Features

For her 50-city Fearless tour, Taylor Swift asked production designer Jonathan Smeeton for a set that was “as multi-dimensional as possible,” featuring a “theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements.” Smeeton saw the logic of Swift’s ideas. “She is a songwriter who tells stories that have a place and setting,” he said, “so we had the opportunity to provide a very theatrical show for her fans, rather than just dreaming up nice looks for nice songs.”

LD Stephen Page of DBN Lighting lit the 50-meter-tall façade of the riverfront Port of Liverpool building for LuminoCity, a 30-minute multimedia show that included video projections, pyrotechnics, live performance and sound. DBN also provided gear for the show, which was the culmination of Liverpool’s 2009 Art On The Waterfront event produced by Walk The Plank for Liverpool City Council. Walk the Plank was also produced in conjunction with the Tate Liverpool art gallery and one of its exhibitions, Colour Chart.

Steven Cohen Productions, in conjunction with Epic Production Technologies and Syncrolite are supporting the reunion of piano men Elton John and Billy Joel for their Face2Face tour with a lighting rig that includes gear from Martin Professional.

A 7.8-meter-high mechanical elephant, which was used to transport band members to their places on the stage during the opening of Take That’s Circus Live Tour, was only part of the high-wire technological feat performed for Take That’s 20 Circus-themed stadium shows, which were attended by over 1 million fans in the U.K.

A.C. Special Projects Ltd. recently implemented Patrick Woodroffe’s architectural lighting design for Somerset House. Somerset House’s director, Gwyn Miles, commissioned the project.

For 10 long years, the Dallas Cowboys football organization worked to open their new stadium in Arlington, Texas. On June 6, the $1.15B stadium was launched in grand style with a George Strait concert before a crowd of over 60,000 people. Longtime Strait production manager Paul Rogers and lighting designer Stacey La Barbera of Onstage Systems were in command at the FOH overseeing the production of the Texas-sized event.

By the time the show floor for InfoComm ’09 opened at 9 a.m. on June 17, dozens of seminars and workshops had already taken place and over eight hundred exhibitors had spent countless hours setting up in the Orlando Convention Center, including roughly 50 lighting companies. The show, which started as an audiovisual show (why does the term “audiovisual” conjure images of overhead projectors and 16mm film in grade school?), has been growing the lighting side as evidenced by the increasing number of lighting exhibitors and lighting-related seminars.

“Multi-Media” has just been redefined.

    Some 17,000 people recently witnessed Star Wars brought to life on stage in London’s O2 arena. The event condensed 13 hours of films and music into a 90-minute event that combined video, an 86 piece orchestra and an 80 piece choir. It delighted everyone in attendance, up to and including the creator of the film, George Lucas.

When Walt Disney World®’s Facility Asset Management (FAM) group came to Walt Disney World Entertainment’s in-house lighting designer Charley Pogue with a query about replacing the lighting on Disney’s iconic Cinderella Castle, he had little idea what might lie ahead.  FAM wanted to see what it might take to replace the 700-watt arc source fixtures that have been lighting the Castle for 10 years. The fixtures had served their purpose and parts for the discontinued luminaires had become scarce, while the labor to keep them working had increased. And there were far more environmentally friendly options available.

For the third year in a row, Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment helped electrify the Super Bowl Halftime Show by co-executive producing a live performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The NFL had wanted Springsteen to do the show for years and he finally relented after watching Tom Petty’s performance last year in Phoenix.

Lighting for television in today’s production environment can be a study in interoperability. Tight production schedules, shrinking budgets and high expectations require today’s lighting departments to integrate with the rest of the production on many different levels.

Todd Bentley is one of the most inspiring and controversial characters to lead a Christian revival. His unconventional style has stirred America and inspired thousands to change their lives. After hearing about the weekly pilgrimages to Todd Bentley’s home church in Florida, the leadership of Morning Star Ministries committed to bringing him to Fort Mill, S.C.