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Victory World Church

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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Lux Machina founders Philip Galler and Zach Alexander

Lux Machina

Provides Peace of Mind Amid High-Amp Video World for Live Broadcast Music Awards Shows

Whether it’s The Country Music Awards (CMAs), iHeartRadio Music Awards, The American Music Awards (AMAs) or countless others, the trick is to grab the audience’s attention and keep it, with dynamic and creative visuals to go with the tunes. That’s a big challenge, and although there may be rehearsals in preparation, just imagine the added pressure when it goes LIVE and there are no second chances.

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SoftDrop of a view outside a Manhattan window

SoftDrops and Cinema

Rosco’s Backdrop Technology Boosts the TV and Film Industry

The Tonight Show on NBC has long been noted for the cityscape backdrops over the years. Carson had the Hollywood hills behind him. Leno had the downtown L.A. high-rise look. Now Fallon has the NYC cityscape as his background. Each new set brought a sharper, clearer backdrop of the city they were shooting in.

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Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K RAW Camera

Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K RAW Camera

[caption id="attachment_276044" align="alignnone" width="800"]Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K RAW Camera. Fully loaded, the unit weighs in at about 8 pounds.[/caption]

Cameras are like drugs for me. I liken getting into cameras kind of like getting into skiing. You start out with a cruddy rental of some ho-hum gear, slide down and get the general hang of it, and then you need to upgrade. And it’s not cheap. Because that thrill — that thrill costs money. I bought my first decent camera because I was tired of taking awful pictures. Now I need to rein myself in every time I go near a camera store. It’s almost worse in my professional life due to the fact that cheap gear ain’t pro, and pro gear ain’t cheap.

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Martin’s Dotron and Fatron Fixtures

Martin’s Dotron and Fatron Fixtures

I cut my teeth in lighting from early on, but eventually found myself working for a video production company, finding the gear far cooler — and far more complex. Back in those days, lights were lights, projectors were projectors, and never the twain met. But there were some emerging technologies and we always dreamed about marrying them, or at least producing a weird hybrid-freak-son-daughter.

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