Skip to content

Articles

Programming Attraction(s)

Jason Badger has found a unique niche as a specialty automated lighting programmer.  For over 10 years, he has been programming major attractions and rides for Disney parks around the world.  As if this is not enough, he also spends his free time working in the Los Angeles area on other types of productions.  However, what is distinctive about Jason is his work on Disney attractions.  I wanted to learn more about programming theme park attractions, so I interviewed him about his specialty.

Read More »

Attention to Detail is the Key to Success

The subject of lighting really covers a broad scope of fields. The best lighting designers are folks who pay attention to detail. Whether they’re lighting a car or a rock star, certain de-signers will spend hours on minute things, but they all add up. That’s why they are good.

Read More »

BORED

Hey again, well this weeks is going to be brief because I have not a thing to write about. Currently my work has been put to a stand still because of the winter, recession, etc. Who knows what is to blame. All I can say is that I am not able to do what I love and that is lighting.

Read More »

Stumbling Upon The 39 Steps

Lighting designer Kevin Adams always wanted to put a Hitchcock film on stage, particularly Psycho with its infamous shower sequence. So when he was told that The 39 Steps, which began life in London a few years ago, was being brought to the Great White Way nearly scene for scene, he was ecstatic. Of course, the catch was that this was not a straight-on rendition of that famous thriller from the master of suspense, but rather a low-budget parody of the film. Or more specifically, it’s a parody whose premise was that a tiny theatre company with a cast of four was attempting to play out the whole film onstage without the proper resources.

Read More »

Stone Temple Pilots

By the time the Stone Temple Pilots disbanded in 2003, they had sold close to 40 million albums worldwide, which had produced six number one singles among the 15 songs that made the Billboard top 10. To Alastair Bramall-Watson, the band was iconic, particularly in the U.K., where he grew up. When the band reunited in 2008 for a tour and to record a new album, Bramall-Watson got the gig as the tour lighting and video designer.

Read More »

The Desert Turns Green

There’s a new player on the Las Vegas Strip: The Palazzo — “palace” in Italian — is a AAA five-diamond luxury hotel and casino resort offering the height of sophistication and elegance. But the $1.9 billion Palazzo is also the largest LEED-certified building in the world, having been awarded Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status by the U.S. Green Building Council in recognition of the property’s commitment to “green” technology and construction across categories of sustainable sites, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials and resources, and energy and atmosphere.

Read More »

LDI 2008: What Recession?

We don’t mean to be cavalier about this, but compare and contrast the recently-held LDI 2008 in the Las Vegas Convention Center to the one held immediately after September 11, 2001 in Orlando and you can come to only one conclusion: What recession?

Read More »

The 8th Annual Parnelli Awards

For Parnelli video clips, CLICK HERE!

 

If there was any doubt before, it’s officially squelched: The Parnellis have arrived. The show, which featured rocker Alice Cooper and guest comic Michael Wilson among many surprises, was a big hit. The 8th Annual Parnelli Awards ceremony, the “Oscars” of the live event industry, was held on Oct. 24 at the Rio Las Vegas Resort and Casino. The event was sold out, and, in fact, additional tables and chairs had to be brought out to accommodate the surge of last minute arrivals who wanted to be a part of it all.

Read More »

Mega-Stage

“The company is new, but the product is not,” says Jocelyn Roux of Mega-Stage. Mobile stages, he adds, are “something that we know.” Roux is the head designer for the new-to-us stage company, which is based in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, Canada, just southeast of Montreal.

Read More »

Content Creation Software

What are some of the features that you will need to have when you are creating video content for the media servers on your next show? While we’re not recommending any one software package over another, we will talk about some of these things that you may find handy when you are building custom content for your next media server application.

Read More »