now in its 15th series, DSDS has become one of the most successful shows on German TV. The set was designed by Florian Wieder of Wieder Design, who also has a long-standing relationship with the series. He always produces a spectacular, multi-layered environment, fusing interesting structural and geometric elements with innovative video and digital aspects. It is the set that is always the starting point for Manuel in the run-up to each season.This year, he worked alongside his associate and chief technical lighting supervisor Christoph Dahm. It is important to have a team on hand who familiar with the format and specific demands of the show, where the challenges are always to transform the stage and setting for each competitor, covering a wide range of musical genres. 44

For this they need the rig to be as flexible as possible, hence the choice to have a large contingent of Pointes. The fixtures were distributed in the mid-stage area, around the second of two large circular trusses and along the back of the set in high positions on what they called ‘the matrix’, as well as left and right beside the LED wall. Another 12 were positioned on top of different height LED columns onstage. They were used for various big, epic looks – from sweeping mulit-beams and aerial effects to funky and fast-moving sequences, which looked fantastic on camera and for the live audience who packed into the studio each week to be part of the live telecast. Manuel has been using varying numbers of Pointes on DSDS since the fixture was launched in 2013 as their brightness and multi-functionality make them perfect for the job. “They are small, bright and fast and, therefore, excellent for this type of show, and even though I have been using them for some time now, I still don’t run out of modes, effects and colour combinations, or ideas, of how to create fresh looks.” He adds that they are a perfect luminaire for music TV shows and he constantly optimises favourite features such as the zoom, frost and the prisms. “They are simply a great signature fixture,” he says. Manuel has utilised Robe moving lights in general on DSDS for over 10 years, dating back to the original workhorse ColorSpot 1200E AT when that was the product of the day.The proportion of Robe on the rig has grown steadily since then. For this series they used a Robe RoboSpot system for the first time, with a BaseStation controlling a BMFL followspot upstage centre, working as an essential back-lighting position for creating silhouettes and other moody looks. This was a position where they need a followspot but it is not possible to place an operator. The remote operator stood with the BaseStation underneath the main seating tribune and the luminaire was in use for almost all the artists. They faced towards the stage; however, not being able to physically see it made concentrating on their RoboSpot screen a lot easier! For the first show in this series, eight MegaPointes were utilised as a floor specials package for artist Lucas. The lights were placed around him in close proximity and pointed upwards, making a cage-like enclosure above his head, interplaying with the Pointes rigged on the circle in the roof. Lighting was controlled via a grandMA2 console, with another one at FOH running the playback video. Manuel, Jonas – operating the moving lights – and Christoph were joined at FOH by Tim Franken, with three roles as gaffer, key lighting operator and spot caller. Oliver Heuer was also a key lighting operator. Bjoerge Block was the video operator, working alongside server farmer Tilman Schultz. The series had two directors, Bastien Angemeer and Volker Weicker. Just across the hallway in Studio 32, another 120 Pointes were in action with LD David Kreilman on the 2018 season of Let’s Dance.

Robe WOWS the crowds

Lighting designer Rik Uyttersprot from GRAViTY Design injected an edgy and raw lighting aesthetic to help showcase the stark, bare stage production values of WOW at the Kortrijk Xpo in Belgium.

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The performance comprised over 50 dance segments, which were presented as the end-of-year work by classic and contemporary students from the Pirouette Dans School, a well-known dance and choreographic academies in Belgium. Beautifully woven into the intense action and drama were 20 Robe Spiider LED wash beams and 48 little LEDBeam 150 moving lights. These are part of a new purchase by Roeselarebased lighting rental company La Strada Fashion, delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor Controllux. Rik has lit the annual Pirouette Dans show for over a decade and has worked with La Strada Fashion, owned by Roland D’Hondt, for about 18 years. La Strada frequently hires Rik to work on the design elements of its lighting and visual projects. Its primary market is the world of fashion, where it is acclaimed for adding drama, theatrical atmosphere and great production values to catwalks and runways as designers demand increasingly exciting and more ambitious presentations to help their creations stand out. La Strada has also built up a raft of premium corporate clients over the years. However, it is cool site-specific and semi-industrial settings such as Hall 4 at the Kortrijk complex where Rik enjoys being experimental in the design and animating a show for a live audience. Here, the lighting has to become another dancer in each piece. Rik sculpts his moves to enhance the intensity, contrast and emotion of the work. The hall has plenty of weight loading, so a series of raked trusses were flown in the roof above the stage. There is also the benefit of plenty of space around the stage area, which accommodated five high-powered projectors positioned behind an upstage screen, adding images and moving footage to the action. The Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s were dotted all over these and used for the top lighting. From creating beautiful intricate scenes to blunt single beams illuminating dancers, these units gave Rik all the dynamics he needed to light the diverse performance, which plays three sold-out shows over a weekend every year. He also used 12 of La Strada Fashion’s old Robe ColorSpot 700E AT fixtures in the show. While these are getting old now, they are still good for quite a few projects and, more importantly, underline the reliability and sheer build quality of the kit as they were purchased at least a decade ago now! “Every design for a show like this needs gobo breakup effects and they are still brilliant for this,” explained Rik. The Spiiders have become a firm favourite to light runways during the fashion show season. Their precise colour temperature, high CRI and super-smooth high-grade LED sources make model-perfect face lighting and skin tones for the demanding fashion media facing off down the other end of the catwalk. Rik likes the LEDBeam 150 for all of the above, plus their tiny size, ideal for tucking away in some of the smaller venues for corporate or fashion events and, in fact, any space where there’s no room for long trusses. Gone are the days when you used to need a large and standard venue to install a decent amount of professional stage lighting. With the focus on smaller fixtures, a whole new range of smaller, more interesting and idiosyncratic spaces can be utilised and appropriately lit.

“The level of sophistication with the LED sources now is impressive,” said Rik, “You can have the softer tones of tungsten that everyone loves aesthetically, as well as the crisp, brittle daylight that some designers want to show off the detail of their clothes on the catwalk – all from one fixture.” The unforgiving world of fashion lighting also opened up substantially once homogenised LED engines reached certain quality and availability levels. The creative challenge of lighting a show like WOW is the sheer intensity of the programming and lighting needed to get through the 50 different works encompassing a wide range of genres, from jazz to ballet, freestyle to contemporary. So apart from many ideas, he also needed the most flexible fixtures. “Creating new effects with lights is fun as well as demanding,” Rik said, “but I am very happy to be using the Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s; they bring so many options.” The full extent of this most recent La Strada Fashion investment was 24 Spiiders and 56 LEDBeam 150s, and they are looking at CycFX 8s, MiniPointes and MegaPointes next. They have an exclusively Robe moving light stock, which is basically down to Rik’s belief and commitment to the brand that he’s followed from early on in his career.

ROSCO MIX: Proud Winner of the 2018 Cine Gear Expo Technical Award

Nearly 100 new technologies were submitted and presented at Cine Gear Expo in Hollywood, and MIX stole the show in the Lighting Technology: Lights award category. MIX technology brings together Rosco’s 100-plus years of expertise in coloured lighting with cutting-edge LED fixtures from DMG Lumière. A unique combination of six LEDs allows MIX to produce the most accurate Rosco gel matches of any full-colour LED light fixture on the market.

Rosco introduces OPTI-SCULPT filters

Rosco Laboratories, a global leader in lighting and colour technologies for the architectural, entertainment, and film and television industries, has released its new OPTI-SCULPT filters. “We’re thrilled to introduce OPTI-SCULPT,” said Tracey Cosgrove, Rosco’s director of products. “These filters have been designed to enable lighting professionals to accurately control the shape of their light. Rosco has been colouring and shaping light for 108 years and OPTI-SCULPT filters are a continuation of that legacy.This important innovation will allow our customers to achieve new lighting effects with their current fixtures in ways they never could with existing diffusion filters.” While they were designed for use on LED fixtures, OPTI-SCULPT filters are heat resistant, making them suitable for use on traditional tungsten instruments as well. The filters come in 20-inch by 24-inch and 40-inch by 24-inch (50cm by 60cm and 100cm by 60cm) seamless sheets that can be cut to any size and shape, offering lighting designers an abundance of flexibility and versatility to use these filters on virtually any fixture at an affordable price. There are six different symmetrical and asymmetrical Set & Light | Summer 2018

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

patterns currently available: 10-degree, 10-degree by 20-degree, 10-degree by 30-degree, 10-degree by 60-degree, 15-degree by 35-degree and the unique 40-degree/60-degree Reversible. Additional patterns are already in development and are expected to debut later this summer.

STAGE ELECTRICS Philips appoint Stage Electrics as exclusive UK broadcast lighting distributor

Stage Electrics has become the sole distributor of Strand Lighting TV studio and location lighting. This broadcast lighting range offers one of the world’s most comprehensive range of LED luminaires and lighting solutions; the Strand Broadcast range can meet the everchanging needs of broadcast, modern theatre, film and TV. Shaun Robertshaw, the key account manager at Philips Entertainment lighting, said “The decision to make Stage Electrics the sole distributor has been made to help best serve the marketplace. This arrangement will bring many bonuses, including demonstration product being held at Stage Electrics in the UK.” Training of the Stage Electrics team has already begun and the team will be offering product demonstrations to customers nationwide. “We are increasingly operating in broadcast sales, installation, system testing and maintenance. Partnering with Philips to become their Broadcast Lighting’s sole distributor was a logical progression,” explained Anna Western, sales director of Stage Electrics

Stage Electrics’ installation officially opened by the Queen and Duchess of Sussex

On 14 June, the Queen, accompanied by the Duchess of Sussex, officially opened Chester’s Storyhouse theatre. Built in 1936 and a Grade II-listed building, the Chester Storyhouse theatre was originally the city’s Odeon cinema. It had been empty and deteriorating since 2007, but a £37m RE:NEW project, initiated by Cheshire West and Chester Council, set about converting and extending the original building. Stage Electrics was tasked with installing and supplying sound, production lighting, AV equipment, paging and technical infrastructure for the entire project. As a specialist integrator, Stage Electrics delivered the production lighting equipment, AV infrastructure and front-ofhouse audio systems. In addition to the fully automated, DCI-compliant cinema system, Stage Electrics also installed a versatile HD video distribution network throughout the venue. Further architectural feature lighting and touchscreen control was specified and installed to the exterior of the striking glass-box cinema to illuminate the structure. “The fact that half of the project was a new-build theatre and the other half was a refurbishment of a Grade II-listed building made this project interesting,” explained Ian Dunne, Stage Electrics’ project manager. “The attention to detail maintained by everyone involved in the project, and the blend of old and new, has created a breath-taking venue.” Although the theatre has been open since 2017, the Queen and Princess Meghan cut the ribbon to mark the official 46

opening. Being the first official engagement of the pair, the event attracted media attention from around the globe. During its first year, a one million customers have passed through the Storyhouse’s doors, making it one of the UK’s largest cultural visitor attractions. It has won several awards, including the Building Award for Best Refurbishment, and the Brick Award for Best Public Building. It was highly commended at the RICS awards and was nominated for Best Building at the Stage awards.

Stage Electrics secures £2m contract

Stage Electrics has been awarded the £2m technical contract to provide the infrastructure for production lighting, sound reinforcement and audio-visual services for the new £83.7m International Conference Centre Wales (ICCW). Set in the Coldra Woods just outside Newport, the ICCW is a joint venture between the Welsh Government and Celtic Manor Resort. The project features a state-of-the-art auditorium, a main exhibition hall with capacity for 5,000 delegates and will be capable of staging major party-political conferences. Being built by John Sisk & Son and scheduled to open in July 2019, it will be the largest facility of its kind in Wales and the south west of England. Stage Electrics has been working on the project since 2016 to develop the schemes and ensure allocated budgets are met. It will continue that relationship through to the opening date and will support the in-house team during the first few months of opening. “As well as providing lighting, sound and AV infrastructure, we will supply lighting equipment from manufacturers such as ETC, Chauvet and Prolyte, audio equipment from d&b, RCF,Yamaha and Roland, and AV equipment from Symetrix and Kramer, enabling the venue to become a world-class conference centre,” says Simon Cooper, senior engineer at Stage Electrics. Stage Electrics’ engineering teams have extensive experience of working in the convention centre market, having been involved with ICC Birmingham, Belfast Waterfront, EICC Edinburgh, Glasgow SECC, a venue in Oman and The Vox Birmingham, and have fully embraced the challenges the ICCW project has presented. “Our role in the project as key integrators, responsible for the developed design of the technical systems, has encompassed all aspects of the production lighting, audio, communications, AV and large power distribution,” says Stage Electrics’ business development manager Saul Eagles. “This

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Version 2 supplied the lights for Sounds Like Friday Night, filmed at TVC’s flagship studio

integration work has seen us collaborate closely with the design team, including the electrical consultants, architects and end-user team. We have also helped facilitate aspects of the stage engineering systems to ensure the balance of specification and budget is maintained across all disciplines. We are proud to be involved in this flagship building, which is expected to attract major events from across the world.”

VERSION 2 Version 2 supports Sounds Like Friday Night

Version 2 Lights is back on board with lighting director Oli Richards for the second series of Sounds Like Friday Night. Returning to Studio TC1 at BBC Television Centre, the show is broadcast live on BBC One in a series of five half-hour episodes and features live performances from some of the biggest names in global music. A core feature of the show is its stage architecture, designed by the creative Misty Buckley. The set takes up the entire footprint of the flagship studio, with its trim height soaring up into the impressive grid level at 34ft above. The design provides an amphitheatre for the audience, with its contours drawing influence from the iconic doughnut design of the Television Centre building. Using Buckley’s installation as his canvas, Richards utilises Martin Viper Performances to give shuttered animation to the vast set. A range of ProLights LED fixtures are used both to tone the fabric of the studio and to provide a vibrant range of colours into camera.Vari-Lite VL1000 TS units are relied upon heavily for key lighting duties; Martin RUSH Par 2 Zooms are utilised in place of traditional floor cans; Martin MH7 Hybrid, Clay Paky Sharpy and Alpha Beam 1500s are deployed across the four stages to give a diverse array of beams; and Martin MAC Aura XB Wash are installed to wash both the set and the 520-strong audience.

The rig of 155 intelligent fixtures is installed, programmed, rehearsed, performed and struck in a 24-hour period, along with the colossal set. This sizeable task is undertaken in an efficient manor, headed up by crew chief Paul Evans and BBC gaffer Bob Bandoo. Richard’s gallery team is rounded out by console operators Russel Grubiak and Alex Pocock, alongside Daryl Bidewell on vision supervising duties. “It’s a pleasure to be working alongside the Fulwell 73 and BBC Studioworks production teams again delivering this large-scale live entertainment show” said Nick Edwards, managing director of Version 2. “The lighting team work incredibly hard to a challenging production schedule; the end result is a strong, bold-looking show”

The Generation Game returns

Version 2 Lights supported LD Oli Richards with the return of The Generation Game, the classic game show originally hosted by Sir Bruce Forsyth, and later by Larry Grayson and Jim Davidson. Recorded at BBC Elstree Studio D, The Generation Game returned for 2018, this time ably presented by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. The first episode of the returning format was broadcast on Easter Sunday evening on BBC One. Reinventing a classic for 2018 was set designer Patrick Doherty, who brought a fresh and vibrant feel to the studio. The set compromised of screen technology from Creative Technology, which was fed by media servers from the lighting team. Scenic LED supplied by Light Inniative further enhanced the mood of the set, with scenic rigging being handled by DLM Events. Richard’s design complemented the set, with multiple lamps contouring the shapely outline of Doherty’s header pieces. Martin MAC Aura Wash XB were extensively deployed for their general wash capabilities as the main fixture of choice. In total,Version 2 supplied in excess of 114 moving lights to this primetime production. The lighting team included moving light and media server operator Seb Williams and generic operator Alex Pocock, with Steve Elliot acting as vision Set & Light | Summer 2018

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sponsor news

supervisor. The lighting crew was headed up by crew chief Paul Evans working alongside BBC gaffer Paul Mcloughlin. Managing director at Version 2 Nick Edwards says: “Bringing a much-loved classic back to the BBC can be a huge responsibility. Oli and the whole production team have done a fantastic job rebooting this iconic show back to our screens with a crisp, stylish and contemporary adaptation”

WHITE LIGHT White Light is Simply the Best for Tina musical

One of the best-selling artists of all time, Tina Turner’s life story has now been turned into a stage show with TINA – The Tina Turner Musical. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, the show charts Tina’s humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennesee, to her transformation into the global queen of rock ‘n’ roll. The show is playing at the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End and, as a leading lighting supplier to some of the biggest shows in the country, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment. The musical is directed by the internationally-acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd and features a lighting design by Bruno Poet. Bruno says: “My brief for the show was to help tell this extraordinary story and make the performers come alive within Mark Thompson’s elegant design. The set frames the actors beautifully and is very stripped back, with the focus being on the human story. There are also about 40 scenes in different locations, and the lighting needs to support that sense of time and place. Added to this were several concert scenes, so I had to create a design that matched this energy.” To achieve this, Bruno approached WL to draw on his ideal rig. He explains: “It was a combination of experimenting with new units which I felt might be useful in combination with tried-and-tested favourites. I was keen to move away from discharge light sources and more towards the latest LED fixtures. I also needed a flexible rig that could offer a full-on concert experience at the end of the show but also work with the more nuanced, delicate scenes. I was also determined to have a very quiet rig. Even a musical has quiet moments and hearing fan noise is a personal pet hate of mine.” The equipment Bruno drew on included the LED MAC Encore Cold, the VL550, the MAC Aura XB, GLP X4 Battens and the ETC Source 4 Lustr 2s. He explains: “With the MAC Encore Cold, this is the first LED source I’ve found that gives the cold discharge look of something like a MAC Viper but can also do a convincing tungsten warm. With the Auras, these have great zoom range, brilliant colours and can be used for punchy, beamy looks. The set design cried out for curtains of light and the GLP X4 Battens allowed me to achieve this, while taking up virtually no space in the grid. I also drew on Portman P2s for the big concert finale, along with Clay Paky Sharpys. The desk was an EOS, which I often draw on for theatre productions.” The decision as to what type of lighting equipment to draw on was much discussed in the pre-production stages of the show. Bruno explains: “As the show spans several decades, we did contemplate using equipment and styles that would be accurate from that timeline. However, we realised this could 48

be very dull for a modern audience! That said, I did set myself some ground rules – you don’t see moving lights moving until we get to the late 1980s.” Bruno adds: “I was supported by an amazing team, which included Max Narula as associate, Warren Letton as programmer and Sam Floyd as production electrician. I enjoyed collaborating with Jeff Sugg, the video and projection designer, as this was one of those shows where lights and projection worked as one. Similarly, I was surrounded by a brilliant stage management team, especially Sarah Seymour, our DSM, whose calling of the finale is poetic and a masterclass in timing.”

White Light on The Flipside for Selfridges exhibition Selfridges welcomes over 20 million visitors every year and houses different exhibitions and immersive events, among them, The Flipside: a multi-sensory exhibition. Following its previous work with Selfridges, White Light was approached to provide the complete technical support for The Flipside. The Flipside was located at The Old Selfridges Hotel and allows customers to journey through a vast, one-of-a-kind space where the world’s most forward-thinking brands and creative minds intersected with radical ideas. The Flipside featured a range of individual brands, including Louise Vuitton, Thom Browne, Gareth Pugh and Google Pixel 2. Working alongside lighting designer Richard Howell, production electrician John Delaney, designer Chiara Stephenson and sounddesigner Alex Baranowski, WL had to ensure that each designer’s brief was brought to life and that each brand had its own idiosyncratic experience. Richard says: “Each brand was distinctive, yet each one had to be immersive. For Louis Vuitton, the brief was to invite visitors to explore a deeply modern way of looking at travel. As part of the design, there were different islands each containing items of opulence and luxury. We had to highlight this through the use of bespoke lighting and rigging. “With the Gareth Pugh section, Selfridge’s wanted its customers to experience the designer’s ground-breaking installation, which touched on themes of escape, freedom and clarity. As this was a particularly immersive experience, we drew on ultra-short throw projection lenses along with a bespoke soundscape to couple the projection.” WL spent two months preparing for the exhibition, including numerous site visits to The Old Selfridges Hotel. The WL team then spent two weeks on site installing the equipment.

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sponsors’ directory

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

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 B360 (Barry Denison) 33 Lindlings, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 2HB Tel: 0203 9534 360 ~ Email: info@b360.tv ~ Web: www.b360.tv 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 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 Cinelease (Simon Evans) Unit E, Field Way, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 8UN Tel: +44 (0) 20 3137 6191 ~ Email: simon.evans@cinelease.com ~ Web: www.cinelease.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 DeSisti (Nick Mobsby) 25 Rowtown, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1EF Tel: +44 (0) 7785 233073 ~ Email: nick@desistilighting.co.uk ~ Web: www.desisti.it

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sponsors’ directory

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 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 (Larry Beck) Elation Professional B.V., Junostraat 2, 6468EW Kerkrade, The Netherlands Mob: +44 (0) 7495 051413 ~ Email: larry.beck@elationlighting.com ELP Broadcast & Events (Ronan Willson, Darren Fletcher, John Singer) Unit 3A, Space Studios,Vaughan Street, Manchester M12 5FQ Tel: 0161 300 2922 ~ Cardington tel: 01234 744 222 ~ Email: darren@elp.tv / info@elp.tv ~ Web: www.elp.tv 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 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: www.green-hippo-com Hawthorn (Dave Slater) Crown Business Park, Old Dalby, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 3NQ Head Office: 01664 821 111 ~ London Office: 020 8955 6900 ~ Email: info@hawthorn.biz ~ Web: www.hawthorn.biz 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 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 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 Vitec Videocom Lightpanels (Andrew Woodfin) Mob: +44 (0)7860 785 046 ~ Email: andrew.woodfin@vitecgroup.com Web: www.litepanels.com

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Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

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 Martin by Harman (Ritchie Reed at Harman partner Sound Technology) Sound Technology Ltd, Letchworth Point, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 1ND Tel: 01462 480 000 ~ Email: info@soundtech.co.uk ~ Web: www.soundtech.co.uk 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, Emma Woolf) 268 Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire SL1 4DX Tel: 01925 649 106 ~ Email: sp@osram.co.uk ~ Web: www.osram.com/pia Panalux Limited 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 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 Pulsar (Dave Cowan, Mitesh Mistry, Paul (Snowy) Johnson, Katie McGovern) 1 Pembroke Avenue, Waterbeach, Cambridge CB25 9QP Tel: 01223 403 500 ~ Fax: 01223 403 501 ~ Email: sales@pulsarlight.com ~ Web: www.pulsarlight.com Richard Martin Lighting Ltd (Steve Wells) Unit 24, Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7QP ~ RML Admin: Lantern House, Old Town, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire GL56 0LW Tel: 020 8965 3209 ~ 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

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sponsors’ directory

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

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 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 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 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 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

education members 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

The STLD’s interactive Sponsors’ Directory is a useful tool, both for the STLD and, we hope, for those of our sponsors who use it. Its main advantage is that it enables the society to display up-to-date and accurate information about your company on its website. In doing so, it helps us update our records and ensures 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 enables company searches by category and area. Bernie Davis – STLD Sponsor Liaison

index of advertisers ClayPaky 23 Doughty 26 Elation 22 ELP BC 52

Lee Filters IBC PLASA 19 Unusual Rigging 20

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membership application

V18-070818

Society of Television Lighting and Design Membership Application Form Section1

Personal Information

All personal information submitted to the Society of Television Lighting and Design is treated in accordance with the GDPR Regulations 2018

Surname:

First Name(s):

Address: Mobile:

Twitter/Instagram:

Web site:

Employer/Freelance:

Membership Category

Full Membership

Affiliate Membership

Section 3

Postcode:

Telephone:

Email:

Section 2

Mr/Mrs/Ms/other:

For those whose occupation involves or is associated with television lighting, design or related crafts

Overseas

For those who fulfil the criteria above but not resident in the UK

Retired

For those who fulfil the criteria above but retired and not working

Student

For students in full time education with an active interest in lighting or design

Please complete section 3 with details of your involvement with the television industry

Please complete section 3 with details of your course and or interest in television lighting and design. Give recent productions

Relevant Information Please complete this section with the relevant information about yourself

P.T.O. Set & Light | Summer 2018

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membership application Section 4

Proposal for Membership

I, the undersigned, being a current member of the STLD, certify that I know the applicant in section 1 and recommend that they are accepted into the membership of the STLD in the category applied for in section 2. One full member/tutor for student membership. Overseas applications do not need to provide a proposer, but it may be helpful to support your application.

Proposers Name:

Proposers Membership No:

Proposers Telephone:

Proposers Signature:

Proposers Email: Section 5

Method of Payment

Annual subscription fee for Full Membership - £75, Affiliates - Retired and Overseas - £50, Students - £25 NB a limited number of FREE sponsored Student memberships are now available each year. Please contact the membership secretary by email at the address at the foot of this page for further details.

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 for future years. The best and preferred method for paying for your membership is 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: GB45MID40071411171518

Account Name: 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 Memberships rates are available at http://www.stld.org.uk/membership.php Section 6

Application Declaration

I, the undersigned, wish to apply for membership of the Society of Television Lighting and Design. I agree to abide by the rules of the Society (available at http://www.stld.org.uk/pdfs/STLD-Rules.pdf ) I would like to receive correspondence from the STLD Email opt in Tick if you would like to receive correspondence from the STLD by email Tick if you would like to receive correspondence from the STLD by post Post opt in I would like to receive correspondence directly associated with the STLD from their Sponsors Email opt in Tick if you would like to receive correspondence from STLD Sponsors by email Tick if you would like to receive correspondence from STLD Sponsors by post Post opt in N.B We may need to contact you by telephone to verify membership details, but we will not pass your telephone details on to any third parties.

Signature:

Date:

Print Name:

Notes (for STLD use):

Membership Number:

Membership approved:

Renewal Date:

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 54

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society committee

Chairman Stuart Gain 07774 161 996 chairman@stld.org.uk

Deputy Chair Andrew Dixon 07885 731 865 andrewdixon@stld.org.uk

Secretary John O’Brien 07717 170 288 secretary@stld.org.uk

Treasurer Mike Le Fevre 07956 305 662 treasurer@stld.org.uk

Sponsors Liaison + Administration Officer Bernie Davis 07860 662 736 sponsors@stld.org.uk

Exhibitions + Membership Chris Harris 07775 846 972 members@stld.org.uk

Magazine Editor, Sponsor News, Assistant Sponsor Liaison + Advertising Sales + Diary Emma Thorpe 07850 709 210 editor@stld.org.uk

Publicity Andrew Harris 07973 745 583 publicity@stld.org.uk

Website Ian Hillson ianhillson@stld.org.uk

Student Representative John Piper johnapiper@yahoo.com

Robert Horne 07762 562 434 roberthorne@stld.org.uk

John King 07860 759 294 johnking@stld.org.uk

Alan Luxford 07867 536 522 alanluxford@stld.org.uk

Paul Middleton 07720 446 921 paulmiddleton@stld.org.uk

Jane Shepherd 07710 511 547 jane.shepherd2009@gmail.com

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ELP Broadcast & Events Lighting - Power - Rigging

Hire of equipment and services for Studio - Location - Events

Manchester: 0161 300 2922 Cardington: 01234 744222

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