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Miss World 2009 Lit with Nearly 300 Moving Light Fixtures

Miss World 2009 Lit with Nearly 300 Moving Light Fixtures

LD Tim Dunn used 282 Robe fixtures in his design for Miss World 2009, which was staged at the Gallagher Convention Centre. The show was televised and broadcast live to 80 of the 112 participating countries, including, for the first time, the U.S., India and China. Along with the 3,500 in the live audience, an estimated 1 billion people saw the show.

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ETC Field Service Engineer Lights Up Catalina Avenue for Christmas

Try reaching Alan Falkner, an ETC field service engineer based in Hollywood, during the two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving. Usually Alan is jimmy-on-the-spot, a testament to ETC's exceptional service. But for those two weeks, Alan completely disappears. His friends anticipate it; his co-workers prepare for it; and his fellow church members make fun of him for it. Come December, though, Alan's reclusiveness reveals its yuletide bounty.

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Claudio Baglioni Tour Lit like Modern Opera

LD Mariano de Tassis credited Clay Paky gear for helping him fulfill Claudio Baglioni's ideas for lighting his 2009 tour, which included stops in historic venues. "The original idea for the lighting design came directly from the artist and was then developed jointly by myself and Fabrizio "Bicio" Marchi, production and designer manager," said de Tassis.

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Monsters of Folk: Lighting from the Bottom Up

I recently got an e-mail from the editor of PLSN asking if I would mind covering The Monsters of Folk show for him while he was out of town. Would I mind?! The band has just released its first self-titled album in September and had seen it climb to number 15 on Billboard's Top 200 list. Its members include M. Ward, a personal favorite. Its LD, Marc Janowitz, was a part of the design team for the Blue Man Group, another one of my favorite acts.

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The Benefits of PNG

Media servers typically support many types of still image formats. What are the benefits of using one format over another? Recently, while I was using an Apple Mac-based media server on a show, I asked myself this very question when I ran up against an issue involving the use of the Alpha channel. Here are a few reasons why I'm now a big fan of PNG.

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Minding Your Business

I am very pleased to have been working as an automated lighting programmer for over two decades. I have learned many skills over the years related to lighting and I have also learned quite a lot about business. Most automated lighting programmers do not have a single salaried position, but they work for many productions each year.

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What’s in Your Console?

In the last 20 years we have seen more lighting consoles come on the market than I can remember. They all strive to achieve the same thing; talk to lighting fixtures, dimmers and media servers. They all get the job done eventually, but I've come to conclude that certain consoles execute some tasks well and others, not so much.

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