Christmas comes very early each year for LD Tomm Gillies. His design company, SeeKing Productions, has been collaborating with “Christmas on the Potomac” (COTP), featuring ICE! since 2010. The annual event at the Gaylord National Harbor Marriot in Washington DC returned this year, opening on Nov. 21, 2015.
Every winter, we see videos of some amazing large-scale Christmas light shows that take place. We see houses adorned with a million sparkling lights. Projection mapping on houses mixed with choreographed lighting. I’ve seen live animals, moving lights and trucks decked out with lights. But the Granddaddy of all of them takes place every year at Fred Loya’s house and grounds in El Paso, Texas.
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Once every two years, 19 city blocks — 68 acres — of the Dallas Arts District is transformed into a visual wonderland of projected, digitized, pixilated and coherent light. The Dallas Aurora Festival 2015, billed as “an immersive free public art event of light, video and sound,” it serves as a showcase for “New Media” artists now coming of age in today’s art world. Urban structures are illuminated with high-powered digital projectors, and reflecting pools come to life in a cascading display of lasers. Coupled with the endless line of food trucks and over 60,000 attendees, this seems like a pretty good way to spend a Friday evening in Dallas, Texas.
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As the old New England saying goes, “if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” So while the earth-toned Christmas of 2015 came on the heels of a freakish warm spell, it would be a mistake to assume that a complex touring production during the month of December will always be met with clear roads and balmy, shirt-sleeves weather.
ULM, Germany – To commemorate 125 years since the completion of the 530-foot-high Ulm church tower spire, once the tallest man-made structure in the world, artist Rafael Lozano Hemmer worked with Airstar on a custom made air-filled Pendulair 600 balloon representing the sun. The balloon, six meters in diameter, weighed only about 55 pounds.
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MIAMI – For Fonseca’s Conexión tour, LD Churry Lafuente’s rig includes Nexus 4×4 COB LED panels, Next NXT-1 moving LED panels and Legend 230SR Beams, all from Chauvet Professional. Línea Estratégica is providing the gear.
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In my two previous columns, “The Little Drone Revolution” (PLSN, Sept. 2015) and “The Drone Association — Know Before You Fly” (PLSN, Nov. 2015) I discussed our industry’s opportunity with Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), followed by an overview of AUVSI, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry focal point for news and regulatory information on unmanned systems.
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Blizzard Lighting is perhaps best known for their extensive range of LED-based products, but with the new Kryo.Morph, the company makes its first move into the realm of arc-lamp-based fixtures. These newer-generation beam units offer an increased set of tools for designers, featuring modes for both a wider, flatter field than a traditional beam unit optimized for pattern projection as well as powerful ACL-style beam projection.
LENEXA, KS — LynTec named Martin Dornfeld as its new national sales manager. In this position, Dornfeld will work directly with new and existing LynTec customers to ensure the best possible power distribution and control solution for any installation.
Read More »Typically, an automated lighting programmer is concerned only with programming the lighting elements. However, there are also often circumstances where we are tasked with programming control of various types of smoke effects. From hazers to blasts of fog or CO2, we must use caution when programming atmospheric effects. Depending on the production, there may also be strict guidelines that must be adhered to. As with any fixture on the desk, an automated lighting programmer needs to be informed and prepared to work with atmospheric effects.
Aaron Black: “I was in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Opera with a new production of Lohengrin, which premieres Jan. 22.”
Andy Cass: “NYE is our biggest show of the year with String Cheese Incident, and it’s my personal favorite because it’s in my backyard, in Broomfield, CO. We brought in a huge 3D video wall (48 by 15 feet) and a massive light rig along with dancers and aerialist. I used a local vendor and a national vendor to make it happen.”
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We examine the scenario in which a nightclub LD (me) hosts a show with its own traveling LD. Should make for an easy day for me, eh? Perhaps. In the red corner, wearing cargo shorts, five laminates and a radio with a Jack in the Box head on the antenna, weighing in at 100 pounds soaking wet, is El Vato de la Ruta, the tour guy… And in the blue corner, wearing carpenter’s trousers, an aloha shirt and a grimace, weighing a lot more than he used to, is Surly McGee, the house guy.
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