Lighting Designer Abigail Rosen Holmes: “I was very pleased to be asked to work with Martina again. She’s very involved in the design and very clear about what she likes, and really knows what is going to feel right for her and the music. Martina’s great production team and crew, Trevor included, were just fantastic to work with. They make touring a show like this look a lot easier than it is!”
Who: Dennis Mirabella, marketing manager arts & entertainment business unit
What: Manufacturer and converter of pressure-sensitive tapes
Where: Edison, New Jersey
What the heck is genlock … (and where can I buy one)?
I actually overheard that very question at a recent training session and thought that I might be able to shed some light on the mystery. For us propeller-heads in the video world, we’ve grown up with the knowledge of “genlock,” so it’s not a foreign concept to us. But for those in the lighting and projection realm who are now dealing with video equipment on an ever-increasing basis, the mysterious genlock connector might need some clarification.
If you’ve been reading my blog, The Complex, you may have caught that I’ve recently relocated to the city that never sleeps, New York. (And if you haven’t been reading my blog, along with the other great stuff on PLSN.com… get to it!)
The day that we got to our new apartment in Manhattan, I told my wife that one of the things I was going to make a point of seeing was the “Tribute in Light.” I did, and this month I’m going to reflect a little on one example of technology intertwining with humanity.
But first, a little background…
The Sea Changer Wash is a dichroic color changer with a Fresnel lens built by Ocean Optics out of Dunedin, Fla. The company has devised an in-strument that is designed to attach to the lamp housing of an ETC Source Four ERS series of conventional lighting fixtures. In other words, it’s a cool color changer that converts a leko to a Fresnel. Ocean Optics already had a Sea Changer dichroic color changer that uses the Source Four lens, but due to high demand, it recently released the “wash” version of the product.
How does a production designer light and stage the most human form of a natural phenomenon?
“They are like little mini tornados on stage,” laughs Production Designer Alex Skowron. “They just spin all over.”
“They” are Fall Out Boy (FOB), the hot young band that just finished its successful Infinity on High tour. It’s led by sarcastically slanted bass-ist/songwriter and potential tabloid-fodder Pete Wentz. (Between his club fights and rotation of high-profile girlfriends, he’s precariously close to becoming this country’s answer to Pete Doherty). Wentz, a talented showman with a whacked imagination, pushed to create a show that would become a visual orgy of the senses, filled with moving video screens, pyrotechnics and pranks. Keeping up with the band and supporting their energetic show takes some of the most creative minds in the business.
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One of the more fortunate circumstances in our industry is that it is still young enough that many of the pioneers are still around. This month, we had the opportunity to speak with a lighting designer who was present at the birth of the industry in the United States, who helped define the craft, and who had a hand in some of the innovations in modern concert lighting, including the automated lighting fixture and color changer. Today, Stefan Graf owns two successful companies, yet still found the time to speak with PLSN.
For a number of years, the name Oaks Christian has evoked exclamations from sports fans across Southern California and beyond. That will happen when your teams dominate the local sports scene, your starting quarterback goes to Notre Dame and your football team wins the California State Championship game.
Yet, last August, the name Oaks Christian was uttered in awe by locals who had just seen the all-new 30,000-square-foot Bedrosian Pavilion that includes one of the most technologically advanced performing arts centers and media production facilities in the area. Sports fans were also pleased because the performing arts center doubles as a gymnasium that will be used for the school’s basketball and volleyball teams. The fact that these two venues are housed in the same two-story building on a 15,000-square-foot plot was just as amazing.
Howard Ungerleider is one of the best LDs in our industry. He has a very distinguished career, having worked with bands such as Rush, Def Leppard and Queensrÿche. In addition, he has been involved with everything from corporate auto shows and interactive design to architectural multimedia shows, as well as theatrical productions, motion pictures, rock videos, nightclubs and television commercials. Howard is purely an LD and does not program his own consoles — he always works with a programmer.
As the title song goes, “Grease is the word,” and the new revival of the beloved 1970s rock musical, which focuses on two teens from different sides of the tracks seeking acceptance and each other at Rydell High in the 1950s, is certainly a crowd-pleaser. This rendition features all four songs written for the movie adaptation, brought to the stage for the first time. Additionally, the two leads — unknowns Max Crumm as Danny Zuko and Laura Osnes as Sandy Dumbrowski — were picked from a reality television show (Grease – You’re The One That I Want!), which aired on NBC earlier this year.
We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game — “The… Read More »Circle Games and Angle Play