PLSN was saddened to learn of the death of Richard Bleasdale in late September. Bleasdale was introduced to Peter Wynne Willson and Tony Gottelier and collaborated with them in the creation of the Catalyst, which would eventually become the first media server. Wynne Willson and Gottelier’s original Catalyst combined a projector with a moving mirror, along with a media server allowed users to easily select, combine, and manipulate video images.
Bleasdale, who suffered a stroke in 2018, was well known for his work pushing the boundaries of controlling video imagery and media. Productions and clients he supported included The Latin Grammy Awards, Blue Man Group, Madonna, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, The Wynn Hotel and Casino, Lord of the Rings Toronto, Wicked The Musical New York and London, The New York Metropolitan Opera, and the 2012 Olympics in London. He also created SAM-SC, Serial-and-MIDI Show Control, to act as a bridge between production devices. He also created PixelMAD, which worked with pixels converting them to DMX control values to tie into the lighting system. Bleasdale had studied electrical engineering at Imperial College in London.
frame:work is preparing a tribute to Bleasdale to be posted on their website. You can e-mail them at: hello@framework.video
Donations in Bleasdale’s honor are being collected to share with the Homerton Hope Charity, who supported him after his stroke: https://www.justgiving.com/page/bim-malcomson-1726827017287
