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Eric Clapton’s Production Design: The Art of Negative Space

The design is a showcase for the creative use of negative space. Eric Clapton tour photo by Todd Kaplan. Pictured here, Ayrton MagicPanels mounted above the video panels

Eric Clapton’s Production Design: The Art of Negative Space

Dave Maxwell’s Production Design Supports a Legendary Guitarist

Eric Clapton has enjoyed a long career of live performances all over the globe. A little while back he turned 70 and announced his retirement from the touring circuit. But not from performing entirely. He just wanted to do it on his own terms. For the past 22 years, Dave Maxwell has looked after keeping the artist illuminated amongst other things as they traveled.

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JoJo Mad Love Tour 2017 photo by Steve Jennings

JoJo Mad Love Tour 2017

Lighting designer and director Matt Guminski is out on the road with singer/songwriter JoJo. In 2004, “Leave (Get Out),” her debut single, reached number one on the Billboard pop songs chart, which made her the youngest solo artist to have a number-one single in the U.S., at 13 years old. We spoke to Guminski about JoJo’s current Mad Love tour during the artist’s sold-out Feb. 19 tour stop at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco.

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Game of Thrones tour photo by Todd Kaplan

Game of Thrones

SRae Productions Brings the “Live Concert Experience” to Life

In oft-used and aptly applied metaphor in the touring industry goes, “We move cities.” With the long-awaited live tour of the HBO epic extravaganza Game of Thrones finally hitting the road, that analogy can now include “We move Worlds.” The Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience is based on the popular TV series, which set records for HBO and attracted a large international fan base.

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Victory World Church is now lit with an impressive array of LED light fixtures.

Victory World Church

LightParts’ LED Upgrade Gives the Church a Win-Win

Victory World Church held their first official service in 1990 with just seven people in attendance. By bridging the gap between cultures and generations through a multi-cultural and multi-generational worship experience, the congregation now averages 12,000 a week at the Norcross, Georgia campus alone. While the church does not broadcast their services, they do webcast to a weekly audience upwards of 6,500 and their two other Atlanta-area campuses.

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Iron Maiden pulls out all the stops with Le Maitre pyro effects.

Le Maitre at 40

Pyro Pioneer is More than a Flash in the Pan

Along with the opening of its new production facility in rural Missouri, its first manufacturing hub outside of the U.K., Le Maitre is celebrating a milestone this year — the 40th year since its humble beginnings in 1977.

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Elation USA team 2017 in headquarters showroom.

Elation Cements Brand as a Top-Line Pro Level Solution

If you were to become lucky enough to get to work for Elation at their Los Angeles world headquarters, during a tour of the facility you’d dig the deep freezer, the full shower and the steam room on the premises. Then you’d likely get disappointed when you are told that they ain’t for you — those perks are for the Elation products.

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Audience Lights

Audience Lights

While stage lighting advances occur yearly, the art of lighting the audience is often overlooked. In today’s new arena and theater installations, the buildings are making it easier for touring LDs to control the house lights. The first series of audience blinders to become popular were the Mole Feys. Mole Richardson manufactured these various sized fixtures around the amount of DWE par 36 wide bulbs that the user wanted. They were soon used on tours so touring acts could see their audience on cue. AC/DC incorporated over 100 of these on their last tour. Almost any bright light illuminating the audience from stage is now just called a “blinder.” Here’s a look at a bunch of fixtures lighting audiences these days.

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Allen Branton

Allen Branton

The LD on Moving from a Touring Show to TV

So, you’re directing the lights on a tour and somewhere along the way, management decides to document the show on DVD, or perhaps shoot it as a TV special. At this point, a lighting designer specializing in capturing shows on camera may be brought in to help. A fixer, so to speak. Lighting designer Allen Branton has made the “Tour to TV transition” his specialty for the past 40 years. If you don’t know him personally, you know his work visually.

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Little (Alex R. Hibbert) stands ready for an ocean swim at Miami’s magic hour.

‘Moonlight’ – Magnifying a Microcosm on the Widescreen

We’re looking at the backs of two heads in a moving car, as a boy known as Little rides with a man he just met. The man, played with understated finesse by Mahershala Ali (who won an Oscar for the role), turns his head repeatedly to the silent boy beside him, but Little (Alex R. Hibbert) stoically refuses to speak. We are struck by the distance between them—the gap made even more pronounced by the extended width of the screen.

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Scott Barnes enjoys stayong on the cutting edge of technology.

Scott Barnes, Lighting Console Programmer for Motion Pictures

Scott Barnes, a lighting console programmer for motion pictures, recently took some time out of his busy production schedule to speak with PLSN about how he got started in the industry and some milestones of his career. So far, that career has included working on many of today’s biggest blockbuster films. In all, Barnes has been building a massive resume of work on more than 50 films. He has worked extensively on the Marvel franchise, starting with Iron Man and continuing through the currently filming of Avengers: Infinity Wars, Parts I and II.

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