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In 2013, I Resolve To…

The world didn’t end on 12-21-12. So with the future looking bright, we asked lighting designers, directors, programmers and visual gurus:  What are your New Year’s Resolutions for 2013?

Illustration by Andy Au

Holiday Hang-Ups

Last month I once again dealt with some of my favorite, yet most feared, lighting fixtures. The dreaded Christmas lights. Sure, they look great once the darkness comes and they cast a glow over my snow-filled front yard. The view is fab when the wrapping paper clad presents are illuminated solely by the blinkety-blink emitted from the corner tree. But for some reason, getting there can be a comedy of errors.

A Time To Give Back

It’s that time of year.  The cold weather has set in, the big events of the year are long gone and everyone prepares for the holiday season.  It has been one crazy year! It has gotten to the point that I don’t even know what month we are currently in unless I go back to my calendar. Time has certainly flown by, with the roller coaster of life showing no sign of slowing done.

For the video, go to www.plsn.me/201212ednote.

The set has a realistic, lived-in look, with a de-saturated palette that keeps the focus on the four central characters. Photos by Michael Brosilow

Who’s Designing for ‘Virginia Woolf?’

A rustic, seemingly peaceful New England home erupts into chaos overnight when a bickering middle aged couple (Martha and George) receive a late-night visit from a younger couple (Honey and Nick) after they all attend a university faculty schmoozefest. What begins as mildly sarcastic banter with an undercurrent of middle aged marital anxiety and professional jealousy devolves into a twisted game of emotional cat and mouse as the older couple teases, coaxes, derides, flirts with and tries to dominate the younger couple. Things progressively deteriorate in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? until the generational clash, fueled by ideological differences, sexual tension and dark secrets, reaches its morbid denouement.

Cory FitzGerald’s design for Owl City’s Fall 2012 tour included beams of light blasting through barnwood slats. Photo by Cory FitzGerald.

Synchronized Dreams: Owl City Live in 2012

Adam Young, the mastermind of electronic-pop band Owl City (OC), began writing and recording music in his parents’ Owatonna, MN, basement to combat his insomnia, and the cover art for his two most recent albums — as well as his tour visuals — have a dream-like quality that seems well-aligned with his bright, fantasy-infused and often uplifting music.

Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show featuring Madonna, photo by Brad Duns

2012: A Look Back at Some of the Biggest Staged Events

With both the Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee taking place, London was the epicenter for big events in 2012, in terms of lighting, staging and projection. But Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show will also be hard to top in 2013 (it will feature Beyoncé), and while the Olympics required both marathon-like stamina for the opening ceremonies (with more than 100 consecutive nights of programming) and speed (close to 100 truckloads of gear needed to be loaded in within 18 hours for the closing ceremonies), the Super Bowl Halftime Show has long been known as an all-out sprint, with only 27 minutes allotted for load-in, the performance, and load-out. Finally, of course, 2012 will be remembered as a Presidential election year in the U.S., and for the challenges of staging huge political events in hurricane-threatened Tampa (the RNC) and Charlotte, NC (DNC).