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U.K. Theme Park Fireworks Show Includes Visuals Controlled by Jands Vista Gear

Jands Vista Alton Towers Fireworks

U.K. Theme Park Fireworks Show Includes Visuals Controlled by Jands Vista Gear

ALTON, Staffordshire, UK – Alton Towers Resort, based here, marked the end of the 2014 theme park season with their “Ultimate Fireworks Spectacular.” Simon Horsley, Alton Towers Resort’s technical manager, designed supplementary show visuals with cues managed by a Jands Vista control system. Horsley’s lighting design made use of more than 150 fixtures, including lighting gear from Martin, Clay Paky and Robe. For video projected on a water spray screen, the setup included a Green Hippo video playback system with cues controlled via a laptop PC running the same Vista v2 software as the main control desk.

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Martin Rush MH5

Martin RUSH MH 5

Martin’s RUSH MH 5 Profile is now available. The fixture is designed to serve as a compact and bright LED profile moving head with efficient optics for a variety of effects and colors. The fixture comes with two color wheels, two gobo wheels and rotating prism. Its compact size and budget-friendly price makes it well suited to the needs of DJs, bands, clubs, bars, cruise ships and installations where small footprint and low weight is critical.

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Glasgow City Council commissioned The Projection Studio's Ross Ashton and Karen Monid to create a new large-format video projection show, “Glasgow’s War,” on the front of their City Chambers building to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

Large-Format Projection Brings “Glasgow’s War” to Life

GLASGOW, Scotland – Glasgow City Council commissioned The Projection Studio’s Ross Ashton and Karen Monid to create a new large-format video projection show, “Glasgow’s War,” on the front of their City Chambers building to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. The 27 minute show, portraying World War I from a Glasgow perspective, involved meticulous research. Ashton’s visuals were accompanied by a soundtrack by Monid.

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Prolyte Group Trainers Work with TSD Group to Promote Safe Use of Products in Argentina. Ivo Mulder, Brand Manager Roof Systems, performed on-site training.

Prolyte Group Trainers Work with TSD Group to Promote Safe Use of Products in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – TSD Group, based here, brought in a team of trainers from Prolyte to provide instruction on the proper use of Prolyte products.  Daniel Lema, COO of TSD Group, noted that “raising awareness through providing training and knowledge is a very effective way to introduce the Argentinian market to the Prolyte products. After last years training, we had much requests for another training, so I’m really glad to have Ivo and Jasper here, to lend their knowledge. It’s very rewarding to see how much can be learned from this expert team.”

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Swing Both Ways Tour 2014 c. Ralph Larmann

Neg Earth Provides Martin Gear for Robbie Williams Tour; MAC Quantum Wash Debuts

SYDNEY — For Robbie Williams’ “Swing Tour Live,” the artist’s 10th major tour, this one in support of his 2013 Swings Both Ways album release, LD Mark Cunnliffe’s lighting rig includes an ample assortment of gear from Harman’s Martin Professional, supplied by Neg Earth. The tour, which ran from late April through Sept. 2014 in Europe, Asia and Australia, was the first major outing for Neg Earth’s recently-acquired MAC Quantum Wash fixtures.

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SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal

ALPS Adds New Sales Associate

BOSTON – ALPS, a theatrical and entertainment lighting company based here, named SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal sales associate. Seif (pronounced “Safe”) began working in the lighting industry at a college theatre in Northwest Florida in 2005.

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The lighting setup for X Japan at Madison Square Garden

Quick Cues: X Japan, Charli XCX, Bassnectar, Saturday Takeaway and More

X Japan, billed as “the most successful rock band in the history of Japan,” performed a one-off at Madison Square Garden in New York City. LD Peter Morse designed the set and the lighting for the Oct. 11 show, working with production manager Phay MacMahon. “I designed a smaller show for their warm-up concerts in Yokohama, which took place one week prior to the show at the Garden,” said Morse. “The MSG show was shot for DVD, and consisted of 600-plus fixtures, ably programmed via ESP previz by Troy Eckerman and Craig Caserta. We only had one actual day — show day — with the entire rig! So previz was an absolute necessity.”

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Building the Art-Net(work)

Building the Art-Net(work)

Who doesn’t appreciate the power of Art-Net?  Art-Net gives us the ability to manage massive amounts of DMX over a single cable with one controller?  In turn, we can control a ton of fixtures easily from one place which makes programming shows much easier.  However, while Art-Net is an amazingly cool method of control, it adds another hat to the lighting designer — Information technology administrator.  Now, we not only need to think about which gobos overlap best, but also how to make sure that our network of fixtures is running smoothly.

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Picking Up Tricks from Others

Did you go to school? Did you feel that was the end of your education? Lies, I tell you — all lies. I am a firm believer that you never stop your education. Now does that mean that you should be constantly in school or some sort of continuing education system? Hell no. Look at all the veterans in the industry. Many of them never went past high school. What they learned about our industry, they did on the road and on the job.

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Random Thoughts

Many elements of lighting design are built using symmetry; however for every symmetrical system an asymmetrical system is also conceived.  Automated lighting programmers are given the power to create randomness and chaos out of any lighting rig by simply using the tools at hand.  One of the best tools for doing so is working with random values.  Whether contained within the fixtures themselves or a product of the console, random abilities add dynamic excitement to any production such as a color chase or lightning effect.

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