Set & Light: Spring 2021 (Issue 132)

Set & Light

www.stld.org.uk

Issue 132: Spring 2021

from the Society of Television Lighting and Design

INSIDE: CHAIRMAN’S REPORT | NYE DRONE SHOW | COLOUR SCIENCE | VINTAGE LIGHTING

editorial

Keep on keeping on The televised events of 17 April allowed me time to reflect on the past year. My thoughts and prayers go out to all families who have lost loved ones, from our own beloved Chris Harris to our Queen who lost her ‘rock’, Prince Philip. In the light of the extraordinary COVID-19 vaccine roll-out programme we have seen recently, it allows us to be cautiously positive about the future and we look forward to being busy again.

In this issue, you will notice a piece on vintage TV lighting gear. COVID-19 has seen a lot of people suddenly having time on their hands, so what better way of using it than to create a historical reference guide of all the equipment our members have utilised over the years. The intention is for this to be an ongoing series. I hope you enjoy it!

Our next issue will be out in August 2021. Deadlines for this are 2 July for advertising, and 9 July for news and articles.

Emma Thorpe Editor Note for sponsors If you are interested in advertising, please contact editor@stld.org.uk for a full media pack

contents 4

Chairman’s Report & 2020 AGM

8

Mental health in lockdown

12

Showlight 2021

14

New Year’s Eve drone show

18

Colour Science

22

Lighting alien worlds (part II)

28

Dancing on Ice

31

Product focus – Rosco Dash

32

Vintage lighting equipment

35

Sponsor focus - JLLighting

36

Sponsor News

60

Committee contact details

61

Sponsors’ directory

64

Index of advertisers

Set & Light is the journal of the Society of Television Lighting and Design and is published three times a year. ISSN 2055-1185 Editor: Emma Thorpe Email: editor@stld.org.uk Web: www.stld.org.uk Production Editor: Jonathan Sever Sponsor news: Emma Thorpe Email: sponsornews@stld.org.uk Advertising: Emma Thorpe Email: adverts@stld.org.uk Cover photo: Kois Miah, courtesy of Jack Morton Worldwide/BBC

Printed by: Gemini Print Deadlines for the next issue: Editorial: 9 July 2021 Advertising: 2 July 2021 Advertising is accepted only from sponsor members of the Society

© Society of Television Lighting and Design 2021 Set & Light | Spring 2021

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chairman’s report

Bernie Davis

A word from the chairman...

Bernie Davis on a momentous year for the STLD “26 February marked an historical day for the STLD, as our AGM went online for the first time. Despite one or two members experiencing problems, the Hopin platform worked very well and enabled us to not only deal with the necessary business of our annual administration, but we also were able to chat in virtual rooms and were even treated to a presentation by Jeremy Hoare – an STLD member with more stories than most. If you missed it, a recording of the presentation is still available on the STLD website.

Despite being locked down, your committee has been as busy as ever, organising not only the AGM but also three other virtual meetings this year already. David Bishop and the programming team from Strictly Come Dancing provided what has become a regular STLD students meeting, and although it is not the same as exploring the studio itself, it did allow many students and STLD members to learn about how this spectacular show is created. Zoom showed its value again when Frieder Hochheim spoke to us from Los Angeles about his research into LED lighting and how cameras work with it.

Frieder is an engaging and very knowledgeable speaker and the story of how he moved his Kino Flo lights on to use LEDs drew in an audience of around 200, with STLD members from Canada to Nigeria able to join us. We have also had a very well-attended meeting with Dave Davey straight from the Dancing on Ice studio, again enjoyed by both full members and students.

What this has shown us is that although we all really enjoy the regular face-to-face meetings (and quite frankly can’t wait to have them again!), this new technology has offered us something that should not be discarded in the future. We need to look into the possibility of streaming all our meetings in some way, and into keeping recordings for the future too.

The new committee voted in at the AGM is largely the same, but with one or two exceptions. John O’Brien has served on the STLD committee for many years now, but he has chosen to step down. We are still arranging to cover what he did; John has put in a huge amount of work helping to run the STLD and we all owe him a large vote of thanks.

Jane Shepherd has also stepped down, leaving us with no representative on the design side, and perhaps more importantly, an all-male committee. In an age when diversity is something we can’t ignore, we have found ourselves less diverse than ever. Again, we thank Jane for her help and support during her time on the committee. If you think you might like to join us, do please get in contact. I can assure you you would be made very welcome.

At the AGM, we talked about the plans to have a new STLD website. That is at last moving ahead and ought to be in place later in 2021. Ian Hillson has administered the existing website for us for many years, but does not wish to continue after the introduction of the new one, so more thanks are owed to Ian and to John Bowling, who built the current site.

More about that later in the year, but with the new site we 16 4

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aim to launch a new STLD logo, too. it’s not a radically new design, but we just wanted to modernise it a little, and a preview is above – we hope you approve!

And lastly, the STLD diary. I say lastly as there have been discussions ongoing for many years about whether we should continue producing them in a day when more and more people use calendar apps rather than paper diaries.

The numbers of those still wanting a diary is reducing every year, and although there is still a split of views, we have got to the point that the majority say no. We have ordered the 2022 diary and these will be with you before the end of 2021, but this is planned to be the last one. However, there is still time to lobby to reinstate them if you feel this is a wrong decision.”

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Looking back over a year unlike any we’ve seen before Bernie Davis’ take on what 2020 had to offer for the membership of the STLD “This is the part of the AGM where the chairman usually goes back over the past year of Society events. Well, what can I say?

Only a year ago, our AGM was at Riverside Studios where we all gathered for food and drink and a tour of the recently rebuilt studio complex. We sat in a room together going through the business of running a society. How we look forward to the day when we can do that again. Within weeks, the reality of the pandemic that was already with us began to become apparent, and both our home and work lives changed in ways we could never have guessed at.

Like many of you, I sat there in that week in March watching my diary empty, wondering where this would lead us. Little did we know, worse was to come. Within a week of the first lockdown, I received a call from Chris Harris saying he did not feel well enough to look after the mailing list for the next issue of the magazine. For those of you who do not know Chris, he has been a very active STLD member for as long as I can remember, and was on the committee looking after both membership and exhibitions.

He was not one to turn away from work, and I was very concerned when I heard him on the phone. It was only a short while later we heard he was in hospital, and then in early April we received the sad news that Chris had passed away – one of the early victims of COVID-19. He and his wife Debbie were a devoted couple and were often seen at STLD meetings, their last occasion being that AGM at Riverside Studios. Chris was a lovely man and we all miss him terribly. We still hope for a day when we can get together to celebrate his life.

The reality of COVID-19 was hitting us very quickly and it became apparent to me just what a crucial moment it was for the industry, and by association, that for the STLD, too.

I put myself in the place of someone not sure of their future work and earnings and realised that the only thing we could do was to let membership continue without subscriptions. It was a drastic step, but I felt it was likely that if members were suffering hardship they would let their memberships lapse rather than spend money they could ill afford – I know I would.

From that moment on, all subscription invoices included a note offering to continue membership for free rather than lose members. Of course, if members were suffering hardship then so too would sponsor companies, and we made them the same offer. We chose to make the subscription holiday voluntary, with no distinction between those who paid and those who did not. It is not our place to judge; it was the only way the society would get through. It was in a healthy 6

Set & Light | Spring 2021

financial position thanks to past prudence, and judged we could survive for a bit with some economies.

However, I am pleased to say that the take-up in subscription holidays was not as large as I feared, and very few people simply left. In fact in the past year, we have recruited more members than we have lost.

I must thank everyone who has been able to keep up their sponsorship or membership subscriptions, and although we are hopefully reaching the end of lockdown, we will keep the offer in place for anyone renewing their membership or any companies taking sponsorship to continue without payment until we see an improvement in the industry. But I will say that we have come through the past year in a better position than we might have feared, not least through making some savings – the largest coming from the lack of meetings. We love our meetings and they are at their best when they combine a social occasion with a broadening of our experience and knowledge. I for one can’t wait to start going to them in the future – and we will.

When I returned as Chairman, one of my main aims was to make the STLD more relevant in the industry by reaching out to students, places of education, and people wanting to get started in the industry. We have all benefited from someone who has given us that helping hand, and the STLD is well-placed to be that catalyst. Between us we have connections with lighting designers, programmers, studios, and lighting companies from manufacturers to hirers, and nothing pleases us more than seeing new talent emerge.

When I said this at the AGM two years ago, I had many people come up to me afterwards saying they fully supported this initiative which was very satisfying.

In the past year, we have made some progress in that direction although still not as much as I would like. On the committee we now have Matt Maller (who graduated just a few years ago), John Piper (who graduated just last year), and Nathan Mallalieu, who is still a student. All of them are doing good work in running the STLD for which I am really grateful.

With their help, we have set up a student subcommittee and work has started on creating a set of training modules which we want to develop in liaison with Rose Bruford University.

I will admit that this has not yet gone as far as I would like, but it has the process has been started.

We have also improved our connections with other places of education including Backstage Academy, University of South Wales, Central School and Rada amongst others. All of these places teach lighting, but not all include TV lighting in their curriculum, so we are beginning to show them the value of including it. Earlier this year we had an online meeting with the Strictly Come Dancing lighting team and we had a large number of both members and students attending, and then later in the year we held a similar event, this time with Dave Davey and the team from Dancing on Ice. We recently had another meeting via Zoom where Frieder Hochheim of Kino Flo gave a talk on his research into cameras and the use of LED lighting, thanks to sponsors Cirro Lite. I somehow doubt that anyone kept up with everything he told us, though maybe I am just judging by my own abilities! I have no doubt that everyone who joined us that day learned something, and thanks to Zoom and to Kino Flo, the meeting was recorded and everyone was sent a link

2020 in Review

after to watch it again. This meeting had well over 100 people attending, and we had STLD members from all over the UK Canada, France and Nigeria. I feel that if there is something to take forward from this pandemic it is that with new technology, we ought to be able to include members at our meetings without them having to travel. Clearly a meeting at The Royal Albert Hall is best experienced by actually being there, but even with that we ought to be able to have at least part of the meeting online. It is something we need to explore in the future.

One of the limitations we have had to face in the past year is that our mailing service warned us that our magazines posted abroad faced serious delays or, worse, might not even arrive. We got around this issue by emailing downloads of the magazine to our overseas members, and I am thinking of continuing that into the future. Some other societies now only produce their magazines in virtual form, and although we know from our survey last year that members appreciate the paper copy, we will be aiming to offer both versions in the future. It would certainly save on that shelf space that so many of us fill up with back issues, and we are currently collecting back issues to add as a resource in the future.

Another thing that we got from the survey was that we need to modernise the society, and with that in mind, I want to talk about our website. The first STLD website was built at the end of the 1990s by Andrew Stone of Compulite, and at that time, it was really just us staking our place on the internet. This was followed by our current website built by John Bowling, who had given a talk about website design that committee member Ian Hillson had attended. Ian was impressed by John both as a person and as a designer, and it is a tribute to John that we are still using the site after 15 years or so. But the truth is that against the rest of the virtual world it is now beginning to show its age and we have reached a point where I think we need to move on.

What’s more, a website can now offer us so much more that we need to include. For instance, our accounts are now all on Xero, making for more thorough and integrated accounting. With the right plug-in, we can now safely and securely integrate the website with Xero giving us a platform that becomes a membership database that is GDPR compliant and secure. With this and other features, the website ought to become the heart of the Society of the future.

We looked into various routes to do this. The first was to go back to John Bowling, but he did not want to take on that sort of project again. We then tried Colin Jones, a very clever electrician who also runs a website design company, but after some effort and research, Colin agreed that this was beyond his experience. We asked around friends and sponsor companies, but in the end we concluded that the only way we could move on was to look at professional companies.

I know that this will end up being a significant cost, but I really think that we have little choice – we either move forward, or risk the Society running out of steam.

A new website can become the heart of the society, and can promote members and sponsor companies in a way we have not been able to do in the past. It can integrate much of the working of the committee making the work of individuals less personalised and more able to be taken over when

committee members move on or need a hand. And more than anything, it will be able to give the STLD a fresh and new look to the outside world.

Now, I want to make it very clear that I am not in any way diminishing the work put in by John Bowling, nor by Ian Hillson who has been responsible for keeping the current site up-to-date, and I thank Ian for making the current site what it is. But Ian has asked to step down from his website responsibilities from now, leaving it to a new committee member. David Bishop has put in sterling work into a specification for the new site and we have already shortlisted three companies who have tendered for the work.

Another, and possibly more controversial, thing we have been looking into is the STLD logo. Again, this has served us for many years, but we decided to take a look at refreshing it.

I say ‘controversial’ because the committee could not agree – but we have developed an idea for something that works for print and social media, things that have to be considered today that were not thought about 20 years ago when the current one was introduced.

I would like to thank the committee for their work and support in the last year. Iain Davidson has joined us again to look after membership, taking over after Chris Harris sadly left us. It is an ideal job that he can do from home in deepest Cornwall. Iain has recently been chasing members who have got behind with subscriptions, always a thankless task. And Alan Luxford has taken over the exhibitions role from Chris – we look forward to them starting again soon.

David Bishop is Deputy Chair and one of the newer committee members, and as I say he has been helping to research the new website. John O’Brien has been dealing with the admin of the STLD, and in particular has dealt with GDPR regulations and also our email addresses. This is quite a lot of hard work, and John plans to step down from that in the near future so we will be looking for reassigning those duties. Ian Hillson has looked after the website, although he has now stepped away from that role.

Emma Thorpe has kept the magazine going, not an easy task when the meetings dried up. John Piper has been Deputy Treasurer whilst still working with Nathan Mallalieu with Students matters, and Andrew Harris looks after our publicity, all supported by the rest of the committee Rob Horne, Matt Maller, John King, Bruce Wardorf, Jane Shepherd and Paul Middleton. And of course alongside me are Stuart Gain and Mike Le Fevre, secretary and treasurer. All of them give up so much of their time to help keep the Society going and I would like to thank them all on your behalf.

Sadly, Jane and Rob will be leaving the committee this year, and currently, we do not have offers of anyone wanting to join us. But as we learned in 2020, you can now do this from home, so if anyone would like to help out we would love to hear from you.

2020 was a year we could never have imagined, and in some ways, would very much like to put behind us. But I firmly believe that in 2021, we will look back to this 12 months as the beginning of better times, and I really hope to be seeing you all out and about very soon.”

Bernie Davis, STLD Chairman Set & Light | Spring 2021

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mental wellbeing

Mind how you go...

After a year of lockdown, qualified therapist Tiffany Hudson helps you look after your mental health Whilst we all have been aware of the stresses of working in our industry at some point or other, the past year has affected us in ways we could never have foreseen. The pandemic has put a huge strain on us and added to the pressures of work, so acknowledging the importance of mental health has never been so important. Tiffany Hudson (left) is a friend and colleague to many, and has recently qualified as a therapist. We asked her to tell us more about the effects of the COVID-19 restrictions on our mental health, and what we can do to recognise and deal with issues as they arise…

Therapy on Tour

My fascination with ‘backstage’ began with my first on-set experience, aged ten. I was selected to review the film Flipper at the London premiere as a ‘Press Pack’ reporter on the children’s news programme, Newsround. After that, I wanted nothing more than to be involved in the entertainment industry in some way.

The next few years were spent trying to do just that. This included walk-on work as an extra, and then once I hit 16, I signed up to become a member of the studio audience for any show I could get onto. The lighting rigs had me in awe, and I watched the crew intently as they whizzed about the various sets for scene changes.

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Set & Light | Spring 2021

My anticipated pathway of working in television was to be put (temporarily) on ice in 2004. I began attending live gigs regularly, and soon ended up working troughout the summer as concert crew for Stage Miracles, The buzz of gigs was electric, and I could not get enough. I was encouraged to pick a department to specialise in so that I could focus on a future career. During my time as local crew, I was often put with the touring lighting department, as it was presumed that girls were not strong enough to load trucks with the lads – much to my frustration at the time. As I earned my crewing stripes, thankfully, this did change, and I was allowed to load the truck. It’s still one of my favourite things to do to this day.

Having gained some lighting knowledge in all my time out of the truck, I chose to pursue my training at Siyan’s lighting warehouse for a few years before heading towards my then dream job of being a touring freelancer. Between tours, I would pick up local shifts in London on gigs, TV shows and festivals. I loved being back in a warm studio after many muddy, wet, disco load-outs around the globe.

However, eight wild and wonderful years of being on the road had me seeking a therapist. I was burned out, partying to excess, and had lost a sense of who I was outside of my career. In my search, I came up against dead ends. I was not going to be available every Friday at 1pm to see someone in their London office. This was a problem. These professionals follow a therapeutic framework, which includes relatively strict rules around keeping the same slot each week. One of the reasons behind it is that it encourages a weekly commitment to yourself, and to the work. It becomes a regular part of your week, a reliable routine for the duration of the sessions. The freelance schedule, of course, does not lend itself to maintaining fixed appointments. The commitment therapy required was a challenge, until I found a great one online, and was able to get the support I needed.

As a big advocate for therapy, I believe that many people could benefit from making a little more sense of their inner world. Inspired by my own positive experience, I began

Mind health in lockdown

training as an integrative therapist, and set up Therapy on Tour in 2019 (therapyontour.com).

In my private practice, I offer a limited amount of flexible online slots for long-term clients when they are on tour, or on a run of shows, to ensure they do not have to forfeit sessions. I work with a variety of entertainment industry clients with anxiety, depression, addiction, relationship challenges, and burnout. These struggles were all magnified by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Between a music industry research project and private practice, I have had limited time for TV work this year. However, I still work a few days a month on-site to keep the lighting muscle flexed.

Industry mental health perspective

In writing this, I draw upon my own experience as a lighting tech/spark on-site, therapist and being a citizen of the world, so this may not be in line with your own. Everyone’s experiences have varied immensely and will be affected by the impact of health and financial issues, as well as differing living situations. I still hope to provide some insight, firstly on mental health in the TV industry in response to the pandemic, then how therapy has helped people in recent months, and, finally what you could do to support yourself going forward as we near a new phase of living, post-lockdown.

Like many industry folk, I went into work on 17 March 2020, and soon we were informed that the series I was

working on was cancelled, with immediate effect. Initially, I welcomed the ‘break’ from work, and thought it could be a great opportunity to focus wholly on my research project, in the comfort of my home. This optimism was short-lived, and I felt unable to take advantage of these anticipated benefits.

I blocked out the first two weeks of my diary under the bold, red heading ‘COVID-19-GATHER SELF’. I needed that time to orient myself in the incredibly unsettling world that we had entered.

The disorientation was all around, amongst colleagues, friends and family. Initially, the concerns were around health (both personal, and that of loved ones), coupled with serious financial implications for the huge pool of self-employed and limited company owners. In the longer term, the impact of isolation, relationship stresses at home, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness began to take its toll on general mental health.

There was a sense of entering into survival mode. Those that were able, chose DIY and gardening projects to distract themselves and shift awareness away from the void left by careers. Others leaned on well-worn, destructive pathways, employing coping methods such as alcohol, drugs, food consumption or excessive exercise, as a way to regulate the suffering self. There were also those who simply felt drained and too exhausted to do any of the above; basic survival was enough of a task.

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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mental wellbeing

The entertainment industry is a relatively sociable profession.You would be hard pushed to get away without speaking to colleagues over lunch or tea breaks. With the working week often easily at 40+ hours, a considerable portion of our identities can be wrapped up in working life.

Existential questions around identity and meaning began to crop up in the online therapy room,.

The move online

Demand for therapy grew via video-conferencing platforms.

Despite initial reluctance by some, it became familiar very quickly. People were able to receive support for their mental health with a more extensive selection of therapists than ever before. Clients valued the containing space that therapy could offer, a place to explore their experience of life, particularly in a time when everything else felt so uncertain.

Working online during lockdown did, however, also hold its own challenges, such as finding a confidential space to join a session. Many people shared their homes with family members or housemates, making it tricky to feel comfortable talking openly. Online work can also feel intimate, especially when joining a session from your bedroom. There is also a tendency to be less inhibited in a familiar surrounding.

On the one hand, this can propel therapy forward, but simultaneously poses the risk of going at too fast a pace. The guidelines for e-counselling from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy suggest a feeling of “anonymity” and “invisibility” when working online, along with a sense of it not feeling quite “real”. When having a session in-person, there is time to collect your thoughts and reflect on the session once you leave the physical therapy office. For this reason, therapists are trained to consider working slightly differently online. Although online will never be a substitute for in-person contact or connection, it has laid a solid foundation for the future of therapy. One benefit of the world not being able to exist IRL for many months is that we all now know it is possible and sustainable, albeit at the mercy of technology.

Taking care of your mind

Social media has had its benefits over this past year, in some cases making vital connection possible. It has also been an easy place to turn to to distract ourselves from the daily grind. However, we all are familiar with the mindless scrolling spiral. Taking an occasional break from social media, and the news, can make a considerable difference to our mental health. Whether it is allocating specific times in the day to check your phone, or setting a 15-minute social media scrolling limit, consider what would best work for you. Do you check your phone in bed moments after you open your eyes? Try giving your mind at least 15-30 minutes before reading emails and popping on socials or news apps. Consider setting your alarm a little earlier to give yourself some time to focus on a more restorative wake-up. All of this takes practice and, of course, there will be days that you do not follow through on these well-intentioned plans. Be kind to yourself and mindful of your inner critic; it will try to keep you stuck. If you do slip into destructive thought patterns or old unhelpful habits, take a moment to listen to your body; it has a way of letting you know what it needs.

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Many of us also try to push away anxious feelings by keeping busy, but this busyness only pushes the feelings under the carpet, keeping you stuck in a repetitive cycle, which can be incredibly draining. Anxiety wants to be heard, so give it a little airtime. It may sound strange, but get to know your anxiety and befriend it. Remember it has served you somehow, and in its own way, it is trying to keep you safe. By tuning into the concerns, you will be working towards letting some of the it go, freeing up brain space for other things.

Self-care going forward

I tend to come up against an unfortunate resistance to the concept of ‘self-care’, generally eye-rolls and sighs from those frustrated at being told to just ‘go for a walk’ if you want to feel better. Honestly, I was one of those eye-rollers. I used to think there’s so much going on for me right now; I do not have time to take a leisurely stroll, meditate or take a long soak in the tub. Having had time to reflect on this response, I realise how under pressure I have felt in the past. There is always time to look after yourself, but it needs to be a meaningful, intentional effort. Remember, self-care can be the aforementioned, conventionally prescribed things, but it could also be ordering a takeaway and binge-watching a series! Also under the umbrella of self-care, a focus on boundaries within your work, family, and social spheres can be helpful.

When something is asked of you, before responding, take a moment to check in with yourself. If you take that extra shift, will you have enough downtime that week? Would you rather lay on the sofa staring at the ceiling than attend another Zoom party? While connection is a huge part of what we have been missing, it is worth asking yourself what you need today. Good connections and relationships should leave you feeling energised. If you are finding that some are leaving you drained or overwhelmed, notice that, and consider how you could restore some balance. If you have a run of work with long hours coming up, plan something restorative at the end of it. Finding what works for you is a lifelong journey, and sustainable, lasting change, is gradual.

A unique opportunity has now presented itself as we incrementally resume to a pre-pandemic pace of working. If we choose to approach the coming months with mindful caution, we can better support ourselves and our changing needs. Consider what did not serve you in your prepandemic way of working? Do you know that you habitually take on too much? What would you would like to change?

We likely will not be given such an opportunity again for a hard reset. I would urge you to take some time to consider what is most important to you right now, and going forward.

What rejuvenates you, and gives you life? Our minds and bodies are being asked to snap back into action. How we choose to look after ourselves now will impact directly on how we will feel in a couple of months, and years.

Even if you can only commit to a three-minute meditation/ focused breathing per day, make time for yourself As many will know, burnout is scary. The demand for longer working hours is rising again, and I encourage anyone who feels that they are flirting with burnout, or overwhelm, to take a pause and consider seeking support. Even short-term therapy could be a good option to recalibrate.

Mind health in lockdown

Reaching out

It can be challenging to do all of these things alone, so if you need support, reach out. There are many wonderful psychotherapists and counsellors available, primed to work with anyone ready to receive support. Non-industry-specific therapists can be found at the BACP or UKCP websites, and you can search therapy options in your local area. Industryspecific charities such as the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), the Film + TV Charity and Backup continue to support and advise those in need.

I have often heard from industry clients that they would prefer a therapist familiar with the industry, as the world of showbusiness is so unique. Although it may be new, your therapist’s job is to understand the world you live in. It could be more beneficial to work with someone outsdide the TV industry as you can start with a clean slate.

I suggest to anyone considering seeing a therapist to meet with at least 2-3 different ones. With most working online, it is now easier than ever. Some offer a free or reduced-fee first meeting to help you get a sense of how you could work together.You might like to reflect on how comfortable you felt talking to each, to help you decide which one to go with. In my relational way of working, the strength of the therapeutic relationship is at the core of therapy. Opening up to a therapist that you do not feel comfortable with can leave you feeling more wobbly than when you started. Finding a therapist you can build a trusting bond with can help you feel safer in your work together so that you can get the most benefit out of your sessions.

If your mental health feels unsteady, go to your GP or reach out to professionals for support. Though you may feel it at times, you are not alone.

Moving into a safer, more positive future

This past year of uncertainty has impacted the entire entertainment industry, and the fragility of our world has been highlighted. The shows (and staff) that have survived the initial instability have been slowly returning to the screens (admittedly in a heavily restricted capacity) to entertain the millions that are ‘WFH’ or still isolating.

However, despite being allowed back into studios, some crew and staff do not yet feel safe enough to return.

At the time of writing, the studio audiences that breathe life into comedy and panel shows are still recording with empty seats. The work that has been going on for the past few months has had a very different feel to it. There are no handshakes, hugs, making your own brew at the tea station, or sharing tools (without an anti-bac wipe down). Studios continue to temperature check anyone entering the grounds and operate one-way systems for social distancing.

Most tragically, this past year, has seen the loss of many lives. Significant loss has also been felt in identity, and in the deficit of basic connections that sustain us as social beings. Rumblings will continue to be felt in the aftermath of this pandemic for the foreseeable future, impacting both on our physical and mental health. However, with the vaccination roll out in full swing and safer working practices now in place, it is beginning to feel slightly safer out there.

(virtual) industry expo

Virtual Showlight 2021 to support industry charities Join the online extravaganza on 25 May 2021!

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Set & Light | Spring 2021

Virtual Showlight 21 is delighted to announce that registration for its unique online event is now open.

Tickets can be obtained from Hubilo by visiting vsl21.hubilo.com.

Tickets are free, but delegates are encouraged to make voluntary donations via our Just Giving page when registering, as all proceeds will go to support industry charities Backup and Behind the Scenes.

The event will be hosted on behalf of Showlight by MaxLive Events and takes place on 25 May 2021 between 3pm-11pm BST. We have an exciting programme of speakers lined up for your entertainment and education. These will be interspersed by a number of ‘Video Shorts’ – short standalone

papers, some of which will be forerunners to the full Showlight event that we hope to resume in 2022.

A discussion panel of international speakers will focus on the issues of diversity in the lighting industry. and in between sessions, there are breakout rooms hosted by our sponsors, which delegates can enter to view and discuss sponsors’ products and services We will also have a networking lounge for general mixing and mingling.

So, come and join us for a day of networking and lighting indulgence in celebration of the spirit of Showlight.

Sadly, the only thing we cannot offer is the famous Showlight refreshments which, on this occasion only, you will need to provide for yourself!

Showlight 2021 We would like to thank our generous sponsors whose donations have enabled Showlight to cover the cost of this virtual event, allowing the maximum of delegate donations to go direct to the charities. Robert Juliat is our headline sponsor, and is joined by Ayrton, ACT Lighting, Inc., Altman, ARRI, Claypaky, Copper Candle, ETC, Robe and Vectorworks.Virtual Showlight is also supported by media partner, LSi, and

by LSA.

Speaker news

The final details of VSL21 presentation papers and the discussion panel are close to completion and will be released shortly. We have some great speakers lined up for you. Sign up to the Showlight mailing list at showlight.org to be the first to hear more.

• Backup – The Technical Entertainment Charity is the UK’s registered charity that provides financial support to industry technical professionals, crew/production personnel and people working in the technical supply chain across the UK entertainment industry including those from live events, theatre, TV and film.

Backup’s primary and long running remit is to give support to those who are seriously ill or injured, or their surviving family members, via a tailored support grant.

In light of the devastating impact of COVID-19, Backup has recently created a separate initial Hardship Fund, which will provide limited financial assistance to those most in need – please visit the Backup website for the latest details on status and criteria of the Hardship Fund, as it will be open to applications in phases. It is only thanks to the support and generous donations from companies and individuals that Backup is able to help the technical entertainment industry care for its own.

If you want to support or find out more information on Backup, please visit backuptech.uk.

• Behind the Scenes provides entertainment technology professionals in the US and Canada who are seriously ill or injured, or their immediate dependents, with grants that may be used for basic living and medical expenses. The BTS Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative provides

tools and resources to support entertainment industry workers and promote mental health and psychological safety.

These include the Be Scene-Be Heard Peer-to-Peer Chat App, Entertainment Industry Therapist Finder, anonymous online behavioural self-assessments, easy to navigate resource links, information to help fight bullying,

sample language on mental health and respectful workplaces for toolbox talks, and information on suicide prevention. For more information about Behind the Scenes, please visit behindthescenescharity.org. showlight.org @showlightevent @Showlight2021 Set & Light | Spring 2021

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air force one

In the air tonight New Year’s Eve in London may have lacked the usual crowds, but certainly not the spectacle Words: Bernie Davis Pics:Courtesy of SKYMAGIC One of the best kept secrets at New Year surely has to be the London fireworks display, which appeared completely unbilled on BBC One at 30 seconds to midnight. The annual display over the Thames was cancelled back in September due to the on-going coronavirus pandemic, but it turned out covert plans were being made to televise a display anyway.

Durham Marenghi has lit The London Eye for New Year’s Eve many times in the past, but 2020 presented him with a location change with the display being centred around London Bridge and The Shard instead, and with organisers 14

Set & Light | Spring 2021

wanting a display with a positive message for the times we are going through, they looked to enhance the display. For the first time it was not possible to have a live audience so the whole thing had to be planned and rigged in complete secrecy. And also for the first time, the display was just for camera, with BBC Events broadcasting it live as 2021 arrived.

Organisers Jack Morton Worldwide collaborated with The Greater London Authority and The BBC to somehow put together this spectacular display in the heart of London, and I can only imagine the NDAs that had to be signed.

Woodroffe Basset Design was called in to look after The Shard, turning it into a beacon of beams, complete with a countdown clock for good measure. Durham dressed London Bridge with over 300 units, a split of Claypaky Mythos2 fixtures all in outdoor domes and Elation Proteus Hybrids – their impressive combined beam/spot/wash fixture being IP rated so ideal for outdoor work. Many of London’s bridges already had new lighting fitted as part of a project of improvement and that was used even though it had yet to be officially launched. Add to that a laser display from the top

London NYE 2021

© Illuminated River Foundation

level of Tower Bridge and of course a world-class firework display and you have a truly impressive display like you have never seen in London before.

But the part that intrigued me was the use of drones as a display tool. I had seen interesting formation displays on YouTube before, and remember there being a company at Plasa a couple of years ago. But this was the first time I have seen them integrated into a display so well and so effectively.

So for the STLD, I contacted SKYMAGIC, the company who had provided them, to learn more about how they did it.

Creative Director Patrick O’Mahony had formed New Substance, an international company harnessing drones as a display tool placing a light in each back in 2013, and after a

year of work and investment finally produced a launch display video using 30 drones at the base of Mount Fuji in 2015. By that time, the company was already an international team, and they thought Mount Fuji would make a good backdrop, and it must have worked as the video went viral, winning it its first commercial project in 2016, now using 40 drones.

Set & Light | Spring 2021

15

air force one

The drones are bespoke, made by the company, 3D printed in carbon fibre each with an RGBW LED mounted below.

These have diffusers so that they are visible from different angles yet still bright enough to be seen from more than 2km away – even with London light pollution!

Each drone has enhanced GPS tracking which allows it to know where it is, and they all have some thousands of way points programmed into their navigation system. The display is achieved by flying from point to point triggered by a series of cues. Again, the lighting has its own control system, taking the display through a series of cues.

The display design process starts with good old drawings to get the ideas of the client understood and agreed. This then gets entered into a 3D-modelling programme called Blender. Once this is completed, it can then be imported into its software to calculate the flight paths required. The lighting can then be programmed on top of that. Displays in two dimensions are of course more straightforward, but the project is far more interesting once it becomes 3D, as it 16

Set & Light | Spring 2021

has to work for all the predicted viewing positions or camera positions.

The New Year’s Eve project was planned over a four-month period, and unlike previous years this was not a public event so it was essential that the public was unaware, otherwise crowds might have gathered which was certainly not allowed in 2020. For the New Year’s Eve project, SKYMAGIC worked with the event organisers, Mayor’s Office, lighting and pyro teams and the BBC to integrate the display and to ensure the images worked from all planned angles while also meeting all necessary safety requirements.

Clever use of perspective placed the drone display over the O2 Arena whilst actually flying over the river for safety, and from a base at Trinity Buoy Wharf the 300 drones were controlled to achieve the final results. The display content was changing all the time to reflect the unique nature of 2020, producing images such as the NHS logo, Captain Sir Tom Moore and even a nod to the inescapable Zoom meetings with ‘You’re On Mute’ appearing.

London NYE 2021

The display could not be rehearsed fully for obvious reasons, and in fact was flown just once before at the location with the lighting all set to a dim blue, and this seems to have worked as I have not heard of the story being leaked anywhere.

The results can still be seen on YouTube, and our congratulations go to all concerned for producing this truly imaginative and creative display, surely a highlight in what was a traumatic year for many.

The SKYMAGIC team consisted of…

Soon Hooi Chiew (Technical Director) Anthony Smith (Project Manager) Patrick O’Mahony (Creative Director)

Mungo Denison (Managing Director) Stuart Fairhurst (Technical Director) James Bawn (Production Manager) Ollie Howitt (Creative Coordinator)

kino flo and colour science

Everything you wanted to know about colour temperature and LEDs (but were afraid to ask...)

Kino Flo’s research on the colour science behind LEDs and camera interaction is a complicated affair Words: Paul Middleton Over the past few years, Frieder Hochheim has been presenting the results of research his company, Kino Flo, has been doing into the colour science behind how LED lights react with different types of video cameras. It was something Bernie Davis first reported on in Set & Light126.

Cirro Lite (who distribute Kino Flo fixtures in Europe) hosted a Zoom meeting in February to help members try and get to grips with why LEDs and digital video cameras don’t always mix as well as you might like (you can watch the video on YouTube). Before watching it, I felt it would help some people, or more probably, a lot of people, understand what Frieder talks about by going through a brief history of colour theory, and give some more background of the terms and concepts he uses, as well as some history of colour on film and TV to see why Colour Temperature is so important.

Sir Isaac Newton first investigated the splitting of white light into its constituent colours via a glass prism in 1666 but until the 1830s, no one had really thought about reproducing a scene by anything other than painting it. There was great debate about whether light was made up of particles or waves of light, and whether the colour of an object was a result of the light it emitted when illuminated by a beam or by the way the wavelengths were reflected, or absorbed, by the object. We now know the latter is the reality. Newton eventually proved that the rainbow effect of a prism was not caused by imperfections in the glass, but by the light waves being refracted in different amounts as it passed through.

Henry Fox-Talbot first produced permanent still pictures around the mid 1830s and Louis Daguerre had a different system around the same time but these were monochrome and because of their low sensitivity needed to be used somewhere there was a good amount of light (i.e daylight).

In 1887, the wavelengths of the different colours of light were first measured by the Michelson interferometer and around 1888, William Friese-Greene was credited as the inventor of ‘Kinematography’. He is probably lesser known for also patenting a two-colour movie process in 1905 that 18

Set & Light | Spring 2021

went on to become the basis of the original Technicolor film system in 1916. It was not until ten years later though that John Logie-Baird produced his first monochrome TV pictures and also amazingly went on to demonstrate the first live colour TV pictures using a mechanical two-colour system just two years later.

The various properties of light are due to the behaviour of extremely small particles called photons that are invisible to the naked eye. We cannot see light. We can only see it when it hits something and the colour of that object is revealed. In 1905, Einstein proved that photons have energy (E) equal to (h), Planck’s constant x oscillation frequency. The brightness of light is decided by the quantity of photons. The energy is packed in and each is of a certain wavelength and has a specific fixed amount of energy. The energy of light is thus not the amplitude of the wave, as is the case in acoustical waves. More light means more photons. This discovery led to the formulation of quantum mechanics.

Black and white movie film in the late 1920s had a reasonable grey scale response, but the ASA value was very low so a lot of light was still needed to expose it properly.

Shooting outdoors was the norm as lighting levels needed when shooting indoors without any daylight were high. The same restrictions also applied to all early TV scanning systems which were also very insensitive.

Early colour movies used prisms to separate red and green onto alternate frames of a monochrome film running at twice the normal speed. The alternate frames were then printed on separate chemically-tinted reels and physically stuck together to give the full-colour effect.

As the sensitivity of film increased, it became practical around 1930 to shoot in studios using the Tungsten filament lamp that was in widespread use in photographic studios. As

LED colour science

Off TV screen colour picture of aviator Paddy Naismith demonstrated

by J.L Baird in September 1941 using the 600-line ‘Telechrome’ camera on a 20-inch projection monitor

5,500K colour temperature in order to maintain maximum colour consistency. This was of great concern to cinematographers as the leading ladies especially had to be seen consistently in the best possible light at all times. The reason for the choice of daylight colour temperature was due to the insensitivity of the film stock and the fact that it gave economies of scale by only producing one type. When shooting in a studio, huge amounts of lighting were required with the obvious problems of heat affecting the actors.

Colour gamut and the CIE diagram Frieder explains, other light sources were also used, but with varying results and hazards. The colour temperature of these sources was largely irrelevant whilst shooting in black and white as the panchromatic (meaning the film has a luminance response that covers all the spectrum visible to the human eye) nature of early movie film stock meant that it was only the amount of light generated by a lighting fixture that was generally important. If a fixture with a discontinuous spectrum is used to shoot monochrome pictures then the grey scale response will be different and thus colours that are absent from the spectrum will be reproduced darker, or not at all. The same principle applies when shooting in colour with LED light sources that have a discontinuous spectrum.

For example, if you shoot a yellow object with just red and green LEDs the yellow will appear darker than if illuminated solely by a tungsten source.

In 1935 Mole Richardson (MR) introduced a major change to studio lighting fixtures by adapting the fresnel lens concept originally designed for lighthouses. The stepped front lens reduced the weight as well as giving a much more even field across the beam. MR initially produced three fixtures – the Inky Senior (5kW), Inky Junior (2kW) and the Inky Baby spotlight (1kW). The high wattages were partially down to the fact that when used with Technicolor film (which initially had a rating of just five ASA and was only available in daylight colour) they had to be fitted with a blue Macbeth glass filter which reduced the output level by over 60%.

1935 was also the year when Kodak introduced the 16mm Kodachrome film, which enabled colour pictures to be produced using multi-layers without the need for prisms or filters to separate it into individual colours. In order to create a ‘colour’ picture, all these early systems relied on the fact that white light (as seen by the eye) is made up of around 30% red, 60% green and 10% blue primary colours.

Despite being known for his mechanical TV scanning systems, Baird also developed an all electronic ‘telechrome’ system using cyan/red-orange pickups and display on a two-sided CRT screen. It gave good reproduction of skin tones, but otherwise had a poor overall colour range of colours or ‘colour gamut’ due to the absence of a specific blue component. In August 1944 it was however chosen as the basis for a UK-wide post war TV standard by the Hankey Committee. Baird’s death in 1946 and post-war shortages curtailed further development of that system.

In 1931, the Committee Internationale de l’Eclairage (International Commission on Illumination, or CIE) set out to define the RGB colour space using three colours based on reference wavelengths of 435.8nm (violet), 546.1nm (green) and 700nm (red) that cover the range of colours normally able to be seen by the human eye. The outer curve shows the corresponding wavelength in nanometres, whilst the straight line along the bottom is the so-called ‘line of purples’ because it describes the eye’s response to a continuum of ratios between red and blue. There is a central white area that shows the varying ‘white’ colours.

The CIE was also the body that came up with the stylised lighting symbols first used in the 60s to represent spotlights, fresnels, floodlights etc on theatre and TV lighting plots.

Frieder makes reference to the ‘Planckian locus’ (overleaf) in his presentation. This is not, however, the name of a new species of aliens encountered by Jean-Luc Picard in his latest Netflix series. The locus is the range of colour temperatures that match different varieties of white light. A key marker on that line is the D65 point in the centre point of the CIE chart and uses a mixture of 2.77:5.79:1 Rec 709 RGB For our purposes, the fact that some ‘white light’ sources do not lie exactly on the Planckian locus means that they will exhibit a slight green or magenta shift compared with perfect white light. This can be corrected by the application of plus/

The importance of consistent colour temperature In the cinema, the Technicolor system reigned supreme but required a maximum deviation of 250K from its base

Set & Light | Spring 2021

19

kino flo and colour science RGB code values will be significantly desaturated due to channel mixing from ineffective colour dyes on the silicon pixels in the IR region. It is well known that inadequate IR rejection is the main problem with the use of high-density ND filters on digital cameras. Filter manufacturers have redesigned them to lessen or eliminate the problem.

The problem nowadays is that whilst back in the film days companies such as Kodak were happy to provide the necessary technical information on the spectral response of their film stock, that same information is jealously guarded by the current digital camera manufacturers. So Kino Flo had to create its own system to measure the response of cameras at different colour temperatures.

The Kino Flo system tries to tune the spectral output of its fixtures to match the response of a particular camera sensor when working at a particular colour temperature. This requires Kino Flo to continually test new cameras and measure their response and tune the settings in its software to produce the best match for a particular required colour.

Best practise with LED key lights minus green or magenta corrections in camera electronics or by the application of appropriate gels to give a shift back onto the perfect colour temperature white locus. This chart is however missing the third dimension of lightness that would sit on top of this 2D map where all the colours reduce proportionally down to black over the height shown in 3D. The American NTSC chose D65 as its primary illuminant colour in 1944 and the PAL system followed suit in 1962. This stylised White ‘Daylight’ 6,500K was chosen to define the colour temperature of daylight as seen in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres. 9,300K is the standard white for Japanese NTSC and just for accuracy D65 is not exactly 6,500K! This, of course, does not mean that Japanese videos look bluer than UK ones, but more that Oriental skin tones look more flattering when viewed on their own.

How to improve colour fidelity when shooting with LED light sources?

The reality that Frieder tried to explain is that there is in effect a beat pattern that occurs between the imperfect colour spectrum of different LED fixtures and the variable colour response of different camera sensors. In some circumstances the response of a specific camera and a particular LED fixture match perfectly and the colour seen in real life matches that seen by the camera.

In other cases, gaps in the LED spectrum compared to a Tungsten light source give rise to colour differences that are not visible to the eye, but are seen by the camera. This is shown by the fact that TV cameras have always been sensitive to infrared light. Many electronic camera manufacturers used to include an infrared filter in the internal optical path, but nowadays many cameras (especially those on mobile phones) don’t filter out that IR light. This can have a negative effect in some situations, but also has a positive that you can check whether your TV remote control is working by pointing it at your phone camera, which will show a pale purple glow when you press a key. Modern professional cameras however have significant IR rejection. If it is not filtered out, the resultant 20

Set & Light | Spring 2021

What’s the best practice when using LEDs to get different shots to match? The answer is firstly to trust that a given manufacturer will have suitable design principles and manufacturing tolerances to ensure that the colorimetry between different batches of their fixtures will exactly match one another. The next is to take a leaf from the old Technicolor system of ensuring that all the fixtures used on a production match the very limited colour temperature range that they specified. In the current world of LED, the best practise is to always use the same fixture type as the key light when you are lighting people who need to have a consistent skin tone across different shots and scenes and to mask off other light sources from faces that might pollute the spectrum of the chosen reference key light.

LEDs in light entertainment

The next question that arises with the use of LEDs is in the light entertainment field. In this section I’m considering the use of cameras working under Rec 709 colour space for live video. The native colour temperature of current video camera sensors is not something that many manufacturers reveal, but discussion online seems to place it often as somewhere around 4,400K. Outside that temperature, the electronic correction applied to the RAW camera signal data is unknown but the effect is that looking at colours other than white will appear different to what the eye sees, with an array of cameras giving quite different results. The future perfect system will enable a video camera and monitor to look at a scene and the picture on the monitor will look exactly the same as seen by the eye.

It is well recognised in TV lighting that Sony Broadcast cameras boost the blue level gain of their cameras so much that when shooting at 3,200K it is impossible to display any variation between different shades of purples, pinks and blues.

So the question I posed to Frieder was what colour temperature should cameras ideally be set to in order to get the widest range of colours for light entertainment purposes?

His suggestion was that where it is required to have the widest range of colour reproduction, the best solution is to

LED colour science start with a white LED and then use CMY filters, as that would give a better range of colours than trying to produce a specific colour from a mixture of discreet LEDs. e.g red, green, blue, lime with their combined discontinuous spectra.

Moving the camera colour temperature (CCT) up to around 4,400K is becoming common as it counteracts the blue boost used in the electronic correction of current cameras, but that choice is not favoured by all LDs because of the apparent ‘greyness’ that working at that temperature gives a studio audience. But it is something that will eventually get resolved as the response of the future sensors and the colour spectrum of LEDs is increased.

In the Digital Cinema world, video capture is virtually now all in camera RAW mode and the sensors have a P3, or higher, colour space where the required ISO and CCT settings are stored in the recorded metadata and the RAW data is then graded in post to reproduce the required CCT.

Efficiency of LEDs

• A tungsten lamp produces around 28 lumens/watt along with a lot of Infra-red (i.e heat). Around 95% of the power fed to a tungsten lamp is wasted as heat.

• Kino Flo fluorescent tubes produce around 48 lumens/watt from an 8ft tube, but with very little heat.

• HMI produces around 100 lumens per watt of light but with a lot of UV and infrared.

• The best LEDs can now reach 250 lumens/watt but still with a heat component that comes from the LED junction that can mean 40-50% of power is still used up and a lower lifetime for the fixture. Running at 220 lumens/watt gives a much longer working life for LEDs.

Jargon buster Colour spaces You’ve probably heard various phrases relating to colour space. The first definitions applied to computer screens/TV and were defined under sRGB/Rec 709. The white point of an sRGB display is an x,y chromaticity of (0.3127,0.3290). It has only 8-bit resolution in the analogue world and in digital outputs such as DVI and HDMI 1.0 giving a maximum of 16.7 million possible colours. Later, 10-bit video increased that to 1.07 billion colours on HDMI 2.0. The increasing bit depth reduces the banding effects seen on graduated colours on screen.

As the resolution and brightness of video projectors increased and film fell out of favour as a projection medium in the noughties, the first digital cinema DCI-P3 specification was released in 2005. This increased the colour resolution to 12-bits per pixel. The latest standard that TVs try to reach is Rec 2020, which is defined for 4K and 8K displays. It uses 630nm for the red primary, 532nm for the green and 467nm for the blue Relative to the CIE 1931 colour space, Rec. 2020 covers 75.8% of it, DCI-P3 53.6%, Adobe RGB 52.1%, and Rec. 709 only 35.9%.

12-bits is the maximum that needs to be used as the range of colours and intensities then exceeds those that the eye can distinguish between.

Dolby Vision (as used by Netflix and Apple TV) as an

example actually uses some of the overall bit levels and the increased brightness range of OLED to give support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode.

Future standards The next step in colour science is the development of ACES. This defines a system which covers over 100% of the visible spectrum and has a range of around 30 stops. It has a white point equivalent to D60. Search ACES2065-1for more details.

Display quality The quality achieved with different display standards is: • HD TV – 100% Rec 709 • OLED TV – around 98% of DCI-P3, 75% of Rec 2020 • Quantum Dot TV – 83% of Rec 2020

Two interesting points

Photographers often talk about the ‘Golden hour’ around Sunset being the best for Glamour and Wedding Photographs.

In the illustration below, the colour spectrum of Daylight changes to almost exactly match the Incandescent Spectrum during the run up to Dusk. I bet you didn’t know that!

Finally, a question I often ask students is what colour temperature is moonlight? Think about it! Hollywood were the ones who decided that moonlight should be blue!

Research by Ciocca & Wang (2013) clearly showed that the spectrum of the moon (normalised to have a similar overall strength as sunlight) is redder than sunlight and so has a lower “colour temperature”. This is a fact, not a perception.

The Purkinje effect (sometimes called the Purkinje shift) however makes us perceive faint light as bluer (higher colour temperature) than we would perceive a brighter light with an identical spectrum. It is derived from the fact that the peakluminance sensitivity of the eye shifts toward the blue end of the spectrum at low illumination levels as part of its natural dark adaptation.

In consequence, reds will appear darker relative to other colours as light levels decrease. So that’s why Moonlight is identified as being Blue, even though it is really only reflected Sunlight..

• Thanks to Frieder Hochheim and Mitch Bogdanowicz (colour science guru at Kino Flo) for their comments and advice on this article. It is not intended to be a complete guide to colour science, which is a very complicated and constantly evolving field. If you have any queries, I will try to help and undoubtedly this subject will be revisited in the future…

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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lighting alien worlds

– part ii

A Dalek a day keeps the doctor in play The continuing story of Ian Dow’s career and involvement with Doctor Who Words: Ian Dow and Paul Middleton Photos: Ian Dow and BBC In the second half of Ian Dow’s journey with the •Doctor, we meet the Timelord’s greatest foes…

Delta and the Bannermen featured a group of aliens who had won an Intergalactic lottery. Their prize was a trip to 1950’s Earth to experience a week at Disneyland, travelling through 22

Set & Light | Spring 2021

space in a 1951 Bedford single decker bus – as you do. But instead of arriving at Disneyland, they crash-land in Wales after colliding with the first top secret NASA satellite launched to rival Sputnik.

My challenge was to reproduce the effect of space travel. A shot over the driver’s shoulder was supposed to show the bus surging through a debris field with random streaks of meteorites flying in all directions when in reality, the bus was parked in a covered alleyway between the cook house and blanket store at the old Butlins Holiday Camp at Barry Island.

The Producer, John Nathan-Turner, a man whose aspirations far exceeded his budget, wanted a miracle.

A technique I used on stage in Dazzle solved the problem.

We hung black drapes at each end of the alley, then two grey gauzes in front of the bus, about ten-feet apart. A distressed mirror ball had a few more segments knocked off it, and was rotated between the gauzes, lit by profiles from both sides. It was wonderful, but the shot was dropped in the edit!

Ian Dow

When the bus finally came to land at Butlins (renamed as ‘Shangri-La’) it was suspended by crane over the flowerbed by the entrance. After the cameraman had retreated a safe distance, it was then dropped the final few feet to ground.

Instead of being scrapped after filming, in true Blue Peter fashion, the bus was re-painted and reused as the Circus bus in the later story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

One of the problems that was encountered on OBs was where to stay overnight when away from base. In order to try and save money from their overnight allowance, some of the crew decided to take advantage of the free accommodation in the derelict holiday camp in which the programme was being recorded. However that decision was challenged very quickly on the first night when the resident rats decided to join the riggers, who promptly packed their bags and headed for a local hotel.

During recording, there were problems with scenes featuring Ken Dodd which were filmed outside a hanger at

the old RAF Llandow airfield, Cowbridge. He had a hard time remembering his lines and the shoot extended throughout the night until they eventually ran out of time and darkness at 4am – after a 5pm start. The editors had a very hard time with those scenes, as Ken had rarely repeated the same line twice making it very difficult to edit it to match the script.

That location also required the Bannermen’s spaceship to be seen hovering over the Space Port. The model used for recording was a very simple cardboard affair, that was manoeuvered around using electronic DVE effects, but the effect of a full sized spaceship coming into land was needed at the location. The scene was scripted at night, so Ian designed a scaffold rig that was laced with various lights to give the effect of landing lights and engine exhausts and could be suspended from a crane. The lights were to be controlled by the Gaffer, but the effect was cut due to filming limitations.

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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lighting alien worlds

The Dalek’s new and improved shuttlecraft

24

Set & Light | Spring 2021

– part ii

Ian Dow

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lighting alien worlds

– part ii

Cast and crew sheets for Remembrance of the Daleks

There may have been seven Doctors, with seven different male actors embodying the one Doctor Who up until that point, but the Daleks were the most popular monster and Remembrance of the Daleks was to be their 18th appearance.

With the BBC’s existing stock of Daleks getting very battered by this point, the decision was made to introduce a new faction of Imperial Daleks, led by a new Emperor Dalek – who turns out to be Dalek creator Davros in disguise. A new shuttlecraft was designed to bring the new Daleks to Earth and with CGI still being too expensive, a life-sized prop was built to land in a schoolyard not far from the location of the original I M Foreman scrap yard first seen in the second ever episode of Doctor Who. The cables and wires supporting the shuttlecraft were hidden by the simple trick of shooting against the sun in the afternoon and allowing the sky (and the cables) to be over-exposed and burn out of view.

It showed the increased amount being put into the show to compete with the effects budgets of American counterparts like Star Trek:The Next Generation, that had launched a year earlier to great acclaim, but luckily didn’t appeared in the UK until 1990, by which time Michael Grade had taken the hatchet to Doctor Who. Set in 1963 Remembrance returned to Doctor Who’s roots, but neatly avoided any opportunities for the Daleks to watch themselves appearing in their first episode on TV. The battle between Imperial and Renegade Daleks was to be 26

Set & Light | Spring 2021

the highlight of the story, with big battle scenes due to be filmed over the April bank holiday Monday at various locations around Waterloo Station.Visual effects were due to blow up various Daleks as part of the battle between the two factions which featured the new Special Weapons Dalek that could blast the Renegades to smithereens.

As Ian explains, the Special Effects crew liked to use lots of black powder and the presence of the Daleks gave them an extra excuse to go over the top. Whilst the usual permissions for parking and filming had been gained, it seemed no one had been notified over the size of the explosions that were to be set off, and within minutes of the first blast the area was cordoned off by police, fire and ambulance services who thought the IRA had made an attack Filming was only allowed to continue after the police saw the Daleks emerging from the smoke.

Back at the I M Foreman scrap yard site at Kew Steam Museum, someone had luckily noticed that the Scenic Department Signwriter had put the wrong name of I W Forman on the gates. It was however then incorrectly changed to I M Forman and that was how it remained for eagle-eyed fans to chuckle over.

Another set of gates were to feature in a similar over ambitious explosion which instead of blowing open, blew them to pieces, as well as badly damaging the Special Weapons Dalek and other Imperial Daleks waiting behind Quick cutting in the edit hid the damage.

Ian Dow

Overall, the Daleks had a bit of a bad time with the floor manager forgetting to tell actress Sophie Aldred to mime her attack on what she thought was a stunt Dalek, which she instead proceeded to destroy with her signature baseball bat.

What image does Arundel invoke? A rural Surbiton, a quiet backwater, a sleepy riverside town? To BBC outside broadcast crews, it triggers memories of the disappearing Duchess’s dog, a double decker bus used as a gobo, a rigger appearing in public in his underpants, and a body in the boot of a car.

Silver Nemesis scripted an appearance by Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. Surprisingly, neither The Queen nor castle were available, and so a lookalike and Arundel Castle, built by the same architect as Windsor and the ancestral home of the Duke of Norfolk, had to stand in.

The story involved a long bow which had to throb and glow at appropriate times. I made the mistake of putting my hand up at rehearsal and saying, “Please sir, why don’t we use front axial projection?” Fine, they said, get on with it, which is how I came to be introduced to FAP – Front Axial Projection.

You may not have heard of it, but you will have experienced it every time your car headlights hit a road sign at night and the sign reflects light directly back to you. FAP comes as paint, or a cloth-like material, and has millions of sets of three micro mirrors set at right angles, like a radar reflector on a small boat, reflecting any beams of light directly back along their own path.

It came to prominence in the first Superman movie, where it was used to make Superman’s parent’s costumes glow.

In broad daylight we were never going to make it bright enough with an internal light. In a long shot I would position a 2.5HMI with dimmer shutters behind the camera, and the bow would glow at up to half a mile away – quite remarkable. For a mid-shot, our workshops built a ring of six 50w MR16 lamps, wired in two circuits, which fitted round the camera lens. With blue and amber gels on the two circuits, I used domestic dimmers to make the bow glow and throb between the colours. (Now I see Cirrolite was demonstrating just such a device at its recent open day!) For a close up, to get the light directly on axis, we went to the autocue technique, using the reflective glass in reverse.

Morning broke on location and we set up to shoot the throbbing bow scene – in a low mist. No matter which way we looked, the bow glowed as the sun was diffused in all directions! Luckily our quick thinking sparks held two 8'x4' sheets of black poly behind the camera and the key light, allowing us to cancel the sun’s effect and control the lighting effect on the bow.

Finally, back at Arundel Castle we were shooting an explosion which had to produce a mushroom cloud. I spotted the special effects guys leaning against the front of the OB scanner filling dustbin bags with petrol from jerry cans – just under the aircon units which tended to spark as the contactors closed. Where is Elf and Safety when you need them?

The mushroom effect is produced by burying the bags of petrol in a circle and firing them all at the same time. The Duchess and her small dog had come along from the castle to view this spectacle when suddenly… FLASH, BANG, WHOOSH! The dog left at supersonic speed to our knowledge, hasn’t been seen since …

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1:The Hellstrom Fireball engine with CP62 boosters (capable of Warp 5 with a good tailwind…)

2:The Bannermen spaceship as finally seen on screen 3: A Cyberman confronts Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor in Silver Nemesis 4: Main lighting for some hanger scenes 5:The Dalek shuttle has landed

6: Wootton Street about to suffer a major attack by the Daleks; 7:The Doctor and Ace 8:The TARDIS on location 9: Preparing for a night shoot at Llandow Airfield 10: I.M Forman Scrap Merchants at Kew Steam Museum; 11: Cast and crew 12: Ian Dow’s name finally up in lights (All pics © BBC)

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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frozen in time

Nice ice, baby STLD members get to Zoom in on the inner workings of ITV’s celebrity skating showstopper Words: John Piper Yes, that’s right – it’s yet another Zoom meeting to which we’ve all become accustomed to over the past year, only this time the conversation wasn’t about frozen broadband connections. In preference, it was about the frozen stage of ITV’s Dancing on Ice. Lighting director Dave Davey and his team (Alex Mildenhall, Russell Grubiak, Darren Lovell and Julian Rigal) gave us an incredible insight into their realisation of this spectacular show. The meeting was hugely popular, attracting over 80 online attendees with a great mix of students from both degree-level and college courses, as well as a selection of our own professional STLD members.

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Dave broke the ice by listing off some impressive statistics about the show, telling us how they have a rig of 268 lights, of which none are tungsten sources; almost all are LEDs, with some discharge lamps still in use. Dave tells us how there are 2,979m of cabling, and 5,700 lighting items in total, consisting of truss, cable and fixtures. There is also a sum of 2,000m of LED Flex around the set, which takes up eight universes of DMX512 control. These accompany the 38 universes of lighting fixtures and a further 21 of control used to drive the Hippotiser media servers, which drive Julian’s digital screen content. The digital screen’s main elements consist of a 5mm pitch LED screen, and a less detailed 9mm pitch LED video screen above acting as a banner along the top of the iconic set (below).

Dancing on Ice

One tool Julian provides using his projection is the ‘Pucs’ which are projected onto the ice. This is their answer to giving the skaters marks, so they end up in the correct positions for their key light. The best example of this is the results line-up when they have to position on precise points.

(Above and below): DoI’s lighting cues

COVID-19 has had an expected impact on the Dancing on Ice production; the most significant change on camera has to be the lack of a live audience. The lack of an audience has left Dave a black hole in the set where there would usually be a rake of audience members; he’s tackled this with a collection of 160 LED pars which he’s placed in the audience rostra.

An essential asset for Dave is his incredible team of follow-spotters, of which there are seven in use around the stage. The team did consider using ground control remote follow spot units, where moving heads with an embedded camera for POV are controlled by an operator remotely.

Ground control systems are a popular option for Dave, which he said he uses on every other show he works on.

However, when they looked at using them for Dancing on Ice, they found no current system could give them anywhere near the speed and responsiveness needed to track the skaters as they whizz around the ice; the action was simply too fast. Dave made this evident to us when he shared the lighting plot,; the fixtures would be too close to the rink, and the result is that the follow spot requires a tremendous radius of movement to provide the coverage they need.

Sometimes the old ways are the best, because no current technology can match his dependable team of spotters’ performance, and if the budget would allow, Dave would happily add two more to his arsenal.

Each episode’s production process is spread throughout the week, focusing on building toward the live broadcast on Sunday. The production team has a creative meeting every Wednesday, where Dave and other head of departments can see the recorded routines and discuss matters such as the colours of the costumes, graphic design, and the music. Friday is the lighting team’s programming day. The camera team provide them with a wide shot of the stage; the guys then work methodically through each couple’s dance piece getting enough in the desk ahead of the camera rehearsals on Saturday, and for most weeks, they pre-record elements of the show like the group numbers and the voting window.

One clear difference between Dancing on Ice and other productions is having to contend with a stage made of ice.

As you might expect, the ice’s behaviour causes a lot of blue light to flare into the camera; this is particularly challenging with the Sony HDC-3500s, which are already very sensitive to the blue spectrum. Luckily for the team, the 3500s (which makes up the majority of their setup) apparently balance very well with the Sony HXC-P1’s they use for the ‘Ice cam’ and the tracking camera downstage. I could imagine this to be even more challenging if the two cameras were to behave entirely differently.

Alex’s big news this year was his implementation of the GrandMA3 series of consoles. Both he and Russell are using the new MA3 software, with Darren still using his Vector but eagerly learning the new MA software. They’re the first live show to use the new MA3 software, a massive step forward. Other productions which are making use of the GrandMA3 console range have typically opted for the safety of using the tried and trusted legacy MA2 software One question about Alex’s workflow was whether they use previsualisation at all for Dancing on Ice? Alex has both Depence2 (A new visualisation software by Syncronorm, gaining much popularity for its next-level realistic style render) and Cast Software’s WYSIWYG. The team don’t rely on pre-vis for the show as they have the Friday where they can make full use of the stage for programming;. The only exception is in rare situations when Dave wants peace of mind on how something will end up looking.

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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frozen in time

Dancing on Ice

The follow spots in action

Not surprisingly, timecode plays a large part in the show.

The lighting console takes critical points in the audio to trigger significant looks. Not much is busked throughout the show; one reason for this would be the amount of rehearsal time. Timecode has become an underlying part of their workflow increasingly throughout the years.

So how did Dave get started in the industry? He started out studying for a degree in electrical engineering, where his tutor advised him in his final year that the BBC were offering interviews. A pamphlet’ full of control rooms with colourful buttons’ later, and Dave decided to give it a go. He started working for BBC News across all areas and gained an interest in lighting over his initial years as a studio crew member and progressed to work as a lighting vision controller. Over his time with the BBC, Dave worked with a variety of genres: period drama, Top of The Pops, children’s TV, soaps and he further progressed to become a console operator and ultimately became freelance in 1998, where, ever since, he’s built an impressive CV as an LD, including Hole in The Wall, Mock the Week, X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice, The Royal Variety Performance, Mastermind, The Masked Singer and much more besides.

So, what about the programmers Russell, Darren & Alex?

How did they get started? Russell started in the West End, having studied a theatre electrician’s qualification at Westminster College and worked on various placements in London before taking a full-time job with Starlight Express for a year before moving on to work on Holiday on Ice. Russell then progressed to TV work as a moving light controller when they started to be used in more and more light entertainment shows. In the past five years, Russell’s worked more with video but still does a mix of lighting and video control.

Darren started as a studio assistant at the age of 16, which gave him an excellent grounding in all aspects of studio work, initially for a company called Fountain where he worked both at a studio in Morden and later, from 1993, Limehouse Studios in Wembley. Darren worked with a mixture of LD’s,

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which he continues to do now as a freelancer, including Dave.

Alex had a strong interest in lighting from school and wrote to LD’s from TV credits for some experience; from that starting point shadowing LDs, he built up his portfolio programming professionally.

Dave ended the meeting highlighting a concern which I share. Considering how the industry is so significantly populated by freelancers today, there’s a real lack of training in the craft of lighting for camera. Students tend to come from a background of having worked with cameras but not knowing how to light a scene. Alternatively, other students can come from an experience of learning how to light performances for theatre or live music, but don’t have a grounding in cameras, studios or know how cameras perceive lighting differently to the human eye.

There’s a real lack of training routes for young people to learn precisely how to light for camera. The only real option for today’s students is to shadow TV LDs and to get years’ worth of experience lighting other genres like theatre, music and even outside of the entertainment world by doing corporate events. Dave believes the STLD should be a part of realising what those avenues might be, helping students find pathways into the industry and something he would be open in assisting the STLD to achieve. I know the committee fully agrees with this, and we had already started exploring with educators before the pandemic as to how we might be able to help with that. At our last AGM, we instated a new core value of the society: “To actively help and encourage the training and assistance of students and others wishing to pursue a career in the TV lighting industry”. We hope to continue those conversations soon and start creating support for young professionals.

My thanks to Dave, Russell, Darren, Alex and Julian for taking the time to share with us their insights into Dancing on Ice and, more widely, their careers in TV lighting. A genuinely fascinating talk and one which was well received by all who attended. For members who missed the discussion, a recording can be found on our website.

product review

Must Dash...

We take a look at Rosco’s multifunctional little fixture Words: Bernie Davis Roscolab are of course well-known for their lighting filters having been in the business of producing colour for a staggering 100 years now. But in recent times they have branched out into providing the light sources themselves, which moved up a gear when they started working with French company DMG Lumière to produce the DMG MIX series of panel lights. As they put it, they brought their experience with colour to the manufacturing quality of DMG to make fixtures designed to be what cinematographers and gaffers want.

I was invited to see the latest in their range, the DMG DASH, and I have to say they have put a lot of thought into this neat little fixture. Measuring about 13cmx80cmx3cm and weighing about 440g it is classed as a pocket light and is the smallest of the MIX range. In common with the rest of the MIX range it uses RGB technology to make a wide gamut source, employing high-output red, green, blue, lime, amber and white LEDs all controlled by clever onboard software. An intuitive menu system lets you choose between modes and then finely adjust within each of those modes. The white mode gives you white light as the name suggests but lets you control colour temperature, intensity, and green/magenta shift, and In colour mode the menu lets you set the colour temperature of the source and then adjust hue, saturation and intensity to produce any colour you can mix for yourself. A great operational feature is the large easy to access rotary knob that can be turned for fine control or pushed to jump between

Roscolab Ian Dow

discrete steps. For those who know what gel you want there is a Gel mode with a range of popular colours. This is not a full range, but it concentrates on those that can be best reproduced by additive mixing of LEDs which of course this is.

Another mode lets you simulate a variety of light sources like Candlelight, sodium vapour or Xenon headlights. OK these might not be so useful considering the flexibility in the other menus, but then why not, and they might be useful one day. But I quite liked the effects mode menu that simulated amongst other effects the flicker of a TV screen or of firelight.You won’t need this very often I know, but when you do this makes it so easy, and the pre-programmed effects can even be fine-tuned with speed and level.

Part of the reason the DASH weighs a little more than you might think is that it has a high-capacity battery rechargeable via a USB cable, and they estimate that at full power it lasts about three hours or six hours at 50%. If that isn’t enough it can run powered by the charger lead too.

The first thing that struck me about the DASH was that it was clearly a well-built device designed from experience of what was useful to the users. Made from die-cast aluminium to be weather-proof and dust-proof it is solid and sturdy, and I have no doubt it would survive all the treatment it could expect to receive during recording. It has three standard threaded holes, one on the back, the bottom, and the side for choice of mounting with the included magnetic plate or stand spigot adapter. But I found its shape and stability made it easy to place on any convenient surface too.

Included in the pocket kit was a flat diffuser and dome diffuser both of which simply clip on with magnetic mounts.

There is also an egg-crate cleverly designed to match the LED layout rather than just a regular grid pattern.

A lot of thought went into this! And everything comes packed in a small soft case.

The MIX technology includes control by Bluetooth via an app on your smartphone,

and the app lets you control up to 15 MIX products that can be grouped for easy setting. There is now a Quad kit in the range, consisting of four DMG DASH pocket lights with all the features of the single light packaged in a small case. Included is a linking frame that can turn the four lights into one 1x1 panel light if wanted.

I happened to be recording the Lent Services just before Easter which gave me the chance to try the DASH on camera, and I have to say it performed well. There was no perceptible green shift as you would hope, and it made a great kick light or accent light that could easily be coloured to suit the occasion. For me I would have liked DMX control as an option, but I believe they are already looking into adding this in the future. I measured the light level in a dark environment and was getting just over 60 lux at 2m in the White mode, with very similar levels at the tungsten end as the daylight end of the range. This was hardly changed by using the domed diffuser instead of the flat diffuser. All as measured with my Sekonic C 500, so not the best but not the worst either!

And during the inevitable lockdown Zoom meetings the DASH has been a great webcam light, even coping with the daylight from my window.

You can find out more about the DMG DASH and the rest of the MIX range at dmglumiere.com.

Set & Light |

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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VINTAGE TV LIGHTING GEAR

1. Dual Source lamps The start of a new series of articles where we look back at the history of equipment and tools associated with TV Lighting over the past 85 years.

Words and pictures: Paul Middleton In the 1950s, the mainstay of TV lighting equipment in the BBC were the Mole-Richardson series of ‘Solar Spot’ fixtures that had been developed for film use back in the 1930s, along with the ‘Kamdens’ lamp designs that had been cheaply produced for use at Alexandra Palace in the Baird studio.

As the BBC developed its ideas for the future new Television Centre, the need to have a multi-purpose ‘illuminator’ (as the BBC called their lighting fixtures back then) became evident.

A Mole-Richardson ‘Junior’ 2kW Solar Spot

The ‘Moles’ available at the time were heavy and designed for constant handling in film studios, and on location, using Americandesigned 115V bi-post a.c/d.c bulbs.

The BBC invited submissions for the design of new 5-kW, 2-kW and 500 watt spots that were to be lighter weight and cheaper than their American cousins to meet the planned demands for black and white TV in the UK. Designs from GEC and Mole Richardson (England) were chosen from those submitted by four companies. The light weight was required to reduce the loading on the roofs of future studios and by the much gentler handling expected from a saturation rig.

A 500W ‘Scoop’

Two views of the Twister soft-light and hard light ends

In the 1960s 240V bulbs started to become available along with the move to use Quartz Iodine lamps instead of the older very limited lifespan (around 100 hrs) Tungsten lamps.

The BBC opened its first Studio, TC3, at the new Television Centre in June 1960 using the same range of fixtures as at Riverside, but with the addition of some new fixtures produced by Strand Electric such as the 2kW Patt 243 ‘Polestar’, and 2kW Patt 93 Gobo projector and alternatives to the ‘broad’ sources such as the 5kW MR ‘Tenlite’.

Two new designs of illuminators were considered necessary.

The most serious need was “for a more efficient ‘broad source’ (soft-light) illuminator that was economically priced”.

The BBC, MR and GEC joined forces to design and produce the ‘Scoop’ and the newly designed Riverside TV studios opened in 1957 with an equal mix of ‘Scoops’ and the various new designs of spotlights.

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A 10 x 500W ‘Tenlite’

1. Dual source lamps

The BBC’s desire to ever improve efficiency in studio operations then led to the idea to combine the features of spotlight and broad into one fixture ready for the increased lighting levels needed for colour TV. Mole-Richardson had first produced its 2kW Dualite (also more widely known as the ‘Sputnik’) in 1964 and its engineers then designed a mechanism that allowed just one fixture to function as both types. This took the Dualite design and created a soft-light using the same bulb by means of a sliding mechanism.

The Dualite in its ‘Berkey Blue’ version

The Dualite and Twister also shared the ability to swap the lenses of units between a standard 18-50°, a Wide angle 30-90° and a spherical pressing giving a 100-120° beam.

Though how often that facility was used is unknown. The Barndoor was also built in and couldn’t easily fall off. A colour frame wasn’t needed at everything was in Monochrome!

Close-up inside Twister with front reflector removed to show the rear reflector that swivels into place when used in softlight mode

The MR sales brochure stated “The Twister is an entirely new design of dual purpose lantern utilising a single 2kW light source and a patent method of change over converting the lantern from solar spot to soft flood in a matter of seconds. In the soft light setting there is no direct light visible from the source; the lantern has pole operated pan, tilt and focus mechanisms and change over from soft light to focus takes place through the operation of the focus mechanism of the spot end. This mechanism is partly operated having travelled from wide beam to full spot. Further travel in the same direction of rotation affects the change-over bringing in an intermediate reflector anreversing the direction of light output to the soft light end.

VINTAGE TV LIGHTING GEAR

“The tilt mechanism also includes a friction clutch thus allowing manual tilt with complete safety. The lantern is supplied complete with integral fully rotating barn doors and the soft light end has crash bars as an extra feature. Because of it’s glass fibre construction the Twister is extremely light and easy to handle and in combination with Pantograph and Telescopic suspensions it eliminates the need for a complex of equipment and also does away with a ‘clutter’ of stands and cables on the Studio floor. The suspension can be combined with a track so that the lamp may be moved around the Studio as required.”

The Twister then developed into the Mole-Richardson Type 337/2084 Q-Star which just used the new dual wattage filament lamps of either 2.5/2.5kW or 2/3kW without the soft-light end.

The next stage was the Qwart (Type 2083), with a separate soft-light section grafted onto the rear of the fixture using 4x1,250W linear tungsten halogen lamps to match the power consumption of the front end. The Qwart was a heavier design though, weighing in at 28kg compared to the 22kg of the Twister, but less than the 36kg of an original 5K Mole.

Berkey 2083 ‘Qwart’ switchable 2.5/5kW and later 1.25/2.5/3.75 kW

1. Dual source lamps

The final iterations of the dual source fixture were the Giano and Kahouteck luminaires, introduced by Ianiro Quartzcolor in 1980. The Giano was effectively the equivalent of the Qwart with separate lamps for each end, whilst the Kahouteck returned to the single-bulb design in conjunction with the same type of sliding mechanism as the Twister. Its only new features were a clever rotating grille over the softlight end to reduce spill light when the spotlight end was in use and a frosted element that came into place instead of the double reflector used on the original Twister.

By late 2020, the vast majority of Qwarts and Kahoutecks had been decommissioned as older studios were closed and other studios moved over to LED-based lighting, thanks to the much reduced light levels needed by modern cameras.

(Top) Kahouteck rotating soft end grille (Middle) Bottom view of Kahouteck and label (Bottom) a row of Black Kahoutecks and Blue ‘Berkey’ and Grey ’Lee Lighting’ versions of Qwarts awaiting their fate with the scrap merchant at BBC Wales (December 2020)

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sponsor focus

Jack of all trades...

Bernie Davis believes JLLighting is growing in all the right ways In 2020, good news was always worth seeking out and savouring. When the STLD was having to re-evaluate all our priorities, it was a welcome lift when another company requested to become a sponsor of the Society.

I have known Jack Linaker for many years as a TV console operator. He had even worked on a few of my shows when I needed a programmer, and his availability happened to coincide. Then a few years ago I started to hear that he had started up his own lighting hire company. This is not an unknown phenomenon – a programmer has spare company cash and invests in equipment that they know they can find a hire market for, most commonly being their lighting desk of choice. It was when I saw sign-painted trucks with JLLighting’s logo that I appreciated he was taking this seriously, and as new sponsors, I had the excuse to look into how this had all come about.

With the help of the inevitable video conference call, Jack talked me through the company path – a subject he freely admits he loves talking about.

Ten years ago, JLLighting as a company was formed, really as a trading platform for Jack as a programmer, but also allowing him to invest any profits into new equipment that he could offer on his shows. Then in a move to expand business, he contacted every local AV company offering to add his TV lighting experience to their events, realising that TV cameras were becoming an

JLLighting

increasingly important part of all events.

The business started to expand and he started taking on more staff.

The next step was in 2015 when he approached a few TV lighting designers offering to supply their productions, and soon won a few contracts in mainstream television. Jack is very aware that his early work with local AV companies led him to investing in the cheaper end of the equipment market, but he also knows that this is not what is wanted on the bigger shows and a quick look at JLL’s website shows that bigger and better brands have now been invested in to meet the demands of high-end shows.

By mid-2016 as the company continued to grow, Dan Terzino joined as operations director, and is now a co-owner. Jack and Dan point out that JLL prides itself in investing on solid infrastructure, and an array of new lighting equipment for good measure, but holds back from restrictive investment, not relying on one brand or fixture. This allows their clients to have the freedom to choose the right ones for their show, not just restricting clients to what’s on their shelf.

The warehousing and asset control has also developed heavily over the past five years, taking advice from exBlinding Light’s Paddy Stacey in stock

control. Everything in the company is barcoded and asset tracked, and full test data details are available easily for any hirer.

With the closing of Blitz in 2020, JLL took on some key staff to become a new branch of the company – JLLive – to deal with the event and exhibition side. With the advent of COVID-19, this is still getting started, but even between lockdowns the business is growing, and of course it benefits from the TV lighting experience JLL brings.

A chance development has proven convenient to the company, in that a job in Ireland brought new contacts there. They liked how JLLighting worked and suggested there was value in opening up a branch near Dublin.

This became JL Ireland and with Brexit, it brought the unexpected advantage of easing equipment movements to the EU. If a larger job requires a significant sub-hire being brought to the UK, it can now be added to a truck movement between premises, which would not have been possible without the Dublin branch.

JLLighting is about to make its next big step, and is taking on chairman Mike Wroe. Mike was part of the fledgling Just Eat, and as Chief Finance Officer he led the transformation of a £20m start-up into a highly successful £4bn FTSE business, operating in 15 countries worldwide.

Having worked with JLLighting, he is now keen to move the company on to the next level.

Which brings us to 2021 and with things starting to improve Jack, like the rest of us, is looking forward to JLLighting resuming where it left off in 2020. For more information on the company and their products, please go to jl-lighting.com.

Set & Light | Spring 2021

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sponsor news

AC-ET MBSE makes significant investment

Leading lighting rental house, MBSE, has made a significant investment in over 500 Luminex network and lighting distribution devices. This substantial acquisition was supplied by sister companies A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) and A.C. Lighting Inc, to the MBSE technical teams on both sides of the Atlantic.

Created specifically for the entertainment industry, Luminex products are becoming increasingly responsible for managing the data behind many of today’s fixture heavy productions.

Extremely capable and simple to use, Luminex systems provide the cutting edge solutions necessary to handle complex lighting data distribution. This blend of power and simplicity allows crews to manage even the largest network setups, without the need to call on a separate IT expert.

AC-ET’s Brand Development Manager, Neil Vann comments, “In my opinion, Luminex has established itself as arguably one of the industry’s leading standards for data distribution. The attention to detail and ability to make sure that everything on set reacts as it is supposed to, exactly when it is supposed to, makes these products an incredibly important part of an installation. When it comes to reliability and simplicity, in the studio or on location, Luminex really are a leader in this field.

We are delighted to be supporting MBSE, both in the UK and the US with this industry leading hardware.”

ARRI

Dan will work closely with the team in Germany to further develop light sources and technology, coordinate beta testing, conduct market research, and integrate customer needs into products and solutions.

Markus Klüsener boasts many years of expertise with LED luminaires. After his first steps into the business as a lighting technician, he graduated as a certified event technician and certified master in event technology with a focus on lighting.

Gaining more application knowledge as a freelance lighting technician, programmer and lighting director on various national and international projects, he also worked as technical trainer for Martin Professional in Germany. He started his career as a product application specialist at Martin in 2009. Transferring to the Martin by Harman headquarters in Denmark and taking on the role of product manager for the stage lighting portfolio in 2014, Klüsener managed the company’s most important and innovative LED products with his passion and skill.

Dan Reed brings over 20 years of design experience and perspective to ARRI Lighting. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona (Cal Poly), he began his career with Vari*Lite Production Services in Los Angeles before joining Full Flood Inc. as an associate lighting designer for multi-camera live broadcasts, award shows, and special events. Reed has worked extensively in the international market as a lighting director and programmer for the themed entertainment industry, having most recently overseen the installation of a new park-wide lighting control system for Global Village Carnaval in Dubai. His most recent broadcast designs include “First Responders Live” for Fox and the studio grid system for Fullscreen Studios in Playa Vista, CA. As Senior Product Manager Lighting, based in Denmark and the Lighting office in Stephanskirchen, Germany, Klüsener will be defining the next generation of ARRI LED fixtures— including hardware, software, and accessories.

As Product Manager Lighting Products, Network, and Software Control, Reed will further incorporate emerging technology trends, such as virtual reality and virtual cinematography, into ARRI’s portfolio. He is located at ARRI Inc, in Burbank, CA. Klüsener and Reed will serve an integral role in the planning, development, introduction, and life cycle management of new ARRI Lighting products. Their efforts will focus not only on the technical aspects and features but also on actively supporting customers with creativity and more efficient workflows.

ARRI mourns the loss of Max Welz ARRI Lighting strengthens product management with Markus Klüsener and Dan Reed

ARRI Lighting is pleased to welcome two new team members.

Effective immediately, Markus Klüsener (left) as Senior Product Manager Lighting and Dan Reed (right) as Product Manager Lighting Products, Network, and Software Control strengthen ARRI’s business unit specialising in lighting systems. Together with Florian Bloch, Head of Product Management, Markus and 36

Set & Light | Spring 2021

ARRI legend Max Welz, who helped the company to develop the business with his drive and enormous commitment, sadly passed away in Munich in March at the age of 95. He began his first day at ARRI on August 1, 1945, as the company’s 50th employee since its inception and remained true for the next 62 years and still holds the company record for years of service.

After starting as a lathe operator, when the company was outsourced to Brannenburg am Inn, he quickly became a master lathe operator and milling operator. From 1948

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

onwards, he held numerous positions at ARRI in Munich, managing several departments and establishing new ones. In 1986, Welz was granted general power of attorney as Division Manager for Production Engineering. In 1991, he took over responsibility for the entire production of camera and lighting equipment as Technical Manager of Apparatus Engineering. In 1992, he was appointed to the management team of Cine Technik; he decided to step down from management in 2001 after many successful years. At the end of his career, he led ARRI’s Casting Technology department in Stephanskirchen back into the black as Managing Director.

Welz grew with ARRI and aided the company’s development through his various functions with drive and enormous commitment. “Max Welz, the longest-serving ARRI employee has passed away. A true member of the ARRI family, rough edges and all, who was always interested in the success and struggles of ARRI. For him, only two things were important in life: his family and ARRI,” explains Prof. Franz Kraus, long-time Executive Board Member responsible for technology, most recently a member of the Supervisory Board and now an advisor to ARRI. The bond with ARRI has continued through generations. For example, his brother Georg was also a long-time ARRI employee, and his grandson, Hans-Peter, has also been with the company for many years.

“Our sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences go out to his family. He shaped generations of ARRI employees. We now mourn the loss of a cherished companion and look back with gratitude on decades of successful cooperation,” adds ARRI Executive Board Member Markus Zeiler on behalf of the shareholders, the Supervisory Board, the Management Board, and all the ARRI colleagues.

Not long ago, Max Welz took part in ARRI’s video interview series “Filmmaker´s View” and attended the company’s 100th-anniversary celebrations in 2017. Most recently, in October 2020, Welz visited ARRI’s new headquarters in Munich, met former colleagues, and learned about the company’s current products and challenges. ARRI will continue to honour his life and cherish his memory.

ARRI’s new AMIRA Live camera is purposedesigned for multi-camera applications

ARRI announces a new version of its AMIRA camera: the AMIRA Live. Designed specifically for multi-camera live

broadcasts, it eliminates external cabling between the camera body and the fibre adapter, resulting in a cleaner and more reliable configuration for live productions. Along with a new, feature-rich software update and the VMM-1 onboard monitor, AMIRA Live offers a unique combination of system camera efficiencies and truly cinematic images.

Like other Super 35 format cinema cameras adapted for multi-camera broadcasting, AMIRA previously required several external cables connecting the camera to the fibre back-end for SMPTE 311M signal transmission. For live broadcasters, these cables add an unwanted additional risk of accidental disconnection or damage. Not only does the AMIRA Live remove these risks, but the cleaner camera configuration is also easier to work with for camera operators.

With its cable-less design, AMIRA Live has more in common with the system cameras typically used for multi-camera broadcasts. However, these cameras use a 2/3" sensor, whereas AMIRA Live uses ARRI’s legendary ALEV III Super 35 sensor – the same sensor design as used in all ALEXA cameras. Renowned across the global film industry for its unsurpassed overall image quality, this sensor and ARRI’s sophisticated colour science allow AMIRA Live users to broadcast live images on a par with high-end movies, TV series, and OTT productions.

Reflecting ARRI’s system approach and commitment to continually enhance feature sets, a new SUP 6.1 software update is being released concurrently with AMIRA Live.

Among its many refinements are improved noise reduction, increased sharpness settings range, better defect pixel correction, and faster boot-up. The update adds a green tally display to the viewfinder image and allows intercom talkback via the VTR or user button, facilitating easier communications when operating the camera from the shoulder.

SUP 6.1 also now means that no additional device is needed when using cforce RF motors to control the iris with the remote control panel (RCP). This increases creative flexibility, opening up new looks by allowing the use of prime and zoom lenses designed for cinema productions with the same ease and workflow as traditional system camera lenses.

The final component of the new AMIRA Live package is ARRI’s VMM-1 monitor.

This versatile 10" onboard monitor connects directly to the camera viewfinder interface or can be daisy-chained with the

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Camera Control Panel CCP-1. It includes controls for contrast, colour, backlight, and peaking (including peaking on/ off switch), a physical on/off switch for the frontside tally, and two camera user buttons. Accompanying the monitor is ARRI’s adjustable, quick-release Monitor Yoke Support MYS-1 bracket, designed specifically for the VMM-1 and for multicamera setups.

The AMIRA Live is available to order from today.

Prototypes have already been used on professional broadcasts with the arena-filling German magicians the Ehrlich Brothers, a television talkshow, as well as David Guetta Productions.

ARRI Remote Solutions – a powerful, customisable toolkit, allowing productions to resume work safely and immediately ARRI is pleased to present Remote Solutions, a powerful toolkit that can be customised to meet near- and off-set workflows. This remote production ecosystem allows professionals to safely and immediately get back to work without compromising operational and creative control.

With a complete system of connected ARRI cameras, lights, remote heads and accessories, ARRI Remote Solutions offers workflows that enable safe social distancing between talent and crew as well as between crew members.

The ARRI Remote Solution enables professionals to: • Remotely control ARRI cameras, lights, remote heads, and accessories • Leverage proven technology from an industry veteran • Produce premium, unequaled cinematic quality with near- and off-set workflows for broadcast, cinema, live events, corporate, sports, music video production, fashion, and more Applications such as Stellar, the intelligent lighting control app from ARRI, provide a smart and innovative way to control professional lighting. It allows gaffers to change colour temperature and output without touching lights or approaching talent. Products such as the WCU-4 and the external radio module (ERM) allow crews to control focus and camera movement from a greater distance and through barriers such as concrete floors or walls while the stabilised remote head (SRH), enables cinematic movement of the camera and can be combined with a robotic dolly for near-set movement without approaching talent.

Simultaneously, web control allows cinematographers and gaffers to creatively and technically control the camera and lighting from another room or even another continent.

The result is cinematic quality, no matter the crew’s distance or location.

“The pandemic has accelerated change and forced productions to adapt. With travel limitations and new requirements for social distancing onset, our connected ecosystem of industry-proven tools can be customised to create safe sets, whether working near- or off-set, without compromising the creativity or technical control of production. This is just another way we at ARRI are enabling and supporting filmmakers,” says Stephan Schenk, General Manager Global Sales & Solutions.

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B360 B360 continues to expand across all sectors

Despite the unprecedented difficulties our industry has faced this past year, B360 has worked tirelessly to ensure it continues to support its clients, colleagues, suppliers and associates in delivering world class projects.

Since last Autumn, B360 has developed and expanded across all sectors of its business and we have invested in lighting and infrastructure equipment. Between increasing its super silent single set generator fleet, expanding its rigging, lighting and design/project management departments, designing and building a new mobile lighting gallery/production vehicle, and extensively expanding its premises, it has been a very busy year indeed for B360.

For the first time last year, it supported Timeline Television with a bespoke design and package for a temporary green screen studio for the live broadcast covering the global SailGP races. This temporary green screen system was very well received and was quickly utilised by ITV for multiple programmes.

Despite the UK lockdown last year, it did not stop. With some projects pausing, it utilised the time to test, inspect and maintain its equipment, forge new relationships, and do its part to support staff and clients through the period of uncertainty. its consultancy services were well utilised during this time, and it provided expertise to many major channels, broadcasters and studios to enable them to realise plans for upgrade and expansion. Specifically, it completed new studio installations for a multi-channel broadcaster whose 13 channel brands in the UK cover factual and lifestyle & entertainment programming, with the ethos to “make our world bigger”; one which is very much aligned with B360’s mission. It delivered two further studio refurbishments for major channels in London, and is currently in the process of other refurbishments, one in Manchester, and others in London, and it is working on a completely new large scale studio development within London.

B360 was also pleased to provide bespoke lighting kits which were deployed to several well-known channels for use in their lockdown broadcasts. It also installed a temporary back-up green screen studio for a well-known major news channel, providing rigging, lighting and control.

Throughout the summer of 2020, it was heavily involved in the US Elections, providing equipment and services to an Iranian News channel in London. Then, through the winter, as the lockdown eased and programmes started being relaunched, it was pleased to be called upon to support Timeline Television, by providing a temporary studio, complete with rigging, lighting, control and labour for ITV Sport’s World Series of Darts 2020. It was also delighted to provide lighting and the associated infrastructure for a green screen within BT Sport’s studio for I’m a Celebrity Daily Drop Show. It was proud to provide lighting and crew to support CC-Lab for the filming of several artists for Apprentice Nation. and also provided power via one of its super silent twinsets and power distribution to St Paul's Cathedral for the Christmas Songs of Praise. Its relationship with NEP is growing, and it has

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

supported them with its twinset power for shows such as the RPO Christmas Concert held at St Albans Cathedral, and in London for Gogglebox, to name a few.

Over the past six months, its OB and Power division have continued to provided power to a wide variety of sporting events. It has supported many OB units in their broadcast of sporting events within the UK, whilst adhering to the strict COVID-19 guidelines. Some examples include broadcast of the British Championship Athletics, the National League Football, FA Women’s Super League, FA Cup, and FA Youth Cup, to name a few.

Towards the end of 2020, it supported the ATP Tennis from The O2 Arena in Greenwich, proving lighting, infrastructure and crew for the BBC Sports Studio. Its bespoke mobile lighting gallery was utilised to help maintain compliance with social distancing. Throughout the winter, and into 2021 it has been providing rigging, lighting and control to cover WWE, Fight Night and Ultimate Boxer.

Last month, within a very short space of time, it was asked to design and install a temporary studio in association with Timeline TV and Sunset and Vine for the filming and broadcast of the India vs England Test series. B360 provided all the rigging, lighting, control and crew for all four Tests, delivered seamlessly and to budget, despite the very limited timescales available.

As the beginning of 2021 draws to a close, B360 continues to go from strength to strength and despite the challenges the lockdown has brought, it is delighted to announce that its team has grown. We welcome both Andy Cox and Arran Johnson to the team. Andy comes with a wealth of experience in Outside broadcasting studio lighting; he will be working as a Project Manager within our Outside broadcasting lighting department. Arran Johnson comes with a vast amount of knowledge in the large-scale events and power sector, he joins as a Junior Project Manager within our power department. B360 looks forward to an exciting rest of the year, and wishes its clients, colleagues, suppliers, and the whole industry a safe and productive year to come.

BACKUP Backup’s #WeNeedCrew helping to raise money for those in most need

In March, two industry collectives mounted new initiatives to raise awareness of the live industry’s ongoing battle to stay afloat and raise much needed funds to allow industry charity Backup to continue in its mission to help those in need.

For the whole of the month of March, #WeNeedCrew’s #moveforcrew challenged people to walk or run 31 miles in their local area. This is the equivalent of 50 times around the perimeter of the iconic Wembley Stadium, which it chose as the focal point for the challenge to symbolise how much we are all missing live events and music. #WeNeedCrew, which was started by Karen Ringland and Alice Martin, knows that treating mental health issues should be even more of a priority now. #moveforcrew’s aim is to raise vital funds to pay for therapy sessions for those in need and connect

our community with certified practitioners who understand our industry.

“The #WeNeedCrew campaign has successfully galvanised the music touring industry to raise funds for the UK crews.

The campaign has made a real difference to people’s lives giving hope and helping to alleviate real financial hardship,” says Backup Vice Chairman, Piers Shepperd. “Backup quickly identified that some people needed more than financial support and we therefore warmly welcomed the new initiative #moveforcrew. This new campaign will raise funds to provide mental health support for our colleagues who work across music, theatre, TV and film.” #WeMakeEvents, meanwhile, launched a powerful new video campaign to highlight the ongoing hardship and struggles of the live events supply chain.

Supported by some of the biggest stars in music, comedy and theatre, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the 700,000 people in the supply chain, the majority of whom have not been able to work for the past 12 months, and launched TEXTING TEXTING ONETWO, an appeal to raise funds for these highly skilled people through Backup.

Introduced by Simon Callow, one of Backup’s patrons, artists including Sir Mick Jagger, Katherine Jenkins, Midge Ure, James Bay, Biffy Clyro, Enter Shikari, Griff Rhys Jones, Christopher Eccleston, Paul Whitehouse, Angus Deayton, Lucy Porter, Stephen K Amos, Deborah Frances-White, Kevin Day, The Kooks, Sam Fender and Feeder, along with a new music video by Frank Turner, explained how, without expert technicians, transporters, logistics experts, caterers, riggers and production staff, live events cannot return.

“With the generous help of #WeMakeEvents and #WeNeedCrew, Backup has raised and granted over £500,000 to our colleagues throughout the entertainment industry who have not worked for a year and have not received any meaningful Government or council help,” says Backup Chairman, John Simpson. “These new initiatives of TEXTING TEXTING ONETWO and #moveforcrew and the amazing generosity of so many, will enable Backup to continue to support those technicians and their families who are still facing despair and financial hardship.”

To donate to TEXTING TEXTING ONETWO, simply text ONETWO12 to 70085 to donate £12, ONETWO5 to donate £5, and so on. This goes straight to Backup and gift aid can be added. Terms and conditions can be found at backuptech.uk

BBC STUDIOWORKS BBC Studioworks appoints Commercial Director to accelerate growth

BBC Studioworks has appointed Jon Noakes as Commercial Director to deliver the company’s ambitious growth plans, in particular opening new studios outside London and expanding its partnerships.

Noaked joined in December having recently worked with BBC Studioworks on a consultancy basis to formulate its long-term growth strategy. He will report into BBC Studioworks’ CEO, Andrew Moultrie, and will grow the Set & Light | Spring 2021

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business by delivering new revenue streams and working even closer with producers. He will head up BBC Studioworks’ newly created commercial division and be responsible for both the Sales and Communications teams.

Noakes brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, having held various senior commercial and operational positions. Prior to launching his own consultancy, Noakes was Commercial Director and then Managing Director of Go Ape where he opened new locations, launched new activities, and drove a greater customer focus through the business. No stranger to the BBC, he spent 11 years in senior strategy and business development roles for BBC Worldwide.He started his career at Deloitte, advising on corporate strategy projects across multiple industries.

“Jon has a brilliant mind, is a proven performer and has a real ‘can do’ attitude” said Andrew Moultrie, CEO, BBC Studioworks. “He is the perfect leader to shape our newly created commercial division, drive our commerciality, and advance our business in response to the growing industry demand for studio space.”

Commenting on his appointment, Noakes said: “The business has a real opportunity to grow, and the strong foundations of talented people and exceptional service required to achieve it. I look forward to expanding Studioworks’ footprint and working in closer collaboration with our existing and future partners to understand how we can help meet their long- and short-term needs.”

“The role of Culture and Transformation Director is paramount to our future success and is vital in ensuring we nurture an advancing, inclusive and trusted environment for our sector,” said Andrew Moultrie, CEO, BBC Studioworks.

“Katie has the perfect blend of commercial experience, transformational delivery and culture awareness to help deliver our ambitious growth plans. We are very fortunate to have someone of her calibre join the team.”

Commenting on her appointment, Leveson said: “I’m thrilled to join a business which has such a strong determination to inspire the next generation of diverse talent to work in our industry. The Studioworks team has a wealth of experience and it’s a privilege to be amongst experts whose knowledge will be pivotal as we expand the business and work towards the future. I also look forward to collaborating with existing and future industry partners as we increase our engagement with grassroots talent.”

CHROMA Q

BBC Studioworks appoints Culture and Transformation Director to lead organisational change

BBC Studioworks has appointed Katie Leveson as Culture and Transformation Director. Leveson will lead its business transformation strategy and cultural change as it drives commercial growth by planning to advance its business across the UK. More specifically, Leveson will lead industry change to ensure career paths in TV studio craft, technical and delivery roles, such as engineering, audio, visual, electrical and scenic, are accessible to all and engage the next generation of aspiring diverse talent. She will also be responsible for building on the collaborative culture at BBC Studioworks to ensure a progressive and inclusive environment for all employees. Leveson will report into BBC Studioworks’ CEO, Andrew Moultrie, and will also head up the HR team.

Leveson joined in April from Universal Pictures International where she is currently HR Director for the international theatrical business. Prior to this, she was HR Business Partner for BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios) supporting the Content and Brands Divisions. Her career at the BBC began in Organisational Development where she was responsible for talent management strategies and programmes to help individuals accelerate their career progression. Leveson started her career in management consulting, advising on people strategy across multiple industries.

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Let the world see you in the best light with Chroma-Q’s Sandi

Chroma-Q® is excited to announce the release of its new Sandi™ 1622 Video Conferencing key light. Its soft lens diffusion, large source and adjustable colour temperature means you’ll look your best under any ambient lighting conditions.

With everything now moving online, the Sandi has been developed to ensure that your professional image isn’t compromised by bad lighting, and that you stand out for all the right reasons. The light can fit around a monitor up to 24" (609mm) and also provides a physical support for phones, laptops and tablets.

The Sandi has two adjustment dials that allow you to control the intensity from 0-100%, and the colour temperature from warm white to cool white (2,700K to 6,500K). The LED driven light engine provides a flicker-free source for cameras.

With 110° coverage from three different axis, the Sandi creates an even, soft, natural light, delivering beautiful skintones with enough output to look good, but that isn’t harsh on the eyes.

This video conferencing key light is specifically designed for business professionals, vloggers, bloggers, zoomers, telework, government officials, make-up artists, and theatres.

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

Chroma-Q’s Hang Force

No position compromised thanks to Chroma-Q’s new Hang Force accessory

Chroma-Q is pleased to announce the launch of a new accessory – The Hang Force – designed for use with its Color Force II and Studio Force II (48" and 72" models).

Restrictions with where you can hang the fixture on the truss due to the crossbar-section is now a thing of the past, thanks to the Hang Force bracket which allows fixtures to be hung from trusses where the position of clamps might not align with the original fixture clamp position. A series of slots allow the clamps to be repositioned to fit anywhere on the truss pipe.

For added flexibility and speedy mounting, the Hang Force uses rapid quarter-turn locks so it can quickly be installed and removed from the fixture. A centred carrying handle also means it can be moved easily.

The bracket also enables all the fixture sizes in the range (12", 48" and 72") to hang equally side-by-side when rigged on to the truss.

The Hang Force comes with the necessary hardware to upgrade existing fixtures for use with quarter-turn locks and an also be used on the floor thanks to a set of plates to stabilise the whole assembly.

Chroma-Q’s Global brand manager, Paul Pelletier commented: “We are excited to release the new Hang Force.

We are always looking to develop new accessories that add additional versatility and flexibility to our products to enabling them to exceed the high levels of creativity required by our customers.”

Keep both feet on the ground with Chroma-Q’s pole-operated pan and tilt yoke

Chroma-Q® is excited to announce the launch of a brandnew pole-operated pan and tilt yoke accessory for its Space Force Octo™ and Space Force onebytwo™ fixtures.

Over the past few months, Chroma-Q has seen a large increase in demand from its film and TV customers, specifically for the Space Force range of fixtures.

“The development and launch of this new accessory came about due to customer demand. We

are delighted to be able to give our customers what they want and endeavour to respond to their needs to ensure our products tick all the boxes,” commented Chroma- Q’s Global Brand Manager, Paul Pelletier.

In such a fast-paced industry, having the ability to make changes quickly and easily is essential. Thanks to the pole operation, operators will now be able to make adjustments whilst keeping both feet on the ground, while removing the need for ladders on set not only keeps things tidier, but also helps to eliminate any potential safety hazards.

CIRROLITE Fiilex Q8 Color

The Q8 Color is a 320W 8" LED fresnel that generates high-quality full-colour light output. This fixture uses the latest iteration of Fiilex’s Dense Matrix LED technology to deliver colour fidelity and optical versatility that are superior≈to previous generations of LED fresnels.

With an extremely wide spot/flood range, smooth dimming to 0%, no flicker, and high CRI, the Q8 Color combines the extensive feature set of top-tier RGBW LEDs with the performance of a tungsten fresnel.

Various colour control modes, including CCT, HSI, Gels, and Effects, are accessible via the fixture’s control pad. All modes support 8- and 16-bit DMX. • High-CRI white light output (2,000-10,000k) • Additional 8- and 16-bit colour modes: • HSI, Effects, RGBW, Gels, CCTHSI, CIExy, etc.

• 12-62° spot/flood range with no optical aberrations • 8-leaf barndoor cuts clean with no colour splitting • Smooth and Sharp dimming modes • Four fan speed modes: full, variable, slent, off • IP-25 Rating (water-resistant) • Compatible with industry standard softboxes via speed ring accessory

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CLAYPAKY

London welcomes 2021

London welcomed in 2021 with a spectacular city-wide display, sending a message of thanks and hope to the nation and the world. Jack Morton, the global brand experience agency, helped to develop the original concept and worked in partnership with the Mayor of London’s office and a dedicated team of experts to create the extraordinary experience.

The ten-minute show, designed for home-viewing and created in collaboration with the BBC, was broadcast live on BBC One and watched by a global viewing audience of millions. Jack Morton’s creative show team worked in collaboration with On the Sly for the music production, Titanium Fireworks for the pyrotechnics design, and SKYMAGIC for the swarm drone sequences.

Lighting for the event was designed by Durham Marenghi with Paul Cook as Associate LD and programmer and the spectacular array of 168 Claypaky Mythos 2 and 168 Elation Proteus Hybrids on London Bridge was supplied by Lights Control Rigging and managed by Rob Watson. Durham called on the expertise of ER lasers, the Signify team and Illuminated River project, Armadillo and Tower Bridge, Stadium FX at Wembley and the Woodroffe Bassett team at the Shard to integrate the city-wide effects into a memorable light show to herald what will hopefully be a far better New Year for all.

Claypaky lights at the inauguration of the new façade of the Bergamo Provincial Police Headquarters

The inauguration of the new façade of the Bergamo Provincial Police Headquarters took place on 10 December 2020. The façade was based on drawings done by students at the Giacomo e Pio Manzù Art School and the work was made possible thanks to the generosity of local businessmen and foundations.

Owing to the ongoing pandemic, the inauguration took place in the presence only of the highest public officials in Bergamo. The Chief of Police and Director General of Public Security Franco Gabrielli attended the whole ceremony, which 42

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could be followed live on the DTTV channel BergamoTV and was streamed on the Bergamo Provincial Police Headquarters Facebook page.

Claypaky, which is based in Seriate near Bergamo, contributed to the event by providing the lighting effects that illuminated the façade and projected the new graphic motif in the colours of the Italian flag. Four B-Eye K20s and a total of 53 Claypaky GlowUps were used. Thirty-six of the Claypaky GlowUps were arranged on three semicircular trusses and synchronised in such a way as to simulate a flag in the wind using coloured light. The colours of the flag were also reproduced on white sheets of canvass using six more GlowUps at the entrance.

Lastly, other units were used to light some areas inside the building, all with the approval of the Chief of Police of the Province of Bergamo Maurizio Auriemma. This temporary installation was commissioned by FasolMusic and rigged by the Bergamo-based company Milleluci Light Designer, who had this to say: “Claypaky GlowUps are remarkable. We have been using them for many years now on an ongoing basis and they have allowed us to come up quickly with countless lighting installations with a very small investment in terms of time and money.”

GlowUps are portable, battery-operated LED lights, which do away with the need for electrical connections and unsightly cabling. The light comes from heavy duty RGBW power LEDs which last for thousands of hours, in keeping with energy saving and environmental sustainability requirements.

They are intelligent moving lights. Users may choose a sequence of colour and shade changes from the several pre-programmed inside the light, which the unit then performs totally automatically in a synchronisable way.

Eclipse and Claypaky light up Museum of the Future for the 49th UAE National Day celebrations “Dubai is open for business” – a very clear message from the Government, as the UAE celebrated its 49th National Day in style. Eclipse Staging Services LLC were proud to support its long-term partner, People, with one of the most visually spectacular installations in recent years. Museum of the Future, a 255ft architectural masterpiece, set to open in 2021, was activated for the National Day celebrations with the temporary installation of 49 Clay Paky Mythos within its central void.

With design concept and event production from People, Eclipse crew worked alongside iRIG, the appointed rigging contractor, to hang the fixtures within a 360-degree, clockface design, from custom-rolled pipe dead hung to the building structure. As the site is currently still under construction, careful consideration and additional health and safety measures had to be implemented and followed to ensure that all crew could seamlessly work around the active site.

Lighting designer Tony (Turbo) Hall worked alongside the Eclipse programmer as the light show ran live for six nights.

The design of the rig allowed for various key looks, ranging from tight beams all focused to the centre of void, changing between the red, white and green colours of the UAE, to stunning aerial effects as the fixtures tiled out towards the

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

nearby Emirates Towers. Tony Hall says: “I was delighted to be able to use the ClayPaky Mythos 2 from eclipse for this project. The outstanding output from these fixtures created a one horse race as far as fixture selection went.

"During programming, the enhanced output, even in saturated colours, proved a winning combination. The units proved to be extremely robust, with no failures on site.

Given the issues with getting to any units, this was of paramount importance.”.

DEDOLIGHT Website devoted to those passionate about cinematography

Dedolight has launched dedo.tv, a website devoted to those passionate about cinematography.

This is a movie-based website, featuring lighting demonstrations, interviews and behind the scenes footage, with everything relevant to cinematography and image creation. Dedo.tv features new content to show off the latest lighting technology and developments in the Dedolight range, and also draws on the vast achievement of material produced by Dedolight over more than 40 years.

Rick Young, editor of dedo.tv, explains: “I’ve been producing video content for Dedolight for over ten years. In this time we have produced many films. The idea of dedo.tv is to showcase the best of these, alongside new content which is being created every week. From the original ‘classic’ Dedolight, the DLH4, through to the latest range of battery powered focusing LED lights, and the Lightstream system, which uses parallel light shone into reflectors, we cover it all. The idea is to show what can be done and how to do it.”

Check out dedo.tv for movies, demos and information relevant to anyone interested in cinematography.

DOUGHTY Doughty’s cooking up a storm at Carbis Bay Hotel kitchen studios used for popular cookery shows

Mad Dogs Television is a facilities house supplying camera equipment and crew for TV productions. When it was asked by its client Round World Studios to build a new kitchen studio for their regular cookery shows, Martin Huntley, founder of Mad Dogs TV, turned to Doughty Engineering to supply some of the key equipment.

Martin explained: “Round World Studios regularly hires kitchen studios in London but had the desire to have its own studio. Through a pre-existing relationship, the company linked up with the Carbis Bay Hotel and Estate near St Ives in Cornwall, which has just been announced as the location for this year’s G7 Summit, to create a permanent space available for hire by television producers and other content creators.”

The studio, which is located in a shop front on the beach promenade, has been built as a box within a box consisting of three solid walls and a front glass wall. “The box is essentially the set,” explains Martin. “We built a stage, fitted a kitchen and added blackout/green screen, sound insulation, etc. To the ceiling we fitted Doughty Studio Rail 60 for the lighting rig which covers a 5.5mx5.5m area. We also used a selection of Doughty’s rails, dollies, clamps and cable safety chains. And on the perimeter, we used the same system to put up a curtain track and hung a sound dampening curtain.”

Doughty’s Studio Rail 60 proved to be the perfect piece of kit for the studio. “A LOLER pull test can hang up to 300kg of lights on the Studio Rail easily. With today’s modern tech, lights are getting lighter and there is more flexibility to be creative so it really gives us everything we need. The biggest challenge we had was that we were a bit tight on space with the lighting rig – it is much easier with high ceilings, but we managed,” said Martin.

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While the studio and wider hotel is open for hire to producers nationwide and globally, Round World Studios is initially working with Plymouth-based Rock Oyster media to use the studio as a hub for its regional production activity. Eric Woollard-White, managing director of Round World Studios added: “Rock Oyster Media has just completed filming with Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc OBE for his new ITV cookery series and is the first of three new Rock Oyster productions either confirmed or pencilled in to be filmed at the new Carbis Bay Studio. We hope to build an active production base within the county and are keen to support Cornwall’s creative economic growth.”

This is the first studio build for Mad Dogs TV, but Martin concluded, “working with companies like Doughty who provide first class consultation, advice and customer service made the project relatively problem free. Doughty’s Dan Phillips was a great source of information and support which is exactly what you need.”

ELATION Graham Hill joins Elation as Business Development Manager

Elation Professional’s European headquarters is pleased to announce that from March, long-time lighting professional Graham Hill will be serving as the company’s new Business Development Manager.

Graham is a familiar face to many in the industry, having developed a wealth of relationships over his many years in the entertainment lighting and electrical industries, including years as a key customer of Elation.

Graham brings decades of valuable lighting experience to the position and comes to Elation from a position as VP of Business Development at 4Wall Entertainment, where he developed and maintained customer relationships in Europe and the United Kingdom. He is perhaps best known for his many years as Company Director of Static Light Company, the London-based supplier of lighting solutions for exhibitions, corporate events and motorshows.

Graham’s new role at Elation encompasses building collaborative relationships across the industry internationally, including working closely with lighting designers while communicating market insight to the Elation product team.

He states, “This is the tenth anniversary of my relationship with the Elation team globally. My experience with Elation products and support has always been second to none, from the smallest to the largest clients. Over those years, supporting the most creative and demanding of clients meant that Elation was often asked to create specific products to suit the needs of an industry sector. They did not disappoint and some of those products are still in the range today.

“The very exciting role I am proud to take up will be to continue that legacy of client support internationally for the well-established Elation products. I firmly believe that with the award-winning product families that have launched over the past few years such as Artiste, Proteus and Fuze, as well as the additions of Obsidian Control Systems and Magmatic effects 44

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Elation’s Graham Hill

to the portfolio, it is now by far the most innovative and creative on offer to the industry.”

Graham has worn many hats over the years from operational management to directorships and brings a wide spectrum of competencies and strong market knowledge with him to support Elation’s customers. He has experience managing all aspects of business, including building networks and partnerships to coordinate and facilitate projects anywhere in the world. He has supported some of the world’s leading design agencies, and worked on projects and collaborated directly with partners around the globe.

“We have known and worked with Graham for quite a long time and are delighted that he is finally a fully-fledged member of the Elation family,” stated Marc Librecht, Sales and Marketing Manager at Elation Europe. “We’ve worked very closely with him over the years and our collaboration with him as a customer has always been great. He has always felt a part of the Elation team and we are happy to have such an experienced professional on board who truly believes in our products and the people behind them.”

Squeek Lights redesigns Ruby Stage with Elation for on-camera impact

When full-service lighting company Squeek Lights converted part of its new facility in Middlesex, New Jersey, into the Ruby Stage last July, the space – which featured Elation and lights under control – quickly attracted music clients for livestreams and video productions. Ruby Stage has now been updated with a new design that offers clients an enhanced professional setup for even better on-camera looks.

“The stage had been up for a while and had served our clients well but we wanted to mix it up with a new design,” stated Victor Zeiser, founder and managing partner at Squeek.

“We were able to come up with a more compact floor package and move the drape back which gives us more stage depth for a wider shot and better camera angles. It’s a sleeker design which makes the space bigger and works really well for the camera.”

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

Lines of Dartz for more impact Dartz and Picasso fixtures are again key elements of the design, this time arrayed in lines that deliver more of an impact and make the rig look bigger. For inspiration, Zeiser refers back to a November’s August Burns Red livestream that Squeek provided fixtures for. “After I saw what the Dartz looked like on that show, all in a big line, I thought we have to go double in the shop.” Consequently, a big focus of the redesign is a line of a dozen Dartz overhung off the truss with a matching line of fixtures across the floor for a total of 24.

“Having a clean line of a dozen Dartz uninterrupted in the truss is a great look and they are small enough we could get 12 of them on a 24ft-wide span. They put out a beautiful beam of light that cuts all the way through the shot.”

Picassos fill up entire space with light The Artiste Picasso LED moving heads function as the main spots with eight in the upstage truss and five in a mid-stage position, including one fixture positioned dead centre “So many of the music videos we do have a solo artist and a centerpiece for me was placing one Picasso as a dead centre backlight. The difference between having the clean look of a bright beam of light versus two fixtures splitting the centre is better in my opinion.” Zeiser reflects on a music video they recently shot in the space where they used the ring gobo in the Picasso together with the prism to beautifully fill out the camera shots. “The big front lens of the Picasso looks even bigger when you throw that prism in. It was such a great visual effect out of the front of the fixture that just filled up the whole space with light.” Ruby Stage also includes 16 ADJ 32 Hex Panels from Elation’s sister-company used for eye candy and pixel-mapped looks, as well as blinders or side light.

Obsidian NX2 handles rig with ease Ruby Stage is used for full live PPV concerts, taped musical performances and music video shoots and bands often bring in their own LD, which Zeiser says he loves as it gives him the chance to see how others use the rig. Sometimes though he and his partners at Squeek, Ben Jarrett and Steve Kosiba, will do the programming themselves. Lighting control options include a compact NX2™ controller from Obsidian Control Systems or a hefty larger console. “Steve Kosiba is a pretty big proponent of the Obsidian platform and programmes his shows on the NX2 and is also getting into Dylos pixel mapping,” Zeiser says. “Our little NX2 has enough Universes that we can fully programme all of the lights in the rig in full pixel mode, something our larger console has trouble doing.

The NX2 handles it with ease and flows really nicely.”

Full yet cost effective setup for clients Bands such as Motionless in White, The Wonder Years, June Divided and ManDancing have used the space, as well as AJR for a Biden Presidential Inauguration show and a performance for a late night TV show. “It’s a great way for bands to reconnect with their fans and gives clients a full setup show very cost effectively. For us, it’s a way to keep our skills sharp and cover some of the bills.” Another reason for the redesign is to get some of the bands that used the space last summer back again with a setup that looks different.

Ruby Stage has been a welcome surrogate for Zeiser and his team but he admits it’s a temporary solution and he looks forward to having the lights out on tour again, hopefully this summer. “I’m always open to setting the space back up for a client though. In fact, we’ll probably have more bands doing full production rehearsals in our shop now that some of our clients have seen that we can really host something like this, which isn’t something we were able to do with our old shop.

It’s been a nice way to see what our new shop is really capable of.”

Rain-soaked Daytona 500 not a problem for CSM Production and IP-rated Elation gear

CSM Production of Charlotte, North Carolina, was again called on to provide pre- and post-race production for NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and for this year’s race was grateful that they turned to an IP-rated package of Elation lighting gear.

Delayed for six hours due to storms, the 2021 edition of The Great American Race was a rain-soaked affair that, despite a bit of waiting and the characteristic racing drama, came off without a hitch.

Held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, the Daytona 500 is the most prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar and traditionally harnesses the highest television ratings of any auto race of the year. CSM Production, an award-winning event production company, has worked the premiere race for many years and often uses Elation lights to highlight events surrounding the race. This year, CSM handled all pre-race events including a concert by country artist Luke Combs, driver intros and the National Anthem, as well as Victory Lane celebrations after the race.

Luke Combs played to the live crowd and a global audience on Fox with safety protocols requiring fans to remain in the grandstand seats. Ashley Tobin Rutherford, Sr. Coordinator of Technical Production at CSM Production, designed the lighting for the Luke Combs stage. She was on hand for the event and explains why using a bevy of IP65-rated fixtures made her job much easier. “It seems to rain every day in Florida so you can use a lot of time bagging and unbagging fixtures,” she explains, “and that eats up a lot of your day. If there is even an inkling of rain, you can’t uncover. Using IP65 fixtures cuts out all of that extra time and worry so we can focus on other important things like dialing in the LED screen and refining the effects and looks we want to achieve.” She also said it was fantastic to know that when the gear came back to the CSM shop, it wasn’t ruined or needed a lot of repair.

This year’s design was new and slightly smaller than past years due to the reduced number of fans in attendance (limited to about 30,000, all in the stands). For the pre-race Luke Combs concert CSM constructed a main stage of truss grid bolted on a 53ft-long flatbed trailer on which four 2x7 vertical LED screens and a centre 6x11 screen hung, along with 12 lighting pipes. Here, 12 Elation 4x4 matrix LED blinder and effect panels (acquired by CSM specifically for the event), 12 Elation par lights and LED battens complemented the screen backdrop. Flanking the main stage were truss grids bolted onto two landscape trailers that held PA and additional lighting for the concert, including six Elation ACL 360

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Luke Combs performs at the Daytona 500

Matrix™ moving head effect panels, eight Elation Platinum Wash LED Zoom™ moving heads and 12 Elation Cuepix Strip Tri™ fixtures working with four Antari M-7 RGBA foggers. All control data ran through a node from Obsidian Control Systems. Combs got NASCAR fans warmed up for the race, performing five songs with his newest aired live on TV. After the concert, the PA trailers and centre stage were cleared away, leaving just the LED backdrop for driver intros with custom content mapped to the screens and lights.

Post-race at Victory Lane, 12 Elation Proteus Hybrid™ IP-rated arc source moving heads (rented from Music Matters of Atlanta),16 Elation Pixel Bar 60IP™ and two Pixel Bar 30IP™ battens worked with four Antari M-7 RGBA foggers to add energy to race winner Michael McDowell’s victory celebration. Eight Proteus Hybrids on truss towers provided front wash during the trophy presentation and photos, hit the front stretch of seats for burnouts, and provided the light show for a song played throughout the speedway. Four additional Hybrid units and foggers on stage added movement and cryo effect shots during burnouts, the lightshow, and driver car exits in the Winner’s Circle. The Pixel Bar fixtures outlined the existing signage to highlight and make it more noticeable.

CSM supplied all of the Elation gear, except for the Proteus Hybrids, and work with Elation rep firm The Healy Group for all things Elation. “It’s fantastic to see that they have expanded their IP line, which is great for everything we do,” Tobin Rutherford comments. “The gear is really high quality yet still 46

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very cost efficient and on the back end, if you do have any issues, the support they provide is great. They really understand deadlines.”

Although the rain held off for the Luke Combs concert and pre-race events, the downpour eventually came which meant that Victory Lane celebrations took place at 1.30am. “It was a long day but we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t enjoy it so much,” Tobin Rutherford concludes. “Even with all the rain, the lights held up and worked for an amazing event!”

ETC ETC dealer supplies new High End Systems gear through the ETC Rent programme for Leith Theatre’s latest venture in Edinburgh

Live in Leith took place at the well-known Leith Theatre from in March with musical performances from different artists being broadcast live in a series of digital gigs.

The performances were lit by 24 TurboRay fixtures which were supplied by Black Light who acted as an official rental hub for the ETC Rent programme. The automated fixtures are a part of the High End Systems’ Effects family and are designed not only for wash and aerial effects, but as a powerful hard-edge beam with special pixel-mapping effects.

Field Project Coordinator at ETC, Matt Cowles comments: “ETC Rent gives local venues, rental companies and creative

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

designers access to some of the latest fixtures from ETC and High End Systems. The programme was introduced in the UK with the aim to help the industry get back on its feet following the effects of the pandemic. As Black Light are one of our four partners in the scheme and based in Scotland, it was an easy and efficient fit getting the fixtures over to the Leith Theatre.”

Lighting Designer Grant Anderson worked on the lighting for performances by Ransom FA and Nova Scotia The Truth for Live in Leith. Describing his lighting design, Grant says: “As both of my artists were solo performers, I wanted to create a sense of intimacy with the design so that the atmosphere wasn’t lost on what is a large stage. I decided to have a grid of four trusses running upstage to downstage with six TurboRays on each one. The design created big statement looks but always with the intention of providing a solid platform for the artist to perform.”

“The TurboRays do everything from creating a tight grid of beams to washing the stage in colour. I particularly enjoyed playing with dropping in and out the diffusion which gives super interesting beam work through the air but the face of the fixture looks excellent on camera. Additionally, individual control of each quadrant allows for some really dynamic effects and strobing,” added the lighting designer.

An ETC Eos Ti console was used by Grant to programme the lighting for the shows together with Source Four LED Series 2 fixtures which were also used at Leith Theatre.

The ETC lighting control desk combines the latest technology with powerful hardware, software, and awardwinning colour controls.

New and upcoming products will continue to be added to the ETC Rent platform which is available through ETC rental hubs Black Light, SLX, TSL and White Light.

High End Systems fixtures take centre stage on The Prom

For the 2020 filming of Netflix musical The Prom, Hog programmer Scott Barnes worked alongside Director of Photography Matthew Libatique and CLT Jeff Ferrero, with High End Systems Sola Series fixtures and Hog 4 control becoming central figures behind the scenes. The creative team employed SolaFrame Theatre, SolaFrame 3000 and SolaHyBeam 3000 fixtures in many of the performances; all luminaires featured High CRI engines and were supplied by Lux Lighting.

When production commenced, Barnes says they already knew the SolaFrame Theatre and SolaFrame 3000 would be their ‘go-to’ movers. Barnes says, “The SolaHyBeam 3000s were not available until about midway through production, but they soon became our powerhouse fixture. The SolaFrame Theatre was especially helpful because of its ultra-quiet performance. After the first week of production, we realised how valuable they truly were to our needs. We decided to carry four of them on the truck throughout the entire schedule, and Matty loved being able to just have a few fixtures roving around camera to bounce into ceilings or backlight actors in a pinch.”

The SolaFrame Theatre’s ability to be placed close to the actors without upsetting the sound department was key to the production. “They are bright enough to be used for a

variety of purposes, and have a nice assortment of features to give us flexibility in their use. Features like shutters, frost, iris, and gobos are important to us, since we never really know what we need them to do until the day of filming.”

“The SolaHyBeam 3000s were similarly amazing,” Scott continues, “and instantly became the favourite. It’s bright, has an impressive lens size, fantastic zoom range, and is packed with features like shutters, multiple frost filters, multiple prism choices, gobos, iris… it just has so much to offer. It truly is the can-do-it-all mover. I’m using around 20 of them on the new Spider-Man movie. Lux Lighting is fast becoming the first choice for my mover needs; their inventory of Sola Series movers has exploded. Best of all, these Sola Series are High Fidelity luminaires. They are optimised for a higher CRI, which for on camera work means a better quality light, especially the open white beams. This was extremely important for Matty, and the beams all looked constantly good on camera.”

CLT Jeff Ferrero has worked in TV and film as a gaffer for 25+ years, and has experienced first-hand the evolution of automated lighting technology; he also owns a lighting rental house. Jeff comments, “I liked SolaHyBeam 3000s so much after Scott introduced me to them that I bought ten fixtures, and we use them on every shoot! They are so powerful, have beautiful high CRI colour, and I can do everything with them.

Mike Bauman of Lux was gracious enough to put me on the list, and they’re working every day for us. We no longer have time to bring a ladder up there – it’s all about speed and efficiency, and with the movers on set now, it’s amazing. Matty uses these fixtures every day and everywhere!”

In addition to his trusty Hog 4 desk, Barnes – who is known for his work on complex networked control setups – employed Rack Hogs for almost every set. High End Systems new HPU hardware for Hog 4 was released at the end of last year and now replaces the Rack Hog 4.

Scott says Libatique wanted him close by at all times: “This was especially important to him for this movie, as most of the lighting and cues for the musical numbers were done on the fly. They would block the scene, rehearse the performance, then Matty and I would discuss what the lighting should do.

I would start programming as camera was set up.”

“Since he wanted me by his side at the digital imaging tent (DTI), having the Rack Hog run as a server gave me the flexibility to move the console around on set without interrupting the lighting. We would shoot the wide master shots and I would be near DIT, just behind camera. Then we would turn around and shoot the other direction. I would log off, disconnect, move the console to the other side of the set, reconnect, log back in, and continue programming. The bonus for me was being right on set allowed me to see almost everything I was doing,” comments Scott Barnes.

ETC launches new programme to help industry recovery

A selection of the latest ETC and High End Systems lighting equipment is now available through ETC Rental Partners with a newly launched programme: ETC Rent.

Jeremy Roberts, Regional Sales Manager for the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa comments: “To help the creative industries get back on their feet, we have introduced ETC Rent in the UK: a programme that will give your local venues, hire Set & Light | Spring 2021

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companies, creative designers and more, access to the very latest ETC and High End Systems lighting equipment via our rental partners.”

ETC Rent includes the new fos/4 Panel lights – designed specifically for the studio and film industry. They deliver intense light output and the highest colour quality with the addition of Deep Red LEDs. ETC’s fos/4 Panels come in a Lustr X8 array and Daylight HDR array with different sizes also accessible via ETC Rental Partners.

A range of the newest High End Systems’ gear is available on the ETC Rent programme, including SolaPix, SolaFrame and SolaHyBeam fixtures. These powerful LED automated luminaires offer a diverse range of effects and a variety of features that are suitable for every application or budget.

Darren Beckley, Sales Manager – ETC Ltd adds: “ETC Rent is here to assist the recovery of our industry with the support of our rental partners. As ETC expands its product range, we plan to offer even more with ETC Rent, continue building customer relationships and push the industry to get back on its feet.”

New and upcoming products will continue to be added to the ETC Rent platform which is available through ETC Rental Partners Black Light, SLX, TSL and White Light.

GLP High-speed GLP light show for Audi e-tron world premiere

Anyone wondering how, under the current conditions, new products can be launched in an effective way within the media need look no further than Audi. For the presentation of the new e-tron GT, the Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer staged a special kind of demonstration at the Munich Zenith.

The world premiere of the ‘electric spearhead of the four rings’, as it was termed, took place in February with two digital events; a cinematic intro, using spectacular lighting technology, was produced in advance at the Munich Zenith, and developed by LD Raphaël Demonthy. Demonthy, who has focused entirely on lighting design and programming over the past ten years, regularly realises his own design projects, but is also happy to make his talent available to other designers as an associate designer or operator.

As part of the world premiere of the new Audi e-tron GT, an impressive reveal trailer had to be produced. For this purpose, a driving circuit was installed in the Zenith Munich, which was constructed exclusively from light elements.

Demonthy used a large number of different GLP fixtures to implement and highlight the varied, dynamic stations of the course.

To produce the ‘carwash’ element, the LD turned to 46 GLP FR10 Bars. These Bars framed the tunnel, created laterally— both on the floor and from above. Three FR10 Bars placed on the floor were punctuated by two Bars installed vertically, one above the other. The resulting vertical lines were extended to the ‘tunnel ceiling’, with three further FR10 Bars.

“With this resource, I was able to build a light fog wall, which on the one hand ensured that you couldn’t see through, and on the other, created a kind of ‘scan effect’ when the vehicle passed through,” explained Demonthy. “With the 48

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zoom, we were also able to brighten the vehicle from the side, while we used the narrow beams for the light walls.”

For the curve at the end of the hall, the designer used 25 GLP X4 Bar 20 battens, which were installed at ground level on the inside of the curve. “This enabled us to illuminate the passing vehicles or to hit them with individual light impulses, which further increased the speed in the camera image.

Thanks to tilt and zoom, we also had the choice of whether we wanted to illuminate the vehicles directly or indirectly via the ground.”

In the stage area, 16 impression X4s were used, which served as fill lights for the camera at the opposite end of the hall.

In the rig itself, 36 JDC1 hybrid strobes were also installed in two lines over the entire length of the hall. “We used this to emphasise the length of the hall on the one hand, and to send bright bumps through the entire hall on the other,” Demonthy continued. “We also created playful effects with the strobe and RGB pixels.”

Demonthy also came up with something special for the famous Audi rings: “In order to have the Audi rings not merely as a static luminous element, but to really integrate them into the course, I recreated them using 32 GLP KNV Arc. Of course, on the one hand they created a light sculpture but on the other, I was able to generate a wide variety of light images and effects very quickly by means of mapping; this enabled the rings to play along perfectly in the circuit.”

With the exception of the FR10 Bar, Demonthy was already familiar with all the GLP products used. When asked why he likes working with fixtures from GLP, he replied: “The solutions from GLP leave a lot of room for creativity in both design and programming. Even if you have seen the various products many times, you can always rediscover them and make them look different.”

Raphaël Demonthy worked as a lighting designer on behalf of TFN GmbH & Co. KG, which has been responsible for technical design at trade fairs and events for Audi AG for more than 20 years. On-site lighting operators were Chris Moylan and Matthias Schöffmann. The technical service provider was fournell showtechnik GmbH.

GERDON design creates a two-part TV show with the new linear light effect from GLP The Ehrlich Brothers, Europe’s most famous illusionists, should have recorded their Dream & Fly show for DVD and TV in March 2020. Everything was already set up in Munich when production was prohibited by an order from the Bavarian state.

But the Ehrlich Brothers would not be the Ehrlich Brothers if they simply left it at that. And so Andreas and Chris started planning the two-part TV show Factory of Dreams together with GERDON design in May. Also included in the set were 24 of the brand-new JDC Lines from GLP, which would serve the two world-class show magicians well.

Factory of Dreams was finally produced in October in a hall on the premises of Ehrlich Entertainment GmbH in Bünde, North Rhine-Westphalia. The show was a mixture of new and known illusions as well as some highlights from the past few years.

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

GERDON design from Wiesbaden came on board as the creative and implementation partner. “The year 2020 has also been an incredible challenge for us,” said managing director, Thomas Gerdon. “We were all the more delighted to be able to realise this wonderful project for such a committed customer. It was a real concern for Andreas and Chris to get numerous employees and freelancers at least temporarily out of short-time work during this difficult time. Consequently, the Factory of Dreams has been fun for everyone involved.” In addition, 99 spectators were also able to attend the production under the strictest hygiene requirements.

Thomas Gerdon and his team were responsible for the set and lighting design as well as the camera concept for the 360° show, although Gerdon noted that Andreas and Chris are involved at every stage and introduce their own ideas.

“I always know exactly how my customers think and so the route to achieving the objective is usually an easy one,” he said.

Despite the basic 360° design, the large LED wall in the set indicated the main direction of travel. The GLP JDC Lines, which Thomas Gerdon was using for the first time, were placed in front of the LED wall in various vertical groups (individually, and as groups of two, three and four) as background lights.

The JDC Line is the new hybrid product from GLP and combines a powerful white light LED strobe with a particularly intensive LED pixel mapping line. Several devices can be strung together almost seamlessly to create continuous lines of light. With 100 extremely powerful white light LEDs on a 500mm lens, the LED strobe unit offers sufficient brightness to generate massive flashes. Separation into 20 individually controllable segments enables endless creative possibilities and impressive pixel mapping options. In addition, the JDC Line has two 200 RGB LEDs, which are arranged above and below the strobe LEDs and focus together with the white light of the strobe LEDs in the special 500 mm lens. Here again, the division into 2 x 20 individually controllable segments offers infinite creative scope.

Thomas Gerdon believes the JDC Lines served the Ehrlich Brothers well. “They are illusionists and you have to support that by over-exposure in the camera. That worked really well with JDC Lines. On the one hand, they allow a beautiful, harmonious play of colours that, if necessary, turn into ultra-bright flashes of light very quickly, only to immediately appear again very discreet and classy in the camera.

The designer had been introduced to the JDC Line by GLP’s key account manager, Oliver Schwendke, during the early stages of development, and his curiosity was aroused. He was all the more pleased to be able to try out the new lighting effect in practice: “You become accustomed to designing with [conventional] LED sticks,” he said. “You have seen it a hundred times and have always accepted the disadvantages.

But with the JDC Line, there is, for the first time, a solution that creates a truly continuous line of light. On top of that there is the versatility: The JDC Line offers great options to create a calm, discreet lighting design on the one hand, but with the power of a high-performance strobe up its sleeve… as we have already come to know from the JDC1.”

“And the best thing about it? The change from a very soft look and feel to a tough flash effect is lightning-fast,”

continued Gerdon. “With the JDC Line, GLP has once again created an incomparable and unprecedented product— enabling the designer to build looks for which tedious workarounds previously had to be created; these were accordingly prone to error and did not look nearly as good.

Also, because the JDC Lines are relatively small, they can really be placed anywhere, which further increases the range of applications.”

The designer also has further plans to use the JDC Line after the pandemic. “You can use them at open air events in daylight and I’m sure they’ll take off effortlessly, even when the sun is shining on the stage.”

Factory of Dreams was broadcast on RTL at the end of last year. The production design was a cooperation between Thomas Gerdon (who was also lighting designer and DoP) and Chris Ehrlich. Marek Papke from GERDON design was responsible for the set design. The on-site lighting crew consisted of Rene Gamsa (head lighting operator), Klaus Kubesch (effect light operator), Florian Schmitt (Ehrlich Brothers operator), Marek Papke (white light operator) and Leon Schwerdt (Depence visualisation operator).

The Ehrlich Brothers have proven impressively that they can realise the most demanding productions even in the most difficult of (pandemic) times. It will be exciting to see what comes next.

GERDON design creates a two-part TV show with the new linear light effect from GLP

Building on the instant success of the Streamer, GLP’s new LED light for video conferencing, live streaming and home office work, the company has announced a new packaging variant for those wanting multiple sources, called the Streamer Duo Kit. Simultaneously, the free-to-download app has been updated, offering significant expansion of the remote-control capabilities of all Streamer units.

The Streamer Duo Kit packages two of the GLP Streamer units together with a pair of extendable tripods, USB-C cables and USB-A to USB-C adapters for both units. This comprehensive accessory set also comes with a pair of soft drawstring bags to protect the units whilst in transit. The packaging insert has been cleverly designed to be placed directly into standard portable hard cases, reducing the products’ environmental impact.

The Duo package has been designed for applications specifically where two units would be beneficial to place more evenly spread light coverage on a presenter from multiple angles, thereby creating more professional studiolike situations.

With the launch of the Duo set, comes a new version of the control app. Free to download for both PC and Mac platforms, it allows the user to intuitively control up to 16 Streamer units – either locally or remotely from a single device– and is compatible with both existing and new Streamer units.

GLP US president, Mark Ravenhill, said: “This expanded capability provides significant new functionality, especially to those making use of the remote facility for corporate streams as well as full broadcast situations.”

Summarising the overall design rationale, he added: “Streamer has been designed with easy, remote control accessibility in mind. With a standard internet connection, Set & Light | Spring 2021

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permission can be granted for a remote professional to control the output levels and colour of the Streamer units.

This is ideal in situations such as TV broadcasts, webcasts, corporate presentations, investor meetings and much more.

“Having an AV, or lighting professional take full control of individual Streamer units at the presenter’s workspace, removes the pressure, allowing them to focus on what they are best at within a perfectly lit setting. And, of course, up to 16 Streamer units can be controlled remotely from a single device – whether that be a computer, tablet or smartphone.”

Streamer Duo is available for purchase from any GLP dealer or from Amazon worldwide.

GREEN HIPPO Hippotizer reveals visual superpowers on The Masked Singer Finland

Helsinki’s Visual Monkeys design agency ramped up the visuals for Finland’s popular The Masked Singer TV show using Hippotizer™ Montane+ RTX and Karst+ media servers in December.

Visual Monkeys’ founder Mikko ‘Bob’ Enäkoski, who says he’s on a mission to bring stadium looks to Finnish TV, designed the show’s set and visual set up and was looking for a solution to create what he likes to call ‘a kick-ass show’. This passion led him to the Hippotizer media servers.

“We are a team of around 20 people at Visual Monkeys and we like to deliver,” says Enäkoski. “For this season of Finland’s The Masked Singer, we went all-out, with pyrotechnics and scaled-up video content. Some of the biggest challenges we face are getting the balance right with the lights and the video, and ensuring the focus stays on the performer, backed up by a brilliant visual setup. That’s where Hippotizer came in, controlled by our main video operator, Lassi ‘Brandon’ Seppä.”

During the live shows, Seppä controlled both the Montane+ RTX and the Karst+ via a grandMA2. He says using a lighting console for control of the Hippotizers is an “excellent combination to help adjust parameters like the colours, brightness and effects on the fly, and in an instant”.

“Hippotizer gives us a simple, customised, fast access to all parameters via a lighting console or ZooKeeper, making my life much easier on a demanding show like this,” says Seppä.

“ZooKeeper really gives a good overview of all parameters at once, and using Hippotizer is great when I’m working on a cue-based show.”

Seppä took advantage of Hippotizer’s suite of tools, including VideoMapper, PixelMapper, and HippoSnapper.

“VideoMapper on layers really helped me to map HD video content to the custom-sized video screens,” he says.

“HippoSnapper is a helpful tool to combine layers and create instant stills content. Overall, Hippotizer gives me customisation, flexibility and control.”

Enäkoski adds: “We were the first visuals team to work on The Masked Singer Finland, so we had mostly free rein to create how we wanted – we looked at the show visuals in other countries and thought, ‘how can we do this better?’ We listened to the client, designed the show and I think it looked really great. Hippotizer is our go-to for visual control and we’re happy.”

A host of Finnish celebrities donned masks to take part in Season Two of the show. The eventual winner was heavy metal singer, Marco Hietala, who sang the Backstreet Boys classic Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) to scoop the prize.

Rhythm & Alps Festival closes 2020 with Hippotizer Karst

Cardrona Valley, New Zealand – It’s a comfort to know that somewhere in the world, 2020 ended with a music festival.

That’s what happened in the shadow of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, where the Rhythm & Alps Festival saw out the

The Masked Singer Finland

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

Rhythm & Alps Festival, Cardrona Valley, New Zealand

year with a celebratory vibe enhanced by TomTom Productions, whose Hippotizer™ Media Servers from Green Hippo delivered the visuals for three separate stages.

Rhythm & Alps, which has become South Island’s biggest New Year’s Eve party, was also celebrating its tenth anniversary with this event, which was held over the last three days of December. TomTom, based in nearby Queenstown, is the festival’s regular provider of full production design and supply services. This year, their contributions included the provision of Hippotizer Karst Media Servers to meet the varying playback requirements of all three performance stages: the Alpine Arena main stage, the Where The Wild Things Are stage and the Log Cabin DJ stage.

“For the Alpine Arena, we had a standard upstage LED wall, complemented by 156m of Martin VDO Sceptron strips,” says TomTom’s Hamish Roberge. “These covered the side walls, ceiling and part of the rear wall, allowing us to extend the LED wall content out, or run separate content for contrast.”

He continues, “Hippotizer control was via the lighting console over Art-Net, and the Media Servers were at FOH, which gave the LDs a direct GUI-view of what they were playing back. The Hippotizer integrates directly with the Martin P3 PC, which maps and controls the VDO Sceptron, both for control as a DMX fixture and also as a video screen.”

On the Where The Wild Things Are stage, another Hippotizer Karst Media Server fed custom visual content projected from two stacked Christie HD14K-M projectors onto the large, carved Buddha face that formed the stage’s central setpiece. A third Hippotizer Karst unit served the smallest stage, the Log Cabin, where TomTom hung SGM LB-100 LED bead strings from the ceiling. It’s a product that Roberge and his colleagues at TomTom love for the flexibility it gives them when designing and mapping complex pixelmap shapes, using the Hippotizer’s PixelMapper feature to overlay video onto the beads via Art-Net. “Hippotizer’s Art-Net integration, allowing control via the lighting console, is the biggest single feature for me,” says Roberge. “The layout is intuitive for lighting designers, so they

can get the most out of the Media Server. This is especially so with the Martin VDO Sceptron being a hybrid video and lighting product. When you factor in Hippotizer’s Martin P3 software integration, it’s the perfect playback device.”

All in all, this was a faultless operation for TomTom. “The Hippotizer is our go-to Media Server solution,” says Roberge.

“We design our shows with the knowledge of what the Hippos can do for us. From the setup in the shop – where we created the Sceptron map – through the patching with both the Martin P3 and Art-Net for the console control, everything worked seamlessly.”

Roberge concludes, “My thoughts go out to our industry around the world at the moment. I think every day about how lucky we are to be running events almost as normal, when almost everywhere else is faced with either no gigs or heavily restricted events. We wish you all better times ahead.”

Hippotizer Karst+ choreographs Strictly visuals

BBC Studios’ hugely popular celebrity TV contest Strictly Come Dancing returned for its eighteenth series at the end of 2020, with brand new visual content choreographed by Hippotizer Karst+ Media Servers.

Leading the dance was a partnership of a Karst and Karst+, with the same duo serving as backup. An average series audience of more than 10 million Brits watched as the routines played out in front of a colourful array of visual content. The main stage was constructed as a series of arching LED screens, providing an eye-catching backdrop for the cameras.

The visual content included custom-made content for each performance – created by Potion Pictures and led by David Newton – and a mix of loops, full length time-coded tracks, and live rendered visuals.

These utilised Unreal Engine and nDisplay, with the data fed into the Hippotizer Media Servers by an output splitter. Live rendered content was also used, designed by Joe Philips at Potion Pictures, and utilising a camera and lens tracking system provided by Mo-Sys. Set & Light | Spring 2021

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The Hippotizers were operated by Matt Lee, with lighting design by David ‘Bish’ Bishop, who has worked on a host of high profile events including the State Opening of Parliament, The Royal Variety Performance and the Queen’s Concerts.

“Hippotizer has been my go-to choice of media server for many years,” says Bish. “They’re very reliable, easy to use and the support from the team in London is outstanding. They provide a great balance of being able to create something very quickly, while also having the option to refine the output as you wish when the opportunity presents.”

LITEPANELS Litepanels Honored at 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards

Litepanels, a global provider of professional broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions and a Vitec Group brand – is to be honoured at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards for its pioneering development of LED lighting for television production. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award to honour development and innovation in broadcast technology that is so extensive an improvement on existing methods or is so innovative that it has materially affected television production.

The award recognises Litepanels’ pioneering spirit as the originators of LED panel lighting and 20 years of continual innovation in television and motion picture lighting. Starting with the original 1x1 LED panel, and building on that success, Litepanels has developed evermore innovative broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions. Its industry-leading LED lighting fixtures, including on-camera lights, fresnels, RGB special effects lighting and advanced wireless control systems, have become a staple in television production around the world.

Litepanels was founded in 2001 by five Hollywood gaffers and lighting engineers who wanted to revolutionise production lighting using newly emerging LED technology.

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noticeable shift in colour temperature and was eco-friendly drawing less energy to lower running costs while generating practically no heat to keep the on-screen talent comfortable.

This accolade represents a hat trick of honours for Litepanels from the Academy. The company received a Primetime Engineering Emmy Plaque in 2005, and in 2009 Litepanels received a Technology & Engineering Emmy award – the first time they had presented the award to a lighting manufacturer.

With an ever-increasing range of solutions including on-camera lights, fresnels, RGB special effects lighting and advanced wireless control systems, Litepanels has become the industry standard for productions wanting to benefit from the eco-friendly, low heat benefits of LED lighting. And Litepanels lighting solutions extend beyond television and feature production, to include the White House and Pentagon Briefing Rooms, and even the International Space Station.

“Litepanels has been at the forefront of LED technology for television lighting for 20 years.” said Nicola Dal Toso, CEO Vitec Production Solutions, “Pushing against the beliefs held at the time of the capabilities of LED technology, we created a revolutionary product that changed broadcast lighting forever.” He added, “We are proud to have been recognised again by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences with this iconic award for our role in advancing the broadcast lighting industry.”

“It is an honour to be recognised a third time by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for our pioneering work in LED lighting technology” said Litepanels co-founder, Pat Grosswendt. “This award is testament to the groundbreaking vision with my four original partners, and the continuing dedication of the entire Litepanels team to understanding the everyday lighting challenges in television lighting to develop ever more innovative technical and creative solutions.”

This year’s recipients will be honoured at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards Ceremony, which is tentatively scheduled to be a virtual ceremony in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in October 2021.

Litepanels launch brighter Lykos+ mini LED Panel for professional lighting on the fly

Litepanels, a global provider of professional broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions and a Vitec Group brand, has announced the launch of the next generation of Lykos mini LED panel lights. The new Lykos+ Bi-color LED panel is one of the smallest in the Litepanels range but features an output 40% brighter than the previous generation, delivering an impressive 2000 lux (@3ft/1m) of accurate white light at any colour temperature from 3,200-5,600K. Incorporating advanced LED and lensing technology developed for Litepanels’ popular Astra range of 1x1 panels, Lykos+ offers broadcast quality lighting – with a CRI of 96 for true-to-life colour accuracy –in a fixture that weighs just 1lb (500g). Lykos+ is the perfect light for remote locations or tight spaces, its compact size fits into any scene with the small but powerful fixture providing over two hours of operation via its built-in L-series/NPF battery mount.

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

“The quality of light from our Astra panels has made them industry standard for studios and news crews” said Michael Herbert, product manager, Litepanels. “Now, with the Lykos+, that same broadcast-quality level of light is available in one of our smallest, most portable fixtures”.

The versatile mini light offers multiple mounting options or can be hand-held with a sturdy hand grip. Stand mounted, taped or tied, Lykos+ is designed to integrate easily into any lighting scene. Brightness and colour temperature are controlled by two simple dials or via the Litepanels SmartLite Director iOS app with an optional Bluetooth dongle.

Lykos+ is available now from Litepanels authorised retailers as either an individual fixture or as a Flight Kit incorporating three lights, stands, filters, softbox and a Peli rolling flight case.

Litepanels launch Apollo Wireless DMX system

Litepanels, a global provider of professional broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions and a Vitec Group brand, has announced the launch of its new powerful and stable dualband wireless DMX system. Litepanels Apollo Bridge uses advanced dynamic frequency hopping technology to instantly create a robust wireless DMX network anywhere.

Optimised for use with Litepanels Gemini RGBWW LED panels, Apollo is designed to work with a wider range of lighting fixtures than any other system. The Apollo Bridge and iOS Lighticians Apollo Control app give lighting operators complete freedom to control and change lighting settings, DMX addresses and control modes on the fly for precision lighting control at a level not previously possible on timeshort productions.

“The consistent signal strength and range of the Apollo Bridge is outstanding,” said Michael Herbert, product manager, Litepanels. “It means that lighting technicians, designers and gaffers can move freely around large sets knowing that they are always connected and in complete control of their lighting.” Adding, “The app is simple enough to pick up and start painting with light immediately; users can see their light settings on an iPad or iPhone and adjust in real time for instant results.”

Apollo Bridge can also be used with any control software or console including Blackout,Luminair, ETC, GrandMA and Chamsys to send commands, using the sACN DMX protocol, wirelessly or via the LAN ethernet port. Single DMX512 universe boards can also be used by connecting them through the Apollo Bridge 5-pin XLR I/O port. Apollo has been designed to operate any fixture with a DMX input, as well as DMX networking and wireless DMX equipment. Users can now create just one system for centralised control of their lighting with no restrictions on which lights they use. Built-in dynamic RF transmission, supporting both 2.4 and 5GHz, automatically avoids network interference and creates a dependable signal with no latency for complete reliability.

With full sACN capabilities, multiple Apollo bridge units can be added to provide wireless DMX control to as many lights and universes as required to scale up on larger productions.

Simultaneous CRMX and wired DMX output can be used to provide a built-in fail-safe or to quickly add more fixtures without needing to reconfigure a DMX network.

IATSE Local 52 Lighting Console Operator, Daniel Choy Boyar, tested the Apollo system. “I put the Apollo through

extensive daily use in studio environments, dense interior locations and the harsh conditions of winter NYC exterior locations. I discovered that Apollo Bridge is not just a LumenRadio transmitter, it’s a new feature-rich class of CRMX base stations with the latest LumenRadio TimoTwo chip, unique new abilities like dual-band enterprise-class WiFi, DMX out, advanced network management, USB expandability, and a WAN port.”

He added, “Apollo is a bulletproof hub for an entire lighting network with more capability than anything else currently on the market.”

Apollo Bridge is available to buy now from Litepanels authorised retailers. The free Lighticians Apollo Control iOS app is available from the Apple App Store.

ROBE

Robe’s Marco Bartolini

A tribute to Marco Bartolini

The Robe Family is heartbroken to announce the death of Marco Bartolini, a hugely popular and well-known industry face in Italy and internationally, who passed away in February following a short battle with cancer.

Marco started working with Robe in 2004 when at SR Consulting, and since 2007 he has headed the team at Robe’s Italian distributor, RM Multimedia. Earlier in his career, he had worked with other notable industry brands and companies including SGM, always living and breathing the entertainment technology world that was his passion and in which he became a key figure.

His kindness, generosity, affable personality, and laidback humour touched everyone he met, while his natural charisma and direct, honest approach to business impressed and earned respect, even from competitors. He possessed the wonderful Set & Light | Spring 2021

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ability and had a big enough heart to see positive attributes everywhere and in so many people.

Everyone wanted to hang out with Marco at shows, gigs, events, and exhibitions. In his wide circle of loyal industry and personal friends, he was a person of integrity, vision, tolerance, and was an open and non-judgemental spirit. His trademark infectious smile – which cemented so many friendships and business deals – was widely loved. His untimely passing leaves a huge gap.

Robe s.r.o. CEO Josef Valchar stated, “Marco was a beautiful person and one of a kind. I and all the international team at Robe who were lucky enough to work and spend time with him over these past 17 years will miss him greatly. His understated and cheeky wit, attention to detail, love of motorbiking and pride in Italian culture, history, and lifestyle – which he constantly shared with colleagues and friends – all made him special. Above all, he was a humble person who never took those around him for granted and appreciated everything in life that he worked so hard to achieve.”

While loving his work, the industry and enjoying life, Marco was an equally dedicated family man. He is succeeded by his wife and soulmate Paula Porolisseanu and their two young children. They were the centre of his universe, kept him grounded and focused… and will now see his legacy live on.

Live in Leith

Live in Leith was a series of pay-per-view digital gigs recorded at the fabulous Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, combining some of the best rising star music talent in Scotland with spectacular production values – including Robe moving lights – which were used for two of the three initial set of broadcasts.

The four featured artists – two per gig – were lit by two of Scotland’s leading lighting designers, Grant Anderson and Sam Jones and played captivating sets. Ransom FA and Nova Scotia the Truth brought clever and intricate verbiage and cool beats from the edge of Scottish grime, while power pop and post-punk rocked the house with Lucia and The Best Boys and The Ninth Wave.

The gigs were presented by BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway and were produced by Lynn Morrison and Callum Jones for the Leith Theatre Trust. The six (in total) recordings were also the first fully in-house productions staged since the venue reopened in 2017 – lighting up the space with energy and superlative music – and will be streamed via Dice TV on three consecutive Saturday nights in March and April.

More than that, the concerts also provided a valuable opportunity for some Scottish production professionals to work for a week in this very special venue, enabling rental companies like lighting supplier (for shows two and three) Black Light which is headed by Calder Sibbald to get back to doing what they love best.

Built in 1932, the charismatic 1,500 capacity Leith Theatre was a hub of the community that has survived World War Two bombs, the threat of demolition and nearly 30 years of mothballing when it closed in 1988. Immediately prior to that during its live concert heyday in the 1970s and 80s, the likes of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Kraftwerk, Status Quo and many more rocked it to the foundations.

In 2017, it was reopened by the Leith Theatre Trust which, now led by executive director Lynn Morrison and production 54

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and programme coordinator Callum Jones – is in the process of restoring it to its former glory as an architectural masterpiece as well as a force for music, entertainment, performing arts and other creative projects.

Closed to the public since March 2020 – like all UK venues due to the coronavirus pandemic – Live in Leith is part of a host of fundraising and campaigning to support the venue’s redevelopment and eventual full reopening as a vibrant and proactive live music and arts hub.

Lighting production for Live in Leith was specified by both Grant and Sam and based on the range of kit that Black Light had available in their warehouse, which included several different Robe fixtures.

The goal of these concerts was to create ‘broadcast quality’ livestream content for sharing in an intensively competitive market where the pressure is on to stand out in terms of quality music, presentation and production.

The first recording session of the week starred Ransom FA and Nova and was lit by Grant Anderson, who utilised 15 x Robe BMFL Spots rigged in trusses flown high up in the roof of the main auditorium stage, together with eight Robe LEDBeam 150s, positioned four a side on boom stands for cross-stage lighting.

He also deployed two Robe Spiider LED wash beams in the downstage corners as floor level key lights for the artists, together with an array of other fixtures.

Grant has worked on several pop-up shows and art installations at Leith Theatre in recent years, mainly for the Edinburgh International Festival, and was excited to be asked to light the grime session for Live in Leith because he was very inspired by the music and it gave him the chance to take a “completely different” and highly imaginative approach to lighting.

His mission was to create an interesting and stimulating stage environment that was also stark, raw, and clean, allowing the focus to remain firmly on the artists, their lyrics and song narratives – so lots of strong, bold, powerful looks, saturated colours, and dramatic and definite transitions. “Simple, powerful, effective,” he commented.

Grant has used Robe BMFL Spots countless times on his designs over the years and considered them “a staple” fixture.

On the high trusses over the stage this was exactly the role they played, slicing through the other layers of light to form a palpable base luminosity. Physically, they were arranged in a square formation to mimic the LED bars which delineated the performance space at floor level.

Grant often uses Robe products in his designs which have recently included the GlasGLOW3 illuminated trail, for which he used 60 x iPointes.

Positioning the LEDBeam 150s on the side booms “completed” the design with style, giving him a bank of lights on each side to punch through and across the stage with colours, dynamics, and more beams. He enjoys the LEDBeam 150 for its zoom which boosts its overall versatility as a fixture, and he used the Spiiders for key lighting because they produce “excellent” skin tones on camera.

Like everyone, he was smiling broadly at being in a venue with bands and production set up onstage and working alongside a full production team during a time where gigs have been scarce or non-existent and hugely missed by all.

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

The Ninth Wave Live in Leith

Sam Jones approached lighting The Ninth Wave – whom he has lit before – and Lucia & The Best Boys from a totally different perspective.

He had also lit the first Live in Leith stream recording with lighting delivered by Showlite, another locally-based vendor, the idea being to share the work around as much as possible during the pandemic lockdowns.

Sam utilised the same basic overhead and side rig – including the BMFLs and the LEDBeam 150s as Grant, but the fixtures were completely rerigged, so everything looked radically different.

He brought in some extras including six upstage vertical trusses which were rigged with 24 x narrow PAR cans and 18 additional LEDBeam 150s to introduce some classic rock back wall attitude, which worked a treat!

His starting point for the lighting design was Ninth Wave’s set for which he wanted an intense, stark, silhouettey look and multiple shades of white. His quest for alternative whites and, within that, different quality whites, led him to spec the tungsten retro PARs as a perfect contra to the LED sources.

The PARs and LEDBeam 150s were arranged in columns on the upright trusses.

LEDBeam 150s also have a great range of whites as well as all the colours, and he likes their small size, lightning speed and, naturally, the zoom.

For Lucia & The Best Boys, and he added a ring of Robe Spikies on the floor around the back of the band members.

“The beams look great on camera and they are so small you can squeeze them in almost anywhere without anyone noticing until they are fired up,” he commented.

Sam has used Robe products for some years, in fact right from the start of his lighting career when he first encountered Robe’s much-loved scanners in nightclubs.

His association with Leith Theatre dates to 2017 when working as technical manager and lighting designer for the inaugural Hidden Door alternative arts festival which has

become a popular annual event of the Edinburgh calendar.

Four years ago, the event’s team gutted and cleaned the space – at that point derelict for 29 years – to stage the Festival, an action that kick-started a concerted effort to rejuvenate it.

Since then, Sam has returned many times with different productions and feels “proud and fortunate” to be part of its journey. Every time he walks in, he has a palpable sense of excitement, and feels there is something very special about the building being so central to Leith with much local support “that you can literally feel when walking around”.

He also loves the fact that it is a highly versatile space, ideal for staging anything from a big, loud lively band to a small, intimate experimental art performance.

Both Grant and Sam programmed and ran their own shows for Live in Leith and – in addition to the time spent pre-viz’ing at home – they each had a full day of on-site programming and commented that Black Light did a great job as lighting vendor for gigs two and three.

Staging these COVID-safe shows with full visual productions was a big investment for Leith Theatre, but one that has been hugely well received and valued by all involved.

Work for creatives, techs and any crew involved in live performance has been challenging in the past year, and everyone here felt very lucky to be involved in Live in Leith, especially in such a unique space which is being painstakingly restored with passion and gusto by the LTT team headed by Lynn with Callum and their colleagues Anna Higham and Hayley Scott.

Also, vital to making Live in Leith, rock were sound engineers Jane Datony and Bryan Jones; video producer Ross Blair and his team from Trench One. Audio kit was supplied by DM Audio for the first Live in Leith, recording and Warehouse Sound Services for the second and third, with delicious catering provided by Artisan Larder Scotland.

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Robe launches LEDBeam 350™

To those familiar with the massively successful little LEDBeam 150™, this is a bigger, brighter – 6,600 lumen – variant, delivering even more punch and presence for those wanting crystal clear beams and beautifully rich colour washes.

Robe has retained and built on all the features that made the LEDBeam 150 a winner, including a spectacular zoom range – 3.8 to 60 degrees – and innovative lens coating technology which keeps the lenses clearer and scratch-free.

Anti-static properties further reduce dust collecting on the lens, and the latest coating treatment brings countless additional benefits like lengthening the intervals needed between cleaning and enhancing the light output.

More advanced technology includes CPulse™, Robe’s acclaimed Pulse Width Modulation control system that removes any on-screen camera flicker, making the LEDBeam 350 a brilliant match for the most advanced HD and UHD camera systems. All the most popular features of the smaller LEDBeam – including fast movement, colour mixing, zoom and control can be maintained via a ‘compatibility’ mode, allowing for the seamless combination of both 150 and 350 models together on the same rig for perfect continuity.

The 12x40W RGBW high powered LED multi-chips provide plenty of high-quality output and superior CMY colour mixing control. DataSwatch™ contains 66 pre-mixed colours and tones including whites for fast reliable colour selection, and Robe’s L3 Low Light Linearity system delivers imperceptible fades to absolute blackouts. Quietness is crucial in certain scenarios, and the LEDBeam 350’s advanced cooling system and new super smooth zoom stepper motors make it exceptionally quiet and ideal for television, theatre, performance and event applications where no noise is critical.

Also, with theatre and performance in mind, outstanding tungsten lamp emulation is possible via the ‘halogen lamp mode’ which perfectly mimics red fade and the thermal delay of lamps in several ranges from 750W to 2,500W. Further finessing is possible utilising the variable CTO (virtual colour wheel channel) for perfect whites from 2,700K to 8,000K.An optional Epass™ Ethernet switch will automatically maintain network connectivity in case of power loss.

With versatility in mind, Robe has designed the LEDBeam 350™ FW version to offer a Fresnel-Wash type of beam for smoother edges and optimal colour homogenisation.

Weighing under 10kg, the unit is hugely powerful for its light weight, while the compact size makes it highly usable even in the most confined studios or spaces. Overall, it’s a sound and reliable investment with all the Robe guarantees for multiple applications from special events and live shows to installations.

LEDBeam 350 will also work seamlessly in combination with other industry-standard Robe luminaires like the LEDBeam 150, ESPRITE, MegaPointe, Spiider and many others.

ROSCO How Unbox Therapy uses the ceiling as its sole source of studio lighting

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planet. Created and hosted by Lewis Hilsenteger, the channel features unboxing videos about surprising gadgets and new technology that you never even knew existed. Unbox Therapy now also features one of the most unique studio lighting designs found anywhere on YouTube. This unique approach was created by TADLEDesign using RoscoLED® Tape.

The Unbox Therapy crew recently converted an 8,500 square-foot warehouse into a new studio where they could shoot their videos. The inspiration for the new studio design came from the temporary Batcave seen in Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight.

Hilsenteger and Jack McCann, the channel’s videographer, wanted the ability to light anything – anywhere in the studio – without needing to set up additional lighting fixtures. The glowing Batcave ceiling in The Dark Knight appeared as if it could provide the solution they desired. Using their experience on previous studio lighting projects, the TADLEDesign team chose to create the illuminated ceiling with RoscoLED Tape.

It took 522 five-metre reels of Rosco’s VariColor RoscoLED Tape to create the overhead lighting for Unbox Therapy’s new studio. First, the RoscoLED Tape was installed onto 261, 4'x8' white Sintra® PVC Boards. Then the RoscoLED Tape Sintra boards were suspended to create a drop ceiling 10'2" above the deck. Finally, diffusion panels were added to soften the light and provide even illumination throughout the studio.

Each of the 29 rows of nine Sintra panels is individually powered and controlled. Each row requires five, 600W RoscoLED Power Supplies and three, RoscoLED 12-Channel DMX Decoders. This setup enables the Unbox Therapy team to control each row independently to create different lighting looks in their studio.

One specific request from Unbox Therapy was to be able to highlight one area of the studio and surround it in darkness.

Using the Luminair lighting control app, they are able to create that look, plus a variety of others. For example, because they’re using the RGB+CW RosoLED Varicolor, they can illuminate the studio any colour they want. Plus, because each row of panels is controlled individually, they can also create gradient colour effects from one end of the studio to the other.

Working in coordination with the general and electrical contractors, it took the TADLEDesign team four weeks to install the 1.6 miles of RoscoLED Tape into the ceiling. After they were done, that empty warehouse had successfully been converted into Unbox Therapy’s ‘Batcave’ studio. And, when they turned on the RoscoLED Tape, they discovered that the ceiling truly could be their sole light source. “Jack desired a space where they could shoot without needing additional light fixtures,” said Adrian Goldberg, TADLEDesign’s Principal Designer. “We knew this illuminated ceiling solution would get them close but we figured they’d still need another light or two for some additional key or fill light. Once everything was installed, however, we were thrilled to see that they didn’t. The ceiling can light it all.”

Unbox Therapy now has a studio where the ceiling provides them with all of the illumination they could ever need.

“There’s just so much light bouncing around the space that it creates even lighting for anything they could ever want to shoot,” concluded Goldberg.

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

VARLITE/STRAND Strand standardises on DIN rail for Vision.Net

Strand, the original name in theatrical lighting and a Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand, today announced that it is standardising its portfolio of industryleading Vision.Net architectural lighting components to use 35mm DIN rail for mounting.

Strand’s new, modular family of hardware devices consists of nine new products, including control modules, rack trays, enclosures, power supplies and other components. This new solution can be customised to any size application, making it the perfect architectural lighting control solution for educational, theatrical and house of worship environments.

“Customers have relied on Strand’s custom lighting control enclosures for years,” says Fernand Pereira, Global Head of Marketing and Product Management, Entertainment Lighting at Signify. “Customers received exactly the solution they needed in a factory certified, UL rated enclosure that could be easily installed in the field. However, this required each solution to be custom-designed and assembled in Strand’s factory. By deploying standardised, DIN rail mountable modules, customers get the same flexibility in a solution that’s easier to order as boxed goods, can scale easier down the road and can be assembled at any dealership or in the field – while still keeping the regulatory compliance.”

Using standard 35mm DIN rail ensures system integrators can easily retrofit the solution into any existing installation or incorporate it into any new build out. With modular components and a variety of trays and enclosures available, the solution can scale to address any application, with rack-, flush-, or surface-mounting options available.

Because components are individually listed, solutions can be ordered off the shelf and assembled at any location.

However, customers desiring custom-built solutions can still leverage Strand’s manufacturing expertise and have systems assembled in the Strand factory.Vision.Net control modules are plenum-rated so that they can be installed if required in plenum air spaces.

The new Strand Vision.Net DIN rail hardware components include: • Strand Vision.Net DIN Rail Rack Mount Trays – available in horizontal- or vertical-mounting designs, these 3U rack trays offer up to (three) DIN rails along with a blanking cover • Strand Vision.Net DIN Rail Enclosure – this flush or surface-mountable NEMA rated enclosure offers two DIN rails and an adjustable voltage barrier • Strand Vision.Net DIN Rail Power Supplies – these 100-277 V AC DIN-rail mountable PSUs offer 60 or 150 W of power to all the Vision.Net components in your system • Strand Vision.Net 4-Way Splitter Module – this DIN rail or surface-mountable Vision.Net control module provides 1x4 splitting of a Vision.Net hardwire control signal.

• Strand Vision.Net 8-Port Digital Input Module – this DIN rail- or surface-mountable module offers eight discrete digital input-only ports for 3rd party device signaling to Vision.Net • Strand Vision.Net 4-Port Digital I/O Module – a DIN rail or surface-mountable control module offering up four discrete digital control inputs, four open collector outputs, and four dry contact relay closures for signaling to/from Vision.Net or acting as an intermediary device The new Strand Vision.Net components are expected in the second quarter.

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Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales

VERSION2 Welcome to the jungle – Version 2 lights head to Wales for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

Television lighting rental company,Version 2, are proud to have supported lighting director James Tinsley, gaffer Adam Mitchell and the production crew behind the latest run of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! The impact of COVID-19 resulted in a well-publicised relocation of the show, from the Australian jungle of New South Wales to the atmospheric setting of Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales.

The combination of a new venue plus the global pandemic presented a multitude of challenges, which the production team overcame to make this 20th season of the show one of the most successful runs yet.

As one of the first UK TV shows to make a full return to regular production, including nightly live broadcasts direct from the location, the IAC team implemented stringent operational guidelines across the board. Alongside this, Version 2 added its own set of carefully constructed working protocols to help ensure the safety and well being of everyone involved.

Commenting on preparing for the show,Version 2 Managing Director, Nick Edwards said, “Staging what has become an iconic TV event, in a new location with the additional challenges of the pandemic, required meticulous planning.

Operating within strict guidelines, which included our own custom protocols, we worked closely with the production team to help protect the wellbeing of all concerned.”

V2 delivered illumination on a massive scale, deploying three articulated lorry loads of equipment to the show, for use throughout the entire location. The comprehensive lighting package mixed traditional sources with a host of state-of-theart low energy solutions taken from the V2 LED inventory.

The lighting list was carefully curated to handle the show’s broad requirement, which included both live and recorded segments. Expertly addressing factors such as fluctuating weather conditions and much of the action being filmed at night, the lighting design covered everything from grand façades to the claustrophobic surroundings of the dungeon used to house the all important challenges.

Lighting gaffer Adam Mitchel says, “The scale of ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ at Gwrych Castle was vast, with multiple areas to light from the living quarters, live studio, 58

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exterior trials stage, and trials studio (with three standing sets), 19 trials and various exterior challenge locations”. The crew used a huge consignment of SGM Q7 and Par 64 cans to light up the vast exteriors. Meanwhile, within the castle walls, the design incorporated a wide selection of intelligent, LED and tungsten, including a number of the popular Litepanels Gemini 2x1 and 1x1 as ‘workhorse’ heads.

Amongst the automated lights used were the new Robe T1s, which provided plenty of highly controllable texture and colour. Robe Spiider LED wash fixtures added smooth, bright highlights across the various elements featured within the medieval styled sets.

Further precision detailing was provided via an extensive package of set practicals and scenic LEDs, custom designed and built specifically for the show by the by the V2 technical team.

LD James Tinsley says, “The scope of the project required a variety of light sources to handle very specific, studio, set and exterior shots. We were able to pull in equipment from all areas of the V2 inventory to make sure we had exactly what was needed to get the job done. The lighting crew did a fantastic job in what was at times a fairly challenging environment, creating a stunning look that perfectly complemented the impressive backdrop of Gwrych Castle”.

Mitchel concludes, “This enormous task was made much easier with the constant support from Nick and Version 2.

Nick’s positive attitude and work ethic coupled with the reliability of the high quality kit made installing this job a total success.”

WHITE LIGHT Spirit Studios debuts BBC’s Bamous as first xR broadcast for terrestrial television using White Light’s SmartStage

Following its hugely popular preview on BBC Three (Online), the transmission pilot for the BBC’s new comedy entertainment show Bamous was aired on BBC One. Developed and produced by Spirit Studios, the episode was filmed within a dedicated xR studio, in a groundbreaking new departure for terrestrial television broadcast. As renowned global leaders in deploying innovative xR solutions across a range of different markets, White Light’s (WL) multi-award winning SmartStage was the choice location for the shoot.

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

Virtually Bamous The satirical new pilot, starring comedians Dane Baptiste, Toussaint Douglass, Munya Chawawa, Lola Jagun and Thanyia Moore, explores the nature of fame amongst the BAME community.

Looking for alternatives to green screen technology for content production, Spirit Studios engaged Director of Photography Chris Hollier in the early stages of development.

Hollier has worked extensively with WL on pioneering projects, most recently on Eurosport’s coverage of the US and French Open tennis tournaments. Hollier comments: “Having collaborated with WL since its first foray into xR production nearly four years ago, we have seen our ongoing R+D elevate sports broadcast to a game-changing new level. On receiving the brief from Spirit’s Director and Executive Producer Matt Campion, I knew that WL’s unrivalled experience in xR for broadcast, combined with the innovation behind SmartStage, would be pivotal to bringing the vision for this pilot to life.”

SmartStage harnesses the full potential of xR, allowing a range of different technologies to be seamlessly integrated within one environment. As such, it far transcends the production capabilities of green screen. Natural lighting, reflections, real-time presenter tracking, optimised camera angles and increased visibility of the virtual world, all promote authentic engagement with content, to greatly enhance the broadcast experience.

Content creation specialist MalfMedia was also introduced to the Bamous delivery team via WL, following many years of working together on a broad range of projects. Their Creative Director Michael Al-Far built all content in Unreal and facilitated remote collaboration amongst the development team, with off-line pre-visualisation of the studio and content.

The SmartStage setup allowed Michael and other members of the team to continue working remotely even on the day of the shoot – crucial to reducing the number of crew on site and adhering to the strict COVID-19 restrictions currently in place.

Andy Hook, WL’s Technical Solutions Director, adds: “Four years ago we delivered the first-ever xR broadcast, when Eurosport utilised ‘The Cube’ for their international coverage of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. Since then, we have continued to lead the field and develop the world’s most advanced xR technology. To date, SmartStage has enabled us to deliver over 500 hours of xR broadcast and deploy state-of-the-art installations for clients around the globe. We are now able to offer the broadcast market, as well as many other sectors, an all-encompassing solution for both expertise in xR innovation, and dedicated studio facilities. Bamous was filmed using our SmartStage at London’s Science Museum and in collaboration with Fifty Fifty, MalfMedia and disguise, we are very proud to have helped execute the first xR broadcast to be seen on terrestrial television as yet another milestone on our xR journey.”

In early February 2021, WL will launch an additional, dedicated SmartStage facility at The Mermaid London. This fully COVID-19-secure studio has been developed specifically for broadcasters and live event producers, drawing on WL’s extensive experience of designing, installing and operating xR venues. The facility has also been designed to facilitate hybrid productions, enabling both real and virtual audiences to attend simultaneously, and offers dedicated dressing room, rehearsal, and production spaces onsite.

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society committee

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Chairman + Sponsors’ Liaison Bernie Davis 07860 662 736 chairman@stld.org.uk

Deputy Chair David Bishop 07971 796 742 davidbishop@stld.org.uk

Hon Secretary Stuart Gain 07774 161 996 secretary@stld.org.uk

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

Magazine Editor + Sponsor Administration Emma Thorpe 07850 709 210 editor@stld.org.uk

Assistant Treasurer John Piper johnpiper@stld.org.uk

Membership Iain Davidson 07592 885444 members@stld.org.uk

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

Admin & Data Officer Paul Middleton 07720 446 9214 paulmiddleton@stld.org.uk

Student Liaison Nathan Mallalieu 07805 461162 nathanmallalieu@stld.org.uk

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

Committee Member Bruce Waldorf 07702 741 338 brucewaldorf@stld.org.uk

Committee Member Ian Hillson ianhillson@stld.org.uk

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

Committee Member Matt Maller 07901 724 487 mm@mattmallerlx.co.uk

Website Manager (Co-Opted) Oliver Lifely 07977 530 145 mail@tvld.co.uk

Set & Light | Spring 2021

sponsors’ directory

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (Jonathan Walters) 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 (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 (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 B360 (Barry Denison) Gaddesden Home Farm Business Centre, Bridens Camp, Hemel Hempstead HP2 6EZ 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 CHAUVET Professional (Matt Hallard) Brookhill Road Ind. Estate, Pinxton, NG16 6NT Tel: 01773 511115 ~ Mob: 07944 678958 ~ Email: mhallard@chauvetlighting.eu ~ Web: www.chauvetprofessional.eu Chroma-Q (Jonathan Walters) Centauri House, Hillbottom Road, Sands Industrial Estate, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 4HQ Tel: 01494 446 000 ~ Fax: 01494 461 024 ~ Email: sales@ac-et.com ~ Web: www.chroma-q.com Cirro Lite (Europe) Ltd (John Coppen, David Morphy) 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 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 Elation (Larry Beck, Marc Librecht) Elation Professional B.V., Junostraat 2, 6468EW Kerkrade, The Netherlands Tel: 00 31 45 5468566 ~ Mob: +44 (0) 7495 051413 ~ Email: info@elationlighting.eu ELP Broadcast & Events (Darren Fletcher) Unit 3A, Space Studios,Vaughan Street, Manchester, M12 5FQ Tel: +44 (0)161 300 2922 ~ DDI +44 (0)20 8254 4622 ~ Mob +44 (0)7900 055314 ~ Email: info@elp.tv ~ Web: www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk Encore (Dave Slater) Crown Business Park, Old Dalby, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 3NQ Head Office: 01664 821 111 ~ London Office: 020 8955 6900 ~ Email: Dave.Slater@Encoreglobal.com ~ Web: www.encore-emea.com

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sponsors’ directory

ETC (Rory Frazer-Mackenzie, 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 4Wall Entertainment (Simon Stuart, Mike Oates) Unit E&F, Glenfield Park, Philips Road, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 5PF Tel: 01254 698 808 ~ Fax: 01254 698 835 ~ Email: sstuart@4wall.com ~ Web: www.4wall.com GLP German Light Products UK (Simon Barrett) Unit 23 The IO Centre, Salbrook Road Industrial Estate, Redhill RH1 5GJ Tel: 01293 228 660 ~ Email: s.barrett@glp.de ~ Web: germanlightproducts.co Green Hippo (Tom Etra, David March, Abi Roberts) Suite 1, 1 Rochester Mews, Camden Town, London, NW1 9JB Tel: 020 3301 4561 ~ Fax: 020 8889 9826 ~ Email: tom@green-hippo.com ~ Web: www.green-hippo-com JL Lighting (Jack Linaker) Unit 16 Tower Industrial Estate, Berinsfield, Wallingford OX10 7LN Tel: 020 3880 8453 ~ Email: team@jl-lighting.com ~ Web: www.jl-lighting.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 (Nathan Bailey, Kim Brennan, Emma Sherman) Central Way, Walworth Business Park, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5AN Tel: 01264 366 245 ~ Fax: 01264 355 058 ~ Email: marketing@leefilters.com ~ Web: www.leefilters.com Limelite Lighting (Ed Railton) Harpers Farm, Summer Hill, Goudhurt, Kent, TN17 1JU Tel: 01580 239844 Vitec Videocom Lightpanels (Andrew Woodfin) William Vinten Building, Easlea Road, Moreton Hall Estate, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7BY Mob: +44 (0)7860 785 046 ~ Email: andrew.woodfin@vitecgroup.com ~ Web: www.litepanels.com LSI Projects (Russell Dunsire, Richard Bunting) 15 Woking Business Park, Albert Drive, Woking, Surrey GU21 5JY Tel: 01483 764 646 ~ Fax: 01483 769 955 ~ Email: richardb@lsiprojects.com ~ Web: www.lsiprojects.com Martin by Harman (Mike Walker) London Road, Apsley, Ground Floor, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9TD Tel: 01462 480 000 ~ Email: michael.walker@harman.com ~ 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 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

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Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

OSRAM Ltd (Emma Woolf) 450 Brook Drive, Green Park, Reading, RG2 6UU Tel: +44 (0) 7932 159535 ~ Email: .e.woolf@osram.com ~ Web: www.osram.com/am PLASA (Sonja Walker) Redoubt House, 1 Edward Street, Eastbourne, Sussex BN23 8AS Tel: 01323 524 120 ~ Fax: 01323 524 121 ~ Email: sonja.walker@plasa.org ~ Web: www.plasa.org PRG XL Video (Kelly Cornfield, Caroline Kelly.)

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 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 8676 6877 ~ Fax: 020 8659 3151 ~ Email: cristian.arroyo@rosco.com~ Web: www.rosco.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 Signify (formerly 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@signify.com ~ Web: www.signify.com Stage Electrics Partnership Ltd (Dan Aldridge, Adam Blaxill) 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 TMB (Lauren Drinkwater, Tim Obermann) 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 Vari-Lite / Strand Lighting (Alan Luxford) Strand & Vari-Lite Centre, Unit 24 Sovereign Park, Coronation Road, Park Royal, London NW10 7QP Tel: 07867 536522 ~ Email: alan.luxford@signify.com ~ Web: www.vari-lite.com Version 2 Lights Ltd (Nick Edwards) Version 2 Lights, The Old Grain Store, Childs Court Farm, Ashampstead Common, Reading, RG8 8QT Tel: 020 3598 6938 ~ Email: info@v2lights.co.uk ~ Web: www.v2lights.co.uk White Light Ltd (Dave Isherwood, Bryan Raven) 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 Zero88 (A brand of Cooper Lighting Solutions) (David Catterall) Zero 88, Usk House, Lakeside, Llantarnam Park, Cwmbran NP44 3HD Tel: +44 (0) 1923 495495 ~ Mob: 07802 464484 ~ Email: enquiries@zero88.com ~ Web: www.zero88.com

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sponsors’ directory

Please mention Set & Light when contacting sponsors

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 B360 2 Doughty 17 Elation 25 ELP 68 Litepanels 67 Showlight 2021 13 Unusual Rigging 11 Varilite 33 V2 5

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membership application

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membership application

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Set & Light | Spring 2021