For this year’s Grammy Awards, held on Feb. 15, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences asked Lady Gaga to perform a tribute to the late music legend David Bowie, who died Jan. 10 at age 69. Gaga, her creative team at Haus of Gaga, along with creative collaborators at Prettybird and Studio XO, merged music and technology for a performance that evoked Bowie’s defining talent as both a visual artist and musician.
It’s hard to remember a time when video wasn’t part of the live event landscape, though Danny O’Bryen sure does. He was there. As a kid, O’Bryen’s first gig in the business was plastering Boston with concert posters for $50 a day. This led to some live event work and then, wisely, he dabbled in video in the earliest part of the visual revolution..
Read More »According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, “Ballyhoo” is defined as “a noisy attention-getting demonstration or excited commotion.” Every automated lighting programmer has created ballyhoos for a production at some point in his or her career. In the lighting world, ballyhoos were first invented by asking followspot operators to swing the spots around in a figure eight motion on the stage or house curtain. Now, with automated lighting fixtures and consoles, ballyhoos can be as simple as the press of a button or complex programmed sequences. Although a ballyhoo might seem like a simple task, there are many things a programmer should take into consideration.
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The Imagine Dragons film, Smoke + Mirrors Live, uses scenes captured at their Toronto show on July 4, 2015. The movie premiered for one night only March 2 in select cinemas worldwide. It’s now available on Blu-Ray. Imagine Dragons LD Sooner Routhier and lighting director Mitchell Schellenger worked with film director Dick Carruthers, director of photography Rob Scarborough and a film crew of about 45 people with an audience lighting package to help make the live show appealing to the cameras.
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Your boss heard that you really love the theater and would appreciate some extra hours on show site, so he offers you the chance of a lifetime to come and work on his next show for no money, as an intern of sorts. You jump at the chance to gain experience. The next gig comes along, and he asks you do it for no money again. Now you realize that you have no way to get to the show site because your gas tank is empty.
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NEW HAVEN, CT. – Jordan’s Furniture is using Enttec products to beckon customers with a plethora of theatrical LED lighting that complements the retail outlet’s other customer-friendly attractions. Lighting Designer Michelle Caron of Clair Solutions of Manheim, PA relied on Enttec products to control 64 LED fixtures from several different manufacturers via DMX. Enttec’s Datagate MK2 works as a bridge between the lighting controls and any DMX512 device.
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UNDERBERG, South Africa – For the main stage at the Splashy Fen Festival in South Africa this year, LD Shaniel Laloo used STRIKE 4, Rogue R2 Wash and Legend 230SR Beam fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Laloo used the intense output of the STRIKE 4 LED multi formatted warm white fixture with the color rendering capabilities of the Rogue R2 Wash and Legend 230SR Beam, flying all of these fixtures on an overhead truss grid that covered the top of the main stage.
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SECAUCUS, NJ – Joshua Alemany, a long time veteran of theatre production and the entertainment industry, has joined Rose Brand as Director of Products. Working alongside the sales, marketing and product teams, Alemany will spearhead efforts to bring new and innovative products to design and production professionals everywhere.
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NEW YORK – USITT is calling on the backstage community to promote safe stages with the second annual Rigging Safety Day on Arbor Day, April 29. That Friday, USITT and other organizations will use the hashtag #RigSafe to boost awareness of rigging safety on social media.
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Tightrope Media Systems is using the 2016 NAB Show (April 18-21, Las Vegas Convention Center) as the launch pad for Cablecast Flex, a new generation of multi-format video servers in the popular Cablecast broadcast automation family.
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SURREY. UK – UK rental company Storm Lighting, based in Woking, Surrey, has invested in 30 Robe BMFL Blades and 30 LEDBeam 1000s for their ongoing work which includes a diverse range of premium corporate events, leading theatre tours and some music shows. Pictured here are. from left, Storm Lighting’s Dave Knapp, Robe UK’s Ian W Brown and Storm Lighting’s Pete Kramer.
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LAS VEGAS – Elation Professional announced plans to feature a variety of products at particularly well suited for broadcast at NAB, which runs April 18-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Elation Professional’s range of broadcast lighting includes both color and white light solutions optimized for the unique requirements of television studios, such as the Fuze Series (Fuze PAR Z120) pictured here.
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