German manufacturer GLP German Light Products has announced 16th February as the day for its eagerly awaited global launch of the new impression X5 fixture.
Following a preview at the 2021 LDI exhibition in Las Vegas, the impression X5 boasts a wealth of new and improved technology gained from countless hours of conversations with users combined with traditional German foresight and precision.
GLP managing director Udo Künzler and product manager Michael Feldmann will lead the presentations at four different points during the day to capture every time zone, with the impression X5 presented in detail and followed by a live question and answer session afterwards.
Register for the event and see the teaser video at X5launch.glp.de
Metallica – among the most influential and legendary hardcore speed metal bands of all time – treated their fans to two epic concerts at San Francisco’s Chase Center in December, celebrating an incredible 40 years of provocative, ground-breaking music and performance.
Lighting designer Rob Koenig collaborated closely with production designer Dan Braun whose stunning visual architecture – featuring 45 large multi-layered and overlapping video surfaces – set the visual tone for this unique in-the-round live retrospective. While the screens were key for showcasing playback video, interviews, artwork, and other archival material spanning the last four decades, lighting highlighted both Metallica and their audience, uniting and energizing an incredible bond that’s seen them remain at the very top of their game since the 1980s.
Robe BMFL WashBeam
Needing the most powerful, dynamic, and flexible lighting solution possible for these shows, Rob and Dan chose 148 x Robe BMFL WashBeam moving lights to be the heart of the lighting rig, plus another 16 x BMFL WashBeams which were running on four RoboSpot systems.
Apart from 19 x moving LED bars, these BMFLs were the only lights on the rig from which the design team created 36 songs worth of unique, impressive jaw-dropping looks and treatments.
The first show kicked off with “Hit the Lights” and Rob did just that … enjoying the chance to push the creative boundaries of theatre, drama, and raw emotion for 16 songs that night, followed by another 16 – an incendiary mix of classics, blockbusters and coveted rarities – for the second gig. Extra special moments included the first ever live rendition of “Fixxxer”, a darkly complex and confrontational fan favorite from 1997’s “ReLoad” album, delivered on night one.
Rob and lighting programmers Joe Cabrera and Cat West prepared a pool of 36 songs. However, with no definitive setlist available ahead of the first couple of weeks of previz, and a selection of exceptional wildcards played for the first time in over 10 years, a few curve balls flew! Come showtime, Rob also found himself improvising more than once which kept him fully energized and locked into a “completely invigorating” workflow. The starting point for the lighting design was the physical and structural layout of the video elements flown from the venue roof on a series of elegant elliptical-shaped trusses.
As the video design evolved, serious discussions also revolved around lighting placement, with Rob needing enough lights coming in at different angles and levels to hit to the stage and also illuminate the audience the entire night, without blinding them, and without touching the screens. Lighting had to both harmonize and contrast with the overall visual look. Twenty-four BMFL WashBeams were deployed above the stage, wrapping around one of the smaller ellipses holding the central cylindrical-shaped video monolith, with another 48 on one of the larger ellipses that was also broken up by PA elements.
In the audience, three levels of strategically placed BMFL WashBeams added depth and dimension to the picture, one batch of 24 at ice (floor) level, another 24 fixtures at concourse level, with the third and highest set of 24 BMFLs flown over the audience at optimum positions for hitting the stage, a 44ft diamond-shaped construction in the center of the space. A slightly different mindset and approach permeated this show elucidated Rob, who has worked with Metallica since 2008. That shift was away from being fundamentally dark, brooding and menacing, and while no less intense than standard Metallica shows, there was also an air of celebration.
“Being a 40-year landmark, that vibe was embraced in the lighting but all the time retaining vital Metallica intricacies and characteristics,” he explained. Rob, Dan, and live video director Gene McAuliffe all collaborated closely on crafting this almost metaphysical aesthetic. The songs were delivered chronologically from the oldest first on the first night and in the reverse order for the second which offered further chances for spontaneity, keeping all on their toes which was “way, way more fun!” declared Rob. “I loved it – so far from the norm of knowing what might happen next!”
They used “every possible BMFL trick – and that’s A LOT” to keep the energy and vibrance pumping. The BMFL WashBeam has been a Metallica ‘anchor’ fixture for some years now, after Rob initially fell for it on Guns ‘n’ Roses 2016 “Not In This Lifetime” reunion tour. He describes the maverick luminaire as “still my best choice today for high power and huge versatility”. Follow spotting is critical to lighting an in-the-round show effectively. The format is favored by the band for getting them closest to their fans, and while it is always more challenging for productions, the results of in-the-round are always worth the additional creative and technical efforts.
The 16 x BMFL WashBeam Follow Spots were positioned along the larger ellipses, spread out to take advantage of some of the negative space up in the roof as well as for beam separation and depth, with four units tracking each band member.
Apart from the continuity and perfect color matching, with the BMFL WashBeams on the rig Rob could control all the main follow spot parameters – color, intensity, iris, etc. – from his grandMA2 console, allowing the operators – positioned on the venue catwalks amidst all the PD and processing – to concentrate on following the band. The RoboSpot focus tracking control was extremely helpful when the band moved around the stage as the follow spot beam sizes could remain proportionate.
Gaffer David Hunkins looked after setting up and balancing the spots. Rob was delighted to have him on the team, and “he completely embraced me breaking rules to make things absolutely pop on camera,” which was also crucial as the show was streamed live and recorded via a 21-camera shoot. Metallica has a long history of playing large one-offs defined by a highly talented technical and creative production operation and a crew with enormous passion and commitment to making this a signature art.
Specific lighting challenges for these two 40th shows included programming. Even songs that had been lit hundreds of times previously had to look fresh, new, and diverse, while context needed adding to those rarely played. All this took time and energy and a fair few imaginative risks, whilst also giving Rob the chance to explore and push out of his comfort zone. The load in was galvanizing as the kit needed to be spread out everywhere across the venue, and while they did have four days in which to do it, all of that was needed and used productively and efficiently. Video was rigged first as lighting waited patiently until the screens were all flown into place.
This is another example of where the meticulous advance detail and co-operation between the two disciplines – between PRG project manager Eric Geiger and crew chief John Moore, and Premier Global Productions project manager Anthony Kordyjaka and crew chief Jason Lanning – paid off, with Rob’s BMFL WashBeams cruising into place once their time came thanks to some superlative thinking and planning by Head Rigger and “all around magician” Chad Koehler.
Lighting equipment was supplied by Premier Global Productions out of Nashville, Tennessee, and Rob’s account handler there is James Vollhoffer. Lighting crew chiefs on site were Anthony Kordyjaka and Jason Lanning and video kit was from PRG. The two visual departments also merged and co-managed all their cabling and other basic infrastructure. Even after 14 years and multiple memorable Metallica experiences worldwide, being part of these two shows was “amazing,” recalls Rob. He got to rediscover songs like “Bleeding Me”, and “Dirty Window” … as well as “Fixxxer” which ignited the internet and thousands of memories from a performance action packed with memorable moments.
Most of all he enjoyed the incredible teamwork – under tight control of production manager John “Lug” Zajonc – the natural synergy, plus the expertise and imagination of the individuals and departments involved in creating and making these shows such great events, of which “everyone can be proud”.
For more info about Robe Lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz
Over 1200 people representing more than 60 countries around the world have already registered for ETC’s 2022 CUE conference. This 24-hour event is slotted for February 17 and starts in Asia at 11:00 AM HKT with a keynote address from ETC’s Vice President of Marketing, David Lincecum.
This is followed by the European sessions which take place from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM GMT. ETC staff and other industry experts follow with a series of sessions over the course of the day in multiple time zones and multiple languages including French, German and Russian. The conference wraps up in North America at 5:00 PM CST.
Join students, educators, designers, technicians, and other industry professionals to learn about the topics impacting the live events industry. Session topics include product technology, building theatrical systems, industry sustainability, and encouraging diversity in the workplace. No matter which corner of the industry you work in, you’ll find something of interest. ETC promises to bring you the best training, insightful discussion sessions, and of course, demos of their cutting-edge products.
If you’re tuning in for the North American sessions, you won’t want to miss Amber Whatley as she talks about Black Out, the program she founded for underrepresented individuals with an interest in lighting design. Stay for the live panel discussion on encouraging diversity in the industry, led by Tony award winner Karen Olivo.
If you work or volunteer in the industry, are an educator to the industry, love the technology of stage productions or are a student hoping to someday work in live events, then CUE is for you. You will also be able to catch up with sessions from other time zones as well as any that you might miss if you have registered, sign up here: etcconnect.com/CUE
For more information about ETC, please visit etcconnect.com
Situated on the edge of London’s Kensington Gardens, the Royal Albert Hall – that internationally respected bastion of music – continues to mark its 150th anniversary through special events to the end of 2023. The truly iconic venue, which hosts over 390 shows a year including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, awards ceremonies, charity performances and banquets, many of which are televised, is now fully equipped with 4 MDG ATMe haze generators, supplied by TSL.
Photo Dan Street
The RAH lighting team initially invested in two of the industry-leading ATMe generators in July 2019 before adding another two in November of the same year. The ATMe haze generators are in almost constant and exclusive use with two freestanding machines located on stage and two permanently installed in custom flight cases on the stage edges at circle level. “Good haze is particularly important at the Royal Albert Hall,” explains RAH lighting designer, Richard Rhys Thomas. “When lighting a concert there is no scenery, and often little or no video, so the lighting becomes the scenery. It forms an important part of the overall look, so you need good haze to show the beams from the roof to ground level.”
The procurement of MDG generators had been on the RAH’s agenda for some years following consultation with Matt Wiseman at MDG UK. “As we built up our lighting service with new fixtures, we realised the thing we were lacking was good quality haze,” he explains. “We had an amazing rig, but if you can’t see the beams, it doesn’t matter how good the lights are!”
MDG ATMe
The team was also getting comments from incoming lighting designers about how the haze distribution was affected by the auditorium’s antiquated air cooling system which pumped in fresh air from beneath the arena and stalls. “This meant the haze on stage got pushed upwards, so we would get a nice haze in the roof but not on stage where you need it!” says Thomas. “We had to do something!”
Like most public buildings worldwide, the Royal Albert Hall did not escape closure during lockdown but this dark time was turned to advantage, enabling the acceleration of a programme to install additional airflow units.
“With the new system, cool air now also gets pumped in from above, so this helps us achieve a nice smooth, even coverage of haze, but it is largely due to the MDG machines and their particle size and type of fluid which has made it all come together in such a nice way,” states Thomas. “MDG haze is so fine that you really don’t see it until you put strong beams through it, which is how it should be.”
With the RAH’s previous haze machines, complaints about the ‘clouds of smoke’ and the smell were all too common: “If the source of the haze is very visible, the perception of it is raised which tends to generate a psychosomatic response that can affect the comfort of the audience and the artists,” explains Thomas. “Since we’ve had the ATMe generators, we have no ‘clouds of smoke’ and no negative comments!”
The new ATMe generators are operated from the lighting console and have proved very efficient in terms of fluid use. “We found we don’t need to run them very high at all to get a nice even coverage. And if we need a bit more, we can simply push them up a bit and they fill the (very large!) space very quickly. We run a careful management programme to keep their fluid supply topped up and they are all sited in positions where the bottles can be easily changed during a show without interruption.”
Thomas is also impressed with the quietness and reliability of the MDG generators: “They run very quietly which is very important for a lot of our shows, both in the auditorium where they are quite close to audience, and also on stage where they are close to orchestras, microphones, television cameras, etc.
“We are very happy to have finally got our MDG haze machines. I’ve lit many shows here now and can remember when you just didn’t know if you were going to have good haze or not. It could be cloudy or up in the air – there was no certainty to it and no guarantee. It was very disappointing to put so much work into a design for it not to be realised to its full effect. Now we can guarantee good results and it is very satisfying to know we have that level of quality there at all times.”
For more information on MDG’s ATMe haze generator and all MDG fog, low fog and haze products, visit www.mdgfog.com
Adding to the family of the award-winning SHARPY fixtures, Claypaky introduces the SHARPY X FRAME multifunction luminaire. The SHARPY X FRAME takes the best features of the SHARPY line and integrates a four-focal plane shutter system in a lightweight, compact fixture. The unit’s source is the powerful 550- Watt arc lamp that makes this fixture extremely bright and produces deep and vivid uniform colors (including an unmatched deep red).
The unit boasts the flexibility to be the light you need when you need it. As a completely hybrid, multifunction fixture, the SHARPY X FRAME not limited as to beam effects, it can also be a spot, profile, or wash unit. This fixture replaces much larger luminaires using the longer life 550 Watt arc lamp.
Although a small fixture by most standards, nothing is sacrificed in the SHARPY X FRAME fixture’s feature set. In addition to the four-focal plane shutter system, the unit offers a rotating gobo wheel with eight rotating gobos, a static gobo wheel, four and eight-facet rotating prisms, linear frost, a color system featuring CMY, CTO and a separated color wheel, and six beam reducers starting at 0.5°.
With a zoom range from 2° to 52°, the SHARPY X FRAME can do unparalleled visual effects. The unit is fitted with a 160mm front lens and proven Claypaky optics for producing sharp images and collimated beams.
The SHARPY X FRAME is the most versatile, compact hybrid fixture on the market that addresses the needs for a bright spot, aerial effects unit, framing fixture and everything in between in an affordable, compact package.
The Olympic Qualification Tournament in curling took place in the Netherlands in December and the ice has never looked better thanks to MHB AV and Elation’s tunable Kl Panel LED soft lights. Held at the Elfstedenhal sports complex in the town of Leeuwarden, a professionally illuminated surface of the highest standard was a must for the Olympic qualifying event.
The Olympic Qualification Tournament was the first international curling tournament to be hosted by the Netherlands. Teams from across the world competed in the two-week event in the hopes of advancing to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which starts on February 4. As stones slid across the curling sheet and echoes of “sweep!” filled the air, the stakes were high and concentration was at its highest.
Months prior to the event, MHB AV (www.mhbav.nl ) had contacted Bert Schmeits, Key Account Manager Benelux at Elation, and as a result invested in the full-color-spectrum and color temperature-adjustable KL light panels. Schmeits reports that the company was so enthusiastic with the high-quality illumination and enormous output that they immediately saw the soft light as the perfect candidate to illuminate the curling event.
MHB AV has plenty of experience designing and suppling audiovisual solutions for sporting events, having worked with clients such as Triple Double sports marketing and EMG media group. For the Olympic Qualification Tournament in curling, MHB delivered a complete lighting, audio, video and rigging package.
Lighting for TV and video has particularly demanding requirements. For example, the illumination levels required for televising curling are much higher than for normal competition play. A uniform field of light across the entire ice surface was also a prerequisite.
“We needed a bright, high CRI lighting setup that we could place above the curling lanes in order to deliver at least 1400 lux onto the ice so that the curling players and television cameras had a perfect light without shadows,” stated Marten Hylkema of MHB AV.
“We chose to use 90 units of the KL Panel because of its good light output, high CRI and perfect color tuning.” The KL Panel units were mounted in rows approximately 7 meters above the ice.
Housing a 295W RGBW + Lime + Cyan LED array, the KL Panel outputs 24,000 lumens from a small form factor to produce a flat field of soft white light or full-color washes if required. Color rendering is of the highest quality with a CRI above 95.
Color temperature is adjustable and the unit is adept at matching the white balance for camera through a green shift adjustment and virtual gel library. Virtually silent, the KL Panel is fully optimized for broadcast with 900-25000Hz LED refresh rate adjustment.
Besides the benefits of an LED system like lower power draw and greater reliability, the luminaires produced less heat in the arena, meaning the cooling system for the ice did not have to work so hard.
American rock band Widespread Panic made its first MEMPHO appearance at the 2021 edition of the show where versatile Ayrton Domino IP65-rated LED profiles took the stage with the popular festival headliners.
A mix of touring national acts and local favourites, MEMPHO 2021 was held from October 1-3 at the Memphis Botanic Garden’s Radians Amphitheater. Widespread Panic, which has been together for more than three decades, played two nights of the musicfest. Known as true road warriors, the band has broken attendance records across the country and headlined most of the major US festivals. They’ve sold in excess of 3 million albums and 4 million downloads and have been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Paul Hoffman, one of the owners and President of Pulse Lighting in Nashville, became the lighting designer for Widespread Panic in 2009 after serving as the band’s crew chief for three years. He worked with ACT Entertainment, Ayrton’s exclusive North American distributor, to obtain Domino fixtures for Widespread Panic’s MEMPHO debut. “We love working with ACT,” says Hoffman. “We own probably 150 Ayrton Mistral and Ghibli fixtures, which have been great workhorses for us, and have grandMA consoles, motors and cables from ACT. Domino marked our first go with IP-rated fixtures, but we’re interested in any products in the Ayrton line.”
Domino’s IP65 rating makes it particularly attractive for outdoor shows like MEMPHO, he reports. “The saying is that you’re only one weather event away from a $100,000 hit. You have to be prepared to take hits sometimes, and rain covers do work for lights, but it’s great to have a fixture that can defend itself against the weather so you don’t have to worry about it.”
As it turned out, the Dominos’ IP65 rating was not tested at MEMPHO 2021, but Hoffman had confidence that the fixtures would perform well if the weather had turned inclement. He placed 10 Dominos on the stage floor behind the band to silhouette the musicians and put patterns, colour washes and break ups on them from the rear.
“They were really punchy,” he recalls. “We also used them in beam mode for searchlight effects behind the band. Then we turned them around to do graphical stuff on the back wall of the stage like the star field we used for the song, ‘Space Wrangler.’ We had a lot of fun playing with them.”
Hoffman calls Domino, “by far the most powerful LED-based fixture I’ve used – their output was their most notable feature. They blew through everything with a big, powerful wash – much more than I was used to. I was very impressed.” Hoffman puts Domino on Pulse Lighting’s Wish List for 2022. “I’d definitely love to have some Dominos in our inventory,” he says. “They’d be useful fixtures year round, and their IP65 rating would come in especially handy for the summer festival season.”
More information on Ayrton Domino and the extensive portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu
In the family of “the ultimate tools for theatrical lighting designers and cinematographers who demand control and color,” Robe introduces the T2, which combines a Profile fixture with a multicolor LED engine. We’ll tell you all about it.
[private]
The fixture features a typically attractive Robe design and delivers nearly 15,000 lumens of flux, which is impressive for a unit in this category. The CRI of the white is around 76, but can reach up to 90 without the addition of filters, just by adjusting the different primary hues in the source. The beam offers the standard possibilities of the high-level professional fixtures of this category: a zoom range from 5° to 55°, complete color control, two gobo wheels, a motorized framing module, an iris, two indexable rotating prisms, two frosts… in short, everything you would expect from a sharp-edged beam fixture. The unit weighs 36 kg and draws up to 1150 watts at maximum output.
The zoom, from 5° to 55°.
The T2 can be controlled in three different modes. The first two offer an emulated CMY palette, and the third provides direct access to the five LED primary source colors in additive mode. The smallest mode occupies 36 channels, and the extended modes have 52 and 56 parameters, respectively.
Dimmer
The dimmer is ultra-fine and precise, it is obviously a regulation of the LEDs, and the software is very well written, since the colorimetry and the CRI remain constant over the entire dimming curve.
The dimming curve from 0 to 100%.
The dimming curve from 0 to 10%.
CRI
A dedicated channel allows you to adjust the CRI from 76, which is the minimum value, up to 90, obviously at the expense of a reduction in light output. Whatever the CRI value selected, the unit adapts its performance to this required baseline, regardless of the color being used. The slight reduction in punch is, logically, a little more visible on cold whites than on warm whites.
The Green correction parameter
This parameter allows you to manage the minus green, (or even the “maxi green” if you wish…) for video shots, and it’s very flexible. It can go from an almost “greenish” colored beam to an extremely “pinkish” beam. Between the two, any hue is obtainable. At the zero point or at DMX value 128, there is no correction, but from this median value, you can get a progressive minus green in either direction.
The green correction: absolute flexibility for tuning whites for video shots.
Color temperature
The library of the console that we used (grandMA2) sets a default color temperature of 6200 K. (It is also at this value, where the source is most heavily loaded, that we performed our photometric measurements). So with this color temperature parameter, we can adjust the temperature in a linear progression from 2700 K to 8000 K, starting from 6200 K.
The color temperature variation, from cool to warm white.
Again, with this setting, you can choose the desired color temperature for the entire fixture. Every generated colors will automatically take this setting into account. The result is a really nice variable white color, which can be matched to any type of source. If that’s not enough, and your love for conventional sources demands even more, you can select in DMX, via the “color functions” channel, different emulations of tungsten lamps, from 80 V/750 W to 2500 W of conventional spotlights. The lighting characteristics of five major fixture families can be emulated.
LED driver frequency
This function, common to most professional fixtures, is highlighted here and the two most extended control modes offer direct control via two DMX channels for video requirements. The operator can adjust the driver frequency of the sources on the first DMX channel between 300, 600, 1,200 or 2,400 Hz with a simple turn of a knob, while the second channel provides fine tuning around the selected primary value.
The color, the hues
By default, the fixture manages color in CMY using the control modes 1 and 2. It is an electronic emulation which allows the T2 to react like any “classic” fixture equipped with a Cyan/Magenta/Yellow color mixing system.
CMY emulation.
In mode 3, we have access to all the native primary source colors independently: red, green, blue, amber and lime.
The colors of each of the individual sources.
The colors are beautiful and saturated, they are bold, the pastels are clean, everything is beautiful. And the whites are really clean too. The concern was with the whites, which have always been the most delicate to obtain on a fixture of this type. But that was then and this is now… The electronic management of the T2 is exemplary, just like that of the T1. In spite of all the possible variations linked to the dimmer, the CRI, etc., the T2 is a very good luminaire. There is nothing to be desired, the unit responds flawlessly.
As always with the multicolor LED engine machines, the energy of the colors is remarkable.
A control channel called “Virtual color wheel” allows direct access to many standard LEE gelatin colors, but also to “custom” hues called “multicolor”, special mixes that will generate multicolor beams. This produces nice effects, especially on gobo and prism beams.
The dual-color effects with the “multicolor” color libraries.
The framing shutters and iris
The framing module is quite traditional. The shutters, arranged on four distinct focal planes, are completely independent of each other. Each shutter blade is capable of complete closure. The absolute sharpness on the four blades at the same time will therefore sometimes be a little difficult to obtain, but it is clearly in the high, or even very high, average in terms of the performance of a framing module in a fixture of this type. The framing module allows a total of 120° of rotation, allowing it to profile the beam in any direction. An iris completes the profiler and can reduce the beam to a tiny speck of light.
The gobos
The gobos are distributed on three levels. A wheel of six indexable rotating gobos, a wheel of eight static gobos, and an animation wheel (which can be considered as a third gobo wheel with a continuously animated gobo…). The selection of gobos, very “theatrical” (but well, that’s what T2 is all about) includes foliage, textures, stripes, etc.
In other words, we have the same gobos as the T1, with the addition of fixed gobos. Generally speaking, almost all the gobos have the same aerial appearance. It is the animation wheel that gives the beam a more festive look.
The rotating gobos.
The static gobos.
Prisms and frosts
The two prisms, both of which are rotatable and indexable, each have six facets. The first one multiplies the image radially around the axis of the beam, while the second one is linear. The prisms offer nice projection quality, with a multitude of overlapping images. On the other hand, they don’t spread the beam out over a very wide angle, which is logical for a fixture that is intended mainly for the theater world. The two prisms can be combined, but this doesn’t really increase the spread, just the number of projected images.
The prisms.
The T2 is equipped with two frosts. One light and one heavier. Both are advertised as progressive because they can be inserted from zero to 100% in a linear fashion in the beam. However, as with many current units, the progressiveness of the frost effect is not real. Instead, a halo of blurred light is seen invading the main image, while its contours are only really altered and go out of focus when the filter is engaged at 100%.
The frosts.
We’ve gotten used to not worrying too much about it, even if it can be a problem for those who want to add a certain level of blur to a projection, to a profile with the shutters, etc.
The framing shutters and the frost.
The control menu and connectivity
As with all of the latest generation of Robe fixtures, the touch screen control panel is complemented by four physical keys for navigating through the menus (just in case…). Configuring it is simple and straightforward; you have access to everything. There are DMX and network setup menus, but also for the optional wireless system that can be installed on the T2. The unit also dialogs with consoles in RDM, via its XLR connector, which allows you to access many settings remotely. The network connector receives the ArtNet, MA-Net, MA-Net2, and sACN protocols.
Calibration between units is a great feature that is also found on the latest Robe units. Each fixture is equipped with a sensor that continuously analyzes its luminous performance, and then matches a set of connected fixtures to the unit with the lowest performance. This can be very useful if your lighting rig includes a mix of older and newer fixtures. In a few seconds, you can be sure that all your T2 units will produce exactly the same light and the same beam. It’s a bit like in the old days when you used to match sets of lamps on a fleet of fixtures because a director of photography pointed out to you that the units numbered 14, 22, 27 and 34 were a bit more punchy than the others, and that fixture number 17 was really green… except that here, it doesn’t take two and a half hours, but just one minute, and without any tools!
Video presentation
The noise level of T2
The T2 is a quiet fixture. Despite its fans, control of them is very well optimized because, even at full power and in prolonged use, the noise remains discreet. There are three ventilation modes to choose from, including a “quiet” mode that guarantees an almost inaudible noise level, and even a mode that could be called “Extra Quiet”, in which the fixture shuts down all cooling systems as soon as there is a blackout. Total silence…
Photometric Measurements
Derating
Le T2 propose deux modes de derating. Dans le mode classique, machine allumée à pleine puissance, l’éclairement se stabilise en 5 minutes avec une atténuation de 12 %. Robe a ajouté un mode stabilisé “Light Output Stability” qui sollicite moins les leds à l’allumage pour que l’éclairage reste très stable. Sous ce mode, l’éclairage est stable. L’atténuation de la lumière ne dépasse pas 2 %.
A plot of the derating curve in classic mode.
A plot of the derating curve in stabilized mode.
Tightest sharp-focused beam
At the default color temperature of 6,250 Kelvin that is configured when the machine is turned on, the center illuminance reaches 45,000 lux after derating (51,340 lx when cold) and the flux is 8,360 lumens (9,530 lm when cold). The tightest sharp beam corresponds to a divergence of 5.4°.
20° beam 6250 K
At 20°, the illuminance increases to 6,120 lux after derating (6,960 lx when cold) and the flux climbs to 14,830 lumens (16,910 lm when cold).
20° beam 7800 K
The T2 exhibits its optimal performance in cool white. At a color temperature of 7800 K, we measure a center illuminance of 6590 lux after derating (7515 lx when cold) and the flux is 15,870 lm after derating (18,090 lm when cold). The luminous intensity curve is obviously identical, whatever the color temperature.
Widest sharply-focused beam (6250 K)
We return to the default white of 6250 K. We measure a center illuminance of 888 lux after derating (1020 lx when cold). This gives us a flux of 14,200 lm (16,190 lm when cold). The widest beam with sharp focus is at a 52.5° angle.
Disassembly
The T2 can be completely disassembled using just a Phillips-head screwdriver. That’s great news. There is nothing more irritating than fixtures that require very specific tools to access certain parts. The head can be locked on both the pan and tilt axes. As expected, this can be done at several angles, so that you can work in any position you want.
The head
The LED source module.
The head can be disassembled by removing the two halves of the cowling, which are held in place by four ¼-turn screws, and by detaching (again with a Phillips screwdriver) the small safety cables that hold them in place. At the rear, six large fans – three on each side (three taking in air and three blowing it out) – surround the source, which is enclosed behind large heat sinks using a heat pipe system. It is necessary to keep those 850 watts of power cool!
Internally, the source module consists of a complex arrangement of LED sources, the flux of which are processed by dichroic filters and lenses to produce a single uniform beam.
The rear of the head, with the source module enclosed in the heat pipe/heat sink cooling system, behind the fans.
The rear section that contains the LEDs and their cooling system is completely isolated from the rest of the head and from the “effects” section. No air flow passes from one section to the other. Only the electronics are located on the “effects” side, near the output lens of the source.
Between the LED module and the output lens, everything is removable. As with the Forte, each module is connected with a single connector that provides power and data.
The gobo module.
The first module, immediately following the source, houses the gobo wheels and the animation wheel. Usually, closest to the source, it would start with the colors, but on the T2, no dichroic filters and other glass systems are needed to color the beam, the multi-color LEDs take care of that!
The animation wheel is inserted into the beam by means of a motorized bracket, then comes the wheel of static gobos that can be clipped in place with a reference marker – in case of replacement – and, finally, comes the wheel with six rotating gobos.
The module is equipped with two fans designed to cool the LED control circuit. It also includes a small “squirrel cage” impeller to cool the optical window where the gobos are positioned in the beam (there is still a lot of energy in the beam).
The framing module.
The next module includes the framing shutters and the iris. It is more or less the same as that of the Forte and the Esprite models. The small shutter blades are articulated on four independent planes, and the whole system can be rotated 60° in one direction and 60° in the other.
The last section houses the zoom and focus modules, with their large lenses mounted on a motorized carriage and conveyed on heavy-duty rails to ensure linear movement. This carriage also holds the prisms and the frosts. All the optics are accessible without having to disassemble the module.
The lens carriages, with the frosts and prisms.
The zoom/focus module removed from the head. Note the frosts and prisms.
The mechanism prevents these effects from being used on only 10% of the zoom range, the tightest part.
The fact that the prisms are mounted on the focus optics partly explains why they only moderately spread the beam, but this is a choice that makes sense on this type of fixture.
Just like on the T1, there is an unusual accessory on the outside of the head: a filter holder that will allow some users to insert a specific filter, if necessary.
The yoke arms
By removing four screws from each cover, you can have access to the yoke arms. As is typical, on one side is the drive system and on the other side the wiring harness and the electronics. The drive side is exclusively dedicated to the tilt movement, with the transmission mechanism from the motor located in the lower part of the yoke, up to the axle of rotation via a toothed belt with its tension adjustment device. It is sufficient to remove a small reinforcement plate in order to free the belt for eventual replacement.
The pan motor is easily accessible.
On the other side runs a thick bundle of cables that passes through the axis, and a ventilated electronics module. These are the motor drivers (in particular, pan/tilt). Just below it, in the lower part, is the pan motor, which is very easy to get to. Disassembling the central part of the head allows you to free the axle and the motor slots to work on it, if required.
The base
Removing 16 screws allows you to take off the two plates that cover the base of the fixture, in which you will find the power supply and DMX/software control section. There is no particular surprise in the base: switching power supply modules, a DMX PCB that manages the software and interface with the control screen and the data connectors. Small metal plates are clipped on top of the power supply modules to channel the air and promote cooling within this neat but densely packed space.
The touch screen display.
On one of the longer sides is the touchscreen control panel with its four direct-access keys. The opposite side hosts the connection panel. It includes a True1 power input with the main fuse holder of the unit, XLR5 DMX input and output, duplicated on XLR3 connectors, if necessary, and two RJ45 Ethernet ports (there is an on-board switch and a signal repeater).
The connection panel.
The underside of the base features attachments for the omega brackets. Four different mounting angles are available: in both perpendicular and parallel orientations to the base, as well as two slanted angles. The lug for the safety cable is located in the center. Omega brackets with offset are available as an option (too bad they are not supplied as standard, as these are such important accessories…).
Conclusion
The T2 is a beautiful fixture. Robe is pushing the concept of the multi-color LED source to new levels. This fixture will most likely be able to satisfy almost any requirement of the most demanding users in theater and video production. This light has been designed for them, just like the T1 (with which it is fully “compatible”, since they have exactly the same beam and color criteria).
It is a precision machine. Precise in its functions, precise in colorimetry, precise in its capacity for purely “luminous” adjustments. Robe has even announced that it will be available in versions with a Fresnel and with a PC lens. In any case, for some it will be the ultimate weapon.
Bergamo, Italy – New visions for the future are told live, at the Bergamo Fair, through an RCF TT+ line array system with an unconventional system configuration. Visionary Bergamo 2021 is part of Visionary Days, a format where hundreds of under-35s discuss life challenges and ways they can shape the future.
Deux wedges TT 25 SMA et quatre des huit rappels pour les premiers rangs TT 052-A, des modèles compacts deux voies à dispersion conique.
The event unfolds over 10 hours of collective brainstorming and six inspirational talks, with 500 young people involved in over 80 round tables, all while streaming live. An inspirational talk opens each session by introducing a topic and then passes the topic to the attendees to develop ideas and visions. A “dynamic poster” is then drawn up and printed at the end of the event, edited by “Lee”, an artificial intelligence, creation by the Visionary Days team.
Jacopo Mapelli
Produced and coordinated by GO-ON, a production studio specializing in highly innovative events, the original format has favored participation, creating a proactive part of the show that encourages continuous interaction among its participants. The impeccable AVL set-up by Airone Service, managed by Jacopo Mapelli, deployed a scenographic set-up at the highest levels, with the audio setup based completely on RCF technologies.
Working together with the technical coordination of Lorenzo Polimeno, Luca Andreini, coordinator of the Visionary Days, comments: “We needed a versatile solution that could manage speeches with maximum intelligibility, high-powered music but also clear and understandable service communications. Airone immediately proposed the RCF solution, and I must admit that the choice was appreciated and shared. The event succeeded perfectly, with a quality that made us enthusiastic,” says Andreini.
Dos à la scène, l’un des subs amplifies à double 18” TTS 36-A.
Marco Piccini, the system designer, created the audio project using EASE Focus. “To get the best coverage of the audience, which sat 360 degrees around the stage, we used the center ring for the four TTL 33-A 4-module line arrays covering the two long sides of the venue. Two clusters of four TTL 31-A were used to cover the narrow areas,” Explains Piccini. “We also created two cardioid configurations of TTS 36-A on the two longer sides, to have optimal low-frequency coverage without re-entering the stage.” For stage monitoring, four TT 25 SMA stage monitors were installed and 8 compact two-way TT 052-A speakers as front fills for the front rows.
Fabio Pecis, le directeur et créateur de Airone Service.
“The production was impeccable, and our RCF TT systems proved to be up to par, with the compliments of all the stakeholders,” said Fabio Pecis, owner of Airone Service. “We set up everything quickly, and the speed of optimization with RDNet 4.1 is certainly noteworthy. ”
When the state of Illinois eased its stringent lockdown rules, and Chicago’s busy outdoor events schedule resumed, one person who was primed and prepped was Matthew Brotz, who runs locally based LEC Event Technology. Knowing that Chicago is capable of experiencing four seasons in a day, he realised that not only his large inventory of GLP product would need weather protection, but also moving heads from other vendors. GLP had the solution.
“Thankfully Matt contacted us in plenty of time,” declares GLP US president, Mark Ravenhill. “After discussing the comprehensive range of options that we offer, he settled on a combination of our Rain Covers, with different cover lengths, and a large quantity of Air Domes. Despite the current problems with the global freight system, we made it in time for all of his festival dates.”
LEC’s festival season reopened with The Summer Smash at Chicago’s Douglass Park and was followed by ARC Music Festival, Riot Fest and, most recently, Spring Awakening: Autumn Equinox at Addams/Medill Park. This involved working often through torrential rain and high winds. “We’ve [been fortunate enough] to have produced pretty much every large format festival in Chicago since Lollapalooza,” Brotz exclaims. “We’ve had full festival production on four back-to-back events – it’s been a whirlwind.”
GLP JDC1
But what he noticed was how few service providers were paying attention to Chicago’s volatile meteorological changes. “It seemed crazy that so few people had put time into acquiring domes or some sort of weather protection for their fixtures,” he says. “They simply seemed to be bagging them. This year, we haven’t had a single fixture damaged by the weather, and we pride ourselves on that.” In the case of GLP fixtures that’s a lot of items, with the main stage at The Summer Smash alone featuring around 72 JDC1s.
Similarly, Spring Awakening was heavily populated with other brand fixtures encased in Air Domes and 80 JDC1s on stage two using Rain Covers where necessary. Available in three sizes to fit all moving head footprints, GLP’s inflatable Air Domes provide a secure ‘bubble’-like rain cover in an IP54 package that is fast and easy to set up.
As for the GLP Rain Covers, they offer almost complete protection from the elements, without interfering with the light beam or fixture movement. Available in three sizes, these are in the form of truss mounted metal ‘bases’, which allow a ‘skirt’ to be attached, covering the bulk of the fixture.
“We’ve had weather protection from GLP since 2019,” Brotz continues. “However, we’ve now expanded to 96 of the 400 Series ‘hats’, which we use with many of our other moving heads as well as the JDCs, plus 40 of the Air Dome 600 kits … I hadn’t previously been aware they had an inflatable dome system.” And it’s an investment he has never regretted. “I had witnessed so many shows with vendors just bringing their dead fixtures out where they had been rained on. It’s a service we love offering to our clients, and the ROI comes back almost immediately, let alone without the headache of damaged gear.”
Since its first contact with GLP in 2019, LEC has steadily been building inventory to service largely work in the EDM (electronic dance music) sector, in which Matt Brotz started out as a DJ). “Our first purchase was 24 JDC1, and six months later I bought 32 more. They are on every show. In fact, the two staples are X4 Bar 20 and JDC1 – I can’t get enough of them. With the 64 X4 Bars and a further 33 [impression] FR10 Bars, we are almost up to 100 battens, and with this inventory the benefit of EDM is our ability to design for the client.”
In conclusion, the LEC founder also commends GLP for its excellent customer service: “Mark [Ravenhill] will walk the kit to the FedEx offices himself if necessary to get stuff to us on time.”
Viewers were treated to a musical extravaganza hosted by British musician Olly Alexander in the form of BBC One’s The Big New Years & Years Eve Party. Filmed at London’s Riverside Studios, the two-part concert included guest performances from pop superstar Kylie Minogue and the legendary Pet Shop Boys.
The show included a pause for the countdown to midnight and footage of London’s “Big Ben” ringing in the new year before the action headed back to the show as Olly and friends continued the party. The Years & Years singer threw a spectacular New Year’s Eve party with a captivating lighting design from Gurdip Mahal, featuring more than 40 universes of fixtures. To provide main and tracking backup control of the elaborate lighting rig, programmers Ross Williams and Rob Bradley selected a pair of High End Systems Hog 4-18 consoles – the flagship console of the Hog family – supplemented by two Full Boar 4 consoles and two new HPU Hybrid Processor units.
The main lighting system was supplied by PRG, with crew chief Tim Saunders responsible for the installation aspect and Ben Hornshaw providing WYSIWYG support for two days pre-production off-site. LED was supplied by LED Creative and Light Initiative, with Josh Grace in the position of production designer.
Williams has been a freelance lighting designer and programmer since 1995 and has won multiple awards for his work in television. Unsurprisingly, he is no stranger the challenges involved in productions of this nature.
“These shows with ever-increasing fixture counts and very limited rehearsal time can be quite stressful to say the least, and this one was certainly no exception,” he says. “I definitely appreciate the increased performance and reliability I’ve noticed since first investing in both Hog 4-18 and HPU back in the summer. In combination, this appears to create an environment that enhances the overall user experience and has proved a positive one over a number of high-profile shows throughout the second half of 2021.”
Hog 4-18
Having owned almost all varieties of the console, with only the original Wholehog missing from his repertoire, Williams continues to keep a close eye on the latest developments in the Hog family. “The move towards linear patching is a particular recent favorite software-wise, something which appears to be equally appreciated by the system techs too,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing where the software goes this coming year as the world hopefully returns to some sort of normality and more shows return.”
Pentatonix, the three-time Grammy Award winning a cappella group, just wrapped their 18-date Evergreen Christmas Tour 2021 where 45 Ayrton Khamsin-S profile luminaires served as the main fixtures for the show. Ayrton is exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment. The Evergreen Christmas Tour 2021, in support of the new Pentatonix album called Evergreen, kicked off November 27 in Baltimore and wrapped on December 23 in Grand Prairie, Texas. It was their first Christmas tour since 2019, the coronavirus pandemic having sidelined last year’s event.
Production and lighting designer, Travis Shirley, who heads Travis Shirley Live Design in Houston and Nashville, has been working with Pentatonix for the last nine years. “It’s been quite a journey,” he says, “seeing them grow to where they are selling out arenas around the world. After last year’s Christmas tour was cancelled, it was time to rejoice with a new show full of the energy and love Pentatonix is known for.”
Shirley says the beautiful art direction of the Evergreen album informed the design of the show. “Choreographers and creative directors Lindsey Blaufarb and Craig Hollaman and I were inspired by the album artwork, which pays homage to the 1960s with silver tinsel and retro clothes,” Shirley points out.
“Then I channelled the look of The Johnny Carson Show and the Tom Hanks movie, That Thing You Do for the era’s lighting and scenography. We ended up designing around several curtain tracks starting with a metallic silver drape, then a vintage LED star drop and finally a red velour curtain.” What Shirley needed for his lighting design were fixtures that enabled him to achieve a vintage look but with modern tools. He also required fixtures that were quiet since Pentatonix performs a cappella.
“Bandit Lites in Nashville, the lighting vendor for the tour, demo’d Khamsin for me,” he recalls. “It was love at first sight. Khamsin is a beautiful, well-rounded fixture. It had great brightness and colour temperature, and its LED engine made it nice and quiet.”
Ayrton Khamsin
Shirley admits that up until then he hadn’t used Ayrton fixtures because he felt they were more in the specialty lighting category and didn’t fit his specs. “So it was really nice to see Ayrton play in the big leagues of meat-and-potatoes lighting with a multi-purpose fixture – and they’ve done a great job with Khamsin.”
He calls the fixtures the “workhorses of the show,” which was built around a forced perspective proscenium. “Khamsins framed all the edges of the proscenium, and they ran the gamut of applications from aerial effects to lighting scenic and principal artists.” Kyle Lonvin, whom Shirley brought on board for the 2018 Christmas tour, served as the new tour’s lighting director; Pentatonix tour veteran Chris Smith was the lighting programmer.
Noting the compressed production timetable that typically comes with a month-long Christmas tour, Shirley says that Bandit Lites “took a lot of the workload off me. They took my ideas and drawings and adapted them to Bandit’s inventory. No one could have done a better job.” Shirley actually began his career with Bandit, “polishing theatre cable at age 18,” he recalls.
“How our relationship has changed and grown! Bandit Vice President Mike Golden and I had been trying to find something to do together, and I’m glad this opportunity came up.” Shirley reports that the tour’s lighting crew said they’d had “zero problems” with the Khamsins during the run of the show. He has been so impressed with the fixtures’ performance that he plans to put them to work on some upcoming projects.
“They will definitely make their way onto my rock ’n roll shows,” Shirley says. “But the beauty of the fixture with its very even field shouldn’t be underestimated. Khamsin is a versatile fixture that can play rough and also put on a suit and tie.”
More information on Ayrton Khamsin-S fixtures and the extensive portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu
Anolis Ambiane pure white and RGBW LED lighting fixtures have been installed at the 420-seat Auditorium du Louvre, an oak-panelled performance and presentation space designed by world-famous architect IM Pei within the Musée du Louvre complex in Paris, France. The multi-purpose venue is used for a diversity of events like chamber concerts, spoken word performances, lectures, film screenings and numerous others.
A team from Anolis France was led by architectural lighting specialist Bruno Francois who worked closely with Anolis HQ in the Czech Republic, the venue’s technical / stage manager Didier Degros and installers / systems integrators Satelec to find a solution. The project involved the replacement of accent lighting above the seats with 26 x Ambiane HP111 PW (3000K) fixtures and custom hangers, and upgrading of the previous PAR 56 wall lighting fixtures around the room, with 67 x Ambiane HP111 RGBWs with bespoke collars and brackets.
The wish to replace the original fixtures with more modern and energy efficient options had been ongoing for some time and the environment presented several challenges! The Auditorium fixtures are extremely difficult to reach due to sections of the roof being completely inaccessible. It’s also a heritage listed building, so a complex set of rules must be followed for any work undertaken or any aspects that are changed.
This was also part of a wider lighting upgrade being applied – section-by-section – throughout the Louvre complex. As part of that, in 2020 Robe France supplied six T1 Profile moving lights to the auditorium to be used for key lighting, and Anolis responded to a tender put out for the auditorium lighting, and their bid was chosen.
Many of the Auditorium’s events involve a video element, so the flicker free operation of the T1s for HD camera environments was a must for Didier. With Ambiane featuring this same characteristic in addition to accurately matching the T1s in colour and the white temperature ranges, this put the brand in a strong position, together with the superior colour mixing of the wall washing Ambianes and the super-smooth theatrical grade dimming and DMX control.
Enthusiastic from the start, the Anolis team visited the venue several times for mock-ups, demos, experimentation, and lengthy discussions on finding ways for the venue to achieve the lighting it wanted. Due to all the rigging challenges involved, a completely custom solution was proposed to achieve the desired creative results as well as being physically possible – with a bit of intelligence and imagination – to install!
It was this zeal, the ability to think ‘out-of-the-box- and meticulous attention to detail that helped Anolis win the deal, and the lights were supplied to Satelec via Anolis partner SPX. The original wall washers were installed in the Auditorium when it was built in the 1990s, via roof access above the ceiling, with convex pyramid-shaped mirrored structures created around the lights to bounce the light off and down the side walls. The access was then closed off, and no drawings or plans could be found!
Bruno and the Anolis team were not daunted by this! After much back and forth, they created a special mounting bracket that enabled each Ambiane fixture to be held with both hands and inserted from below into the 20 cm gap in the mirror structure by technicians working at height, with the lens, mirror, and old PAR bulb and holders already removed. The lens and mirror were then put back into place, and the same screws used to secure the Ambiane HP111 RGBWs in place.
A special short trim for the luminaire was also developed to assist the installation crew together with a custom bracket that gives the whole fixture a ‘wiggle’ factor of being able to slide and rotate it just enough to get a perfect focus onto the auditorium walls. “We were doing this in the complete reverse order of the original installation,” explained Bruno, revealing that patience, lateral thinking and determination produced the result that pleased everyone involved.
The Ambiane HP was ideal with its excellent output, vivid colours and because the size was close to the old PAR 56s. The fixtures were fitted with 80-degree lenses and a 30-degree internal foil to spread the light horizontally for optimal interaction with the mirror elements – a trick discovered during one of the many test sessions. The ceiling lighting above the seats was always intended to be white and the light planner, Ingelux, overseeing the wider Louvre complex lighting upgrade project, had already stipulated the CRI and DUV which should be below 0.002.
So, the Ambiane HP111 PW white LED engine was calibrated to produce the exact ‘pure white’ variant needed, and these fixtures are fitted with 20-degree lenses. The standard mounting brackets for the units were changed for brackets that are L-shaped on both sides, allowing the fixtures to be mounted directly on the ceiling in the centre of mirrored ‘collars’ which are similar to those surrounding the wall washers. All the Ambianes in the room are DMX controlled via a ChromaQ Vista L5 console. The ceiling lights are programmed in lines for sectional control, and the wall wash fixtures are individually controllable to produce light curtain effects.
Bruno comments, “It was a fantastic collaboration with Didier and SATELEC and sales company SPX (an Anolis re-seller), and we are all extremely proud of what has been achieved in such a prestigious Auditorium. It’s a tribute to everyone’s passion and commitment to finding exactly the right solution and in overcoming the many practical challenges involved to produce a great result.”
For more info, you can visit www.anolis.com or www.robe.cz
Earlier this year, the filming of Marvel Studios’ newly released Spider Man: No Way Home found lighting programmer Scott Barnes once again firing up his trusty Hog 4 lighting control setup, as well as bringing some new Hog 4 HPU Hybrid Processor units for the production.
Well-known for his use of Hog 4 control on Marvel’s films and other movies, Barnes said he approached the shoot for No Way Home quite similarly as he has in the past, but with ‘the biggest addition and MVP of the show being the HPU processor’.
Barnes explains, “I was fortunate enough to beta test the HPU during the pandemic lockdown, and even more fortunate to get the very first two off the assembly line to bring onboard Spider-Man. My systems tech, Derek Page, provided our standard Rack Hogs, I provided two HPUs, and then he ended up adding another HPU towards the beginning of our schedule. Spider-Man was the perfect show to break in the new HPU.
We used every bit of processing power those things could deliver! The show was loaded with lighting effects, and we must be a little more manageable with our Hog servers now, because we want to make sure that the HPUs get used on the stages that need them the most. The Rack Hogs were used for the lesser rigs. It’s also been very nice to be able to use any of the Rack Hogs or HPUs as extra processors too.”
“As was their typical setup, the team installed the servers (Rack Hogs or HPUs) on each of the stages they were using. Scott continues, “We were at Trillith Studios, formerly known as Pinewood, just south of Atlanta. This is the same place we shot Ant-Man, Civil War, Guardians vol2, Infinity War, and Endgame.
We had seven stages there, plus a huge exterior bluescreen that was used for a couple of different sets. We used three Rack Hogs, three HPUs, three Hog 4 consoles, and a Hog PC tech console throughout the six months of shooting.
Each stage would have a Hog server set up near a corner. Then we would run two networks from them, the first being the sACN out of the FixtureNet port. This fed the entire stage and would be distributed via managed Pathway switches located in the perms and all around the set. The other network was the HogNet from the HogNet port of the Rack Hog or HPU. This network was also run through the managed switches and additionally tapped into the studio network infrastructure, so we could easily connect to the other servers running on the other stages.”
Barnes enthuses that Stage 14 was a particularly fun rig that could not have been done without the HPU. “The HPU wasn’t enough – we had to add a few extra DP8000s to that stage! Half that stage was a horseshoe bluescreen, with over 100 Studio Force 72s, in high pixel count, to use as interactive light for various scenes. We pixel mapped the Studio Forces right from the console. We also had about 20 SoloHyBeam 3000s on that stage. The HyBeam 3K was our go-to mover throughout the show. I am a huge fan of this luminaire.
It is like the ‘sampler platter’ of movers. Multiple Frosts, Multiple Prisims, Framing Shutters, Gobos, Iris … it just has everything, it’s bright, and the High-Fidelity units have a perfect white light beam to use on camera. I was speaking to Mike Bauman, owner of LUX Lighting in Burbank, recently about these lights.
LUX provided a large amount of the movers we used, along with MBS. I never should have talked so highly about them after using them for the first time on The Prom. They’re getting very hard to find now. We just started working on Black Panther 2, and these lights are so popular now, you have to call far in advance to have any chance of getting some. We also used SolaFrame 3000 and SolaFrame Theatre fixtures.”
Director of Photography for Spider-Man was Mauro Fiore, who Barnes worked with several times in the early part of his career but had not seen in a long time. “Mauro is a well-known DP who won the Oscar for Avatar. Josh Davis was the CLT (gaffer), who had originally called me way back when I was still working on The Prom. Then Covid hit, and everything got put on hold.
Josh was someone I had worked with years ago on shows like Lemony Snicket when he was one of the electricians on the crew. We kept in touch over the years, and he had started working his way into gaffing. I was flattered that he called me to do Spider-Man. He is a pleasant person to be around and work for, and he is an excellent CLT. He will be a name you hear a lot in the coming years!”
Other key team members on Spider-Man were rigging gaffer Adam Harrison, fixtures foreman Phil Abeyta, and Derek Page, Barnes’ senior systems tech. “Derek, Phil and I have worked together several times before, but this was my first big show with Adam. Adam is fantastic. He is a big advocate of networking and is a forward thinker. The four of us are now working on the next Black Panther together, but with a different DP and CLT.
For more information about etc and their lighting related products, you can visit etcconnect.com
Astera PixelBrick wireless battery-powered LED lighting fixtures proved a perfect solution for a major section of “Bolesworth Christmas”, a visually stimulating and fun illuminated trial experience staged at Bolesworth Castle, an impressive Grade II listed country house near Tattenhall, Cheshire, England.
Lighting designer Nick Jevons was asked to add lighting magic for the brand-new event concept at this site after being invited onboard by event producer Matt Bates. He discussed the initial ideas that were already germinating with Bolesworth’s live events team plus some of the locations they had in mind, and together with his own input, eight of these were developed as highlights for the 1.5-mile-long trail.
Nick immediately started imagining many different visual treatments that would delight and engage visitors. A major section of the trail was a large 400 x 300 metre lawn space in front of the Castle which needed dramatic hi-impact illumination, so Nick suggested utilising 48 x IBC tanks with internal light sources. The IBCs – intermediate bulk containers – are industrial-grade containers engineered for the mass handling, transport and storage of liquids, semi-solids, pastes, or solids, and are popular on festivals and live event sites for ballast or weighting applications.
“The Cube Field” installation at Bolesworth was the first time Nick had used PixelBricks for an event, but he already had these very handy and robust new Astera fixtures in mind when shaping this piece of light art in his head. “Obviously, I needed something fully battery powered and ultimately deployable as running power or data cabling across the area would have been completely impractical,” he explained, and sure enough, after the first tests, the PixelBrick proved itself an absolutely ideal choice.
The 48 x fixtures were fitted with dome diffuser accessories – one of Astera’s ingenious Accessory Pack items – and emitted a fantastic smooth light output that filled with whole IBC evenly, making them glow in the dark producing “the exact effects I envisioned,” stated Nick, delighted with the results.
Nick programmed the 48 x PixelBricks via his Avolites console using one transmitter, an Astera receiver and a DMX repeater which was sitting in the middle of the field, and these produced a wide variety of funky, fluid, and different effects and explosions of colour interacting with people as they ambled around the trail.
The 48 x PixelBricks were purchased specially for the project by Hampshire-based lighting rental specialist Liteup, which supplied these, together with all the other lighting equipment, power distro and crew for the Bolesworth project.
Liteup’s Marc Callaghan commented, “We already stocked Titan Tubes so the decision to add more Astera products to our inventory was an easy one. The reliability of the wireless control and the battery life make the product ultimately usable, not to mention the colours and brightness which we love! Adding the accessory packs alongside has made the PixelBrick into an extremely versatile lighting fixture for a variety of shows.”
Nick uses other Astera products like Titan Tubes regularly in his work and knowing the reliability and scope of the wireless technology, was confident to run all these PixelBricks off the single transmitter. “The Cube Field” was one of eight diverse installations ranging in size and complexity making up ‘Bolesworth Christmas’ which also incorporated other art works like sculptures and a Christmas market, and utilised other stunning environmental elements of the extensive grounds including woodland.
Challenges included dealing with some very inclement weather – the set-up and period initially planned as the first week was affected by two serious storms (Arwen and Barra) that hit the UK at this time – but everything still went ahead. “The PixelBricks were rock solid throughout,” noted Nick, adding that working outdoors in the winter was a big learning curve for all involved but at the end of the day there was “nothing that could not be solved by a good cup of tea and a think!!”
He added that it was “excellent” collaborating with a client like Bolesworth, prepared to push the production values and create a high-quality visitor experience in spite of galvanising circumstances! The festive event was a massive hit with the public, running right up until Christmas Eve. With Covid uncertainty still affecting live events across much of the world, outdoor illuminated trails have surged in popularity as a new, safe, and entertaining way of providing some theatrical magic highlighting special seasons and themes, and we are sure to see a lot more Astera products used in this way.
What we like:
What we don’t like:
