Road Test: Strong Technobeam, page 40 - PLSN.com

NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Tiny Foggers Honored for Technological Achievement
BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced
winners of its annual Scientific
and Technical Academy Awards, presented
at The Beverly Wilshire on Feb. 9.
Unlike other Academy Awards, achievements
receiving Scientific and Technical
Awards need not have been developed and
introduced during 2007. Instead, they must
demonstrate a proven record of contributing
significant value to the process of making
motion pictures.
One such award was presented to Jörg
Pöhler and Rüdiger Kleinke of Ottec Technology
GmbH for the design and development
of the battery-operated series of fog
machines known as “Tiny Foggers.”
The Academy lauded the operating
characteristics of these compact, remotecontrollable
units, saying they help create
a range of safe special effects that would be
totally impractical with larger, more conventional
fog units.
Spider-Man 3, I Now Pronounce You Chuck
and Larry, The Producers and The Pink Panther
starring Steve Martin are among the feature
films that have used the units, which are
small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.
“We congratulate Ottec on this great
honor and we are proud to be a part of the
great success of these machines,” said Kirsten
Eicher of Look Solutions, which is the exclusive
distributor of the fog machines.
The first Tiny-Fogger entered the market
in 1998, the first machines small enough to
be concealed in costumes and small props.
This was followed by the Tiny-Compact, an
all-in-one version, which came on the market
in 2000, followed by the more powerful
Power-Tiny in 2003.
In 2007, Look Solutions presented new
versions, Tiny F07 and Tiny C07, with a more
robust vaporizer and other refinements.
Other film industry technological innovations
in the top 10 this year included advances
in makeup, camera dollies, film emulsion
and software that enhances the appearance
of fluids and gaseous effects on screen.
Super Bowl Halftime Show as Intense as Ever
continued from cover
Butts credited the Virtuoso console’s
V6.0 software for his ability to make “extensive
use of multiple cue stacks, wave-based
effects, and bump/flash features. We used
the Mbox pixel map software for the Color-
Blasts under the stage, all 600 of them,” he
added. “Utilizing a pixel map, rather than
running the units directly from the console,
saved a lot of time both in troubleshooting
and in programming.”
Lighting director Matt Firestone operated
a second Virtuoso system, which controlled
several hundred automated fixtures and effects,
including Mac 2000 Washes, VL3500
Washes and VL5 Arcs. Some of these fixtures
were mounted on trusses suspended 120 feet
over the end zones and some were mounted
on the balcony rails in front of the top seating
sections. There were also VL5 Arcs on two
70-foot vertical trusses that were hung to the
left and right behind the band.
Everyone involved in the production, it
seemed, felt the pressure of the event’s enormous
time constraints. “This show was a challenge,”
said Dave Hyslop, project manager for
XL Touring Video, which supplied the video
screens used for the show. Even though XLTV
could begin its move-in preparations Jan. 23,
well in advance of the game, Hyslop needed
to have the screens “deployed and ready with
content in four minutes.”
XLTV provided nine of Main Light Industries’
Soft-LED Scrim curtains, each of which
was hung from Main Light’s Soft-Motion
systems, with Robb Wagner/Simulated Inc.
providing the animation content. Giovanni
Ciranni of Main Light engineered the system,
working closely with Hyslop to deploy the
screens within the allotted time.
Because no one had the power to stop
the clock, careful planning was essential. “To
make the lighting system work, nearly 150
From left, Jörg Pöhler, Kirsten Eicher, Rüdiger Kleinke and
Nathan Kahn of Ottec Technology and Look Solutions.
separate connections needed to be made,
including trailing four 150-foot sets of 4/0
feeder,” said PRG’s Tony Ward, vice president,
television and special events. “We isolated
each cart for Tom Petty’s stage and, in most
cases, fit it with a single Series 400 cable,
which meant that most carts required only
one cable [for power and data] connecting to
the S400 rack,” Ward said.
After the performance, all the connections
were quickly undone and the carts were
swiftly removed from the field. Within 48
hours PRG had removed all of its gear from
the stadium, filling nine 53-foot trucks.
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USITT Welcoming
Input for NEC
Code Revisions
SYRACUSE, NY — Are there parts
of the National Electrical Code that do
not make sense to you? Would some
changes to the language or addition
of new material help you in your job?
Is your inspector simply confused by
awkward and unfamiliar requirements?
You can do something about it.
The USITT’s Engineering Commission
has announced that it’s time once
more to start the tri-annual revision
process leading to the creation of the
2011 edition of the National Electrical
Code, which can help with the above
situations. The NEC revision process
begins with proposals to revise the
Code submitted by the general public.
The proposals for the 2011 edition will
be due on Nov. 7, 2008.
As in the past, the USITT Engineering
Commission will serve to coordinate
proposals for NEC Code revisions.
By reviewing everyone’s proposals, the
commission hopes to strengthen them
and present a collective position to
the Code panels. The commission also
notes that the general public is also
free to present proposals directly to
the NFPA.
Interested parties can get more information
and submit their proposed
revisions to:
Ken Vannice,
Chair, USITT NEC Committee
Leviton / NSI / Colortran
20497 SW Teton Ave.
Tualatin, OR 97062
E-mail: KVannice@Leviton.com
Letters to the Editor
Truth and Light
I teach lighting design at Wichita State University.
I really enjoyed your article on booth
lighting in the January issue of PLSN (LD at
Large – It’s the Product, Stupid). In it I find many
truths applicable to all sorts of lighting design.
With your permission I’d love to copy your article
and give it to my students to read.
And, by the way, I don’t have a class in
booth lighting, but I do address it in my advanced
lighting classes and set design classes.
Trade shows and the like are a very important
and lucrative part of the lighting design world
and students need to learn that there is much
more than just straight plays out there.
— David Neville, assistant professor of scenic
and lighting design, Wichita State University
Gobo Fine
I have been a long time fan of LD at Large,
and have really found a boatload of information
and inspiration from them. It’s not too often that
reading something on the Internet can get a reaction
from me like It’s the Product, Stupid (PLSN,
January 2008, LD at Large). Every line, every observation
is something I have thought multiple
times before in shows or trade show/events of
any kind, especially the part, “There ought to be
a fine for unnecessary gobo usage.” I choked on
my cold shop coffee. Just want to say thanks for
reminding me there are similar minds out there.
Keep up the great writing.
— Brian Hatten, lighting director, Atlanta
Sound and Lighting
CORRECTION
Due to an editing error, a reference to the Air Transat 20 th Anniversary celebration
in Montreal, Quebec on page 18 of the Feb. 2008 PLSN included the wrong photo. The
correct photo for that event appears below.
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PLSN MARCH 2008