For a couple of years now, Clay Paky, the Italian manufacturer of automated lighting fixtures, has been expanding their Alpha line of moving yoke fixtures. The latest is a new high-powered color mixing wash light that is extremely bright. It can utilize two different HTI lamps with different color temperatures of 6000K or 7500K, both of which have hot-restrike capabilities.
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Designing projections for a Broadway musical is no easy task. First you develop a concept for the show, next create the content, and then build a visual space that works with the show. Then you must acquire the actual physical means by which to display the media and be prepared for the complications that arise from that. You must be flexible enough with your work to make changes on site or come up with new ideas to work while the show is in rehearsals. Once it’s open and successful, then it’s time to take it on tour!
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I look at the security guards standing next to me. He’s wide-eyed and he looks crazed. I lean over and ask him a question, “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
Without hesitation, he replies, “Never!”
Read More »One of the hottest tours of late was the co-billed Taking Back Sunday (TBS)/Angels and Airwaves (A&A) tour. Before working as TBS’ lighting designer/ director, John McGuire designed video systems for various artists. He also worked with Coheed and Cambria’s 2005-06 tour before heading out with TBS. This is Kevin Cauley’s first solo design. Before A&A, he programmed and directed the lighting for Mötley Crüe, Jane’s Addiction, Beck, Michelle Branch, and Stereo MCs, along with various other artists. We spoke to the two of them about their lighting and video rig.
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"It’s an absolute pleasure to come to work.”
Even in this industry, you don’t hear those words every day. Don’t get me wrong; I love what I do, and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. However, I still get goose bumps when someone says something like this. The person who said this to me happens to be Steve Schofield, the technical director of the Otto M. Budig Theatre at the Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky. A Man On A Mission When I asked him “why,” this is the story that unfolded…
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Abigail Rosen Holmes’ sizeable résumé includes working with some of the most creative talents in the music industry. Among the many people for which she has provided lighting and video are the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Pet Shop Boys, Peter Gabriel, Herbie Hancock, Bonnie Raitt, Thompson Twins, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus and in more recent years, Cher, Janet Jackson and The Cure. She is currently on the road with redhot Latin sensation Shakira, who, in addition to burning up the charts, is selling out arenas across the globe on her “Oral Fixation” tour. We caught her two-night stay in San Jose at the beginning of her U.S. leg where we spoke with Holmes about her past experience and the current tour.
Read More »Audiences loved surround sound and Dolby Digital in theatres so much they wanted to take it home with them. Home video was so much fun that they decided they wanted to make their own. And who needs Bon Jovi when you have Garageband and can make your own music? Some lighting makers are looking at this historical DIY phenomenon and realizing that lighting will soon be no exception to the trend of bringing it all back home. With a stop at the mall first.
Read More »If you have ever tried to play a long clip simultaneously on multiple media servers in a show, then you know what a real challenge it can be. Say for instance that your client pays you to create a three-minute product demonstration movie, and the content is delivered to you as one long clip. So you load it into your media servers, then start the clip while you watch them on your screens. Much to your dismay, you watch helplessly as the clip loses synch between the servers—that is, the same frame isn’t showing at the same time on all media servers. Simply starting the clip and letting it roll obviously isn’t going to be acceptable during the show. So how do we correct this problem? Can it be fixed in with programming?
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Projectors are pretty simple. The zoomies go in, the zoomies go out, voila, pretty pictures on the wall—not!
While on the surface it may seem that simple, it can be a rather complex evolution to get from input to output on a video projector. Every manufacturer has unique methodology for accomplishing this. We will look at a basic overview of signal flow through a projector and some of the other key components that make projectors work.
It is important for an automated lighting programmer to be prepared for the programming sessions. This includes making many color mixing palettes or presets in… Read More »Hue and You: Creating and Using Color Palettes
Read More »I’m always asked how I get lighting design gigs. Half the time they are return gigs, meaning it’s the same trade show or band that goes on tour every year. Forty percent of the time I am called by production people or other designer friends to cover a gig. The other 10% are people calling because they’ve seen one of my shows and want to hire me based on what they’ve seen. You never know who’s in the crowd watching your work.
Read More »Pop quiz: What are the two most important tools of a lighting designer?
If you said Starbucks or the Internet, maybe you should consider a career in audio. If you said light and dark—congratulations, you just might have a future in this business.
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