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Spot On

As one of the spot ops for Disney on Ice’s Monsters Inc., one of my main objectives is to hit every cue. But no matter how you try or how well you plan, there are times when forces beyond your control conspire against you. Take, for example, the time I was working spotlight number in section 209. I was sitting in a seat behind the spotlight when I reached up to strike the lamp. I tilted the light back so that I could reach the button, as I have done hundreds of times before. All of a sudden the back leg of the spotlight flew up and in the air, and the entire spotlight, all 106 pounds of it, came crashing down on me, pinning me between the seat and the light.

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Wireless Solution W-DMX

Wireless Solution AB, a Swedish wireless DMX manufacturer, has recently released a new wireless DMX system called W-DMX. It works with any device that transmits a DMX signal, transmitting to a wireless receiver at the receiving device. It’s intended for systems where hard-wiring a DMX signal is impossible or impractical. For example, when several large format automated lights were placed on several tall buildings during the Super Bowl and operated from the top of another tall building, it was not practical to run DMX cable to the fixtures.

 

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Arri, Inc.

Who: Arri Inc.

What: Manufacturer of studio and location lighting, film camera, digital camera and post-production equipment.

Where: Headquarters are in Munich, Germany. Offices in Blauvelt, N.Y.; Burbank, Calif.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla., New York City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., Toronto, London, Berlin, Rome, Milan and Mumbai.

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Marisa Davis—Excelling at the “Bastard Child of Film and Theatre”

Two-time Emmy-nominated Marisa Davis started a recent weeklong hiatus from The Ellen DeGeneres Show by speaking to PLSN about her career. Prior to her current gig, which is in its third wildly-successful year, she was with the Oxygen network where she honed her skills by lighting talk, variety, game, cooking and even workout shows. Later, she worked in sketch comedy, including Mad TV, Primetime Glick and The Hollow Men. In July 2005, she became a partner at Design Partners, Inc.

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Voyaging in the Video Age

It’s cruise ship month here at PLSN, and I’m onboard. When the Swami called to give me my marching orders, I found myself staring at the bow of the Carnival Liberty.

I want to be very clear on this next statement.

This is a very big boat.

Actually, that’s not right. I don’t think I’m allowed to call it a boat. Let’s start over.

This is an extremely large ship.

How large, you ask? How about three football fields? That do anything for you? Nine hundred fifty-two feet long, and 116 feet at its widest, the newest addition to Carnival Cruise Line’s fleet tips the scales at 110,000 tons.

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Who Are All Those People…And What Are They Doing at the Tech Table?

All year long, as shows go up and come down, designers are continuously busy working on various projects, including current shows, future shows and completely unrelated things, like having a life. So how, you may ask, does all the work get done? This is a story about the people whose job it is to not only achieve the goals set forth by designers, but to anticipate and overcome any obstacles along the way. These are “the facilitators,” the associate and assistant designers who act as intermediaries between the heads and technicians and other departmental representatives. These are the people who get down to the nitty-gritty of the show, realize creative ideas and get the problems solved so that the show can go on.

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And You May Ask Yourself, Who Am I?

Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out what my actual job is. For the last 20 years, I thought I was a lighting designer. After this week, I’ve pretty much realized that I am not just an LD; I wear a whole lot of hats at gigs. And I’ve been doing this more and more over the last five years, so much so that I am at a loss for words when trying to describe my title.

Let’s face reality: Video elements have become implanted on most touring shows and all the industrial shows I work on. If you’re an LD and you haven’t jumped on this wagon yet, you’re late. I am not a huge fan of all this technology. I still prefer good theatrically- lit scenes as opposed to high-tech gadgetry, but I would be ignorant to ignore it. It’s fun. But why am I picking and choosing video content, let alone creating it now?

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The Dark Side of LEDs

Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot, see the path that demands your whole being.
Leave that which is not, but appears to be, seek that which is, but is not apparent.
– Rumi

When I was in junior high and high school, my friends and I used to build our own surfboards in our backyards and garages. We would buy the foam blanks and shape them with sanders. In a matter of minutes, we would be covered from head to toe in white foam powder, but in a few hours a beautiful shape would emerge. Then we would put designs on them and cover them with fiberglass cloth and resin. When the resin hardened, we would sand them smooth and put a few more coats of resin on, and when it dried, we’d have a brand new “stick.”

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WYSIWYG Production Design Suite

When Cast Software launched WYSIWYG, a lighting-only design software tool, in 1994, it was new, innovative and the only one of its kind. Today, there is no shortage of competition for the Toronto-based company, but that hasn’t slowed them down. And now, they have supplemented their offerings to cover new segments within the entertainment industry. As of September 2005, WYSIWYG, which is now being called a “Production Design Suite of Tools,” delivered Release 14, which, among other things, adds the ability to showcase all types of video content in the 3-D virtual world. Cast continues to crank out new software updates on an aggressive three-month schedule aimed at fulfilling the longterm vision of creating a fast, easy solution to all production designs. The latest update, Release 16, introduces “moving scenery.”

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Happy Friggin’ Birthday!

In 1988, I had the chance to go to Cascais, Portugal, on my 29th birthday no less, with a group for which I was LD’ing. I should have known when the airline lost all of my luggage that I was in for a bad trip.

The show was to be broadcast “live” on Portuguese national radio. When I showed up to focus and program, I discovered the lighting rig was only half set up, and there were no local lighting personnel anywhere in the building. As I walked around checking out the rig, I also noticed that the power to the dimmers was not connected properly. I found this out the hard way when I got a nice electrical jolt to my left hand. When the crew finally did show up two hours later, the first thing I did was to let the head electrician know of the problem. He informed me that I was completely wrong and he refused to double-check his work.

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ETC

Who: Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (ETC)

What: A manufacturer of entertainment and architectural lighting equipment.

Where: Middleton, Wis. Other offices include New York City; Hollywood; Orlando, Fla.; Hong Kong; Copenhagen; Veenendaal, the Netherlands; Rome; London; and Holzkirch Holzkirchen, Berlin and Dresden, Germany.

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Yo! Who You Calling an Employee?

April 15 is coming at us faster than we realize. It’s a good time to discuss one of the big bugaboos in the entertainment business: the status of the freelance worker.

The term “freelance” translates in IRS-speak to “independent contractor,” a category that has undergone significant revision and clarification over the last decade because, in an age when few people stay at one job more than a few years, the notion of self-employment has gotten fuzzy around the edges. Back in 1996, the Internal Revenue Service redefined what constitutes an independent contractor, establishing a complex set of 20 common-law factors plus interpretations of numerous tax court cases. Here’s how the IRS establishes the boundary between independent contractor and employee:

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