MIDDLETON, WI — After long speculation about whether entertainment-lighting company ETC would enter the LED market, the company has announced their acquisition of the Selador product line from Selador co-founders Rob Gerlach and Novella Smith.
Times are tough. People and lighting companies are running short on gigs. For the first time since 9/11, shows that I normally do each year are scaling down their productions, if not cancelling them all together. Empty spaces on car show exhibition floors say a lot. Empty venues and minimalist shows coming in say just as much.
Remember that celebrities have many people that want to talk with them. If you are at a show and need to talk with the artist,… Read More »Working with Celebrities
AC Lighting’s Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixture adds new single color RGBA optics, 530 lumens output (almost double the original model) and theatrical grade dimming. With its increased color palette and CRI of 90, the Color Block 2 fixture can produce a wide range of colors and hues with built-in variable color temperature capability. Four LED cells offer performers less glare and can mix together for single color output, minimizing color separation shadows. The beam optics combine a soft asymmetrical quality for uplighting surfaces and a soft Fresnel-like edge for direct illumination. As modular as its predecessor but with close to twice the output, the Color Block 2 fixture can uplight a 6-meter set, and it can be used for its strobe-like intensity and control, or for theatrical grade dimming.
LOS ANGELES—Chaos Visual Productions, formed in Dec 2008 by John J. Wiseman, Chris Kaman and Chuck Burtzloff, has announced its acquisition of 100 percent of CW Productions (CWP). CWP was founded in 1989 by Chris and Sheila Wickman as a show production rental house, and now handles specialty lighting, video, projection, and show programming.
LONDON — LD Scott Warner is using a grandMA lighting console for the Pussycat Dolls’ Doll Domination tour. HSL is supplying the Robe-dominated rig. Warner is also the lighting director and programmer for the tour, and had previously used the grandMA console on Queen Latifah’s Trav’lin Light tour, but his use of the Robe gear is new.
CANBERRA — The Australian War Memorial (AWM), which underwent a retrofit last year to expand its focus on military engagements in the post-WW II era, required 30 new AV displays of varying size and complexity in 1,200 square feet of existing exhibit and office space driven by 40 computers. Bruce Brown from Mental Media and LSC Lighting Systems were involved in the project.
DUBAI — Behind one of the main broadcast desks at television studio CNBC Arabia, semi-transparent, floor-mounted Martin LC Series LED panels creates a customizable graphics backdrop. Nick Turner, head of operations for the region’s first 24-hour Arabic language business TV channel, was looking to augment a range of changeable and moveable “light-boxes” for backlit graphics for different news shows.
Elation Professional’s Design Panel 72IP MKII outdoor LED color wash, a DMX-compatible RGB-mixing LED panel, has an IP 65 rating, allowing it to withstand rain and dust for building exteriors, landscaping, outdoor concerts, or any application subject to Mother Nature’s whims. The brightest IP-rated color wash panel offered by Elation to date, the Design Panel 72IP MKII can also be used for indoor architectural and entertainment use, and for video and film production, too.
Elation’s new RMD-1220 12-channel, 20-amp rack-mount dimmer features a 99-scene internal memory, DMX fail backup and ArtNet or Ethernet compatibility. It also offers 3- and 5-pin DMX512 connections, but it can also run stand-alone without a controller. The dimmer utilizes dual 50-amp SCRs in each channel and has a rise time of about 350 microseconds. Other features include: selectable dimmer curves (Linear, Square and Non-Dim); individual and block channel patching, real time zero crossing detection, local onboard intensity control and a 16-digit, 2-line LCD menu. It can be connected either single-phase or 3-phase. The MSRP is $2,799.95.
LONDON — Dancing on Ice, a weekly British TV show broadcast on ITV, draws about 9.5 million viewers with celebrities who compete in front of a panel of judges. LD Dave Davey, gaffer Dave Hallet and console operators Bill Peachment and John Ford control the lighting and projection via two Compulite Vector Green consoles.
TAMPA, FL —Creative Technology used Barco’s LED products for the live broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII, with set elements visible during both the commentary desk and red carpet portions of the broadcast. On the commentary desk set, a curved display using Barco NX-4 modules could be viewed from different camera angles. To the right and left of the commentators, additional tiles were formed into vertical displays.