LONDON – PLASA 2010 got underway Sunday, Sept. 12, after a surge in visitor registrations. New features to this year's show include a two-day rigging conference Sept. 13-14, but the overall focus remains, as always, on the latest new product introductions. A listing of some of the new lighting and projection products on display follows.
Read More »LAS VEGAS – Tomcat USA announced that attendees for its day-and-a-half "Safely Building the Beast" workshop, set for Oct. 20-21 in conjunction with the LDI show, are eligible to earn 12 ETCP renewal credits.
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SUNNYVALE, CA – Osram Opto Semiconductors announced that as of Oct. 1, 2010, Aldo Kamper will succeed Dr. Rüdiger Müller who, after heading the optoelectronic semiconductor business for 22 years at Osram and formerly at Siemens, is retiring.
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GUANGZHOU, China – The Guangzhou Opera House, which features the 1,800-capacity Grand Theatre and an adjoining 400-seat multipurpose hall, opened in May with a production of Turandot that relied on gear from ETC for lighting and control.
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Elation's new MIDIcon is a MIDI-based playback controller that attaches to your computer via USB and works with Elation lighting software packages such as CompuShow and Emulation.
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If you watched season eight of American Idol then you will not be surprised to learn that Adam Lambert was very much involved in the design and execution of his solo tour, Glam Nation. The runner-up in the singing competition was a sensation because of his creative approach to style, arranging songs, and the striking production. His singing voice was only the cherry on top.
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Griffin Automation opted for Anolis LED fixtures for an installation at the Blue Martini club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to replace the venue's previous neon lighting scheme.
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New Image Productions used 12 Chauvet COLORado 1 fixtures to light the backdrop of the runway for SwimShow 2011 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
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The design team for the five Broadway-style shows staged aboard Holland America's New York-themed cruise ship, the 86,000-ton Ms Nieuw Amsterdam, relied upon CAST Software's wysiwyg for previsualization.
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For years, LEDs have been increasingly used in video projections on many theatrical productions to dramatic effect, most notably on last year's Seattle-based production of Catch Me If You Can, which incorporated LED walls that flew in and out of the set. But many people envision the next step for LEDs is to be used in area lighting, not just for video projections or background illumination, as has been the case on many larger and flashier Broadway productions. The question remains as to whether the technology has evolved enough to provide the necessary power and color palette.
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The article that follows is LD William Mackwood's account of research undertaken by York University comparing a production using LED fixtures with the same production previously staged with all-conventional gear -ed.
In June of this year, our small production company, Out of the Box Productions, was presented with a unique opportunity. In 2004, we had originally produced our show Opera Erotique at the Events Centre, a nightclub in Victoria, B.C., which was lit entirely with conventional instruments. When we talked about remounting the show at the Tranzac Club in Toronto, we decided to conduct a comparative study by lighting the entire production with LED instruments – not just washes, but acting areas as well.
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Companies driven by people doing what they love to do most are what make a "hometown hero." There's a lot of passion in this eclectic collection chosen by the readers of PLSN. Some are old, some are new, some gear is borrowed (a.k.a. cross-rented), and one company is even blue.
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