Lighting The Rumble

Transcription

Lighting The Rumble

Vol. 7.07
Aug. 2006
Lighting The Rumble
Genlyte Acquires
Strand
LOUISVILLE, KY—Genlyte Group
(GYLT), the parent company of VariLite, announced in July that it has
reached an agreement to acquire
the US- and Hong Kong-based operations of Strand Lighting and certain assets of Strand Lighting Ltd of
UK as part of a restructuring being
undertaken by Strand.
The transaction includes but is
not limited to the following product lines: C21 and CE21 Sine Wave
Dimmer Racks, 6-pack/3-pack dimmer, Wallrack Dimmer cabinets,
500 series Control systems, Palette
Series control consoles, and the SL
series of Profile spot Luminaries.
continued on page 16
Parnelli Award
Sponsors
Announced
Imaging and branding have been prevalent in professional wrestling ever since Terrible Ted, the wrestling
bear, took down Bunny Dunlop in the 1950s. But how do they do it now? As WWE’s senior production manager
John D’Amico explains, it’s good people, hard work, and of course, a lot of sweat. Check out the full interview
on page 26.
WWG Partner Gottelier Dies
Etnow.com editor John Offord said of Gottelier;
“Tony was a true Renaissance man, a master of design in our industry across its many facets—and a
writer of great style. His work you had to note, and
his words you were drawn to read. He was unique,
and certainly made his mark on our industry.”
LOS ANGELES—The Parnelli
Award Board of Advisors has announced the sponsors of this year’s
Parnelli Awards, and it is a rich and
varied group representing the most
cutting edge and progressive companies in the industry.
“First and foremost, our involvement in the Parnelli Awards stems
from honoring the man himself,
Rick O’Brien, a wonderful colleague
and human being,” says Doug Masterson, Rock-It-Cargo’s Vice President, Business Development. “He
exemplified everything right about
the live event industry. With that
Inside...
24
Martina’s Timeless
Classics
We examine the vintage look of Martina
McBride’s current tour.
29
Tales from the
Tour Bus
Driving a tour bus might
be the craziest job you’ll
ever love, according to
these three drivers.
34
Aerial Fun with
Flying by Foy
It takes a lot of effort to
make flying look effortless.
Ad info: www.plsn.com/rsc
AUSTIN, TX and KENT, UK—High End Systems
(HES) of Austin, TX and Wynne Willson Gottelier
(WWG) UK recently formed an agreement on the
licensing of certain WWG digital lighting technologies patents. Shortly afterwards it was announced
that Tony Gottelier, a partner with Peter Wynn-Willson in WWG, died after a long illness.
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P O ts
C ar
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Backstory of Automated Lighting, p. 32
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
What’s New
FEATURES
24 Production Profile
We examine Martina McBride’s Timeless
look for her new.
26 PLSN Interview
From the top rope! We go inside the
ring with WWE’s production manager
John D’Amico.
50 Focus on Design
What does color theory have to do with
lighting? Great question.
51 Road Test
Is the Chauvet Scorpion Scan LG-60 that
mythical beast that is cheap and good?
52 The Biz
29 Tales from the Tour Bus
It’s a 24/7/300+ days per year job, but
driving a tour bus just might be the
craziest job you’ll ever love.
The newest phone scam targeting the
lighting industry.
53 Product Gallery
Check out the newest in followspots.
32 The History of Automated Lighting
22
Inside Theatre
Scenery transforms a theatre buff’s apartment in The Drowsy Chaperone.
It begins much further back than you think.
34 Fun with Flying by Foy
Flying people is a science. But making it
look natural is an art.
36 Moving Light Anniversary
& Chauvet Lighting and Martin Professional
show what it takes to make an impression
40 in this biz.
COLUMNS
45 Video Digerati
What, exactly, do the terms “luminance,”
“gamma,”“brightness,” and “contrast” mean?
46 Video World
38
There are dozens of screen resolutions and
aspect ratios. But fear not; a good scaler
can conquer mis-matched resolution.
Designers Transform Studio D for PBS
Soundstage
48 Feeding the Machines
Hey! What happened to Brad?
The first step in building a moving light is
to make it move. It’s all downhill from there
– isn’t it?
60 LD-at-Large
When Nook’s away, the programmers play.
DEPARTMENTS
04 Editor’s Note
05 Feedback
05 News
05 The Event Calendar
12 On the Move
15 International News
18 New Products
20 Showtime
41 Projection Connection
44 Projection Connection New Products
49 Welcome to My Nightmare
Jim “Herbie” Gedwellas garners high praise from his colleagues.
56 Technopolis
www.PLSN.com
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PLSN AUGUST 2006
8/2/06 5:45:47 PM
EDITOR’SNOTE
Hopper, Kooper And The
The Publication of Record for the Lighting,
Staging and Projection Industries
Super Duper
Publisher
Terry Lowe
[email protected]
Editor
Richard Cadena
Blooper
A
l was not your average, ordinary 20 year
old. He was accomplished enough as a
musician to be invited to an important
recording session with a major artist. Still, he
was a bit intimidated when he arrived at the
session, guitar in hand, and found Michael
Bloomfield, bluesman extraordinaire, already
unpacking his guitar. He knew he was out of
his league. He didn’t unpack his own guitar,
but he didn’t give up either.
Instead, he quietly slipped into
the control room and sat next to
the producer, looking for an opportunity. Maybe the drummer would
spontaneously combust, or the
bass player wouldn’t show up. Then
it happened.
No, the drummer didn’t go up in a cloud
of smoke, but the organ player did get up and
move over to the piano. Al’s eyes lit up. Turning to the producer, he asked if he could go
and sit in on the organ.
“Oh, Al, you’re not an organ player,” the
producer responded.
“But I have the perfect part for this song,”
Al insisted. He was bluffing. He really had little more than the burning desire to play on
the record. But the producer saw right
through him.
After some back and forth, the producer
got a phone call and left the room. Al quietly
slipped behind the plastic keys of the organ.
When the producer came back and saw him
[email protected]
Editorial Director
Bill Evans
[email protected]
Associate Editor
Jacob Coakley
[email protected]
RichardCadena
she described her rise through the ranks of
the Navy. She started as a computer programmer, one of the first in the world. She
programmed the Mark I computer
in 1943 and in 1973 she became the
first U.S. citizen and the first woman
to become a Distinguished Fellow of
the British Computer Society. She said
she kept a clock that ran backwards
on the wall behind her desk in her office to
illustrate that just because “it’s always been
done that way,” there’s no reason not to do
things differently. She handed out “nanoseconds” in the form of lengths of wire about a
foot long the distance that electrons travel in
one nanosecond to illustrate that, in order to
be fast, computers had to be small. Then she
would hold up a “millisecond,” a coil of wire
about a thousand feet long. But the most vivid
message she delivered was one I’ll never forget. “It’s much easier,” she said, “to apologize
than it is to get permission.” The speaker was
the late, great Rear Admiral Grace Hooper.
If you listen to the recording of Bob
Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” you’ll notice that
the organ always comes in an eighth note behind the rest of the band. You see, Al Kooper
was not a keyboard player. He was the guitar
player who showed up to the recording session to find Michael Bloomfield there, a guitar
player who, by Kooper’s own admission, was
far and away a much better player than he. So
when Kooper slipped behind the keyboard to
play that song, he was waiting until he heard
the rest of the band to confirm that he was
playing the right chords. Apparently he was.
Later on, when everyone was in the control room listening to the playback, Dylan
asked the producer to turn up the organ.
The producer protested, saying that Kooper
wasn’t a real organ player. Dylan didn’t care;
he liked what he heard.
That song turned out to be one of Dylan’s
earliest and biggest hits, and the organ part
is its signature sound. But had Kooper waited for permission to play the organ it never
would have happened. Kooper took a chance,
even though he wasn’t trained for the task he
took on.
I’m not sure Kooper knew who Rear Admiral Hooper was, but he was following her
advice anyways. You should too.
I see a lot of young aspiring production
professionals waiting for permission to start
their career, to learn AutoCAD, to take on a
lighting design, basically to do anything for
which they don’t feel comfortable doing.
Waiting for permission is not the conventional way to greatness. Greatness takes risk,
it takes guts and it sometimes takes making
a lot of mistakes even very big mistakes. I’m
talking colossal blunders, super-duper bloopers. But it doesn’t take permission.
The judicious application of Hopper’s axiom just do it is the first step towards greatness.
Don’t wait for permission to take a bold step in
your life. Take a big chance today.
“I have the perfect part
for this song,” Al insisted.
He was bluffing.
PLSN August 2006
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at the keyboards, he gave Kooper a hard time.
“What are you doing?” the producer said. But
he let Kooper stay on the keys.
I once saw a locally produced broadcast—
and I use the word “produced” very loosely—
of a presentation given by a very short, whitehaired lady in a Navy uniform. I was instantly
captivated by the little lady’s huge stature as
Contributing Writers
Vickie Claiborne, Phil Gilbert,
Cory FitzGerald,Rob Ludwig,
Kevin M. Mitchell, Richard
Rutherford, Brad Schiller,
Nook Schoenfeld, Paul J. Duyree
Photographers
Steve Jennings, Bree Kristel
Art Director
Garret Petrov
[email protected]
Production Manager
Linda Evans
[email protected]
Graphic Designers
Dana Pershyn
[email protected]
Josh Harris
[email protected]
National
Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
[email protected]
Advertising Representative
James Leasing
[email protected]
General Manager
William Hamilton Vanyo
[email protected]
Executive Administrative
Assistant
Dawn-Marie Voss
[email protected]
Business and
Advertising Office
6000 South Eastern Ave.
Suite 14J
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Ph: 702.932.5585
Fax: 702.932.5584
Toll Free: 800.252.2716
Editorial Office
10305 Salida Dr.
Austin, TX 78749
Ph: 512.280.0384
Fax: 512.292.0183
Circulation
Stark Services
P.O. Box 16147
North Hollywood, CA 91615
Projection, Lights & Staging News (ISSN:
1537-0046) Volume 07, Number 07 Published monthly by Timeless Communications Corp. 6000 South
Eastern Ave., Suite 14J Las Vegas, NV 89119 It is
distributed free to qualified individuals in the
lighting and staging industries in the United
States and Canada. Periodical Postage paid
at Las Vegas, NV office and additional offices.
Postmaster please send address changes to:
Projection, Lights & Staging News, PO Box
16147 North Hollywood, CA 91615. Mailed in
Canada under Publications Mail Agreement
Number 40033037, 1415 Janette Ave., Windsor,
ON N8X 1Z1 Overseas subscriptions are available
and can be obtained by calling 702.932.5585.
Editorial submissions are encouraged but must include a self-addressed stamped envelope to be
returned. Projection, Lights & Staging News is a
Registered Trademark. All Rights Reserved.
Duplication, transmission by any method of
this publication is strictly prohibited without
permission of Projection, Lights & Staging News.
ES TA
E NTERTAINMENT SERVICES &
TECHNOLOGY ASSOC IATION
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 5:48:35 PM
NEWS
Leadership Change
at MA Lighting
PADERBORN, GERMANY—Michael Althaus has been named to the position of
managing director of MA Lighting International. The position was previously held by
Ralph-Jörg Wezorke, who, in the past, split
his managing director duties with parent
company Lightpower. Wezorke will continue as MD of Lightpower.
Wezorke, who, over the last 20 years, has
been responsible for the sales of MA products, commented; “Michael started working at Lightpower some 11 years ago and
has been part of the senior management
the last three years. He has lots of experi-
ences in the lighting business
and an MBA in business studies. We succeeded in getting
a top international position
with MA. Our next objective
is to further develop MA as a
leading brand. This requires
an independent management
momentum of its own. That
is why my dual role will now
change.”
Wezorke is the majority shareholder of Lightpower
and MA Lighting Technology.
Upcoming
Events
LD Assistant Training: Aug 14-19,
Florida Community College, Jacksonville, FL, Aug 16-18, Hyatt Regency,
Atlanta, GA, Aug 21-23, TBA, Dallas, TX
(www.ldassistant.com)
PLASA: Sep 10-13, Earls Court, London
Rigging Seminars: Oct 9-12, Seattle,
WA (www.riggingseminars.com)
LDI 2006: Oct 20-22, Las Vegas
Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
(www.ldishow.com)
L-R: Ralph-Jörg Wezorke and Michael Althaus
Send upcoming events to [email protected].
Letter to
the Editor
Sailing Back to Normal
A few months ago I wrote to you
about the state of the music scene in New
Orleans. I was the production manager
and operations manager at the Orpheum
Theatre for 10 years when Katrina’s flood
waters closed it down.
The Orpheum Corporation recently
sold it to a guy from Texas who plans to
spend $5M to fix it. He wants to get the
symphony back in and has other plans
that he will let everyone know about in
the near future.
I am so glad that this old beautiful
venue will be saved. I don’t know if I will be
back in but I will be sending my resume.
Things are still going at a snail’s pace
with the clean up in the city. I am still
working for the Army Corps of Engineers
with the clean-up mission. Some areas are
still as messed up as right after the storm,
but at least this venue found an angel to
save it. I am starting to have some hope
about the music scene that I did not have
the last time I wrote.
I think it will still be a couple of years
before the industry is back to what it used
to be, but I can see some light at the end
of the tunnel. The movie industry is starting to pick up again. They have a couple
of big shoots about to start with Brad Pitt
and some others. But people outside this
area still don’t get how bad the city was
hit by the flood waters. So keep us in your
thoughts and we will be back up and running like the old days, only better, I hope.
It would be cool if the industry had
some schools or training programs down
here like a Full Sail or something like that.
There are a lot of young people down here
who love the music industry, and we have
such a large pool of talented musicians
that all seem to learn our trades by the
school of hard knocks.
God Bless and keep us in your prayers.
Keith Nestor
Corrections
Where’s the Love?
In the July issue of PLSN, in the article “All You Need is Love: Cirque du
Soleil Presents Beatles Music,” we incorrectly spelled the name of assistant LD
and project manager Karl Gaudreau. We
sincerely regret the error.
www.PLSN.com
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PLSN AUGUST 2006
8/2/06 5:49:41 PM
NEWS
Showlites Reunion to be Held at Parnelli Awards
Scores of former employees to gather before Parnelli Awards
LAS VEGAS, NV—On October 20, at 7:00
p.m. at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in
Las Vegas, there will be a reunion and cocktail party for all those who worked for Eric
Pearce’s Showlites and
its various spin-offs
over the years, right up
to and including Show
Group Production Services (SGPS). One of
the most influential
companies in the history of our industry, it
has been on the cutting edge of live event
technology and advancement since its founding in London
in 1974.
“Showlites has had a phenomenal
influence on the industry because of
the many aspects it pioneered that are
now industry standards,” says Clive Forrester of All Access, who joined Showlites
in 1975. “The company always had a
technological edge.”
“Showlites was one of TMB’s first customers back in 1983 and, I am happy to say,
we are still doing business 23 years later,”
says Marshall Bissett, TMB president. “‘Eric’s
University’ has produced many companies
whom we talk to every day. The world of
trussing, cabling and control systems owes
everything to Eric Pearce’s good ideas.”
Just a few of the legends that came
out of the organization include Dale “Opie”
Skjerseth (Production Manager, Rolling
Stones); Mark Spring (Production Manager, Paul McCartney, George Michael); Toby
Fleming (Production Manager, Tina Turner);
Ed Wannebo (Production Manager, Kenny
Chesney); Kiernan Healey (TV LD); and
Simon Miles (TV Designer), among
many others.
The company started in the early 1970s
as Keylites, and when Pearce’s partner left
in 1974 he renamed it Showlites and expanded the operation to include full production services. “Showlites, in conjunc-
tion with its sister company, Alderham,
devised a number of new goods, including
the bar of six (six PAR lamps pre-rigged and
wired with a Socopex connector), the use of
the multicore cable, the Socopex dimming
system, the Alderham 60-channel lighting
board, and the Alderham 804 lighting console, which was the first veritable large rock
and roll lighting board,” says Forrester.“These
innovations revolutionized the concert touring industry in efficiency and ingenuity.”
Forrester says that the multi-connector system and rapid deployment lamp
bars were an especially big breakthrough.
“We could speed things up with them,
and when ABC saw us setting up an Elvis
Costello system at the Forum, they asked
if they could rent our equipment for the
American Music Awards. We said, sure—
but the union was not happy about it because they thought it would lead to less
work.” The opposite proved to be true, as
the device allowed designers to expand
the size of their systems and put more
lights up.
Showlites expanded into North American with an office in Southern California
in 1979 serving such acts as Van Halen,
The Who, and Supertramp. By 1982 offices included Baltimore, Md., and Dal-
las, Texas, and high-profile events added
to their growing resume included the
inauguration of President Regan, The
Academy Awards and the 1984 Olympics.
Pearce continued to spin off companies,
including Showpower, Inc. under John
Campion (Alstom Power Rentals, FL) and
Showstaging, Inc. under Erik Eastland (All
Access). By the late 1990s, the company
again reinvented itself, moving to Orlando
and operating under the name Showgroup
of Florida, Inc.
“Then he moved the company back
to California in the mid 1990s and it became SGPS, ridding itself of its lighting
equipment and concentrating on rigging, trussing and engineering products
for the movie industry,” Forrester says.
“Today, Showlites, Inc. no longer exists,
although its memory and all the individuals who passed through company have
shaped the face of the current concert
touring industry.”
Forrester estimates hundreds have
gone through the organizations and went
on to launch successful careers. “I have a
bunch that work for me here at All Access!”
he laughs.
For more information on this reunion,
please go to www.parnelliawards.com.
Shawn Moeller Dead at 40
ATALANTA—On July 13, 2006, Shawn
Moeller tragically and prematurely died of a
heart attack. Moeller was a production tour
rigger working with Shakira. He was previously employed with the Rolling Stones,
KISS, Aerosmith, Sting, Ricky Martin and
Jennifer Lopez.
Moeller was born on June 7th, 1966, in
Davenport, Iowa and in 1984 he entered basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri,
receiving advanced training as a combat
engineer at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. After his
training, Shawn received an overseas as-
signment in Germany. He later applied and
was accepted into the United States Army
Rangers. After 21 months of service Shawn
left the Army with an honorable discharge.
In 1986 he met his future wife Brandy and
their daughter, Aubrey Gail, was born in August 1990.
A trust has been established for Aubrey Gail Moeller. All contributions can be
made at any Bank of America Location, care
of Aubrey Moeller College Fund or Mail to:
Aubrey Moeller, 231 Grapevine Dr, Douglasville, GA 30134
Moonshine Lighting
Founder Dies
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.5-11.News.indd 6
MEMPHIS, TN—Randy Ridley, co-founding
owner of Moonshine Lighting Inc. in Memphis,
Tenn., passed away of a sudden heart attack on
June 28. He was 52 years old.
Randy and his wife Cindy started the company in the late 1970s from their garage in
nearby Jackson, Tenn. The two of them toured
with Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs and George
Jones before establishing residence in Memphis and becoming dealers for a variety of theatrical manufacturers and distributors.
Ridley leaves behind his wife and co-founding owner, Cindy, and a 14 year-old daughter,
Christine Marie. The company is in the process
of shifting duties and Cindy said that they will
continue operation as per usual.
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 5:50:58 PM
NEWS
Portable Feeder Standards
Available For Review
NEW YORK—BSR E1.18, Standard for the
selection, installation, and use of single- conductor portable power feeder cable systems
for use at less than 601 volts nominal for
the distribution of electrical energy in the
entertainment and live-event industries, offers guidance on the selection, installation,
and safe use of single-conductor portable
power feeder cable systems used in the
entertainment and live-event industries as
power distribution systems. The review runs
through 28 August 2006. The review will be
over and the listing on the ESTA website will
disappear as soon as the ending date shown
on the website, August 29, starts. The draft
standard and its supporting materials are
available at http://www.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php.
In addition to being asked to review the
document to see if it offers adequate advice,
reviewers are asked to look for protected
intellectual property in the draft standard.
ESTA does not warrant that its standards
contain no protected intellectual property,
but it also does not intend to adopt any
standard that requires the use of protected
intellectual property, unless that property
is necessary for technical reasons and can
be licensed and used by anyone without
prejudice or preference for a reasonable fee.
Any protected intellectual property in the
document should be pointed out in
the comments.
The BSR E1.18 draft standard is a project
of the Electrical Power Working Group, part
of ESTA’s Technical Standards Program. The
working group is seeking voting members
in the dealer/rental company and generalinterest interest categories. The working
group has enough manufacturer and user
members, and is not actively seeking members in these interest categories at this time.
Membership in the working group is open to
all who are affected by the work of the group.
There is no fee, and membership in ESTA or
any other organization is not a requirement,
but voting members are required to attend
meetings regularly and to vote on letter
ballots. More information about joining the
working group is available at http://www.
esta.org/tsp/working_groups/index.html.
For more information, please contact:
Karl G. Ruling, Technical Standards Manager,
ESTA 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1005, New York,
NY 10001; Tel. 1-212-244-1505; Fax 1-212244-1502; e-mail: [email protected]
Sponsorship Enables
Youth Theatre
LAKE GEORGE, NY—Each summer, students ranging from 11 to 18 years of age
perform three Broadway shows over a
period of four weeks in Lake George, New
York’s Youtheatre. They participate in all aspects of production including acting, singing,
dancing, lighting, sound, stage management,
scenic design and directing. This summer the
ensemble will be performing Cats, Jesus Christ
Superstar and Oklahoma. For the sixth year in
a row, Creative Stage Lighting is helping to
sponsor the 29th annual event.
“Creative Stage Lighting is proud to be a
part of such a valuable experience in the lives of
so many of today’s youths,” says Creative Stage
Lighting’s CEO George Studnicky III.“Youtheatre
has immense value and causes young people to
develop into truly productive adults.”
“For the past six years Creative Stage Lighting has made it possible for Youtheatre to continue to bring the arts to hundreds of extremely
talented area youth,” remarked Youtheatre director Mickey Luce.“Their financial support has
enabled us to produce full-scale current Broadway productions that would not be possible
otherwise. As a company that lights the stages
of great productions across the country, their
magnanimous support has enlightened the
lives of many appreciative young performers.”
JUNIOR FULL PAGE AD
LOS ANGELES—Longtime American DJ
employee Joey Corral died on July 3. He
served American DJ in a number of management capacities, most recently in Elation Professional sales. He died in a motorcycle accident outside Los Angeles.
Corral had been active in the DJ and
lighting industries for over 20 years, and
during that time he made numerous contributions to the DJ community. “He touched
a lot of lives, and was a great role model,”
said Scott Davies, general manager of the
American DJ Group.
“My brother Chuck and I have known
Joey since before American DJ was started,”
continued Davies. “He has always been a
very valued friend to our families. Joey was
a very sweet and caring individual who
made everyone feel at home. American
DJ is a close knit company, and we’re all going to miss him.”
Corral was 54. He leaves behind a wife,
Kate, and four children, Tiffany, Kathleen,
Ben and Sarah.
100.0608.5-11.News.indd 7
ADJ mourns
Joey Corral
8/2/06 5:51:49 PM
NEWS
25th Annual EVVY Awards
BOSTON—Held at the end of May at the Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College
in Boston, the EVVY Awards is their own version of the Emmy Awards. It’s also the longestrunning, student-produced live television show in the U.S. PRG donated 14 High End Systems Studio Spots, and Advanced Lighting Services and Productions (ALPS) provided assistance with the production, without which, “the show really would not have looked the
way it did,” according to technical director/production manager Jim Shumway. He added,
“It is the one show we do a year on the theatre side that we do not have any oversight by
our professors, so it is a wonderful testing ground for that which we have learned.”
In Brief
David Stern has added four new MA
Lighting grandMA consoles and another 20
Vari*Lite 3000 Spots to the moving light inventory at Precise Corporate Staging (www.
pcstaging.com). The 20 new Vari*Lites brings
Precise’s inventory for VL 3000 spots up to 56...
AV Concepts recently acquired another High
End Systems Hog iPC lighting console. AV
Concepts is a national, full-service supplier of
audio-visual, staging and technical support for
meetings, conventions and trade shows...ETC’s
new Source Four® fixture ‘mini-site,’ www.etcconnect.com/minisite/sourcefour/index.html
features “everything you need to know” about
the lights in an interactive graphic mode. The
home page gives you an end-to-end tour of
the Source Four spotlight...Jeff Ravitz, lighting
designer and partner in the design firm, Visual
Terrain, Inc., was nominated for a Los Angeles
Area Emmy Award on June 22. The nomination
was for his lighting design for El Grito de México,
broadcast September 15, 2005 on KMEX Channel 34 and Univision. Ravitz received the Emmy
for the 2004 telecast of El Grito... High End Systems debuted its new podcast program, developed and produced in its in-house marketing
department. Anyone with iTunes, a video iPOD
LED Showcase, LD Panels Highlight Event
YONKERS, NY—With close to 100 attendees during a two-day event, Altman Rentals
recently played host to some of the leading
LED manufacturers who showed their latest in
LED technology as well as discussed current
projects and future developments of LED fixtures. Attendees had the opportunity to hear
several lighting designers during the panel
discussions talk about working with LED fixtures, mixing them with conventional and
moving lights, and speculate about the future
of the technology in events, theatre, television,
and film applications.
The Manufacturers Showcase included AC
Lighting, Altman Lighting, Barco, Color Kinetics, Element Labs, James Thomas Engineering,
Main Light, Pulsar, and Selador. The designers
who spoke at the designer roundtable included Jamie Burnett, Rita Kogler Carver, Michael
Fink, Herrick Goldman, Christien Methot, Susan Nicholson, and Guy Smith.
“We have been renting a lot of LED fixtures
to a wide variety of users for a lot of different
applications,” says Randy Altman, owner of
Altman Rentals. “We have been getting more
and more requests for the gear as well as a lot
of inquiries about newer LED lighting technology from our clients. This was a way to bring
together a lot of the leading LED manufacturers in one place along with a variety of lighting designers who work with the technology.
There was a great deal of interaction between
designers, end-users and the manufacturers.
This was about serving our clients and help-
ing them make the best gear choices to serve
their design needs. I personally was very taken
by the technology and the advances that all of
these manufacturers were showing.”
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.5-11.News.indd 8
or podcasting software such as Juice, iPodder
or iPodderX can download the feeds, which will
include interviews, product demonstrations,
tutorials, new technology “sneak peeks” and
more...In-House Production Hawaii, an entertainment labor and payroll service in Hawaii
and Las Vegas, Nevada has signed an agreement with IATSE Local 665 of Hawaii with the
help of booking agent Donovan K Ahuna and
secretary treasurer Eric Mintor to supply qualified labor for event installations, show run and
strike for tradeshows, conventions, conferences,
corporate or theatrical productions. For specialized rigging and rigging hardware In-House has
teamed up with Dave Martin of Pacific Engineering for Stage & Film, LLC formally known
as Hawaii Pacific Rigging. For more information
visit www.in-houseproduction.com...Cinelease,
Inc. of Burbank and Las Vegas was the first in the
U.S. to purchase the new Martin MAC 700 Wash.
48 700W wash lights and 60 MAC 700 Profiles
will compliment their previous stock of 14 MAC
700 Profiles. The fixtures have been specified by
lighting designer Michael Veerkamp of Team
Imagination for the upcoming season of NBC’s
popular game show “Deal or No Deal.”...Recently
released with a host of updates, Martin Professional’s Maxedia Digital Media Composer
is coming off a Eurovision 2006 show in which
20 Maxedias were networked to provide video
content for one of Europe’s top television events.
Kelly Clarkson, Sting, Reba McEntire, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ozzfest 2006, American Idols Live!, Ricky
Martin, New Cars, Moody Blues, George Strait,
Poison/Cinderella, Gianna Nannini and Hilary
Duff are a few of the current 2006 tours using
Maxedia. Several special events and television studios are also recently used it including
VH1 Rock Honors, JC Penny Jam, VH1 Decades,
KODO, GLEC Worldwide and the PokerDome
Series...The SeaChanger Color Engine from
Ocean Optics has made its Broadway debut
as part of Disney Theatrical Productions’ Tarzan,
which was specified by Tony Award-winner
Natasha Katz...Look Solutions fog and haze
machines are currently on Tarzan, Hot Feet, The
Drowsy Chaperone, Lord of the Rings in Toronto,
Hairspray, The Wedding Singer, Wicked in
Chicago, Spamalot, the national tour of Movin’
Out, the national tour of Riverdance, The Lion
King, the revival of The Pajama Game, the
national tour of Bombay Dreams, Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, and The Producers...In July at
New York’s Saratoga Performing Arts Center,
the 2006 summer season of the New York City
Ballet and various weekend SPAC concerts were
working under the control of the BCi Pocket
Console dmx™. PRG Lighting of New Jersey
provided SPAC with a Pocket Console on this
year’s rental order for the purpose of remote
control of the work light and orchestra pit lighting systems. By routing all of the work lights and
the music stand lights through one ETC 12x2.4k
Sensor rack and routing the DMX through an
A/B switch, the building staff gained control, enabling the local IATSE crew access to the touring
work light and pit light system without turning
on the Obsession or any of the main Sensor
racks, except for one 12 pack...Nemetschek
North America announced that Spanishlanguage versions of VectorWorks Fundamentals, VectorWorks Architect, and RenderWorks
12 are now available...The Phantom of the
Opera – The Las Vegas Spectacular opened at
the Venetian Hotel and Casino utilizing
custom-fabricated equipment from Tomcat
USA including three hanging towers plus one
rolling tower for additional lighting positions,
and the front of house catwalk truss. PRG Lighting in Las Vegas supplied the equipment.
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 5:52:46 PM
NEWS
Lighting Canada’s Element Club a Family Affair
CASTLEGAR, CANADA—The town of Castlegar in Western Canada is situated in the majestic
West Kootenay Mountains and is home to about
7200 people. Home, as well, to outdoor activities
such as fishing, hiking and skiing/snowboarding,
this area of 63000 people had no place to call a
nightclub—until now.
Opened on June 2, 2006 Element Club, Bar
and Grill is a 600-capacity club and the third largest licensed establishment in British Columbia.
Martin dealer Skaha Sound of Penticton, British
Columbia has supplied a Martin lighting package along with LED lighting and conventional
luminaires. Lighting design was handled jointly
by cousins Florio and Fred Vassilakakis, who enlisted other family help as well. Florio comments,
“The actual physical design of the club was done
by my father, Nick, with collaboration from me,
my cousin Fred and my brother George. My uncle John also helped out. It’s a family company,
what can I say.”
Element is located on a main floor overlooked by a lounge grill. Above the dance floor
and mounted directly to the ceiling for a clean
look are eight MAC 250 Krypton profile moving
heads along with four Wizard Extreme effect
lights and four Atomic 3000 strobes. Atmospheric effects and mid-air projection canopy comes
from a Jem ZR33 Hi-Mass fogger located under
the dance floor. Lighting control is from a PCbased LightJockey and Martin Fingers controller.
All Skaha Sound supplied the Martin lighting,
which was distributed through Martin’s Canadian representative, Martin Canada.
Additional lighting includes 12 1000-watt
PAR cans above the stage on a custom hydraulic
scissor. Eight two-foot Pulsar ChromaPanels color a feature wall and 300 feet of Advanced Lighting eLum RGB strips light two bars, a main bar
and an upstairs bar, as well as to backlight the
club’s sign on the outside of the building. Also
outside are 16 Pulsar ChromaFloors illuminating
the sidewalk.
“My lighting plan was always up in the air
as we originally had a partner who was a lighting professional but he bailed before plans were
even started, so we had to go it on our own,”
commented LD Florio Vassilakakis.
“When it came to lighting the place up, I
had many ideas from the places I had traveled.
I always make a point of visiting nightclubs
anywhere I go from Vegas to the UK, Vancouver,
Athens and other European cities. Research on
the Internet and help from our local sound and
lighting company helped point me in the right
direction. About six months before construction
started, I met with Martin Pro rep Clayton Hubick
from Edmonton. I contacted another company
from Minnesota, Advanced Lighting Systems,
and designed ambient lighting and signage
with DMXable LED. The sign, bars and other signage is all LED and controlled by LightJockey.”
“With Clayton’s help we designed a light
show that was really spectacular and that fit
within our budget. We took it upon ourselves to
install it all and with crossed fingers we hoped it
all worked. It did and the rest is history. Clayton
really went above and beyond and came to our
club and trained us on the software and even
programmed some light shows. Really, without
his help this thing wouldn’t have happened as
well as it did.”
The Element Club
Software Helps
Light Up Belle
& Sebastian’s
World Tour
COLUMBIA, MD—When lighting designer Tyler Littman was designing the lighting
for US leg of Belle & Sebastian’s 2006 world
tour, he faced a challenge not unfamiliar to
touring acts.
“Each venue required a completely different lighting plot and presented a new set
of challenges, because each site varied drastically in size, shape, and hanging potential,”
says Littman, lighting designer and principal
of Sholight Entertainment Design Group. “Because the concerts were happening at dusk,
with the show beginning in complete daylight
and ending in complete darkness, the lighting
had to be extremely diverse. Thanks to VectorWorks, I was able to create drawings for each
show and make revisions incredibly quickly.”
The Glasgow-based Belle & Sebastian is
in the middle of an extensive tour that has
recently included Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Australia,
Japan, and the U.S. They will soon head to
Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Holland, and Austria
before returning to the United Kingdom for
further appearances.
VectorWorks rendering of set.
NEWS
Ringo Finds a Rose
Photo courtesy of Debbi Moen
NEW YORK—Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band wrapped up their summer tour at Radio
City Music Hall in New York after two months on the road. The lighting and set was designed by Jeff Ravitz and it was programmed and operated by Susan Rose. The rig included
24 Morpheus Fader Beams and 11 Martin MAC 2000s mounted in flip truss. Three circular
set pieces provided projection surfaces for the automated lights against a multi-colored
backdrop. The console was a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog II with a Hog PC as backup.
“My tech was the most awesome tech in the world,” said Rose, referring to Pete
“English Pete” Bilton.
Weird Science Perks Up
JavaOne Conference
SAN FRANCISCO—It was a real change of
pace for a conclave of 15,000 Java fanatics to
come to their Java After Dark party after spending days engaged in serious technical sessions
at Sun’s annual JavaOne conference. Conference-goers let down their hair at a cocktail party, marking the conclusion of JavaOne, where
DaVinci Fusion used a Weird Science theme to
have fun with “egghead pursuits.”
DaVinci Fusion was hired by Conference
Planners and charged with creating and scripting an experience that guests would remember long after JavaOne concluded. The DaVinci
team set the scene for the evening in a footballfield size ballroom at the Moscone Center, by
creating an immersive matrix-computer environment where lines of falling code were projected on the walls and ceiling. The room was
filled with a main stage, bar, fun Weird Science
experiments and numerous games, all happening simultaneously.
In the center of the space hovered the Java
Ball, a 25-foot diameter image sphere which
served as an innovative TV set displaying mov-
ing images as varied as fire, boiling water, lighting, outer space and image magnification from
on-stage activities, Weird Science phenomena
and texture maps. “From anywhere in the room you could
be entertained, stimulated or amused by the
Java Ball’s display,” notes DaVinci Fusion president Solomon Rosenzweig. “There’s something
about a spherical image that’s really hypnotizing. It’s the concept of the omnipotent object,
fascinating in its scale and by the way its images dominate the room. When you look at the
Java Ball the images wrap around the curves
and move away from you with the edge of the
sphere, like the horizon of the world.” Moving Lights Move Church Congregation
BOCA RATON, FL—Thirty-five moving
lights have recently been installed in St Paul’s
Lutheran Church in Boca Raton, Florida. The
newly converted former gymnasium is now
a 650-seat concert venue for Christian artists
and performers and an active worship center, as well as a gym for the church school’s
athletics activities.
The Robe fixtures were specified by Patrick
Daniel Trombly, general manager of installers
Zebedee Systems from Pompano Beach, Flor-
ida, and Robe America’s Tony Perez. Zebedee
has installed similar systems in several other
houses of worship and in this case they worked
directly for the church.
The rig includes 10 ColorSpot, eight ColorWash 575ATs, five ColorMix 575ATs with an 86°
lens, four ColorSpot 250ATs, four ColorWash
250ATs and four ColorMix 250ATs. They are controlled from a Robe Cyber Control.The lights are
positioned across roof trusses over the stage
(and over the basket ball court) and are in con-
stant use for all the concerts, functions, services
and corporate events taking place in St Paul’s.
The moving lights give the church the
scope to transform the square room into three
distinct sections. For the gymnasium, they use
the ColorSpot and Wash 575ATs, for specials effects during basketball and volleyball games.
They also create a colorful but natural and
spiritual worship center on Sunday morning,
and they can also convert the venue to a full on
concert facility.
Parnelli Award Dinner Sponsors Announced
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
All Access Staging & Production
Apollo Design
ASI Productions
Brown United
JBL Professional
HAS Productions
Littlite
Martin Professional
PRG
Rock-it-Cargo
Techni-Lux
Video Cam
Since 2001, scores of our industry’s
highest achievers and most admired
innovators have been awarded the Parnelli. The award recognizes pioneering,
influential professionals and their contributions, honoring both individuals
and companies. Much more than just
about being the person who performs
his or her craft expertly, the Parnelli is
also about moving our industry forward
with the same qualities that defined the
person for whom it is named—Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien, an extraordinary production manager and human being.
O’Brien passed away from cancer
leaving behind a wife and three young
children, and this event honors him and
10
continued from cover
spirit, the Parnelli Awards provide a
great forum to celebrate our collective
success, reconnect with friends, and
meet key industry personnel.”
The total list of sponsors include:
PLSN AUGUST 2006
www.PLSN.com
all he stood for. A portion of the proceeds goes to a special scholarship fund
at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas’s
Entertainment Technology Department
in his name.
Parnelli Awards Include: Lighting Designer of the Year, Set/Scenic Designer
of the Year, Lighting Company of the
Year, Staging Company of the Year, Set
Construction Company of the Year, Video Rental Company of the Year, Rigging
Company of the Year, Regional Lighting
Company of the Year, Pyro Company of
the Year, FOH Mixer of the Year, Monitor Mixer of the Year, Sound Company
of the Year, Regional Sound Company
of the Year, Production Manager of the
Year, Tour Manager of the Year, Coach
Company of the Year, Trucking Company
of the Year, Freight Forwarding Company of the Year, and Ancillary Production
Services of the Year.
“It’s a great thing to see the Parnelli
Awards growing in stature,” says David Scheirman, JBL Vice President, Tour
Sound. “The Parnelli Awards truly do
represent a unique forum that helps to
bring veteran concert audio industry
professionals together.” JBL is the first
sound company to participate.
The awards will take place on October
20, 2006, at the Venetian Resort Hotel
Casino in Las Vegas during LDI. For more
information and to make reservations,
go to www.parnelliawards.com.
NEWS
Roy Bennett Has The Hot Hand
SYCAMORE, IL—The summer’s hottest acts
have one thing in common; production designer Roy Bennett. Current and recent shows
for which the busy Bennett has designed
include Madonna, VH1 Rock Honors,Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks
For husband and wife duo Tim McGraw and
Faith Hill, Bennett designed a lighting rig that includes an automated lighting package of Martin
MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 2000 Profiles and MAC
2000 Washes, all programmed and run from an
MA Lighting grandMA console.The conventional
lighting includes ETC Source Fours, Altman CDM
PARs, Lowell Omni fixtures, Wybron BP2 Beam
Projectors, custom Flouropods and PAR 64s. The
lighting is supplied by Upstaging, Inc.
The stage design features a round central
platform with four protruding wings. Above
hangs a huge rig of automated and conventional
luminaires.“There is a lot of gear on this show,”Roy
exclaims.“You could literally run across the top of
the grid and it would be hard to fall through!
“But because the show is ‘in the round’, the
whole idea is to make the atmosphere intimate.
Even though there are 12-14,000 people the
idea is to include them as a part of the show as
well as a spectator. Besides the stage lighting
we use the MACs as background lighting because when you play ‘in the round’ the people
on the other side of the room are actually your
background so we get color on them.”
For Madonna’s summer tour, Bennett’s automated lighting package included 99 Vari*Lite
VL3000s, eight VL 2500 wash fixtures, five
Vari*Lite 500 Arcs, 47 MAC 700 Profiles, 31 MAC
2000 Washes, 13 Syncrolite B52s and 82 Martin
Atomic Strobes with color scrollers.
“The physical staging extends far out, it’s
massive, with a lot of lights that come way
out into the audience. It’s a huge video show
and we use the moving heads to support the
video elements – an extension of what’s going on video-wise,” Bennett says.
“All of Madonna’s shows are very theatrical
with a lot of subtleties but with big, in your face
looks too.The show has a prominent disco theme
so we wanted to turn the venue into a huge disco
at times. It’s a very dynamic show.”
Lighting programmer Troy Eckerman programmed on a grandMA console. “Every Madonna tour is big, and this tour is probably the biggest
one she has done,” says Eckerman. “There are 26
trucks of equipment,lots of video,set pieces,things
that fly, costume changes. Our lighting system has
to be very versatile to accommodate so many elements. We use Cyberhoist moving motors for all
the lighting pods; that enables us to change looks
going from a very heavy rock to a disco dance feel.
grandMA controls all of the lighting.”
“Motors and trusses are everywhere” in
the show, notes Eckerman. The nine lighting
pods move independently on the main grid
with additional large pods on the side with
square truss grid above each. A runway projects about halfway into the audience with
trusses parallel to and above it. A B stage in
front of house sports another truss; Madonna
makes her entrance coming out of a huge
mirror ball supported by its own truss.
Mac Mossier is lighting director and
Corey Fitzgerald served as the second
grandMA programmer. The Parnelli Awards:
Moving Forward While
Looking Back
A word about O’Brien from a friend, and
an explanation as to why the Parnelli’s are
so important
By Patrick Stansfield
A little over six years ago we established
the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award in
an effort to honor a good friend and industry
legend. We intended to do this by singling out
a few others who shared the values and qualities that Rick “Parnelli” O’Brian lived in life. And,
so nonchalantly did Rick wear these civic virtues that a casual observer would have had to
look closely to really perceive the depth of his
humility, the subtle dignity of the humanity
that he displayed, or his twinkle-eyed but dry
and devastating humor. Nor could one readily see the simple yet ruthless integrity which
he applied to tough-call situations whether it
was in a crisis or upon a triumph.
With Rick you had to look carefully, he
didn’t show it off, which leads me to the point
of how to honor a guy of his stature without
running a popularity contest. Rick hated those
games and we knew it. The Lifetime Achievement Award is only accorded those who
achieve an overwhelming, visceral consensus
of agreement by the Editorial Board. No one
can “buy” or “fix” the Parnelli; it’s just not the
way it works. It is an award granted by acclaim
if you will. Suggested names are brought up
and invariably the agreement is speedy and
within one or two ballots, unanimous.
It is also gratifying is to see that the accompanying Awards for “Best of Breed” in the
general Production Categories have by now
taken on a life of their own. The very best efforts are made sparing no expense, to utilize
software that prevents stacking the balloting.
The nominations are open to all subscribers
and each registered voter’s computer can actually contribute only one vote.
Anyone who cares to come to L.A. (or join by
conference call) and agrees to work through
the process with the Board is welcome to do
so if they will simply show up and put in the
effort. Reasons the awards are so widely respected include:
• They are well-deserved and they go to
recognized industry leaders;
• They are honestly awarded by peers, from
open nominations.
I personally guarantee what I have just
written, and you are welcome to join us
in the process.
That’s the way my friend Rick would have
wanted it.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN MONTH 2006
11
ONTHEMOVE
16x9 Inc., distributor and manufacturer
of professional accessories for film & video
cameras, has moved to a spacious new facility in Valencia, California. Their new contact
info is: 28314 Constellation Rd., Valencia, CA
91355, Phone: 661.295.3313
Michael M. Blankenship has joined Audio
Visual Innovations’ (AVI) office in Columbus,
Ohio as sales bid estimator.
C i t y
Theatrical
has added
Ken Bruns
as a salesperson, con- Ken Bruns
Ben Merrick
centrating
on outside sales. Ben Merrick has also joined
CTI as new product development manager.
Color Kinetics Incorporated appointed
John Daly as vice president of OEM Sales. Mr.
Daly will oversee the company’s worldwide
OEM sales and support activities.
Richard Jackson
has joined the Rentals and Production
team at Creative
Stage Lighting of
North Creek, NY as a
touring technician.
Prior to joining CSL
he had served as a Richard Jackson
lighting technician,
support technician and trainer.
Da-Lite Screen
Company appointed Jack Hoyle, CTS to
the position of marketing manager and
Kyle Howard to the
position of national
sales manager.
Kyle Howard
James Crisman and Billy Davila have
teamed up to form Entertainment 1, an
event, production and touring supply company specializing in custom cable assemblies.
LED manufacturer i-Vision has expanded
and moved to bigger premises in Cwmbran,
South Wales. The new address is: Lakeside
House, Lakeside, CWMBRAN, NP44 3XS.
Tel : 01633 482500
Matt Pearlman
has returned to Intelligent Lighting
Creations.
Martin
Professional, Inc. hired Brad
Haynes as regional
sales manager–central
region.Haynes’responsibilities as Regional
Sales Manager primarily cover Martin’s Martin Brad Haynes
Show, TV and Theatre
segments in the central U.S. region, although
Brad will be involved in the Commercial and
Public Spaces segments as well.
Project manager and lighting specialist
Steve Wojda has joined the OSA Int’l production services division.
Matt Pearlman
Leviton Manufacturing
Company has appointed
Dan Munson to the
position of government regional sales
manager for its
central region
Pelican
Products
named Matt
Miller
as
Director of
Sales for the
Scott Jones
Matt Miller
Commercial
Division and Scott Jones as the Director of
Sales for National Accounts.
Precise Corporate Staging has opened a
new satellite office in Atlanta, Ga. in order to
service East Coast clients and East Coast Staging Events.
Dan Munson
At LMG,
Inc.
Bryce
Hershner was
promoted to
director
of
show services Bryce Hershner
DavidJohn
to direct the
company’s show services department in LMG’s four offices
nationwide. David John was
promoted to the role of chief
operating officer for the com- Kevin McCabe
pany. In his new position, John will play a key role
in strategic planning and direct the company’s
executive team toward achieving future growth.
Also, Kevin McCabe was promoted to director of
technical services. McCabe is responsible for working with clients to find technical solutions to support shows as well as overseeing LMG’s in-house
show technicians and scheduling department.
TBA, a Corporate and consumer event
marketing company, has named Michael
Quatrini general manger of TBA’s Orlando office. Robert McKone has been named director
of sales, destination management. Barbara
Cordero has been named account executive,
destination management. TBA promoted
Jerold Bean to director of operations, destination management in Chicago. In addition,
Kate Chandler has been named senior operations manager.
B r i a n
Lewis
has
joined Vista
Systems as
director
of
business development.
Brian Lewis
WWG
Partner Dies
The licensing agreement between High
End Systems and WWG will proceed as
planned. WWG is the originator of the Orbital
Mirror Head which was instrumental to the
HES Catalyst in the beginning. Richard Belliveau, chief technology officer for HES, says,
“WWG is a truly innovative source of inventive
creativity in the lighting industry. The relationship between WWG and HES has been instrumental in the development of HES digital
lighting products. We are pleased to form the
licensing agreement with WWG.”
Peter Wynne Willson of WWG says, “The
hard and soft engineering of the HES digital
products is exemplary. Richard Belliveau and
his team have made a fabulous job of bringing our Catalyst project to market. WWG has
learned much from HES en route to concluding this licensing agreement.”
The Backstory
on Automated
Lighting
continued from page 29
them a beachhead from which they increased both the sophistication and the
sales of a growing number of products
aimed at such markets.
These “Phase Three” fixtures soon
dwarfed the inventories of the “Phase Two”
players—and with a dramatic effect on the
latter’s businesses.
Whatever the direction of its future,
thirty-five years later, automated lighting
has changed many of our professional
lives. Along the way, it has enriched the
entertainment experiences for hundreds
of millions of people.
Michael Callahan has been active in
lighting and in advancing lighting equipment and system design since 1972. He can
be reached (and additional material found)
at http://homepage.mac.com/callahanm.
Stop Answering
Stupid
Questions!
Let the LD FAQ T-Shirt do the answering for you.
You may have already heard about these shirts that feature the answers to
the Top 10 stupid questions audience members ask. Now you can order one
of these beauties and a portion of the net proceeds will benefit the music
and arts programs of the Rogue River, Ore School District.
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00
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TO ORDER:
Go to www .fohonline.com/tshirt
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Attn: FOH
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T-Shirt
Attn:
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6000 S. Eastern Ave. Suite 14-J
Tarzana, CA 91356
Las Vegas, NV 89119
PLSN AUGUST 2006
www.PLSN.com
INTERNATIONALNEWS
Nightwish Uses
Lights Many Times
For “Once” Tour
HELSINKI, FINLAND—Finnish metal
superstars Nightwish used 28 Robe Show
Lighting ColorSpot 1200 AT moving lights
and 24 Wash 250 XTs on the final concert of
their “Once” world tour, staged at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.
The fixtures were specified by the band’s
LD Tommi Stolt and supplied by one of the
Finnish rental company Akun Tehdas. The
Robe’s were positioned on main rig over
the stage and back wall horizontal trusses.
The rig also contained a wide variety of ge-
neric fixtures, strobes,
follow spots and video,
and the lighting was
run off an WholeHog
3 console. Stolt picked
Robe lights for their
versatility as spots and
wash lights. The Robes
were also used during
the recording of the
show for a DVD entitled
End of An Era.
Nightwish
Installing
Moving
Bridges
For Moving
Theatre
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, U.K.—Automation specialists Kinesys have supplied the
control system for a series of moving bridges
in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new
Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Courtyard Theatre is a temporary
home for the RSC opening on the site of
The Other Place studio theatre. The venue
will provide additional performance space
during The Complete Works festival, and
the main performance spaces while the RSC
transforms its flagship theatre in the town
after April 2007.
Kinesys was asked to deal with the specialist area of automation and control by
Total Solutions, who were contracted to construct and supply the bridges. Dave Weatherhead co-ordinated the operation for Kinesys,
working with Mervyn Thomas from TSG. The
automation system itself was specified by
the project’s theatre consultants, Charcoalblue, as part of an overall system of moving
and fixed bridges.
The theatre is a box style space with a
series of catwalks and four (three short and
one long) moving bridges for lighting, sound
and other technical positions. The extended
horseshoe thrust style stage protrudes out
into the middle of the auditorium, and above
this sit the three shorter moving bridges,
each suspended and moved by four Verlinde
Stage Maker hoists. The longer fourth bridge
is further upstage, traversing the extended
stage width at that point, and suspended on
eight motors.
Kinesys provided all necessary cabling,
mains distribution, interface units and hoist
controllers. Each bridge has its own pendant
control located adjacent to it, offering the
main “raise” and “lower” buttons as well as
enable keyswitch and emergency stop. “The
brief was to keep things as straightforward
as possible” confirms Weatherhead.
Another major criteria was that the system had to be re-usable and have the potential to be removed in 5 years time—The
Courtyard Theatre’s projected lifetime—and
used elsewhere. It’s therefore designed as a
modular system with standard length cables
- so its components can be broken down and
used either on tour, in workshops or in any
other relevant application at a future date.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN AUGUST 2006
15
INTERNATIONALNEWS
Carrying Light Across
The Pont Du Gard
NIMES, FRANCE—Le Pont du Gard, the ancient Roman aqueduct near Nimes, France,
was recently feted with a 20-minute spectacle of lighting, video, fireworks and music, designed by Group F. Sixty-eight PixelLine 110s and 12 PixelBricks were installed on the third
level of the bridge and eight PixelLine 1044s were installed on the ground. All the lighting
was supplied by Montpellier-based Texen and the extra PixelLines were sub-hired from
the Waldeck Organisation Aix en Provence.
Don’t Cry For
White Light
LONDON—White Light is supplying the
lighting equipment to the first West End revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
hit musical Evita, which opened at the Adelphi Theatre on June 24.
Directed by Michael Grandage, designed
by Christopher Oram and with choreography by Rob Ashford, Evita is being lit by twotime Olivier Award winner Paule Constable.
Constable’s design includes a diverse range
of lighting equipment, with one particular
light created by White Light specifically for
the production.
The conventional rig includes ETC Source
Fours and Source Four PARs, Strand Alto and
Cadenza PCs, Alto Fresnels and Strand and Arri
5kW Fresnels, PAR64s and ADB Svoboda battens plus two hundred Rainbow Pro scrollers
in a range of sizes. The show is also using two
Foxie and two Korrigan follow-spots from
Robert Juliat.
Complementing the conventional rig is a
moving light rig that is one of the first to use
Vari-Lite’s new VL500 washlight, in its pastel-color version. The VL500s work alongside
Vari*Lite VL1000s and VL3000Q Wash units,
ETC Revolutions, and Clay Paky Alpha Halo
Wash lights.
The final moving light was created by
White Light’s Technical Director Dave Isherwood in response to Paule Constable’s
request for, effectively, a moving version
of an aero-style beamlight. “We adapted
the Amptown Washlights,” commented
Isherwood, “replacing the bulb and optical system with a low-voltage aerolamp to give Paule exactly the kind of beam
she needed”.
Working with Paule Constable on Evita are
associate lighting designer Jon Clark, lighting
programmer Vic Smerdon, controlling the entire rig from a Strand 500-series console, production electrician Gerry Amies and his team
including Martin Chisnall and Chris Dunford
plus the Adelphi Theatre crew; the show’s
production manager is Richard Bullimore. The
lighting team’s work on the show has already
received praise from its composer, who described it as “beautifully lit” in a recent Radio
2 interview.
Welcoming Changing Seasons With Light
FUJIMINO CITY, JAPAN—Cocone Kamifukuoka, a multi-use complex in Fujimino
City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, located
north of Tokyo has installed new, dynamic
façade illumination.
The shopping center’s façade, a five story
construction that houses a large parking garage, features a color changing illumination
from 11 Martin Architectural Exterior 200
Long Barrel color changing luminaires. The
IP 65 rated fixtures, mounted with 12° lenses
and spaced equally atop the structure, focus
a narrow beam of seasonal shades vertically across the metal surface of the building,
creating a captivating effect that livens up
the entire area. The dynamic color changing
solution was supplied by Martin
Professional Japan.
The lighting scheme was designed by
Reiko Chikada Lighting Design Inc. and features a selection of LightJockey programmed
scenes that change monthly. Color changes
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16
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.15-16.INT.indd 16
(as short as every 0.1 seconds) communicate
an original yet subtle story as neighbors
and visitors alike experience a taste of the
current season.
Each lighting scene begins with a color
changing sequence followed by a static
color display for the first 15 minutes. Next
comes a sequence that emulates train
movement and finally static color is again
displayed to complete another 15 minutes.
One scene lasts 30 minutes, and although
the concept remains the same for all scenes,
colors may change according to the time
of year. For instance, a combination of red
and white stripes welcomes the New Year
in January when color changes race up and
down the façade. In June, a rain and thunder effect increases in intensity followed
by a multi-colored rainbow. In October, autumn leaves blow away, and in December
a Christmas tree, together with shooting
stars, welcome Santa Claus.
Genlyte Acquires Strand
The Strand business segments included in this transaction reported 2005
sales of approximately $31 million. The
transaction purchase price includes a
cash price of $8.5 million plus the assumption of approximately $5.0 million
in trade payables and notes payable of
the US and Hong Kong operations. Approximately 80 Strand US employees
located in Los Angeles and 22 employees in Hong Kong will join the Genlyte
organization.
Larry K. Powers, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Genlyte Group
commented, “We are pleased with
the strategic benefits of this acquisition. This business will complement
Genlyte’s current Vari-Lite, Entertainment Technology, and Lightolier Con-
trols product offerings. In addition, it
broadens our presence in the Asian
theatrical and entertainment lighting
markets. We plan to operate Strand
Lighting as a stand-alone business reporting to Steve Carson the Vice-President and General Manager of Genlyte’s
Controls, Vari-Lite and Entertainment
Technology Division.
“We believe that this acquisition
will break-even at the EBIT level, but
it will be slightly dilutive after interest expense and taxes through the remainder of 2006. We anticipate that the
acquisition will be accretive during
2007 after we complete the restructuring activities.”
Strand was founded in 1916 as a
manufacturer of entertainment light-
ing and lighting systems. Steve Carson
said, “We are excited about the opportunity to add the Strand Lighting
brand and technologies to our portfolio. The addition of the Strand product
line for the theatrical and architectural
lighting markets completes our product package with excellent synergism
and little overlap. While we look to expand our overall market penetration,
we plan to continue to sell the Strand
products through the existing Strand
distribution and sales organizations.
Genlyte’s Vari-Lite and ET product
lines have a significant presence in
the European, Asian, and US markets.
The Strand acquisition will enhance
our product offering throughout
the world. “
www.PLSN.com
8/3/06 12:13:14 PM
NEWPRODUCTS
>Robe
ColorSpot 2500E AT
Robe Show Lighting’s new ColorSpot 2500E AT is Robe’s most powerful moving light fixture to date. It features an MSR Gold 1200 SA/SE FastFit
lamp with a 1400W electronic ballast, a parabolic glass reflector, focus lens,
multi-step zoom lens (10°–30°), anti-reflection coating, a CMY color mixing system with 63 color macros, color correction from 5600 to 3200K, a
color wheel with four dichroic filters, a UV filter, a 6000K filter and white,
two gobo wheels, an effects wheel with 3- and 5-faceted prisms and 2 glass
effects, a 1-15 FPS variable speed strobe, iris and frost.
Robe America • 954.615.9100 • www.robeamerica.com
>American
DJ Jet Stream Fogger
American DJ’s new Jet Stream Fogger shoots smoke straight up in the air, creating a cloud
of fog that settles from the ceiling to the floor. The 1,300-watt machine outputs 7,000 cubic feet
per minute after a 5-minute warm up. It operates on standard fog juice and includes a 4-liter removable fluid tank. Control is by standard DMX-512 or by the supplied
Timer Remote. DMX operation allows control of the output rate, while
the Timer Remote adjusts duration, output and interval. The unit measures 11.5”L (295mm) x 11.5”W (295mm) x 7.5” (190mm) H and weighs
16 lbs. (7 kg). The retail price is $239.95.
American DJ • 800.322.6337 • www.americandj.com
>Chauvet
Colorbank LED Wash System
Chauvet’s Colorbank LED is the first LED-fitted striplight fixture in the Color Bank™ line of
wash lights. Unlike its three-halogen predecessors, this wash light is fitted with 304 long-life
diodes housed in four pods with RGB mixing. It is DMX-512 programmable and the diodes offer
the advantage of low power consumption and low heat emission. Multiple units can be daisychained and you can trigger built-in color change programs as well as chase and fade functions
via DMX and in master/slave mode. All functions,
including full RGB mixing, can be also performed
on stand-alone. Units are simply attached with a
bracket that is included.
Chauvet Lighting • 800.762.1084 • www.chauvetlighting.com
>Lamina
Ceramics Titan LED Light Engine
Lamina Ceramics recently launched the Titan 3000K, 25-watt warm
white LED light engine. They are also available in RGB and “daylight”
white models. At greater than 1,200 lumens, the Titan daylight white
model is competitive with compact fluorescent bulbs—although
Titan’s 60-degree projection angle eliminates the need for the reflectors required in fluorescent applications. Titan white, at 4700K, is ideal
for architectural and office lighting applications, task lamps, machine vision and high-powered flashlights. The 800 lumen output Titan RGB LED light
engine produces any of 16 million saturated and blended colors (including white
with variable color temperature) from a single point source.
Lamina Ceramics, Inc. • 800.808.5822 • www.LaminaCeramics.com
>LEDtronics
TBL3xxF Series LEDs
LEDtronics’ new TBL3xxF series are sealed tube LED light strips that come in a milky frosted
lens providing diffused illumination for many applications. The tubes are housed in UV-resistant polycarbonate and come in 6”, 12”, 24”, and 48” lengths in
6000K “Pure White” and 3000K Warm White operating
at 12V. Both whites use .96 watts for the 6” model, 2.16
watts for 12”, 3.84 watts for 24”, and 7.68 watts for 48”
lengths. Pure white 6000K LEDs give off 52 Lumens at
6” lengths, 116 Lumens at 12”, 206 Lumens at 24”, and
413 Lumens at 48” sizes.
LEDtronics • 800.579.4875 • www.ledtronics.com
>Leprecon
AI-512 Litescape Interface
The AI-512 Litescape Architectural Interface from Leprecon enables wall panels from the
Litescape system to work with Leprecon MX and VX series or DMX-512 controlled dimmers.
Housed in a 2RU chassis, the unit is equipped with DMX In/Out, an Ethernet connection for
programming via a laptop, dual RJ connectors for connecting remote wall panels, and a USB
port for show storage and software uploads. The
software allows any system to be configured and
programmed via a web browser. Features include
DMX snapshots, DMX merge with the control
console, and a real time status display for set up
and configuration.
Leprecon LLC • 810.231.9373 • www.leprecon.com
18
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.18-19.NP.indd 18
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:05:20 PM
>Matthews
Studio Equipment Colornett Fabrics
Matthews Studio Equipment’s new Colornett group of fabrics, available in both gold and
silver, create shifts in color temperature and diffuse light as it passes through the fabric. A single gold Colornett will lower the color temperature
of the source by 400 degrees and a double will lower it by 600
degrees, while a single silver Colornett will raise the color temperature by 200 degrees and a double will raise it by 350 degrees. Light loss is .4 stops for a single and .8 stops for a double.
Available in standard overhead sizes as well as custom sizes up
to 30’x100’. >Martin
Matthews Studio Equipment • 818.843.6715 • www.msegrip.com
MAC 700 Wash
The new MAC 700 Wash from Martin is the companion wash light
to the MAC 700 Profile. The wash is a 700-watt Fresnel with a shortarc lamp, electronic ballast, CMY color mixing, variable CTC, 8 position
color wheel, variable zoom from 12.5° to 66°, continuous and indexable
beam shaper, and dimmer. It is housed in the same modular design as
the MAC 700 Profile, with multi-connectors and spring-loaded release
mechanisms that allow removal and insertion of modules without
tools. A multi-position tilt lock keeps the head from moving during
transportation and a low-speed cooling system reduces noise.
Martin Professional • 954.858.1800 • www.martin.com
>Georgia
Case Company Electric Lift
The new plasma electric lift from Georgia Case Company employs an
Applied Techno Systems’ electric lift designed specifically for the ATA shipping case. One person can wheel it in, skirt it and hand the remote to the
customer. The lift mechanism extends to seven feet, to which three feet
could be added. The case can accommodate any size flat plasma or LCD
display from 37”to 60” and it has been load tested to 375 pounds. Includes
universal mounting bars and cable management system. A 42” screen
raises to full extension in 16 seconds, a 50” raises in 22 seconds.
Georgia Case • 888.422.2737 • www.georgiacase.com
TC30-75 Beamer
The TC30-75 “Beamer” 75-watt RGB LED projector from Metropolis AV is a solid-state full
color fixture. It comes with standard spreads of 6, 15, 25 and 25 x 6 degrees (letterbox). A
large heat sink on the projection head allows passive non-fan cooling
of the LEDs. Another heat-reducing factor is that the driver is located
in a separate unit. The driver unit connects to the LED projector via an
RJ45 plug, and can drive through more than 30 meters of structured
Cat5 cable. The unit is capable of DMX512 control and it has a usable
life of between 50,000 and 75,000 hours.
>Metropolis
Metropolis AV • +44 020 8549 1111 • www.metropolisav.com
>Neutrik
Sealed Ethercon
Neutrik now offers an assembly kit for its D-Series EtherCon connectors to achieve a waterproof IP54 connection. The assembly kit
is suitable for all Neutrik EtherCon D-Series chassis connectors
(NE8FD). An IP54 protection is achieved by replacing the front
plate and pushing the lever with the kit components. The
NE8MC-1 had been modified several months ago with a
sealing gasket and weatherproof Collinox plating. It is the
ideal mate in combination with the SE8FD kit. Neutrik manufactures an array of XLR connectors and receptacles, jacks and
plugs, speaker connectors and accessories.
Neutrik USA, Inc. • 732.901.9488 • www.neutrikusa.com
Stage Portable Stage Deck
Quik Stage, based in Blaine, Minn., recently introduced its new Quik Stage Portable Stage
series. Although it was specifically designed for the church, school, rental and institutional
markets, it can be used in any application. The sections
weigh 109 pounds per 4’ x 8’ section, and it uses 6 legs.
The design is said to allow the use of less material while
maintaining the structural strength required. Accessories including stairs, guardrails, skirting and storage
carts are also available. Quik Stage stocks a large inventory of portable stage decks and accessories ready for
immediate delivery.
Quik Stage • 877.783.7373 • www.quikstage.com
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.18-19.NP.indd 19
>Quik
PLSN AUGUST 2006
19
8/2/06 6:05:53 PM
SHOWTIME
Gear
VH1 Rock Honors
Venue
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
Crew
Lighting Company: Upstaging, Inc
Production Manager: Leah Harper
Lighting Designer: Roy Bennett,
Stan Crocker
Automated Lighting Operator: Seth
Robinson, Ginger Corbett
Lighting Technicians: Ken Burns, Mike
Hosp, Ryan Tilke, Jorge Velasquez,
Witt Davis
192
172
30
6
6
15
112 44 12
15
44
7
94
10
4
6
4
4
PAR 64 Fixtures
ETC Source Four PARs
ETC Source Four 10° Lekos
Altman 1000L Fresnel
Altman 650L Fresnel
8-Lights
Martin MAC 2000 Profile Luminaire
Martin MAC 2000 Wash Luminaire
Martin MAC 700 Luminaires
Martin BigLite 4.5
High End Systems Studio
Color 575
Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot Luminaire
Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12
Lycian 2500 Followspots
Strong Super Trouper Followspots
Mars Lights - Red
Reel EFX DF-50 Atmospheric Hazer
Reel EFX RE Fan
6
2
2
1
2
6
1
5
1
3
14
1
High End Systems F-100
DMX Fogger
Martin Maxxedia Pro US
Media Server
Martin Maxxyz Lighting Console
Martin Maxxyz Wing Set
High End Systems Hog
1000 Control Console
Martin Ether2DMX Router
DMX Datalynx
ETC Sensor 48 x 2.4k
Dimmer Rack
Dimmer Rack
Dimmer Rack
DMX Data Splitter
Automated A/C Distribution System
Espiritu Latino
Venue
El Buen Samaritano, Kendell, FL
Crew
Producer: Gospel Music Channel
Lighting Company: Paradigm Productions
Production Manager: Norton Rodriguez
Lighting Designer/Director: Osy Orta
Automated Lighting Operator: Alex Flores
Lighting Technicians: Mike Truello, Kevin Bates
Set Design: Richard Morganelli, Osy Orta
Video Director: Norton Rodreguez
Video Company: Michael C
Gear
1
18
4
12
2
6
4
10
4
8
MA Lighting grandMA Lighting Console
Martin MAC 250s
Martin MAC 300s
Martin MAC 600s
Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
Lekos
MR-16 6’ Strips
8’ x 20” x 20” Truss
10’ x 20” x 20” Truss
20” Corner Blocks
Benise “Nights of Fire” Tour
Crew
Producer: Rosanegra Music
Lighting Company: PRG
Production Manager: Patrick Whitley
Lighting Designer/Director: Bud Horowitz
Lighting Technicians: Marty Langley, Peter Brown,
Dave Larranaga
Set Design: Amy Tinkham, Michael Paige
Set Construction: George & Goldberg, All Access
Rigger: Shawn Moeller and SGPS
Staging Carpenter: Mike “Spike” Rush
Video Company: Nocturne
Gear
1
13 24 4
8
5
2
5
1
60
1
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2, Expansion Wing
High End Systems x.Spot Extreme
High End Systems Studio Beam
Vari*Lite VL6C
Vari*Lite VL1000 AS
3-circuit Ministrip
ETC Source Four PAR WFL
ETC Source Four Leko
PRG MBox Media Server
Barco D7 LED Tiles
50’ Flying Track
20
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.20-21.SHOW.indd 20
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:07:54 PM
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Crew
Lighting Company: Premier Global Production Co.
Production Manager: Bill Rahmy
Production Coordinator: Natalie Drillings
Tour Accountant: Liam Birt
Stage Manager: Tim Shanahan
Lighting Designer and Director: Scott Holthaus
Visual Designer: Grier Govorko
Video Server Engineer: Leif Dixon
Lighting Crew Chief: James Vollhoffer
Lighting Technicians: Clifford Sharpling,
Joe Labbe, Chad McClymonds, Nick Sheilds
Versa Tube Crew Chief: Kenny Ackerman
Versa Tube Technician: Rusty Wingfield,
Kevin Levasseur
Syncrolite Technician: Olaf Pottcher
Riggers: John Fletcher, Gabriel Wood
Vario Hoist Operator: Raffaele Buono
Gear
80
13
50
50
8
6
4
8
2
Martin MAC 2000 Wash Fixtures
Syncrolite 5Ks
Martin Atomic 3K Strobes
Martin Atomic 3K Color Changers
Robert Juliat 2.5K Ivanhoe
Spotlights
Reel EFX DF-50 Hazers
2K Bambinos
Wybron CXI PAR Changers
MA Lighting grandMA
4
6
7
17
20
11
2
21
43
460
Lighting Consoles
ProPower 48-way 208V Racks
20” Corner Blocks
10’ x 20” x 20” Black Utility Truss
93” x 30” x 31” Black Premier
Global Intelligent Truss
120” x 30” x 31” Black Premier
Global Intelligent Truss
Show Distribution Vario
1-ton Hoists
Show Distribution 1-ton Hoists
Versa Tubes provided by
XL Video
Mushroomhead
Venue
Plain Dealer Pavilion, Cleveland, OH
Crew
Producer: Live Nation
Lighting/FX Company: Vincent Lighting Systems
Lighting Designer/Director/Operator: Dave Brooks
Lighting Technicians: Sarah N. Eucker, Ed Schmieding
Set Design: Dave Brooks, Dan Kargle
Set Construction: Deus Ex Machina
Rigger: RCS Corp
5
6
6
5
6
12
3
1
15
6
15’ truss towers
ETC Source Four 19° Lekos
Altman single-cell cyc lights
Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot fixtures
High End Systems Technobeams
Diversitronics MKII Hyperstrobes
High End Systems F-100
fog machines
Le Maitre LSG
Coemar ParLite LED
CM 1-ton chain motors
Gear
1
1
Venue
Pharmaceutical Company Manager Meeting
Orange County Convention Center,
Orlando, FL
Crew
Lighting Company: Pro Vision Productions
Production Manager: Peter Guerin
Lighting Designer/Director/Operator: Bill Murray
Lighting Technicians: Jason Charles, Jason Erwine
Set Design: Peter Guerin
Set Construction/Staging Company: Pro Vision
Productions
Staging Carpenter: Rob Hilliard
Gear
Flying Pig Systems Hog iPCs
4
6
6
14
48
24
72
1
1
4
10
1
1
High End Systems DL2 Digital Luminaires
Martin MAC 2000 Profiles
Martin MAC 2000 Performances
Color Kinetics Color Blaze 72 LED strips
ETC Source Four Ellipsoidals
Dimming channels
Linksys Ethernet switch
HP Laptop with CMA software
SL 20 Lift
1-ton chain motor
8-way Motor Distro
Custom cyc with rear
projection screen
2
Avolites Pearl 2000
90KW Pre-Rig
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.20-21.SHOW.indd 21
PLSN
JULY
2006
AUGUST
2006
PLSN
21
21
8/2/06 6:10:06 PM
INSIDETHEATRE
O
22
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.22-23.indd 22
ne show on Broadway has pulled
ahead from the back of the pack,
emerging as the unexpected hit of
the season. Winner of five Tony Awards, The
Drowsy Chaperone is currently playing at
the Marquis Theatre. It is regarded by many
as one of the best new musicals in recent
years, both for its originality and traditional
theatricality. The show’s concept is simple
enough: A theatre buff sits in his drab, lonely
apartment and reminisces about the theatre
of yesteryear. He puts on his favorite album
to demonstrate the classic nature of 1920s
musical comedy, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek
way. As the record plays, the show comes to
life in his apartment. The small, drab room
is transformed into a full stage production
where the apartment literally bends and
opens onto a new world of classic theatre.
The show was originally produced in Los
play, transforming into a hotel, bedrooms,
a spa and a garden, through the ingenious
unfolding or opening of existing cluttered
areas. The apartment never leaves the periphery, yet it falls away into the background
as the show evolves.
“A lot of it became his apartment, when
the record isn’t playing and he’s telling the
story. It’s just a dull drab apartment in the
theatre district in New York. When he starts
Angeles at the Ahmanson theatre last November and then moved to Broadway earlier this year. I recently spoke with co-lighting designer Ken Billington about his work
on the show and how it has become a new
spark on Broadway. Billington explains, “The
producer talked to me about the play a year
before we ever did it and I went to readings.
It’s about a guy telling the story of his favorite music in his living room. When the director and set designers were all on board, we
sat down and decided what the best way to
tell this story was. How do we do it in this
guy’s apartment, and how does a full Broadway musical happen in this little box set?
We all started that way, came up with lots of
ideas, some of which are onstage, some of
which aren’t. We had to decide how to tell
the story, and gently ease the audience into
his fantasy.”
The Tony Award-winning set, designed
by David Gallo, is ingeniously laid out. Using
the standard furnishings in the apartment—
such as the refrigerator and what looks like
bedroom doors, alcoves and bookshelves—
the set is continuously reshaped during the
telling the story and puts the record on, all
of the sudden his life gets more colorful and
begins to brighten up. We start subtly, so as
not to hit the audience over the head, as we
have a long way to go with them. As he gets
more into the show, more scenery appears,
and as that happens we see more saturated
lighting. So by the time you get to the middle of the show, which is the garden scene,
we’re in full MGM Technicolor, because that’s
what he thinks the show would be like. And
he’s done such a good job of convincing us,
that the audience believes him. But of course,
when he takes the needle off the record, all
that washes away and we’re back in his drab
apartment. When he plays the record again,
all the color comes back. It’s very clear, so in
the second half of the show we don’t do that
as much because the audience gets it.”
Putting on a Broadway-sized musical in
a small, confined set is never an easy task.
Billington says, “The technical problem was
of course that there was very little room for
lighting equipment. I had two pipes of back
light, with a grand total of 12 Vari*Lite VL
2000s. So there was very little room with the
By CoryFitzGerald
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:12:28 PM
with iPC and I’m quite happy with it. I know there have
been a number of stories floating around about its flaws, but
I’ve never had a problem with it. I
think it will offer the Hog 2 software a
few more years of solid life, which is great
‘
news,” says Frank.
Hillary Knox came on board for the N.Y.
production as a result of scheduling issues.
Frank adds, “It was really great working
with Ken, Brian, Stephen and my moving
scenery in place. Because of that I used
seven different types of moving lights. On
my first electric, which is nestled into the
back of the portal, there wasn’t room for
anything. An ETC Source Four wouldn’t fit,
a Fresnel would barely fit, but a Vari*Lite
VL 6 would fit. So my first electric is VL 6Cs
and VL5s, the smallest lights made. Then
I have some VL 2000s over head, some
spots and washes, but at times they have
to focus straight down so scenery can get
by them. We had to write cues where they
flatten out; it’s that tight.”
Billington goes on to describe his
plot. “Upstage has some more 2000s, but
I needed some hard-edged stuff so I put
in VL 3000s because I needed the punch
and the zoom. For side light,
I put VL5s on the ladders.
Out front I needed to deal
with quiet and shutters
so I have VL3500Qs, as
well as four City Theatrical Auto Yokes for
specials. So it was a
big conglomeration of
lighting equipment.”
Programming
a
lighting rig with so
many fixtures can be a
challenging
situation,
but was no problem for
programmer Laura Frank,
who used a High End Systems Hog iPC to control the
system for the LA production. “It
was my first iPC show. I have done
Broadway shows on Hog PC with the
widgets, but this was the first time out
light tracker, Leah.
It was also a huge comfort
to know Hillary was going to be able to
take over the show.”
The show was also co-designed by
Brian Monahan, who was brought in by Billington due to some time constraints. “Brian has worked with me for 20 years and my
schedule was very tight when we did the
out-of-town, so I brought Brian on as codesigner because I knew I
would have limited availability when they were in
Los Angeles.”
Every show, especially a new musical, goes
through changes from
its out-of-town opening
to its Broadway premier. Billington describes the changes: “From the show we
did originally in LA, we took out the 20%
or so that didn’t work so well, which was
replaced when we got to New York. There
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.22-23.indd 23
used to be a whole
dream ballet, which was
cut because it didn’t work.
Some songs were changed, dialogue changed, one set was changed,
but the concept has remained exactly the
same. I was able to transfer the lighting
cues from the LA show disk. We cleaned it
up and there you go.”
The show has seen a tremendous surge
in popularity since its opening. It was
nominated for a total of 13 Tony Awards,
which was an unusually strong showing
in a season that included shows like Jersey Boys, Tarzan and The Wedding Singer.
Of those 13 awards, it won in the categories of set design, best book of a musical,
best original score, best featured actress,
and best costume design. According to Billington, “Audiences like it, and it’s all word
of mouth. Ticket sales are going up because
people walk out of the theatre having had a
good time. You genuinely laugh for an hour
and forty minutes. And in advertising, the
one thing you can’t buy is word of mouth.”
However it goes, this show seems like it has
been truly embraced by the Broadway theatre-going community and will undoubtedly run for a long time.
PLSN AUGUST 2006 23
8/3/06 12:29:02 PM
PRODUCTIONPROFILE
Martina McBride’s
Timeless Country Classics
Design crew works in traditional,
contemporary
elements
Photos and Text By
SteveJennings
M
artina McBride’s new album, Timeless, features a selection of classic
country songs that were originally
recorded 30 or 40 years ago. Naturally, when
she started touring in support of the album,
she wanted the look of the show to reflect the
simple but eloquent nature of the traditional
country sounds. Tom McPhillips of Atomic Design was an integral part of creating a set with
those production values.
“The production is very
analog and has a very organic
sound, very warm and intimate,” he said, “a very loving
recreation of those original
versions of country classics.
To support the album they
had shot a special in a beautiful theatre in the Midwest.
Martina felt that the theatre’s
vintage atmosphere fit exactly
the feeling of the songs. So for
the first half of the show’s vintage country songbook, the upstage is a theatre proscenium—a gilded arch bordered by
red velvet swags and filled with a translucent
blue Austrian drape.”
For those fans with a taste for McBride’s
many contemporary hits, the show changes
pace midway through. “For the second half,
which features Martina’s regular repertoire,
we deploy seven rollers which carry laser
cloth—a material that almost vanishes when
it’s not lit and glows profusely when it is. So
from something intimate we expand the set
to something that’s capable of much bigger
lighting looks,” McPhillips says.
The luminous soft goods on the show
provided lots of surface to light. Lighting designer Abbey Rosen Holmes was appreciative
of the lighting-friendly set and the lighting
designer-friendly set designer. “This was a fun
set to light,” she said. “Tom is very generous
about taking time to work things out, making
adjustments in placement to help out with
lighting angles and positions.”
Her approach to the lighting design revolved around the idea of lighting the traditional country music in a manner that is true
going from one look to another
in a way that maximizes what I
think the set’s capabilities are,”
McPhillips said. “I’ve worked with
Abbey on many projects, and one
of the greatest was one we did
for Bonnie Raitt a few years ago
where her talents really enhanced
what I did to the point where set
and lighting became one process.
With the Martina show she came
up with absolutely stunning looks,
using a lot of gobos that she had
designed specifically for the show.
Many of the moments she created
were truly magical.”
For the latter half of the show
when the laser cloth is deployed,
the simple set change had a big
impact on the entire design. “Tom
added really beautiful drape panels for the second act,” said Holmes. “They
took light
so
well.
The panels
were translucent but
even with
the proscenium
still
visible they
really transformed the
look of the
stage, allowing for the much more
current looking lighting cues for
the second half of the show.”
For lighting director John
Lucksinger, who has worked
with McBride for four years, the
chance to work with a new lighting designer was an opportunity to view familiar material in a new way. “This is my first
time working with Abbey, which was great,”
he said. “It was nice to see the show through
someone else’s eyes. I have been doing lights
for Martina for a long time, and it was good to
get a fresh look at the show.”
“They took light so well. The panels
were translucent but even with the
proscenium still visible they really
transformed the look of the stage”
–LD Abbey Rosen Holmes
Vintage Look with
a Modern Touch
Although the look is strictly vintage, the
technology is a bit more modern. “Upstage
of the drape,” McPhillips said, “we have a full
stage rear projection screen and a fiber optic
star drop. In the first part of the show we also
use a pair of cameo front projection screens
on which we project still images of some of
the originators of the various songs.”
24
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.24-25.PROF.indd 24
to its origins. “The first set is music from Martina’s new album, which is beautiful covers
of older country songs,” she said. “The older
material feels very different, and was originally performed long before the existence of
automated lighting. I really wanted to respect
that in the lighting. The lighting is warmer,
with less movement and with simpler, more
restrained cueing.”
From McPhillips’ point of view, the lighting worked with the set as well as the set with
the lighting. “I like to work with people who
understand how to light soft goods and who
have what I would call a simple approach to
From Holmes point of view, Lucksinger’s
experience with her boss was a big advantage. “Lucksinger does a great job with the
show. He’s a real pleasure to work with and a
tremendous help to us since he knew her music so well,” she said. She also acknowledged
the work of programmer Kille Knobel, who
she said “did a fantastic job.”
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:13:46 PM
New Day,
New Challenge
used it for a couple of years, and
got a lot of mileage out it, so when
they started thinking about the current
set, it was great to hear from them again,”
McPhillips said.
“Martina is very dedicated, very driven by
what she does and very gracious and open
to her fans,” McPhillips added. “She is one of
the most professional artists I’ve ever worked
with. The process was an entirely enjoyable
one, and it was a great treat to be able to
work with colleagues who are also friends.
The amalgamation of Tait’s engineering genius and Atomic’s scenic expertise was an
especially productive and satisfying experience, and one that I hope we will repeat many
times over in the future.”
Holmes is equally complimentary of the
artist and the crew.“It was such a pleasure working with Martina and John McBride,” she said.
Despite the magic
moments, the tour is not
without its challenges. “The show
has changed depending on the venue
size,” said Lucksinger. “There have been days
where we do not get the trim we need or the
stage is smaller than what we need. So everyday I walk in and figure out what gear we’re
going to use, which affects the show. It can be
a challenge.”
Another challenge is matching the spontaneity of the artist. For one with as many hits
as McBride, keeping up with her entire catalog can be difficult at best. “Martina has been
doing audience fan song choice this whole
tour,” Lucksinger said. “When Abbey did the
programming she was given a list of songs
Martina was going to do. Abby programmed
about 45 songs, but depending on which song
is chosen determines whether or not I have to
program on the fly. It keeps me on my toes.”
“That
also
extends
to
everyone
who worked
on the tour.
What a great
crew—Meesha
the
production
m a n a g e r,
Pat the stage
manager and Tyson Clark, the set carpenter,
were an immense help when we were putting the show together. They are some of the
nicest people I have ever worked with, which
made working on the show very enjoyable.
Martina is really clear about what she does
and doesn’t want, and along with great music,
lighting her was so much fun. I loved working
on this show!”
Bandit Lites was the lighting vendor.“They
do a really fantastic job,” says Holmes, “and it
was a pleasure to work with them.”
A Lititz Affair
McPhillips company, Atomic Design, is
based in Lititz, Pennsylvania. In fact, the audio
supplier, Clair Brothers, and the set builder,
Tait Towers, are also from the same town in
Pennsylvania. “You might say this is an ‘allLititz show,’ ” says McPhillips.“It’s our own little
corner of the rock n roll industry.” McPhillips
started the company in 1994 after relocating
from the U.K. In the beginning it was him and
his assistant working out of one room. Today,
the company has 30 employees working out
of a 40,000 square-foot building. McPhillips
credits Soren West for helping grow the company, and he says that without him, “Atomic
would never have grown so exponentially to
what we are today.”
McPhillips first worked with the McBrides,
Martina and husband John, who runs audio, a
few years ago. He designed a “simple, very portable set” for her that featured floor mounted
swags that curved behind the risers. “They
CREW
& GEAR
Crew
Lighting Company: Bandit Lites (Nashville)
Account Rep: Mike Golden
Lighting Designer: Abigail Rosen Holmes
Lighting Programmer: Kille Knobel
Lighting Director: John Lucksinger
Set Design: Atomic Design
Set Designer: Tom McPhillips
Production Manager: Meesha Kosciolek
Tour Manager: Mark Hively
Stage Manager: Pat O’ Neil
Video Company: Moo TV
Gear
36
Martin MAC 2000s w/ custom gobos
28
Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
8
Vari*Lite VL3000s
8
Martin MAC 250s
150
Star Strobes
12
ETC Source Four Lekos
17
Coffing motors
1
Bandit 30-way custom
motor controller
1
ETC 72-way Sensor Dimmer rack
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog
2 lighting console
100.0608.24-25.PROF.indd 25
1
8/2/06 6:14:23 PM
PLSNINTERVIEW
John D’Amico
By RobLudwig
T
he world of professional wrestling
is one part theatre, one part soap
opera and three parts loud music,
rabid redneck fans and outrageous wrestlers. Good or bad, everybody has a take
on wrestling. Yet no one can argue with its
marketing prowess. Imaging and branding have been prevalent in professional
wrestling ever since Terrible Ted, the wrestling bear, took down Bunny Dunlop in
the 1950s. But how do they do it now? As
WWE’s senior production manager John
D’Amico explains, it’s a lot good people,
hard work, and of course, a lot of sweat.
PLSN: What’s your role
at World Wrestling
Entertainment?
That’s triple duty for
you. Do you use local
service providers?
John D’Amico: I’m the senior production manager. I oversee our non-televised
live events. We do over 200 shows with
each brand—RAW and SmackDown—and
starting in June we’re going to add a third
brand, ECW. It’s a smaller show than our
TV production. It’s a one truck show with
a 30-foot by 30-foot lighting rig with 24
PAR cans.
We use local crews in each venue. I also
do all the advance work for all non-televised events, the crews and catering. I also
arrange for any lighting or audio we may
need on these shows.
What is your typical
day like?
Do you use your nontelevised
events to
create your
branding?
We’re in Boise, Idaho, today. We start our
load-in at 11 a.m., which is convenient for everybody. It’s a one truck show and we contain the
lighting and the wrestling rig in that one truck.
It takes about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to
set up the lighting rig and about another hour
to set up the wrestling ring. Usually, at about
three or four o’clock in the afternoon, the talent
arrives and they workout in the ring. Our shows
generally kick-off at about 7:30 in the evening.
They’re usually about two-and-a-half to three
hour shows with about 10 matches. Then we
do a breakdown; we’re usually out in about an
hour to an hour-and-a-half. We actually do a lot
of driving. Generally, it’s just myself and one production crew guy who’s also the referee in the
show. So, he does double duty. During the show
I call the spotlight cues, operate the lighting, and
play all the entrance music for the talent.
That sounds like a lot
of work.
It is a 365-days-a-year job.
This is how we
get it out to the public. Of course, we
have TV time—we’re
live Monday nights
on the USA network,
on UPN on Friday
nights, and ECW
looks like it’s going
to be taking a slot on
the Sci-Fi Channel.
We do the live events
in each town so that
people get to see the
performance live.
WWE’s Wrestle Mania
26
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.26-27.INTRVW.indd 26
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:16:49 PM
RAW Wrestling
RAW Wrestling
“You can compare it to theaterSome people compare it to soap opera.” -John D’Amico
What’s the goal of the
lighting design?
How did you get started in this business?
Every wrestler on the television
show has a specific lighting cue. The
Undertaker, for example, was one of the
first lighting cues we did in the early
I did some lighting in a small club in
Providence, Rhode Island, back in the early
‘80s. It was called the Living Room. I’m sure
a lot of guys that were touring back then
are familiar with it. I really didn’t have a
background in wrestling, so I guess I kind
of stepped into it. I started by driving a
truck and setting the wrestling ring up
back in 1989. I’ve just grown in the company. I’ve done multiple duties within the
company. Like I said, I started driving and
setting up the ring, moved into refereeing
for a few years, then I was stage manager
for the TV show for a number of years. I’d
always been more involved in the domestic events. But, in 1992, I did my first international event. Now we do Australia twice
a year, we do Japan at least twice a year,
and we do tours of Europe throughout the
year. We are going to the Caribbean next
month. And I’m very involved in the international shows also.
‘90s. It started with one white spotlight
and the rest of the house in blackout.
It’s grown into this huge aura, his character, and people recognize that. The
WWE fans also recognize the cues for all
the talent.
You’re helping create
the talent’s image
using lighting cues
and music, aren’t you?
Everything is involved—music, video,
How does that work?
We have a production team in London
that handles all the advance work. I pretty
much fly in and take over the show, the day
of the show, and follow it through. I have
the same duties as I do on the domestic
tours, but we’re a little more involved on
those shows. We have a 45-foot by 45-foot
truss set up, with 48K, plus 12 Martin MAC
600 movers on those shows. There, I become the LD and director on the show. On
some shows, we also do some projection
of entrance video, for the talent, that we
use on the television shows. We also utilize
pyro on most international tours.
100.0608.26-27.INTRVW.indd 27
Matt Hardy
8/3/06 12:40:28 PM
WWE’S JOHN
D’AMICO
By WriterName
lighting and pyro—it all rolls into one
big package.
Since you’ve done
both, tell us about
the TV events and how
they differ from the
non-televised events.
On our non-televised events, we have a
crew of about 14 people, plus the two or three
people from WWE. On our televised events, it’s
huge; you’re talking 14 trucks with all of our
production gear, a television production truck,
and a support truck with all the cabling. We
travel with about 75 to 100 of our own people,
depending on where we are and what show
we are doing. And we pull in at least 90 to 100
local crew members in each city. We do this
every Monday and Tuesday. Plus 15 pay-perviews. You’re talking about an eight or nine
hour load-in and four to five hour load-out. It’s
a pretty big deal. I still attend about half the
Monday night RAW events just to keep up with
the stories and get music updates.
That’s a big part of what
you guys are doing—it’s
living theatre.
You can compare it to theatre—some people compare it to soap opera. I like to compare
it to theatre because we do a show in each city
and we keep it going from town to town. If the
storyline changes on the television show, the
story line changes on our live events. It’s a lot of
work but it is also a lot of fun. We have a good
group of very professional and interesting
people that I enjoy working with everyday.
Since you’ve done
both, tell us about
the TV events and how
they differ from the
non-televised events.
On our non-televised events, we have a crew
of about 14 people, plus the two or three people
from WWE. On our televised events, it’s huge;
you’re talking 14 trucks with all of our production
gear, a television production truck, and a support
truck with all the cabling.We travel with about 75
to 100 of our own people, depending on where
we are and what show we are doing. And we pull
in at least 90 to 100 local crew members in each
city. We do this every Monday and Tuesday. Plus
15 pay-per-views.You’re talking about an eight or
nine hour load-in and four to five hour load-out.
It’s a pretty big deal. I still attend about half the
Monday night RAW events just to keep up with
the stories and get music updates.
That’s a big part of what
you guys are doing—it’s
living theatre.
You can compare it to theatre—some
people compare it to soap opera. I like to
compare it to theatre because we do a show
in each city and we keep it going from town
to town. If the storyline changes on the television show, the story line changes on our live
events. It’s a lot of work but it is also a lot of
fun. We have a good group of very professional and interesting people that I enjoy working
with everyday.
28
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100.0608.28.indd 28
www.PLSN.com
8/3/06 3:55:01 PM
By BryanReesman
T
he call of the road has lured many
musicians and crew members seeking excitement, adventure and, well,
a good paycheck. Sure, there are the wild
parties, crazy groupies and drunken shenanigans, but touring is not always as
exciting as many people might have you
believe. It certainly has its share of benefits for those with a wandering spirit, but
it also has it share of responsibilities.
As driver and musician Steve Byam proclaims, “You’re not only a bus driver, but
you’re an accountant, a maid and a mechanic, and all of those things that come along
with it.” Byam should know, having been
active in country music in Nashville for 28
years before getting behind the wheel to
drive band and crew members alike.
One job that can be added to the list is
therapist. “It’s almost like having a confessional up there at the jump seat,” quips Rick
Foote, who has 31 years experience behind
the wheel. “And you hear some neat things.
You hear some things that you promise not
to reveal, and things that are just funny. It
can go on for hours and hours while you’re
driving down the road.” Notes long-time
driver Lupe Garcia of many groups: “Some
of them complain to you, and you have to
listen to them. The ones that go on, the alcoholics, or the ones to go on about their
wives or girlfriends, you listen to all of it.
You can’t get up and move.”
24/7/300+
Indeed, to be a tour bus driver you have
to have your ass grounded for extended periods. The hours are long, the distances can
stretch on for hundreds of miles at a time,
and drivers are usually away from home
300 or more days per year. “By the end of
the night, and you get to your destination,
you’re pretty well exhausted,” says Foote.
“But there are still bus chores you have to
do—washing your bus, cleaning your bus,
maintaining your bus, securing and making
sure it’s parked where it won’t get towed. I
would say that driving is probably half the
job, and the other half is doing the political
thing and the maintenance thing. Also, you
still have a family at home that
you have to make sure you take
care of, too. It’s a 24/7 job.”
Being a tour bus driver can be a strain
on marriages and families.“It’s hard,” agrees
Garcia. “My marriage is up and down. I have
a five year-old son. It’s hard on the marriage and hard on the family. If you want
to succeed, something’s going to have to
hurt, and it’s usually the kids and the family.” Foote says he is on this third marriage
but that his wife has accepted his gypsy
life. But all three men interviewed agree
that they are happy with what they do.
Close bonds stem from steady gigs.
Foote has been working with Lynyrd Skynyrd since ’91, full-time since ’99. Garcia
has been with Dave Matthews Band for
fourteen years and currently drives Stefan,
their bassist. (Yes, all the members have
their own busses.) Byam has worked with
a variety of bands and recently has spent
two-and-a-half years with H.I.M.
In between their main gigs the drivers
seek out other work. For the past two years,
Foote has mainly alternated between Skynyrd
and Kid Rock. He also got to drive Olympic
gold medalist Sarah Hughes and three Russian skaters on a winter tour two years ago.
Garcia often works with the Dropkick Murphys, and in the past drove the Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Nine Inch Nails and Live. Byam has
driven recently for Hall and Oates, Heart and
Al Jarreau. Naturally, some artists are crazier
than others. Foote notes that while the members of Skynyrd are basically straight arrows,
Kid Rock treats touring like a non-stop party.
Hedonistic rockers H.I.M. certainly like to have
a good time on the road.
Clash of the Titans
Driving both band and crew can be tough,
as Garcia experienced in the early days of
Dave Matthews and Byam did on one of his
H.I.M. tours.“That didn’t work too well,” admits
Byam. “That was the clash of the titans right
there because there are two trains of thought.
The band stays up, and the crew goes to bed.
The band needed their own space, and that’s
why they had their
own bus again this year.”
Adds Garcia, with a laugh: “It
was just a very dirty bus. When you
have twelve adults that don’t pick up after
each other, that’s real bad, but that’s usually
what happens.”
The experience of dealing with a band or
crew can depend upon their road management. “A good road manager will delegate,”
remarks Byam.“Some of them are kind of control freaks and like to take care of everything
up there, keep their fingers on the pulse of
what’s going on. It just depends. You garner a
relationship with the guys that are on the bus,
as far as working day to day and making sure it
flows right and nobody’s too upset. You’re not
going to make friends with everybody.”
Byam offers a classic example from a recent tour. “The production manager wanted
another bus driver,” he recalls. “He had it out
for me from day one, and there was nothing I
was going to do right for him that was going
to make his life happier. I didn’t have enough
experience, he didn’t like the way I looked,
what ever it was. On the second day of the tour,
I took a shortcut that all the truckers told me
about, and he was fuming that that was going
to add another 200 miles. Five minutes later,
we were there. Then I couldn’t back the bus
up right, I couldn’t park in the right place. He
wouldn’t let me do my job, basically. During all
this I just kept a smile, apologized and was very
diplomatic. Well, the son-of-a-bitch ended up
having three mini-strokes during the tour, and
they kicked him off the tour. I prayed for this
guy, and he still had strokes!”
The Zen of Driving
Both Byam and Foote have taken on the
“hillbilly weekends,” which is slang for a country tour that leaves on Thursday night and gets
back by Sunday. “They just try to live it to the
max, life to its fullest extent,” says Byam.” They
really think they’re rock ‘n’ roll guys in some of
these younger bands, and it’s funny to see the
young guys going out there and learning how
vomit for the first time. With the rock ‘n’ roll
guys, man, it’s the way they live, and they’ve
been doing it for years. You could throw a
bunch of guys together from different walks of
life in the rock ‘n’ roll world, and they all know
what it takes to make it work. The most important thing is that the people on the bus are like
a body—there’s always going to be a d*^# and
an a*^#+”@. You just have to go with the flow,
man. A lot of Zen and Buddha goes on with
driving a bus.”
The fans can also provide plenty of
amusement, particularly “the different
lengths they‘ll go to to meet a band or just
the fervor or the fever that they have for
these guys,” remarks Byam. “I don’t care
what band it is or what age group, there
are just these people that are obsessed
about following them. Its kind of funny
with H.I.M. They’ve got some hardcore fans.
Over 25 to 30 shows, I probably saw some
of the same people trying to get in backstage at 15 shows and ran into them at the
motels.” He notes that crews can be crazy,
too. “I drove the crew for Trapt recently.
They were pirates. And Howie Day—that
was hedonism at its highest.”
Sometimes the drivers are the protagonists of their own nutty stories. The polite,
gentlemanly Foote drove for the late Waylon Jennings between 1994 and 1995. One
day at a stop in Clarksville, Tenn, a man
claiming to be a songwriter named Mack
Vickery came to the door and asked to see
Continued on page 30
“You’re not only a bus driver, but you’re an accountant, a maid, and a mechanic,
and all of those things that come along with it.”
- Steve Byam
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.29-30.indd 29
PLSN AUGUST 2006
29
8/2/06 6:31:23 PM
Tales from
the Tour Bus
“They really think they’re rock ‘n’ roll
guys in some of these younger bands,
and it’s funny to see the young guys
going out there and learning how to
vomit for the first time.”
– Steve Byam
the country music legend. Not knowing who
the man was, Foote passed along the request to Jennings. “I told Waylon that a guy
up there named Mack Vickery really wants
to see you,” recalls Foote, “and he said, ‘Mack
Vickery? Well, tell him to f#*^@ himself.’”
Foote complied with the request,
and upon hearing the message that Jennings passed on, the famous songwriter
stormed off. When Foote returned to the
bus, Jennings was surprised that Vickery had not come on, until the driver revealed that he did as he was instructed.
“Waylon starts laughing,” recalls Foote,
“and said, ‘Hoss, you gotta understand
when I mean something as a joke. He’s
an old friend of mine, and I really would
have liked to have seen him.’ It probably
took two weeks before Waylon made
contact with that man again. Waylon told
the story to Johnny Cash and a few others when we were doing the Highwaymen
tour, and they seemed to get a kick out of
it, but every time he told it I felt stupid.”
The Craziest Job You’ll
Ever Love
30
In spite of some of such moments,
Foote, Garcia, and Byam talk appreciatively of the bonds they’ve formed with
band and crew members on their tours
of duty, not to mention some nice fringe
benefits. Garcia got to drive all the PussyPLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.29-30.indd 30
cat Dolls around for their recent twomonth tour with the Black Eyed Peas,
no doubt making him the envy of the
Dolls’ male followers. He feels fortunate
to have driven many of the bands he has
been with, from the Dropkick Murphys to
Live. Byam was offered to tour with H.I.M.
in Europe as a roadie. And Foote was able
to introduce his family to the late Waylon
Jennings at the artist’s home on the day
after Christmas.
Family is a word that the men can use
to describe the people they spend weeks
of their lives with. “Lynyrd Skynyrd is not
just a road family, they become your personal family, like your brothers and sisters,” says Foote. “I love them to death.
They’re the greatest people I’ve ever
worked for in this business. They have
tremendous hearts and souls, and they
care about you.”
At the end of the day, the spirit of the
road and the spirit of friendship keeps
these road dogs happy and satisfied,
even if their working conditions can get
a little crazy. “I’m actually doing what I
want to do,” declares Garcia. “I had a lot of
great other jobs, but I couldn’t hold on to
them. To do this you have to have a free
spirit. You have to live like a gypsy, going
from town to town each day. I might go
into the same town or cities five or six
times, but it’s always exciting.”
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:33:29 PM
The Backstory of Automated L
Prototype of an early Vari*Lite Fixture
Von Ballmoos Console
Jules Fisher Motorized PAR
The first remote
“color changers” pre-dated the first
electric light bulb.
house lights on. But most of us seek dramatic
and effective lighting, which requires specialBy MichaelCallihan
ized fixtures that not only generate light, but
or many of us who now rely on automat- that also shape, color and direct it. Changing
ed lighting, its history may offer some the pan, tilt, size and color of beams in what we
surprises. The remote control of beam now call “conventional” fixtures requires physidirection, size and color, for example, go back cally “laying hands” on them, which is both
at least a century, although the full potential of time- and labor-consuming.
Getting to a single lighting “look” is one
automated lighting was not recognized until
thing.
But most productions require many
the 1950s. The first modern automated lightdifferent
“looks” and, to get them, many differing system was built and patented in the early
‘70s, but much of what happened after that ent combinations of fixture beam parameters.
With conventional fixtures you have to install
didn’t quite turn out as planned.
and manually pre-adjust a far larger number of
fixtures than are actually used at any one time.
To change “looks” you simply turn on and off
“Pre-History”
If the only goal of a production was simply different combinations of fixtures. It’s an apto see a production, then we could leave the proach that multiplies the size, weight and cost
of a lighting system, as well as
the time and the labor required
to install and focus it.
There’s also a long (if modest) history of mechanisms for
remote adjustments.
The first remote “color
changers” pre-dated the first
electric light bulb. The French
changed the color of candlelight using long cords to swap
panels of dyed silk (in the days
when audiences were still
wearing powdered wigs). One
early application of electric
light bulbs for stage lighting
surrounded each lamp with a
cylinder having areas of different colors, rotating them with
a mechanical link to change
color. In the first part of the last
century, remote color changers
were in wider use than they are
today—as confirmed by the
control wiring for them that
still survives in some theatres
and opera houses.
Over the last century,
Century Featherlite Brochure
some efforts were also
made to offer remote
control of beam di-
F
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100.0608.32-33.indd 32
rection and size
for a variety of purposes. A 1906 patent
to Edmund Sohlberg of
Kansas City described a carbon-arc spotlight mounted in a theatre balcony. Its beam
could be mechanically remotely controlled in
direction and size using cables strung to an
operator backstage. Its color wheel was rotated electrically.
In 1936, Joseph Levy (the “Le” in Century’s
“Leko”) patented a motorized yoke, controlled
with a joystick, for changing the direction of
either a fixture or a mirror. Levy used selsyn
(short for self-synchronizing) motors, as did
lighting designer Jules Fisher when Fisher
built and patented a pinspot having remote
pan and tilt in 1965.
A 1949 Cecil B. DeMille production of The
Greatest Show on Earth, shot on location in a
circus tent, mounted motorized Fresnels in difficult to reach locations high in the “big top.”
Motorized fixtures were also used briefly in
NBC’s Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, as well
appearing in some television studios and in
other facilities in Europe and Japan.
In general, the benefit of simply motorizing fixtures was limited. Although they permitted adjustments from a distance, they were still
time-consuming, required individual control,
and could not be recalled from memory. They
also generally required a visible beam and
weren’t very repeatable.
The key to “automation” wasn’t just “motorization”—it was using motorized fixtures as
one element in an automatic control system
that allowed not only making remote fixture
adjustments, but also storing in electronic
memory large numbers of the different adjustments required for multiple looks, as well
as the ability to quickly, automatically, simultaneously and accurately reproduce selected
adjustments on command.
Such a system would offer the advantages
of remote control. More importantly, a limited
number of its fixtures could create a variety of
looks that would otherwise require a far larger
number of conventionals, and they would be
far more efficient and flexible in doing so.
The theoretical potential of an automated lighting system was voiced in 1955 in an
article by George Izenour in Yale Scientific
Magazine about possible future directions for
stage lighting. Izenour, an associate professor
at Yale’s School of Drama and a noted theatre
consultant, also recognized the massive demands on memory capacity required and dismissed such a system as completely impractical given the limits of the manual presetting
systems of the day.
While some experimentation with fixture
motorization
continued,it would
be fifteen years before
the first modern automated
lighting system appeared—and
then, from an unlikely source.
The First Automated
Lighting System
Dr. Fritz von Ballmoos was a Swiss with a
degree in low-temperature physics, an interest in opera and no prior connection to entertainment lighting. When an architect friend
wanted to enter a design competition for a
new theatre, he drafted Dr. von Ballmoos to
propose the technical systems. After studying
the current “state-of-the-art” in stage lighting,
Dr. von Ballmoos concluded that an “automated” system would be superior—although
none yet existed.
So, in the early ‘70s, he designed, built
and installed a 200-fixture automated
lighting system.
Dr. von Ballmoos subcontracted the assembly of the fixtures, which provided for remote pan, tilt, size, intensity and color using
two stacked color wheels, each with one open
position. He owned a firm specializing in designing and building custom electronic systems, which created the control system from
scratch. It remained in use for two decades.
Dr. von Ballmoos and his associates also
patented the basic design of the modern
automated lighting system in a half-dozen
countries. Their patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,351)
would later prove very influential in the next
phase of automated lighting. (Twice challenged and twice certified valid, the references
cited in the von Ballmoos patent and in its two
re-examinations are probably the most complete list of relevant historical documents on
the subject.)
Concert Tour Lighting
and Its “Perfect Storm”
When Dr. von Ballmoos started building
his 200-fixture automated lighting system, a
concert touring lighting industry didn’t really
yet exist. The entertainment lighting industry
had always been theatrically-oriented, and had
been dominated for decades by traditional
manufacturers like Century and Kliegl.
After audiences for rock’n’roll grew, acts
recognized that there was more money to be
made in a “one night stand” in a sports arena
than one in a smaller, dedicated venue like the
Fillmore. This produced a demand for lighting
and sound systems that could convert a venue
never designed for concerts into something
suitable in a few hours, and that could do so
in a different city or venue every day. Such sys-
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8/3/06 12:57:13 PM
d Lighting
When an architect friend wanted to enter a
design competition for a new theatre,
he drafted Dr. von Ballmoos to
propose the technical systems.
Phase Two: Re-Inventing
Automated Lighting
Showco, a major source of both touring
lighting and sound systems since the early ‘70s,
had grown to become a dominant player in the
concert touring market. Their lighting systems
had, however, remained very “first-generation.”
As the “perfect storm” hit at the end of the ‘70s,
Showco looked for a strategy that could make
that inventory more competitive.
Concert touring wasn’t a stranger to motorizing various fixture adjustments. Motorized pan and tilt had been used in several projects. In its early days, color changers had been
looked at as a possible way of making the 60 or
so fixtures of a typical touring system produce
the effect of many more. It had proven more
practical to carry more PAR cans, but, ironically,
in the late ‘70s, the idea of color changers was
being re-visited, this time as a possible method
of improving efficiency by dramatically reducing the number of fixtures in a system.
The problem was that concert touring was
still a “prisoner of the PAR can,” which dominated the industry because of its delightful
combination of low cost, light weight, high
output, and ruggedness. Unfortunately, it also
had a big beam, which meant that simple color
changers for it were relatively large and slow.
For color changing to be more practical
would require changing to a different fixture, one with a Leko/ellipsoidal design that
reduced the beam size internally, allowing a
smaller, faster, internal color changer. There
were challenges with creating such a fixture.
Its optics would be less efficient than a PAR
can’s, meaning less light onstage. Concentrating light in a smaller beam would also concentrate energy that would quickly destroy colored gels. Showco chose a compact arc bulb
originally designed for 16mm motion picture
projectors (and adopted by a new generation of followspot manufacturers a few years
before). Their fixture also employed thin-film
interference filters deposited on glass, a technique that had seen some use in lighting and
in photographic enlargers and offered both
saturated and stable color.
Showco’s prototype was essentially an
arc-based, color changing ellipsoidal (minus
shutters). An “aha!” moment led to motorizing
additional parameters (like pan, tilt and gobo)
and to connecting the fixture with a dedicated
memory system to create the “Vari*Lite”—the
automated lighting system introduced on a
Genesis tour, which kicked off in a Spanish bull
fighting ring in September 1981.
Vari-Lite’s products.
Given the success of automated lighting
today, it’s difficult to imagine that it had ever
been any other way. But for years back in the
early days, even in concert touring, automated
fixtures were generally employed in limited
quantities to increase the impact of conventional systems. It took still more years for automated lights to appear in any significant
quantity in other, more traditional, markets. It
wasn’t until much later that they became more
available, more reliable and more suitable for
the needs of those markets.
Phase Three – Getting
Clubbed
By the early ‘90s, a few players like Vari-Lite
and Morpheus were riding high on strong demand, growth and profits on their proprietary
families of automated lighting products—
available, with few exceptions, only on lease.
Not Exactly…
Believing it to be a revolutionary breakthrough in entertainment lighting, Showco
spun the “Vari*Lite” off into a closely related
partnership, and sought broad international
patent rights. Reportedly, they had no intention of getting back into the shop/service business, but of simply manufacturing and selling
the system to others. Within a few years, some
claimed, acts would tour with little more than a
system of forty “Model 100s”—but few things
work out as planned.
Although the prototypes attracted attention from acts, the lighting industry and audiences alike, they were a long way from being
a saleable product, with issues including both
limited brightness and reliability. Fortunately,
Showco/Vari-Lite began getting requests to
rent their prototypes, not to replace “conventional” lighting systems, but to supplement
such systems with exciting new effects. Leasing the fixtures at a steep weekly rate (with
company-provided service technicians to keep
them working) offered both cash flow and a
chance to promote the product while work on
an improved version continued. Over the next
five years, more than a thousand Model 100s
were put in rental inventory before Vari-Lite’s
next entry, the Series 200, appeared.
The buzz about the “VariLite”—and the
prospect that it might represent the future of
lighting—prompted efforts by others to create
their own automated fixtures. Alternatives offered ranged from complete systems to simple
motorized PAR cans and fixture accessories.
Morpheus Lights was one of the first and the
most successful, making major inroads in concert touring and television.
On the patent front, Showco/Vari-Lite’s
attempt to secure broad rights had come to
grief because of the earlier von Ballmoos patent. While the company might limit use of certain specific techniques with its own patents,
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100.0608.32-33.indd 33
Automated lighting was taking a bigger
role in many kinds of entertainment lighting—
and both profits and prestige away from shops
without it. The result was a growing, but unmet, demand for automated fixtures that you
could buy, a need would finally be met from an
unexpected direction: clubland.
Beyond performance lighting, there had
been a long history of motorized “artistic” light
displays. In the ‘60s some rock concerts had
also included “light shows,” and when disco
arrived, some of the same hardware was used.
Disco largely died in the U.S., but it continued
abroad, supporting manufacturers of simple,
motorized, lighting effects units that moved
beams and changed color. Such units weren’t
taken seriously by those in the concert touring
or traditional markets, but sales of them to the
club world grew the manufacturing and marketing capabilities of their makers.
The key moment in “Phase Three” was
when club lighting manufacturers “crossed
over” into the concert and other markets—the
High End Systems Intellabeam being the classic example. Although it certainly couldn’t
compete with the latest offerings of the “Phase
Two” players, it was good enough for many applications; was very reliable; and was available
to anyone wishing to buy it.
Just as sales in the club market had built
up the resources and improved the efficiency
of companies in that field, early sales to the
concert touring and the theatrical markets
by companies like High End and Martin gave
tems came not from the established shops or manufacturers, but
from the young men who created them,
founding new businesses that would grow to
form new industries and would profoundly influence other forms of entertainment lighting.
By 1973, the standard template for concert lighting systems had emerged. They
were built around PAR 64 fixtures hung on
“trees” and trusses, either ground-supported
or flown on motors. Touring systems weren’t
high-tech. But, they were far more time- and
labor-efficient than were traditional theatrical touring techniques.
By the second half of the ‘70s, some of
the small businesses doing tour lighting
had gotten pretty big. At the end of that
decade, a downturn in touring, triggered by
general economic conditions (and interacting with a change in how bands were paid)
swept many shops out of the industry. It
would also lead to the second phase in automated lighting history.
Most early concert touring shops, as they
grew, had stayed with simple “first-generation”
system designs that were both time- and labor-inefficient relative to “second-generation”
systems, which used techniques like multi-pin
connectors and multi-core cable. Such “second-generation” systems cost more, but it was
a seller’s market and the touring acts didn’t
have to pay the local labor bill. But now, too
many systems were chasing too few acts, and
the biggest acts were splitting net concert proceeds with the promoter after show expenses.
They could now be paying 90 cents of every
dollar spent on local labor. The more efficient
“second-generation” systems were getting
most of what business there was to be had.
Shops stuck with “first-generation” hardware
seldom had the cash flow to upgrade. Most
were forced out.
Out of this “perfect storm” would arise the
next phase in automated lighting.
it could not block
competition. VariLite also initiated
a lawsuit against
the von Ballmoos
patent’s
owner,
which
Vari-Lite
would ultimately
settle with a Consent Decree that
acknowledged the
patent to be valid
and that it covered
PLSN AUGUST 2006
33
8/3/06 12:57:45 PM
T
he list of folks who
can report meeting
celebrities like Lucille
Ball, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson,
David Letterman and Sandy Duncan
over the course of a lifetime has to be
a small one. The only smaller one is the
list of the people who can say that they’ve
taken those celebrities, put them into a harness and then flown them across a stage.
Just how small is that group? One man,
Peter Foy, who got his start in the United
States while working with the U.K.-based
company Kirby’s Flying Ballets in 1950
when he came across the pond to work on
the Broadway production of Peter Pan that
starred Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff. He
By DavidJohnFarinella
“In the past, flying used to be done like a
crane working at a construction site, but Peter made it extremely dynamic by swinging
people and getting them outside the control
zone, giving it that look of freedom,” he says.
That freedom wasn’t something that
Foy’s former boss, Joe Kirby of Kirby’s Flying
Ballets, was comfortable seeing for the first
time. “Mrs. Foy tells a story of seeing a production of Peter Pan in New York with Mary
Martin when Mr. Kirby was over. Peter was
flying Mary on the Inter-Related Pendulum
System and Barbara said that Kirby’s fingernails dug into her arm as he watched the
flying, because he was petrified that something bad was going to happen,” McGeough
says. “But the audience just absolutely loved
it and that was the way Peter broke the barrier and made flying look like flying instead
of somebody being controlled by a crane.”
That wasn’t Foy’s last flying innovation.
The Track on Track system came in 1962, it
people from five to 20 feet per second.”
Moreover, McGeough points out that
the company has used a bit of everything
to fly performers, including hydraulics, motors and bungee cords. “So many different
things to create many different looks,” he
says. “We have a production opening on
Broadway, Tarzan, that’s being produced
by Disney, where we can fly people pretty
much all over the theatre. Its getting great
reaction and we’re excited about it.”
Above and beyond the technical aspects
of the business, the Foy team is unique in
that the personnel the company supplies
to productions is knowledgeable in music,
choreography, rigging and safety. “We call
our people flying directors and we train
them anywhere from eight months to a year
here in Las Vegas and then we send them
out with other flying directors to learn, because there’s a lot to it,” McGeough reports.
That experience is important every day
“There are four people backstage with the music going on,
the lighting happening, sets moving and a fight happening,
It’s quite an effort to make it look like they are having a fight.”
- Joe McGeough
broke off in 1957 and opened Flying by Foy.
Over the next five decades, Foy and his
U.S. company, Flying by Foy has worked with
an amazing assortment of talent that runs the
gamut from Garth Brooks to Julie Andrews,
Sean Connery to Chris Farley, Eminem to Ellen
DeGeneres. The Flying by Foy crew has also
had a hand in Broadway, church, school and
community theatre shows across the globe.
The company opened an office in the U.K. in
1992, expanding its reach overseas and returning to where it all began for Peter Foy.
One of the things that set Flying by Foy
apart in the company’s early days, explains
operations manager Joe McGeough, was the
invention of the Inter-Related Pendulum.
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100.0608.34-35.indd 34
was improved upon with the Inter-Reacting Compensator system and since then the
company’s engineers have added additional
features that heighten the effect of flying.
Also, the Foy team came up with the MultiPoint Balance Harness, which was used for
the first time in the 1965 movie Fantastic
Voyage to better seat the talent. “The way
things have changed is that all of the manual
flying effects that Peter created we are now
doing with automation,” McGeough reports.
“You see motors that look fairly similar to the
way they looked back in the ‘50s or ‘60s, but
now you can program it to go to any position
along the line. You can make the moves very
dynamic by having motors that will move
when a flying director is working, especially on a show like
The Lion King. The company has
staffed nine productions across
the globe. “The flying effects
have to be coordinated with the
sets that move. During the end
of the show, there is a confrontation between grown up Simba
and Scar and there is a piece of
scenery that comes out on stage
with the two of them on it. It’s
about 12 feet high and it’s only
about the width of a step,” McGeough says. “They are up there
having a battle and the flying
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8/2/06 6:46:44 PM
the company’s founder
died, yet the Las Vegas-based
company has continued his dream
of flying talent in the safest, yet most exciting, ways possible. Part of the reason that’s
possible is because Peter’s wife, Barbara, the
company’s long term harness designer Clark
McKinlay and McGeough (and son-in-law)
are still involved there. McGeough came to
Foy in 1978, working as a flying director on
the national Ice Capades tour. He’s been the
company’s operations manager since 1999.
According to McGeough, things have
not slowed down in the least and flying
is even more popular. “If you were to tune
into a television show or go to a stage production 15 years ago there would be flying
effects about 10 percent of the time,” he
reports. “Now, if you turn on the television
or see a Broadway show, I would say you
would see someone flying more like 70 or
80 percent. There has been so much exposure to it and a lot of it has to do with what
Peter started in this country years ago.”
And, in fact, the Foy philosophy has
moved all over the globe. “We go everywhere,” he says. “In fact, I was just on the
phone with a guy and we’re trying to get
something to him in Israel by the end of the
week. It seems as though everybody that
wants to do shows these days wants to do
them all very last minute and in grand scale.
It seems like we get these phone calls all
the time and it keeps things from getting
boring, that’s for sure.”
directors have to coordinate the moves of
the flying with the fight choreography and
the moving scenery. There are four people
backstage, two lifting people and two traveling people, with all the music going on,
the lighting happening, sets moving and a
fight happening with two humans. It’s quite
a coordinated effort to make it all happen
and look like they are having a fight. Scar
gets knocked off the wall and falls to his
death, but obviously the actor is being controlled down. In the nine productions that
we’ve done over the last eight years, we’ve
probably done that scene 6,000 times.”
While that production went off without a hitch, and needed to, there are those
times when it works when something goes
slightly haywire. “In this day and age, with
all the different automated effects that
happen in a show when you start to interject flying into them, it can become very
interesting. We did a thing years ago with
BHM Peter Pan
Chris Farley on ‘Saturday Night Live’ where
he was flying out from behind a desk and
his wires got stuck in the lights. He played
it up and it was just hilarious,” he recalls. “It
actually ended up being one of the classic
flying routines that we did on the show. You
can always expect the unexpected.”
Thanks to its success over the years, the
company continued to grow, both technically and physically, and the list of the celebrities they’ve flown increases daily. In 2005
The Wizard of Oz
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100.0608.34-35.indd 35
PLSN AUGUST 2006
35
8/2/06 6:47:16 PM
“People were like,
‘are they for real?
Is the product going
to stay around?’”
– Albert Chauvet
The Fast-Paced World of
Chauvet Lighting
Not the oldest company, but increasingly increasing its presence in this competitive market
By Kevin M.Mitchell
[On September 25 of this year, it will be exactly 25 years since the first Vari-Lite system was used
on the Genesis “Abacab” tour in a bullfighting ring
in Barcelona, Spain. To celebrate this anniversary
PLSN will be running an ongoing series of profiles
of many of today’s automated lighting companies. This article is one of those profiles. – ed.]
R
ight out of the University of Miami, Florida, business school, Albert Chauvet set up
his company in the early 1990s. Originally
an OEM organization that created products for
companies like Radio Shack and Spencer Gifts,
the company then moved into distributing rope
lighting. Chauvet-brand lighting products for
36
PLSN AUGUST 2006
DJs and clubs started appearing in the market
around 1997. It would be the start of an evolution that continues to build up and branch out
into sophisticated professional products.
When asked to chart the history of automated lighting, Chauvet goes back a little further than most; he sees the roots of automated
lighting effects in the mirror ball that was first
produced in the 1940s. “The mirror ball made
effect lighting a staple of the entertainment
world. So with the advent of multiple effect
lights, it was only logical that people would
seek to devise a way to generate automated
responses from fixtures.”
In the late 1960s, sound and light started
coming together. “At first, lighting was being
moved by sound frequency, but that was too
complex for the human eye to appreciate. Then
in the 1970s, it was be activated primarily by
the bass and the beat, and that made it easier
on the eye. Then we started seeing moving motorized effects, like the helicopters.”
From there, scanners that oscillated back
and forth came into play, but “people wanted
more effects; they wanted individual beams in
different colors.”
He points out that the fog machine was a
big influence on the development of intelligent
lighting effects because it increased their effectiveness and brought them into more
widespread use by clubs and theatres. In the
1970s when fog machines became popular,
they made those little beams of light more
visible, thus amplifying the effect. They
went from spots on the floor and walls to an
entirely new dimension with a 3-D look and feel.
Chauvet, however, didn’t get into the automated lighting market until the late 1990s, and the
first were primarily scanners—in particular the
Navigator.“We were primarily creating the products for the DJs and smaller venues and clubs,”
he says.“We were already known in those markets, and known as being a good value.”
By then, the market was quite crowded. When asked if he was nervous about
entering into automated lighting when
he did, he replies, “No, we weren’t nervous. When we go into a market, we do
our homework. We study what’s out there,
and then we put the little Chauvet ‘stamp’ on
it by adding features and benefits and making
it a good value.” Through an established market of customers and dealers already familiar
with the company’s conventional lighting, they
were able to wiggle in and make their presence
known. Not that it was easy.
“It took a while,” he sighs.“People were like,
‘are they for real? Is the product going to stay
around?’ There were reasons to question, and
we had to justify ourselves through the product and the value that it offered.”
Next, Chauvet got into color changers, and
moved up the proverbial DMX food chain to
the point where they are utilizing “some pretty
sophisticated moving heads” today. Most recent is the Q-Series featuring spots, scans, roll,
and washes.
Then there is their ground-breaking, awardwinning Scorpion series featuring Fat Beam
technology. It’s a 10mW green laser effects that
can be legally operated in the USA without a
special variance from the FDA. [See Road Test,
page 51 –ed.] “You can’t operate a laser more
powerful than a 4.95mW without a special
waiver,” Chauvet explains.“We studied that FDA
requirement carefully and created a Fat Beam
laser, a 10mW laser, but the human eye will take
in no more than 4.9mW of it. Therefore it’s a just
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as safe to the human eye as a 4.95mW laser but
a lot more vivid and powerful. It’s an incredible
break-through.”
How will they continue, and what is up next
for them?
“As we move into more advanced and
more professional intelligent lighting products,
our customers are actually growing with us,” he
says.“They started with us, and now are getting
more professional, more demanding, and we’re
providing them with more products.”
Driving
all this
Albert Chauvet
is an R&D department in which he’s deeply involved,he says.The sales staff works closely with
dealers and customers, and also with the R&D
department to come up with new products.
Since it is a fast-paced business, there’s pressure to release products too soon. But Chauvet
says “we test our products vigorously before
we launch them. Sometimes we go through
five or six versions, going back and forth, and
when something fails, we learn why, fix it, and
test it again.”
The other side of that issue is that there are
only so many products a dealer can digest and
a manufacturer of automated lighting products
has to be careful about that. “The idea is not to
put out 100 products at a time, but to give every product a fair chance to succeed.”
Keeping up with the industry can be a challenge, but Chauvet laughs at the thought and
says, “Thank God we’re not in the communications business!” He adds that despite the fact
that the industry is a specialized one, it is changing quickly. Chauvet’s way of coping, he says, is
to stay focused. “We’re committed to lighting,
and that’s all we do. We’re keeping up, but it’s
a challenge. We travel a lot, go to trade shows,
read the magazines, talk to our dealers and customers. It takes a lot, but we love it.”
INSTALLATIONS
Designers
Transform Studio D for PBS Sound
Stage
A bright revival for a legendary
live-sound show on Chicago’s north side
By PhilGilbert
I
t’s 5:00 p.m. on a gray, drizzly night on the
north side of Chicago. Surrounded by the
urban campus of Northeastern Illinois University, the production studios of Chicago’s
PBS affiliate, WTTW 11 Network Chicago, are
deceptively still on the outside. A few security
guards and a packed parking lot are the quiet
indicators of what waits for me inside.
As I pull in, one of the security guards seems
to know exactly who I am, and quickly ushers
me inside to meet up with her “pal.” Her pal, as
it turns out, is Emmy-nominated Jim “Herbie”
Gedwellas, resident lighting designer for the
studio’s shows, including tonight’s taping of
Soundstage. Gedwellas greets me with a beaming smile and a brightly colored Don Ho shirt.
5:15
Crew:
Lighting Designer/Director: Jim
“Herbie” Gedwellas
Automated Lighting Programmer:
Dave Ambrosio
Conventional Lighting Operator:
Dan Rozkuszka
Lighting Tech: Matt McGregor
Lighting Assistants: Rich Lanza,
Paul Wright, Joe Scigouski, Alex Spect
Equipment:
18
6
12
24
64
80
36
35
8
62
55
24
7
6
6
12
350
110
93
1
38
Robe Color Spot 1200ATs
VariLite VL3000 Spots
High End Systems X.Spots
Martin MAC2000
Wash fixtures
Element Labs VersaTubes
Element Labs VersaTiles
Color Kinetics Color Blasts
De Sisti 2K Fresnels
De Sisti 5K Fresnels
ETC Source Fours
PAR 46s
Pinspot Bars
ACL 4-Light Bars
MR-16 Strip Lights
MR-11 Strip Lights
ETC Sensor 20A Dimmers
ETC Sensor 50A Dimmers
De Sisti Motorized
Lighting Battens
MDG Atmosphere Hazer
Sound check is running a little bit long tonight, so we roam over to Studio D, home of
music series Soundstage and Legends of Jazz.
Both series are broadcast on PBS affiliates nationwide. As the New York Dolls work the kinks
out of a couple of songs on stage, I have the
chance to wander around in the 10,000 squarefoot studio.
The stage apron runs at an angle through
the room, dividing the room nearly in half from
one corner to another. A sturdy platform that
was built by community carpenters, the riser
lives in Studio D year-round, and removing it
would be synonymous with destroying it.
The wall to the right side of the audience
is embellished with arches and grate work of a
non-determinate period, while the wall to the
rear of the audience includes a faux balcony
with a small amount of additional seating.
6:00
“The original Soundstage series started in, I
believe, 1972.
“It went to about 1981. After 10 years, it
went away and didn’t come back until
about three years ago.”
This is how Gedwellas begins to
narrate the history of Soundstage to
me as we sit down to dinner with the
crew. The show was resurrected in 2003,
he tells me.
“Joe Thomas, from HD Ready, approached WTTW. He wanted to revive
Soundstage, and he wanted the name
Soundstage because it had history.”
Having been the lighting designer
for the original run in the ‘70s, Gedwellas was
tapped as the lighting director for the revival,
working with lighting designers Bob Peterson
and Mike Dalton.
“The producers had a concept that they wanted it all in black drape, almost like in limbo, just
with silver trusses. That was pretty much it. They
wanted that intimate, nightclub atmosphere.
“At that time I was the lighting director and
a guy named Mike Dalton did exactly what Joe
said, and it just didn’t work out really well. Once
Joe found out that all of his camera angles were
pretty much just black background behind
all the singers, he goes ‘Oh, maybe we need
some scenery.’ ”
Eventually, Gedwellas took over the designer’s chair, working closely with the producer to
embellish the backgrounds and designing custom drapery that would react well to different
lighting looks.
7:05
The entire lighting crew seemed to favor
the brownies as tonight’s dessert of choice.
There are two techs and two programmers here
from Upstaging tonight. The regular crew will
be out for the next taping, so the fill-in crew is
getting a grip on how the show works.
Upstaging claims Gedwellas as one of
their earliest customers. Georg Slejko, an account manager
with
Upstaging, began handling accounts
for Gedwellas in
the early nineties
and claims that
Gedwellas might
even be customer
#003 on Upstaging’s books.
Be prepared
to hear high
praise if you mention Herbie to
Slejko. He says,
“Herbie is well
rooted in live performance lighting, always pushing the envelope
of the studio lighting discipline to a successful
conclusion.”
The relationship goes beyond the studio,
with one of the most recent Soundstage remotes finding Gedwellas and his team at the
Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado for four
nights with Dave Matthews. Upstaging gear
and crew could be found littering the outdoor
amphitheater and lighting up the indigenous
red rock walls.
7:25
As we make our way back in to the studio,
things are pretty quiet. As I snap off a few pictures, Upstaging programmer Dave Ambrosio
sits at the console tweaking some of the cues
he has built for tonight’s show.
Gedwellas brought Ambrosio on after becoming the lighting designer for the series.
“Dave and I had worked together before. I liked
the way he ran the automated lights. So we
added a lot more automated lights once Dave
came in, so we could do different layers and
things like that.”
Although the studio has a semi-permanent
set and seating area, the room is still outfitted as
a traditional studio, with wall-to-wall motorized
lighting battens and no proscenium to speak of.
Several banks of ACLs light the grid in a cautionary hue of orange, drawing your eyes to the
massive array of fixtures used to light the performers, the set, drapes, audience and anything
else that might be in a camera shot.
The conventional rig resides, for the most
part, on the installed battens. De Sisti 2K
Fresnels, ETC Source Four PARs, and ETC Source
Four ellipsoidals provide the bulk of the white
light in the room, with a handful of De Sisti 5Ks
and some PAR 46s thrown in for good measure.
8:00
As the ushers methodically seat the audience, I get a few minutes to talk with Ambrosio and Gedwellas about the automated rig.
Perched behind a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2 console, Ambrosio has donned a shirt to
rival Gedwellas. Watched over by an 18-inch
tall singing James Brown doll, he has access to
a wide variety of fixtures from Martin, VariLite,
Robe and High End Systems.
Aside from the smorgasbord of moving
lights, Ambrosio also feeds content to the vari-
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.38-39.INSTAL.indd 38
8/2/06 6:23:49 PM
Several banks of
ACLs light the grid in
a cautionary hue of
orange, drawing your
eyes to the massive
array of fixtures used
9:45
to light the perform-
During a tape reload, I asked Gedwellas
about how he works with different programmers. He described his hands-off approach.
“I’ve always been a believer…if you have a
really strong automated lighting programmer
or designer…if you leave them alone and give
them the freedom to create, you’re going to get
a lot more out of that person then if you sit there
and call out every instrument number…
ers, the set, drapes,
audience and anything else that might
be in a camera shot.
“What I find really interesting is that automated programmers slash designers…everybody has a different eye and a different feel.
We did country-western the other day and Tyler Elich ran the board for me. So, you can have
the same amount of instruments, and when I
looked at some of Tyler’s work, I went, ‘It’s Dave,
but it isn’t Dave.’ It’s got his own personal taste
to it. And his was perfect because it was kind of
a softer look and we had two women countrywestern singers.”
10:30
As the cameras reload for the second and final time of the night, Gedwellas gives me some
insight into his approach for running this show.
“I’m kind of the liaison, so that people don’t
come up to Dave constantly. I keep my eye on
light levels, and I just take notes. Then I work
with Joe and the video shader, and maybe the
band’s LD. I make sure that everything is color-
corrected. I call the follow-spots during the
show. I watch the monitor and punch through
the nine cameras during the show to see if any
backgrounds or scenery are running too hot, or
don’t have enough light, or maybe we can put a
pattern in a certain shot and move it down. We
do that all on the fly during the show.”
11:15
Walking out of the studio and back into the
rain, I am struck once again by the unassuming façade outside Studio D. The damp night
is a sobering contrast to the colorful lights and
people only fifty feet away. For a little more than
a month each spring and fall, Gedwellas and his
team flawlessly transform this modest TV studio
into a concert Soundstage.
Phil Gilbert is a freelance lighting designer / programmer. He can be reached at
pgilbert@ plsn.com.
ous LED fixtures on stage via a Martin Maxedia
media server. Some of the most eye-catching
components of the set, Element Labs VersaTile
and VersaTube systems have been layered to
create columns, borders, and walls of color.
Gedwellas says, “When we started in to this
year, Joe went over to Upstaging’s new place in
Sycamore. Joe just wanted to nose around and
see what was new. He saw the VersaTubes, and he
liked the look. And, he liked the VersaTile look.
“Joe looks at music videos or American Idol,
sees a platform he likes or an effect he likes. He
doesn’t know exactly how they did it, but that’s
how he approaches the design.”
8:45
With the audience seated and a little bit restless, the FOH riser quakes beneath us as Thomas
does last minute video checks on the intercom.
Nearly a dozen plasma displays hang from
the set, and Upstaging’s Matt McGregor has provided the video truck with some extra content
to use for tonight’s show. As Thomas latches his
intercom, I hear things like this:
“Okay, show me the first clip from Matt. The
green one. Okay, we’ll call that one ‘Matt 1’.”
“I like that purple one. Call it ‘Matt 3’. Save it
for the last song.”
As this goes on, the other six people at FOH
are quick to give McGregor a hard time. It becomes apparent that the regular Soundstage
crew and their other Upstaging brethren are a
tight group, and that some good-natured ribbing is the norm.
8:55
With five minutes to the start of the show,
the conventional rig is brought up to show level
and the truss structure above the stage lights up.
Designed to be more versatile than in years
past, the truss system can be re-shaped from
one show to the next, offering the designers a
modified look for each recording. Pieces of the
structure are placed very consciously to retain
use of the motorized battens above them.
A close connection between programmer
and designer is easy to spot as Ambrosio pours
a cup of wine for Gedwellas…an apparently enjoyable California red that has been airing out
by the console for a while.
Once the show has started, there is not a lot
of vocal interaction between designer and programmer. Gedwellas spends most of his time
watching the monitor in front of him, switching
between views from nine different HD cameras
in the room, calling out slight adjustments to his
conventional board operator and follow spots.
Ambrosio works his way through his previously programmed verse and chorus looks,
deftly tapping between cues on beat while
making adjustments to the LEDs that are being
requested on the fly by the director.
100.0608.38-39.INSTAL.indd 39
9:05
8/2/06 6:24:16 PM
Martin Professional Goes from
Clubs to Concerts and Back Again
Not the first company to exploit the technology, but it could be the biggest
By Kevin M.Mitchell
[On September 25 of this year, it will be exactly 25 years since the first Vari-Lite system was used
on the Genesis “Abacab” tour in a bullfighting ring
in Barcelona, Spain. To celebrate this anniversary
PLSN will be running an ongoing series of profiles
of many of today’s automated lighting companies. This article is one of those profiles. – ed.]
M
ark Ravenhill’s first exposure to intelligent lighting was when he was lighting Cabaret Theater in England in
the late 1980s.
“The first were the RoboScan 1016s, and
we were really excited by it,” he tells.“It opened
up a new world of possibilities. From a design
point of view it was fantastic, and we were able
to give the audience something completely
new… though it would be interesting to scroll
back in time to see how we used it, because
of course, we wanted to use it to its full benefit.” He pauses and adds with a laugh: “Hope
it wasn’t overkill!”
How tastefully these new tools were used in
the beginning is certainly open to debate. What
is not disputed is the “reliability factor” in the
early days of this new technology.
“Yes, it was a little shaky,” Ravenhill sighs.
“They really required maintenance. We lighting designers were used to lamp, reflector,
lens—and there was nothing that could
go wrong with those. Then we had motors
and PCBs and the rest of it. Also there were
the environments they were being put in
as well. I was doing dinner cabaret where
there was lots of cigarette smoke, and some
of the lights weren’t used to working in
that environment.”
Lighting You Could See
and Hear
Martin Professional, founded in 1987, initially created disco lights and fog machines for
40
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.40.COPRO.indd 40
the club market. It grew into producing professional sound and lighting products, and by
1993 it was a 15 million dollar company.
Today, that number is several times higher. Ravenhill is vice president, television &
theatre lighting for Martin worldwide.
“I guess it’s all I’ve ever done,” he
says. At the age of 14 he was on
the crew for amateur dramatics, and then studied
stage
management
and lighting design in
college in the UK before being hired
as deputy
stage
manager
a n d
later on
as chief
electrician in
va r i o u s
theatres
around
the U.K. After
using their products,
he went to work for
Martin—twice.
First from 1992
to 1995, then
re t u r n i n g
in 2000.
Between
his stints at
Martin, the company’s MAC 1200 became available in 1996. “That
was big and powerful, but it was
huge and made some great noises when it
panned and tilted,” he laughs. “It got a few
nicknames … but again, it added
a different dynamic to lighting.”
The following year the MAC
600 came out, and it was
followed the next
year by the
MAC 500.
Ravenhill says
the
600
was a turning point
for Martin
as Vari-Lite,
High
End,
C l ay
Mark Ravenhill
opment time is getting shorter because we
know how to drive a fixture, etc. But then again,
all the stuff that goes into the head, all the new
demands from designers and rental companies
requires more time. So you gain in one hand,
but lose in another.”
There is also a concern about just how
many new products the average rental company can digest and stay profitable. While
lighting designers always want new toys,
if the rental companies feel they are
I was doing dinner
getting overloaded with new products,
they won’t buy them. It’s a razor-thin
cabaret where there was
line the manufacturing company walks.
lots of cigarette smoke,
Ravenhill says that Martin would not
without these rental compaand some of the lights weren’t succeed
nies, and that his company puts an
emphasis on dialoging with them to
used to working
keep it all in check.
in that environment.
And are the days of conventional
lights
on tours numbered?
– Mark Ravenhill
“I think that’s up to the designer,” he
says. “Certainly from a logistical, flexibility,
and cost-effective point of view, you can say
Paky and yes. We’ve seen the 2005 Queen and Paul Rodothers
had gers tour where the LD, Barry Halpin, redid the
already created look of Queen from their 1980s heyday when
moving head prod- they used hundreds of PAR cans. He redid it
ucts. “But we broke in with MAC 2000s and got that real in-yourwith a different business face look via a moving truss system and this
model and offered some- wall of lights. [see the May 2005 PLSN. –Ed.]
thing completely different.” That was a complete intelligent system and
So while they weren’t the first on there was a huge amount of flexibility. But
the block with the technology, the there are some designers who want to break
1200 and the moving mirror version, the mold and go against what everyone else
the 1220, benefited from their experience with is doing and do that by using a lot of conventional lighting. Then we have LED coming in,
theatre designers.“That got the ball rolling.”
Then came the proliferation of products and that will be a factor, of course.”
When we spoke, Ravenhill had just added
that continues to this day. The MAC 250 Profile and 300 Wash in the 250-watt category handsomely to his frequent flyer miles travelallowed the smaller products at smaller prices ing to Europe as the company completes its
to be accessible to the club market, return- launch of the MAC 700 Profile, which started
ing Martin to its roots. In 1999, the MiniMAC shipping earlier this year. Asked if this is a nerwas launched, followed by the MAC 2000 vous time, he laughs and declares, “Always.”
Profile the next year. By 2001 Martin could Despite the “huge amount of prototypes” on
claim the title of the world’s largest manu- a new automated lighting product, a lot of
facturer of automated lighting. That was pieces have to fit together perfectly: websites,
also the year it was bought by European marketing, support. “There’s an adrenaline
industrial conglomerate Schouw & Co., based rush,” he says.
As the company ventures into LED techin Aarhus, Denmark.
In 2002, the MAC 2000 Wash and Perfor- nology, it begs the question: what is the role
mance models came out, followed by the MAC of automated lighting in their future? The an250 Kyrpton, MAC 250 Entour, the MAC 250 swer just might be in the new products they
Wash and MAC 700 Profile. By 2005, they had are soon to roll out. Next up is the MAC TW1,
a 1200-watt tungsten wash fixture, their first
produced 200,000 moving head products.
featuring a tungsten halogen lamp. Included in that product is a twin lens zoom, CMY
Adrenaline Rush
As the technology becomes more com- color mixing and internal dimming, among
plex and the competition becomes more in- other features.
As the competition heats up and the
tense, the stakes become higher in the R&D
manufacturing landscape changes at an indepartment of a company like Martin.
“We’ve always put a big emphasis on increasingly quick pace, no doubt the adrennovation, so while we have people working on aline rush of releasing new automated
current products, we also have people looking lighting products will continue at Martin
out to the future with the goal of finding new for some time. And no doubt the people at
technology,new ideas,new ways to solve prob- Martin will continue to rack up the frequent
lems,” Ravenhill says. “In some respects, devel flyer miles.
“
”
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:25:01 PM
INSTALLS • INDUSTRIALS • FILM/TV • THEATRE • CONCERTS
PROJECTION CONNECTION
Video Surfaces for Roger Waters
LONDON—Roger Waters is renowned
for pioneering the integration and use of
provocative moving images into his work,
and his current tour is no exception. With a
complex, expressive and compelling video
narrative running for the entire show, video
is fundamental to the performance. It acts
as an additional player onstage, with every
image and sequence loaded with meaning
and relevance.
The first half of the show contains a
selection of Waters and Pink Floyd classics, while the second half is dedicated to
the entire rendition of the groundbreaking
Dark Side of The Moon album. The projection is based around a large upstage projection screen fed by four Barco R18 projectors, all supplied by XL Video, together with
a Barco Encore presentation system for
control, with cues triggered manually and
by time code.
When it came time to do a show in
Hyde Park, since it was a daylight show, it
was decided to upgrade the projection surface from soft screen (two square and one
spherical soft screens are on the tour) to
LED. XL supplied a 16.2 meters wide by 8.3
high Lighthouse R16 screen which weighed
10.5 tons. It was suspended with a crane.
Waters’ Hyde Park production was a
joint initiative between Chris Saunders, XL’s
crew chief on the tour, and live video director Nick Fry. Fry has been cutting the IMag
mix on the tour’s larger shows using local
gear and crew.
Most of Waters’ show video content
was produced by New Yorkbased production house
Breath Video, directed by
Sean Evans (a Sony Records
art director) and edited by
Andy Jennison. In the UK,
they worked closely with XL’s
in-house editing team led by
Steve Smith who programmed
the two GV Turbo hi-def hard
drive units on which it is
stored. Waters, very much his
own show’s artistic director,
as such was central to the
content creation and subject matter.
For the Hyde Park show, XL also
supplied a 4-camera IMag system, complete with GV 1200 PPU, and the mix
was cut by Fry working in the video
“underworld” beneath stage. The cameras were at positioned at FOH (with
100:1 lens), two on track-and-dolly in
the pit and one hand-held onstage.
Saunders led a total XL crew of 12 for
the “Hyde Park Calling” event.
Roger Waters
Electrosonic Announces New Division
Barcelona. The Barcelona VersaTubes
are designed as a long flat line of tubes
stretching the entire length of the bar.
A mirrored wall at one end creates an
infinity effect.
The Tubes are fixed in place by a
special panel, designed by PID and fabricated by the shopfitters, Davies, also
based in London. This was attached to
the wall and the Tubes are then slotted
into it—leaving a stylish stainless steel
finish between each tube and easy access for removal if needed.
The tubes are controlled by an Element Labs C1 controller, specified by
PID as a simple to use and operate solution for general fixed installations.
It has a Compact Flash card memory
and can store up to 256 memories. PID
also made a custom 8-button controller for HRC Barcelona, which selects
eight different sequences of content,
created by Paula Reason of Cadmium
Design and PID, utilizing material
from PID’s digital content catalogue
which was treated and re-rendered to
suit the application.
All the on-site installation and commissioning was undertaken by PID’s
Rob Smith.
CYPRESS, CA—Christie Digital finalized
an agreement making Gear-Source the exclusive online reseller of Christie’s b-stock
video projectors. The deal included hundreds of video offerings while giving Christie new exposure for their re-conditioned,
b-stock and discontinued inventory.
“This deal really provides us a ton of
credibility in the video market, plus offers
inventory to the lighting market we’re already deeply rooted in. We couldn’t be
more thrilled to become a part of the Christie family of re-sellers” says Marcel Fairbairn,
President of Gear-Source, Inc.
Heading up the relationship on the GearSource side is Henry Kones, Director or
Market Development. “Henry worked hard
to make this happen, it’s only fitting that
he continues to manage the relationship”
says Fairbairn.
Inventory purchased is refurbished in
the Christie factory, and includes a 90-day
factory warranty.
Inside...
42 Massive Attack of Color
LD Vince Foster uses LEDs
for video and – get
this – lighting.
45 Video Digerati
Seasoned vidiots know
that what you get isn’t
always what you see.
BARCELONA—Behind the basement
bar at the Hard Rock Café in Barcelona
a unique video display is providing an
eye-catching backdrop for patrons.
Projected Image Digital supplied, installed and commissioned 60 Element
Labs Versa™Tube LED fixtures for the
back wall of the basement bar.
The award-winning Barcelona site
is the busiest HRC venue in Europe—
situated right on the buzzing aorta of
Plaça de Catalunya. After a successful
VersaTile installation in the London
Hard Rock Café, that it was decided a
similar feature was a “must have” for
Christie Digital
Inks Resale Deal
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.41.indd 41
PLSN AUGUST 2006
41
8/2/06 6:26:35 PM
NEWS
Massive Attack of Color Backs Tour
LONDON—Massive Attack’s “Collected”
2006 international tour features a hemispherical, curving LED screen for lighting and video
effects. The group, who are currently touring
Europe to promote their tenth anniversary
“Best Of” compilation, recently returned to the
UK to play high profile headline slots at the
Wireless Festival 2006 in London and Leeds.
For this 3rd successive tour collaboration
with the band and lighting designer Vince
Foster, United Visual Artists provided an entirely new, more organic and audio responsive show for their onstage visuals, while still
retaining the essence of the last two tours. To
help implement their design they used 240
Chroma-Q Color Blocks for the backdrop.
UVA had discussed the idea of surrounding the group with LEDs capable of displaying
images and text, but which also doubled as
a full lighting rig. After getting the go ahead
from singer Robert Del Naja to develop the
concept, the team then went through many
different designs before settling on a hemispherical, curving screen.
UVA then commissioned LiteStructures to
create a custom stand support for the fixtures,
taking into consideration all possible viewing
angles and beam directions before they were
satisfied with the curved screen. LiteStructures’ rehearsal facilities were then used to
construct the support and test out the screen,
which consists of 24 evenly spaced supports
each containing 10 Color Blocks.
The show is run from UVA’s custom software, Dragonfly 3, on custom-built PCs in a
dual rack mount system. The Color Blocks
are DMX controlled via a USB trigger and six
channels of live audio from the band, input
via a Firewire sound card.
Songs are sequenced visually to the music, as the band plays all cues are triggered
live by Joel Gethin Lewis, UVA’s interactive
designer, using a combination of their click track and
his own judgment. UVA
have also created many
audio responsive layers
which, coupled with come
creative audio routing, allows the band to “play” the
visuals live.
All visual content was
chosen in collaboration
process between singer Massive Attack
Robert Del Naja and UVA,
and was created specifically for the show. Most of the songs feature
a blend of both UVA’s video effects and Vince
Foster’s lighting, but for certain songs one
of the two elements comes to the fore. For
example, “Unfinished Sympathy” uses only
conventional lighting, whereas “False Flags”
is dominated by video content.
The lighting rig, which was supplied by
HSL, consists of 14 x Robe ColorWash 1200
AT E, 2 x ColorSpot 1200 AT E with a conventional rig of 24 x James Thomas floor cans
fitted with Chroma-Q™ color changers. The
lighting rig is looked after on the tour by Rohan Harrison (LD) and Jonathan Williams.
Product Launch Party Is A Kick
HOLLYWOOD, CA—The vibe was cool, the
featured product was high-tech and the projections provided by Kinetic Lighting let a starstudded crowd know they were attending the
launch event for T-Mobile’s® Sidekick™ 3 at the
Hollywood Palladium.
Event producer Brent Bolthouse of Bol-
thouse Productions commissioned Kinetic
to help create a “Dream World” atmosphere
inside this exclusive Hollywood event. This
gave lighting designer David Jacobi an opportunity to utilize some of the latest visual
technology. A myriad of video and large-format film projection, moving lights and LED
technology were integrated into
an orchestrated display of color,
texture and branding.
“This was an amazing event
to light,” Jacobi said. “We were
we given a lot of creative latitude, and were able to use a lot
of different visual tools.”
The interior space was awash
in pink, blue, and turquoise hues,
augmented with large, vibrant projection. Meanwhile swirling video
projection of the Sidekick 3 and Sidekick Launch Party
the T-Mobile logo swept about the
ics ColorBlast 12 LED fixtures. LED tubes crePalladium walls, ensuring no guest
missed the promotional excitement. Lighting ated a similar color-changing effect behind
was also supplied for the main stage, where an oval-shaped Plexiglas bar that served at
guests were treated to the sounds of She Wants the venue’s centerpiece. Bolthouse Productions enhanced the ambiance with a sandRevenge and The Futureheads.
Branding extended outside, compliments box, playground, grass and trees.
Large format projection layered with fullof Finelite® projection onto the Palladium sign.
Beneath the historic marquee, Kinetic provided motion video was featured nearly 360˚ around
press lighting for the red-carpet entrance for the circular room. Abstract imagery projected
an A-list of celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, with High End Systems DL2s and Finelite® projectors enveloped guests in this surreal environParis Hilton and Nicole Richie.
Guest’s entered the party through a ment. The elaborate rig was centrally controlled
glowing foyer, illuminated with Color Kinet- via two Flying Pig Systems Hog iPCs.
Radiohead’s 2006 Tour
42
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.42-43.indd 42
Photo by Steve Jennings
Radiohead Breezes Through North Ameri-
Los Angeles—XL Video’s UK and Los Angeles office teamed up to support Radiohead’s 2006 North American Tour. Des Fallon of XL UK worked with Production Designer,
Andi Watson, to bring the tour to the company, while XL Los Angeles’ John Wiseman is
managing the North American leg. XL provided 10 Sanyo projectors in custom made
hanging frames which Watson used with six dome cameras and five static POV cameras
for the theatre tour. Touring on behalf of XL LA is Damion Gamlin.
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:27:33 PM
Production Brings Low-Res
Video to High-End Brands
LAS VEGAS, NV—General Motors Master
Dealer meeting, which targets the top dealers of GM, Saab, Hummer and Cadillac models, met at the Ritz Carlton at Lake Las Vegas,
Nevada. The event was produced by BI of
Minneapolis, Minnesota, with lighting design by UVLD.
“The mission was to take a blank canvas
and make each show unique to the brand,”
explains UVLD lighting designer Paul Sharwell. “This required a particularly close collaboration with BI’s creative staff, lead by
executive producer Dawn Martin.” The team
wanted to base the set around a series of Element Labs VersaTube LEDs; UVLD assured
the producers that they could provide the
most flexibility onsite by using a media
server rather than driving the screens with
a traditional graphics source or switched
video feed. Sharwell chose to use High End
Systems Catalysts for the servers.
Sharwell spent about 10 days onsite at
the resort to prep the shows, refine the VersaTube content and execute each two-day
event. The set was almost entirely comprised
of VersaTubes running from floor to ceiling
with supplementary projection and plasma
screens. Content for the VersaTubes included logo graphics, video clips supplied by BI,
as well as some content from the UVLD
graphics library.
Sharwell, working with programmer
Jeff Nellis, was able “to take a still of the
Saab logo, which features military jets, and
manipulate it in Catalyst so it appears that
the jets are flying through the VersaTubes,”
he reports. “We essentially made a movie
out of a still and added swooshing jet
sound effects.”
Sharwell integrated the bold Hummer
logo into the VersaTubes behind the presenters and then wrapped it into the brand’s
graphics for a subtler look. Cadillac’s multicolor shield logo was given a similar treatment. Each brand’s show also featured top
GM executives who gave presentations and
answered dealers’ questions. Their appearances were marked by strong GM corporate
branding across the entire scenic picture.
With the VersaTubes and their content
playing such a dominant role in the shows,
Sharwell really had no need to light scenery. He opted to use Vari*Lite spot and wash
moving lights to provide atmosphere. “The
VersaTubes were such a strong focus that
they became the bulk of my onsite design,”
says Sharwell. “I worked hand-in-hand with
Nellis on what we wanted the VersaTubes to
do, then I laid lighting in over the VersaTube
content to support the set piece.”
The UVLD team included Angus Sinex
as production electrician and Tony Siekman
of The Wit Company was the technical director on the project.
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.42-43.indd 43
PLSN AUGUST 2006
43
8/2/06 6:27:58 PM
VIDEO PRODUCTS
»
SurgeX
Powerframe 420
New from SurgeX®, the Powerframe® 420 Advanced Series Mode™ is
an AC surge eliminator and power conditioner for video, broadcast and lighting. The 80-amp load center comes in a
16”x12”x4” NEMA enclosure and allows
for protection of four 20-amp branch
circuits, complete with Impedance Tolerant® EMI/RFI filtering. It comes with a
ten-year warranty. The patented Series
Mode technology is an alternative to
conventional MOV circuitry and stops
multiple surges of up to 6,000 volts
without ground contamination and
meets government purchase specifications for powerline surge suppressors
with an A-1-1 rating for protection from destructive spikes, surges and inductive transients. »
DPI Lightning 40sx+/40isx+
Digital Projection International (DPI) announced major enhancements to its SX+
resolution Lightning Professional series platform. Three new products were introduced
to the range, two featuring integrated electronics and two producing 22,000 lumens—a
31% increase over the original Lightning 30sx+. Advances in the illumination and cooling systems allow the 40sx+ and 40isx+ to reach 22,000 center lumens and 21,000 ANSI
lumens, thus joining the recently announced 2K resolution Lightning 40HD-T as the most
powerful projectors in the DPI product line. By maintaining the same optical platform in
the 40sx+ and 40isx+ as in the 30sx+, 35HD-T and 40HD-T, inherent lamp module compatibility is maintained.
SurgeX • 215.766.1240 • www.surgex.com
Digital Projection International • 770.420.1350 • www.digitalprojection.com
»
»
Doremi LabsV1-HD/LE Disk Recorder
Doremi Labs’ new V1-HD/LE disk recorder for A/V applications records and plays HDSDI and SD-SDI video using visually lossless 1.7:1 compression at 744Mbs. It features two
hot-swap removable drives for up to 40 minutes of recording and stores multiple video
files in any SD or HD format; 1080i, 1080p, 720p, 525 and 625 line video. It can be used as a
drop-in replacement for HD video VTRs. Frame accurate chase provides for multi-unit synchronization. Clips and play lists can be programmed from the front panel or with Doremi’s
Windows or Mac software via Ethernet. The unit accepts standard serial RS-422 machine
control commands for frame accurate remote control.
Doremi Labs Inc. • 818.562.1101 • www.doremilabs.com
FiberPlex Light Viper MD3
The LightViper MD-3 from FiberPlex is a multiple control interface device
for translating RS-422, RS-232 and MIDI control signals through LightViper fiber
optic transport systems. It has three connectors on its front panel: RS-422, MIDI,
and RS-232. The rear panel contains three RJ45 connectors and a single switch to
determine whether MIDI is sending or receiving on each device. The unit derives
power from the LightViper system. The unit is 4” x 3” x 1” in a steel enclosure with
four rubber feet as well as a Velcro® strip to attach it to an equipment rack. One pair
of MD-3 devices is $428.00.
FiberPlex, Inc. • 301.604.0100 • www.lightviper.com
»
Da-Lite Series 300
Frame System
Da-Lite Screen Company has introduced
the Series 300 Lace and Grommet Frame System for their large venue projection screen
line. Constructed of three-inch diameter aluminum tubing, the Series 300 Lace and Grommet Frame includes lacing cord and positioned
“S” hooks for attaching a Da-Lite Lace and
Grommet projection screen surface. The frame
is finished with a black powder coated finish or
may be specified with the optional seven inch
wide Pro-Trim masking cover that conceals the
screen binding and lacing cord. It is also available as a curved model with any degree of single axis curve. It is available immediately.
Da-Lite Screen Company, Inc.
800.622.3737 • www.da-lite.com
44
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.44.PCVP.indd 44
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:29:01 PM
Pretty as a
The Digital Artists Toolbox
I
f you have a piece of video content, whether
you have created it or purchased it, and you
load it into a media server to use it in a show,
and you think the digital lighting programmer’s work is finished, think again.
Video content needs to be assessed for its
performance and maximized for its playback
quality on the video output device on which
it is to be used. Since no two devices are the
same, how do you best go about doing that?
There is no real shortcut. The best way is to
load the content into the media server, display
it on the output device, and observe it. Since
you usually can’t do that ahead of load-in, you
may find that you need to make last minute
adjustments to the content in order for it meet
the client’s expectations.
Some of the adjustments that can be made
to content include gamma, brightness or black
levels, and contrast. These adjustments can be
made on the fly from a console in order to increase the quality of the image once the content has been loaded on the server. Each of
these adjustments will increase or decrease the
luminance of an image. But what is luminance?
Luminance
Luminance can simply be described as the
amount of light being emitted by a display at
a given angle. It’s basically a measure of how
bright a display will appear from a particular
viewing angle. Video display manufacturers of
LED screens, plasma displays, LCD screens and
CRTs use a measure of luminance called a “nit”
to describe the brightness of their products. A
nit is one candela per square meter, and a typical computer display emits from around a hundred to a few hundred nits. An LED display typically emits several thousand nits, much to the
chagrin of the lighting director.
In addition to luminance, there are a variety
of factors that contribute to the appearance of
an image as it is viewed on a display device. In
this month’s column, we will examine gamma,
brightness and contrast.
Gamma
Gamma is a color management tool that
is used to correct any non-linearities in display
devices. Non-linearities may be introduced for
various reasons, but the bottom line is that a
non-linearity changes the relationship between
the luminance value of a pixel as it is input to
the display device and the luminance value as
it is actually displayed. For example, if the luminance for a certain pixel is supposed to be 50%
and there is no gamma correction, then the nonlinearity in a display might make the displayed
value change to something other than 50%.
Any distortions caused by this non-linearity in
the display device can be corrected by applying
a gamma correction so that your eye perceives
the correct brightness as it was intended across
the range of luminosity. In some media servers,
the gamma correction applies only to the combined red, green and blue (RGB) content, while
in more sophisticated media servers gamma
correction can be applied individually to each
of the three color signals allowing more precise
corrections. The main point to remember is that
when you use gamma to adjust the brightness
of an image, the way the colors are displayed in
the image can look different than the way they
were intended to look in the original content.
Brightness (Black Levels)
Brightness refers to the visual perception of
luminance in an image. It differs from luminance
in that it is a non-qualitative reference to the
physiological perception of light. In other words,
it’s how bright an image seems to be, not necessarily how bright it actually is. To illustrate, look
at the graphic of White’s illusion on the left (Figure1). Which of
the two columns of grey
bars is brighter? The truth
is they are exactly the same;
they only look
Figure 1
different in the
context of the colors that border them. Don’t
believe me? Check out the graphic at the end of
this article. (Figure 3).
Video display devices depend on this illusion for contrast. When a television screen, for
example, is off, the screen appears dark grey. But
when it’s on and a pixel is blacked out, it appears
to be black, not grey.
When the brightness level on a display is
adjusted, an offset is factored into the red, green
and blue video components so that the black
levels of the image are changed. What then
would be the ideal setting for brightness? A
good rule of thumb is to adjust the black levels
so that black picture content displays as true
black on your display device.
Incorrect adjustment of the brightness in
an image is a very common problem and it can
result in poor image quality when the image is
displayed.Take care to make sure this adjustment
is correct. It is also important to pay close attention to the proper adjustment of the black levels
on the display device so that the brightness of
the image will not have to be distorted beyond
reasonable values. If the brightness in an image
is set too low, a large range of input signals will
VIDEO DIGERATI
be “crushed” or compressed beyond usability. If
the brightness is set too high then no input signal can achieve true black, which will cause the
image to be based on values of gray. The overall
contrast ratio will be lost, and the image will appear washed-out and dull.
Contrast
The contrast ratio of an image is the ratio of
light to dark in an image. It is a major determining
factor in how the quality of an image is perceived.
If an image has a high contrast ratio, it will appear
to be sharper than a picture with a lower contrast ratio, even if the lower contrast picture has
substantially more measurable resolution. Lower
contrast ratios can appear gray or hazy whereas
higher contrast ratios can cause the white areas
of an image to become washed out. Because every image can have varying amounts of light and
dark, it will be necessary to make adjustments to
the contrast of each image to achieve the optimum display settings (Figure 2).
Making adjustments to contrast, gamma
and brightness in real time is a truly unique
function of a media server because it allows
the digital lighting programmer to make
adjustments to each piece of content on the
fly and those values can be recorded into a
cue and played back from a lighting console.
And going a step further, should the display
device have to be swapped for a different
device in a different venue, the content it-
By VickieClaiborne
self does not
have to be
re-rendered.
Basic attribute
palettes
that
have been
stored
for
Figure 3
contrast,
brightness and gamma can be updated and
all cues in the show referencing those palettes will automatically update.
Vickie Claiborne (www.vickieclaiborne.com) is
an independent programmer and training consultant and can be reached at [email protected].
Figure 2
100.0608.45.VDIGI.indd 45
8/2/06 6:34:40 PM
VIDEO WORLD
Getting
the
I
sat in on a product demonstration for a
projector the other day. While the projector was impressive in terms of brightness,
noise level, and ease of set up and operation, I
46
PLSN AUGUST 2006
was not impressed with the image. It seemed
a bit fuzzy. The material on-screen was a rather generic slide show, and the projector had
been set up and focused properly. Then I real-
By Paul J. Duyree
ized what the problem was. It wasn’t the content or the projector, but the fact that the projector and computer were at different screen
resolutions. I mentioned this to the rep, who properly? That’s what I am talking about.
The other place that scaling helps and
very quickly reset his laptop so that they
were matched and the image was improved hurts us is with screen format. If we use an
dramatically. It was a pixel for pixel match to SXGA (not plus) projector, we give up not only
26 pixels of vertical resolution, we also surrenwhat the computer was putting out.
Video scalers can be both a blessing and a der 400 pixels of horizontal resolution. If we
curse — often at the same time. While a scaler feed this projector a 1080 signal, it will get
will allow us to adjust the input resolution or squashed big time before it hits the screen.
All of the major and most of the minor
even the format to match a specific output
format, it does not guarantee our image qual- projector manufacturers have taken care
ity. As a result, what may look beautiful on the to install good quality scalers onboard their
local monitor may look bad projected on a dis- projectors. Still, just like in audio world, there
are a number of even better quality outboard
play—the kind of bad that clients remember.
So what are these resolutions and how do scalers that do amazing jobs of helping us get
our images under control. I hope to review a
we get a handle on them?
I have said before that I believe that pro- few of these in the coming months.
The other side of the scaling issue is takjectors will plateau at a resolution of 1080 for
a while because of the HD standard and being smaller images and enlarging them to fill
cause it will
give the market a chance
to
catch
up. But interestingly
enough, projectors have
only recently
come
out
with resolutions of 1080
pixels. Most
projectors
topped out
at
SXGA+,
giving them
1050
pixels. So what
happens to
those other
30 lines of Common aspect ratios and corresponding screen resolutions.
information?
They
get
lost in the scaling. They can either be thrown the screen. If you are doing a presentation
out and part of the image is cut off, or they and the source material is originally SVGA
get squeezed in and the image has this very (800x600) or even XGA (1024x768), it will have
slight fuzzy appearance where it occurs. On to be scaled up to fill the screen.
As the image is stretched to fill the screen,
an SXGA+ screen trying to reproduce a 1080
image, the distortion is slight and often un- the scaler has to extrapolate between two
pixels or two lines and calculate how to fill the
noticed except by a trained eye.
What about all those other resolutions missing information. Our new image is goout there? What are we supposed to do about ing to blur a bit or look pixilated (sometimes
them? Oversized images can be reduced to called tiled or mosaic). There is no simple sofit on screen although it is just reducing the lution to this other than to recreate the source
image size by throwing out pixels until it fits. material in the proper resolution. An alternaThis is where scaling can be a blessing or a tive way to get around the scaling issue is to
curse. How the scaler eliminates pixels to pro- convert the image to a standard (SVGA) or
duce the final image determines the quality high def (XGA) video signal and then process
of the finished product. If it is done smoothly and project it.
Next month we will look at these resoluand evenly, the image will still look good
when it is done. If it is done poorly, the image tions and what they mean on screen in terms
will either look cropped (if we’re lucky) or it of quality and size. In the meantime, enjoy
will look like the vertical and/or horizontal what is left of summer.
clocks are out of phase. Has your computer
Paul J. Duryee is the systems design lead at
monitor ever looked like part of the verticals
on the lettering was missing, but when you Maxx Technology. He recently got his hair cut. He
reset the screen resolution it all came back can be reached/ridiculed at [email protected]
www.PLSN.com
FEEDINGTHEMACHINES
THE
feld
Schoen
k
o
o
N
By
By Brad Schiller
The Color Wheel Chase
I
woke up this morning and found myself
trapped in the mind of a programmer, so
naturally Brad Schiller is probably wandering around in the body of an LD. The only
logical thing to do was to swap columns with
him this month. Now that I’m here, there’s a
bit of programming logic I’d like to share
with you while Brad gets the opportunity to
rant about something other than programming a damn lighting console.
When I first started programming lights,
there were no effects engines. You were
lucky if your console had 10 macro cues. My
mentor gave me one word of advice when
he left me on my first moving light gig: All
ballyhoos look better with 3-step cues. He
was right, except that the power of three can
be used to create the best chases of all kinds.
Chases look better with three-step cues as
opposed to two or four. Here are some programming tips to take any beginner button
pusher to the next level.
The Ultimate Power
Rock Ballyhoo
1/3 JR.
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AD
48
PLSN AUGUST 2006
It’s easy to divide your moving lights
into three groups. All you need is 12 lights.
Group them by truss location if you can, or
figure out three symmetrical groups. Now
you need three focus positions. I call them
Front Row, Audience Straight, and Audience
Crossed. Focus your three groups in these
focus palettes, just as they are named. Make
sure your focus positions are big, fanned
out looks.
Now take each group, turn them on
and put each in a different focus position.
Make the movement time four seconds and
record a cue. Now move each of the three
groups to a different position in four seconds. Record your second cue of that stack.
Repeat the procedure with the last focus
position that each group has not yet gone
to. Link your cues, either as a chase or with
a link cue and press GO. Creed and Journey
would be proud of you.
In the last year I’ve had drinks with three
of the greatest programmers on earth. They
all hail from Texas. They each have their
own way of programming; in fact each one
chooses to operate a different console. I’ve
asked Brad Schiller, Troy Eckerman and Eric
Wade about the theory of programming in
threes and immediately, they all knew what
I was talking about. Eric said it best; “That’s
how I get those big fat looks, whether I have
200 or 20 moving lights.” Troy pointed out
that shutter chases work best in powers of
three as well.
The Flicker Chase
Intensity chases are fun. I first saw Dave
Hill use this chase in 1984. I’ve stolen it a
thousand times. It’s a way of creating light
movement on stage without ever adjusting the pan or tilt. It works best with hard
edge fixtures, but PARs and moles work
great as well. The trick is to never turn the
light source all the way out, but make them
flicker like fire light.
First, separate your lights into three
groups again, but this time, group every
third light together (i.e., 1, 4, 7…etc.) Now
set the intensity of all the lights to 70%.
Using an effects generator, apply a square
wave effect to the intensity. This will give
you more of a chopping effect than a sine
wave. Now adjust the size or swing of the
effect to about 50% and look at the output on the monitor. Adjust the size of the
square wave so that the lights will peak at
100% and then dip down to 40%. Now divide or offset the effect into thirds. Adjust
the rate or speed of the effect to match the
beat of the song.
If you don’t have an effects engine, just
write three cues for the same three groups
All
ballyhoos
look
better with
3-step cues.
of lights. In each cue, set the intensity of 2/3
of the lights at 40% and set the remaining
third at full. Make the fade time 0.1 seconds.
Repeat this cue with your three groups, alternating the group with full intensity until
you have three cues. Then make your cue
stack a chase and adjust your beats per minute. I use this chase in a variety of speeds
and sizes constantly during shows.
Color Chases—
Gotta Have ‘Em
Are you tired of moving and strobing lights but you still need some upbeat
dance effects? Let’s ripple some color. My
personal fave is the Congo Blue/cyan effect. Take all your color mixing lights and
place the magenta and cyan color flags
at full saturation. You should have a deep
blue color. Now take the magenta flag and
put it in a sine wave effect at full size. Once
again, divide or offset the effect into thirds
and you will see the lights ripple from dark
blue to light blue. Adjust your rate or chase
size accordingly.
www.PLSN.com
Many programmers ignore the color
wheel because they are ignorant of some
cool effects that you can do with this thing.
Also, their powerful greens and reds allow
more light to pass through them than the
color mixing flags. Most lighting manufacturers are smart enough to put either red
or Congo Blue in the first slot next to open
white on the color wheel. This makes for excellent color chases that snap from a saturated color to white.
Take all your lights and place them
in white. Now very slowly turn the color
wheel just enough so they click into their
first color. Next, put all the color wheels
in a sine wave effect with an extremely
small size/swing rate. It should be enough
to move them from the saturated color to
white, but not enough to move the opposite direction to another color. Then
of course, divide or offset the effect into
thirds and adjust your rate or BPM. Billy
Joel would be proud of you.
The Splash Chase
This is a staple, patented effect made famous by lighting designer Peter Morse (Madonna, Prince, Janet Jackson, et. al.). It works
with all hard edge fixtures and looks best if
you keep the edges of the beams in a sharp
focus. The idea is to pop the shutter open
then expand the iris from 25% to full. I use
25% as a starting point for the iris because
most fixtures emit very little light when the
iris is closed all the way and they cannot fully
open in half a second.
This chase works best in three parts.
(Imagine that!) Group your lights in threes
again (1, 4, 7…) and close the shutter on all
of them and set their irises to 25%. Then grab
your first group, open the shutters in zero
time and open the irises in half a second. Record this as your first cue. In the second cue,
close those shutters in zero time, reset the
irises to small, then grab the second group
of light, and open the shutters and irises. Repeat the process a third time and make your
cue stack a chase. Last of all, take all of these
lights and put them in a full stage focus with
a medium-sized circle effect. This could be
divided or offset by three or any other value
that might look really cool. Now you have an
intensity/iris/ballyhoo chase. Lionel Richie
would be proud of you.
There’s nothing wrong with doing odd/
even chases or random ballyhoos. I use them
all the time. But when you’re in a time crunch
and the lighting designer can’t think of what
to do on the next big cue, I’m always writing
a three-part effect while they’re busy thinking. Most of the time they’ll like what I wrote
and we move on.
E-mail Nook at [email protected].
WELCOMETOMYNIGHTMARE
#1
Resource
Guide for
Live Event
Professionals
ed shipper, the gear had been broken up
by size and put on various carriers. Let the
fun begin!
At the convention center, I was aghast
as I started receiving all the gear piecemeal, in no apparent order of any kind,
over the course of three days. On day one
I got the data cable, but no moving lights.
On day two I received truss, but no bolts or
rigging. I got to sit around for three days
waiting for gear, worrying about the job,
and meanwhile, my client and the Teamsters were yelling at me for all the havoc
being wreaked by the shipments. But, hey,
we saved money on freight!
On the last day of load-in, when all my
lights had finally arrived, the crew had all
gone home and they locked up all of the
lifts. So I found myself alone at two o’clock
in the morning, wall-hauling PAL1200s up
to a truss hanging over the client’s very
new, very expensive semi-truck. If you’re
not familiar with the Martin PAL 1200, think
of the biggest moving mirror fixture you’ve
ever seen and multiply that by 1.5. Now
you’re in the ball park.
It was a seemingly endless nightmare
that I’ll never forget. But I did, however,
learn a thing or two about working in this
industry: never let your girlfriend get involved in the business and no matter how
new a truck is, the sleeper cab is never as
good as a hotel bed.
Axis DeBruyn
www.axislights.com
The EPD is used year-round by:
Event Producers – to find production and service companies
Touring Shows – to find local rentals
Rental Companies – to find sub rental partners
Production Managers – to bid out production services
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Production Companies – to locate manufacturers and suppliers
Facility Managers – to locate contractors and installers
Reserve your ad in the
Event Production Directory
Today! 702.932.5585
818.654.2474
www.PLSN.com
I
was working at a now defunct lighting
company in California, and we had a
tradeshow exhibit for a trucking show at
the Louisville Convention center. I was in
New Orleans finishing up a show at the
time, so I missed watching the
shop fill the order and ship it out.
I flew directly from New Orleans
into Louisville, expecting a typical
tradeshow load-in. Hardly.
Unbeknownst to me, the company owner’s girlfriend
(need I say more?) had
decided that she was
going to take over
the shipping department. Her motto was
“cheaper is better.” She
had arranged for an unconsolidated shipping company to pick up the gear from our
warehouse in San Francisco and deliver it
to the convention center—in 18 different
shipments. Because it wasn’t a consolidat-
PLSN AUGUST 2006
49
FOCUSONDESIGN
Killer Color Combos
“Great minds ask great questions.”
– Michael J. Gelb from the book
How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci
S
Henri Matisse’s “Open Window, Collioure” – Matisse employed the
use of simultaneous contrast to make the colors more brilliant.
everal years ago I was on a job site completing a lighting design and programming a show when the producer asked
me a great question: “How do you use color
theory in lighting a show?”
As the designer and programmer, I want-
ed to whip out an answer that would part the
clouds and project a brilliantly illuminated
beam right in the middle of his forehead and
leave an indelible impression in his head. But
the truth is that I was never trained as a lighting designer, and for some unknown reason
By RichardCadena
they never taught us color theory in electrical
engineering school. Still, I had to give him an
answer, so, after pausing as long as comfortably possible, I opened my mouth and heard
these words spill forth: “My theory is, whatever looks good—that’s what works.” Then I nervously turned back to my console and waited
for the pointing and laughing to begin. I saw
my entire design/programming career flash
before my eyes and I thought I would certainly be asked to turn in my console keys. But he
just kind of stood there with a confused look,
as if he was seriously contemplating the answer. The conversation hung limp in the air.
Since then, that question has been haunting me, and, as good questions are apt to do,
it has had me thinking and searching for answers. What “looks good”? When something
looks good to me, do other people have the
same or similar response? Is there something
to color theory that could help me create universally better looks? Or does it suffice to say
whatever looks good works?
After all, Vincent Van Gogh, one of the
greatest painters ever, described his use of
color as “arbitrary.” And he used color pretty
darn well.
Another great painter, Henri Matisse, was
influenced by Van Gogh in his early years as a
painter. In 1905, Matisse chaired a committee
that put on a retrospective exhibition of Van
Gogh paintings, and he said that Van Gogh’s
paintings “encouraged him to strive for a
freer, more spontaneous technique, for more
intense, more expressive harmonies.”
Later that year, Matisse exhibited his work
at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. One of his
paintings, “Open Window, Collioure,” was
painted that summer in Collioure, a small fishing village on the Mediterranean Sea in Spain.
By this time, his use of color had evolved into
a more structured approach. Where he had
originally been using small strokes of pure
pigment, he found the technique tends to
make the colors appear dull because the eye
views them as more of a blended color than
of discrete colors. The result was that he was
unable to achieve the brilliance he was looking for. Eventually he learned to use combinations of colors for maximum effect.
If you examine the painting you’ll notice
how he has placed complementary colors
bordering each other—red masts against
blue hulls floating on pink waves below a blue
and pink sky, framed by walls of violet and turquoise. This is a technique that was explored
heavily by the neo-impressionist painters after a chemist named Michel-Eugene Chevreul
discovered what he called the principle of
simultaneous contrast. In simple terms, that
means that when two complementary colors,
such as red and green, blue and orange, or
yellow and violet, are placed side by side, they
appear to the eye to be much brighter.
Several years ago I saw U2’s “Zoo” tour,
and it always sticks out in mind because of
roadtest
Chauvet Scorpion Scan LG-60
and it’s 10.08” x 10.63” x 5.12” (256mm x
270mm x 130mm).
By PhilGilbert
I
n the movie Toy Story, a forgotten toy cowboy by the name of “Woody” is replaced by
a “laser-toting” action figure with the dashing name of “Buzz Lightyear.” Surrounded by
other talking toys, including Mr. Potato Head
and a piggy bank named “Hamm,” the following conversation ensues…
Because, that’s not how
this works.
To put the unit through its paces, I added it in
to an annual light show that I assist with. Placed
at the upstage wall of a thousand-seat theatre,
the laser was used for overhead aerial effects.
Setup of the device was very straightforward, with typical dipswitch addressing, 3-pin
XLR connections for DMX, and an IEC power
connection. (The fixture includes a yoke assembly for hanging situations.) The body of
the fixture is unremarkable, with the only mar
being the presence of several status LEDs on
the front side of the fixture.
Control of the device is a little less
straightforward. While the manual gives a
basic outline of the control channels, the
Mr. Potato Head: “How come you don’t
have a laser, Woody?”
Woody (angrily): “It’s not a laser. It’s a little
light bulb that blinks.”
Hamm: “What’s wrong with him?”
Mr. Potato Head: “Laser envy.”
Of course you might also hear something
like this at your local rodeo, basketball game,
concert, nightclub, high school dance…or in
my living room.
Whew! I guess there is a lot of laser envy
out there.
Cheap or Good.
Why Not Both?
Laser lighting effects have typically been
available in two flavors: small and cheap, or
big and pricey. While the small and cheap variety worked pretty well for a dorm room, they
couldn’t punch through much more than a
little bit of cigarette smoke at 20 feet.
Larger systems, on the other hand, require
special permits, experienced operators, cooling water and a very large budget. Of course,
you can often see the effect for miles…and
from airplane cockpits.
Enter Chauvet’s Fatbeam™ technology.
By making the beam of the laser wider (1014mm), this family of laser projectors meets a
special classification (ClassIIIR) that allows the
use of higher powered lasers, up to 20mW,
without the need for a variance (permit).
The Scorpion Scan LG-60 houses a 10mW
fan-cooled green laser. Control of the fixture
is via seven channels of DMX, with automatic
and sound sensitive modes available for operator-free effects. It has 51 dynamic (adjustable) patterns and 52 static (non-adjustable)
patterns, and with scan and speed adjustments it yields 500 laser effects. The laser
source is a 532nm DPSS YVO4 green solidstate laser module. The luminaire draws only
25 watts at 120V and it’s switchable between
110V or 240V. It weighs 9.5 pounds (4.31kgs)
What it is: Chauvet Scorpion Scan
LG-60 with Fatbeam Technology
What it’s for: Special effects, laser scanning
of both aerial effects and pattern projection
Pros: Easy to set up, wide variety of
repeatable patterns with scaling
and repositioning, and good output
Cons: Status LEDs on front of fixture are
distraction, interaction of control channels
slightly erratic, effects not well documented
How Much: $1179.99
For more information visit:
www.chauvetlighting.com
THEBIZ
Th
smele rep
scam led a
spec, but the
ifi
of th city
equi e
mad pment
hesite him
ate.
By DanDaley
F
ew people have escaped opening their
e-mail in the morning and finding an appeal to their greedier side, offering to let
them share in a multimillion-dollar bonanza
tucked away in the Ministry of Whatever in
some third-world country. Law enforcement
officials refer to these as 419 scams, named
for the section of the rather toothless criminal
code of Nigeria, where most of these scams
originate. Most people simply delete them,
figuring no one would ever fall for the grammatically fractured and incredulous
requests asking the reader to put up
some of his or her own money in order
to secure a piece of this windfall.
However, plenty of people do fall
for this come-on, to the tune of millions of dollars a year in the U.S. alone.
And the scammers are getting more
sophisticated; like computer programs
that learn from their mistakes, they
share what works and what doesn’t
throughout their network and the emails become more and more refined
in their requests. And, like most expanding industries, the 419 scam has
begun to create niches, targeting specific types of people, companies and
businesses. And apparently, lighting is
now one of them.
Several lighting distributors and
retailers have reported receiving what
initially looked like credible requests for
purchases of lighting equipment in recent
months. For some reason, Texas is large on the
scammers’ radars. According to a former lighting technology sales rep there (those who
agreed to talk about their experiences prefer
to remain anonymous to avoid attracting the
attention of other scammers), a call came in
from an operator announcing a call from a TTY
phone—one equipped with texting capability
used by the hearing impaired, which reduces
the likelihood of a trace. The operator asked
52
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.52.Biz.indd 52
for the rep’s e-mail address. Within an hour, the
scammer began an e-mail dialog, asking about
some specific lighting equipment. The scammer also thanked the rep for his willingness
to help the hearing-impaired. “At that point I
thought I was being helpful and it gave me a
good feeling,” says the rep.“So I told the caller I
would get pricing and availability, which I did.”
The scammer then asked that the equipment be shipped to a location in Africa, even
though the buyer was located in the “UNIT-
With a talented con
artist’s ability to keep
probing, looking for ways
to make a story more
plausible, it’s not that hard
to see how a scam can
look real, at least for a
while. And for many
scammers, that’s all
they need.
ED STATES.” This is typical of these kinds of
scams—the con artist wants shipment overseas while asserting they’re in the U.S., and
often use all capital letters, oddly placed quotation marks and European English spellings
(“favourite” instead of “favorite”), along with a
semi-plausible explanation.
The rep smelled a scam, but the specificity of the equipment made him hesitate. The
rep talked with a distributor and they decided
it was definitely a scam, but weren’t certain
whether the person requesting the gear was in
on it or was also being conned. The rep asked
for a driver’s license by fax as identification. The
e-mail dialog ended abruptly.
The distributor, in the San Antonio area,
is naturally wary about credit card fraud, but
even he agreed that the request at first looked
legitimate. “They knew what they wanted to
buy—Kino Flow fixtures—and knew the approximate prices,” he recalls. When the distributor balked at shipping to Africa, the con
artist asked the shipment be sent to a “partner”
in Cincinnati.“They said they were calling from
Houston, and gave a number with a 713 area
code,” he says. “But with VOIP, you can have
a number from any area code.” The number
turned out to be a fax machine.
By now, the rep and the distributor knew
this was a bogus sale and terminated their discussions with the scammers. But the fact that it
went more than 30 seconds illustrates how letting your guard down can lead to trouble. The
Nigerian scammers may not know anything
about lighting, but they know how to troll the
Internet, look at manufacturer’s sites, learn the
model numbers and lingo, and pull distributor
and sales contact info from those same sites.
As more sales migrate to the Internet, the
human instinct for smelling out a scam may
become more limited. On the other hand,
maybe more automated sales might be beneficial. As a journalist, I’ve gotten e-mails from
CEOs of major corporations whose spelling
and grammar are on a par with those found
in ransom notes. Combined with a talented
con artist’s ability to keep probing, looking
for ways to make a story more plausible, it’s
not that hard to see how a scam can look real,
at least for a while. And for many scammers,
that’s all they need.
The distributor and rep in the story above
considered contacting authorities but decided against it, anticipating having to possibly
testify in a Federal case. However, the chances
of that, or of anyone ever being caught, are
pretty remote. But reporting the attempt does
do some good—the U.S. Secret Service, a division of the Treasury Department, is the agency charged with dealing with 419 scams, and
they’re working with Nigerian authorities on
closing them down. Every report adds a brick
in the wall. You can also visit the website of the
419 Coalition (http://home.rica.net/alphae/
419coal/) to gather some protective tips.
Lighting is a low-profile part of the highprofile entertainment business, which makes
it a sitting duck for scammers who can target
companies that are used to getting requests
for equipment from odd sources. The best advice is to keep your guard up. Welcome to the
new reality.
Dan Daley can be reached at [email protected]
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:39:14 PM
Phoebus UaTitan LT
PRODUCTGALLERY
PRODUCTGALLERY
Lycian 1293
Robert Juliat Super Korrigan
Elation FS PRO
by RichardCadena
E
100.0608.53-55.indd 53
followspots
ver since there have been followspots
there have been followspot critics,
the most critical of whom are usually the lighting directors who call the show.
Seldom does a conversation between two
lighting directors go from beginning to
end without at least one mention of local
followspot ops. Slagging the operators is
almost a national pastime.
To be fair, it should be acknowledged that
followspot operators often have a difficult job.
They work in less than ideal conditions, often
with unfamiliar music and sometimes with
antiquated equipment. They get their direction over a set of “cans” from a new director
every night with an unfamiliar style of calling
spots and with less than ideal ambient noise
levels. And when things don’t go right, they often have a director screaming in their ears. It’s
little wonder that many lighting directors have
problems with the local followspot ops.
That’s why it’s very refreshing when you
hear a touring LD compliment the followspot
ops that he’s had on a tour. That’s exactly what
happened during a recent conversation with
Mike Gott, lighting designer/director for the
band Chicago.
“I think the quality of the followspot operators has gotten better in the last year or so,”
Gott volunteered during a recent interview
backstage at the Saratoga Performing Arts
Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A lot of that
may have to do with how well the LD deals
with the resources he or she has been given.
In Gott’s case, it’s a combination of approach
and technique.
“Whenever we have a support act or a
special guest, I give them all the front of house
spots,” Gott says. “It works out great because
we see if there are any issues with the spots,
any issues with the operators, and it kind of
gets them tuned into the show. By the time
they get to me, they’ve screwed up a few times.
I change it all around and I go through about
a 20-minute talk with them and then they nail
it all night.”
On the other hand, Gott says he sees
more problems with the condition of the
hardware. Older, weaker followspots are often
the culprit. “I think some of the followspots
in some of the venues really need some help,”
he says. “It gets frustrating if they haven’t updated in the last ten years, so they’re not all
balanced and you get four good ones and
two bad ones and you’re trying to juggle them
around so the guys on stage are actually balanced. And you get a lot of places now that
have I-Mag, and you’re watching the I-Mag
screens and you’re trying to balance your lighting and the followspots.”
“Of course,” Gott says, “I talk to Live Nation
[owner/operators of 117 concert venues – ed.]
guys about that everywhere we go. It’s a running joke.” [laughs]
If you’re hosting a Chicago concert in the
near future, here’s your chance to avoid the
wrath of Mike Gott.This month’s Product Gallery
on followspots features all the latest and greatest from a variety of manufacturers. Don’t wait
until Gott comes to town—buy now!
8/2/06 6:48:24 PM
PRODUCTGALLERY
Model
Throw Distance
Illuminance with 6’
Diameter Spot
Lamp Type/Wattage
Rated Lamp Life
Hot-Restrike
Color Temperature
Operating Voltage
Zoom Range
Balance Adjustment?
Gobo Slot?
Luminator
50’
150 fc
FLE (360W)
75 hrs.
yes
3300k
110-240V
7.7-9.3 °
n/a
no
1000Q
60’
165 fc
FEL (1000W)
300 hrs.
yes
3200k
110-240V
10-14°
n/a
no
Comet
75’
142 fc
FLE (360W)
75 hrs.
yes
3300k
110-240V
7.2-12.2°
n/a
no
American DJ
www.americandj.com
FS-1000
n/a
n/a
575W halogen
300 hrs.
n/a
3200K
120 V
n/a
no
no
Chauvet
Followspot 400G
75’
n/a
ENX 82V 360W
75 hrs.
n/a
3300K
110V or 230V
10-34°
n/a
1
Clay Paky
www.claypaky.it
Shadwo QS LT
30 - 200’
800 fc
HMI 1200W
750 hrs.
no
3200/6000K
208V
n/a
1
Elation Professional
http://www.elationlighting.com/
Pro FS
25’ - 75’
80 - 90 fc
Philips GLC 575W
300 hrs.
n/a
3200K
120 V AC / 60 Hz
n/a
yes
no
1293 X3K
500’
2339 fc
3000-watt xenon
1200 hrs.
yes
6300K
205-240 V, 50 or 60 Hz
-
yes
yes
M2 2.5K Short
Throw
100’
80-100 fc
HMI 2500-watt
double ended
500 hrs.
yes
5600K
208-240V
5.7-11.8
yes
yes
1279 Super Star
2.5
350’
800 fc
HMI 2500-watt
single ended
750 hrs.
yes
5600K
208V-240V
I-marc 200
25 - 150+’
260 fc @75’
SMR-202/D1
EmArc lamp
2000 hrs
no
6000K
110-120 VAC, 220V also
availble
3:1 zoom range
yes
n/a
I-marc 850
Medium Throw
75 - 300’
700 fc @70’
SMH-850W/D1
1000 hrs
no
6000K
110-120 VAC, 220V also
available
2:1 zoom range
yes
n/a
Ultra Arc Titan
Long throw
100 - 300’
650 fc @125’
HMI 1200W
750 hrs.
yes
5600 K
110-120 VAC, 220V also
available
4:1 zoom range
yes
n/a
PR-1211 Orland
Followspot
100 - 150’
1022 fc at 5m
HMI-1200 W/GS
1000 hrs.
n/a
3200K, 5000K, or
6000K
220V or 120V w/
transformer (optional)
n/a
n/a
n/a
W1163L - Lancer
1200
65’ - 150’
167 fc
1200W HMI/MSR
800 hrs.
no
6000K
110/220V
7°-13° with
standard iris
(diam. 40mm)
yes
no
W1196L - Lancer
2500
99’ - 230’
181 fc at 10m
2500W HMI
550 hrs.
yes
6000K
220V
1.5°-17°
yes
no
W1162L - Lancer
575
50’ - 98’
n/a
HMI 575W GS
750 hrs
no
6000K
117V w/ xfmr (included)
or 220V
3°-15° with
standard iris
(diam. 55mm)
yes
no
Lancelot 1021
200’-400’
680 fc @ 170’ w/ flat
beam
4000W HTI
600 hrs.
yes
6300K
190V to 260V, electronic
ballast
2 to 5°
yes
yes, A size
Super Korrigan
1149
75’-200’
620 fc @ 50’ w/ flat
beam
1200W HMI
1000 hrs.
yes
6000K
120V or 208V
7 to 14.5°
no
yes, A size
Cyrano 1015
125 - 300’
437 fc @ 132’ w/ 8’
dia. flat beam
2500W HMI
500 hrs.
yes
5600K
208V
3 to 8°
yes
yes, B size
Gladiator IV
250 - 550’
1500 hrs.
yes
5600K
200 - 240V single or three
phase
3.5 to 7.0°
yes
yes, optional
Super Trouper
Long Throw
75 - 275’
1,442 fc @ 92’ with
6’ dia. spot
xenon 2000W
2400 hrs.
yes
5600K
200 - 240V single or three
phase
3.7 to 7.9°
yes
no
Radiance
30 - 175’
1,483 fc @ 54’ with
6’ dia. spot
Emarc 850W
1000 hrs.
yes
6000K
110V or 230V
6.4 to 14.8°
yes (counterweights)
yes
601S
75’
260 fc
DYS 600-watt
500 hrs.
no
3200K
120V or 220V
7-10°
no
no
QF1000S
125’
490 fc
FEL 1000-watt
300 hrs.
no
3200K
120V or 220V
8-15°
no
no
Manufacturer / WebSite
Altman Lighting
altmanlighting.com
Lycian Stage Lighting
www.lycian.com
Phoebus Manufacturing
http://www.phoebus.com
PR Lighting
www.pr-lighting.com
www.omnisistem.com
Programmi Sistemi & Luce srl
www.omnisistem.com
Robert Juliat
www.robertjuliat.com
Strong Entertainment Lighting
http://www.strong-lighting.com
4,577 fc @ 98’ with 6’ xenon 2500W to
dia. spot
4500W
yes
Times Square Lighting
http://www.tslight.com
54
PLSN AUGUST 2006
www.PLSN.com
Gobo Slot?
No. of Colors/
Color Changer Type
Iris? - Fully Closing?
Type of Dimmer
Frost?
Stand Included?
Weight
Dimensions
DMX Control?
Optional Accessories
Retail Price
Comments
no
boomerang- 6 frame
plus douser
yes- not fully closing
3-leaf iris & 2-leaf shutter
uses gels
yes
60 lbs
233/8 x 8 x 91/2
no
no
$1,040/$1,075
120V/208-240V
no
boomerang- 6 frame
douser in color boom
uses gels
yes
116 lbs
38 x 12 x 171/2
no
no
$1,365/$1,415
120V/208-240V
no
boomerang- 6 frame
plus douser
3-leaf iris & 2-leaf shutter
uses gels
yes
94 lbs.
341/2 x 12 x 153/4
no
no
$1,395/$1,530
120V/208-240V
no
white + black-out options
yes - not fully closing
iris
no
sold separately
24 lbs
9” x 9” x 21”
no
tripod, manual
color adaptor FS6C (6 colors - SRP
$79.95)
$399.95
Entry-level follow
spot
1
7 + white
yes
mechanical iris
n/a
sold separately
20.6lbs (9.34kgs)
22.5” x 11.5” x
6.38” (572mm x
292mm x 162mm)
2 channels:
dimmer/color
CH-W28 tripod
stand w/casters
$279.99 MAP
Comes with four
free gobos,digital
display, manual
focus, fan cooled
1
7+2+white
yes-not fully closing
two blades
no
no
107 lbs
46.3” x 17.1” x
17.5” h
yes. color wheel
+ iris + dimmer +
color temperature
$699.95
$15,250
-
$8,754
Modular design
allows conversion
to medium & long
throw and 1200
watt & 2500 watt
lamphouses. Also
available with
electronic ballast.
no
6 color boom + black-out
options
yes, douserinstantaneous black-out
iris/douser
no
sold separately
34 lbs
24” x 10” x 10”
no
Adjustable Pro
FS stand w/ 360degree continuous
pan and rolling
casters with step
locks; Optional
HX600 FLK 575W
lamp
yes
6 color boomerang
nichrome
Iris and fader
no
yes
262 lbs plus
ballast
73” L x 201/2” W
no
dipstick, gel kit
yes
6 color boomerang plus
4 dichroic rings
nichrome
iris & fader
yes, variable
yes
274 lbs
411/4” L x 20” W
no
yes
6 color auto/self cancelling
nichrome
iris & fader
no
yes
139 fixture, 39
ballast
663/4 x 203/4 x
181/4
no
45 lbs (fixture),
281.2 L x 101.2” W
20 lbs (stand):
16.0 H
total weight 65 lbs
-
$10,100
Color Optional
SMR-200/UV1
EmArc lamp
(blacklight
operation), white
finish, spigot yoke
$2,450
Designed to meet
the needs of the
semiprofessional,
schools, church
or community
groups, as
well as rental
inventories.
n/a
6 color manual boomerang
101mm iris with black
incoloy leaves
mechanical douser
(guillotine type)
uses gels
3 point cast aluminum.
(included)
n/a
6 color automatic boomerang
(self canceling)
incoloy leaves
mechanical douser &
clipper (guillotine type)
uses gels
4-point collapsible
base (included)
fixture: 80 lbs,
stand; 70lbs
40.0 L x 22.0 W x
22.125 H
Color Optional
custom roadcase,
white finish
$5,750.00
Medium Throw
high output
n/a
6 color automatic boomerang
(self cancelling)
incoloy leaves
mechanical douser &
clipper (guillotine type)
uses gels
4-point collapsible
base (included)
fixture: 150 lbs,
stand: 70 lbs,
ballast: 55 lbs
56.0 L x 22.0 W x
22.1/8 H
Color Optional
custom roadcase
$6,995
Available in a
short throw
model.
1 frost filter
yes
95 lbs / 43kg
35.5 x 13 x 9”
(900mm long x
330mm wide x
230 mm high)
DMX-512 4
channels &
master/slave
Optional
transformer for
120V use
$3,700
Unit can be
controlled from
light desk.
Rainbow effect
controller DMX
located in the
rear of the unit.
no
yes
77 lbs / 35 kg
41.3 x 17.7 x
18.9” (105 x 45 x
48 cm)
no
optional roadcase
$4,498
no
optional roadcase
$5,899
no
Optional douser,
optional roadcase
$2,998
Optional
6-gobo wheel,
chopper, module
for color mixing or
gel effect (frost,
color correction,
color effect),
strobe, DMX
control
Optional
Chopper,
adjustable yoke,
left-handed
operation, DMX
control
n/a
7 dichroic colors
“low noise” iris
2 blade shutter for
dimmer
no
7 colors + black-out
yes
mechanical dimmer
no
yes
mechanical dimmer
no
yes
101.2 lbs
47.2 x 23.6 x
17.7”
no
yes
douser optional
no
yes
55.1 lbs
33.4 x 15.75 x
17.3”
yes, A size
yes, A size
6 removable color frames
(boomerang)
(boomerang)
fully closing iris with
back plate follower
Mechanical or motorized
(DMX)
4 blade dimmer
back plate follower
(DMX)
4 blade dimmer
back plate follower
(DMX)
4 blade dimmer
variable frosted
glass
frosted gel on flip
lever
variable frosted
glass
yes
yes
275 lbs
150 lbs
90” x 25” x 22”
48.5” x 7.5” x 18”
Lancer 2500
includes the unit,
lamp, ballast,
color changer, &
stand. Roadcase
available.
POA
Double condenser
optical system,
100% closing
dimmer, 4-blade
module for
progresive effect,
and internal
counterweight
included.
POA
Double condenser
optical system,
100% closing
dimmer, and
internal filter
holder are also
included.
Optional
Tournesol rotating
gobo system,
chopper, dust
cover, electronic
ballast, DMX
control
POA
Quartz condenser
optical system,
100% closing
dimmer,
correction &
dichoic filters
on flip levers,
and internal
counterweight
are also included
no
Xpress Color
Scroller with DMX;
Low boy stand;
Dichroic plus gel
color boomerangs;
multiple wattages.
$16,995
Recently used on
World Cup
yes, B size
(boomerang)
yes, optional
6 color gel and/or dichroic
boomerang(s)
barn door
no
yes
head and base:
310 lbs, ballast: 81” x 14” x 24.75”
74 lbs
no
6 color boomerang
barn door
no
yes
head and base:
294 lbs, ballast:
42 lbs
77.5” x 12” x 20”
no
Xpress Color
Scroller with DMX;
Low boy stand
$12,395
Redesigned Lamp
house new in
2006
yes
6 color boomerang
iris
no
yes (two options)
head with ballast:
96 lb tripod stand:
16 lbs
54” x 101/2” x
13.25”
no
Xpress Color
Scroller with DMX;
Welded stand
$7,995
Improved one
hand True Zoom
Focus; Extremely
Quiet Fan
no
4 color boomerang optional
yes
black-out plate optional
with color boomerang
no
yes
45 lbs
81/2” x 211/4”
no
600CB - 4-color
boomerang, CS castered stand
$567
UPS shippable.
Manufactured in
the USA
no
6 color boomerang included
yes
black-out plate
no
yes
100 lbs
163/4” x 311/2”
no
no
$1,267
UPS shippable.
Manufactured in
the USA
yes
143.5 lbs
65.5” x 12” x 20”
www.PLSN.com
PLSN AUGUST 2006
55
TECHNOPOLIS
AUTOMATED LIGHTINGLOOKING OUT FROM THE INSIDE
an
360p
ilt
100 t
stepper motor
7.5 per ste
p
I
f you’ve ever read the little blurb at the
end of this column you know that I’m
a teacher in Silver Spring, Maryland.
I’ve been teaching electronics, communications and a course called Technological
Innovations for about 20 years now. And
I sponsor the stage crew. I got a sort of
promotion at the end of the school year;
that is, I moved from the Communications
Lab on the first floor to the Research and
Experimentation Lab on the second floor.
Don’t let the fancy lab names fool you—
I’m still a shop teacher, except now I get to
do more work with computers.
While I was cleaning up my old lab for
the new guy I came across a project that
my Innovations students had cobbled
together about five years ago. It was a
moving mirror contraption that used two
stepper motors to move a beam of light
around. We had hooked it up to an old
286 computer and programmed the steppers to move in BASIC. If you’re baffled by
the term “286 computer,” it was the computer that followed the 285 others built
by Thomas Edison. (If you’re not baffled by
the term “286 computer,” please don’t spoil
the fun.) It was crude, but it was what it
was—an automated light. We also hooked
up a camera to it, and a laser pointer. Remember when laser pointers cost over a
hundred bucks? That was back in the day
when Thomas Edison was working on the
287 computer.
The first surface mirror, probably the
most expensive part of the project, had
56
PLSN AUGUST 2006
100.0608.56.TECHNOP.indd 56
fallen off and
was lying in
the bottom of
the box. But
any lighting
tech would
immediately
recognize
the
thing.
Yep, a homemade…well,
s c h o o l made, movMoving mirror
ing-mirror
automated
light, stepper
motor-controlled, capable of projecting a light
through 360° of pan and maybe 100° of tilt,
or 100° of pan and 360° of tilt, whichever
you prefer. We managed to program it to
pan and tilt with a joystick controller and
it worked great…until the wires got fouled
in the stepper motor mechanism, that is.
The two stepper motors had a total of
twelve wires hanging from them. Making
one motor do tricks was easy, but making
them both work was much, much harder because the wires got in the way. Still, we had a
pretty good time programming the thing to
twist around and tilt, and the students made
plans to add a shutter and a color changer,
but those were never built.
I do remember how steppy and jaggy the
stepper motion action was. It moved 7.5° per
step. That’s a far cry from “microstepping,”
the buzzword in all the moving light brochures since the 1980s. A two phase bipolar
stepper motor with 50 teeth, which is the
variety most commonly used in automated
luminaires, moves only 1.8° per step. But by
microstepping it, moving lights can produce
as many as 65,536 steps (that’s 2lots and lots) over
the full range of motion (usually 540° of pan
and 270° of tilt). But even half-stepping our
unipolar stepper motor would still produce
a herky-jerky motion reminiscent of the old
Keystone Cops movies. That’s probably why
we put it away and never used it in a show.
I glued the mirror back on and the contraption now sits like a relic on my bar at home,
reflecting a conveniently placed candle on
Saturday nights.
Doing experiments like this has given me
a unique way of looking at modern moving
lights; I prefer to look at them from the inside
By JohnKaluta
out. I remember thinking that there was no
way the students could make an entire lighting fixture move. That’s why we bought the
mirror. It reminded me of the moving mirror/
moving head evolution in our industry. The
most successful early experiments with automating the movement of lights used the
moving mirror approach, as opposed to the
moving yoke approach.
Sure, there were the Century FeatherLite
moving head fixtures in the late 1950s and
then someone in Dallas built some moving
yoke fixtures—what were they? Oh yeah,
Vari*Lites. But before the Vari*Lite VL1 there
was the Cyklops moving mirror fixture that
Stefan Graf and Jim Fackert built for their
Grand Funk Railroad tours in the early 1970s.
And the Cameleon Telescan was very popular in the early 1980s before Coemar built
the Robot, Clay Paky built the Golden Scan,
and High End Systems built the Intellabeam,
moving mirrors all.
When I recently opened a few of the
newer moving head units it hit me; manufacturers had faced the same problems that my
students did, and they’ve managed to beat
pretty much every mechanical and electronic issue—the moving of heavier parts, the
herky-jerky motion, the routing of the signal
and power lines… So we now have some
very impressive moving units with an almost
infinite amount of control.
I’m going to suggest that very few of us
even realize the full capabilities of these programmable units. Over the next few months
we’ll look at the capabilities and features of
these fixtures, and maybe find some new
ways to program them. Plus, we’ll take a
fresh look at the features common to all intelligent lights. And I’ll finish my move to my
new classroom upstairs at school.
As a part of my new job I have to brush
up on my computer programming skills. I’m
off to Oklahoma to check out a high school
robotics competition. The young programmers are building some amazing little robots.
They program them and play and compete
against each other. My school doesn’t compete in this tournament, but we may soon,
that is, if I don’t assign my new students the
challenge of producing the next generation of intelligent lights. I already have some
ideas based on that camera used at pro football games…
John Kaluta is a public-school teacher in—you
guessed it—Silver Spring, Maryland. He is also
the author of The Perfect Stage Crew, The
Compleat Technical Guide for High School,
College, and Community Theater, available
in the PLSN Bookshelf and at www.theperfectstagecrew.com. He lives in Beltsville, MD and can
be reached at [email protected].
www.PLSN.com
8/2/06 6:45:47 PM
100.0608.ADS.indd 57
8/2/06 6:37:09 PM
MARKETPLACE
Employment
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Questions!
Let the LD FAQ T-Shirt do the answering for you.
You may have already heard about these shirts that feature the answers to
the Top 10 stupid questions audience members ask. Now you can order one
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PLSN august 2006
100.0608.58.MP.indd 58
ing
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8/2/06 6:49:53 PM
ADVERTISER’SINDEX
COMPANY
PG#
PH#
URL
COMPANY
PG# PH#
URL
AC Lighting
44
416.255.9494
www.aclighting.com/northamerica
Milos
51
800.411.0065
www.milosamerica.com
A.C.T Lighting, Inc.
39
818.707.0884
www.actlighting.com
Navigator
18
615.547.1895
www.hiretrack.com
All Access Staging & Prod.
15
310.784.2464
www.allaccessinc.com
Ocean Optics
27
727.545.0741
www.oceanoptics.com
Apollo Design Technology, Inc.
5
800.288.4626
www.internetapollo.com
Olesen/Hollywood Rentals
40
800.223.7830
www.hollywoodrentals.com
Applied Electronics
35, 41
800.883.0008
www.appliednn.com
Philips Lighting
37
800.555.0050
www.philips.com/broadway
ARRI, Inc.
11
845.353.1400
www.arri.com
PR Lighting LTD
31
253.395.9494
www.omnisistem.com
Atlanta Rigging
6, 58
404.355.4370
www.atlantarigging.com
Robe America
2
954.615.9100
www.robeamerica.com
Atomic Design
42
877.626.8301
www.atomicdesign.tv
Robert Juliat USA
28
203.294.0481
www.robertjuliat.com
Branam
3
661.295.3300
www.branament.com
Roc-Off
10
877.978.2437
www.roc-off.com
Bulbtronics
32
800.227.2852
www.bulbtronics.com
RZI Lighting
10
504.525.5600
www.rzilighting.com
Chauvet Lighting
9
800.762.1084
Staging Dimensions
21
866.591.3471
www.stagingdimensionsinc.com
Checkers Industrial Prod.
36
800.438.9336
www.checkersindustrial.com
Strong Entertainment Lighting
12
800.262.5016
www.strong-lighting.com
City Theatrical Inc.
48, 58
800.230.9497
www.citytheatrical.com
Techni-Lux
C2
407.857.8770
www.techni-lux.com
Clay Paky America
1
661.702.1800
www.claypakyamerica.com
TLS
19
866.254.7803
www.tlsinc.com
Coast Wire & Plastic Tech., Inc.
52
800.514.9473
www.coastwire.com
TMB
23
818.899.8818
www.tmb.com
Inner Circle Distribution / Coemar
53
954.578.8881
www.coemar.com
Tyler Truss Systems
43
903.877.0300
www.tylertruss.com
Creative Stage Lighting
19, 49
518.251.3302
www.creativestagelighting.com
Vari-Lite
13, 14
877.827.4548
www.vari-lite.com
Doug Fleenor Design
18
888.436.9512
www.dfd.com
Xtreme Structures & Fabrication
33
903.473.1100
www.xtremestructures.com
Elation
C4
866.245.6726
www.elationlighting.com
Ziggy’s Custom Coaches
8
615.384.6663
www.ziggysbus.com
ESP Vision
19
702.492.6923
www.esp-vision.com
GE Specialty Lighting
17
800.435.2677
www.ge.com
MARKET PLACE
High End Systems
46
512.836.2242
www.highend.com
Atlanta Rigging
4, 58
404.355.4370
www.atlantarigging.com
Inner Circle Distribution / Compulite
50
954.578.8881
www.compulite.como
City Theatrical Inc.
48, 58
800.230.9497
www.citytheatrical.com
Le Maitre
57
519.659.7972
www.lemaitrefx.com
ELS
58
800.357.5444
www.elslights.com
Legend Theatrical
36
888.485.2485
www.legendtheatrical.com
Light Source Inc.
58
248.685.0102
Leprecon/Cae Inc.
20
810.231.9373
www.leprecon.com
Lightronics
58, C3
757.486.3588
www.lightronics.com/plsn
Leviton
7
800.996.2276
www.lms.leviton.com
MB Productions
45
800.622.2224
www.mbvideo.com
Light Source
4
803.547.4765
www.coolclamps.com
New York Case Company
58
877.692.2738
www.newyorkcasecompany.com
Lightronics
58, C3
757.486.3588
www.lightronics.com/plsn
Paradiam
59
954.9333.9210
www.paradiamlighting.com
Martin
C1, 25
954.858.1800
www.martinpro.com
RC4
58
866.258.4577
www.theatrewireless.com
ShowPro
58
Killer Color Combos
Willie William’s use of color. I distinctly remember
how he combined orange-red and green in a way
that would never occur to me to use.In retrospect I
recognize it as a use of simultaneous contrast, and
that’s probably why I have a very vivid memory of
the lighting look. Audio techs are fond of saying
that you don’t go home humming the lights, but
believe me, the lights from that show are still humming in my head.
When I think back, every other show that I
can vividly remember the lighting is also one in
which simultaneous contrast was used. I remember seeing Fleetwood Mac at the Toyota Center
in Houston and at the time I was very impressed
with the yellow that the Vari*Lites could produce.
When Stevie Nicks’ blonde hair was backlit with
that color it was heavenly. I went back to look at
the pictures, and what color do you suppose the
yellow was set against? You guessed it—violet.
Did Willie Williams and Fleetwood Mac’s
lighting designer, Paul “Arlo” Guthrie, know they
were using simultaneous contrast? Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Johannes Itten,an art professor at the Bauhaus
who was one of the pioneers of modern color theory, once wrote a book in which he answered my
questions about color theory half a century before
I asked it. In his book The Art of Color he wrote:
“In the realm of aesthetics, are there general
rules and laws of color for the artist, or is the aesthetic appreciation of colors governed solely by
subjective opinion? Students often ask this question, and my answer is always the same: ‘If you,
unknowing, are able to create masterpieces in
color, then un-knowledge is your way. But if you
www.showpro.net
are unable to create masterpieces in color out of
your un-knowledge, then you ought to look for
knowledge.”
I lay no claim to the ability to create masterpieces, therefore I will continue to look for knowledge about color theory, and apply it to my lighting design work. I hope you will too.
What’s black and white and read all
over? Your e-mail to the author. Send it
to [email protected].
Chauvet Scorpion Scan LG-60
interaction of these channels seems to be a bit
erratic. An index of effects would be a very useful addendum to the manual.
Once the fixture was up and running, I went
through all of its static and dynamic patterns.
Chauvet has definitely done a good job of including a wide variety of very useful patterns in this
fixture. Patterns can be scaled and re-positioned,
though adjustment of the horizontal and vertical
positioning is choppy, and would not generally
be suitable for changing during a cue.
Output of the device was fairly impressive.
While the Scorpion will never compete with a
lighting rig in a large room, it fared very well in
the dark. Used in a smaller space, the laser would
probably read much brighter than most similar
effects seen in clubs today.
Overall, Chauvet has come up with a safe
and versatile new laser effect that attempts to fill
a gap in the market. It’s definitely a step up from
its competitors. Just don’t expect to see it on the
next Pink Floyd tour.
[Just before we went to press, Chauvet informed us that they have a new user manual that
addresses the reviewer’s concern about the lack of
documentation for specific patterns. The new user
manual is posted on their web site. -ed.]
Phil Gilbert is a freelance lighting designer
and programmer. He can be reached at pgilbert@
plsn.com. Special thanks to Dylan Randall and
David Poole at the WHS Fine Arts Facility for their
help with this review.
So, Cheap or Good.
Which is it?
At the end of the day, I would definitely recommend this product to any club looking for a
programmable laser effect with a lot of punch.
The fact that it is bright while being crowd safe
is a very large factor. I also like the fact that every effect appears the exact same way each time
you call it up. The array of patterns was very
well thought-out for both aerial and projection
effects. Add to that the impressive vertical and
horizontal shifting, and this box can do double
duty on walls and on the dance floor.
For avant-garde dance groups and creative
bands, look to this fixture if you’re really willing
to turn out all the other lights when you use it.
I could see a lot of innovative uses of a product
like this, but you would have to have complete
control of the environment.
www.PLSN.com
100.0608.59.ADINDEX.indd 59
PLSN AUGUST 2006
59
8/2/06 6:51:01 PM
LDATLARGE
From the Programmer Seat
to the Designer Seat
Schill
d
a
r
By B
er
By Nook Schoenfeld
W
hoa! Wait a minute. What I am doing back here on the LD page? I
was hired for the programmer’s gig!
Okay, I can do the LD gig too. I hope I will get
paid the LD rate. What? You expect me to be
the LD for the same rate? Okay, just this once.
But next time I’m getting paid as both the LD
and programmer.
The leap from automated lighting programmer to lighting designer can happen
as quickly as walking into your next gig, or it
might take years. It really depends upon the
environment in which you work. Most programmers today have a desire to become a
designer tomorrow. Our industry has seen
many programmers move up the ranks to LD,
including Arnold Serame, Nook Schoenfeld,
Patrick Dierson, Troy Eckerman, Benoit Richard, and Benny Kirkham to name a few.
various bits of paperwork from productions
so I can study the subtle differences. Magic
sheets, plots, patch sheets, followspot notes,
etc., all have unique touches that each LD ap-
tor, and other production members to help
create the overall show concepts and style.
They must also haggle over monetary matters, arrange schedules, request crew mem-
Getting Started
As an automated lighting programmer,
you are often exposed to many different productions, designers and other contacts. Every
gig should be approached as a learning experience. Watch how the designer interacts with
the client, study the shop order to see how it
was conceived and changed, and notice how
the LD calls the conventional focus. Observing professionals in the real world is often a
much better learning experience than any
classroom environment. I also like to collect
Show Me the Money
bers and times, defend their choices, and, of
course, keep their programmer happy. This
page often has great stories from Nook about
how he handles many of these tasks. These
responsibilities are probably the toughest
part of the LD’s job. I know there have been
many productions that I have been pleased
to “only” be the programmer so that I can just
push buttons and ignore most of the politics.
However when you’re working as the LD, it
is imperative that you stay on top of these
matters; otherwise the lighting of the show
will suffer.
If you can manage to take on both positions, then you should certainly be compensated for it. This usually does not mean that
you will receive the same amount as if the
production hired a separate person for each
job, but you should be paid fairly. When negotiating, it is important to remind the producer or client that since you will be taking
on two positions, there is less travel, catering,
etc., required. It is conceivable that you could
receive an increase over a standard LD rate if
you are also programming the show.
Notice that I said “conceivable.” In many
cases, the LD rate is the same regardless of the
programmer. Frequently the “lighting guy”
budget item covers all the positions in one
person: LD, programmer, crew chief and crew.
Our industry has as many different types of
production environments as LED products at
a trade show! You should always clarify what
is expected of you when negotiating your
rate. If you are hired as the programmer and
then asked to also be the LD, it might just be
a super career move and not worth asking for
extra money (this time). Look at it as a learning experience and gain as much knowledge
as possible.
Making the Transition
Back to the Console
COMING NEXT
MONTH...
• 25 YEars Since VL0
PLSN asks lighting
dsigners around the
world to commend on
their reaction to their
first experience with automated lighting.
• LDI New Products
Sneak Preview
LDI is just around the
corner, but why wait for
October when you can
preview some of the
best new products in
the September issue of
PLSN?
[email protected]
plies. By noticing how each is used by the LD
and crew I have learned how to improve my
own designer paperwork.
My Process
Throughout my career, I have had the position of “lighting designer” as a goal. When I
first started, I did some LD gigs and some programming gigs. I found that as a programmer
I could gain quicker access to larger and varied productions than as a newbie designer.
So I programmed for many years. As time
went by there were gigs that I was able to LD
and design, but I still was hoping for more.
Eventually after many years of programming
for various LDs in the industry, I was asked to
co-design some productions. This opportunity allowed me to gain some LD credit, yet
not take on the full responsibilities of the LD.
I basically was involved in the technical and
creative level, but not all of the production’s
political and budgetary concerns. This process provided me with a time to grow creatively, yet also learn more about the “other”
duties the LD must perform.
Those Other Duties
So just what are those other duties? The
LD must meet with the client, artists, direc-
60
PLSN AUGUST 2006
will you spend hours learning from them? I
remember talking with Arnold Serame when
he first made the transition. He explained
how he had to “learn” to sit in the LD seat
while a programmer created his looks on the
desk. He quickly found that during this programming period he had plenty of LD tasks to
attend to and was able to concentrate on his
position as designer, thus removing himself
from the programming mindset.
Obviously, this can be difficult for an experienced programmer. Imagine explaining
a look or chase to a programmer in conceptual terms without also explaining the syntax
and console methods to create it. As an LD
you have to be careful not to overstep your
boundaries by taking on the programmer’s
job. However, if you decide to take on both
positions yourself, then you must remember
not to lose sight of the LD duties while you
are sitting behind the desk, and vice versa.
Many programmers find they can outbid
traditional LDs by quoting a single rate where
they will provide both the design and programming of the show. I even know of some
LDs who are now learning to program so they
can remain competitive. When taking on a
position of LD, you will have to decide if you
will be the programmer or if you will hire one.
This, of course, is not an easy decision and you
must weigh the demands of the production
over your own time, money and resources.
If you do hire a programmer, then how will
they live up to your expectations? Will they
be intimdated by your console knowledge or
www.PLSN.com
Now that I have had the opportunity to
write the LD column, I am ready to move back
to my seat behind the console. I have learned
from my experience and look forward to my
next opportunity to write from an LD’s point
of view. Look for me next month in the middle of the magazine discussing automated
lighting programming. Remember that as
you make the transition to LD, you will often
have to also revert back to the programmer’s
seat too.
Contact Brad at [email protected] or
www.bradschiller.com
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Lighting The Rumble

Transcription

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