John Wiseman, CEO and president of Chaos Visual Productions, began his career in live event production in 1979 as the concert chairman at California State University, Sacramento. He managed local bands in the area and owned a small production company. He was managing the band Steel Breeze when they were signed to RCA Records and became the executive producer of the group’s eponymous debut album, which yielded two Top 10 singles.
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The live event industry is taking the first steps into the next generation of staging. 4K Ultra HD products are available for consumer use, and this new workflow for event production is positioned to change how producers think about set design and staging for meetings and events. LMG Show Technology, a video production company with offices in Orlando, Tampa, Dallas and Las Vegas, has been working to provide clients with more information on how to establish a 4K workflow in a staging environment and create a new industry standard. Toward that end, the company has also designed and built a new truck-in-a-box 4K Ultra HD system for live events. |
As lighting programmers, we are frequently put into situations where we have little to no time to program for a show that’s happening the same day, so we’ve learned to improvise. Whether you call this “busking,” “punting,” or maybe even just “operating on the fly,” we all have a few techniques that help us get through the “no time to program” one-off. But what about one-off shows with a media server? What things do programmers need to be ready for a show when they have little to no idea what’s coming up next? Luckily, many of the same steps for working with automated lighting can also be applied to punting with media servers. Here are some suggestions so you can be ready to roll with the punches.
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Philips Vari-Lite, an American company based in Dallas, TX, has brought us the well-known VL3000 series, LED VLX Wash and now offers the VL4000 Spot. Combining Profile (spot) and Performance (spot with framing shutters) fixtures into one, Vari-Lite’s VL4000 Spot is positioned to serve as a multi-purpose and feature-packed luminaire.
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Years ago, I was afraid of controlling my lights on a PC Based lighting controller. Recently, like in the past six months, I have come to fall in love with them. Looking back on why I was so nervous about using them was the fact that almost everything had to be done with a mouse, or by remembering those awkward keyboard shortcuts. There is something about having a console’s control surface in front of you.
Read More »Automated lighting fixtures are very complex robotic devices filled with mechanical and electrical features commanded by comprehensive software. The manufacturers of these fixtures fill them with many useful features, some of which are lesser known or understood. A good automated lighting programmer will take the time to learn the capabilities of his/her luminaires by reading the user manuals and DMX protocols/maps. Furthermore, some features are simple menu settings or DMX values that may not be included in the console’s fixture library. The following obscure fixture features can be found in many common lighting fixtures and are useful tools for creating original and dynamic lighting programming.
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Holiday tours are spreading multimedia magic across the country. Production designer Bryan Hartley has reimagined a new look for the annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour, which again runs an identical East and West Coast leg Nov. 13-Jan 4, 2015. Hartley could hardly contain his excitement, telling PLSN, “My new design and concept for this year show and story is probably the best thing I’ve done. It really is a masterpiece! It is my favorite design.”
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Ever since grade school, I’ve been one of those people who preferred to ride in the back of the bus. Even when I was on tour, I always seemed to get my sanctuary hanging in the back of the bus, working or reading. Of course spending hours on the road, solving the problems of the world over a couple of beers with the rest of the road crew often required time in the back lounge. Likewise, I spent the last eight years feeling quite at home occupying the back page of PLSN. You had to look all the way in the rear to find me.
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LAS VEGAS – It was Vegas, after all, so the bet was on. “We were all voting when Benny [Collins] would start crying, and I said he wouldn’t make it through the introduction, and I won,” laughs production professional and friend Steve Thomas. Thomas, with Michael Ahern, presented the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award to Collins, the live event industry’s highest honor. Collins took the stage choked up and shed some tears in giving his appreciation to all he’s worked with and made friends with over the years. It was a fitting end to an evening filled with emotions, laughs and tears.
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HADERSLEV, Denmark – Elation Professional’s new SixPar Series of indoor and outdoor PAR color changers is providing dynamic color wash for skateboarders and other street sport enthusiasts at StreetDome, a new skate park. Elation partner Unico Gruppen provided Elation SixPar 300 Par color changers for the 1,500 sq. meter StreetDome Igloo.
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GUANGZHOU – On Dec. 2, a group of 25 senior officials from Pakistan visited PR Lighting’s headquarters in Guangzhou, along with representatives of the Chinese National Commercial Dept. PR Lighting’s international sales team and Dave Liang, the president of PR Lighting, were on hand to welcome the visitors as part of their tour of the city.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Zimmerman Advertising, an ad agency with a client list that includes CBS, Office Depot, ADT, Dunkin Donuts, among other national and international brands, applied its bold marketing strategy to its own home office by creating an three-story image on the building’s façade, visible from I-95. It features a bright red reproduction of the Zimmerman “Z,” with a single Iluminarc Ilumipanel 180 IP LED fixture adding to the visibility of the giant letter. Sound and Lighting Solutions installed the fixture.
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