Like the name says, Strictly FX does just that, strictly special effects. The Wood Dale, IL-based company specializes in providing lasers, pyrotechnics, flames, confetti, cryogenics, and mischief. Since its founding in 1996 by Ted Maccabee and Mark Grega, the company has grown to be an award-winning staple of concert touring with a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of the music industry.
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As this issue went to press, Radiohead was reeling from the partial stage collapse on June 16 at Downsview Field in Toronto, which killed crew member Scott Johnson, injured three others and destroyed many of the lighting elements discussed in this Production Profile. In a statement, the band noted that, along with “the grief and shock ensuing from this terrible accident,” there were “practical considerations to deal with…The collapse also destroyed the light show; this show was unique and will take many weeks to replace.”
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Donald Guzauckas is president of the Rental and Staging Network (RSN), a nationwide network of 21 geographically diverse rental and staging companies committed to continual improvements in their business operations and profitability. Here, Guzauckas articulates five trends that the members have discussed recently about live event production and, in particular, digital AV. Evidence for all of these trends could be found at the NAB and InfoComm shows earlier this year.
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Visual, musical, physical, and — let’s face it — chemical stimuli, along with butt-moving bass-heavy grooves, have been the basic ingredients of the dance scene for decades. In recent years, DJs have begun to tinker with this intoxicating formula, and have sought to enhance and intensify the power of the club experience via elaborate lighting and video design.
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Ian McDaniel has had his hands full lately with heavy-duty visual support for Swedish DJ/producer Avicii. I caught up with him recently while the tour prepped in Las Vegas to learn more about his company, and I got an inside peek at what it takes to produce enough content to fill a 62-foot-wide stage during a two-hour DJ set.
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Control is something we all love to have, and, in the entertainment industry, it seems we can never have enough. I find that my colleagues in the sound department have issues with this, but that’s a different subject….Control over the rig is an issue that the lighting folks have had a handle on for a long time, but it seems like the more gear is added under the auspices of “media,” or LEDs, or LED panels, or the ubiquitous term “video,” the more it falls to the lighting guy/gal and their desk to actually make the stuff work.
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