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Parnelli Visionary Jim Bornhorst

Parnelli Visionary Jim Bornhorst

"If I had to point to a single event that made the biggest impact in the live event production industry, it would have to be the development of the Vari-Lite VL0," says PLSN editor Richard Cadena. "As the leader of the project development group that invented the very first commercially available automated lighting system, Jim Bornhorst helped move the industry a giant step forward."

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Outdoor Video Reaches New Heights at 100th Anniversary Jamboree

It's not every day that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) can celebrate their 100th anniversary National Scout Jamboree. The event, held July 26-Aug. 4 at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., with the main anniversary celebration held on July 31, drew more than 72,000, with production support from Alford Media, Annapolis Mobile Power, Clair Brothers, Christie Lites, CorporateMagic, Daktronics, EventsBum, Event Tech, GoVision and others.

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XL Video Supports Live Nation-Backed Concerts in Hyde Park

XL Video supplied video production for a series of shows in London's Hyde Park this summer, including the three-day Hard Rock Calling festival featuring Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, the Wireless festival headlined by Pink, LCD Soundsystem and Jay-Z, and a Kings of Leon show in the middle, all promoted by Live Nation.

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3D Mapping

There's a new trend in architectural lighting and projection involving the use of projectors fed by digital lighting media servers to illuminate the facades of buildings both for entertainment and advertising purposes. Media servers like the Green Hippo Hippotizer and the Barco High End Systems Axon have been used in some of these projects because they offer 3D surface mapping functionality. And because these media servers are capable of being controlled via a DMX lighting console, it's becoming more common for lighting programmers to be involved in these projects. So let's take a closer look at 3D mapping features of the Axon and Hippotizer.

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Codes are Costly, but Failure Costs Even More

It was a weekend that went from the ridiculous to the tragic. On Friday, July 23, the Kings of Leon stopped their concert mid-show after being bombarded by pigeon droppings from the rafters of the Verizon Center in St. Louis. The remainder of the concert was cancelled, though fans were not informed as to the reason at the time, resulting in bottle tossing and other moderate crowd turbulence.

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Speak UP!

Working as an automated lighting programmer, you have a great view of many things going on all around you. From FOH, you can see the load-in, show, audience and more. As professionals, it is important to voice our concerns regarding safety, ethics and personalities. Sometimes, the best thing is to keep your mouth shut, but most often it is best to speak up and share your concerns. The recent news of various industry accidents (rigs crashing, people falling, audiences trampling) has again highlighted the importance of paying attention to details and expressing concerns as needed.

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Mine is Bigger Than Yours

Every year, I design a few festival-type tours. Normally I design the lighting rig, then the lighting director for each band programs cues on the console of their choice. It's normally about camaraderie between each band, and all of the lighting directors get to know each other and have a swell time.

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