Stansfield, Lowey Among Parnelli Standouts

Transcription

Dec. 2005
Stansfield, Lowey Among Parnelli Standouts
ORLANDO, FL—As the first day of ETS-LDI 2005 drew to a close, a large crowd of industry veterans descended on the Rosen Centre to celebrate their own during the 5th Annual Parnelli Award. Among the many
award recipients were Lighting Designer of the Year Marilyn Lowey, who won for her recent work with Neil
Diamond, and Patrick Stansfield, who won the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to
the industry dating back to 1973. For complete coverage of the Parnelli Awards celebration, turn to pg. 30.
Lumileds Asserts Patents Against UEC and Epistar
Lumileds also filed a complaint in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of
California for patent infringement against UEC
and Epistar. In that complaint, Lumileds asserts the
same patents against UEC and Epistar as in the ITC
litigation. Lumileds seeks both an injunction against
future infringement as well as damages, including
enhanced damages for willful infringement.
“Lumileds holds more than 100 patents in the
area of high-brightness and high-power LEDs
and continues to lead the development of solidstate lighting technology,” said Mike Holt, Lumileds’
chief executive officer. “We will continue to enforce
our intellectual property rights, and to lead the industry in the delivery of exciting and cost-effective
lighting solutions.”
Congo Console Debuts
at Nebraska PAC
OMAHA, NE—More than a
year ago, ETC announced the
acquisition of European lighting manufacturer Transtechnik
Lichtsysteme. Along with that
acquisition came the Avab
line, part of which includes the
Congo console. ETC officially
launched the new moving light
console recently, and the new
Holland Performing Arts Center
in Omaha, Neb., is one of the
first venues in the U.S. to own
a Congo.
The Holland Center’s Peter
Kiewit Concert Hall has an
extensive lighting rig including
more than 60 ETC Source
Four® fixtures and more than
50 Vari*Lite moving lights.
Production manager Buck Weyerman and master electrician
Scott Wasson were looking
for a lighting console that
could handle intricate lighting
18
Inside Theatre
Radio City is beginning
to look a lot like a
Christmas Spectacular.
22
Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor drives
designers Roy Bennett
and Martin Phillips.
continued on page 12
TLS Celebrates 25 Years
HUNTSVILLE, AL—TLS, Inc.
recently kicked off their 25th anniversary celebration with a birthday
party on Nov. 8. Welcoming friends,
family and customers, employees
of TLS, Inc. fed their guests with a
catered menu from local caterer,
Bubba’s Catering, and birthday cake
for all. President David Milly spoke
briefly and thanked those who had
contributed to 25 years in business.
The event marks the beginning of
a year of celebrations to recognize
a quarter-century in the entertainment lighting industry.
24
Rick’s Cabaret
NYC
When Rick’s Cabaret
went to NYC, owner
Eric Langan wanted a
flagship installation.
Ad info: www.plsn.com/rsc
SAN JOSE, CA—Lumileds Lighting U.S., LLC
announced recently that it has initiated litigation
for patent infringement against Epistar Corporation
and United Epitaxy Co., Ltc. (UEC). Lumileds filed
a complaint against both companies with the
United States International Trade Commission.
In that complaint, Lumileds accuses Epistar’s
omnidirectional mirror adhesion AlGaInP LED
products and UEC’s metal-bond and glue-bond
AlGaInP LED products of infringing one or more
of Lumileds’ patents: United States Patent No.
5,008,718; Patent No. 5,376,580; and Patent
No. 5,502,316. Lumileds seeks an exclusion
order barring entry into the United States of
the disputed LEDs as well as products containing
those LEDs.
S
Vol. 6.11
N
N 39
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T IO e
C T g
E C a
J E p
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P O ts
C ar
t
ETS-LDI 2005 Pictorial Review, page 32
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
What’s New
FEATURES
00 Inside
18
Xxxxxxxxxx
Theatre
Xxxxxxxxx
00
22
00
Columnistxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Cory xxxxxxxx
FitzGeraldxxxxxx
bringsxxxx.
a
Xxxxxxxx
unique
perspective
xxxxx xxxxxxxx
on thexxxxxx
Radioxxxx.
City
Christmas production as a programmer
and inside observer.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx.
Production
Xxxxxxxx xxxxx
Profile
xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx.
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor
drives the designers
to create a technoXxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
logically-advanced
show.
00 Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx xxxxx
46 Product
Gallery
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxx.
It’s a custom
product,
butxxxxxx
many soft
goods suppliers and drapery companies
are in this month’s Product Gallery.
COLUMNS
48
Test Xxxxxxxxx
00 Road
Xxxxxxxxxx
High
End’sxxxxx
newest
automated
color
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx.
wash getsxxxxx
its tires
kicked.xxxxxx xxxx.
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
00
Xxxxxxxxx
50 Xxxxxxxxxx
Product Spotlight
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx xxxxxx
xxxx.
What doesxxxxx
a spectrometer
company
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx.
know about changing color? Check
out
the Ocean Optics SeaChanger.
24 Installations
When the owner
of Rick’s Cabaret
00 Xxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
gentlemen’s
clubs
decided
to goxxxx.
into
Xxxxxxxx xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
NYC,
he
wanted
a
flagship.
Xxxxx
5 Xxxxxxxx
Annual Parnelli Awards
30 The
00
th
For the first
Xxxxxx
xxxxtime
xxxxx
in its
xxxxxx
five year
xxxxhistory,
xxxx. Xxxxxx
the Parnelli
xxxx Awards
xxxxx
xxxxxx
were
held
xxxx
at ETS-LDI.
xxxx. Xxxxxx
See who
xxxxwent
xxxxx
home
xxxxxx
withxxxx
the hardware.
xxxx.
26
Interview
00 PLSN
Xxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
From
camera
operator
to xxxxxx
lightingxxxx.
deXxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
signer
to
department
manager,
Carlos
Colina has risen through the ranks.
28 Company
Profile
Xxxxxxxx xxxxx
00
Is
it lighting
or art?
De Sisti
Lighting,
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx.
the Italian manufacturer with names
like Rembrandt and Leonardo, and
Xxxxxxxxxx
their AmericanXxxxxxxxx
counterparts.
COLUMNS
20 Feeding
Xxxxxxxx the
xxxxxMachines
Brad
Schiller’s
on staying
outxxxx.
of jail
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxtips
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
and staying on the road.
42 The
Biz xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx.
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx
2005: The Aliens Have Landed
32 ETS-LDI
00
The big xxxx
Xxxxxx
buzz xxxxx
at thisxxxxxx
year’s ETS-LDI
xxxx xxxx.
wasXxxxxx
a quasi-video
xxxx xxxxx
LED
xxxxxx xxxx
product,
but xxxx.
not toXxxxxx
worry, xxxx
it’s a friendly
xxxxx xxxxxx
alien.xxxx xxxx.
As
GM goes,
so goes
the rest
of the
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx.
country. So what happens now that it’s
cut back on health insurance?
45 Video
Digerati
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx.
Three videots, one free evening and lots
of displays to compare. Come check out
the new HDTV.
www.PLSN.com
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Xxxxxxxx
52 Focus
onxxxxx
Technology
00
56
00
Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxand
xxxxxxxx
As automated
digitalxxxxxx
lightingxxxx.
becomes increasingly complex, so does
the library of fixture
protocols.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
LD
at Large
Was Nook really watching the Victoria’s
Secret fashion Xxxxxxxxx
show for the lighting like
Xxxxxxxxxx
he told hisxxxxx
wife?xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx.
Xxxxxxxx
DEPARTMENTS
Xxxxxxxx Note
04 Editor’s
05 Publisher’s Note
06 News
DEPARTMENTS
09 Event Calendar
12 Xxxxxxxxxx
On the MoveXxxxxxxxx
00
13 Xxxxxxxxxx
InternationalXxxxxxxxx
News
00
14 Xxxxxxxxxx
New Products
00
Xxxxxxxxx
16 Xxxxxxxxxx
Showtime Xxxxxxxxx
00
39 Xxxxxxxxxx
Projection Connection
00
Xxxxxxxxx
49 Xxxxxxxxxx
In the Trenches
00
Xxxxxxxxx
49 Xxxxxxxxxx
Welcome to Xxxxxxxxx
My Nightmare
00
PLSN december 2005
12/2/05 5:48:23 PM
EDITOR’SNOTE
Life,
The Publication of Record for the Lighting,
Staging and Projection Industries
Death,God,
Publisher
Terry Lowe
[email protected]
Love,
Sex,Money—
It’s All Here
W
hen I was very young, I was so
fond of being alive that I wanted
to live forever. I often wondered
why it wasn’t possible, but now I think
I know. I believe that our creator, in his
infinite wisdom, decided that we should be
given a limited time on this earth for one
very good reason—clutter. We collect too
much of it.
The problem, it seems, started around
the time of Noah, who was, according to the
Bible, 600 years old at the time of the great
flood. God was just a tad bit angry because
the world was full of rotten people. So he
decided to rain on their parade, and when
Noah found out, he started collecting things.
In fact, he collected two of everything and
his house became so cluttered that God
decided that he’d had too much. “That’s it,”
he said. “From now on, no one lives to be that
old because they just collect too much junk.
Now you get to live for, say, 70 or 80 years,
tops.” And that was God’s way of limiting
the amount of clutter on this green earth. At
least, that is my theory.
We still collect clutter, but we don’t
live long enough for it to matter much. We
clutter our houses, our cars, our desks and
even our minds. For example, did you know
that women always look at their fingernails
with their palms away from them, while men
always look at their fingernails with their
Editorial Director
Bill Evans
[email protected]
Editor
Richard Cadena
[email protected]
Associate Editor
Allison Rost
[email protected]
RichardCadena
palms towards them? Do you see what junk
we have cluttering our minds?
If I’ve learned nothing else in my tenure
at PLSN, I’ve learned that you can’t believe
everything you believe—never mind what
Clear out the clutter
in your mind and
you’ll open spaces
for new, more
current and
accurate beliefs.
Contributing Writers
Maureen Droney, Rob Ludwig,
Kevin Mitchell, Richard
Rutherford, Brad Schiller,
Nook Schoenfeld
Photographers
Steve Jennings, Bree Kristel
Production Manager
Shawnee Schneider
[email protected]
Senior Graphic Designer
Robert A. Gonzalez
[email protected]
Graphic Designer
Ezra Padua
[email protected]
Graphic Designer
Josh Harris
[email protected]
National
Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
[email protected]
Advertising Representative
James Leasing
[email protected]
you hear and see. Much of what we think we
know is just clutter. The world is changing
fast, so fast, in fact, that some of what you
knew to be true yesterday might not be true
today. All of your knowledge, beliefs, convictions, thoughts, ideas and concepts are now
fair game for review. Clear out the clutter in
your mind and you’ll open spaces for new,
more current and accurate beliefs. There’s
just too much clutter up there.
Here’s another one. What do the following have in common: God, love, sex
and money? I’ll give you a chance to think
about it for a while. In the meantime, I’m
going to take this opportunity to clear off
some of the desks at PLSN and get a fresh
start in the new year. Starting with the
January issue, Focus on Technology is gone.
Installation Solutions, gone too. Company
Profile, gone—well, sort of. It will be in a
new graphical format. We’re making these
changes because we want to do our part to
reduce clutter. Don’t worry; we’ll be bringing in fresh new pieces in their place. We’ll
have more product reviews and more new
product coverage. We’re bringing in Vickie
Claiborne, a well-known industry veteran, to
write about convergence. Mark Haney will
be moving over to Video World and writing
about video directing. Richard Rutherford,
Cory FitzGerald, Phil Gilbert, Nook Schoenfeld and I will write product reviews. And
Focus on Technology will become Focus on
Design. It’ll be fun and a refreshing change
for everyone, particularly you.
Now that you’ve had some time to think
about it, have you come up with an answer
to the pop quiz? If you said that God, love,
sex and money were the most popular
computer passwords, then you were right.
Gee, you’ve got some real clutter issues. If
you came up with no answer and drew a
blank—you just can’t think of anything—you
just might live forever.
General Manager
William Hamilton Vanyo
[email protected]
Business and
Advertising Office
18425 Burbank Blvd.
Suite 613
Tarzana, CA 91356
Ph: 818.654.2474
Fax: 818.654.2485
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 06, Number 11 Published
monthly by Timeless Communications Inc. 18425
Burbank Blvd., Suite 613 Tarzana, CA 91356 It is
distributed free to qualified individuals in the
lighting and staging industries in the United
States and Canada. Periodical Postage paid
at Tarzana, CA 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 818.654.2474.
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
100.0512.ednote.rg.indd 4
12/1/05 5:58:38 PM
Publisher’sNOTE
Seven-Year
Pitch
The
By TerryLowe
T
might wonder if she’s really onstage!
As we head into our seventh year serving the industry, we have come to a very
startling and unexpected realization: PLSN
is now the longest continually-published
magazine serving the projection, lighting
and staging industries. Being the senior
publication in this industry is a position that
we don’t take lightly.
For our readers, this means our editorial staff will work hard to pursue the most
relevant productions, installations and technology to cover. We will continue to bring
you perspectives and insight from working
professionals who are in the field facing
“real-life” issues and offering opinions and
advice to you every month.
In our recent subscriber survey, you
indicated that you love the technology
pieces. All of our technology columns were
the most well-read in the magazines, so you
can expect to see more and diverse real-life
product reviews.
So many times at trade shows, people
come to our booth and tell us, “I receive a lot
of magazines every month, but PLSN is the
only one I read cover-to-cover.” Comments
such as these are real-life testimony that we
are reaching and influencing the industry. If
we can keep you reading the magazine, then
we’re doing our job correctly. And that’s not
easy to do because, as you know, you can
never step in the same stream twice.
Thank you for being a part of our community. We hope we have helped you keep
abreast of the changing industry and that we
can help you keep your eye on the ball.
he ancient Greek philosopher Heraclites once said, “Everything flows;
nothing stands still.” In business, if you
take your eye off the ball for a second, you’re
headed for the bench. It’s true in the production industry, and it’s no less true in the
publishing field or any other business.
There is, it seems, a constant stream of
new challengers vying to capture a slice
of the market. Just think about how many
new automated lights and manufacturers
have emerged since the inception of PLSN
in February 2000. (That’s right; we
are headed into our seventh year
serving the industry in February.)
It’s staggering to think about
all the technology that has been
developed and brought to market in the past six years: Media
servers, LEDs, digital lights, sine wave
dimming, visualizers, RDM... smaller, lighter,
faster, brighter—these are the hallmarks of
progress. In its relentless drive to advance
technology, the industry keeps moving
forward, sometimes at a crawl, other times
in a sprint, but always moving ahead. If the
last six years are any indication, you won’t
want to miss the next six. We just might
see something as futuristic as holographic
productions. Not only will we wonder if
Ashlee Simpson is lip-synching, but we
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
NEWS
Beware of the Tennessee Mafia
KNOXVILLE, TN—Bandit Lights hosted a who’s who of the production industry in their
skybox at Neyland Stadium as the University of Tennessee took on Vanderbilt on Nov. 19. Unfortunately for the crew in orange, the Volunteers came away with a loss in a close game. In
the back, (L to R), Michael Strickland; Randy “Baja” Fletcher, PM for Brooks & Dunn; Todd Ortmeier, PM for Lonestar; Larry Boster, LD for Brooks & Dunn; Phil Scobee, general manager and
audio systems designer for Morris Leasing Sound; Greg Morton, FOH mixer for Lonestar; and
Richard Willis. In the front row, Brent Barrett; Mike Frogge, LD for Alan Jackson and Donny
Osmond; Dave “Hud” Haney, PM for Veggie Tales; Chuck Young, PM for the CMA Musicfest;
Terry Lowe, publisher of PLSN (and the only Yankee in the bunch); and Mike Golden. Down in
front is Alex Krompic, LD for Lonestar.
Legend Theatrical
is Techni-Lux’s
Dealer of the Year
ORLANDO, FL—Techni-Lux and SGM
presented Dave Dunning of Legend Theatrical with an award for “Dealer of the Year”
at LDI. Over the course of 2005 Dunning
has worked to provide his clients with the
best lighting equipment possible for their
events and projects, such as SGM Giotto
400 Spots, Washes, and CMYs, Palco 3 LED
units and Regia 2048 consoles.
“We are very excited to be chosen
as the dealer of the year!” says Dunning.
“In fact, we use the the SGM product
line ourselves for our rental and events
department. We feel we are just at the
beginning of great growth and use of the
products. Techni-Lux is a great company to
work with and the folks there have been
a great asset to our company. We look for
continued success and partnership for
years to come.”
“2005 has been a great year for Dave,”
says Luciano Salvati, president of TechniLux. “With both the award we’ve presented
him and the recent company profile in
PLSN (September 2005), he’s getting the
recognition he deserves for being such a
tremendous asset to the industry. We hope
that our relationship with Legend Theatrical continues to grow, and we wish them
the best of luck in the coming years.”
OptiLED Shifts Color-Changing
Product Line to Traxon Brand
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
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IRVINE, CA—OptiLED, global manufacturer of light emitting diode (LED)
lighting, recently announced a product
line transfer with LED fixture manufacturer
Traxon USA. Under the deal, OptiLED will
transition its color-changing products to
the Traxon brand and focus its operation
on expanding its current line of colored,
white and warm-white lamps that allow
users to replace conventional lamps with
LED lightbulbs. OptiLED products that
will now be sold under the Traxon brand
include the Linear Optical Array (LOA) and
the Modular Optical Array (MOA) series.
Traxon will continue to develop, enhance
and expand these product lines through
their engineering team.
“This is a very positive move for both
brands as it will enhance Traxon’s robust
line of LED products and solutions and
allow OptiLED to continue to focus and
expand on making high-quality replacement LED bulbs,” said Bruce Pelton, vice
president of OptiLED.
www.PLSN.com
12/2/05 10:08:33 AM
NEWS
Richter Scale Jolts
Wyoming Celebration
LARAMIE, WY.—Wyoming’s elite and several national dignitaries, including Vice
President Cheney, former President George H.W. Bush, and former U.S. Senator Alan
Simpson, gathered recently at the University of Wyoming to celebrate the success
of a fundraising effort titled “Distinction: The Campaign for Wyoming’s University.”
The campaign generated $204 million to bolster university academic and athletics
programs, as well as related facilities.
The guest of honor, Senator Al Simpson, told his guests that the finale celebration was one of the best events he had attended. Richter Scale Productions teamed
up with a newly-formed design company called Eventasia to blend elegant yet edgy
décor elements with state-of-the-art technology to transform the university’s field
house. The state-of-the-art technology included chandeliers hung with intelligent
lighting fixtures and a Soft LED curtain for the stage backdrop.
Martin Grant Awarded to
NYC College of Technology
ORLANDO, FL—New York City College
of Technology has been named the 2005
recipient of the Martin Intelligent Lighting
Technology Grant. Runner-up schools
were the College-Conservatory of Music at
the University of Cincinnati and the North
Carolina School of the Arts.
The grant was presented at a special
ceremony at the ETS-LDI exhibition in
Orlando. The Entertainment Technology Department at the New York City
College of Technology offers a degree
program featuring a Bachelor of Technology. Located in Brooklyn Heights, the
college is central to the largest entertainment industry center in the country.
The Entertainment Technology program
trains students for careers as scenery,
lighting and sound technicians, technical
managers, equipment-marketing representatives and personnel for distributors
and rental houses in the entertainment
industry. The program offers additional
career options for technicians in the
allied fields of film and television production, architectural lighting, display
design and construction, trade show
exhibition, club, casino and theme park
operations and all related performing
arts production.
On hand to accept the award on
behalf of the college, and accompanied
by several students and faculty, was
Charles “Chip” Scott, professor in the
Entertainment Technology department.
“The students and faculty at City Tech are
absolutely thrilled that Martin chose our
college for this year’s grant,” he stated.
“This next generation of equipment
provided by Martin Professional will allow the addition of a course in lighting
maintenance and troubleshooting. We
have excellent courses for programming,
for design and the intro level, but we are
missing the step where students learn the
day-to-day, sometimes minute-to-minute,
details on how to get the rig up and keep
it there, and then make it work the way the
client wants it to look.”
The grant is valued at $50,000 and
consists of a variety of Martin fixtures and
control products. This is the fifth annual
Grant award presented by Martin Professional, Inc.
www.PLSN.com
Troels Volver and Carl Wake of Martin U.S. present the 2005 Martin Intelligent Lighting
Technology Grant to New York City College of Technology professor Charles “Chip” Scott, who
was accompanied by several students.
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
NEWS
Ednita Rocks Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, PR—Latin diva Enita Nazario recently heated things up for three
consecutive nights at the José Miguel
Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico. The production designer and artistic director was
Wady Rodriquez, and the massive lighting
rig was designed by Rodriguez and Demfis
Fyssicopulos. It included 56 Vari*Lite
VL3000 Spot and Wash fixtures, 24 High
End Systems x.Spot Extremes, 12 Studio
Beams, two Studio Spots, 18 Cyberlights
and 12 Martin MAC 2000 Profile fixtures.
Also used were 200 conventional lights
and Color Kinetics ColorBlast units. Two
MA Lighting grandMA consoles provided
control and three High End Catalysts
served the video. Switch Lighting of
Puerto Rico supplied the lighting (Eggie
Allende, account rep) and XL Video supplied the video gear.
Draft Standards
Available for Public Review
NEW YORK, NY—Two draft standards have recently been posted on
the ESTA Web site for public review
through Jan. 17, 2006. BSR E1.2-200x,
Entertainment Technology-Design,
Manufacture and Use of Aluminum
Trusses and Towers, is a revision of the
existing American National Standard
E1.2-2000. Its revisions are to address
the effects adding or removing paint
or other coatings may have on the
strength of aluminum truss and tower
modules. The changes since the last
public review have focused on clarifying the references to other standards.
BSR E1.4-200x, Entertainment Technology-Manual Counterweight Rigging Systems, describes the design and construction of manually powered counterweight
rigging systems. There are numerous
editorial changes made since the last public review, and a few substantive changes,
primarily dealing with the load ratings
of trim chains. A listing of the last public
review comments and their resolutions is
provided as background material for this
public review.
For more information, please contact
Karl G. Ruling, ESTA’s technical standards
manager, at [email protected].
Anniversary Marks 20 Years
of Entertainment Firsts
WASHINGTON, DC—Mark
Sonder Productions, Inc. recently
celebrated their 20th anniversary
by noting the many milestones
of the company. Sonder may
not have been the first to work
with such greats as Frank Sinatra,
Sammy Davis Jr., Cher and Tony
Bennett, but he was the first to put
13 headliners together at a single
corporate event on Oct. 22. This
recordbreaker took place at the
Roseland Ballroom in New York
City. The talent ranged from Larry
Carlton to John Mayer, and Lisa
Loeb to Les Paul. Of Sonder, Eddie
Money once said, “I always feel like
I’m in good hands when working
with Sonder. Mark really knows
his stuff.”
Sonder has been awarded the
Certified Special Event Professional (CSEP) industry certification, as
well as being a founding member of International Special Events Society (ISES) and International Association of Corporate
Entertainment Producers (IACEP). He was the first in his industry to simultaneously join the
faculty of George Washington University, Northern Virginia Community College and Stratford
University, and he will be the first non full-time faculty member to instruct “Entertainment on
the Road” in January 2006 as an online course at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Last
summer, he taught at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
“I hope my second 20 years will have just as many as my first,” mused Sonder.
Letters to the Editor
Your Data is Daft
I read your (Focus on Technology, Oct. 2005) article with some interest; however,
Daftdata’s MDMX system does not use BPL! I am a firm opponent of BPL because of the RF
interference.
mDMX coverts the DMX 512 data into Ethernet packets using the WENDI protocol.
These packets are then processed using an enhanced form of orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) with forward error-correction, similar to the technology
found in DSL modems. In the case of OFDM, the available range of frequencies on the
mains cable subsystem (4.3MHz to 20.9MHz) is split into 84 separate carriers. OFDM sends
packets of data simultaneously along several of the carrier frequencies, allowing for increased speed and reliability.
mDMX is based on an international standard that governs data throughput and RF
interference. It limits the amount of RF interference through the low power transmission
system employed. mDMX does not use and should not be confused with BPL (Broadband
over Power Line) technologies, which is not a ratified IEEE standard at this time. The underlying technology used by mDMX is licensed for use by FCCI, and ETSI.
Kind Regards,
Dr Chris Crockford, BSc (Hons), MSc, MBCS, PhD
Director, dAFTdATA Ltd.
Well, it’s back to the keyboard for me. But first, it looks like I have much research to do.
Thanks for the information. –Ed.
NEWS
Upcoming Events
• Highlite 2006 Industry Event: Jan 12-13, Badger Sound & Light
(e-mail: [email protected])
• NAMM: Jan. 19-22, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA (www.namm.com)
• “Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light” Seminar: Jan. 21-22, The
Centre, Evansville, Ind. (812.833.5932)
TIR Systems and Genlyte to
Co-Develop Lighting Products
VANCOUVER, BC—TIR Systems Ltd. (TSX:
TIR) announced the signing of a design
collaboration agreement with the Genlyte
Group, of Louisville, Ky., to develop and
market Lexel™-based products under the
Lightolier and Canlyte brands. The initial
focus of this design collaboration will be on
developing products for the architect- or
lighting designer-specified retail, restaurant,
commercial and residential markets.
Larry Powers, Genlyte Group chairman, president and CEO, stated, “We
believe that there has been considerable
progress in solid-state lighting and we
are committed to developing innovative products that use the LED technology effectively. We intend to explore
the various options and approaches in
Solid State Lighting as we develop new
products. TIR’s Lexel technology promises great potential and we look forward
in our collaboration with TIR to incorporate the Lexel technology into innovative
lighting products, which is consistent
with Genlyte’s commitment to product
and market leadership.”
Leonard Hordyk, president and CEO of
TIR Systems, added, “It is extremely gratifying to be collaborating with such an innovative and influential leader in the lighting
industry. With Genlyte’s help, our team is
poised to make our vision of perfect white
light, based on solid-state technology, an
affordable reality.”
South Plains College
Receives Neutrik Donation
LEVELLAND, TX—Neutrik recently
donated connectors and accessories to South
Plains College, located in Levelland, Tex., to be
utilized in an educational rack display within
the school’s classrooms. This donation will
expose students to industry standard connectors in a hands-on learning environment.
“We are very excited that Neutrik had
the opportunity to help the student body
and faculty at South Plains College,” stated
Jim Cowan, president of Neutrik USA.“Being
able to contribute our products to enable
the students to learn more about the industry, and thus lead to a successful understanding of the products and functions, is reward
in itself. We feel that the mobile display unit
is a perfect fit to assist the teachers to educate their students about connectors.”
Matt Quick, sound technology instructor of South Plains College, specifically
requested that Neutrik connectors be
used to build the mobile display unit,
which will be debuted in the fall semester.
He is creating the mobile display unit for
the purpose of moving from classroom to
classroom, while interactively educating
the 250 to 300 students within the technical program at South Plains College.
“I really appreciate Neutrik’s willingness to support education,” stated Quick.
NEWS
Successful Business Strategy
101: Mind Your Peas and Qs
CLEVELAND, OH—There are two rules
to business success—appreciate your main
asset, your employees; and mind your p’s and
q’s. Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of
Quicken Loans, swears by the first but prefers
to mind his “Peas” and “The Q,” as he did
recently when he hosted an event for 5,000
employees at “The Q” Arena in Cleveland. The
headline entertainment? None other than
the Black Eyed Peas.
The event was the 20th anniversary of
his company and, although Quicken Loans
is based in Detroit, Gilbert is majority owner
of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He wanted to celebrate both the anniversary and the name
change of the arena to “The Q” (Quicken
Loans Arena) at the same time.
The Peas were the main dish, but Star
Trax, based in Southfield, Mich., was asked to
produce the whole enchilada. Its event management and production team, headed by
David Jaffe and Jennifer Shane, transported
and housed 5,000 guests, and also planned
and produced a 200-person all-day preshow featuring sports and entertainment, a
VIP “talk-show” set that would play live and
taped interviews throughout the arena, a
concert and an after-party.
For the staging, lighting and production, Star Trax teamed up with production
designer John Zappola and production
manager Phil Rapp from RCS Corporation in
Cleveland. The first order of business was the
layout of the arena. It was determined that
the Black Eyed Peas would play at the north
end of the arena, which is closed, and the
after party would be at the open end where
there was more space for bars, seating and
the dance floor.
“At this arena, staging normally goes
in at the south end. The north end has
fewer rigging points,” says Zappola. With
nearly 100 rigging points, RCS ended up
bridling more than half of them. They also
provided the Peas with more than 1,000
feet of truss, more than 70 intelligent lights
and 700 conventional lighting fixtures. A
crew of more than 200 technicians, riggers
and stage hands worked for one and a half
days to assemble the stage and took five
hours to remove it.
During the pre-show, Star Trax set up
Rock TV, a mix of live and pre-taped footage
shown during the pre-show. “Rock TV served
two purposes,” Shane says. “It was a countdown in the pre-show arena that directed
people where to go and when; and it was
a way to show 20 years of company history
with old footage, interviews with upper-level
people and two roving reporters on the
show floor talking to the guests.”
A surprise appearance by Kid Rock kept
In Brief
Cast Software Inc. announced that
Leprecon and Lehigh are bundling their
consoles with WYSIWYG Perform Console
Edition (CE). Leprecon will offer LP-X users
the option of pairing a copy of WYSIWYG
CE with LP-X48 and LP-X24 consoles.
Lehigh Electric Products Co. will bundle
WYSIWYG CE with their Millennium Series
of consoles...Two Arri Pocket PAR 400W
HMI Lighthouse AC/DC 1 Light Kits have
been added to the Entertainment Lighting Services rental inventory. The Arri
Pocket PAR 400W kit includes: Pocket PAR
400W HMI light; AC/DC electronic ballast;
lighthouse; shutter; lenses; Chimera Video
Pro Softbox; scrims; barndoors; HMI bulb
and case...ZZYZX, Inc., worldwide distributor of ESP Vision software, is sponsoring a contest where lighting designers
create a lighting design on a previouslydesigned set to a predetermined song.
The resulting lighting design will be
judged by independent lighting designers in the industry. The winner will receive:
Vision 2.0 Unlimited license; Vectorworks
Spotlight with Renderworks Version
12; High End Systems’ USB DMX Super
Widget and a NVIDIA 7800 GTX Video
Card. The total value of the prize package
is in excess of $14,000. Complete rules,
regulations and details of the contest can
be found at www.espvision.com/contest.
html...Holo-Walls LLC, manufacturers
of unique holographic products for the
entertainment industry, was recently
honored at the IAAPA (International
Association of Amusement Parks and
Attractions) Expo in Atlanta Georgia
with two awards—First Place, Best New
Product: Displays and Sets for their new
Holo-Drape product and Second Place,
Honorable Mention, Best New Product:
Displays and Sets for their new Holo-Floor
system...The 200,000th Martin MAC, a MAC
700 profile spot, has rolled off the production line in northern Denmark.
the production team on its toes until the
“doors” opened to the after-party. While
guests got their party started, Star Trax and
its team began winding down their party,
tearing down the stage and starting to
finalize plans for the next day’s transport
of 5,000 people back to Detroit. True to the
nature of this industry, just as the party
got started for the guests was when the
production team started to pay attention
to the ending.
10
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
www.PLSN.com
NEWS
The Woman
in White Hits
Broadway
NEW YORK, NY—Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s The Woman in White, which
opened recently at the Marquis
Theatre, is the story of how Walter
Hartright’s life changes forever after a
chance encounter with a mysterious
woman dressed in white. The show has
an enormous scope with more than
60 locations, which are represented by
projections onto moving scenery.
Paul Pyant lit the original London
production and his associate lighting
designer, David Howe, recreated Pyant’s
design for Broadway. “The lighting
and atmosphere of the show has to
be precisely controlled because of the
projections,” said Howe. The show uses
four Look Solutions Unique hazers in
the proscenium area of the theatre, and
a Power-Tiny battery-powered fog generator is used for a spot effect on stage.
Six Viper NT fog generators were customized with a smaller fluid reservoir,
they had their rubber feet and handle
removed and they were built into a
revolving turntable in the stage floor.
A 220-volt slip ring assembly supplies
automation power, automation data
and DMX512 to the turntable. Look for a
complete story on The Woman in White
in January’s Inside Theatre in PLSN.
Air Tunnel Made Over for Celebration
PASADENA,
CA—Almost a
mile of air-filled
Airtubes® and
Hi-Lights were
used to transform
the 200-foot long
Wind Tunnel at
the Art Center
College of Design
for their 75th Anniversary Gala.
Art director Clare
Graham was hired
by event producer
Jim Watterson,
who brought in the Air Dimensional Design
air pieces. Doron Gazit of AirDD helped
stretch white Airtubes from one side of the
Wind Tunnel to the other, with additional
Airtubes layered over the stage, creating the
image of an acoustic shell. Hi-Light spheres
10 and 15 feet in diameter were illuminated
in the school colors—orange and pink—by
Images by Lighting.
Heineken Pulls
Out Tech
Stops for
Sales Meeting
SAN ANTONIO, TX—When Heineken
recently held a national sales meeting for 2,500 distributors, they tapped
new and innovative technologies for
the event. Armonk, N.Y.-based Everett
Studios produced the event, and Design
One Coporation provided lighting, set
design and project management for
the gathering. Curtis Dunn, who had
collaborated with Everett on previous
Heineken meetings, helped steer the
team in taking the initial concept and
Heineken’s traditionally conservative
use of technology to the next level.
The project incorporated water curtains for projection surfaces and Martin
MAC 2000 automated lighting. The
control console was a Jands Vista and
the ESP Vision software was used for
visualization. Lasers and pyrotechnics
were supplied by Excitement Technolgies Group of Carrolton, Tex.
ONTHEMOVE
Atlantic Video, Inc., a full-service broadcast development and production management company, has promoted Ed Milligan
to president of the organization. Milligan
succeeds Todd Mason, who stepped down
after seven years with the company.
Excitement Technologies Group, a
Dallas-based special effects provider, has
added Paul Torgeson to its sales team as
national sales director.
Multi-Lite has opened a branch office in
downtown Manhattan. The Multi-Lite group
now consists of four branches, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with other
subsidiaries in Burbank, Calif., and Shanghai.
David Penn has joined Audio Visual Innovations as project engineer for their office
in Denver.
Colortone Staging & Rentals has appointed John Martin as general manager
of the company’s Cleveland office. Martin
has been Colortone’s director of sales and
marketing for nearly four years.
Rudy Papaco
Daktronics Inc. has appointed Rudy
Papaco to a sales position in Anaheim, Calif.,
for the Mobile and Modular Video Group,
Jon Minor
a distinct division
of Daktronics that
serves the needs
of the rental and
staging industry.
The company has
also appointed Jon
Minor as an account
executive in the
same division.
Omaha Performing Arts has appointed Julie B. Bunker to the position of vice
president for facilities and operations. The
vice president for facilities and operations is
responsible for overseeing all facilities management, operations and production at both
the Orpheum Theater and Holland Performing Arts Center.
Nicole Scano-Schwiebert, formerly vice
president of asset management at Production Resource Group (PRG), will assume the
role of vice president of human resources
Congo Console Debuts
at Nebraska PAC
continued from front cover
plots using both automated and conventional fixtures.
“I had my choice of any lighting console
for the Holland,” says Weyerman, who had
read about the Congo console before
the board became available to American
markets. “I’m confident having dealt with
ETC in the past that they would provide
support if we needed it.”
The Holland Center is also one of the
first venues to use ETC Congo Client™
wireless control. A rack-mounted computer in the booth and another on the
stage run the lights. The theatre also has a
laptop with wireless NIC used for remote
Congo video over the wireless connection.
Soon the theatre will incorporate a Congo
Radio Remote Focus Unit (cRRFU) into
their system. With a 3,072-channel output
and 1,024 patchable outputs, Congo also
interfaces with the theatre’s custom ETC
house-light controls.
The concert hall was designed by
the architectural and engineering firms
HDR and Polshek Partnership. Kirkegaard
Associates joined the design team as
acoustic consultants. Theatre consultants
Fisher Dachs Associates helped plan the
Holland Center.
and administration. She is replacing Bob
Donald, who is leaving the company. In
addition, Steve Washington, who has been
serving as operations manager of the Dallas
office, has been promoted to general manager of PRG Dallas.
TBA Global Events has appointed Eric
Thorson to its executive team as executive
vice president and chief financial officer.
Malcolm Davis has joined Tomcat UK in
the role of Europe sales representative. Davis
has sales experience throughout the UK,
Europe and Middle East at companies like
Strand Lighting and Zero 88 Lighting.
Matt Pearson, formerly of PSL Concert
Touring in Los Angeles, has joined XL Touring Video and will be managing events for
XL’s L.A. office.
Thanks
for a
Great
Year!
2005 has been a banner year for
PLSN and we have seen significant increases in both reader-awareness and
industry acceptance. From the staff and
management of Timeless Communications, we would like to say thank you to
our readers, contributors and advertisers
for their continuing support.
Here’s to a great 2006.
12
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
www.PLSN.com
INTERNATIONALNEWS
Pharos Installation
Brightens Shopping Mall
BERGEN, NORWAY—Vestad Lighting
has installed the first permanent installation of the Pharos Lighting Playback
Controller in the new lighting installation
in the Galleriet Shopping Centre. Lighting designer Tor Bjarne Vestad was called
in to brighten up a dark shopping mall
and specified 96 Tryka LED luminaires
and a Pharos Lighting Playback Controller
(LPC). Vestad’s design washes the Centre’s
columns and glass ceiling in constantlychanging colors.
“Our main objective on this project,”
said assistant LD Gunnar Aasland, “was to
enhance the features of the main hall in
the shopping center. We were asked to
make it more attractive for customers and
to lighten it up. The Centre had already
installed brighter lighting fixtures overall,
but they also wanted effect-type lighting,
which is how we got involved, because of
our background with LED lighting
in entertainment.”
Vested Lighting started out in television
and entertainment lighting, and in the past
year, has expanded into architectural installations.“We specialize in architectural installations using both standard architectural
lighting fixtures and entertainment lighting
sources, including LEDs,” said Aasland.
The control system consists of two
parts—the Pharos LPC and the Designer
software. The LPC is a solid-state controller
of DMX and DALI-controlled equipment of
all kinds, including color-mixing LED luminaires, automated lights and conventional
luminaires and ballasts. Programming is
created using free software that can be
downloaded into solid-state memory via
Ethernet or USB.
Show Technology Opens
Melbourne Branch
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—Melbourne’s
lighting fraternity flocked to the opening
of Show Technology’s Melbourne-based
office. Show Technology is Martin Professional’s sole distributor in Australia. The new
Melbourne location follows a successful
Perth office opening in early 2004.
Show Technology managing director
Emmanuel Ziino comments, “The market
is as dynamic as ever, and as the market
leader, we strive to meet its needs. After
years of being solely based in Sydney, the
opening of our new regional offices give us
several benefits—a greater reach, a greater
degree of flexibility and speed and better
market feedback, for example. But most
importantly, it gives us an improved level of
market contact and allows us to better serve
our customers.”
The new office will be headed by an experienced industry veteran and Melbourne
local, Paul Nicolaou, who brings with him
years of know-how in installation, sales and
service. Aiding Nicolaou to run the branch
will be Steve Terzakis in customer service.
In addition to offering Show Technology’s
line of lighting products, the new office
will also feature a warehouse of PRO SHOP
products and comprehensive showroom
facilities incorporating the company’s range
of professional, PRO SHOP and architectural
lighting products.
The MAC 700, Martin’s latest high
performance luminaire in its line of awardwinning MAC moving heads, had its official
Australian launch at the opening.
Mayhem Nightclub
Opens in Southend
SOUTHEND, ENGLAND—Southend’s
newest nightspot, Mayhem, was configured
for its debut by Essex Sound & Light.
The 2,048 DMX-channel ShowCAD 2005
Artist, complete with video input capture
card and nine serial ports, is the visual control hub for the entire club. It runs all dance
floor lighting and the substantial amount
of environmental and architectural lighting, plus two white light lasers, a Hippotizer
digital media server and audio and video
sources—in addition to lighting—in the VIP
pods via BSS Soundweb London controllers. The ShowCAD also handles video input
switching to all the various LED light sources
via the Hippotizer.
Mayhem features interior design by
Sampson Associates, which combines contemporary chrome and steel with the feel of
retro ‘60s disco and neon decadence.
ESL won the contract after supplying
sound, lighting, AV and technical infrastructure at various other venues for their client,
Shey Properties. The ShowCAD system was
chosen as the multi-protocol control solution
by Bob Calvert, who worked closely with ESL’s
Mike Glover to design, specify and commission sound, lighting and AV for the new space.
The Artist 2005 was officially launched at
PLASA this year, and Mayhem is the first
official installation.
Managing director Emmanuel Ziino
The Melbourne office staff
Mayhem is entered through a staircase
that plunges downwards into the basement of
the building. Each step is constructed from 30
mm of toughened glass and under-lit with two
900 mm Pulsar Chroma Strips—120 in total.
Once inside, the club’s structural pillars
have been clad in a frosted polycarbonate
material and then clad with metal mesh, and
are each internally lit with eight pieces of
single-color neon.
Making up the 96 channels being fed
into the ShowCAD are blue strips denoting
the three bar tops and fronts, and electric
pink for the staircase edges down onto the
dance floor, plus lots more low-level blue,
purple or pink strips around the edges of the
dance floor.
The dance floor moving lights include
eight Robe ColorSpot 250 ATs, eight Robe
Scan 575 XTs, four Robe Wash 250 XTs, eight
Robe Spot 150 XTs and eight Robe ColorMix
150 XTs.
There are also four Martin Wizards, two
Atomic strobes and two exterior 600-color
changers, plus eight Pulsar Demon strobes
and a Jem Club smoke machine on the
dance floor. The lasers were supplied to ESL
by Laser Electronics. They are Orion white
diode systems and came with their own Zion
3-D PC-based controller, which is triggered
via the ShowCAD Artist.
NEWPRODUCTS
>
Robert Juliat
Super Korrigan
Followspot
The new Robert Juliat Super Korrigan 1,200-watt HMI followspot is a newlyupdated model of the 1,200-watt HMI
Korrigan. The Super Korrigan produces 25% more light output than
the old model and incorporates fingertip shutter control that was first introduced in the Manon and Topaze series. Super Korrigan is now in production. Even
with the new features, the price of Super Korrigan will be identical to the previous version.
Robert Juliat USA • 203.294.0481• www.robertjuliat.com
>
Swisson X-SP
15/210 DMX
Splitter
The X-SP 15/210 DMX Splitter Program
by Swisson is a range of five-pin, three-pin or
combination of both three-pin and five-pin
optical splitters offered in box and rack versions, front mount or rear mount, for ease of
installation. Each is made from aluminum
housing with Neutrik connectors. An auto switch supports international voltages and each
port is individually optically isolated. The model X-SP-15B can be truss- or wall-mounted. The
model X-SP-15R or X-SP-210 splitters can be rack-mounted. A built-in microprocessor and three
LED indicators tell you if you are receiving power, receiving DMX and if there is a DMX error.
Swisson • 805.648.1729 • www.swisson.com
>
Production Advantage
Best Seat
The Best Seat lamp insertion tool (patent pending) from Production Advantage is
intended and designed to facilitate the safe
installation of HPL 575-watt and 750-watt
lamps without damaging the lamp. Eliminates the danger of contaminating the lamp
envelope with oily residue from inexperienced fingers and eliminates broken lamps
from seating a lamp in a new stiff set of lamp
socket contacts. In the unlikely event that
the lamp should break during installation, the glass envelope will be contained in the plastic housing to help prevent injury. Ergonomically designed, The Best Seat comes with a
safety ring to attach to a lanyard for safe use in the air or to hang on your work bench.
Production Advantage, Inc. • 800.424.9991 • www.proadv.com
>
BCi WM-1
Wall-Mount Controller
BCi, makers of the Pocket Console-DMX™, have
introduced the WM-1 wall-mount controller. Designed for contractor and end-user ease, the WM-1
mounts to a standard four-gang wall-box. It is applicable wherever a wall-mounted, standalone, independently-patchable DMX universe is desired. It can
be merged with other DMX controls, if needed. Features include: Eight patchable faders, latching on/off buttons; tamperproof programmable panic
button;a translucent,disappearing LED window for a“hidden”patch and softkeys that easily access
the Patch mode with the proper keystroke sequence, while preventing unauthorized repatches.
BCi • 512.858.5058 • www.thepocketconsole.com
>
14
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.NewProducts.JH.indd 14
Giotto Synthesis
The new Giotto Synthesis 700-watt automated yoke
fixture from SGM features new optics and technologies.
It is the first moving light with integrated wireless DMX
as its standard. It uses GSM-based technology, but operates in the license-free band at 2.45GHz with a radius
of more than 500 meters. The unit is designed to be
“virtually” silent with automatic pan/tilt unlocking, selfswitching flicker-free power supply from 90V to 260VAC
and a choice of two lamps for 5600K or 7200K color
temperature. Other features include CMY mixing, modular construction and a positionable animation wheel.
SGM is distributed in Canada by SF Marketing, the U.S.
by Techni-Lux and in Mexico by Pat Henry Illuminacion.
SF Marketing • 514.856.1919 • www.sfm.ca
Techni-Lux, Inc. • 407.857.8770 • www.techni-lux.com
Pat Henry Illuminacion • +52 5 5645065
www.PLSN.com
12/2/05 5:43:47 PM
>
City Theatrical Power/Data
Supplies for CK LEDs
City Theatrical’s new PDS-50™ is a power/data supply
designed for Color Kinetics® ColorBlast®, ColorBurst® and
iColorCove® LED lighting fixtures. It combines WDS™ wireless DMX data and either battery or mains operation, giving it the ability to be a totally wireless DMX-controlled LED
fixture. It offers 20 hours of battery life on a rolling fade or
seven hours of battery life at full output with a City Theatrical Battery Base. The PDS-375TR™, a six-circuit version of
CTI’s PDS-750 TR™, is a touring-style LED power/data supply
with XLR outputs, selectable DMX addresses, built-in standalone mode and a built-in Mini-Zapi™.
City Theatrical, Inc. • 800.230.9497www.citytheatrical.com
>
Robe LEDBlinders
Robe’s new LEDBlinders 196 and 148 are LED versions of
the 8-Lite and 4-Lite Molefey. The LEDBlinder 196 features
eight LED modules, each with 12 Luxeon RGB LEDs. Each two
or four pairs of the 4- or 8-Lite modules are separately controllable. The LEDBlinder 148 is a four-way version of the 196 with
all the same features and advantages including a frost diffuser, standalone color-changing chase and a rainbow effect,
an electronic dimmer that dims without color variation and a
white or colored strobe from 1 to 25FPS. The white balance is
preprogrammed via an onboard four-digit LED control panel.
Robe America • 954.615.9100 • www.robeamerica.com
>
Chauvet Q-Series Automated
Lighting
The new Q-Series™ from Chauvet is a range of competitivelypriced automated lighting designed primarily for nightclubs of
all sizes and elite DJs. Featuring a consistent design and library
of gobos and colors, Q-Series™ allows users to mix and match
units across the line and still maintain a consistent look using a
variety of fixtures and effects. The initial product launch encompasses four moving yoke spot fixtures, one moving yoke wash fixture and four scanners. All nine feature a dimmer/shutter/strobe
channel, speed control of pan and tilt, bidirectional color scroll,
reset via DMX, quality built-in programs and efficient fan cooling.
>
Chauvet Lighting • 800.762.1084 • www.chauvetlighting.com
CITC Starhazer II
The new Starhazer II from CITC
features onboard DMX, insulation for
quieter operation, cycle/direct/ remote operation, double the output
of the previous StarHazer, a sevenfilter system and a dual opening for
far and wide coverage. Also included
is a 25-foot remote control featuring either manual “on” and “off” operation, or “timed” operation of zero
to 60 seconds “on” or zero to four
minutes “off”. A control switch allows for direct power without a remote control. The double insulation,
shock-absorbing motor mounts, insulated baffles, sound-deadening intake filter and filter covers on the intake fans reduce machine noise. No heat is used to run the machine.
CITC • 888.786.2482 • www.citcfx.com
>
Leviton Leo ERS
Leviton Manufacturing Company’s new Leo™
ellipsoidal lighting fixture is the newest addition
to Leviton’s line of ellipsoidal theatrical lighting
spotlights. The LEO provides users with enhanced
lighting quality and lighting output efficiency
based on its engineered optical lens and reflector system. The fixture uses high-efficiency, lowwattage (up to 750-watt) lamps, it rotates a continuous 360° on its axis (both body and barrel)
with no stops, and features a soft-focus capability with flat or peak beam adjustment. It has fieldadjustable lens positions to achieve all possible field
angles from 15°, 19°, 26°, 36° and 50° field angles.
Leviton Manufacturing • 718.229.4040 •
www.leviton.com
SHOWTIME
50 Cent
Venue
U.S. Tour
Performance Lighting Contact: Russell
Armentrout
Crew
Gear
Lighting Company: Performance Lighting
Production Manager: Curtis Battles
Lighting Designer/Director: Steven
Beckenroot
Automated Lighting Operator: Daunte
Kenner
Lighting Techs: Craig Kreider, Mike “Slim”
Howe
1
40
28
24
6
6
MA Lighting GrandMA Console
High End Systems Studio Beams
Martin MAC 2000 Profile IIs
Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes
Nine-Lights w/ color changers
High End Studio Spot 250s
Pepsis “Big Air” Media Summit 2005
Venue
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
Crew
Production Company: D A V Productions
Executive Producer: Ben Brownback
Producer: Jae Thiele
Technical Director: Jason Reppenhagen
Lighting Designer: David Schulman
Head Electrician: Vince Gallegos
Video Director: Tom Roland
Audio Engineer: Mark Swift
Widescreen Media Artists: Josh Spool,
Ben Newberry, Dean Pizzoferrato, Amy
Quigg
Gear
12
12
14
4
Martin MAC 2000 Profile II
Martin MAC 550
Martin MAC 600 NT
Martin MAC 500
6
20
96
2
2
1
6
1
2
4
1
2
1
2
2
4
1
Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe
ETC Source Four Ellipsoidals
ETC Source Four PAR
Thomas Spot Banks
ETC Sensor 48 x 2.4K
Dimmer Racks
Motion Labs Custom PD
Sanyo PLC-XF45 LCD Projectors
Da-Lite 15’ x 40’ RP Screen
Da-Lite 10.5’ x 14’ RP Screens
Custom graphics/video
workstations w/Dataton
Watchout
Folsom Screen Pro Plus
Folsom Screen Pro 2000
Folsom Blend Pro
Sony DSR-1000 w/DNF
ST304 Controller
Sony DSR-1800 DVCAM Decks
Sony D-50 Cameras
Sony DFS-700 Switcher
The Foundation for Vassar Brothers
Medical Center Fundraiser
Venue
Gear
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Lawn,
Poughkeepsie, NY
1
1
20
4
12
12
90
40
1
1
Crew
Lighting Company: Adirondack Scenic, Inc.
Lighting Designer: Maurice (MO) O’Connell
Automated Lighting Operator: Dave
Masten
Lighting Techs: Todd Hill
16
PLSN december 2005
www.PLSN.com
Avolites Pearl
Leprecon LP-612 Console
Chroma-Q Color Block DB4
LED Fixtures in HSI Mode
Chroma-Q Color Block PSU
Martin MAC 250 Entour
Martin MAC 300 Wash
Pin Spots
ETC Source Four Par
Mile of C7 Lights
Leprecon VX3000 x 72 Rack
Judas Priest
Crew
Production Manager: Ian Day
Production Assistant/Wardrobe: Jo Lee
Lighting Designer: Tom Horton
Stage Manager: Gary Chrosniak
Lighting Crew Chief: Eric Marshall
Moving Light Tech: Neil Davis
Lighting Tech: Brian “Jr.” Lewis
Lighting Vendor: Premier Global
Production Co., Inc.
Account Manager: Steven “Creech“
Anderson
Gear
2
18
14
32
9
8
Martin MAC 2000 Wash Fixtures
High End Systems x.Spot
Extremes
PAR 64 – 6-lamp bars
PAR 64 ACL Bars
8-Lite Mole Fays
2
4
4
16
6
16
2
2
4
2
1
1
2
1
1
16
2
1
130
Lycian 1,200-watt Truss Spots
2-Lite Cube Mole Strips
ETC 19º Source Four Lekos
93” X 31” X 30” Silver Pre-rig Truss
10’ x 20” x 20” Aluminum
Medium-Duty Truss (Cable Pick)
Headsets and Beltpacks
Clearcom Base Stations
Spot chairs top mount
High End Systems F-100
Fog machines
Reel EFX DF-50 Haze machines
12-way 208V Distro
48-way/208V Moving Lite Distro
96-way ETC Dimmer Rack
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog ll
Console w/ Expansion Wing
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog ll
Console spare
One-Ton Chain Hoists,
including spares
60’ Traveler Track Systems
20’ Traveler Track
Track rollers
Photo by Jo Lee
U.S. Tour
Selena Tribute Concert
Venue
Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
Crew
Producer: Univision Network
Lighting Company: PRG Lighting (Orlando)
Production Manager: Tony Parodi
Lighting Designer: Carlos Colina
Lighting Director: John Daniels
Automated Lighting Operators: Felix
Peralta, Chad Cunningham
Lighting Techs: Angus Sinnex, Chris Nye,
Dave Harr, Matt Bloom, Kurt Kalivoda, Antney
Ciampa, Gerry Walls, Heath Goodwin
Staging Company: LD Systems
Video Director (Catalyst Programmer):
Jason Rudolph
Gear
3
19
7
82
18
33
8
7
MA Lighting grandMA consoles
Vari*Lite VL1000 AI Arc luminaires
Vari*Lite VL1000 AS Arc luminaires
Vari*Lite VL5 luminaires
Vari*Lite VL6c luminaires
Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
Vari*Lite VL2202s
Vari*Lite VL2415s
88
13
11
3
65
11
6
52
8
36
16
32
10
12
8
8
4
6
2
42
139
13
16
80
Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
High End Systems Studio
Color 575s
7k Sx Syncrolites
3k Sx Syncrolites
Color Kinetics Color Blasts
Color Kinetics Color Blazes
Arri Ruby 7s
ETC Source Four PAR 575s
ACL Bars
Thomas 8-Lites w/ Colorscrollers
Thomas Vertical 4-Lites
Pallace One-cell cyc lights
6’ MR-16 Ministrips
Lycian M2 followspots
Lycian Starklite Short Throw Spots
Reel EFX DF-50 haze machines
fog machines
High End Systems
Turbo Cyberlights
Thomas 10’ Truss
Thomas 5’ Truss
Thomas 8’ Truss
Chain Hoist Motors
INTRODUCING THE
Our exclusive Patented modular decking supports up to 150 lbs per sq ft!
Pixel Panel decking incorporates the most advanced programmable LED technology
using a grid of individually addressable tri-color LED nodes to create the ultimate
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your staging apart from anyone else.
Call toll free 1-866-591-3471
www.PLSN.com
PLSN december 2005
Venue
17
INSIDETHEATRE
By CoryFitzGerald
Radio City
Christmas Spectacular
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Radio City
J
ust to the east of Broadway’s Great White
Way is one of the world’s greatest theatres, Radio City Music Hall, which every
year since 1932 has produced a Christmas
show of one type or another. These shows
have become a tradition in New York City,
the country and the world, drawing natives and visitors to see the world-famous,
high-kicking Rockettes. While this year is no
exception to this time-honored tradition,
change is inevitable, and this year held major
changes and some unique challenges for
much of the show. With a new opening number, the show utilized a new set designer,
Dawn Petrlik, a new lighting designer, Ed
McCarthy and a new content designer, David
Niles, plus the largest LED video wall in the
world (at least until Nov. 3). As the moving
light programmer, I had the unique opportunity to watch and assist in the implementation of numerous new elements that were
added to this classic show.
For those of you who have not visited
the Music Hall, it is one of the most impressive theatres ever built and still claims to
be the largest. It measures 160 feet from
the back of the theatre to the stage and 84
feet to its acoustically-tiled ceiling. It was
built in 1932 and still houses much of the
technology invented specifically for the hall.
Some of it has been augmented over time to
modernize the equipment; for example, the
18
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.InsideTheatre.ep.indd 18
computerized control interface for the four
70-foot wide stage elevators, as well as other
wiring integrations and updates. Most of
the crew, however, feels that these improvements have not been beneficial for the most
part, and that the original technology was far
ahead of its time and had more capabilities
time. This year, the entire opening number,
including the reveal of Santa Claus, was
retooled with new scenery, music and lighting. “Director John Dietrich and I spent a lot
of time going over the staging and looks for
the new opening number. By the time we
started the load-in process, I already had a
Due to Radio City’s massive
space, most normal rules of the
theatre have to be bent to
accommodate the show.
before computers were integrated. Another
piece of classic technology that was used for
this year’s show is the Steam Curtain. This is
a process by which high-pressure steam is
forced through pipes under the stage and
released through vents in the deck to create
a solid wall of steam between the orchestra
pit and the rest of the stage, right along
the proscenium.
Some iteration of the current show has
been running for about 25 years with new
numbers and attributes added from time to
firm outline and cue structure for the whole
number, which included about 125 cues
within the first eight minutes of the show,”
says McCarthy. “The hardest part of this show
is the time. There is so much to do in so little
time that we can’t spend extra time on a
number, and if we don’t get the focus, we
don’t use the light.”
He added, “The show uses almost 1,000
conventional lights, mostly ETC Source Fours
and Source Four PARs, as well as about 65
moving lights: Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots, VL2000
Washes and a few High End Systems Cyberlights on the deck, which were used solely
in the opening number. I spent many weeks
reviewing the previous year’s paperwork and
trying to get a feel for the show before stepping into the room. By the time we were focusing, we at least had a grasp of the task at
hand. Since the show has been so similar for
so many years, the crew is extremely efficient
and knowledgeable about the equipment
and hang, making the load-in and focus go
very smoothly given the short amount of
time in which everything had to get done.
We would be focusing on scenery as it was
being assembled, and even then, the timing
was tight with people always waiting for an
opportunity to keep working.”
The new opening starts with a largerthan-life set, the Rockettes sign, which was
an obvious collaboration between lighting
and scenery. The sign, 68 feet long and 10
feet tall, is composed of each letter of the
word “Rockettes,” on and through which the
Rockettes are revealed. Each letter is its own
light box. The entire sign has chaser lights
around each letter and the stairs up to the
top of the unit each contain a few Color Kinetics iColor Cove LED strips. They allow each
step to change color and provide chase effects with color and intensity. McCarthy said,
“Each letter was also supposed to be LEDs
to give the whole unit the ability to change
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12/1/05 6:05:14 PM
color, but due to budget constraints, we only
were able to get them for the step units.
“The preplanning for the new opening
was crucial. I was handed the show with 80%
of it remaining the same, and had to create
the new opening from scratch within the confines of the existing plot. In addition, two of
the new scenic elements, the Rockettes sign
and the new fiber-optic star drops, needed to
be specified and detailed as far as equipment
and drawings go, which was my first task. The
plot couldn’t change as far as the rest of the
show was concerned, so the fixtures couldn’t
change focus and much of the new opening
was cued with moving lights.”
Scenic designer Dawn Petrlik also built
her ideas around inventing a new number
while fitting it in with the existing scenery and
limitations of the space.“We went through
an extensive collaborative process, which
explored a number of new ideas for the opening scenery that were later whittled down bit
by bit into the final pieces you see now. As
always, budget constraints and time limited
the scope of the piece; however, specific constraints, such as the fact that the sign needed
to be broken into seven separate pieces in 90
seconds for storage, made it even more difficult to realize. With the help of 3-D models,
we were all able to get a better understanding of how the unit fit in the physical space
of Radio City, which is massive. The model
really helped the director and producers to
see what the show would look like well before
anything was built, and it actually inspired the
producers to increase the budget to meet the
demands of the scenery.”
Due to Radio City’s massive space, most
normal rules of the theatre have to be bent to
accommodate the show.“Most of the lights
are usually at full or at 0%. There isn’t a lot of
middle ground for levels, which is great for
choosing color because you don’t have to
worry about color shift. Many of the Front of
House positions, including the two balcony
rails, are about 100 to 150 feet from the stage,”
hanging from the pipes. We also used
the new snowflakes to light up the ceiling
of the auditorium with only six lights, which
we were able to do thanks to their large
zoom capacity.” These same house fixtures
were used to light up the new “snowing”
effect that was added this year so the entire
first third of the audience is underneath a
live snowfall at different times throughout
the show.
Just when we thought we had the whole
show together and ready to open, we were
presented with another large and unfortunate situation, which not only presented
technical challenges, but brought about
much public criticism as well. Due to issues
relating to their unsigned contract with management, the musicians of Local 802 went
on strike and were subsequently locked
out of the Music Hall. This created a great
deal of commentary from the press. As of
this writing, the two parties have agreed on
the terms of the contract, but there are still
questions as to when it would be signed and
under what conditions. The show opened as
scheduled; however, it was with prerecorded
music. The famous band car, which allows
the orchestra to rise out of the pit and travel
upstage, was refurbished with a Central Park
scene in order to keep its place in the show
consistent, with every intent that it would be
dismantled once the conflict had ended.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is a
New York tradition that will live on as long as
the Music Hall itself. With each year, the show
will have thousands of new viewers and
hopefully equally as many new fans who will
come to enjoy both the new as well as the
classics. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s
in store for next Christmas.
says McCarthy.“The overall budget for the
scenery for the opening number alone was
about that of a standard Broadway show, but
because we had to build things so large, including 100-foot soft goods with fiber optics,
that money gets used quickly!” says Petrlik.
With the vast stage to fill, the lighting
needed to be very versatile and still had
to work with the material used in the previous year’s show. The primary moving light
was the VL3000, and it did an impressive
job—functioning as both a highly specific
hard-edge fixture and a dependable wash
fixture when needed. The functions of the
light allow it to be a highly versatile tool.
“We added some new snowflake gobos
this year to be used with the new scenery,
which was made up of large lit snowflakes
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100.0512.InsideTheatre.ep.indd 19
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
19
12/1/05 6:05:43 PM
FEEDINGTHEMACHINES
Minding
Your
Business
A
successful career as an automated
lighting programmer requires more
than just programming skills. In addition to staying current with your craft, you
must also organize and run a (hopefully)
booming business. Although full-time positions for automated lighting programmers
do exist, they are fairly rare. Most programmers conduct their business as a freelancer,
getting hired gig to gig. As a freelancer there
are many duties and responsibilities regarding payments, spending, taxation, legalities,
liabilities, etc., that must be maintained.
Many great books have been written on
the subjects of self-employment, freelancing
and small businesses, and are available at any
bookstore. In addition, you can find many Internet resources and professionals available
to help. All these resources should be used
whenever making major decisions regarding your income and business. The following
explains many of the underlying principles
and options available to an automated lighting programmer.
Making the Deal
When you initially speak with a client
regarding the programming of a show, you
should get—in writing—the agreed-upon
terms of your employment. Some production
companies may have standard agreement
letters or contracts, while others may just
want a price quote. Either way, it is best to
protect yourself and get a written agreement
that states the terms of your employment.
It should detail the amount you expect to
be paid and the rate structure (daily, hourly,
overtime, etc). Additional terms regarding
when you are paid, travel arrangements, per
diem, etc., should all be agreed to in writing
before the show. A formal contract is not
required; a simple “letter of agreement” or
even just an e-mail will do. The most impor-
20
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.feedmachine.rg.indd 20
tant thing is that you and the client agree on
paper and that there are no assumptions or
false expectations.
Getting Paid
When the production is complete (or
according to your agreed terms), you should
submit an invoice to the client. This invoice
should include the total amount due and
explain any overtime or additional expenses. In addition, the invoice needs to state
the payment terms (usually 15 or 30 days).
The best advice is to use an accounting
program such as Intuit QuickBooks to or-
liability corporation (LLC). Other variations
include sole proprietorship, partnerships and
temporary employment. Each has their own
benefits and limitations, and it is important
that you study them all to determine the
best choice for you.
Under the Table: Some people choose
to work for cash and not report any income
to the IRS. This is fine if you intend to go
to jail one day and never work again as a
professional, but it is not advised. Even if you
are working for a “rave” or some event that
pays you in cash, you are required by law to
report your income and pay taxes on it.
Deciding which business
route is best for you can
be a very difficult and
confusing process.
ganize your income, money due, expenses,
etc. These programs will help you to create
invoices, track payments and generally organize your accounting. If you work with an
accountant, you can then provide him with
the computer file and he can easily get a full
record of your business.
Representation and
Taxation
Probably the biggest question for
freelancers is how to represent themselves.
There seems to be many options, and the
most popular tend to be: Under the table,
self-employed, corporation and limited
Self-Employed: This is a very popular
form of work for the freelancer. For most
people, this means filling out a simple W-2
form for each client and then receiving a
1099 from them at the end of the year. Then,
as a self-employed individual (someone
who owns an unincorporated business)
or an independent contractor, you are required to report your income and expenses
on a Schedule C form and calculate your
earnings subject to self-employment tax.
Self-employed individuals, sole-proprietors,
independent contractors and persons who
have net earnings of $400 or more are
required to pay self-employment tax. Being
self-employed does not offer the same
protections as with a corporation or LLC.
As an individual, sole proprietor or general
partner, the owner(s) and the business are
legally considered the same and personal
assets can be used to pay business debts, so
you could lose your personal possessions
(house, car, etc.).
Corporation: Corporations offer tax
advantages such as the deductibility of health
insurance premiums, savings on self-employment
taxes (corporate income is not subject to
Social Security, workers’ compensation and
Medicare taxes), and the deductibility of
other expenses such as life insurance. More
importantly, a corporation provides limited
liability protection to its owner(s). Typically,
the owner(s) are not personally responsible
for the debts and liabilities of the business;
therefore, creditors cannot pursue your
personal assets (such as a house or car) to
pay business debts. Additionally, a corporation provides better credibility and a higher
potential for small business loans over an
By BradSchiller
individual or sole proprietorship.
The IRS also allows for a special type of
corporation known as an S corporation. An
S corporation can avoid double taxation
(once to the shareholders and again to
the corporation). Usually, an S corporation is exempt from federal income tax
other than tax on certain capital gains and
passive income. On their tax returns, the
S corporation’s shareholders include their
share of the corporation’s separately-stated
items of income, deduction, loss and credit,
and their share of non-separately-stated
income or loss. The IRS has some strict
guidelines on forming an S corporation,
and these must be considered carefully
when deciding to form one.
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC):
An LLC is legally very similar to a corporation in regards to protection of personal assets when paying business debts. However
the taxation is different. An LLC typically
does not pay taxes at the business level. Any
business income or loss is “passed through”
to the owner(s) and reported on the owners’
personal income tax return. Any tax due
is then paid at the individual level. An LLC
also provides credibility and small business
loan benefits in much the same way as a
corporation.
Get Some Help
Deciding which business route is best
for you can be a very difficult and confusing process. I suggest finding a good accountant and seeking their advice. Usually,
it helps if you can find one that is experienced with the entertainment industry as
they will better understand the working
processes and paying procedures. Check
with friends in your area for recommendations on qualified professionals. There are
many methods of setting up your business,
and your accountant may be able to assist
directly or offer the services of another
specialized professional. Additionally, there
are some great Internet-based services
that can assist you in setting up any of the
above company types. As always, be careful
and check that the Web site is a trusted
organization and that they follow the laws
and procedures required in your state. I
have also found some wonderful books and
kits on the subject of creating businesses
and freelancing. While not directly aimed
at our industry, they do contain a wealth of
information that can prove to be beneficial.
There are also many other decisions to consider when working as a freelancer, such as
insurance, expenses, etc., so it is imperative
that you spend some time to determine the
best course of action for you. Once properly set up and running, you can sit back,
program lights for a living and watch your
company grow.
Contact Brad Schiller at bschiller@plsn.
com.
www.PLSN.com
12/1/05 5:59:19 PM
100.0512.Ads.ss.indd 21
12/1/05 5:43:07 PM
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||>
(NINE INCH NAILS
PRODUCTIONPROFILE
Nine_Inch_Nai
Nine_Inch
Photos and text by SteveJennings
SteveJennings
L
ike many artists, Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor is driven. What that
means to Martin Phillips as the show
designer of Nine Inch Nails’ current tour, With
Teeth, is that the lighting has to be done
right or not at all. We caught up with Phillips
at two Bay Area dates—in Sacramento and
Oakland—and spoke with him about the
tour and working with Reznor. Also in on the
conversation was Nick Jackson of PRG, who
supplied the lighting gear.
“Nine Inch Nails was one of the first
bands I saw live when I moved to the
States in 1989,” says Phillips. “Pretty Hate Machine was very much a pivotal album as we
moved from the ‘80s to the ‘90s, and I think
Trent ended up defining a genre as
he progressed.”
When Phillips later began working with
the band, he found out something about the
frontman and his character: “I found Trent to
be one of, if not the most demanding artists
that I’ve worked with. He’s very involved in
the production process, the ideas and execution and he notices everything. He knows
what he wants, but operates from a directorial position in that he pulls together a group
of people to make the whole greater than
the sum of the parts.”
Roy Bennett, who has worked with Nine
Inch Nails in the past, is the set and system
designer. Phillips describes in simple terms
how Bennett approached the system design:
“The job at hand was to take what was there
and create an arena show without straying
too far from what had gone before on the
theatre tour. Trent was happy with the rig as
designed by Roy for the (both the arena and
the) theatre tour.”
As Bennett is prone to do, he employed
some real cutting-edge technology, much
of it centered around video and LEDs. “The
Saco V9 LED video panels were the primary
new technology used in the tour. In fact, they
were so new that they arrived direct from
22
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
the manufacturer without even having serial
numbers,” Bennett says.
Phillips describes the small modular
units as “very bright” and the resolution as
“very high.”“Roy had designed a number of
individual panels that resembled stalactites
or stalagmites to tie in to the album artwork,”
he says.
The content was fed to the LEDs by two
MBox media servers, one for the flying panels
and one floor panels. In all, there were a
total of five MBoxes on the show. “Because
of the high resolution, we had some issues
that prevented us from keeping the MBoxes
at the front of house as originally intended,
which gave Andre Lear, our MBox guru, and
Bill Crooks of Nocturne, our video point man,
some headaches,” Phillips says.
The creative use of projection and LEDs
led to some interesting effects. The content
was developed by Rob Sheridan, who used
the unique configuration to his advantage.
“Upstage of the LED wall was a rear projection screen lit by three Christie Digital 10K
Roadie DLP projectors combined into a
single image. These were fed by a single
MBox. With the two layers of video afforded
by this setup, we were able to run video on
all three surfaces (RP and LED) at the same
time and have them interact with each other.
This was used in the most effective way for
‘The Line Begins To Blur’ where Rob Sheridan
rendered two pieces of animation; the RP
featuring white lines that traveled across
the screen horizontally, and the LEDs with a
bloom of blood-red color that would radiate outwards when the white lines passed
behind the panels,” Phillips says.
But one of the most effective gags in the
show comes during another section.“In the
middle of the show, there’s an Austrian curtain
made of opera gauze that’s lowered, and as
the band performed behind it, we had a 35K
DLP projector at the Front of House covering the curtain with custom video synched
up to SMPTE from the stage. This was fed by
a fourth MBox. At the end of that three-song
opera gauze section, we used all of the video
layers we had available to us—the gauze front
projection, LEDs and RP for ‘Beside You in
Time.’ Again, Rob customized footage of a stylized haze and falling ‘snow’ that built up to a
whiteout on all-video surfaces, at which point
the Austrian would fly out. Although it was
very cool, we all felt, Trent in particular, that a
key piece of drama to the curtain fly was missing, to the point that Trent was considering
dropping the number. We batted some ideas
around until Alastair mentioned a long-standing untried idea of his—to project a sheet of
glass shattering onto a downstage kabuki
scrim that would drop as the glass shatters fell.
After some excited chattering and some custom rendering, we settled on Trent swinging
his guitar at the gauze in whiteout, shattering
it, but with all the pieces falling up as the Austrian flew out. It looked bloody fantastic!”
But not all of the new gear on the show
was high-tech. “We also had the new Lycian
followspots that were marvelous,” says Phillips. Nick Jackson was approached by Bennett in the early stages of the design when
he was deciding on fixtures. Jackson suggested some new gear from Wybron. “The
Wybron BP-2 Beam Projectors were perfect
for the look Roy was after,” Jackson says.
And not all of the high-tech gear was
new. “Almost the entire show was run off
of SMPTE time code fed to the Front of
House from the stage. Though not a new
thing to us, it did present us some programming issues and operating headaches
initially that Alastair has since resolved,”
Jackson says.
PRG was involved in both the European
and U.S. legs of the tour. According to Jackson, “The Euro system was the original small
design for smaller venues with Kino Flows
mounted in carts rather than Pixelines, which
were used on the U.S. arena system. PRG sup-
www.PLSN.com
plied some of the Pixelines, but the other 60
were supplied by Nocturne.”
The lighting director is Alastair BramallWatson. Bramhall-Watson and programmer
Chad Smith used a one of the new Hog
consoles from High End Systems. Phillips
says it worked out well. “I’m very happy with
the Hog iPC console that we were using,” he
says. “We had master and backup consoles
hooked together through a DMX A/B switch
running concurrently via MIDI hookup.”
Of working with Reznor, Phillips is somewhat philosophical.“One of my favorite points
in creating the show was that Trent was very
ready to try things, tweak them or bin them
if we felt that it didn’t work. He’ll give you
enough rope to either tie it up securely or
hang yourself. He and Rob Sheridan had suggestions constantly during the design and rehearsal period, and out on the road. It was very
much a work in progress up until I left, and it
continues to be so now with Alastair Watson
handling all show operation and additional
programming duties. The whole thing was
very much a collaborative effort and especially
rewarding for that reason.”
And what designer would fail to mention his crew? Not Phillips.“Stefan Michaels
was Nocturne’s crew chief, who worked his
nuts off with a large video workload to deal
with each day. Production manager Richard
Young and the whole production team were
great to work with; very easy, understated,
but always on the ball. The job was always
done with the minimum drama. It was always
impressive and amusing to watch him field
a dozen ‘crises’ in a dozen different departments all at the same time and be completely
unfazed by it.
“I have a solid relationship with Nick Jackson and all at PRG L.A. if only because most all
of my vendors ended up merging when PRG
bought them out. Marty Langley was our lighting crew chief, and this was the first time we’d
worked together in about 10 years.”
<|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“We settled on Trent swinging his guitar at the gauze in whiteout, shattering it, but with all the
pieces falling up as the Austrian flew out. It looked bloody fantastic!” – Martin Phillips, Show Designer
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||>
ails
ch_Nails
CREW
& GEAR
Crew
Lighting Supplier: PRG, Nick Jackson,
account rep
Set/System Designer: Roy Bennett
Show Designer: Martin Phillips
Lighting Director: Alastair BramallWatson
Additional Programming
and Consulting: Chad Smith
Crew Chief: Marty Langley
Lighting Techs: Josh Levin, Drew
Sanchez, Tom Bider
Nocturne Crew Chief: Stefan Michaels
Video: Carlos Gutierrez, Tom Braslin
Production Manager: Richard Young
Tour Manager: Jerome Crooks
Content Provider: Rob Sheridan
Gear
34
22
17
24
6
6
41
4
2
1
1
1
8
32
1
1
24
1
5
2
2
Martin MAC 2000 Profiles
Martin MAC 2000 Wash lights
Wybron 800-W Beam Projector
4-Cell Molestrips
MR 16 PARs
MR 36 PARs
Lycian M2 Medium
Throw Spots
Flying Pig Systems Hog
iPC console
SMPTE Control System
ETC 72-way Dimmer Rack
ETC 12-Way Dimmer Rack
One-ton High Speed electric
chain hoist
One-ton Electric Chain hoist
24-way computer motor
control system
Motor Control System
James Thomas Engineering
Pixeline LED Fixtures
Artnet DMX Hubs
M-Box Media Server Units
Reel EFX DF-50 haze machines
Fog Machines
INSTALLATIONS
Rick’s Cabaret NYC
A “Gentlemen’s” Job of an Installation
By Kevin M. Mitchell
“I
love old buildings,” Tim Hannum says.
“It’s what makes a job exciting and
challenging. It’s like this jigsaw puzzle
that’s thrown to the ground, and you have to
put it together. You have the find the nooks
and crannies for the lighting.”
New York’s three-story Rick’s Cabaret
certainly put his love of old buildings to the
test. In addition to being built in the previous
century, it also suffered abuse as one of New
York’s premier nightclubs. But much of that
storied history has been erased, and now it is
Rick’s to rewrite.
On the first floor is the main stage and
drinking area, the second floor features an
upscale dining room plus private VIP rooms
and on the third floor, there are more VIP
rooms. There’s all this and scores of scantilyclad ladies who need to be expertly lit.
Yes, it’s a tough job, but somebody had
to do it.
The Devil Is in the Details
When Rick’s Cabaret project director
and Diavolo Systems president Tim Hannum
looks back on his career so far, he says he
feels lucky to be here.
“I started with McFadden Ventures,
where I was lucky enough to work for Lance
McFadden,” Hannum says. For most of the
1980s, he traveled, finding lighting and audio
for promotions of the Confetti nightclubs.
When the company was bought out in 1989,
he went out on his own doing lighting installations for nightclubs and trendy bars. He
also worked closely with Coemar, which sent
him to Latin America to program lights for
the biggest festivals, where he found he was
living a little too much of the rock-star life.
“After becoming a sober individual and
responsible adult again, I founded Diavolo
Systems,” he says. The name of his company
comes from his philosophy of his work, as
he was always hearing himself say that the
“devil was in the details.” Founded in 1996,
the company has an impressive list of clients,
so diverse as to include the seemingly con-
24
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
tradictory church business in addition to his
most recent venture.
Fast forward to Sept. 21, 2005, where
Hannum was among the more than 500
patrons at the opening of one of the most
anticipated adult entertainment spots (or
“gentlemen’s clubs”) in Manhattan. Located
in the old Paradise Club building, which
cost $7.6 million, it’s in the desirable spot
between Madison Square Garden and the
Empire State Building. It’s the 10th club
opened by Rick’s , a publicly-traded company, and this one was well-received. “It
was crazy; a zoo,” Hannum sighs, recalling
the opening. In addition to being project
director, Hannum was also the system programmer, so he was certainly prowling the
scene to make sure all was running well.
“Rick’s is a Houston-based company, like
we are, and we’ve been working with owner
Eric Langan on his other clubs for years,” he
says. “He decided the old Paradise would be
the place for his flagship New York project
about a year and a half ago.” First, the old
building had to be completely redesigned,
and Hannum credits Joe Kleinmann of the
Kleinmann Group for taking the original
concept of Rick’s adult clubs in Houston,
Minneapolis, New Orleans and Charlotte, and
modifying it for the New York market.
“It was Kleinmann’s idea to use LED
lighting everywhere and get rid of standard
flush-mount ceiling cans,” he says. “And Langan thought it was a cool idea.” In addition
to Hannum and Kleinmann, Jack Kelly of Eye
Dialogue was called in to help design the
LED work. Kelly was also an LED technician
on the project, as was Michael Hester.
A variety of LEDs manufactured by
AVR/Ledion were used, including 18 Ledion
LUS36-1200mm strip lights, 18 Ledion
LUS12-400mm strip lights, eight Ledion LU12
flush mount eyeball fixtures, 54 Ledion LU6
fixtures, six Ledion LU3 fixtures, 69 Ledion
LUD36 drivers and 16 Ledion Ultra LUS100-3
RGB cove lights.
“AVR was incredible,” Hannum says. “And
Gavin Cooper and Marcel Fairbairn of AVR
USA had a touchy situation in that there was
difficulty dealing with the contractors. In fact,
originally the club was supposed to open in
May, but was delayed until September.”
Because of the way the work was
done and the constrictions of the building, a whopping 5,000 feet of LED cable
were run. “I’ve never put so much cable
in one small building like that!”
Hannum says.
An Ever-Changing
Art Piece
The approach to an adult
entertainment club is different
from other venues, and the upper-
Part of Growing Trend?
Strip club, gentlemen’s club, adult entertainment venue—call it whatever you
want, but what it really should be called
is a money-printing press. Rick’s Cabaret
International, Inc. is just one of several
prosperous, publicly-held companies in
the industry (NASDAQ: RICK). Their new
club in Manhattan is projected to increase
the company’s revenue by 50% in fiscal
2006, and while fiscal 2005 figures are still
coming in, fiscal 2004 numbers reveal that
revenue was $16 million.
“It’s a hard industry to gauge, because
it’s essentially a cash industry,” says
Christopher Buttner, who writes and edits
for adult entertainment trade magazines
in addition to running his own public
relations firm, PR That Rocks. “Some think
there are 3,000 adult clubs out there,
some think 5,000. And while there are
60,000 nightclubs, this segment is by far
the most lucrative.”
He says the strip-club cliché still exists—the woman on stage with three teeth
lit by a single followspot while her three
kids wait in the car as she gyrates to an
old jukebox bellowing dirty tenor sax riffs.
But now as “pornography becomes more
mainstream,” these upscale high-tech
www.PLSN.com
joints are growing significantly, especially
in major markets like New York, southeastern Florida, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
“In Vegas, some of these freestanding
clubs have property values of $10 million
alone, even before you put in any of the
interior decorations,” Buttner says. “Now
typically, the budget for the lights and
sound makes up 10% of the venue’s overall cost, so we’re looking at some pretty
impressive sound systems and lighting
systems.”
But the approach is different, particularly for sound: “Conversation is king,
as guys want to talk to these beautiful
women. So while they can be loud, the
speakers need to be smooth, and most importantly blend into the architecture. They
are being designed to be transparent. You
don’t want it to look like a nightclub, you
want it to look like a lounge.”
Also, there is a lack of trussing and
moving heads; elaborate pieces of lighting technology that get in the way of the
comfort level.
“You want a guy to think he’s in his
living room with his own sound and light
system, only with four beautiful scantilyclad babes there,” Buttner says.
Lights with Atomic Color changers and
power supply; two Lightjockey USB with 17inch touchscreens and one Magnum 2000
fogger with DMX remote.
The Robe and Elation products were
used for the important task of lighting the
women on stage. Again, durability was key:
“It’s got to be durable, and not be fixed all
the time. You need lamps
that will both give you
longevity and be easy to
maintain,” Hannum says.
Those same qualifications
were required of the Elation Octopods, which were
externally mounted on the
ceiling in a semicircle. Also,
everything was configured
to be easy to use for the lighting operators.
Video displays were not really a necessity, for reasons that seem a tad too obvious
to spell out, but there are still six of them
stationed throughout the club. Sony Vegas
plasma screens were used, all showing a
variety of “simple images” including sports
and movies. During the day, when catering to
the Wall Street lunch crowd, the screens run
stock market listings.
Typically, any lighting installation is challenging in code-heavy New York City, but
Hannum says that even this part of the project was largely painless due to Kleinmann’s
lems down the line,” Hannum says.
“And if you’ve worked in California or Las
Vegas, you can work anywhere…”
One of the biggest issues was that of
time management. “We never have enough
time!” he laughs. “But that’s another reason
why people are hiring us. If you have to turn
a place around in 60 or 90 days, we tend to
get the call because
we can get in there
with a crew and start
work immediately.”
Despite the high
growth of the adult
entertainment industry, Hannum says
he doesn’t make it
a habit going after
such gigs. “Eric Langan is a great person
to deal with—he’s creative, hands-on, and
wants to know everything about what
he’s getting. He’s also a team builder and
makes it fun. It’s really a party atmosphere,” Hannum says.
Video displays were not really a necessity,
for reasons that seem a tad too obvious to
spell out, but there are still six of them
stationed throughout the club.
ability to cross his Ts and dot his Is. “Everything was specified from the beginning, and
Kleinmann was very hands-on and checked
on everything. He was an incredible amount
of help. I’ve worked with people before who
don’t care, and that can cause major prob-
end clubs require a different attitude still.
Rick’s is awash in architectural lighting that is
capable of creating that deep magenta-red
wherever patrons walk. “It’s a pleasant color,
and everything is controlled to offer a large
variety of moods. So if you walk in during
happy hour, it’s a different feel than if you
had lunch there or came at midnight. The
LED modular arch wall is lit from below and
on top, and by doing that, we create different
shadows on the wall, and all the ridges catch
the lights in different ways and it’s really
beautiful. It’s like an ever-changing art piece,”
Hannum says.
A number of AVR LED linear strips were
used in the installation, and in addition to
their appearance, Hannum is pleased with
their durability. “Believe me, they handled
some serious abuse from the general contractors during install,” he says with a laugh.
“Plus, once in, they are on all the time.”
As anyone who has installed a gentlemen’s club can testify, the hours of operation
are daunting: 11 a.m. to 4 a.m., seven days
a week. One of the biggest considerations
in choosing the lighting equipment was
durability, long life and ease of operation.
This led to an interesting mix of gear—three
Robe ColorMix 250ATs and seven 170AT
ColorSpots with custom gobos; two Elation
Octopod 80 eight-head LED Pods; two Clay
Paky Astroraggi High Power DMX centerpieces; and two Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
25
PLSNINTERVIEW
“We try to keep it so when you
go from Oprah to our talk show,
there is no difference in quality.
We want the quality to be that
of other channels. “
Carlos Colina
Illuminating Univision
By RobLudwig
W
ith the recent success of the Latin
Grammys, Univision’s resident lighting designer, Carlos Colina, has
had the experience of lighting some of the
hottest Hispanic talent for the largest Spanish-language television station in the United
States. We met up with Colina at ETS-LDI in
Orlando to discuss what it’s like to work for
the fifth most-watched network in the U.S.
and the virtues of design for television.
PLSN: How did you get
started in the industry?
Carlos Colina: I started as a camera
operator, actually. I started at a PBS affiliate, WPBT, in Miami. I was there about three
years. In addition to camera work, we also
did lighting. At a small station, you kind of
do everything. So we started doing lighting,
and I enjoyed it a lot, but I stayed as a camera
operator until Curt Contrata, who was the
lighting designer, got a job at Univision. A
year later, he called me and said they were
looking for a lighting director, and asked if I
was interested. That was in ‘91 and I’ve been
at Univision ever since—14 years.
What is your role,
as a resident lighting
designer, at Univision?
Well, I started as the lighting director.
Then, I took the job as the lighting department manager, and I was given the oppor-
26
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
tunity to design special events. So, I am currently the manager and a lighting designer.
What types of shows
are you involved with?
Of all the production done in Miami; I’m
in charge of the shows taped in our facilities
and exteriors. We do everything from network
news to a three-hour live variety show. I’ve
been doing special events for about a year and
a half now, and special events have been my
calling. I’ve loved it ever since I’ve been doing it.
We also acquired a new producer, Cisco
Suarez, at the same time, and ever since
we’ve been together doing the special
events, the ratings have been skyrocketing.
It’s been incredible.
Can you give us an
example of some of
the special events
you might do?
We have an awards show, which is called
Premios Lo Nuestro. And we have another one,
Premios Juventud, which is kind of like a teenchoice awards. And we have one big special,
like, we just did the Selena Tribute concert in
April, at Reliant Stadium where we had 55,000
people in attendance, and it was incredible.
That show broke every ratings record we ever
had amongst the younger audience.
And Univision is now producing the
Latin Grammys.
What’s that like?
It was incredible. I didn’t get to design it
personally; however, I had the fortunate opportunity to work with Bob Dickinson, who
to me is a mentor. The guy is incredible.
We also have a guy who I need to mention—Jason Rudolph—who is our Catalyst
operator on staff at Univision. So we were
involved with the content of the show, but
just working side-by-side with Bob Dickinson
was a great experience for me.
How does doing those
different types of
events—going from
studio to special
events—make you have
to keep up with the
technology?
It’s different in the aspect of technology
and equipment between studio and special
events, yes; you have to keep up on both
ends. We have some moving lights in our
studios, but nothing compared to when we
do our special events, which include close to
200 to 400 moving heads. Sometimes, it can
be a bit overwhelming.
With so many years in television, you
know that in the end, it has to look good in
that small tube. When you design special
events, it’s in a bigger aspect, but you’ve
always got to have your key lighting exactly
like you would in a small studio. You know,
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the talent has to look good. The set has to
look good. And then, you concentrate on
the musicals. As long as you follow that rule,
everything else comes easy. Technology can
only take you so far.
What is your biggest
challenge at Univision?
It used to be working seven days a
week with 16-hour days. And it still is during
special events. But when I’m not directly
involved in lighting a show, I’m going around
to the studios, making sure that shows are
looking good and maintaining their original
design. My vision, when I was made lighting
department manager, was that when people
flip the channels, there wouldn’t be a difference between the other channels and
Univision. It’s been a challenge, but with
great success, I believe it’s due in part to
having a great team. Most people don’t
realize that Univision is among the top five
networks on any given night. With such a
large audience tuning in, you have to make
sure every show is kept up.
So what you’re saying is
that you try to maintain
continuity, right?
Yes, we try to keep it so when you go
from Oprah to our talk show, there is no difference in quality. We want the quality to be
that of other channels.
Univision upfronts
Premios Juventud 2005
Premios Lo Nuestro 2005
Premios Juventud 2004
Selena tribute concert
Premios Lo Nuestro 2005
Has the changing
technology altered
any of what you’ve
been doing?
Yes, one of the biggest changes has
been LED and how it’s incorporated into
lighting. With LED being a big difference
in our shows, hiring someone like Jason
Rudolph, who is in charge of content,
and the Catalyst system has made a huge
impact. For instance, we work together
and listen to songs four or five times a day,
leading up to the event, and then put all
the content together for the musicals and
awards. In technology, LED and video
content has had the biggest impact on
our shows.
As a designer, where
would you like to
see us heading as
an industry?
What it comes down to, for me, is that
it’s more the individuals than anything
else. You can have the most advanced
technology, but if you don’t have the right
individuals in the right places to give you
the right looks at the right time, it doesn’t
mean anything. You can have the most
advanced technology, but the shows could
end up looking like a lot of flash and trash
instead of beautiful pictures on TV.
COMPANYPROFILE
De Sisti Lighting
When in Rome...
“E
very De Sisti product, lighting and
rigging, is still manufactured in
Rome, Italy,” says Frank Kosuda,
general manager of De Sisti Lighting USA.
“I’m not sure how to say this, but we haven’t
found any subcontractors that we can trust.
Quality control is especially important to
company founder Mario De Sisti, and he
hasn’t found anyone outside his company
who can perform up to his standards.”
Their ability to design, develop and manufacture lighting and rigging was recently
recognized by the European community
when the company was awarded a research
and development grant in the millions of
dollars. “We were chosen because we spend
so much on R&D to begin with, and are
recognized as one of the top manufacturers
in all of Europe,” Kosuda says.
Today, their products, addressed with
monikers like “Rembrandt,” “Goya,” “Leonardo,” “Botticelli,” “Renoir,” etc., are found
“Right now our market is
pretty much 40% TV, 30% film
and video and 30% theatre.”
-Frank Kosuda
on movie and television sets, theatres and
corporate events across the country.
Acclaimed international designer Mario
De Sisti founded the company in his hometown of Rome in 1982. He still owns it today
with his two sons, Fabio and Sergio. With an
emphasis on craftsmanship, the company
has made several technological advances
both in the electro-mechanical and photometric areas, including flicker-free electronic
First row L-R: Dawn Nankibell, Greg Semper, Douglas Nelson, Frank Kosuda
Back row L-R: Bill Liento, Mike Dorin, Mitsie Cortes, Atul Dhanorker
28
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.CompanyProfile.JH.indd 28
ballasts, single-ended high-efficiency HMI
lamps, motorized rigging and automated
lighting and control.
The company sailed the ocean blue
and founded the North American division
in 1987, and Kosuda, an old family friend
with a background in finance and banking,
came aboard in 1999. “Working with Mario
is an absolute honor,” he says. “He has
always been considered a pioneer and innovator in the lighting industry, and
he loves to share his knowledge and
experience, yet he’s also very open to
other views.”
Two years ago, the American division of De Sisti split up the rigging
and lighting divisions to give both
the specialized focus they deserved.
De Sisti Rigging & Automation is coowned and run by Bill Liento, whose
background includes stints as vice
president of Colortran, Strand Lighting,
Hoffend & Sons and Bogen/IFF Rigging.
Today, the company is in 35 countries, with more than 300 employees
worldwide. The North American operation has experienced explosive growth,
having just recently moved from a
6,000-square-foot facility to a 22,000square-foot facility in Mountainside,
N.J. Also, the company completed
the purchase of a PAR can company,
though Kosuda was not at liberty to
say which one it was at press time. “But
now we can make our own PAR cans,
and that will expand our catalog.
“I’d say right now our market is
pretty much 40% TV, 30% film and
video and 30% theatre,” he adds. The theatre
line has been given particular attention of
late with their reintroduction of the Monet
Theater Fresnel, which is now outfitted with
either the pre-focus socket or the HPL socket,
the latter of which is found in the ETC Source
Four and Source Four PAR. “Its big advantage
is that one lamp source can be used for the
entire theater installation,” Kosuda says.
De Sisti Lighting has also adapted their
pole-operated yoke to the ETC Source Four.
“This will allow end users to make all necessary pan-and-tilt adjustments with a retractable lighting pole from the floor. We expect
this to be especially popular for the Front of
House lighting position when a catwalk is
not installed,” Kosuda says.
Another recent advancement is for
their TV segment, and will certainly cause
a sigh of relief among especially vain
weather men and women in newsrooms
everywhere—new backlight chroma
key fluorescents. Previously, the news
productions used either a green or blue
background, and if the newscaster “were
wearing a little green or even yellow, they
would disappear into the green chroma
key. If it was a blue background, they were
limited to what they could wear as well,”
Kosuda says. But with their blue- and
green-colored tubes of fluorescent lights,
which can be easily switched back and
forth via DMX, the long-standing wardrobe
challenges will be eliminated in addition to
offering more flexibility in general.
Kosuda points out that De Sisti does not
sell direct and has a strict policy of selling
only through authorized dealers—there are
around 120 currently in North America. They
are one of the few companies that offer a
three-year warranty on all their fixtures.
“De Sisti really doesn’t take any shortcuts with any product or parts we manufacture,” he sums up. “We don’t outsource
any part of it to other companies. Everyone
looks to save money, and there are always
cheaper ways to make some of the components, but we feel that in the long run,
it benefits everyone to do everything the
right way with the right materials.”
www.PLSN.com
12/1/05 6:07:26 PM
100.0512.Ads.ss.indd 29
12/1/05 5:44:11 PM
Chip Monck
Brian Croft and Mike Brown
Star-Studded
Parnelli
Awards
All photos by Bree Kristel
Marilyn Lowey- Lighting Designer of the Year
Dale “Ziggy” Seigfreid and son
Honor Industry’s Best
Patrick Stansfield gets Lifetime Achievment and
Marilyn Lowey receives LD of the Year Award
“W
elcome to the 5th Annual
Parnelli Awards,” said PLSN
and FOH publisher and
Parnelli Award dinner host Terry Lowe.
And thus began the LDI/ETS convention’s
most anticipated event. Held this year at
the beautiful Rosen Centre, the industry’s
legends, stars, up-and-comers and likely
a few ne’er-do-wells came to honor this
year’s top performers in 18 categories. Additionally, emotional highlights included
bestowing achievement awards on Patrick
Jake Berry- Production Manager of the Year
The crew from Apollo Design Technology
30
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
Stansfield and Bruce Jackson.
“Tonight, the production community
comes together to honor its own,” Lowe said
in his introduction. He pointed out that the
industry’s influence could be found in the
way we worship, how we present our political leaders, at tradeshows and “all the way to
retail. Many of those pioneers who developed the technology and methodology of
our industry are here with us tonight.”
Indeed. The night featured a starstudded crowd that was mostly on its best
behavior (save for a hilariously obscene
phone call from Keith
Kevan) and mostly looking classier than usual
(save for the always Hawaiian shirt-attired Dave
Shadoan). Kicking off
the evening was former
Parnelli Lifetime Achievement winner Chip
Monck, who presented
the Regional Lighting
Company of the Year
to Theatrical Lighting
Systems.
Lighting Designer
of the Year went to
Marilyn Lowey for her
long partnership and
recent work for Neil
Diamond. Monck then
awarded Ed and Ted’s
Excellent Lighting the
Lighting Company of
the Year award for their
work with Green Day
over arguably higherprofile shows like the
Rolling Stones and Paul
McCartney.
Brian Croft and
Lifetime Achievement
Innovator
Regional Lighting Company
Lighting Designer
Lighting Company
Scenic/Set Designer
Set Construction Company
Staging Company
Rigging Company
Regional Sound Company
FOH Mixer
Monitor Mixer
Mike
Sound Company
Brown,
Coach Company
both
Lifetime
Trucking Company
AchieveVideo Rental Company
ment
Award winFreight Forwarder
ners, took
Pyro Company
the podium
next. They
Production Manager
handed the
Tour Manager
Set/Scenic
Designer
of the Year
award to Mark
Fisher for his work with the Rolling Stones;
Set Construction Company of the Year
was a surprise tie going to both All Access
Staging and Production and Tait Towers;
Staging Company of the Year to Mountain
Productions and the Rigging Company of
the Year honors going to Atlanta Rigging
Systems.
Appropriately, Roy Clair of Clair Bros.
was on hand to present Bruce Jackson with
the 2005 Parnelli Innovator Award.
The audience gasped, laughed and
then applauded wildly when a very special
www.PLSN.com
Patrick Stansfield
Bruce Jackson
TLS
Marilyn Lowey for Neil Diamond
Ed & Ted’s
Mark Fisher for the Rolling Stones
Tait Towers & All Access
Mountain Productions
Atlanta Rigging
Mid-America Sound
Dave Rat for Red Hot Chili Peppers
Dave Skaff for U2
Clair Brothers
Ziggy’s Custom Coaches
Upstaging
XL Video
Rock-It Cargo
Pyrotek
Jake Berry for U2
David Milam for Toby Keith
video tribute to Partick Stansfield from
the current Neil Diamond crew, including
Neil himself, was presented prior to Michael
Chugg taking the stage. Chugg, yet another
Aussie who made the trek to be part of the
evening, is a longtime friend and associate
of Stansfield’s. In presenting the lifetime
achievement award to Stansfield, Chugg
shared many funny personal stories before
saying of the respected production and tour
manager that he “exemplifies all that is great
about our industry—he has always had
time for the little people and people not as
John Wiseman of XL Video
David Milly of TLS- Regional Lighting Company of the year
Jim Evans of Mountain Productions
(L to R) Clive Forrester of All Access and Gene “Winkie” Fairouth of Tait Towers
lucky as us with an
open heart, a big
grin and plenty of
advice.”
An eloquent
and humbled
Stansfield received a standing ovation,
and graciously
thanked the many
who worked with
him over his long,
successful career, which included a quarter
century with Diamond in addition to working with Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and
many more.
Shadoan presented the Coach Company of the Year award to Ziggy’s Custom
Coaches and the Trucking Company of
the Year to Upstaging.
PLSN editor Richard Cadena was joined
by Lowey, and the two presented the Video
At the far left, Franco Bertini of Studio Due joins Luciano Salvati and Alex Gonzalez of
Techni-Lux for a drink before the show. Sneaking in at the far right is Dave Dunning
of Legend Theatrical.
Rental Company of the Year to XL Video.
Then Rock-It Cargo received the Freight
Forwarding Company of the Year honor
and Pryotek Special Effects the Pyro Company of the Year honor.
Publisher Lowe was then joined by LD
great Peter Morse, and presented a pair of
the most highly-anticipated awards of the
show: Jake Berry received the Production
Manager of the Year honor for his work
with U2, while David Milam of Toby Keith
received Tour Manager of the Year.
Lowe thanked all the Parnelli sponsors,
without whom the evening and the contributions to the Parnelli Education Fund for
Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien’s three children would
not have been possible: All Access Staging &
Productions, Apollo Design Technology, ASI
Productions, Brown United, Littlite, Paradise
Sound and Light, Martin Professional, PRG,
Robe, Rock-It Cargo and Techni-Lux.
The multimedia award dinner was produced by Kent Black.
Patrick Stansfield “exemplifies all
that is great about our industry.”
-Michael Chugg
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
31
|||
a
den
By
Ca
ard
h
Ric
Traxon was recently named as the company that
will take over the OptiLED product line, which will
now be branded as Traxon.
I
sn’t it ironic that the biggest head-turner at
ETS-LDI wasn’t a pure lighting product, but
a quasi-video display offered by a company of which most of us have never heard?
It seemed an odd twist that Image-Mesh by
Komaden Corporation of Japan was the
most commonly-cited product when talk
turned to new products on the trade show
floor. The lightweight polycarbonate mesh has
a tri-color LED at each intersection, which can
32
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
produce a graphic image which you can actually see through. The mesh modules come
in 12-inch squares, and it remains to be seen
how popular the product actually is when the
pricing is revealed since it was unavailable at
the show. If the convergence aliens have not
landed, then they have—at the very least—
entered the earth’s atmosphere.
It could be argued that AC Lighting’s new
Color Web lo-res LED display beat Komaden
to market since they showed it at PLASA in
September. The flexible fabric webbing uses
color-mixing LEDs to produce transparent
graphics displays as well, but the LEDs are
spaced 250mm apart, as opposed to ImageMesh’s 25mm pitch. And G-LEC, which is now
distributed in the U.S. by Scharff-Weisberg,
has been around for a few years. The biggest
difference, however, is the massive display
Komaden set up, which apparently paid off
www.PLSN.com
judging by the buzz on the show floor. The
other grand quasi-video LED display that got
a lot of attention was Main Light Industries’
80-foot SoftLED on the back wall of the room.
Lots of other new LED products landed
on the show floor, but they are integrating so
nicely that it’s hard to distinguish them from
native life forms. Robe’s new LEDBlinder 148
LT and 196LT, for example, appear to be very
|||||||||||
The Aliens
Have Landed
Adrian Segeren, president of Le Maitre Special
Effects, showing off the Sigma Prism fire effect.
Akira Takamatsu of
Komaden holds a
single panel of the
Image-Mesh LED
display.
Eric Mueller (L) and P.J. Turpin of Clay Paky USA with their new Alpha Wash Halo
(sans covers) 1,000-watt tungsten with integral top hat. Other new products included Alpha Spot 700, Alpha Spot 1200, Alpha Spot 1200 HPE and Alpha Wash TH.
An attendee examines the polycarbonate mesh
with color-mixing LEDs in the Image-Mesh.
L-R: Phil Lentini, Albert Chauvet and Barry Abrams of Chauvet
with their new ColorSplash 196 LED can. Other new products
on the Chauvet stand included the Q-series automated lighting and the Fat Beam laser.
Wally Russell Award recipient Richard Belliveau of High End
Systems with the new Studio Command color wash yoke
fixture. Other new products on the stand included Catalyst
v4, DL2 digital light with integral media server, Wholehog III
Expansion Wing and Hog iPC.
Komaden Corporation’s Image-Mesh quasi-video display
was the single most talked-about product at LDI 2005.
Milad Khouli (L) and Brett Zellers of Apollo Design Technology
in the light of their new products, which included Smart Move
Vertical, Smart Color MXR, new rotators for Robert Juliat
fixtures and Smart Power 400W, which can power up to 40
rotators or 12 scrollers.
Brandon James (L) and newly-appointed account rep Dusty
Hudgins on the Wybron stand. Wybron announced that all of
their products are now RDM-ready.
Harry Von DenStemmen, director of sales for Robe Show
Lighting, with the new DT5000 digital luminaire.
VP Alex Gonzalez (L) and Luciano Salvatti, CEO of Techni-Lux,
with the new SGM Synthesis automated luminaire. The Synthesis could be the first luminaire with built-in wireless DMX.
L-R: Nick Freed, Noel Duncan and Gary Mass of Coemar USA
with their new ParLite LED. Also new from Coemar were the
iWash Halo 700-W tungsten halogen luminaire, iSpot S 1200
HMI and the MiniCyc moving yoke cyc fixture.
L-R: Michael Althaus of MA Lighting, Demfis Fyssicopulos
(grandMA user), Bob Gordon of MA Lighting distributor ACT
Lighting, and Marcus Kromer of MA Lighting in front of the
latest version of the grandMA console.
continued from page 32
similar to four-light and eight-light audience
blinders, while Chauvet’s ColorSplash and
American DJ’s P36 and P64 LED PAR cans
look very much like PAR cans, but with LED
sources. These products plus James Thomas
Engineering’s new Pixel Arc Series of bricks
and cans are making LED alternatives more
much more affordable and less alien-like.
But if your attention was monopolized
by any one product or group of products,
then you missed the parade, which included
lots of new automated luminaires, motion
control systems, LEDs—including a new yoke
color wash fixture called the MovingLED—
34
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
www.PLSN.com
wireless systems, visualizers, media servers,
console updates, special effects and two
new digital luminaires: The DL2 with integral
media server from High End Systems and
the DT5000 from Robe, which will begin
shipping early in 2006.
The flavor of the month in automated
lighting seems to be color wash fixtures.
Vari-Lite launched the new VL500™, which
uses the same Dichro-Tune™ radial colormixing system as the old VL5, and there are
three tungsten lamps and one discharge
lamp options. Martin showed, among other
new products, a new tungsten wash fixture
in prototype form called the MAC TW1. It has
Howard Ungerleider (L),
of Canadian distributor
Production Design
International and Aidas
Gimbutas of Main Light
Industries stand in
front of a SoftLED and a
HardLED display.
Incoming CEO of
Martin Professional
USA, Brian Friborg, in
front of a very busy
Martin stand.
L-R: Marc Colemont, Matthias Hinrichs, Michael Nevitt and Paul Pelletier of Martin Professional in front of the newly-updated Martin Maxedia media server. Also on the Martin
stand was the Zap BigLite, for which Martin USA has been appointed exclusive distributor.
The Cyberhoist control system from Xlnt Advanced Technologies featuring
InMotion 3-D visualization provides choreographed truss movements.
Teddy Van Bemmel of Altman Lighting with the ODEC
Outdoor Ellipsoidal.
Ernie Armas of PR Lighting and his U.S. distributor, Chris
Giannoulas of Omnisistem, with the new Pilot 575 Pro.
Kevin Stone of Syncrolite with the new SXB 5/2 with new lens
film technology that changes the field angle from 5º to 60º.
The homogenizing filter allows uniform color mixing between
adjacent color scroll frames.
L-R: Imre Pesti, Zsolt Pesti and Ivan Takacs of MovingLED
showing off their new moving yoke LED color wash fixture.
John Lopez, director of sales (L), and Ray Villasenor of Elation
Professional with the Power Spot 700.
who are distributors for SGM. The new SGM
Synthesis has every bell and whistle, plus
built-in wireless DMX.
But the flavor of the day in media servers
seems to be pixel-mapping software. The
newly-updated Martin Maxedia version 2.10
build 17 now boasts pixel-mapping among
other new features, as does the new High
End Systems Catalyst v4 with the PixelMad
plug-in. Both now have cue lists and operate
in standalone mode. The Brash media server
was on display under a new distribution deal
with Laser Design Production. New at LDI
was the Coolux Pandora’s Box media server,
three tungsten lamp options, all of which
are 1,200 watts at various voltages. High End
Systems launched the Studio Command
color wash fixture that is based on the Color
Command color mixing system, but with an
MSR700 lamp and a moving yoke. Clay Paky
was showing, among other new automated
luminaires, the Alpha Wash Halo 1,000watt tungsten moving-yoke fixture with its
integral top hat to control halation. Coemar’s
contribution to the color wash parade is
the iWash Halo 700-watt tungsten halogen
automated luminaire. Color wash fixtures
aside, one of the coolest new automated
luminaires was on the Techni-Lux stand,
James Smith with his new 128-channel RC4 Wireless
Dimming controller. The system can now use 18V cordless
batteries from power tools, which offer extended battery life.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
35
Paul Streitz of Advanced Lighting Systems in front of his
stand, which was lit by Mega-Brite fiber optic cables and
LiveLED 100 LED color-mixing fixtures.
Bob McGee (L) of XL Video holding a Barco OLite 510 LED
display module.
Doug Adams of Pyrotek and Laser Design Productions, the
new North American distributor for Brash media server.
L-R: Craig Caserta, Dedrick Duckett and Greg Jesse of Zzyzx, Inc.
with their newest version of the ESP Vision visualization software. Version 2.0 will be released on Dec. 31, and it features
moving truss and texture mapping.
L-R: Jerry Colmenero, who recently opened the U.S. office of
Pulsar, Andy Graves, Snowy Johnson and Paul Mardon of
Pulsar showing many additions to the Chroma Range of
LED products.
L-R: John Evans, Fred Mikeska (new U.S. sales manager)
and Lori French (also new) of AC Lighting, with their new
Chroma Q Plus color changer with 20 color frames and LED
menu display.
Gary Crawford (L) and Patrick Jones of CITC with their new
Starhazer II featuring dual outputs and seven-stage filtration.
Gary Nelson, the new national sales manager for Lightronics,
with the new RA-122 rack mount dimmer.
L-R: Nils Thorjussen and Marian Nelson of Element Labs with
Peter Winn Willson of Winn Willson Gottellier in front of a
Versa Pixel display.
David Branson of Show Sage, North American distributor for
Dataton, and Mike Fahl of Dataton with the Watchout Version,
featuring a new media window, multi-angle displays, motion
paths and a timeline.
Todd Vigil (L), VP of Sales, and Brian Arnold of Staging Concepts standing before their new Spanning Bridge Beam, which
allows for greater spans of stage decking.
David Buerer, Leviton product manager, with the new Leo
ellipsoidal reflector spotlight with 360º barrel rotation,
tool-free lamp change and an adjustable beam profile from
cosine to flat.
The Tomcat and G-LEC stands.
continued from page 35
which is now being distributed in the U.S.
and South America by Theatrical Concepts,
Inc. There is no way to do these media servers justice in a short amount of space, so you
really must visit their respective Web sites to
find out more.
Among the newer automated lighting
consoles at LDI were the ETC Congo and the
Genlyte Marquee ILC, both of which are definitely worth looking in to. Plus, the Martin
Maxxyz PC version is finally here, and High
End has been busy getting ready to deliver
the Wholehog III Expansion Wing. Also drawing lots of attention was the Jands Vista on
the AC Lighting stand.
There were also several motion control systems at the show. Among the most
36
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
www.PLSN.com
notable were the Cyberhoist from Xlnt
Advanced Technologies featuring InMotion
3-D visualization, the hoist control system
on the Tomcat stand and the ChainMaster
Vario Trolleys and Vario Lift combination on
the Show Distribution stand.
A couple of more interesting, downto-earth products worth mentioning were
ETC’s new Source Four Enhanced Definition
Lens Tube, which turns an ordinary Source
Four into an extraordinarily sharp profile
projector, their new 14º, 70º and 90º (that’s
no typo—it’s ninety degrees) and the
Sigma Firefly colored-flame effects, which
are distributed by Le Maitre Special Effects.
The Firefly shoots colored flames tens of
feet in the air and if it doesn’t make you look,
nothing will.
Technical services manager Gregory Kranc of De Sisti Lighting
with the new Monet Theatre Fresnel. Also on the De Sisti
stand was the pole-operated yoke for the ETC Source Four.
Bill “Stony” Stonecypher of Stone Pro Rigging with the
Octocube in the center of the Octo-Structure rigging system
(above). It was announced at the show that Stone Pro Rigging
Japan has begun a partnership with Maruyo Design Tech.
L-R: Robert Roth of PRG, lighting designer Peter Morse, Curry
Grant of PRG and Steven “Creech” Anderson of Premier Global
on the PRG stand.
Alex Carru, president of Medialon, with the KISS-Box
Ethernet adapter for the Medialon system. Medialon
Version 4 with a new graphical user interface is scheduled
to be released next spring.
L-R: Dalton Edwards, Layne Kulhanek, Thomas Pelto, Scott
Kyrish, University of Texas theatre tech professor Amarante
Lucero, Westlake H.S. theatre tech teacher David Poole and
Dylan Randall. Poole graduated from Lucero’s program and
the rest are Poole’s students.
Production manager Joanna Lloyd (L) with John James,
CEO of Tomcat USA.
The Quest Drape booth.
mcat and G-LEC stands. Tomcat’s synchronized truss movements were eye-catching.
Finally, across the street at a conference
room in the Peabody Hotel, Schott was
privately showing a new dichroic glass
reflector and Fresnel lens system that is
70% efficient, a vast improvement over
current Fresnel technology. They don’t have
a luminaire, but they are working with several
manufacturers who will build a luminaire
around the system. The cool part is that the
system was initiated by an article in the
pages of PLSN about the inefficiency of
Fresnel fixtures.
The aliens have landed, and it was not
nearly as violent and destructive as we were
led to believe. It may put a different face on
production, but it’s not one with three eyes
and 100 pointed teeth.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
37
100.0512.Ads.ss.indd 38
12/1/05 5:45:33 PM
INSTALLS • INDUSTRIALS • FILM/TV • THEATRE • CONCERTS
Photo by Rob Smalldon
Stereophonic Projections
Electrosonic and AME Team Up
NEW YORK, NY—Electrosonic
Systems Inc. (Electrosonic) has
acquired Associates in Media
Engineering (AME), a systems
design company based in Glendale, Calif. With the acquisition,
Electrosonic extends its services
to include design consultation
and media processing and
management services.
According to Kyle Carpenter,
CEO of the Electrosonic Group,
AME’s design and studio teams
are relocating to Electrosonic’s
Burbank office. “AME has a very
experienced, highly respected
staff,” he said. “They complement
Electrosonic’s strengths and give
us solid, expanded capabilities,
allowing us to serve clients
from the conceptual stages
right through maintenance
and service.”
AME founding principal
Benjamin Lein, along with the
entire AME staff, join Electrosonic
by establishing two new divisions: Electrosonic Design, providing turn-key design-engineering
services to the themed entertainment, museum and architecture
disciplines, and Electrosonic
Studio Services, providing
digital media services including
standard and high-definition
compression and encoding,
media management, audio
encoding and more.
Anchor Bay Technologies Announces
Video Processing Solutions
End Systems Catalyst, which was programmed by
Geoff Frood. It moved up and down throughout
the show.
Brent Clark was the lighting designer, Dennis
Gardner was the Syncrolite/automation tech, Ben
Morgan was another automation tech, Steve Kellaway was the crew chief and Shelly Long was the
dimmer tech. The Kinesys system was operated by
Eugene Benevidez. Sven Knight was the rigger. All
lighting gear was supplied by Neg Earth and Video
was supplied by XL Video.
deployed in ABT’s DVDO iScan
HD. All of our technologies are
now available to manufacturers
that demand exceptional video
scaling performance.”
Anchor Bay Technologies is the
creator of DVDO® iScan™ video
processor products and the first
single-chip video de-interlacer
that incorporated 3:2 and 2:2
pull-down. Other trademarked
technologies that will be marketed under Powered by ABT
include: Precision Video Scaling™,
RightRate™, AutoCUE-C™ and
Precision AV LipSync™. Precision
Video Scaling is the first of ABT’s
technologies being offered to
OEMs. New technologies will
also be made available in the
coming months.
FLORENCE, ITALY—Seven sections of 42- by
seven-foot LED video displays on a Kinesys motorized system made up the backdrop for the Stereophonics’ latest European tour. The tour ran from late
summer to early fall and is currently on another run
of dates before heading out with Oasis in January.
The rig consisted mainly of six 40-foot truss sections running upstage to downstage with Martin
MAC 2000 Wash and Profile fixtures, plus 30-cell zip
strips and eight 3K Syncrolites. The video wall was
made up of Barco iLite 12 and was fed by a High
CAMPBELL, CA—Anchor Bay
Technologies, Inc. (ABT), creator
of DVDO® video processing
technologies recently launched
their Powered by ABT brand to
the commercial market. Anchor
Bay Technologies provides both
chip and system level video processing solutions to equipment
manufacturers and end customers. ABT is engaged in the sale of
its semiconductor technology to
OEMs for design into new video
products, and also maintains a
global distribution and sales
network for its system-level
product line.
Anchor Bay Technologies’ vice
president of marketing, C. H. Chee,
stated, “ABT’s Precision Video
Scaling technology was first
NEWS
XL Touring Video
Takes Garbage Out
Photo by Steve Jennings
AZUSA, CA—Grunge rockers Garbage
recently toured the U.S. and Europe on
their Bleed Like Me tour. XL Touring was
the video supplier, supplying the band
with the new Flying Pig Systems HogiPC,
Catalyst G-5 Media Sever and a Mainlight
SoftLED Curtain.
John Wiseman, president of XL Touring, says, “Production/lighting designer
Butch Allen came to us with a need for a
versatile and flexible video package that
would fit the band’s changing needs as a
result of touring such drastically differentsized venues. We came up with a soft LED
curtain and plasmas. Butch then got with
High End Systems’ Brad Schiller and was
able to come up with a design that would
allow for consistency from show to show.
Butch did an amazing job.”
Lo-Res Video Creates
Cool Vibe at Hard Rock
LONDON, ENGLAND—Hard Rock Café
London, the first and most famous venue of
the brand, has just reopened after extensive
renovations. Its classically cool interior was
designed by Paula Reason of Cadmium
Design, a group of London-based designers
who are involved in creating many of the
Hard Rock Café interiors worldwide.
Reason wanted a central light feature
in the bar to continue an ongoing theme of
using light to interact “live” with the people
within specific Hard Rock spaces. This had
been started at previous Hard Rock projects
and has taken many different formats. However, for the new look in the London venue,
she wanted something completely different.
Reason became aware of Projected
Image Digital and Element Labs’ VersaTile
LED low-resolution video elements and
contacted them for a demo. She wanted the
entire back of the bar area to be covered top
to bottom in VersaTiles, complete with three
different sized screens (one plasma and
two TFTs) embedded into the surface. She
created a 350-pixel design, measuring four
meters long by a meter high, with each pixel
required to measure 10 by 10 centimeters.
Each of the tiles is edge lit with 18 LEDs—six
red, six green and six blue.
Video inputs are fed into the VersaWall
via an Element Labs C1 controller. For content, Reason looked through a series of video
clips available from Beacon and Amorphous
collections, from which she selected about
12 sequences. PID’s Rob Fowler then programmed these into the C1 using Element
Labs’ Rastermapper software.
“We are very proud to have been
involved in the new look of Hard Rock Café,
and while the project happened so fast, it
is now rewarding that Paula’s design just
looks fabulous—creating a truly immersive
environment to the basement bar,” says PID’s
David March.
TMF Awards Wrap
With Pixel Maps
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM—Belgian-Dutch
network TMF (The Music Factory) used
some new pixel-mapping software to
enhance their production on the TMF
Awards 2005 on Oct. 1. It was one of this
year’s biggest music TV events in Belgium.
Lighting designer Michiel Milbou specified a rig with a combination of lights and
video effects.
Martin’s Maxedia was used to
control 73 Pixellines, and also pixelmapped 24 Studio Colors used inside
the set-cubes on stage. Through DMX
merge-channels, a seamless crossfade
could be done from the ArtNet input of
the Maxedia to the video pixel-mapping
of the Maxedia output. A total of 11
DMX universes were pixel-mapped on
the Maxedia during the four-hour live
broadcast event.
The crew was happy enough with
the Maxedia pixel-mapping to specify
it for the upcoming Eurovision Song
Contest for Kids with the same LD and
same light operators.
Barco Consolidates
and Announces
Expansion
SACRAMENTO, CA—Barco Media
and Entertainment recently announced
plans for expansion at its major North
American facility. With this expansion,
Barco will consolidate all BM&E operations into one facility. An additional
40,000 square feet will allow for the
relocation of its operations in Logan,
Utah. The move is scheduled to be complete by Dec. 1. The Logan facility will be
closed as of March 31, 2006.
“Consolidation of our Utah and Sacramento operations will enable Barco
to improve internal efficiency for the
Media and Entertainment Division,” says
Mike Jones, vice president of Barco Media and Entertainment, North America.
Completion of construction at the
Sacramento facility will bring the total
working space to just more than 80,000
square feet, making the Sacramento
facility the North American headquarters for Barco Media, Events and Digital
Cinema groups.
40
PLSN december 2005
www.PLSN.com
NEWS
LED Sculptures, Massive Projections
Spice Up TV Guide Party in Hollywood
Showpro was brought in to light the event.
Lighting designer David Flad of Showpro lit
the trendy Tropicana pool area at the Roosevelt with color wash and breakup patterns.
Missy Elliot performed live and was lit with
Martin MAC 2000 wash and spot fixtures.
Two 15-story projections were put on the
rear façade of the hotel by projectionist Ben
Cobb with Hardware Xenon 7K projectors.
The front of the hotel and the adjacent TV
Guide building facing Hollywood Boulevard
were painted with Vari*Lite VL3000s and
Martin MAC 2000s displaying graphics
with full-color litho gobos. Massive LED
sculptures were placed around the main
stage, flanking the DJ and on two vertical
columns. Warren Tash of AV Concepts
provided image magnification.
David Smith, president of Showpro, states,
“Tony had a concept for giving this premiere a
unique ambiance and wanted multiple display
options to support the fact that the well
known publication was going to be bigger in
its physical size. My creative team decided to
support it with massive scenic, large-format
projections and lighting on the building and
hotel areas along with LED sculptures.”
HOLLYWOOD, CA—TV Guide announced
and premiered its new larger-format magazine in grand style at the classic Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel. Producer Tony Schubert
of Event 11 wanted to “make something
large and big, use the buildings and grand
landscape of the classic hotel to make a
statement with high impact lighting, scenic
projection and LED sculptures.”
www.PLSN.com
PLSN december 2005
41
Healthy
Concerns
THEBIZ
T
he automotive industry shares more
with the lighting industry than a recent
fascination with LEDs. Cars and their
manufacturers have long been considered a
bellwether in American business and culture.
The phrase “what’s good for General Motors
is good for America” wasn’t so artfully constructed when it was attributed to Charles
Wilson, former president of the car maker
and President Eisenhower’s nominee in 1953
for Secretary of Defense—he was under fire
for owning a lot of the company’s stock at a
time when they made many types of military
vehicles. But it remains in current use in
general because it so accurately captures the
relationship between business and society
here, and more specifically, because General
Motors recently told 750,000 of its employees that it was going to cut their medical
benefits as part of a financial restructuring in
the face of declining sales and profits.
Short of General Electric or Philips, there’s
no single entity in the lighting industry
that’s on par with GM, and GE and other
luminous luminaries are more bulb makers
than lighting systems innovators. So it might
seem as though there’s little or no connection between what the maker of Cadillac and
Chevy does about anything and what goes
on in the lighting business. But as issues like
free-trade agreements (notice the Chinese
presence in lighting lately?) and environmental regulations (it now costs a lot more
to play with cadmium and other metals in
California and Europe) have proven, in a
global economy, six degrees of separation is
a cushion that no longer exists.
42
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.biz.rg.indd 42
The General Motors announcement is
emblematic of the state of the issue vis-à-vis
the American industry. GM lost $4 billion in
2005 and has already announced plans to
cut 25,000 jobs. That is not only a barometer
of an economy in contraction, but also of the
But looked at in the context of scale,
the numbers become more manageable:
$1 billion divided by nearly three-quarters
of a million workers comes out to less than
$2,000 per employee. In fact, the union
estimate of what the move will actually cost
GM lost $4 billion in 2005 and
has already announced plans to
cut 25,000 jobs. That is not only
a barometer of an economy in
contraction, but also of
the relative power of unions
in America.
relative power of unions in America, which, in
the case of the United Auto Workers, huffed
and puffed but could not alter reality, save
the jobs or keep GM from shifting $1 billion
worth of future medical and insurance costs
onto their remaining employees.
each employee is about $150 per month.
That’s not to diminish the burden it places on
individuals, but spreading the costs of medical coverage more widely does make the
load easier to carry and helps make industry
more competitive, particularly since the locations where many of the jobs are going are
countries where medical coverage costs are
borne by governments, not companies and
individuals.
This realization is underscored by the
grudging support that autoworkers’ union
locals have given GM’s move. Art Luna, president of union Local 602 in Lansing, Mich.,
voiced certain reservations, but ultimately
said he supported the agreement. “We don’t
just have an obligation to the workers; we
have an obligation to the communities we
live in,” Luna said. “The auto industry is very
competitive, and sometimes we have to do
things to help the company along because
we as a labor union cannot be successful if
the company isn’t successful.”
Lighting entrepreneurs understand the
dynamic that insurance of all types brings
to the table. George Studnicky, president
of Creative Stage Lighting in upstate New
York, noted, “As employers in general, we all
need to be competitive with our employee
benefits. This requires us to not only offer
By DanDaley
the coverage, but to provide a substantially
comprehensive plan—perhaps a layered
plan consisting of overlapping coverage that
considers both short and long term needs.
What is amazing—in our state, anyway—is
that unemployment pays more than disability, by a factor of three or four to one in some
cases. It seems that the disability amounts
are long overdue for inflationary adjustments and no one, or perhaps not enough
people, are keying in on this. Recognizing
these types of disparities causes an employer
to consider adding additional coverage for
these scenarios.”
Right, but what’s the reaction when you
consider that U.S.-based lighting makers and
distributors have to compete against rivals
from areas where either there is not a more
highly-evolved sense of market-driven altruism (i.e., an insured employee is a productive
employee), or where governments provide
more than the barest safety-net care, and
only for its poorest citizens? To expect individual companies to step up and solve that
problem is an invitation to compounding the
disaster that health care in the U.S. already is.
Individuals have a variety of health care
and related options available to them, few of
which are especially good, and all of which
cost an increasing amount of money out of
pocket. Lighting professionals, like others
that can join professional organizations, have
some additional options. IATSE, for instance,
offers medical insurance products to its
membership. But getting the union card for
entertainment crafts unions in certain key
markets, like New York and Los Angeles, is
not a slam dunk by any means.
As much as the entrepreneurial mind—
be it the mind of a company president or
a self-employed LD—resists the notion,
some basic level of universal health care is
going to have to be initiated by the federal
government—the same government that
negotiates trade agreements that directly
affect those same CEOs and LDs. The practical arguments for this are undeniable. For
instance, how many employees stay at jobs
that don’t allow them to move on to attain
their full potential simply because they fear
losing health benefits? Remove that fear, and
think of all the creativity and entrepreneurship that could result.
How to accomplish national health coverage and avoid the pitfalls of sloppy management and increased taxes is going to take
a lot of inspiration and work. But somewhere,
somehow, it’s going to start with a light bulb
going on over someone’s head.
www.PLSN.com
12/1/05 5:52:12 PM
100.0512.Ads.ss.indd 43
12/1/05 6:09:12 PM
VIDEO PRODUCTS
»
»
16x9 Coco-DVL
Power Converter
16x9 Inc.’s new Coco-DVL Power
Converter is a compact method of
drawing voltage from Sony NPF970
series batteries to simultaneously operate the camera and professional
12V accessories. Teamed with the new
Lux-DV camera light, Coco-DVL provides a power and lighting solution
for Sony camcorders like the HVR-Z1U,
HDR-FX1, VX-1000/2000 series and
DSR PD150/170. The unit snaps on
in place of the 7.2V NPF battery, which attaches to the converter’s docking plate. It transfers
7.2V of power and Info-Lithium data from the battery to the camera while converting 7.2V
to 12V. The runtime in record mode with a 10-watt Lux light is approximately 135 minutes.
16x9 Inc. • 818.972.2839 • www.16x9inc.com
»
Doremi Labs is shipping its new
HDG-20 HD and SD Video Test Generator that replaces the HDG-10 and
adds several new features. The HDG20’s new features include sync input
to genlock the unit to an external
sync source, a PC and MAC software
GUI for serial remote control and new
video patterns. It also features a fiveto 18-volt input range to facilitate
connection to a battery pack. The
palm-sized unit features still patterns
and moving test patterns in SD and
HD formats at full broadcast quality.
It also outputs audio tone, time code
and closed-caption characters.
Doremi Labs Inc. • 818.562.1101 • www.doremilabs.com
TIR Systems Destiny
Wizard Design Software
TIR Systems has released its Destiny Wizard
lighting design tool for calculating the illuminance
distribution of solid state lighting products from
TIR Systems. Developed by IES fellow Ian Ashdown,
Destiny Wizard is simplified to meet the needs of
lighting specifiers, engineers and sales representatives by providing immediate specifications of
products for their projects. Destiny Wizard enables the user to develop accurate lighting designs quickly for TIR’s LED-based products. The software can accurately render any of 16 million
colors, enabling the designer to choose from a range of available LED colors rather than inaccurate computer default colors. It is available for download at no charge from www.tirsys.com.
TIR Systems • 800.663.2036 • www.tirsys.com.
Doremi Labs
HDG-20
»
Altinex
DA203-101
Line Driver
The DA203-101 from Altinex is
a multipurpose RGBHV line driver,
ground loop isolator and sync processor. Engineered for custom signal
alignment, the unit handles cable
runs up to 300 feet, but is compact
and streamlined, fitting virtually anywhere in a system. Installed between
equipment with different power
sources, the DA203-101 eliminates
ground loop problems, combines
horizontal and vertical sync into composite sync or splits composite sync
into separate horizontal and vertical sync.
Altinex • 800.258.4639 • www.altinex.com
»
Sharp XGMB50X DLP
Projector
Sharp Electronics’ new XG-MB50X
is a full-featured XGA resolution
projector. The XG-MB50X combines
Texas Instruments’ DDR DLP technology for enhanced picture quality with a condenser lens optical
system for brighter, more accurate
color reproduction. With built-in RS232C connectivity, it can be monitored and operated from anywhere.
It features 2,000 ANSI lumens, a native 1,024 x 768 XGA resolution and a unique condenser
lens optical system. It creates more natural-looking skin tones via a timing color wheel
that increases power to the lamp as it passes through the red segment of the color wheel.
Sharp Electronics Corporation • 866.484.7825 • www.sharpLCD.com
44
PLSN december 2005
100.0512.VideoProducts.JH.indd 44
www.PLSN.com
12/2/05 5:44:34 PM
COMPARISON SHOPPING
in Las Vegas
T
he last time out we talked about how
television is moving towards HDTV,
that El Dorado of the videophile. In
the process of trying to come to grips with
both terminology and its reality, I went to
several national and regional electronics
retail chains and looked at new TVs. I did
this mostly in the confines of the San Fernando Valley where I reside in Los Angeles,
but an unexpected turn of events landed
me an evening off before a gig in fabulous
Las Vegas.
I was in Sin City to Webcast an event
called Vegoose. There were several stages
at this “jam band” festival, and it required a
large crew. That meant I would have several
video engineers in one place. It was the perfect time in which to gather various opinions
about their likes and dislikes about all the
different ways to display HDTV. Mind you,
this was not a plot or a conceived plan, just
dumb, blind, hillbilly luck!
Attempting to get out of the casino
we were staying in and wandering around
aimlessly at nine o’clock at night (isn’t the
music business exciting?), I found myself at
a Best Buy in Vegas with Rick Popham and
Eric “Eroc” Lee, two accomplished touring
video engineers who have done well over
the last dozen-plus years of riding tour buses.
It occurred to me to ask their opinions about
these new consumer HDTVs while I had
them in front of a wall of video.
The different types of HDTV offered
today are basically plasma displays, LCD displays, LCD projection, DLP projection and the
old, standard tube televisions. Rick had lost
interest in looking at DVDs and wandered
over to find me staring at a wall of similar
images. We stared for a bit in silence, which
was only broken by a 20-year-old salesman
asking Rick if he needed to know anything
about TVs. The continued silence and stare
from both of us scarred him for life, I’m sure.
Then Rick started telling me about his own
research to fill his media room at home with
a bit of new technology he wanted—one
of these newfangled HDTVs! Rick is very
thorough about almost anything to do with
technology, and he told me he had used
the AVS forums on the Web to research this
upcoming purchase. Rick prefers the plasma
technology and cited its 60,000-hour lifespan
and the great contrast and black levels. He
also said that the problem of plasma screens
“burning” an image into the screen had
been very much improved. So Popham was
onboard to buy a plasma. The young sales
steward came by again, and halfway through
his second attempt at completing a sentence, Rick turned to him and said, “Go away.”
Video guys 2, Best Buy 0.
Then Rick suggested that I Google the
website (www.avsforum.com) and draw my
own conclusions. Already, I’ve gained some
knowledge! I have started reading it lately
and found that it is a good place to get a
feel for the possibilities available for a media
space in the home.
We continued to look at more TVs. At
this point, Eric Lee joined the fray. Earlier in
the week, I had been at a social gathering of
video engineers at the pad of James George,
or “Video Jesus” as we call him. (He looks like
he’s from Damascus and he’s very smart.)
George has a wealth of knowledge in the
touring world, having directed Metallica,
operated cameras, engineered, done Flame
and Inferno work for the movie biz in post
houses and even A.D.’d for me on the big,
silly Britney tour in 2001. His engineer in Europe, Park Seward, was raving about his new
Mitsubishi DLP 1,080-pixel projection display.
So I dragged our group around the corner
to see that model. It was impressive. Now,
there is nothing in today’s world that is shot
in 1,080 pixels—no cameras that can shoot it,
no televisions that can receive it, and for that
matter, no bandwidth that can hold it!
So how is it that there is a 1,080 progressive scan TV? The signal is up-converted inside the DLP TV and gives the eye the illusion
of 1,080-pixel HDTV. And even though I’m
sure “real” 1,080-pixel TV would look much
more amazing, especially if it was shot with
a camera from the future that was capable
of capturing the format, what I saw was just
fantastic. Every videophile should go see one
of these new products, which is made with
technology from Texas Instruments. Mitsubishi, Toshiba and a select few other manufacturers market the product. But as with any
projection display, once you move off of the
center axis, or “sweet spot,” it loses clarity and
brightness. I do have to say though, that in
that “sweet spot,” its color, contrast and black
levels rivaled anything I have seen. By this
time, a small pack of young Best Buy sales
associates had begun to eavesdrop on our
musings. They figured that our discussion
might help them sell TVs.
Eric began to talk about the mirrored
projection that makes these new LCD and
DLPs possible. Then, being an old GE Light
Valve Op, he suggested that on his next
television purchase, he might just forgo the
chain stores and buy a projector for the same
amount you’d put into one of these $4,000
TVs and use a separate tuner and audio
source. “Eroc” always was a “street engineer.”
The LCD flat-panel displays look fantastic
as well. While the contrast and black levels
are not as good as plasma, they are getting
better. But in general, the sizes they come in
are still not as big as a plasma display. The
biggest I have seen is a 42-inch model.
But where HDTV really shines is in a welllit room. At midday with the windows open,
the picture looks great from all angles. These
are very bright TVs. Their distant cousin, the
LCD projection display, is a great buy for the
money. It has the same characteristics as the
flat-panel LCD, but as you move to the side,
you lose the “sweet spot,” but not as bad as
with the DLP, I thought. If cheap and cheerful
are what you are looking for, the LCD projection display is your product.
As our quest ended, we passed the
gaggle of sales associates surrounding their
supervisor asking questions about “interlaced scan,”“progressive scan” and pixel
count. Obviously, Rick and Eric had stirred
the pot in Best Buy’s TV section. The last type
of display we looked at before our departure
was the old, reliable tube television. Rick
looked at me and said, “Those sales kids can
talk about new technology all they want,
but nothing looks as good as a tube TV.” Eric
nodded at us both and said, “Yep.”
As we left the store, Eric said to me, “Hey
man, I bet those sales kids think we’re some
kind of video gods or something.”
“Yes,” I said, “or just weird.”
“Yeah, we are pretty weird,” Eric said as
we walked into the lit strip mall at night.
The format change to HDTV is still
underway, and soon, it will be upon us. It’s a
government-forced issue, and even though
it makes sense to have a better TV format, it
costs money. So it has been a relatively slow
process to covert, both with the public and
with television broadcasters. But everyone
does seem to be onboard. This is true of
the touring video business as well. An HD
flightpack (or PPU in Europe) is an expensive
proposition. But as a video director, I want
to see the best picture I can, and I hope it
will prevail in the touring video world. Yes, it
costs a lot of money to build, but once the
artists and audiences see it, then there’s no
going back.
Mark Haney is a video director who is currently on tour with Kenny Chesney. He can be
reached at [email protected].
www.PLSN.com
By Mark
MarkHaney
MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS
DISTRIBUTION PRODUCTS
ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION
VALUE - ADDED SERVICES
SERVICES
fear and
VIDEO DIGERATI
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
45
Atomic Design Wafer Wall
PRODUCTGALLERY
SoftGoods
By RichardCadena
M
agazine editors and zoo keepers
like to compartmentalize things;
elephants and monkeys in one
cage, giraffes and zebras in another. For
most of the products and services offered
by the entertainment industry, the Product
Gallery offers a convenient vehicle to
display their wares. The size, shape, color
and features of all those products you
like to read about line up perfectly in the
little squares and make it easy to compare
and contrast.
Soft goods, it seems, are a different
animal. Because the raw material is just
the start of a drapery or drop, some soft
goods suppliers felt they couldn’t accurately
reflect their products and services in our
Product Gallery. However, we wanted to
provide a starting point for the design and
implementation of draperies and drops, so
we designed this Product Gallery as
best we could.
When you need to dress up a set with a
main traveler, a valence, borders, legs, scrims,
cycs or whatever, the first step is to identify
some good sources for the goods and service
provider. Then, you need to find out the weight,
fire safety features, color availability and cost.
Since almost every situation is different, these
are custom products made from standard
materials, and every job is priced on availability
based on the type and the amount of material
used, plus other features such as the type of
seam, the use of grommets, etc. It’s a tough nut
to crack, but PLSN has never shied away from
tough assignments. This is just the beginning.
In the end, it comes down to communicating
your needs to the supplier, but this will give
you a head start. So, with that said, here’s this
month’s Product Gallery on soft goods.
Manufacturer Web Address
or Distributor
Fabric Name
Weight per
Linear Yard
in Ounces
Width in
Inches
Fiber Content
ASI Production
Services, Inc.
www.asiprod.com
Velour
16 oz - 25 oz
54”
100% cotton
ASI Production
Services, Inc.
www.asiprod.com
Commando
54” - 118”
100% cotton
ASI Production
Services, Inc.
www.asiprod.com
Duvetyn
8 oz
54” - 118”
100% cotton
Atomic Design
www.atomicdesign.tv
Wafer Wall
16 oz per panel
24” x 24”
Stretch tex & carbon fiber rods
Atomic Design
www.atomicdesign.tv
Dim Scrim
1,280 oz per panel
288” x 240”
Stretch tex & fiberglass rods
Atomic Design
www.atomicdesign.tv
Pillow Wall
8 oz per panel
24” x 24”
Screen & polyfill
Dazian Fabrics
www.dazian.com
Trapeze Plus
14.67 oz
122”
90% Avora Plus polyester/10% Lycra
Dazian Fabrics
www.dazian.com
Milano Velvet
16 oz
60”
100% polyester
Dazian Fabrics
www.dazian.com
Blackout Satin
13 oz
58”
100% polyester
Gerriets
International
www.gi-info.com
Seamless Muslin
6 oz per
square yard
Up to 492”
wide
100% cotton
Gerriets
International
www.gi-info.com
Isolde
2.8 oz per
square yard
Up to 468”
wide
100% cotton
Gerriets
International
www.gi-info.com
Megastretch
2.8 oz per
square yard
178.8”
Trevira CS
I. Weiss
www.iweiss.com
Majestic and Princess Velour
25 oz and
16 oz
54”
Cotton
I. Weiss
www.iweiss.com
Charisma
25 oz and
16 oz
54”
Synthetic
I.Weiss
www.iweiss.com
Sharkstooth Scrim
216”, 372”,
420”
Cotton
Quest Drape
www.questdrape.com
White Twill
144”
Poly/Twill
Quest Drape
www.questdrape.com
16 oz Velour
144”
Velour
Quest Drape
www.questdrape.com
20 oz Velour
144”
Velour
Rose Brand
www.rosebrand.com
Apollo
13 oz
54”
Synthetic
Rose Brand
www.rosebrand.com
Double Stretch
6 oz
59”
Synthetic
Rose Brand
www.rosebrand.com
Trevira Silk & Crushed
Trevira Silk
3 oz
58”, 52”
Synthetic
Sew What? Inc.
www.sewwhatinc.com
Masking Drapes—
Commando Cloth
N/A
N/A
100% cotton
Sew What? Inc.
www.sewwhatinc.com
Digital Printing Services—Various
substrates available including
outdoor fabrics and shade mesh
N/A
N/A
Various
Vision Fabrication
and Design
www.visionfab.com
Show Stopper
28 oz
64”
Polyester blend
46
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
www.PLSN.com
Rose Brand Trevira Silk
Atomic Design Pillow Wall
Flame
Retardancy
No. of Colors
Available
Retail price
Comments
FR
15+
Call for price
FR
5+
Call for price
FR
6
Call for price
IFR
1
$15/panel
New product. 2’ x 2’ panels designed to be linked to create any size wall. Ties onto truss or pipe via grommets
and ties. Lightweight & flexible.
IFR
2
$1,350/panel
Ties onto truss or pipe via grommets and ties.
IFR
1
$10/panel
2’ x 2’ panels designed to be linked to create any size wall. Ties onto truss or pipe via
grommets and ties.
IFR
16
$22.95 - $26.95
PFR
6
$10.50 - $12.50
IFR
6
$8.95 - $7.95
IFR
2
P.O.A.
IFR
3
P.O.A.
IFR
3
P.O.A.
FR
40
P.O.A.
IFR
40
P.O.A.
FR
5
P.O.A.
Yes
3
Yes
6
Yes
2
IFR
8 & custom
$14.50
IFR
2
$14.75
IFR
13
$11.56 & $14.94
FR
1
$360
Masking drapes—20’ x 20’ black FR commando cloth. Seamed vertically, unlined. Webbing, grommets and ties
top, hemmed sides and lined hem bottom. Chain weight available at
additional charge.
Various
N/A
Call for price
Digital printing services—Any size available. Various substrates available including outdoor fabrics and shade
mesh.Quotes available at no charge and fast turnaround times.
NFPA 701
14
Call for price
Also available: Curtains, backdrops, printed backdrops, fiber-optic curtains and Soft-LED™.
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
47
roadtest
High End Systems
Studio
Command
By NookSchoenfeld
L
ighting manufacturer High End Systems
out of Austin, Tex., has put a twist on
their popular Color Command lighting
fixture. They have built a new moving light
that is similar in appearance to this model,
but it does a lot more. They added an arc
lamp, put a moving yoke on it and made it
almost silent.
I found the instrument to move smoothly
at all speeds with no noticeable jittering at
slow speeds. It does pan relatively fast and
can stop on a dime. It executes a circle effect
at a fast speed effortlessly. It has the typical
540º of pan and 240º of tilt.
The color system is built with CMY
(cyan, magenta and yellow) dichroic mixing
color flags. They appear to bump faster
than most other wash lights out there. The
fixture executes color chases at a fast speed
without bogging down, which is impressive.
The cyan flag does not appear as saturated
(to my eye) as in other HES fixtures, but
that is easily overcome by adding a hint of
magenta. The Congo blue color is nice and
rich. It almost achieves a true red mix. I also
noticed the color mixing system is very
quiet. On the downside, it does not have a
fixed color wheel.
The light from the lamp is bounced
from the rear reflector and passes through
the color flags and through an interesting,
unique front lens. This lens is “a patented
lenticular condenser optical system array,”
to quote High End’s Web site. To me, it looks
like a unique way to shape the beam and
keep the halation down as the light beam
exits the fixture. (It is also reminiscent of
the VL5 dichroic color-mixing system, which
48
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
resembles axial
turbine blades.
– Ed.)
If you stare at the
front of the lens while
you roll color flags in
and out, you will notice
parts of the lens changing color while another part
stays white. Add one of the
other color flags, and you will
notice the white parts of the lens
adapting to that color. This may
bother some, but I like it. While the
light output is a perfect mix of color,
the lens itself looks like two different
colors.
The power supply is the same as the
Studio Beam fixture, and they are interchangeable. It has a self-sensing voltage
feature that accepts any voltage between
100 and 240 volts. The bulb shipped with
the fixture is the Philips MSR 700 with a
color temp of 5200K, which is the lamp that
I tested. But the fixture will also support
the MSR/2 bulb, which has a color temp
of 7200K. This baby is painfully bright in
open white. My meter read 700 footcandles
in open white from 20 feet away with the
beam zoomed tight. The cyan and green
colors knocked the color down to 225 footcandles, which is more than adequate. The
magenta flag cuts the output down to 65
footcandles from the same distance.
The strobe functions of this fixture are
phenomenal. They have exceeded all other
fixtures with the variations of strobe you
can achieve. They have a lightning effect as
well as a cool, fast half-bright sync strobe
that reminds me of an old cinema projector. The fixture also has the lamp-boosting
“Light Burst” effect, the same effect loved by
Studio Beam users.
The reflector inside the instrument
moves, creating the zoom effect from a hot
tight spot to a medium size beam. The beam
angle is listed at 8º to 13º and the field angle
zooms from 18º to 32º, which it does very
fast. The dimmer is also smooth and linear,
and a fade to black is executed flawlessly.
This moving light is well-suited for the
concert touring business; its sturdy construction will survive long hours of road rigor. Its
compact size is handy for pre-rigged trussing, and at 55 pounds, it’s just six pounds
heavier than a Studio Beam. The fixture is
small and nice-looking, perfect for floor light
applications. It will be a valuable asset to
anyone who does trade shows. The hot white
www.PLSN.com
light
with
an adjustable color
temperature is
ideal for auto shows
or lighting any product
from a long throw. The
only cons I see would be the
constant attention to intensity
levels for a programmer doing TV
work. The light output can be overly
bright. The best part of this fixture is the
strobing effects and the perfect movement.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail
price is competitive at $6,000.
What it is: High End Systems Color
Command
Who it’s for: Anyone with a mediumsized budget needing color wash and
beam effects, particularly for concert/
touring, floor lighting, corporate events,
auto shows or long-throw applications.
Pros: Very quiet, smooth movement,
fast pan and tilt, stops quickly, fast color
bumps, good Congo blue and red, autovoltage sensing, very bright, excellent
strobing effects.
Cons: Cyan color not too saturated, no
color wheel.
How much: $6,000 MSRP
WELCOMETOMYNIGHTMARE
Don’t Make
a Stink
on the Road
W
hat started as a normal seven-trailer
load-out ended in a big stink. Earlier
that day, a member of the headlining band had to “lighten his load,” so to
speak. Everybody in the industry knows that
you don’t do “number two” on the bus, so
he respectfully deferred until we got to the
venue. It just so happened that the dressing room he chose to use belonged not to
him or his band, but to the lead singer of the
opening band.
Load-in and setup went on as planned,
that is, until the opening band and the lead
singer arrived and went to their dressing
rooms. Said singer went in to find a horrible
stench. “What the...? I’m a rock star,” he
surmised. “This is unacceptable,” he ranted.
“My room should smell like roses and be
trimmed in gold.” When he caught word
that a member of the headlining band was
the guilty party, he was very upset. After the
show, he confronted Mr. Number Two on the
loading docks.
When confronted, the culprit admitted
to his action and acknowledged the problem. “But we’re all in this together,” he said.
“We work together every day and I have to
put up with your rock star attitude, but I still
make you look good.” So a fight ensued, and
the entire crew of the headlining act went
at it with the crew of the opening act. The
next thing you know, the cops showed up
while Mr. Lead Singer was taking punches
like a punching bag.
It was a very sad load-out that night, and
it seemed to drag on forever. Needless to say,
the opening band was
booted off the tour
and the headlining
act is still on the road.
The lesson is, if you’re a
newly emerging artist
and you’re opening for
an established act, perhaps it’s a good idea
to respect the people
you work for and the
crew who sets up their
rig every night. Don’t
put up a stink even if
someone else does.
Alex Council
Bandit Lites
INTHETRENCHES
President, Zigmont Magic
F/X Inc./Fireworks Florida
Brandon, FL
813.689.6269
[email protected]
www.effectspecialist.com
Quote:
You get what you pay for!
Services Provided:
Special effects, pyrotechnic displays, fireworks, atmospheric special effects, indoor
falling snow, propane flames, C02 jets,
confetti custom effects, propane bars.
Clients:
Warner Bros., House of Blues, Summer Bay
Resorts Orlando, CFI/Westgate Resorts
Orlando, the Florida Flames, the FedEx
Orange Bowl, Super Bowl XXXIX, NFL Coaches Association Golf Classic, IBM Corporation,
NASCAR’s 27th Annual 2005 Nextel Cup
Budweiser Shootout, the UnGala Gala at the
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
Personal Info:
I am the owner of Magic F/X, an effects
specialist based in Tampa, Fla. My career
began with producing award-winning
theatrical illusion production shows using
stage pyrotechnics and special effects
within the show. In 1988, I produced a
million-dollar mega illusion show called
Night Magic at the Reno Hilton Hotel, and in
2001, won the IAAPA best mention award for
a run at the PKI theme park Forbidden Magic.
Hobbies:
SuperChexx bubble hockey, collecting
Doug Henning and David Copperfield
posters.
Equipment:
PyroPak, Pyromate, Snowmaters, Sigma
Services, RES, NextFX, Santore.
Don’t Leave Home Without:
SureFire flashlight.
www.PLSN.com
Steve Zigmont
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
49
PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT
Ocean
Optics
SeaChanger
By RichardCadena
O
cean Optics is full, it seems, of surprises. The electro-optics company
first appeared on the entertainment
industry radar in the late 1980s or early ‘90s,
but unless you happened to be in the market
for a spectrometer or your favorite magazine
was Photonics Spectra, you might not have
known it. Over the years, they have grown
steadily, increased their range of products
and services to include such interesting
items as linear variable dichroic filters and
they have continued to surprise and delight
us. Their latest offering is a new dichroic color
changer with a twist.
The SeaChanger Color Engine is a CMYG
color-mixing system, which uses a variation of the Pantone Hexachromic printing
process, for ETC Source Four fixtures.
Hexachrome is a patented printing process developed by Pantone that uses cyan,
magenta and yellow, plus black, orange and
green. It is designed to produce prints with
an expanded color gamut. The SeaChanger
uses cyan, magenta yellow and green. The
idea is to enhance the color gamut by adding what Ocean Optics calls “Extreme Green”
to the CMY color mix. In practice, it deepens
the saturation of the range of colors in the
color-mixing system.
The first thing I noticed about this piece
of kit is that it has an integral power supply
and it takes DMX512 directly without having
to use an external black box. You can mount
it on a Source Four, plug in the fixture and
the color changer, plug in the DMX512 data
cable and you’re ready to go. The entire
package is self-contained and very compact.
Ironically, it took a company with a background in studying the ocean to finally offer
an integrated color-changer solution. They
seem to get it.
The unit is 11 inches tall, almost seven
inches wide, a little over 10 inches long and
weighs about 12 pounds. It fits in between
the lens and lamp housing in a Source Four
and it’s very easy to assemble. The 18-page
user manual says that you don’t need any
50
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
tools to assemble
it, but if the yoke is
on very tight you
will need a wrench,
which is not unreasonable to ask of a
lighting tech.
There is an LED
display at the front of
the unit that indicates
the current DMX512
address or, alternatively, one of several
built-in sequences for
demonstration and
other functions. The
menu is very simple
to operate; you simply push the button
under the digit and
it rolls over to the
next number from
zero to nine. There are
three digits and three
buttons. It takes six
channels to operate remotely—cyan,
magenta, yellow,
green, color change
speed and a control
channel. The green
channel can optionally be replaced with
a dimmer. The prospect of eliminating
an electronic dimmer
channel sounds compelling; unfortunately,
I didn’t have the opportunity to see this in
action. If it works well, that alone might be
worth the price of admission. The control
channel allows you to reset each of the four
wheels individually, all together at once, or to
put it in demo mode.
On the surface, the color mixing appears
to be flawless. It’s very smooth with complete
uniformity. I could detect no aberrations in
the field when the lens of the Source Four is
properly focused to a soft edge. The colors
are a bit on the pastel side, although the
Extreme Green does increase the saturation
a bit. It would be nice if there were more
saturation in the red and magenta. The blue
end of the spectrum is also a bit on the
pastel side, but that’s to be expected with an
incandescent source.
The unit is very quiet. There is no fan
noise and a minimum of motor noise. You literally have to put your ear very close to it in
order to hear it. Even with several units oper-
www.PLSN.com
ating at once, I doubt that anyone could hear
them changing color if they’re at trim. On
the downside, the maximum speed of color
change seems to be about two seconds for
a fade from no color to full color. As far as I
can tell, there is no ability to do color bumps.
Also, when I programmed a slow crossfade of
about seven or more seconds from one color
to another, I had to adjust the speed control
channel to keep it from looking steppy and
prevent it from having a strobing effect. On
faster color fades, it is very smooth.
Internally, the unit is very solid. It has an
electronic switch-mode power supply and
it uses Microchip Technology microcontrollers, one for each stepper motor, and ST
Microelectronics dual full-bridge stepper
motor drivers. The four stepper motors are
Minebea Matsushita stepper motors. The
gradient color wheels are very finely etched,
which translates to very precise color
change and the ability to make very subtle
changes in color.
It also has RDM capability built-in, so
that when it is approved and RDM consoles
start appearing on the market, they will
be able to send and receive commands to
and from the unit. It will provide the ability
to set the address, configure the display,
change color according to gel equivalent
numbers and more.
The SeaChanger retails for $1,995 and
it comes complete with everything you
need to get started changing color with
a Source Four. Since the Source Four is the
single most popular ERS fixture on the
market, you’re likely to see these color
changers at a shop near you. It’s a great
solution for color mixing with a nice uniform
field and a smooth transition.
Ocean Optics
Tel: 727.733.2447
www.oceanoptics.com
0512.Parnelli. F-P.ad.indd 51
12/2/05 7:19:19 PM
FOCUSONTECHNOLOGY
Going to the
Library
By RichardCadena
“Imagination is more important than
knowledge.”
– Albert Einstein
I
didn’t exactly walk to school barefoot through the snow, uphill both
ways, as the fabled stories go, but I do
remember a time not so long ago when
automated lighting was in its infancy
and there was no such thing as a fixture
library. Up until it became standard fare
to include the DMX512 protocols of every
automated luminaire known to mankind
in a console, automated lighting controllers were either dedicated to specific
fixtures or they were generic controllers
for no particular fixture, neither of which
were overly concerned about including
DMX512 protocols for the universe of
automated lighting.
Automated fixtures of the time were
relatively simple. The first one I had
experience with was the Coemar Robot.
It had four channels—pan, tilt, color and
gobo. That’s it. When High End built the
first Intellabeam, it used a total of seven
control channels. But you wouldn’t know it
by reading the user manual; the DMX512
channel count was so unimportant that
it wasn’t even mentioned. That’s because
there were few, if any, generic consoles at
the time, and the dedicated Intellabeam
LED Controller handled all the channel allocation internally.
Contrast that with the automated luminaires of today, and you can begin to understand how complex these machines are
getting. I was recently involved in a project
that had Robe Color Spot 575 AT fixtures
and I needed to create a personality in the
CAD lighting design software I was using.
The fixture uses 29 DMX512 channels, and
each channel might have several functions.
In the end, there are 224 individual pieces
of information, each with an individual
channel assignment and a range of values
from 0 to 255.
The mechanics of creating a fixture
personality, though it may take time to
create, are straightforward. You simply
assign the channel and a range of values
to a particular function and go on to the
next. How those functions are handled by
the console is another story. Is the function
best handled by a button, encoder, fader,
joystick or some other bit of hardware?
A color selection, for example, is best
ingenious creations of the late second millennium, are going to be more important
than ever, and those console developers
who are extremely careful about creating detailed and accurate fixture libraries
are the ones who will be most successful.
Already, there have been reports that in
the very first tour to use DL2s, there were
some issues with the fixture protocol in
the fixture library. They ended up switching to a console made by the manufacturer
of the DL2 because the protocol was more
accurate and detailed.
Sometime in the future, two new
protocols will help consoles deal with the
increasing complexity of automated luminaries: Remote Device Management (RDM)
and Architecture for Control Networks
(ACN). Both of these protocols have the
ability to “talk” to the controller and tell it
about the device that is connected to the
data line. In ACN, the Device Management
Protocol (DMP) uses a text-based language
Complexity in luminaires
makes console selection
all the more important.
52
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
100.0512.FocusOnTech.JH.indd 52
handled by a series of buttons or encoders
in the case of color mixing, but it might
not be ideally assigned to a joystick. Then
there’s the issue of real-world values. By
assigning channel numbers and ranges of
values, I still haven’t given the console any
information about its real-world value. For
example, if channel 4 is the strobe channel
and it varies linearly from 0 to 255, how
does the console know how to set the
strobe rate to seven flashes per second?
The answer is that is doesn’t. So we actually need more than our 224 pieces of
information.
Now comes the fun. Consider a digital
light with an onboard media server such
as the DL2. Suddenly we’ve gone from 29
channels—which, as recently as six months
ago, I thought was a huge number—to 170
channels per fixture, and each channel has
a number of individual functions. All told,
there are almost 1,000 individual functions
within those 170 channels. That’s a lot of
information by any measure.
How does that affect me, Joe Lighting
Designer? I submit that such complexity
in luminaires makes console selection all
the more important. Fixture libraries, those
to describe the characteristics of a device,
its properties and how they are used to
control that device. It not only describes
the function of an attribute, but also the
behavior of that attribute. For example,
the pan function might range from 0 to 65,
536—that’s the attribute. But it behaves by
panning from 0º to 540º. All of this information is included in the DMP.
When ACN will be finalized is anybody’s
guess. RDM should be approved within the
next year, but the information it provides
to the console is much more limited. Until
such time as the fixture explains exactly
what it is and how it works to the console,
be careful about choosing the right console for the job.
I think that within the next 10 years,
the new generation of lighting programmers will find it hard to believe that there
was actually a time when fixtures were
mute. Then you can tell them stories about
how you used to have to create your own
fixture personalities, barefoot in the snow,
uphill both ways.
Bi-directional communication starts here.
E-mail the author at [email protected].
www.PLSN.com
12/1/05 5:59:48 PM
100.0512.Ads.ss.indd 57
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PLSN December 2005
55
LDATLARGE
Fashionable
Lighting
N
obody who knows me can claim I am
a slave to fashion. I know little about
current trends and never update my
wardrobe. But what I do know, now, is how to
light a fashion show.
Up until this week, I’d never worked on
one. In fact, all I knew about lighting one
was from watching Christian Choi’s work on
the Victoria’s Secret fashion show that I saw
on television. I watched that show with the
sole intention of gathering useful lighting
tips for the future. (My wife didn’t buy that
line either.)
The show I was lighting was for a major
department store and it showcased the
latest work by a plethora of name designers. Lighting it sounded easy, except I found
out that fashion shows have more going on
then just models. The actual show consisted
of nine segments: A singer with a dance
troupe would segue into a line of hot summer clothes; motorcycles appeared out of
the dark; spoofs of West Side Story dancers;
dropping arches of lights à la Moulin Rouge
worked into a segment; banners of tall trees
dropped to the stage while models walked
through a forest of man-made snow falling
from the truss. Each of these was to be lit for
drama, but I made sure to never leave the
clothes in the dark.
I approached this show like most others
I design. I chose to “rock ‘n’ roll” light it. My
major intention was to keep the clothes lit,
but keep a lot of flash and glitz going on
the whole time and use the lighting as a
tool to keep the crowd pumped up. And it
worked. Looking at the audience last night, I
could not tell the difference between them
and an audience at a rock show.
There was a 120-foot long runway that
jutted out from a 60- by 30-foot stage. Over
the stage was a fly rail system to move
set pieces in and out. Any lights working
the stage area would have to hang off
of the carpentry trusses. But I was more
concerned with the runway. I felt I needed
to have some lights hung directly over the
center of the runway. Just as important, I
needed to side light the runway, but in a
way that I wouldn’t blind everyone in the
front rows while trying to light the talent.
This took some careful planning and consideration of trim heights, truss placement
and beam angles.
So one of the first things I did was contact the rigger for the show. My old friend
Rocky Paulsen from Stage Rigging was in
charge. He came up with a simple plan that
would work for me as well as the set designers and audio people. Besides the grid over
the stage, Rocky provided four straight long
trusses that ran parallel to the runway and
a section at the end that ran perpendicular
to all of them. Two of the trusses ran along
the edges of the runway and the other two
were over the bleachers, another 15 feet farther out. I then requested some sort of front
56
PLSN DECEMBER 2005
truss, which was necessary to hang enough
moving lights to illuminate the set and
model entrances. I had Rocky draw in the
places where he needed to hang various
motors and set pieces. Next, I had him draw
in where the audio folks wished to hang the
speakers and e-mail me the CAD drawings.
I received them and filled in all the
failed to properly light the clothing. Today’s
helpful hint: Listen to the guy who pays you,
not to the voices in your mind. That way, you
will be asked back next year.
Across my front truss, I hung a dozen
moving wash and hard-edge lights to work
the front stage and set pieces. In between
each moving fixture I hung a 2K Fresnel and
By NookSchoenfeld
For floor lighting, I wanted something
different. Moving lights on the runway
would be distracting as well as physically
hot. Marquee-style runway lighting with
little golf ball lights bore me. So I chose this
new Coemar product, the LED ParLite. It’s
a bright LED fixture housed in a PAR-style
body. These lights were the workhorse of
the show. They were plain sexy as a color
wash, but I had them running every kind
of chase available when I needed more
eye candy. Besides those, I placed a few
Martin MAC 600 wash lights on the stage to
silhouette models and fill some dark holes
in the set.
A lot of thought went into spotlights. I
would be calling them rather fast to keep
up with the models and their position on
the runway. I placed two spots on the side
of the room, about halfway up the runway.
They would capture the models as they first
entered. I then placed two more at the end
of the room—50 feet from the runway and
about 20 feet up in the air. These would pick
up models from the halfway point and walk
them to the end of the runway. Any more
than four spotlights would have been too
hard to call and keep hitting my cues on the
light console.
Last night, the producer gave me the
ultimate compliment. While they had
achieved beautiful lighting in the past, this
was “the first time they had ever had great
lighting and could see the clothes too.” I’ll
see them next fall.
E-mail the author at
[email protected].
[email protected]
existing empty spaces on the truss with as
many lighting fixtures as the budget would
allow. Per my usual design theme, I dedicate
certain areas of lights for specific purposes.
The first thing I did was ensure that no
matter what, I could maintain a perfectly
even wash of white light along the runway.
I did this by spacing ETC incandescent PARs,
every six feet along the two runway trusses.
I would focus these lights toward upstage
to light the front of the outfits. I thought of
these fixtures as emergency lights in case
the client ever came up to me and said,
“Hey, I can’t see the clothes!” One quick fade
up would silence them.
In between the runway trusse,s I hung a
pipe every 10 feet and placed a Martin MAC
2000 fixture on center. This allowed me to
have a beautiful row of lights with patterns
that the models could walk through. I used
the gobo patterns sparingly. One of the
producer’s pet peeves was that previous designers of this event always used too many
gobos. And while they looked great, they
a 19˚ Leko. The Fresnels were there to save
my butt should I ever need to light a whole
lot of people at once (I did). I used just two
Lekos for podium key lights.
I had to think about the bleacher trusses
for a couple days. I needed a quickmoving hard-edge light that I could use for
side light as well as open wide for audience
ballyhoos. It had to have zoom capabilities.
I chose High End Cyberlights. No moving yoke fixture can keep up with the fast
movement of this mirrored fixture. I placed
40 of these around the bleacher trusses.
Next, I had to figure out some key positions to highlight. We all know that models
walk to spots on the runway, stop, pirouette and walk away. My client pointed out a
half-dozen spots where the models would
be doing this. I focused Lekos on these
areas. I needed enough white light so that
a model could stand out in those positions, despite the fact that there would be
strobes, gobos and flashing colors going
on all around them.
www.PLSN.com
COMING NEXT
MONTH...
• Elton John’s
Red piano
Elton john’s
vegas show comes
to television—
and requires
a few lighting
adjustments
along the way.
• The woman
in white
andrew lloyd
webber’s newest
musical from the
west end to the
great white way
12/1/05 5:47:51 PM
12/1/05 5:48:56 PM

Stansfield, Lowey Among Parnelli Standouts

Transcription

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