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Projection vs. Panels and Screens

Until recently, projection video and LCD video displays were easily perceived as two distinct silos, separated as much by scale as by technology. Sure, a 50-inch LED-backlit LCD panel looked equally impressive in either a sports bar or in someone’s living room, but it was an entire league away from a 20-foot diagonal HD projection. But then LCDs began getting bigger and better — LG’s 100-inch screen leapfrogged Sharp’s 84-inch and then 90-incher, after which Sharp fought back with a 108-inch Aquos — and Christies tile-based video walls can scale to sizes almost as wide as can be imagined, all while substantially outshining projection video and at a competitive cost.

The World of Color

We are fortunate that we live in a world filled with millions of different hues, shades and variations of color.  Lighting engineers have provided us with the ability to adjust the wavelength of light coming from automated lighting fixtures so that we can create a multitude of colors on stage.  Lighting programmers are always working with color, and the consoles we program on a daily basis continue to provide us with more and more abilities to adjust the color outputting from our lighting instruments.  Early automated fixtures simply provided a fixed color wheel with twelve or so colors to choose from.  Today, most fixtures include very sophisticated color mixing system as well as fixed and special effect color adjustments.  It is up to the programmer to understand the color mixing processes that fixtures and consoles employ so that they can create the looks desired by the designer or production.

Burj Khalifa New Years 2013 light show, photo by Ralph Larmann, The New Year's show recurred throughout January

A Tall Order: Lighting the Burj Khalifa; Quick Cues

Sydney-based Mandylights lighting designers Richard Neville and Alex Grierson were part of the international creative team that designed Dubai’s 2013 New Year’s Eve celebrations. And it was a tall order — instead of focusing on, say, the 141-foot descent of an elaborate ball in Times Square, the 25-minute show took place in front of, and included, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper — officially the world’s tallest building at 2,722 feet high. The pair illuminated the Burj, lake and surrounding area with 15 individual performer stages and a 689-foot-long (210 meter) seamless projection screen.

Illustration by Andy Au

Set in a Bag

Each year I get a few calls from bands looking for a set or lighting design for their tour. It’s always an exciting process as I let my imagination run for a few days before I start putting pencil to paper. Last month, I got a call from a booking agent looking to hook me up with one of her new acts. So I contacted the management company and they emailed me a response. “Before we chat, take a listen to this music and let us know if this is something you would be interested in.” Nobody has ever approached me in this manner before. I had not thought I heard the band’s name previously.

Complete Production Resources supported the group's annual Industry Insights and Marketing Luncheon

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LD Paul Normandale lit fun.'s 2013 tour.

Paul Normandale, LD for fun.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES: Australia in March, UK/Europe in April, returns to North America in July for summer amphitheater tour through September.

THE DESIGN: “As per the band’s name, it’s designed to be fun. There’s a 32-by-8-foot video wall behind the band with a 40-by-8-foot (W x H) Plexiglas two-way mirror in front of that. Five media servers show content through the Plexiglas from behind. There are four robotic and six static cameras that can then feed the live crowd shots back through the mirror, thus reflecting the live crowd. At other times in the show, the lights are pointed directly at the mirror, which makes them reflect back and appears to double the quantity of fixtures in the rig.”

Watch Justin's video on the March issue of PLSN at plsn.me/201303ednote.

The ESA’s Event Safety Guide and YOU

Are you tired of hearing about safety yet? I hope not. It has always been important, but it lurched front and center for our industry during the stormy 2011 summer touring season, and it won’t go away any time soon. Being safe ensures that you’ll make it to the next gig. Sure, you may overlook some minimal safety concern and still be fine. Honestly, who hasn’t forgotten a safety cable now and then? It’s a slight oversight, and may not be the end of the world. That is, until something else fails, and there is a 20-plus-pound dead weight traveling 120 mph towards the deck. Are you wearing a hard hat?