International News

LONDON, UK – During the last 18 months, lighting rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) has designed and supplied contract rental lighting systems to four clubs in popular seaside destination Brighton. Life, Coalition, The Tube and Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar are the clubs under the Inn Brighton Ltd. company which all required a specific lighting design to suit their differing needs.

HITCHIN, HERTS, UK –  Coldplay’s 12-date European arena tour featured a set designed by Misty Buckley and Paul Normandale, with specialist pieces by UK-based Brilliant Stages. Band frontman Chris Martin envisioned the tour as a “ball of energy with a warm nucleus reaching out to the audience,” so the design had to reflect that, taking into account the size of the arenas as well as the song lyrics being sung.

BLACKBURN, UK – HSL is supplying specialist LED lightsources to the ITV quiz show, “The Chase, recorded in Studio Two at The London Studios (TLS) on the South Bank. TV LD Tom Kinane’s creative objectives for lighting are enhancing the drama as the competition unfolds and the potential prize money builds, ensuring the contestants are well lit, and keeping it visually interesting for viewers.

LONDON – Stage Electrics again supplied lighting to The Mayor of London’s New Year 2012 celebrations, produced by creative events experts Jack Morton Worldwide.  As in previous years, this show featured VARI-LITE VL3500 Wash FX fixtures in each of the capsules on the London Eye, together with Syncrolite and Clay Paky Alpha Beam fixtures. But this year, Stage Electrics proposed using Zero Wire CRMX from Cooper Controls to enable wirless control of each of the 32 pods fitted to the London Eye. It was the solution LD Durham Marenghi needed.

ZWOLLE, Netherlands – The first Ice Sculpture Festival in Zwolle, Holland features more than 40 ice sculptors who created sea animals, ocean monsters and other characters in ice for the nautical themed event. Naturally, lighting needed to be low heat-emitting, and the Philips fixtures fit the bill. LD Jasper Schimmel used a number of Philips Selecton Pacific and PL3 LED Luminaires from Rolight to create a dramatic lightscape. The festival runs to Jan. 29.

LONDON – After a successful trial run with an internship program, Green Hippo started 2012 with an ongoing program to offer opportunities to those with interest and talent in the industry. Shown here are recent interns Suzy Casserley and Arthur Horrigan.

WISBECH, UK – European flightcase manufacturer 5 Star Cases kicks off the new year with a new, much larger, custom designed sanding booth area at its Wisbech headquarters. The sanding booth plays a central role in 5 Star’s case production process. With the new system, the company says they can work faster and more efficiently, which will benefit their clients.

HIGH WYCOMBE, UK – A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. hosted a workshop event for some of the industry’s hottest lighting designers to showcase next generation LED, lighting and video control technologies from leading manufacturers. LDs Jamie Thompson, Johnny Barker, Dave Cohen, Greg Hill, Andres Atkinson, Louis Oliver and Chris Swain demonstrated products from Chroma-Q, GLP, PixelRange, VARI*LITE, Jands Vista and Green Hippo.

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Robe lighting played an integral role in dance guru David Guetta’s worldwide touring spec, and did so again for Guetta’s “Nothing But the Best” live showcase in Budapest. LD Jonathan “Leggy” Armstrong spec’d the gear, run by UK-touring lighting director Alex “Junior” Cero. The lighting rig featured 29 Robe LEDWash 600s, 18 ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 12 ColorWash 250E ATs at its core, with a grandMA console, all supplied by Colossal.

SERIATE, Italy – Justin Bieber filmed a Christmas show, “This is Justin Bieber” at ITV’s London Studios with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and Sharps in the rig. Lighting director Oli Richards designed the lighting with support from London-based suppliers Richard Martin Lighting (RML).

LONDON – White Light is now an authorized Philps Vari-Lite Service Center, offering maintenance and repairs of VARI-LITE products across the UK and Europe. The staff has been trained to handle all VARI-LITE products, from the VL500 and VL3000 to the VLX range of LED fixtures. To quicken their service, White Light has invested $100,000 in spare parts to help carry out immediate repairs.

Valasske Mezirici, CZECH REPUBLIC – An energy saving Anolis LED lighting scheme designed by Petr Kolmacka has been installed to highlight the City Hall Tower in Ostrava. The city’s first civic lighting scheme is part of the process of helping to create a new cultural identity for Ostrava, the ‘City of Colors.’ Kolmacka, Anolis’ brand manager, designed and managed the lighting project. Challenges included the copper cladding on the exterior. The lighting is programmed to switch on at dusk and off at dawn, and runs right through the night.