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Star Wars: a Musical Journey

Star Wars: a Musical Journey

“Multi-Media” has just been redefined.

    Some 17,000 people recently witnessed Star Wars brought to life on stage in London’s O2 arena. The event condensed 13 hours of films and music into a 90-minute event that combined video, an 86 piece orchestra and an 80 piece choir. It delighted everyone in attendance, up to and including the creator of the film, George Lucas.

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Willie Williams Pulls Out of the Big Screen Cul-de-Sac

If there was a box in which we could put lighting designers who are creative, expressive, imaginative and intelligent, Willie Williams might be the first to be put in. And he would probably also be the first to break out. The artist and production designer is a master of re-creation, often the first to conceive an idea and the first to abandon it and move on to a fresher one.

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VXCO Lighting Systems DMXCreator 1024+

Software is the new frontier of lighting control. Advances in technology have made computers ridiculously affordable, powerful and readily available. The people who write code for them have harnessed that horsepower and put it to good use in our industry. Lighting control, for example, is making leaps and bounds, and DMXCreator software for the PC is a prime example.

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My 3G Is Better Than Your 3G

What thoughts come to mind when you hear the term 3G?  Could it be that ubiquitous cell phone spokesman, touting their company’s latest network?  Perhaps — but if you walked the aisles at April’s NAB convention, the video industry’s most exciting new buzz was evident at almost every turn — and yes, it’s also called 3G. 

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Copy That

In most situations, copying is a bad idea.  I have taught my son that copying from someone else’s paper in school or copying data for a book report from a web page is wrong.  If I were to copy a previous article and submit it as a new one, PLSN would almost certainly reject it. 

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Old Lamps for New

One of my biggest joys of watching a live performance is when I see a lighting show where the designer has put a lot of thought into different aspects, when that lighting person is professional enough to know when to use the latest technological gadgets and when not to, when sometimes “less is more” and old school prevails.

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RDM Plugfest Back by Popular Demand

WESTLAKE, TX — ESTA said that its RDM Plugfest held in January was successful enough to be repeated in July. The informal event, dominated by technicians and engineers and not by buyers and sellers of gear, will take place in this Dallas-Fort Worth suburb and run for three days from July 17-19.

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Billy Elliot Dances Home with 10 Tony Awards

NEW YORK—Billy Elliot, The Musical was the big winner at the 2009 Tony Awards, taking home 10 awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Lee Hall), Best Direction of a Musical (Stephen Daldry) Best Choreography in a Musical (Peter Darling), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Ian MacNeil), Best Lighting Design (Rick Fisher) and Best Sound Design (Paul Arditti).

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Nominate Your Hometown Heroes for 2009

LAS VEGAS — Each year PLSN honors regional lighting production companies with our Hometown Heroes awards. These awards honor the best regional lighting production company in six regions across North America: the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest and Canada. The best part about this is that PLSN readers — the people who actually work with these companies — get to decide who’s really the best.

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