High rollers ring in the New Year with a visual feast at Bellagio Las Vegas.
How do you impress some of the world’s wealthiest VIPs in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve? You throw one major party, and you spare no expense. The Bellagio knows how to throw just such a party and in a big way.
Matthew Perrin talks about achieving amazement.
Plenty of people in our industry wanted to be an actor, yet ended up studying technical theatre. But not many have toured as an LD for one of the biggest bands of the ‘70s, then quit to play in a rock ‘n’ roll band. And what if someone were to do both, then ended up working for a mouse? That’s the story of the multi-talented King of Congo Blue, Matthew Perrin.
They weren’t just clowning around when the band Panic! At the Disco said they wanted a circus atmosphere for their then-upcoming tour.
“When I was first contacted by the band, we discussed the vaudeville/burlesque theme,” said Robb Jibson, lighting designer/ director. “Carrying that into a ‘Moulin Rouge’ look for the summer, we decided to apply those themes and colors to a really exaggerated carnival environment for the fall.”
Mary Poppins is the latest, greatest spectacle to hit Broadway. It ambitiously attempts to recapture the magic of the film, including its myriad locations, its animated park sequence and all of the songs that people have come to know and love, along with some new material. And Gavin Lee, who plays artist/chimney sweep Bert, very much performs in the style of Dick Van Dyke.
Different paths have led Seth Jackson and Eddie “Bones” Connell to lighting one of the biggest tours in country music.
Over the last couple decades, country music has inched its way out of the realm of the folk Americana sound and into the arena of, well…arena. Where country stars once played enclosed theatres and large clubs, they have now taken over the stadiums that once played host exclusively to rock. High on the mountain of arena country stands Toby Keith, and, just like the arena rockers before him, his current “Hookin’ Up and Hangin’ Out” tour encompasses largescale lighting, a big sound, pyro and video.
For whatever reason, intercom seems to be a no-man’s-land of technology for many of us. This is probably for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost is that most of us don’t consider it part of our technical field. We figure ‘sound runs through it’, so the sound guy should be in charge of it. Sound guys don’t want to run any more cables, so they think the lighting guys should do it. [Did I say that?] Secondly, many production companies (including one of my old haunts) categorize this as a light crew’s responsibility. This probably stems from the fact that we end up needing a lot more stations than the sound crew, and possibly that we’re better at coiling cables properly. [Where did that come from?]
Hello to everyone who is reading this blog! My name is Tony Caporale; I am 24 years old and have been working as an exclusive lighting director/ designer/ programmer/ videographer for a band named EastonAshe for three years. Here’s a rant on my background and how the hell I ended up doing what I do. I basically went to college following the footsteps of my older brother Brian who happens to be a freelance Cameraman. I also got some direction from a close family friend Tim Walbert who is a video director from WWE Entertainment. So I pretty much went on to get my degree in Electronic Media and Film with a TV production focus from Towson University in Maryland.
Being a lighting designer often brings up a whole slew of duties that one would not expect to have to look after. I get calls about what outfits the rock stars should wear on stage to questions about where they should be standing when playing their big rock god solos.
“You have to physically understand how the lights work inside. When someone asks you to do something, you have to be able to say, ‘Yes,… Read More »Only Say No if You Mean It
How many times have you heard lighting designers say that you shouldn't notice the lights, that they should reveal the subject, and that they shouldn't… Read More »It IS About the Lighting
Almost everyone of us has a workbox or gig-bag that goes out with us to every show. What form your gig-bag takes can vary quite a bit. For an international man of mystery or hot shot Video Director, it may be a simple computer bag, with your favorite kewpie doll sharing a compartment with the most important weapon in your arsenal, your laptop. On the other end of the spectrum, the road-hardened lighting tech may have a twelve-hundred pound fully-customized thirteen-drawer double-hardened triple-galvanized welded-steel-frame road case that is designed with the perfect truck pack in mind.
The business is still word-of-mouth, and how you behave effects the amount and type of work you get. Nook Schoenfeld says, “I call it ‘playing… Read More »You Gotta Have Heart