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My First Time Programming

Hello, my name is Matthew Schiller, Brad’s son, and I have taken over my dad’s column to tell you about my first programming experience.  Although I have played with automated lights and consoles all my life, I only recently programmed a full production.  My high school in Austin, Texas put on a production of Miss Saigon, and I was assigned the position of automated lighting programmer for the show.

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Demi Lovato tour photo by Cory FitzGerald

Demi Lovato’s Neon Lights; TV/Film/Video Talk

Cory FitzGerald is the production designer for Demi Lovato’s Neon Lights tour. “The set is based on a neon-like concept full of Video Blades in smoke colored covers — which are essentially tubes of single pixel video elements diffused by the plastic covers. We also used a phone app developed by Wham City Lights to let the audience participate in that song. It was very cool!”

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Illustration by Andy Au

Lights that Battle Video

For years, lighting designers have been matching lumens between the lighting and video elements. The video was always brighter. For most of my life, I have had to design live concerts by placing the lighting fixtures, and aiming their focal points, wherever the video wasn’t. It became a science to be able to design lighting that wasn’t washed out by the big TV upstage center. In the last couple years, much of that has suddenly changed. That’s because we lighting guys now have some powerful weapons in our fight against video dominance.

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PLSN Show Report: Prolight + Sound 2014

Show Report: Prolight + Sound 2014

The 2014 edition of Prolight + Sound finished strong after four days on March 15, with 897 exhibitors from 42 countries on par with stats from the 2013 event (901 from 41 countries) despite the 2014 event’s month-earlier time frame. Combined with Musikmesse, there were a total 2,242 exhibitors from 57 countries, with a total 110,000 visitors from 142 countries. PL+S/Musikmesse once again featured a wide array of conferences, presentations and workshops and informal networking opportunities for the live events industry. But for me, the main focus — not just for this show report, but also for the online postings and videos at www.plsn.com/tv, www.prolightingspace.com, www.youtube.com/plsntv and www.twitter.com/plsnmagazine — was to check out all the new and upgraded product developments for our industry. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

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Tony Bennett and Ron Farino. Photo by Debi Moen

LD/Stage Manager Ron Farino and Tony Bennett

Tour Dates: Year-round worldwide

Design Concept: “Our show is all about the music. We don’t carry any of our own lighting gear so I have designed a lighting plot that is flexible in many venues. We use moving lights whenever available however our lighting plot is conventionals only. I lean towards an asymmetrical look in the background, I find that more interesting. Our show is a theatrical piece. I am trying to create a mood.”

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Justin Lang with new BCFF (best computer friend forever)

Losing a Computer the Easy Way

It is a sad, sad day for me.  Earlier this week, I lost a dear friend of mine.  For that past six years, Mielziner has been one of my closest and most trusted friends.  No matter how I felt or what is going on in my life, I could share my stories, photos and so much more with him and he would not think any less of me. He was always there, ready to help me out.

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