If you went to PLASA 2009 at Earl’s Court in London looking for that whiz-bang- hallelujah got-to-have-it life-changing product on the show floor and you didn’t find it, maybe you aren’t looking hard enough. If the Next Big Thing (NBT) didn’t seem to materialize, it’s probably because the last NBT — LEDs, media servers and networking — are still unfolding before our very eyes.
To be sure, there were lots and lots of very cool new products at PLASA this year in every category of the industry. There was a plethora of LED color mixing wash fixtures, including those from Martin (MAC 301, MAC 401), JB Lighting (A7), GLP (Impression 120 RZ Zoom, Volkslicht), iPix (BB1, BB7), Studio Due, Chroma-Q Color Block 2 and Color Force 72 and many more. One of the new categories that is filling up fast are the competitors to the Color Kinetics ColorReach, including the PixelRange SkyLine, the Robe CitySkape (that’s not a typo — it’s spelled with a “k”) and CitySource 96 and the Griven PowerShine D. Among the most unique LED products is the Coemar Stage Lite LED, which is a two-cell cyc light with three automated tilting LED bars per cell (you can focus the light narrowly or spread it wide, depending on your needs) and the DTS XR300 Beam, a continuously rotating pan and tilt automated luminaire. Also very unique is the Vari-Lite VLX, a 630-watt LED color wash moving yoke fixture, although GLP is working a similar version, the Meisterstuck, and showed a prototype of it.
Several new automated lights made their debut, including Robe’s Robin Plasma Wash (which uses plasma lamp technology), ColorBeam 700, Robin 300E Beam, Spot and Wash and a new ColorSpot 1200E AT. Clay Paky has a new range of Alpha 1500 fixtures including a Profile, Spot HPE, Wash, Beam and Wash LT, and Vari-Lite showed new versions of the VL 500 and VL 1000, both with the new Philips CDM300 ceramic discharge lamp. Martin demonstrated the MAC 250 Beam with its pencil beams while Novalight showed a new Nova Flower. This list is certainly not inclusive, as many more automated lights were seen around the show floor.
On the control side, MA Lighting was showing the now-shipping version of the grandMA2, while Martin was very busy demonstrating their five Maxxyz modules, which can be arranged in custom configurations. Avolites had two new console offerings: the Tiger Touch, which is comparable to the Pearl 2004, except it has an integrated touch screen, and the Expert Touch Wing, which adds a touch screen interface to the Pearl Expert. ETC showed the Element console, which is more of an entry-level console for the theatrical sector, and they introduced new software versions for the Conga and Eos consoles. In Hall 2 there was a buzz around the LSC Clarity console. It has a well-designed GUI and lots of features. There is a PC and a Mac version and two optional wings: a small wing and a big wing. The software includes a pixel mapper and integrates media servers through CITP. Compulite showed their entire range of consoles including the new Violet and Ultra Violet, both of which have RDM capabilities.
And speaking of RDM, the RDM Pavilion has come a long way since last LDI. Peter Willis of Howard Eaton shepherded the interconnection of various Remote Device Management tools, controllers, splitters and devices that discover, configure and monitor lights, dimmers and scrollers over wired and wireless networks, including products from Doug Fleenor Design, Pathway Connectivity, Robe, Enttec, Artistic Licence, Goddard Design, Howard Eaton Lighting, Luminex LCE, ELC, LSC, City Theatrical, Zero 88, LED Team, iPix, Wybron, City Theatrical, Barco/High End Systems, PR Lighting, Martin, QMaxz, CDS Advanced Technology, Lumen Radio, LEDTeam, Novalight, Tempest Lighting, LDR, Ocean Optics and ETC. Paul McMaster of Zero 88 was on hand to demonstrate the RDM capabilities of the new Jester software. It can discover lights and automatically create a fixture profile for it using the information the fixture sends to the console. It then allows the console operator to identify the fixture by making it flash so you can set its DMX address from the console. Marcus Bengtsson of Lumen Radio demonstrated their wireless RDM transmitters and receivers, which includes some software to monitor the network and the status of the connected devices.
Over in the Martin stand they were demonstrating their own implementation of RDM called Radar. It was developed in conjunction with Wybron and uses Wybron’s InfoGate processor along with InfoStore software. The Radar software is run on a computer and it communicates with RDM-enabled lighting fixtures and devices like scrollers through the InfoGate processor and an RDM splitter. The software polls the fixtures and if there are any status messages to report back to the console, then the operator can spot them on the display screen and pull them up. It also stores them on a remote server and keeps a record of the values. The system is Internet-enabled, and you can monitor systems the world over. Martin is working on writing code that will enable users to update existing fixtures and all of their new fixtures will come with RDM capabilities.
After what seemed like a millennium of delay, it appears as if RDM is finally catching on. And when it really takes hold, watch for the whiz that will soon follow the bang.
To download a PDF with more photos and captions, CLICK HERE.
Clay Paky Knight of Illumination Awards
The second annual Knight of Illumination Awards, organized by Clay Paky in collaboration with the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and the Society of Television Lighting and Design (STLD), was held at the Ibis Hotel during PLASA 2009. The awards recognize lighting designers in theatre, touring and television. About 350 people attended, including lighting designers, manufacturers, rental companies, dealers, trade associations and media.
Stuart Gain (television), Durham Marenghi (touring), Rick Fisher (theatre) and John Watt (Lifetime Recognition Award) chaired the event. Among the guests were the Italian Consul General for London Uberto Vanni D’Archirafi, the CEO of PLASA Matthew Griffiths, the CEO of ABTT Mark White, the executive director of the Theatres Trust Mhora Samuel and Hans-Joachim Schwabe, Deputy Chairman and CEO of Osram, the official sponsor of the evening.
Among the 12 award-winning LDs were four TV LDs, four theatre LDs, three touring LDs and a special lifetime recognition award recipient. They were chosen from among 30 nominees by a panel of judges.
The winners were:
Television — Drama: John O’Brien for The Bill
Television — Entertainment: Chris Kempton for Jonathan Ross
Television — Musical Program: Will Charles for The Album Chart Show
Television — Events: Gurdip Mahal for BBC Sports Personality
Touring — Stage: Rob Sinclair for Goldfrapp
Touring — Arena: Davy Sherwin for Snow Patrol
Touring — “Eco Friendly Tour:” Andi Watson for Radiohead
Theatre — Dance: Michael Hulls for Eonnagata
Theatre — Opera: Adam Silverman for Peter Grimes
Theatre — Drama: Jon Clark for Three Days of Rain
Theatre — Musical: Kevin Adams for Spring Awakening
Lifetime Recognition: Mark White
