A Price-Driven Landscape Shapes the Relationships Btewteen Manufacturer, Distributor, Dealer and User.
Money changes everything. Declining pricing for mainstream professional lighting products is accelerating a condition that has been part of the distribution channel for decades, one in which the once-distinct lines between manufacturer, distributor, retailer and end user become less clear as each one jockeys for best position.
[In the last two columns, lighting designer Nook Schoenfeld and a posse of LDs including Bob Peterson, John Featherstone and Olivier Ilisca sat down for lunch to discuss how they got into the industry and what makes them successful. What we’ve learned so far is that, of the four designers, none of them were formally educated, but they all recognize the value of a good education. But when it comes to work, nothing can replace experience and handson training. And, if you really want to excel, there’s one more very impor tant ingredient. To find out what that is, read this, the last installment of the three-par t series, “Sushi in Chicago.”-ed.]
Who:
Selecon Performance Lighting
What:
Design and manufacture of theatrical and entertainment lighting fixtures.
Where:
Auckland, New Zealand — HQ, R&D, manufacturing; Forest Hill, Maryland — sales, stocking and distribution; Enschede, The Netherlands — sales, stocking and distribution; with additional market support personnel located in the UK, Germany, Australia and Asia.
A couple of months ago, I came face to face with the realization that all I had known to be true about diffusion was little more than illusion. For several years I put those little square pieces of plastic in front of my luminaires to magically transform the subject by changing the quality of the light. But by sheer accident I found it wasn’t changing it as much as I thought.
Working for UVLD, Cameron Yeary has the opportunity to work with some great minds in our lighting industry, including the company’s principal partners, John Ingram and Greg Cohen.
But as the resident visualist, he brings something special to the team. In our PLSN Interview, he explains the importance of previsualization, media servers and why better results are a function of how much control we have of the production.
On a perfect Las Vegas evening, a recordbreaking audience gathered in a Venetian Hotel Ballroom to pay tribute to the very best of the year in our annual “Oscars of the Live Event Industry” affair.
“When you think about it, it’s against our very nature to attend an event like this,” observed master of ceremonies and president of Timeless Communications Terry Lowe during the ceremony’s opening moments. “We tend to be the kind that shuns the spotlight. We’d rather be pointing it. We’d rather EQ than speak into a mic.”
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a classic children’s book that was adapted into an animated television program, and in recent years has also become a hit movie with Jim Carrey and a popular musical theatre production in San Diego for eight years running. Now Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical is tantalizing Broadway in its first limited holiday run.
A Historic Clock Tower Is Lit Using Modern Methods.
Dr. Emmet Brown: Don’t worry! As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely eighty-eight miles per hour the instant the lightning strikes the tower, everything will be fine!
In the climax of the movie Back to the Future, Doc Brown and Marty McFly attach a steel cable to the town’s clock tower in order to harness the electricity of a pre-destined lightning strike. They then proceed to mispronounce the word “gigawatt,” and send Martyback to the future.
In a neighborhood near to Chicago’s Wrigley Field, another clock tower is lit up — without the need for a time machine or a guy named Biff.
The cues come as fast as flakes in a blizzard for Slava’s Snowshow.
Slava’s Snowshow is a theatrical free-for-all unlike anything else you’ve experienced. Russian clowns play tricks on each other, parody famous cinematic moments, wander through a winter wonderland and even invade the audience and heckle the crowd during intermission. For two years now the comedic and semi-improvisational show has delighted audiences at the Union Square Theatre near Greenwich Village, and lighting director Derek Brashears has been there since day one, from unloading the truck to learning the lighting design to manning the boards. He’s learned to weather a storm of surprises that can happen on a dayto- day basis, so much so that the connection is somewhat telepathic.
LD Daunte Kenner captures the essence of Mary J. Blige in design.
She’s the soulful queen of hip-hop, an embattled figure who has recently emerged victoriously from bouts against alcohol and drug abuse to become a successful and happily-married entertainer. Her concert sounds like a battle cry for troubled women everywhere, leading the charge against the emotional distress of everyday life in the trenches. She is Mary J. Blige. And the responsibility for lighting her shows falls squarely on the shoulders of Daunte Kenner. And if MJB has gone through a series of changes, Kenner can certainly relate. Talk to him about the show and the constant theme that emerges is one of change. Take, for example, the design process.
“Nineteen,” says Kenner with a smile.
Who:
A.C.T Lighting
What:
Wholesale distributor whose business includes being the exclusive North America
distributor for MA Lighting, Zero 88 and the U.S. distributor of MDG smoke, fog and
haze machines.
Among the working lighting designers of the world, few names carry the cachet as the name Jules Fisher. His 18 Tony Award nominations have netted him eight shiny statues dating back to 1973. His work extends beyond Broadway and into the realm of film (School of Rock, Chicago, A Star is Born), ballet, opera, television and concert lighting (Rolling Stones, KISS, David Bowie, Whitney Houston). But to speak to the self-effacing man you might never guess that he has met with any success, as he is quick to praise his design partner, Peggy Eisenhauer. Ironically, it is Fisher whom Eisenhauer credits with inspiring her early in her career. Together, they form the design firm Third Eye Studios. Our interview started in their offices in New York and culminated over the phone, as it is quite challenging to pin them down.