May Issue - PLSN.com

PROJECTION
CONNECTION
Starts on page 41
Road Test: VectorWorks Spotlight, page 40
Vol. 9.4
MAY
2008
Old Settler’s Music Festival Thinks Green
DRIFTWOOD, TX — Not only did the three-day Old Settler’s Music Festival 2008 provide a green outdoor
setting outside of Austin for the annual event, it also encouraged green living with signage and eco-friendly
practices (see inset). The Hill Country Stage and the smaller iZon Bluebonnet stage hosted a number of diverse
artists including Delbert McClinton, Marty Stewart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Charlie Musselwhite,
Dave Grisman Bluegrass Experience, The Waybacks, Eliza Gilkyson and many more. The production manager
was Ryan Brittain and the lighting on the main stage was supplied by Ilios of Austin, Tex. Bobby Mathias was
the lighting programmer and operator, and he worked on a Flying Pig Systems Road Hog console. Lighting
gear included Thomas 6-Lite blinders, two CITC Star hazers, six Martin MAC 700 Wash fixtures, four ACL
bars, eight Martin StageBar LEDs and four Martin MAC 700 Profiles. Nomad/S.E.T. supplied audio for both
stages (Dennis Moninger/Damon Lange). Other crew included Chris Payuer, Rion King, Clark Stewart and
Ryan Rooney.
Two Equipment Rental Crew Members Electrocuted
McCLELLANVILLE, SC — Two crew members working for Stage Presence Equipment Rentals, a division of
Charleston-based OtherBrother Entertainment, were killed when the tent they were erecting struck a power line
April 23. Two other workers were injured in the accident.
The victims were Dexter Keyes, 37, and John Fortney, 45. Each had been holding a metal pole when the center
pole for the large tent struck a low-hanging power line. Employees of Snyder Event Rentals and Staffing were also
at the site.
The accident took place at Thorn Hill Farms in McClellanville, where crew members were preparing for a charity
fundraising event for Healing Farm Ministries, a faith-based organization that assists individuals with developmental
disabilities.
Canada’s SHAPE Joins
the ETCP Council
NEW YORK — Safety & Health
in Arts Production & Entertainment
(SHAPE), a nonprofit organization in
British Columbia, Canada, has accepted
a seat on the ETCP Council and has
appointed Brent Rossington as its primary
representative.
SHAPE’s General Manager, Dawn
Brennan, said, “We look forward to
a strong partnership with ETCP because
SHAPE’s mandate, ‘to work with
employers and workers in British Columbia’s
arts production and entertainment
industries to improve health
and safety in the workplace,’ aligns
with ETCP’s work.”
“The ETCP Council is excited about
a representative from SHAPE joining the
council,” said Tim Hansen, ETCP council
chair. “We are also pleased that they will
broaden representation from Canada.”
Mole-Richardson’s 80
Years of Innovation
HOLLYWOOD —Mole–Richardson
Co. marked 80 years of innovative lighting
for the entertainment industry.
From 1927 to 1960, as motion pictures
gained momentum, so did quiet
lighting technology. Working with GE,
Mole-Richardson supplied the studios
with a wide range of fixtures and lamps.
After 1960, the emphasis turned to the
lighting needs of film and television,
using quartz tungsten, discharge and
fluorescent lamp technology.
The new millennium and digital
media led to new ways to serve the
entertainment industry, including
the development of LED technology
for film lighting. Mike Parker, grandson
of co-founder Peter Mole, is now
president of Mole-Richardson Co. and
credits the commitment to innovation
at both companies for their longevity.
24
28
52
This issue was
printed on 100%
recycled paper.
Organic Forms,
Shiny and Wet
In some ways, George Tsypin,
scenic designer for The Little Mermaid
on Broadway, was as much
a fish out of water as Disney’s
title character. The play called for
dreamy organic forms with a magical
sheen, and Tsypin, a former architect,
was used to sharp angles
and utilitarian function.
The challenge of suspending
water-borne elements along with
the audience’s disbelief, all the
while working with tremendous
overhead and offstage space constraints,
put Tsypin’s creativity to
the test.
The result is a set that achieves
parallel worlds with fairy tale palaces
above the sea and beneath
the waves..
For the full story, turn to page 20.
Installations
Austin’s Long Center is built
out of materials salvaged from
Palmer Auditorium, previously
on its site.
Biofuels Take a
Detour
Tour trucking contractors are
facing new complexities in the
search for alternatives to Big Oil.
Focus on Fundamentals
Drawing a line in the sand on
incandescent waste.
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Joan Marcus

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www.plsn.com December
MAY 2008
PROJECTION, LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
CONTENTS
WHAT’S HOT
WHAT’S HOT HOT
Production Profile
With a whole posse of stage personas, Tori Amos needs to be
constantly changing her costumes, wigs — and lighting looks.
A Hidden Agenda
Discreetly-hidden moving lights help turn the conservative look of
Second Baptist’s 9:30 a.m. church service into an “all-out rock show”
at 11:11 a.m.
22
18
18 26
Features
20 Inside Theatre
The parallel fantasy worlds created
by George Tsypin, scenic designer
for The Little Mermaid, above and
beneath the sea.
24 Installations
Austin’s old Palmer Auditorium
is gone, but not forgotten. About
65 percent of it has been recycled
into the new Long Center for the
Performing Arts.
28 Biofuels Take a Detour
As grain gluts become scarce, tour
trucking contractors are navigating
new obstacles presented by yesterday’s
fuel of the future.
32 Vital Stats
Brian Friborg, president, Martin
Professional U.S.
33 Buyer’s Guide
Transistorized dimmers and
harmonic mitigating transformers
(HMTs).
36 PLSN Interview
Brian Sidney Bembridge blew into
the Windy City at age 23 and has
become a standout among Chicago’s
top lighting and set designers.
38 Wide Angle
Benoit Richard spent a month on
the computer designing the looks
for Matchbox Twenty’s tour, and
only four nights with the real equipment
before the first show.
40 Road Test
VectorWorks Spotlight 2008 has
some much-needed updates. Here’s
our report.
51 Road Test
We take Light Converse lighting
design and visualization software
for a spin.
CONTENTS
Columns
4 Editor’s Note
Maybe Mars is the kind of place to
raise your kids.
46 Video Digerati
LED tubes, tiles, strips, transparent
displays, backdrops and 3D arrays.
48 The Biz
InfoComm’s annual Market Survey
shows more silver linings than
clouds.
50 Technopolis
The Religion of Control, Part II: The
case for console monotheism.
52 Focus on Fundamentals
Drawing a line in the sand on incandescent
waste.
53 Feeding the Machines
“CUE ONLY” lets you interrupt
tracking and quickly insert a totally
different look.
56 LD-at-Large
Something as basic as truss can be
vastly improved. Why stop there?
Departments
5 News
10 Calendar
10 Letters to the Editor
12 International News
14 On the Move
16 New Products
18 Showtime
41 Projection Connection
42 Projection Connection News
45 Projection Connection New
Products
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TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION
EDITOR’S NOTE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
By RichardCadena
Lighting for a Small Planet
In 2006, famed physicist Stephen
Hawking said that we need to colonize
space in order to preserve the
future of the planet. I think we need to
colonize space in order to preserve the
dignity of the human race. Can we go any
lower than The Bachelor, Dancing with the
Stars and Rock of Love with Bret Michaels?
Professor Hawking’s reasons for speculating
on the future of the planet are
dramatic. Nuclear war or a collision with
a giant asteroid, he says, could obliterate
the human species. My reasons for
wanting to live on another planet are less
altruistic. I can’t take another show like
Big Brother. Hawking invokes the controversial
subject of global warming in his
dire warning. “Life on Earth,” he says, “is
at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped
out by a disaster, such as sudden global
warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered
virus or other dangers we have
not yet thought of.” Yeah, dangers like the
next Jackass movie or the possibility of
another Judge Judy copycat show.
Regardless of which side of the global
warming debate you fall, there’s no denying
that the earth’s resources are in
greater demand, suffering from an exploding
population. In 1800, there were
about a billion people on the planet.
Had the rate of increase stayed the same,
there would be about 1.5 billion people
alive today. Instead, the population has
radically increased to 6.6 billion. It’s estimated
that by 2050 the population will
be about 9 billion. Advances in medicine
and technology are helping us live longer
and keeping more people alive, while the
decline of civilization is serving up more
Wife Swap than we can handle.
One of the effects of the increased
population is a sharp increase in the demand
for crude oil. Until now, the price of
coal has remained relatively unchanged
compared to the sharp rise to over $120
per barrel for oil. And since about half of
the world’s electricity is generated using
coal-fired steam turbines, the live event
production industry has been somewhat
insulated from the effects of the squeeze
on resources. But that may soon change.
Advances in medicine and technology are helping us live longer
and keeping more people alive, while the decline of civilization is
serving up more Wife Swap than we can handle.
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According to an article in the April
10, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal,
three Japanese steel manufacturers,
Nippon Steel, JFE Holdings, and Sumitomo
Metal Industries contracted to buy
coking coal — the main fuel used in blast
furnaces for making steel — from an
Australian supplier at a 300 percent premium
over the previous price of $98 per
ton. Another deal was struck by Chubu
Electric Power to pay Swiss mining firm
Xstrata PLC $125 per metric ton for Australian
thermal steam coal, which was
more than double the price paid in the
previous year. While these term contracts
and coal prices were exacerbated by a
temporary ban on coal exports in China,
bad weather and infrastructure bottlenecks
in Australia, they underscore the
precarious perch on which coal prices
are balanced. Also, the article noted that
“BHP Billiton confirmed that prices this
year for metallurgical coking coal products
are expected to rise within a range
of 206% to 240% over last year’s levels.”
And if the gas pump is any indication,
prices fall much slower than they rise.
With the cost of oil dramatically increasing,
the increased focus on the environment
and the availability of new
greener technology, it’s now incumbent
upon the lighting industry to be forwardthinking
enough to design with efficiency
in mind. The cost savings realized
from an energy-efficient design could
double or triple over the next few years.
And if that’s not enough incentive, consider
that burning coal releases carbon
dioxide, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen
cyanide, sulfur nitrate, as well as
arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium,
beryllium, cadmium, barium, chromium,
copper, molybdenum, zinc, selenium,
and radium into the air we all breathe.
While it may be a bit early for I.A.T.S.E.
to organize a Local in space, it’s not too
early to start considering energy efficiency
when you’re designing a lighting system.
You can start by perusing the first PLSN
Green Issue printed on recycled paper as
a reminder to be environmentally conscious,
ecologically minded, and economically
sensitive. Next month we’ll return to
our regular format but in the meantime,
we’ll be dreaming of the good old days
when we had intelligent TV programming
like Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres, Get Smart
and Laverne and Shirley.
The Publication of Record for the Lighting,
Staging and Projection Industries
Publisher
Terry Lowe
tlowe@plsn.com
Editor
Richard Cadena
rcadena@plsn.com
Managing Editor
Frank Hammel
fhammel@plsn.com
Associate Editor
Breanne George
bg@plsn.com
Contributing Writers
Vickie Claiborne, Phil Gilbert, Rob Ludwig,
Kevin M. Mitchell, Bryan Reesman, Brad
Schiller, Nook Schoenfeld, Paul J. Duryee
Photographer
Steve Jennings
Art Director
Garret Petrov
gpetrov@plsn.com
Graphic Designers
David Alan
dalan@plsn.com
Crystal Franklin
cfranklin@plsn.com
Web Master
Josh Harris
jharris@plsn.com
National
Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
gregg@plsn.com
Account Manager
James Leasing
jleasing@plsn.com
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Leslie Rohrscheib
lr@plsn.com
Production Manager
Linda Evans
levans@plsn.com
General Manager
William Hamilton Vanyo
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Projection, Lights & Staging News (ISSN:
1537-0046) Volume 9, Number 4 Published
monthly by Timeless Communications
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ESTA
ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES &

Schouw & Co.,
BioMar Agree
to Merger
AARHUS, Denmark — Reflecting business
interests that extend far beyond stage
lighting, BioMar Holding and Schouw & Co.
agreed to a merger in mid-April. The deal
pairs Schouw & Co., a $1.6 billion maker of
lighting fixtures, packaging machinery and
industrial equipment and supplies with
BioMar, a $720 million supplier of fish feed
to the aquaculture industry. Schouw & Co. is
perhaps best known to the entertainment
technology industry as the corporate parent
of Martin Professional.
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
NEWS
PRG Forms Distribution Company
DALLAS — Production Resource Group,
L.L.C., (PRG) has formed a new company,
PRG Distribution, L.L.C. to distribute lighting
and other entertainment technology
product lines from leading global manufacturers
to dealers in North America. PRG vice
president Tim Brennan will oversee the new
company, which will operate independently
from PRG with headquarters in Dallas.
Brennan emphasizes that the new company
will sell exclusively to dealers, not to
end-users. So far, PRG Distribution has exclusive
distribution agreements with a number
of manufacturers, bringing these brands to
North American markets. These include:
Clay Paky, S.p.A., the Italian manufacturer
of moving light fixtures, used extensively
at major venues in Europe, South
America and elsewhere.
Chamsys, Ltd., the United Kingdombased
manufacturer of the MagicQ and
MagicQ Pro series of mid-size lighting control
consoles and software.
PowerQuick Powered Ascender, a battery-operated
device, originally developed
for the U.S. military, lets stagehands and
others safely reach high workspaces using
a standard climbing rope.
Spotlesslight, a spotlight technology
for digital projects that illuminates a live
subject with no shadow/spill-over, even
while the subject moves around the stage.
FogScreen, a patented technology that
produces a thin curtain of “dry” fog that serves
as a translucent projection screen, displaying
images that appear to float in thin air.
NiLA, a versatile lighting solution for
the entertainment industry combining environmental
and performance benefits.
OBITUARY
Isaac Young, a 14-year veteran with
American DJ, passed away March 7. The
cause was brain cancer. Young served
in numerous capacities at American DJ
during his time with the company. Most
recently, he was responsible for American
DJ’s South American Sales. Young is
survived by fiancée Nancy Del Campo,
parents Jorge and Esther Young, sisters
Mariella and Liza and brother Abel. In
lieu of flowers, the family requests that
donations be made in Young’s name to
the American Brain Tumor Association or
Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.
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NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
IATSE, AMPTP Conclude Three Days of Negotiations
LOS ANGELES — IATSE and AMPTP have
concluded three days of negotiations on a
new Hollywood Basic Agreement. The parties
held extensive discussions on new media,
minimums and pension and health plans, including
the impact of the 2006 Pension Protection
Act on funding standards. IATSE and
AMPTP have agreed to recess the negotiations
to accommodate previously agreed-upon
bargaining sessions with SAG and AFTRA.
“These talks have been extremely helpful
in understanding the fundamental issues
before us in an environment that has been
conducive to bargaining,” IATSE International
President Thomas C. Short said. “We look forward
to the resumption of negotiations with
AMPTP and to securing a contract that will
benefit our membership.”
“We’ve covered a lot of ground in an
opening round that’s been both respectful
and mutually beneficial,” said AMPTP
President Nick Counter. “We remain confident
that we can build on the new economic
partnership that we’ve reached
with DGA, WGA and the AFTRA Network
Code, enabling all of our creative and
behind-the-scenes talent to share in the
emerging new media revenue while giving
the industry the flexibility needed to
adapt and change in a challenging marketplace.”
The IATSE is an International Union
that represents members employed in the
stagecraft, motion picture and television
production and trade shows industries
throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Rock & Republic Stages “Visual Assault” at Fashion Show
The fashion show was black, white and red all over.
NEW YORK — Rock & Republic isn’t exactly
a wallflower among American fashion
brands for denim, handbags and other
clothing and accessories, and that includes
the directive issued to LD Scott Chmielewski
of Digital Media Designs for fashion week in
New York and Los Angeles. “They asked me
to make their eyes bleed,” Chmielewski said.
“It was a 22-minute visual assault,”
Chmielewski said, of the show fueled by
Martin Stagebar 54 and Martin LC Series
LED panels along with HES Showguns and
approximately 200 Lekos. “We placed a column
of Martin LC Series LED panels at both
the entrance and exit points of the U shaped
runway and lined the columns to a matching
height with Stagebar 54s.”
Martin’s compact yet high powered LED
luminaire functions as either a pixel bar for
displaying imagery or as a wash luminaire
for floodlighting surfaces.
The Stagebars and LC panels played
well together on the Rock & Republic show,
Chmielewski said, adding that he had no
problems coordinating color shades between
the fixtures.
The theme of the Rock & Republic fashion
show was “noir” (black) and designer Michael
Ball asked for only red, white and black
color throughout the entire presentation.
CORRECTION
The Super Bowl XLII halftime show
article in PLSN (March 2008) incorrectly
identified TMB as the supplier of Falcon
xenon lights used for the show. TMB is
the worldwide sales distributor for Alpha
One Falcons; the Falcons used for
the event were rental units and were
supplied by A&O Technology Inc. PLSN
regrets the error.
Philips Division and Renaissance
Lighting in Patent Agreement
BURLINGTON, MA — Renaissance Lighting
and Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions,
the entity formed by Philips’ acquisition
of Color Kinetics, announced a licensing
agreement that ends litigation previously
brought by Color Kinetics against Renaissance
Lighting. The licensing deal also gives
Renaissance Lighting access to Philips Solid-
State Lighting Solutions’ core technology
and enables Renaissance Lighting to offer its
own intelligent LED lighting products.
Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions’
patent portfolio focuses on a range of
digital technologies and methods of
controlling LED sources for a variety of
lighting applications and environments.
Renaissance Lighting’s own patented
lighting systems are utilized by architects
and space designers using a technique
which blends light from multiple
LEDs in order to produce a pure single
light source.
Behind the Scenes Supporters
Spring Into Action
HOUSTON — Industry support blossomed
in early spring for ESTA Foundation’s
Behind the Scenes charity, with
separate efforts raising a total of more
than $11,000. Richard Wolpert put his
mettle to the pedal with a 754-mile,
12-day bicycle trip from Springfield,
MO to Houston, TX in time for the USITT
Conference. Jeni Lyn Anderson joined
him for the first 72 miles and Rob
Schraft rode with him for the last 274
miles. Also in March, the Mount Vernon
High School Chapter of USITT held its
second annual “Short Reach Short Riders
Tricycle Ride for Behind the Scenes.”
At the USITT Conference, Michelle
Kokal, this year’s Philanthropy Chair
for the Penn State student chapter of
USITT, presented a check to Behind the
Scenes that was the culmination of two
years of fundraising efforts. Behind the
Scenes supports industry members and
their families in the event of serious illness,
injury or death. (For more, see In
Brief, page 8.)
Rob Schraft, left, joined Richard Wolpert for the last 274 miles
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6
PLSN MAY 2008

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NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Watery Shapes Make a Splash at MGM Grand Gala
LAS VEGAS — At the MGM Grand Hotel
& Casino’s recent Employee of the Year gala,
along with showers of praise for its most valued
employees, resort management used a water
screen effect from Aqua Visual FX to create logos
and graphics out of falling droplets of water
for over 40 different restaurants, clubs, spas and
hotel brands affiliated with the resort.
The visuals were not created by projecting
images on a uniform sheet of falling water.
Instead, the falling water itself was shaped
into wet zones and voids. “Intelligent droplet
controllers” created the visuals, and the falling
water shapes, colored with dye and lit by LEDs,
had nothing but air in the hollow spots.
Aqua Visual FX’s water effects can be customized
into almost any width and height configuration,
from six feet to more than 100 feet
in width and from less then 10 feet to more
than 60 feet in height. The company featured
the water effect at LDI 2007, where it caught
the eye of Sarah Sheehan, director of events
for MGM Grand.
For its gala event, MGM Grand set up an
eight-foot wide screen with about a 25-foot
drop. Anthony McCall, MGM Grand’s technical
director, worked with Aqua Visual FX’s
Lorenzo Cornacchi and
Jim Schorer to coordinate
the design of the façade
framing Sheehan’s
shaped-water logos and
animations. “The water
wall looked great and
was a huge hit,” Sheehan
said.
Guests entering the
venue on the red carpet
first saw the water effect
where it served as a backdrop
for the DJ booth
during a cocktail reception.
When guests were
later ushered past draping
to the main ballroom, the falling water was
still visible, but from the other side. To keep the
text and logos from reading the wrong way, a
simple computer command horizontally reversed
the appearance of the water shapes.
The water effect, which can be used for
corporate events, theatrical applications,
awards events and trade shows, also recently
appeared at the Billboard Latin Music
Conference & Awards in Hollywood, Fla.
The water droplets (in green) create wet shapes and dry voids in mid-air.
The company is now gearing up for other
projects around the world, at venues as far
away as Dubai, Australia and Macau.
“We are very pleased with the direction
of this product and have made a great
stride in the first quarter of the year,” said
Doug Adams, president, who launched
Aqua Visual FX after first establishing its affiliated
companies, Pyrotek Special Effects
and Laser Design Productions Inc.
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Investors Buy RapcoHorizon
JACKSON, MO — An investment group
led by RHC Management agreed to purchase
RapcoHorizon Company, a subsidiary
of VTG Holdings Inc., for an undisclosed
sum. Midwest Mezzanine Funds
and Busch O’Donnell Capitol Partners,
both equity investment groups, joined
RHC Management’s bid. The new company
formed in the deal is called RHC Holdings
Corp. It is expected to continue providing
interconnectivity products with revenues
GRAND FORKS, ND — The 2,300-seat
Chester Fritz Auditorium at the University
of North Dakota (UND) upgraded its
stage lighting recently. Pat Hill, technical
director, liked the flood of new illumination
hitting the stage. But there
was something odd about the followspot
beams. “They were basically invisible
with the new static fixtures.”
Hill and the lighting team tested a
Robert Juliat Cyrano followspot, comparing
it to competing products owned
by two arenas in town. “Cyrano had
better light intensity, and our operators
liked their ease of use,” Hill said. Based
on that testing, the university acquired
two Cyranos from HB Sound and Light
in Grand Forks and another pair from
Norcostco in Minneapolis. “We needed
four fixtures so we wouldn’t have to rent
any when we light major performances
of about $65 million annually.
Lisa Williams, formerly senior executive
vice president of sales and marketing,
will take over as president of The
RapcoHorizon Company. Scott Wachter,
VTG’s CFO, will resume as president of
Major Custom Cable, a data/telecom
manufacturing business unit, which provides
fiber optic cables and copper data
cable assemblies to the system integrator
markets.
Lighting Upgrade Creates Need
For Brighter Followspots
The lighting upgrade made the stage brighter, and created a need for brighter followspots.
like a concert by the Oak Ridge Boys,”
Hill said.
The Cyrano 2500w HMI followspot
features include a quartz condenser optical
system, variable frost, built-in color
correction, die-cut slots and a compact
and efficient design. All working parts
are also readily accessible for easy maintenance.
According to Hill, “the Cyranos have
been wowing everybody with their intensity.
They are an excellent light. And
since they are our first spots with the
capability of firing gobos they’ve given
us another option for showcasing the
logos of corporate sponsors of events in
the auditorium.”
The auditorium hosts UND concert
bands, a variety of dance and musical
performances, lectures, comics (including
Jerry Seinfeld recently) and theater.
Grand Forks is a
long way from
Seinfeld’s Manhattan,
but the auditorium
itself is a
bit of a skyscraper
by North Dakota
standards. It rises
to the height of a
seven-story building
and encloses
more than two
acres of interior
floor space.
IN BRIEF
The Long Reach Long Riders
and the ESTA Foundation
said their joint raffle to benefit
the Behind the Scenes program at
USITT raised $8,364. When added
to the challenge grants provided
by Bigger Hammer Productions,
Sapsis Rigging and Strong Entertainment
Lighting, the total
reached $18,364…Of the 100-plus
USITT attendees who registered at
the Columbus McKinnon booth
for Tomcat U, the winner was UT
Arlington student Chris Mount…
Altman Rentals supplied gear for
lighting design firm JKLD, Inc. during
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week…
Leigh Allen got the Angstrom
Award for Lifetime Achievement in
Lighting Design…Creative Stage
Lighting now has one of the largest
rental inventories of High End
Systems’ Showguns in North America…Revamped
Web sites are now
online for Illumivision (www.illumivision.com),
Martin Professional
(www.martin.com) and American
DJ (www.americandj.com)…J.
R. Clancy, Inc. is a silver sponsor
of the 2008 North American Theatre,
Engineering and Architecture
Conference (NATEAC), July 20-21 in
New York…Wagner Media, Houston,
added eight Christie HD18Ks,
eight Christie DS+6Ks, 20 Christie
LX120 and 20 Christie LX650
3LCDs to its rental inventory…
Bandit Lites CEO Michael T. Strickland
was inducted into the East
Tennessee Business Hall of Fame...
Texas Lite and Pyro now has new
color changing flaming machines
that use aerosol cans, creating red,
green, yellow and purple colors
with minimal spillage.
8
PLSN MAY 2008

Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
LEDs Accentuate Features of Boston’s Oldest Church
Energy savings, without a harsh fluorescent look.
BOSTON — One if by land, two if by sea?
Now that church is lit by LED.
Boston’s oldest church may have faded in
importance as a source of strategic military
intelligence since its belfry served as a beacon
that triggered Paul Revere’s famous ride.
But the 285-year old structure remains an
important historical landmark and as part
of an ongoing refurbishment, its interior
has been updated with new LEDs from
Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, the
new entity formed by Philips’ acquisition
of Color Kinetics.
Boston lighting designer Lana Nathe
of Light Insight came up with the design
that replaces the linear incandescent
tube system lining 18 interior niches in
the church’s architecture. Boston Light
Source donated the product and provided
assistance in transforming the dated lighting
with a more sustainable and low-maintenance
solution.
Nathe specified Philips eWT Cove Powercore
— a low profile, linear LED fixture that
delivers five times the efficiency of common
incandescent click-strip lighting. With a projected
lifetime of 50,000 hours, compared
with the 1,000 to 2,000 hours of the previous
source, the new installation is expected to cut
energy consumption by nearly 85 percent.
“By incorporating warm white LED lighting,
we can better showcase the charm of the
architectural details of this classic structure
that plays an integral role in the birth of our
nation,” said Nathe. “We did not have to sacrifice
on quality of light to conserve energy.”
About 130 eW Cove Powercore units were
installed along interior niches of the church’s
upper gallery, casting a warm white glow and
accentuating the historic arches and moldings.
Each eight-foot run of eW Cove Powercore
consumes 40 watts of energy, compared
to the 240 watts consumed by each eight-foot
run of the previous incandescent system.
The fixtures are capable of smooth dimming
via the church’s existing ELV-type dimmers,
and their low profile and simple linepower
installation allows them to fit within
the narrow alcoves where light sources that
require ballasts, transformers and other auxiliary
equipment could not.
“This is a great example of how even
America’s oldest buildings can quickly and
easily integrate LED lighting, demonstrating
that the technology isn’t solely limited to new
construction,” said Bill Sims, CEO, Philips SSL
Solutions. “Once illuminated by gas lanterns,
this historic landmark now benefits from the
most cutting-edge form of lighting technology
available today.”
Rigging Company Gets ISO
9001:2000 Recertification
SYRACUSE, NY — For the third time
since 2002, J. R. Clancy, Inc., a design,
manufacturing and installation company
for theatrical rigging equipment,
has been recertified for the international
quality standard ISO 9001:2000.
Each year, J. R. Clancy undergoes an
audit by the ISO Registrar and a complete
recertification audit is required
every three years. The company has
now completed and passed its third
full audit. The company completed its
first ISO audit in 2002.
UC Berkeley Undergoes $1.1M Lighting Upgrade
The upgrade creates a professional environment
for student productions ranging from the classics
to the avant garde.
BERKELEY, CA — Zellerbach Playhouse
at the University of California, Berkeley,
recently underwent a $1.1 million lighting
systems renovation, including stateof-the-art
controls, dimming, distribution
and fixtures by ETC.
The renovation was needed to keep
pace with UC Berkeley’s goal of exposing
students to equipment they’ll use in their
professional careers.
Part of that training now includes ETC’s
newest lighting control consoles, Eos and
Ion. Comfortable for novices, the Eos and
Ion still have powerful features and flexibility
that advanced designers need. Two
ETC Net3 Remote Video Interfaces also let
students view and program data remotely
from anywhere in the theater.
Zellerbach’s lighting rig now sports
more than 200 ETC Source Four conventional
fixtures of varying degrees, as well
as many automated lights, including six
Source Four Revolutions. Eos and Ion control
all these fixtures, allowing UC Berkeley
students to experiment more in their designs.
“With Eos and Ion, we have much
more control over performances, using
moving lights that we could only begin to
work with previously,” Production Manager
Katherine Mattson said.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Manual Labor
Thanks for a great belly laugh! (“RTFM,” Video World, PLSN, Feb.
2008). I usually read the manual only in a moment of desperation.
That is why I appreciate the Quick Start guide so much. Maybe you
could do some online videos demonstrating the unit’s functionality.
Web 2.0 is here. There is no excuse.
— Kevin Wright
Conventional Wisdom
I just read your article (“From a Lighting Tech’s Point of View,” LD-at-Large, PLSN, March
2008.) If the show that you are referring to at the end of the article is Kid Rock, I would agree
with your sentiment (“Just use good old-fashioned rock lighting”). I freelance with Local 97
in Reading, PA and worked the show last week. It did not suffer for want of all the latest and
greatest toys. — Greg Kokolus, Production Manager/LD, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA
A Passion for the Job
I am a regular reader of your column (LD-at-Large, PLSN, March 2008). A lot of the new generation
want to be designers and that is pushed in a lot of the trade magazines. Design, Design,
Design! Yes, but new people don’t know about feeder gauges, truss specs, motor and rigging
concerns. But If they have the enthusiasm they learn. I just like to see the passion in someone
when they work. I still get that “This is so fun, I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this!” after 30
years. I hope I never lose that feeling and keep meeting people who have it too,
— Jim Sorby
Ocean Optics Customer Forum 2008
May 13-15
Sand Pearl Beach Resort
Clearwater Beach, FL
www.OOICustomerForum.com
J&M/ESTA Special Effects Class
May 19
J&M Special Effects,
Brooklyn, NY
www.estafoundation.org
Tomcat Hoist & Rigging Workshops
June 4-7
Midland TX
www.tomcatworkshops.com
Cine Gear Expo
June 20-21
Universal Studios Backlot
Universal City, CA
www.cinegearexpo.com
Prolyte Rigging Training Dubai
June 29-July 3
Dubai, U.A.E.
www.prolyte.com
NATEAC
July 20-21
Pace University
New York, NY
www.nateac.org
Set for Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice
Awards Shines — and Slimes
LOS ANGELES — Not every TV awards show
program includes a provision to thoroughly
coat the esteemed hosts with a mega-dose of
slime. But that’s what Steve Bass and his production
team for the 2008 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice
Awards wanted for the set design from All Access
Staging & Productions, Inc.
All Access supplied the staging gear for all
aspects of the March 29th award show, from the
main stage to the slime course and has provided
equipment for the event annually since 2005.
Like many live award shows, the Kids’ Choice
Awards required several pre-recorded segments
for transition purposes, including footage of an
extensive slime course. All Access was up for the
challenge, constructing the framework for a 24
foot Slime Target, multiple Slime Derby arches, as
well as a Sumo-Slime trough outside of the Los
Angeles Forum.
“Heidi Klum had to jump from a raised staging
platform onto the target while suspended
from a crane, so stability and strength were key
issues for the Slime Target,” noted Bob Hughes,
vice president of All Access. “We built the framework
for the target using straight truss for the
sides and weighted base, and we used circle
truss for the target surrounds.” The circle truss
was then fitted with textilene by others to make
up the target surface.
Additionally, All Access provided a compound
mitered ramp that acted as a trough for
the Sumo-Slime event. The game required a person
dressed in a Sumo suit to mount the ramp
while being sprayed with a high-powered hose.
“Essentially, it was a ‘V’ Shaped trough built
on an angle,” Hughes explained. “I think that the
greatest challenge with building this structure
was paying close attention to detail. In order to
angle the ramp, each support leg had to be a
different length, and the incline of the final struc-
The TV awards program required an elaborate
multi-level set from All Access.
ture needed to stand at a specific angle.”
While the slime course was a unique event,
the award show itself presented its own set of
challenges. UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, the Kids’ Choice
Awards venue, had to house a VIP seating area as
well as an elaborate main stage. In order to work
with layout and size constraints of the basketball
arena, the VIP seating area was comprised of a
large multi-level mezzanine structure, which was
constructed out of platforms that were leveled
over the existing upper level arena seating. The
mezzanine was built with All Access’ Versa gear
and supported by 12-inch truss, and it was further
equipped with a staircase to provide talent access
to the floor level behind the main stage.
Additionally, the 35-foot-by-104-foot main
stage had to incorporate three ribbon lifts as well
as an inset 10-foot diameter turntable. One of
the three lifts was used as a talent elevator during
the show, while the other two lifts were kept
under wraps until the grand finale—at the end
of the show, host Jack Black and actor Orlando
Bloom rose above the crowd on the remaining
ribbon lifts and were slimed. The stage was also
equipped with the inset All Access turntable,
which can support up to 5,000 pounds and it
had no trouble rotating Miley Cyrus’ customized
convertible Smart Car during the show.
10
PLSN MAY 2008

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Video Images Dance on Arched Nightclub Ceiling
Halo Lighting’s ceiling, a custom project in three layers, immerses Area dancers in a unique environment.
LONDON — “Brilliant” may be a commonly
used adjective in the U.K., but an
apt one to describe the decidedly uncommon
ceiling at the Area nightclub, lit up
with LED-Lites’ modular X-Panel LED video
matrix tiles.
The design is setting the club apart
from others serving the alternative lifestyle
crowd partying in the vicinity of
Vauxhall Arches, on the Thames Embankment,
according to Halo Lighting
MD Yann Guenancia, who called it “the
most advanced lighting design we’ve
done.”
Craig Elder, owner of HRH Clubs requested
the new look for Area after
Elder saw Halo Lighting’s LED installation
for The Light Box, one of the rooms
inside another club that he operates in
the neighborhood called Fire. “Fire was
a storming success,” Guenancia said,
“and the lighting brought the club instant
fame, so Area had to top that.”
Guenancia said Halo Lighting is “product
driven,” and therefore no stranger to trade
exhibitions. The firm also makes use of “a
building block” approach where possible.
“We had seen X-Panel at several exhibitions
and thought it an excellent unit. At the same
time we could see opportunities to customize
and repackage it.”
The Halo Lighting design team of Gordon
Haslett, Matt Simpson and Guenancia
set to the task of removing the X-Panel
housing and building a custom-made
metal grid. This would enable them to
contour the 200mm by 200mm panels,
with their 40mm pixel pitch, in lengths
to follow the curvature of the arches and
that would immerse Area club dancers in
a unique environment.
The company developed the ceiling
architecture in three layers. First, they had
to provide a combined rigging and electrical
infrastructure to feed power to, and
hang, all the lighting fixtures. Then they
had to create an adjustable framework
from which the repackaged X-Panels
could be secured.
Finally they had to package the fixtures
into modular panels in lengths of
two meters and one meter, and assemble
the whole structure on site to create the
matrix. “It was the modularity of the X-
Panel that enabled us to do this — but if
you think that the slightest deviation on
an 18 meter line of LEDs would show up
instantly, you get an idea of how complex
this task was,” said Yann.
The Unistrut frame would contain no
fewer than 768 of the X-Panels, hooked
up to two dedicated X-Image Pro 36 data
drivers — each capable of controlling 36
DMX universes at high speed and handling
the pixel mapping.
Into this fabric Halo has also incorporated
30 120 mW laser heads and 30 moving
lights. This presented a significant
technical challenge, requiring a drive rack
and no fewer than 57,000 DMX channels.
With the grid installed, the pixellated
display was ready to be animated with
lo-res AVI graphics stored on the ArKAos
media server, distributed exclusively in
the U.K. by LED-Lites, all under the master
control of a ShowCAD PC stationed in
the technical booth.
Ian Kirby said that X-Image Pro provides
a highly cost-effective solution for
a massive lighting matrix. “It means we
can address 57,000 DMX channels, or
112 DMX universes, at high speed — all
from a 19-inch rack mount box.”
Only recently has the software become
available, Kirby said. “Whereas control
used to represent a significant part
of the lighting budget, costs are vastly
reduced using our X-Image Pro and highspeed
DMX. In this instance it was less
than 1 percent of the total cost.”
Théâtre National de Bretagne
Shows its Colors
Exterior lights change during the day, and during showtime.
RENNES, France — A dynamic architectural
lighting design by Jean-François
Touchard is bringing attention to the glass
façade of the Théâtre National de Bretagne.
The city of Rennes sought to animate the
front of the building in order to “announce”
the various activities going on inside after
the building’s recent renovation.
Touchard proposed a five-phase lighting
scheme within an eight-hour time
frame from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. The lighting
changes from its evening look to another
look when the theatre and cinema are just
opening. There is also a separate look for
the beginning of each play, during the performance,
and afterward, when only the
bar and restaurant is open.
“In the beginning, we wanted to light
the building from the ground up, but the
architect added an element that changed
that plan,” Touchard said. “We then had
to find a product that could achieve the
same effect from the top and also be
small enough that it didn’t change the
‘read’ of the building. It also needed to
be as precise as possible in order to avoid
lighting up the sidewalk.”
Touchard was looking for
instruments that could be
placed between the glass and
the metallic structure of the
building, and chose Martin
Professional’s new Exterior 200
LEDs for their colors and aesthetic
appeal. Because the Exterior
200 LED is slim, it could
be tucked discreetly into architectural
design elements. “It’s
very well integrated because
of its design,” Touchard said.
Martin’s Exterior 200 LEDs
also require little in the way of service and
maintenance. They are long-life programmable
luminaires with full RGB + amber
and white color mixing. They have a comprehensive
color range with 44 high power
LEDs and a choice of optional spread angles.
Housed in sleek weatherproof casing,
the fixtures are ideal for applications where
projection distance is limited.
“The colors needed for the program
were easy to create, especially the orange.
Moreover, the Exterior 200 LED was the
only one of all the products tested to project
only vertical lines. All the other products
also lit up horizontally with a prism
effect. The power and the uniformity of the
Exterior 200 LED’s beam made the difference,”
Touchard said.
The luminaires, provided and installed
by local company Spectaculaire, are located
inside the building at the top of the façade
and directed inward to light up the metallic
structure. Lighting programming was done
on Martin’s PC-based LightJockey system,
and the lighting scheme is controlled via a
DMX playback controller.
Enrique Iglesias’ Tour Rig
Rocks On With Insomniac
BUENOS AIRES — Enrique Iglesias’ Insomniac
world tour is living up to its name,
beginning last year in South Africa and
Europe and restlessly traveling this year
through South America, Central America,
Mexico and the U.S. before heading back
to Europe and the Middle East. The LD for
the tour, Travis Shirley, needed a lighting
rig with a level of intensity and energy that
matched Iglesias’ new music.
“Enrique is trying to get away from the
stereotypical pop music show and get a little
more into rock,” said Shirley, who also serves
as the tour’s set and production designer.
“Enrique’s sound features loud guitar riffs
and an amazingly high energy level, and he
wanted to have a look that matched it.”
For the video side of the show, Shirley
crafted a 120-foot soft LED screen with
trusses and the largest quantity of Element
Labs’ Stealth ever used on a tour. “Video
looks great in a show, but it can be a little
overwhelming,” Shirley says. “You really
The Insomniac tour keeps fans awake with energetic music and visuals.
need lighting fixtures than can punch right
through it.” He chose Coemar Infinity moving
heads to do the job. “The Infinity’s beam
attributes and color mixing deliver the big,
bright look the show wants.”
Shirley deploys 30 Coemar Infinity
moving heads, in vertical rows of five. A
grandMA console controls video and lighting.
“I used the first-ever Infinities with the
band Disturbed,” Shirley says. “Inner Circle’s
Gary Mass convinced me to give them a try,
and they’ve been a solid kick-ass light ever
since.”
The reliability of the instruments has
also been a welcome bonus. “Of the 150
lights on Enrique’s tour the 30 Infinities are
the only ones that haven’t needed to be replaced.
They’re solid and don’t need maintenance
every day. I knew I liked them, but
didn’t know they’d handle this well. I can’t
imagine doing a show this size and not
using them. This is the biggest show I’ve
done.”
12
PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Lights Show Panache Under Pressure in Strictly Come Dancing South Africa
JOHANNESBURG — The dancers weren’t
the only performers who needed to showcase
their versatility with the BBC export,
Strictly Come Dancing South Africa. The show,
broadcast live each week on SABC2 from the
ballroom of the old Carlton Hotel, asked as
much from its lighting crew as well.
“It was a question of keeping it fresh and
visually interesting” said Hugh Turner, LD for
the show, for which Gearhouse South Africa
supplied lighting and sound. One of the
main goals of Turner’s design was to ensure
that there was enough latent flexibility in the
lighting rig to give all of the individual dance
pieces each week a different and distinct look
encompassing a myriad of styles and genres.
The programming, operated and directed
by Sean Rosig, was a key factor in the design’s
success as well. Turner credited Rosig’s programming
and command of the rhythm and
pace of each show for making that happen,
smoothly and seamlessly.
Along with the crew, the success of the
show would also ultimately hinge on the
choice of equipment. The show’s rig started
with a box truss flown over the dance floor’s
low ceiling, approximately 14 meters long
by 10 meters wide, giving about four meters
of headroom, and this was interlaced with
four trussing ribs traversing the width of the
space.
The principal dance floor lighting was
provided by 22 Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs
hung all over the trussing grid and 24 Robe
ColorWash 700E ATs, lined up along each of
the long edges of the dance floor.
These were used for all the main effects
— to color and texture the dance floor and
the dancers, to produce swirling seas of gobos
and to create dramatic slices of light cutting
right across the floor.
Robe Announces
Exclusive UAE
Distributor
Also rigged on the grid was a mix of
PARs, Profiles and Fresnels. An additional
two trusses for audience illumination and
set lighting ran down each side of the edges
of the room.
Over the stage were two smaller box
trusses, rigged with scanners, PARs, Fresnels
and Profiles to illuminate the band at the
far end of the room.
All lights were programmed using a
grandMA Lite console complete with hot
backup and two NSP nodes. This was a highly
pressured process as the programmers
only received the music tracks and costume
information the day before the show, along
with any other special requests for effects, all
of which had to be ready in less than
24 hours for the broadcast.
The brief, Turner said, was to keep
it as close in look and feel to the BBC’s
original version of the show as possible,
no mean feat given the budget
and space constraints facing the
South African crew.
The South African version was
the second Strictly series on which
Gearhouse has used Robe fixtures.
Turner said that the zoom train on
the ColorSpot 700E ATs “is really wide and
was just perfect for the height of the dance
floor, enabling us to create exceptionally
dynamic effects.”
The lighting crew had to be as versatile as the performers in the South African
version of the BBC dance series.
The Robes also kept going without a
hitch in soaring temperatures during the
course of the series, which sometimes
exceeded 100ºF.
From left, GSL’s Faegh Fowzi, Robe’s Elie Battah and GSL’s
Stacey Lewis.
DUBAI — Robe Lighting announces
that Dubai-based GSL will be its
exclusive distributor for the UAE and
Iran. “We are choosing to work with
them because they are a fast growing
company and highly proactive in
a diversity of markets,” said Elie Battah,
Robe’s regional sales manager.
GSL has already been working
with Robe for more than one year, and
the company spoke highly of its reputation
and client base, which encompasses
several different market areas,
including installers, consultants, project
managers, specifiers and rental
companies.
GSL is an independent company,
owned and run by Fouad Fowzi, president,
and Faegh Fowzi, managing director.
They distribute a variety of audio,
AV and lighting products.
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

ON THE MOVE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
5 Star Cases announced
that Keith
Sykes has purchased
a majority share in
the company and
that MD Jim Willis
has retired. He has
been with the company
since 1997.
City Theatrical
a Carlstadt,
N.J.-based manufacturer
of lighting
accessories,
has opened an
office in London,
headed by
Martin Chisnall.
Keith Sykes
Martin Chisnall
The address is:
Units 1-3 Wyvern Estate
Beverley Way, New Malden, Surrey
KT3 4PH, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 208 949 5051
Creative Stage
Lighting has hired
Joan Szukalewicz
as western division
dealer sales manager.
Szukalewicz will be
responsible for dealer
sales in Washington,
Oregon, Idaho, California,
Nevada, Alaska and
Joan Szukalewicz
Hawaii.
Dragone has hired Dawn Chiang as senior
technical supervisor for a new permanent
production at the City of Dreams in
Macau through early spring 2009.
DWR Distribution, Johannesburg, has
been appointed South African distributor for
ArKaos, a Belgian digital media control technology
and software provider. DWR’s other
brands include Robe, MA Lighting, Avolites,
ADB, CM Lodestar and Strong.
H & H Specialties Inc. announced the retirement
of Mary Louise Higgins. Mary Louise,
widow of founder John H. Higgins, has been
president of H & H since John Higgins passed
away in 1986. Management is now headed
by Reid Neslage, president.
John Levy Lighting Productions, Inc. adds
Jennifer D. Roberts to its design team. Roberts
will be responsible for conceptualizing and overseeing
large-scale multimedia design projects.
Kinetic Lighting has hired Jennifer Skinner
as rental agent. Her responsibilities will
include assisting customers with rental and
sales orders and seeking new customers.
Limelight Productions,
Inc. has
named Dave Naone
outside sales manager.
He will be representing
Limelight products
and services throughout
New England and
across the U.S.
LMG, Inc., a national
provider of
video, audio and
lighting support,
named Stephen Presti
accounts manager
at its Orange County
Convention Center
(OCCC) location.
Dave Naone
Stephen Presti
Martin Professional
hired Abhishek
Guha as the
company’s new country
manager in India,
replacing Sanjay Tiwari.
Abhishek will
be working from an
office in Bangalore.
Abhishek Guha
Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. has
appointed Stephanie Schauka as European-
Middle East account manager.
NMR Staging & Events appointed Jason
Newman as director of technical services.
Larry Lenoff replaces Newman as video department
head for staging operations. Jason
Atwell, Doug Whelan and Matthew Marble
have been named technical directors.
OmniMount, a manufacturer of A/V
mounting and furniture solutions, announced
that Bill Muster and Kasey Cave have rejoined
the sales team as general manager of consumer
sales and sales support administrator,
respectively.
Bill Muster
Kasey Cave
Pro Tapes & Specialties, a manufacturer
of pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes, will relocate
all operations to a 140,000 square foot
corporate headquarters and manufacturing
center in North Brunswick, N.J. by June 1.
Robert Juliat named Dutco Tennant
their new Middle East dealer. Dutco Tennant
is part of the Dutco group of companies,
founded in 1947.
Scharff Weisberg is moving to larger quarters
in Secaucus, N.J., after spending 29 years
in New York City. The relocation for the lighting
division was expected to take place in late April,
with the audio, video and administration departments
following in June. The phone numbers
will not change. The new address is:
77 Metro Way, Secaucus, NJ, 07094
14
PLSN MAY 2008

Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

NEW PRODUCTS
American DJ Mega Pixel LED
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
American DJ’s new Mega Pixel LED is a color bar
with 384 LEDs that produce moving patterns and
chases. It measures one meter long and has 128 red,
128 green and 128 blue 5mm LEDs arranged in 24
color banks of 16 LEDs each. Other features include
strobe, chase, color-mixing effects and electronic
dimming. A DMX512 controller can be used in a variety
of modes using 3, 4, 7, 10, 16, 24 or 28 channels. It
can also be operated with American DJ’s UC3 remote
controller (sold separately) or without a controller in
Sound Active mode with eight built-in chases.
American DJ • 800.322.6337 • www.americandj.com
Chroma-Q Color Punch
A.C. Lighting has extended the Chroma-Q LED range
with the launch of the new Color Punch, a compact IP65
wash fixture suitable for indoor and temporary outdoor
applications. It outputs 1250 lumens and features a 22°
beam angle, built-in power supply and stand-alone operation
or DMX512 control. It is housed in an IP65 rated
machined aluminum and high impact plastic case. Convection
cooling offers silent operation. In addition to RGB
and Fx HSI (Effects, Hue, Saturation and Intensity) control
modes, it features a five-channel strobe RGBI mode for
separate adjustment of the intensity level and a mode for
selecting stored looks via DMX.
A.C. Lighting Inc. • 416.255.9494 • www.aclighting.com/northamerica
Coemar CycLite LED
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
The new CycLite LED from Coemar is a
digital cyclorama designed for theatres, live
events and TV. The patented optical system
is equipped with 96 1.2-watt red, green, blue
and white LEDs (48 LEDs in the single-cell version).
Three unbound rotating bars (motorized
in the 2-cell version) allow symmetrical and/or asymmetrical light output with linear adjustment
of the incidence angle. Other features include electronic dimming, color mixing, strobe
effects and precision optical adjustment. Modular rigging uses camlock hooks mounted on
an adjustable rig, or it can be floor-mounted. CycLite LED is also available in an outdoor IP65
weatherproof version for architectural applications.
Inner Circle Distribution • 954.578.8881 • www.icd-usa.com
Elation DLED36 Tri-Brick
The new DLED36 Tri-Brick from Elation Professional
is an LED color-mixing brick that uses three 1-watt
tri-color red, green and blue LEDs per lens, eliminating
multi-color shadows. It features four heads, each
containing three tri-color LED lamps, and it outputs
2,720 lux (252.7 footcandles) at one meter or 350 lux
(35.5 footcandles) at three meters. It draws 50 watts
at full power. Features include electronic dimming,
flicker-free operation and DMX512 control in six, 12
or 15 channel mode. It can also be operated without
DMX via eight built-in programs and multiple units can be master-slaved.
Elation Professional • 866.245.6726 • www.elationlighting.com
Flying Pig Systems Wholehog Software v2.4.0
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
High End Systems has released Flying Pig Systems
software version 2.4.0 for Wholehog control systems
including the Wholehog 3, Road Hog Full Boar, Hog
iPC, Road Hog and Hog 3PC. Version 2.4.0 introduces
network file sharing to allow users to transfer show
files from networked consoles to networked computers.
Several other features, an updated user manual
and bug fixes are also included within this release.
Users can download the software and further release
details from www.flyingpig.com.
High End Systems • 512.836.2242 • www.highend.com
16
PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Jands Vista I3
The Vista I3 is a compact, portable, economical
version of the Vista T series. Features include an
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and all the features of
the Vista T series in a desk that fits under your arm.
With a monitor, keyboard and mouse it becomes
a fully-operational and highly portable Vista console
for less than the price of the full-scale console.
Features include: 20 Playbacks, 10 with faders and
flash buttons, 10 without; three encoder wheels;
five context-sensitive function buttons; 128, 256,
512, 1024, 2048 or unlimited channel versions and four DMX outputs (actual output channels
determined by dongle).
A.C. Lighting • 416.255.9494 • www.aclighting.com/northamerica
Leviton 8700 Series Lighting Console
The new 8700 Series lighting control console
from Leviton includes Capture visualization
software for programming with online and offline
editing capabilities. Each model supports 20,000
nine-part cues with jumps, loops, follows, split
times and more. Definable buttons, keyboards,
encoders and a touch screen provide expanded
attribute control and a trackball provides focus control. A wide variety of inputs and outputs
support conventional protocols, including those for video and audio equipment.
Leviton • 800.736.6682 • www.leviton.com
Martin Maxxyz Compact
The Martin Professional Maxxyz lighting console
is now available in a compact version that offers
Maxxyz functionality in a modular, mid-sized
design. It features four modules that run off of USB
and power connections — Cerebrum, Programmer,
Motorized Playback and Master. The Cerebrum module
is a touch-screen computer that runs the Maxxyz
O/S on Windows XP embedded. It can control up to
32 DMX universes (four direct, 28 via ArtNet or Universal
USB/DMX) and it can also be used stand-alone. The Programmer and Playback Modules
assist in creating and running shows and the Master Module has Grand Master and Flash Master
faders.
Martin Professional • 954.858.1800 • www.martin.com
Robe REDWash 3•192
The new REDWash 3•192 from Robe is an LED moving
head wash light based upon Robe Emitted Diodes (RED)
technology. It provides a rectangular light field with a narrow
beam spread for concert touring, TV and event lighting
applications. The fixture features high speed color mixing
and color chasing with 192 Luxeon Rebel LEDs (RGBW) configured
into four modules with individual RGBW control.
Other features include color temperature correction, standard
25° beam angle, optional 12° and 45° lens modules,
fast color strobing, color macros and rainbow effects, fast
pan/tilt movement, silent operation, on-board programming,
stand-alone mode and DMX operation.
Robe America • 954.615.9100 • www.robeamerica.com
Rose Brand NeoFlex
New Diffused RGB and Color Jacket Mini Neoflex
have been added to the NeoFlex product line at Rose
Brand. NeoFlex LEDs are four times more efficient than
incandescent and halogen sources, are unaffected by low
temperatures and contain no mercury. Rose Brand stocks
diffused 120V and 24V NeoFlex in amber, blue, green,
red, orange, cool white and warm white. Color Jacket
Mini NeoFlex 24V is available in yellow, blue, green, red,
orange and cool white. Diffused RGB is a 120V color mixing product with stand-alone control
and DMX capability. Rose Brand is the exclusive U.S. distributor of NeoFlex lighting.
Rose Brand • 800.223.1624 • www.rosebrand.com
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2008 MAY PLSN 17

SHOWTIME PROJECTION
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
ST
General Motors
VENUE
Warner Brothers Stage #15
Burbank, CA
CREW
Promoter/Producer: Backyard
Productions
Lighting Company: Warner Brothers
Set Design: Joaquin Grey
Set Construction/Rigging/Staging:
Powerhouse
Video Director: Bill Dedes
Video Company: Cutting Edge
Productions
GEAR
10 CM hoists (1-ton)
8 Eiki 15K lumen projectors
1 Grass Valley Indigo Switcher
2 Grass Valley Turbo Servers
1 RP screen (30’x60’)
ST
VENUE
Oracle Arena
Oakland, CA
CREW
Lighting Company: Ed and Ted’s Excellent
Lighting
Production Manager: Rodney Johnson
Lighting Designer: Nathan Wilson
Crew Chief: Matthew Burden
Lighting Technicians: Whitney Hoversten,
Peter Nieto, Chad McClymonds, Russell
Halbach
Rigger: William “Bill” Rengstl, David “Manny”
Medeiros
Staging Company: Accurate Staging
Staging Carpenter: Phil Dannemann, Kirk
La Rocco, Patrick Boyd
Video Company: XL Video
Foo Fighters
GEAR
Lighting Consoles: 2 MA Lighting grand-
MAs, 3 MA Lighting grandMA NSPs
6 4-lite strips
3 CM ¼-ton motors
8 CM ½-ton motors
8 CM ½-ton motors w/ sensors
4 CM 1-ton 32-FPM motors
34 CM 1-ton motors
4 CM 2-ton motors
1 ETC 48-way Sensor Dimmer
16 High End Systems Showguns
23 James Thomas Engineering 8-lites
18 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes
8 Martin MAC 2000 Profiles
23 Martin MAC2000 Wash fixtures
6 PixelRange PixelLine 1044 LED Strips
2 Pro Power 48-way 208V Distro
9 Syncrolite SXB-5/2s
23 Wybron color scrollers (8-lite)
Steve JenningS
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18
PLSN MAY 2008

American Express Publishing
Luxury Summit ‘08
ST
VENUE
Four Seasons Westlake Village,
Westlake Village, CA
CREW
Promoter/Producer: Trent Chassay
Lighting Company: Swank AV
Production Manager: Drew Griffith
Lighting Designer: Sean McCarthy
Lighting Director/Tech: M. Vince Surh
Set Design: Sean McCarthy
Set Construction/Staging Company:
Staging Solutions, Inc.
Staging Carpenter: Michael Johnson
Video Director: Lawrence Chiu
Video Company: VER
GEAR
Lighting Console: MA Lighting
grandMA
12 Coemar Parlite LEDs
18 ETC Source Four Lekos
4 ETC Source Four PARs
1 Folsom ScreenPro II
2 Panasonic 7k DLP projectors
2 Sony D50 Cameras
ST
Wisconsin-Upper Michigan
Key Club District Convention
VENUE
KI Convention Center
Green Bay, WI
CREW
Promoter/Producer/Production Manager:
Travis Wetzel
Lighting/Video Company: Trav-A-Ling
Tunes
Lighting Design: Travis Wetzel, Travis Martin
Lighting Director/Tech: Travis Martin
Rigger: Scott Puro, Travis Wetzel
Video Director: Matt Kuehn
GEAR
Lighting Console: ETC SmartFade ML
8 American DJ PocketScans
2 CM chain hoists
1 ETC Smartpack Dimmer
2 ETC Source Four 26º
2 JEM ZR 24/7 Hazers
6 Martin Mac 250 Wash fixtures
1 Numark AVM01
1 Numark DVD01
1 Numark VM03
24 PAR 64s
1 Sanyo PLC-XP51 Projector
2 Sony HDR-HC5 DV Cameras
2 Tomcat Truss (12”x18”x10’)
DirecTV SXSW LIVE
ST
VENUE
Austin Convention Center,
Austin, TX
CREW
Promoter/Producer: Blaze TV Conner
McAnally
Lighting Company: Christi Lites
Production Manager: Bart Peters, Eric
Graham
Lighting Designer/Director: Victor Fable
Automated Lighting Operator: Lindsey
Glover, Rob Hume
Lighting Technicians: Jeff Flaim, Brian Freidin,
Greg “Lil G” Kocurek, Ryan Morris
Spots/Lighting Crew/Rigging Crew: Superior
Event Technicians
Set Design/Construction: Blaze TV
Rigger: Billy Beard, Lupe Perez, Toy Boyer
Staging Supervisor: Christian Sheehan
Staging Carpenter: Brad Shoemaker
Video Director: Richard Strock
Video Company: Blaze TV
GEAR
Lighting Consoles: 1 MA Lighting grand-
MA, 1 VLPS Virtuoso lighting console
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2008 MAY PLSN 19

INSIDE THEaTRE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
All Photography by Joan Marcus
Uncharted
Waters
Sean Palmer as Prince Eric and Sierra Boggess
as the two-legged Ariel on a set marked by
organic forms and iridescent highlights.
Set elements and costumes have visual slickness and shine.
Scenic designer George Tsypin uses transparent and translucent materials to take the
stage production for Disney’s The Little Mermaid under the sea.
Anyone who heard that The Little Mermaid
was going to be turned into a
Broadway musical might have initially
been baffled by the thought of bringing an
underwater animated tale into a live action
arena. It wasn’t like Disney could install a giant
aquarium and have everyone swim in
underwater gear throughout the narrative;
nor could everything and everyone be suspended
on visible wires and flown around
the theater. The prospects seemed giddily
unrealistic, especially as the story of Ariel —
the young mermaid daughter of King Triton
who, despite his wishes and orders, seeks to
journey to and live in the world above water
— involves two different realms and numerous
locations, including a moving ship.
But an unconventional concept often
requires an unusual approach, and when
Disney hired veteran opera scenic designer
George Tsypin to tackle the sets, they found
someone willing to explore unchartered waters.
In recent years, he has been working and
developing sets with translucent and transparent
material, and his work has appeared
in major European opera houses like La Scala
and the Paris Opera. He has also recently designed
five shows at the Metropolitan Opera,
including The Ring Cycle, War And Peace,
The Gambler, Mazeppa and The Magic Flute.
He feels that many of the Met shows were a
precursor to his work on The Little Mermaid,
especially the set of The Magic Flute, which
he says was akin to a “crystal temple” and was
very transparent.
Angular to Organic
“I am a former architect and involved in
some architectural projects as well, so my earlier
work is much more angular,” says Tsypin. “I
love structure and I love steel, so I’m probably
the last person who should be asked to design
The Little Mermaid.” But he and his design
team have been getting more into sculpture
lately. “We’ve done a lot of sculptural things,
but more and more organic shapes and
things like that. At my studio we have a sculpture
shop, so in that sense it was a natural
thing to move into something like The Little
Mermaid.”
IT
The show’s choreographer eventually
solved actor movement on stage by having
everyone wear wheelies — those shoes with
roller skate wheels installed underneath them
— but Tsypin had to find a way to further help
the feeling of aquatic movement; in the case
of two big numbers — “Under The Sea” and
“Kiss The Girl” — by picking people off the
floor for dramatic effect. “On some level it’s
a normal show,” says Tsypin. “There are actors
playing the roles, and they’re people, but you
have to imagine that they’re fish or mermaids
as opposed to really making them look like
underwater creatures.”
While many of the translucent stage
pieces look like glass, they are not. “You never
use real glass on stage,” Tsypin says. “I’ve done
some glass things for some other projects
that I was involved with, less theatrical things,
but onstage you have to use theatrical devices
to create a sense that things are made
of glass. On this show I even moved beyond
that, and it’s not really glass either. One material
that I discovered by accident towards the
end of the process at a materials library was
a 3M material, this iridescent film, which is
more vibrant than anything I’ve seen before.”
A Shimmering Sheen
IT
At first he thought that the material
would be too bold and might overpower everything
else on stage. But his sizable design
team encouraged him to go for it because the
material is “very pure and very striking,” Tsypin
says. “In many cases we just use that material
straight. In other words, I’m not trying to obscure
it or make it more subtle. Basically the
fins, the sun and the waves are made of this
material, and other things are made with a
little more subtle holographic material. But
somehow, when I saw these iridescent materials
I thought, ‘This is Little Mermaid. It feels
like a tail, it feels like an iridescent fish under
water, this is a metaphor for this show.’ And I
went with it all the way.”
Another challenge in designing for The
Little Mermaid was handling two worlds; the
world below and the world above. The translucent
“waves” became the borders between
the two realms. They could be raised and lowered
to create a cinematic effect, “as if you’re
going underwater or you were swimming up
like the Little Mermaid.”
Tsypin was very rigorous with the color
palette. The underwater set pieces were cool,
blue and purple, and the above water sets
were very warm and sunny. This differentiated
the two worlds.
Separate but Parallel
“The world above is seen through the
mermaid’s eyes. That’s why it’s also kind of
translucent and a little weird and a little like
a fairy tale. The columns are in the palace
above, and then they turn around and have
more aquatic sculptures in them and are used
for the palace below. There is an underwater
sun, which is kind of like a big starfish, and
then it turns around and becomes the above
water sun.”
Later in the production, Tsypin discovered
that in the original Hans Christian Andersen
story, the author described an underwater
palace made of glass, and the Little Mermaid’s
grandmother described to her the “flying fish”
(aka birds) in the world above. Tsypin continually
played on this inherent dichotomy in the
story — the idea that the two worlds parallel
each other in many ways.
Important scenic elements that transformed
from one world to the other were
two movable columns that fold, unfold and
collapse and utilize abstract shapes. They also
open to reveal pods on outstretched tentacle
arms that could fly people over the stage. “In
the first act they look like fish, and in the second
act they look like birds,” notes Tsypin.
A Compelling Vision
The inspiration for the columns came
from the Hieronymus Bosch painting entitled
Garden of Earthly Delights. Tsypin admits to a
long-time obsession with the surreal Renaissance
work, which he feels offers a “strange
mixture of fantasy and something very recognizable
and it feels like another strange
world.
“I felt on this show you have to take a
journey to some fantastical world that you’ve
never seen before. I don’t think it would work
IT
IT
to just be realistic and try to represent all the
underwater plants and fish. I just felt that we
had to create our own world because if you
put in a normal fish or a normal plant, how
do you do people playing fish or playing
mermaids or mermen? Already it’s a fantastical
idea, so we have to create that fantastical
world.”
The columns serve multiple purposes,
from being simply what they are in Prince
Eric’s palace to the wilder creations that shuttle
around underwater creatures during the
show stopping number “Under The Sea.”
“I felt I needed to come up with a shape
for the sculpture that invokes an underwater
world, or the pond for ‘Kiss The Girl,’ but it’s not
this or that,” says Tsypin. “It becomes different
things. On top of that there were practical
considerations as well. I’ve been doing opera
and other things with a lot of space and scale,
and here I was given the smallest theatre on
Broadway. Even though it doesn’t feel that
small when you look at the stage, the reality
is that there’s no offstage space, so I was desperately
trying to create columns with things
that fold and unfold and collapse.”
Limited Space
The collapsible nature of the column
tentacles came from an important practical
necessity: Tsypin literally had three feet of
storage space at stage left and stage right.
Another inspiration was Chinese lanterns and
decorations, which he was fascinated by in
terms of their simplicity and elegance when
opened, and their ability to collapse into
something flat. To him, they felt like underwater
plants or underwater shapes without
being literal.
While Tsypin’s outrageously colorful and
abstract set pieces serve Mermaid well and
are definite crowd pleasers, some critics have
not been so positive in their artistic assessment
of his achievement. One reviewer at
the Hollywood Reporter felt that his set design
was more appropriate for an avant-garde
opera by Philip Glass. “I was actually pleased
with that remark,” Tsypin says. “Some people
said that it’s unbelievably vulgar and that the
lowest common denominator was used. On
IT
20
PLSN May 2008

The color palette differentiates
the underwater
and above water sets —
cool, blue and purple, vs.
very warm and sunny.
But in other aspects they
appear as parallel worlds
— each with a fairy tale
quality.
Sherie Renee Scott as Ursula, with
a dimly lit undersea backdrop
that parallels the night sky.
Sierra Boggess as Ariel ventures from a cool-lit
underwater realm to bright sunshine in
Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
the other hand, it’s too obscure and should
be used for Philip Glass. Maybe that’s good. It
works on many levels, but maybe it’s a little bit
outside of what you would expect. I tried to
be accessible, but maybe my sensibility is just
a bit weird. It had to be somewhat different,
and sometimes those people are jarred by it,
but then it becomes more mainstream.”
Tsypin asserts that he has worked on
some shows during his career where a few
years had passed after a production or a show
was revived and his formerly contentious aesthetic
was then widely embraced. “I think you
have to challenge the audience, and I think
that small kids are a little more open because
they don’t carry all the baggage with them,”
Tsypin says, referencing Little Mermaid’s obvious
family audience. “They don’t say it’s supposed
to look like that or look like this.”
Technology has seeped into many modern
Broadway productions, and different
generations of theatergoers react differently
to it. “Kids grow up with computer graphics
and are much more sensitive to this wild color
and more dense visual information, which is
sometimes something that for older critics is
way too much and way too vulgar,” observes
Tsypin. “I think for younger people or kids it’s
okay because they’re used to looking at their
computer flashing with this wild color all the
time. I think set design in general is getting
bolder that way.”
Iridescent Shine
Lighting the 3M material was certainly
complicated. “It takes light beautifully and it
transmits light, and that’s what it’s designed
for,” says Tsypin. “I feel it is very important. It
almost doesn’t exist without light. It’s almost
like materialized light sculpture.” But the dangers
of too much reflectivity and choosing the
right angles were inherent in using the material.
He commends veteran Disney lighting
designer Natasha Katz for taking on that challenge.
According to Tsypin, the duo collaborated
very closely, conducting numerous tests
and demos. These were necessary because of
the unusual nature of the 3M material, which
produces different effects when lit at different
angles.
“For example, at one place in the house
you’ll see one thing, and from another place
in the house you’ll see maybe a completely
different color,” Tsypin says. “It was a very bold
move on Natasha’s part to go with that. She
didn’t have total control because sometimes
the material does whatever it wants to do, but
it gives you enough of a controllable thing
that she found quite interesting. You might
light something with purple light and meanwhile
it reflects orange. We both felt it was
exciting and had enough of an unpredictable
element that was interesting.”
IT
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
2008 May PLSN
21

PRODUCTION PROFILE
Tori amos and Her Imaginary Posse
The mood can be dark or bright, calm or aggressive, and Amos often changes
personalities mid-show.
Photos & Text by SteveJennings
Amos performs 20 to 25 songs per night. By the end of the tour, there were over 140 tunes in the desk.
The entourage for Tori Amos’ latest tour just
might be the easiest group to wrangle
in the history of touring. That’s because
the cast, which includes Pip, Isabel, Clyde, and
Santa — a.k.a., the American Doll Posse —
were all figments of Amos’ imagination. She
starts her set in each city dressed as one of
the characters, depending on her mood that
day. Each character sports a different wig and
projects a different feel. Then the second set
for the evening belongs to Amos in all of her
redheaded glory. And it’s up to designers Dave
Farmer and Dan Hardiman to sort it all out and
make sense of it from a visual perspective.
The Cast of Characters
The original design brief for the American
Doll Posse Tour called for a completely different
opening to the show for each character in
which Amos might appear. It was a challenge
of schizophrenic proportion.
“We worked up a pool of tunes for each
character,” says co-lighting designer Dave
Farmer of THC Ltd, “and based the programming
for each of those tunes around that
stage persona.”
The persona of each of the different characters
dramatically affected the lighting approach,
taking into account the different costumes,
stage entrance and personality of the
each different character.
“For example,” Farmer continues, “the
Clyde show is very moody and darkly lit at
the start of the show and builds from there,
whereas Santa has a much bolder party girl
entrance which is very bright and reflected in
the pop nature of the tunes. In stark contrast
there is the Pip show, which is very aggressive,
using strobes and plenty of high contrast
white lighting.
But Amos rarely sticks to any song order,
adding to the complexity of the situation.
Design partner Dan Hardiman says that the
key to lighting the show is all in the preparation.
“Because Tori would do the second act
of the show as herself she would often play
a tune associated with another character. In
this case we held a second copy of the tune
which was edited to reflect its later position
in the show while maintaining the essence of
the original.”
A Design Partnership
Farmer and Hardiman have been working
together since 1994 when they first formed
a partnership. They were lighting a variety of
parties, dance music events and small band
shows when they incorporated the company
as Total Herbal Confusion Limited (THC Ltd)
in 1996.
“Incorporating THC, in effect, created a
third person and a stable base for tackling
larger projects,” says Hardiman. During the
summer of 1996, the two lit a tent at the Glastonbury
Festival. “We impressed several band
managers, account handlers and other LDs
with the enormous rig,” he says. “Shortly after
were asked to design Moby's Play tour.”
Moby started in clubs with a capacity of
about 600, and, 18 months and several re-designs
later, they were on a world tour with a
scaled up show and eventually did two nights
at Wembley Arena. At the same time Farmer
and Hardiman were also touring systems with
Badly Drawn Boy and Soft Cell as well as managing
their existing client base.
Today, Farmer and Hardiman manage a
portfolio of incredibly varied clients including
UB40, Simply Red, Will Young, The Doves, Ray
Davies, several corporate and theatre clients,
and, most recently, the Tori Amos world tour.
“We can be working on hip-hop, reggae,
pop and an opera in the space of three
months,” says Farmer. The London-based design
team works internationally and prides
themselves on offering complete show design.
“The entertainment industry has expanded
tremendously over the last decade
and lighting, set design, video production,
programming and playback are now part
of the service we offer,” says Farmer. “During
2007 we re-branded the company as THC Design
Ltd to reflect the change in our output
and skills base.”
Two Heads are Better Than One
Farmer confirms that their approach is to
tackle every aspect of the tour in a tag-team
fashion. “It’s a case of ‘two heads are better
than one,’” he says.
“That's true,” admits Hardiman. “The hours
involved putting a show together are very,
very long, so it’s good to have someone to
bounce ideas off and swap places with when
you are tired.”
Their design, Farmer says, typically starts
with a design brief and a basic stage plan and
they go from there, putting together simple
designs, ideas and sketches. Then they jointly
review the ideas to see which elements will
go and which will stay.
“We’ll also both work on the project solo,”
says Hardiman. “We’ll take the original drawings
and attack those with other ideas to generate
a second set of drawings and then meet
up again to review. It’s a very efficient system
with stunning results. The new drawings are
often miles from the original set but when we
reconvene there’s plenty to discuss and many
ideas dovetail nicely. We’ll hammer out the
finer details of the design from there. We’ve
worked together for 14 years so there is a very
strong bond between us.”
When it comes to programming, either
Hardiman or Farmer will script the tunes
and program them into the desk to provide
a rough framework with which to work. They
use WYSIWYG to visualize the playback before
they get into tech rehearsals. It helps them to
structure the show and check to see the ideas
they like and which need work.
“Together,” says Farmer, “we’ll polish those
tunes in WYSIWYG so they are show-ready. Having
one of us at the console and one watching,
making comments and introducing new ideas
speeds up the process, reduces mistakes and
also means we can swap places when you start
to flag after eight hours of programming. We’ll
then repeat the process in rehearsals to fine tune
anything that hasn’t translated out of cyber-
Tori Amos poses as Pip, Isabel, Clyde and Santa — a.k.a. the American Doll Posse —
and, for the second set, as herself.
In addition to Amos’ personality changes, the lighting design needs to reflect the
changes in Amos’ outfits.
Amos rarely sticks with any song order, so the lighting for each song needs to be retrieved
from the console quickly.
22
PLSN May 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
space.”
When it comes time
to direct the show live,
the two sit down to
identify the positive and
negative elements and
highlight critical control
points and set changes.
Amos is known to
change the set during
the tour, and because
venues change with every show, Farmer and
Hardiman want to be prepared.
Hardiman describes the process. “The desk
is programmed to run from set cue points in
the show,” he says. “If one of our operators is
running the console, we will train them in updating
the programming for each venue, how
to run the show and direct it, from ensuring
the band positions are correct to dealing with
changes in stage entrances and exits, and also
dressing theatre soft goods.”
“We provide extensive technical drawings
for the operator, production and crew
so the show is as close to identical every day,”
Hardiman continues, “while taking into account
advantages and disadvantages of individual
venues and production needs.”
“For this tour,” Farmer adds, “we did the
rehearsals together and then Dan covered
the first week in Italy while I was busy on
Simply Red. And then we swapped in Paris
Tori Amos’ Pip character uses strobes and plenty of high contrast white lighting.
and I continued on from there to complete
the tour seven months later.”
The Ever-Evolving Set List
Amos plays for at least two hours each
night, and her set list doesn’t necessarily follow
any order. To the designers, this meant
that each tune needed to stand on its own
and work within the set in any order. It also
meant that each song needed to be quickly
and easily accessed from the console.
“We started with a short list of around
90 tunes based on old favorites and the new
album content,” Farmer revealed. “I scripted
those and then Dan and I crunched through
them on WYSIWYG so the structure, gobos
and color were in place. After that we’d review
each tune and make the tweaks required.”
“Bearing in mind the average two-hour
show features 20 to 25 tunes,” Hardiman
adds, “and for other artists
we’d normally have
a working pool of 30 to
40 tunes, Tori’s short list
was quite a task to undertake.”
“After rehearsals,”
Farmer says, “we had
around 90 tunes fully
programmed. By the
end of the tour there
were just over 140 completed tunes in the
desk and one of the incredibly dedicated fan
sites said she had played around 160 different
tunes. Fortunately Tori has a solo piano
section in the show which showcases many
of the tunes we only played once. Yes, I did
have tunes programmed in the desk we
didn’t manage to play. I’ll keep those for next
time.”
And the next time won’t come soon
enough for Farmer and Hardiman. They both
acknowledge that they are having a great
time on the road with Amos and company.
“We need to give thanks to Tori. She is
terrific to work with, stunning live and totally
professional in her outlook every day. It was
a great challenge and we really enjoyed the
whole process,” says Farmer. “Also,” he added,
“this was our first tour using the Martin MAC
2000 Performance and it’s a terrific unit for
projection capability and reliability.”
CREW
Lighting Designers: Dave Farmer,
Dan Hardiman, THC Design Ltd
Lighting Director: Dave Farmer
Lighting Techs, U.S.: David George,
Ty Brooks
Lighting Techs U.K.: Colin Green,
Will Keating
Production Manager: Andy Soloman
Tour Manager: Keith Anderson
Production Assistant: Dana Thomas
Lighting Supplier: PRG
Account Rep, U.S.: Mark Coleman
Account Rep, U.K.: Robin Wain
Soft Goods Manufacturer: J&C Joel
RGB Starcloth Manufacturer: Universal
Stars
GEAR
1 Flying Pig Systems Wholehog III
console
20 Martin MAC 2000 Performance fixtures
4 Martin MAC 2000E Wash fixtures
24 PixelRange LED PixelPars
5 Vari*Lite VL1000TIs
8 RGB Starcloth panels
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2008 MAY PLSN 23

INSTALLATIONS
The Long Center for the Performing Arts
New PAC with Familiar Feel
About 97 percent of the old Palmer Auditorium was recycled, and about 65 percent of it was used in the construction of the new Long Center.
By RichardCadena
To the uninitiated, an elevator ride in
Austin’s newly-opened Joe R. and Teresa
Lozano Long Center for the Performing
Arts might give the wrong impression.
The green and orange metal skin that lines
the interior of the elevator is replete with
dents about the size of a ball-peen hammer.
It wasn’t the carelessness of the construction
workers who left their marks on the elevator
walls, but Mother Nature herself.
Recycled and Reused
INS
You see, the sheet metal from which the
elevator was finished used to be the roof of
the previous incarnation of the building, and
those marks are the hail damage from almost
50 years of Texas weather. It’s a reflection of
the community’s enthusiasm for sustainability
and environmental responsibility because
more than 97 percent of the material taken
from the deconstruction of the Palmer Auditorium,
the building from which the Long
Center arose, was recycled, including steel,
concrete and dirt. Much of it, about 65 percent,
found its way back into the Long Center.
In addition to the inside of the elevator,
sheets from the old metal roof can be found
on the exterior of Michael & Susan Dell Hall,
and the 2,400-seat concert hall. In addition,
the glass panels recognizing major supporters
of the center were fabricated from the recycled
glass walls of the old facility.
The Long Center was borne of the desire
to find a permanent home for the Austin Symphony
Orchestra, the Austin Lyric Opera and
Ballet Austin, as well as to replace the existing
Palmer Auditorium, a multi-purpose venue
that was plagued with problems including
poor acoustics and a 10-foot high stage that
was guaranteed to give the audience a stiff
neck. After a false start in 1998, the post-dotcom-bust
economy allowed enough funds
to flow into the new project to get it off the
ground. From the ashes of the Palmer came
a first class venue that retains all of the good
parts of the old facility — the downtown
riverfront location, the familiar circular “ring
beam” from the framework of the Palmer and
the old Palmer stagehouse — while updating
and improving the rest.
Fisher Dachs Associates came into the
project as the theatre consultants in the early
stages before the budget cuts forced the
shuttling of one of the smaller performance
spaces. By the time the dust settled from
the partial demolition of the existing Palmer
Auditorium, the Michael and Susan Dell Hall
remained as the main venue, along with the
Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre black
box, the City Terrace outside, the Kodosky
Donor Lounge, the West Donor Lounge and
Lobby and the AT&T Education Room. “The
priority,” said Associate Principal Bob Campbell,
“was to make sure that the new home
for the symphony, opera and ballet was pristine
acoustically and functionally.” The largest
cuts, he said, were in square footage to the
lobby and the front of the building.
Multiple Iterations
INS
FDA began by working with the client to
define the project, said Principal Joshua Dachs,
before the architect was hired. “We did a study
that resulted in two things,” said Dachs. “One
was the concept for the building and also a
building program — the brief defining the
project, space by space, room by room. Our responsibility
includes the overall disposition of
the major elements — the auditorium is going
here, where the loading dock will go, where do
the dressing rooms go, where does the lobby
go, how do you start to put the pieces together?
The backstage planning and layout, front of
house planning and layout and the geometry of
the room — the plan, sections, the seating layout,
sightlines, all were driven by Fisher Dachs,
with the aggressive involvement of Mark Holden,
the acoustical consultant (Jaffe Holden and
Associates) and architects, Mike Nelson and
Gino DeSantis from Zeidler Partnership Architects.
There were a lot of iterations.”
Although FDA has been involved in a great
number of designs for performing arts centers,
including Radio City Music Hall, The Hollywood
Bowl and the Lincoln Center, this project was
like no other. “The unusual thing about this
project,” Dachs said, “is dealing with the former
Palmer Auditorium. The stage house was existing,
and in order to get more fly space we
dropped the entire stage by 10 feet.”
That was no small feat, considering the
stage is solid concrete. While the crew was
busy lowering the stage, they also installed
HVAC plenums in the foundation so that it
comes out through perforated stanchions
in the seating. “It’s called displacement air,”
said Campbell. “It brings air up into the lower
area where people are and draws it out from
above, rather than dropping it from above.
It’s a lot more efficient.”
HVAC Efficient
INS
FDA’s involvement also included specifying
all of the technology in the performance spaces
including the lighting and rigging. The design
of the lighting, Campbell said, was complicated
because it had to serve the needs of the Austin
Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera and
Ballet Austin. “The symphony requires not only
fixed locations in the house, which are within
the catwalks and within the orchestra ceiling
shell,” he said, “but they also have a separate
system which has very quiet dimming.”
The lighting that was designed for the
symphony is not intended for use by the opera.
“The opera shouldn’t use (the concert
lighting) because when the theatre completes
a changeover between opera and symphony
events, it should not require a minimum fourhour
crew call in order to re-focus,” Campbell
added. “So there’s a fixed white light system
for the symphony, and the opera would rig
off of another system that’s part of the stage
lighting system. When touring shows load
in they can drop stage lighting trusses off a
fore-stage grid located above the downstage
acoustical reflector.”
A Comprehensive Rig
INS
The “quiet dimming” to which Campbell
referred to are 96 ETC dual 20-amp Sensor
Director of Operations David Poole in the dimmer room.
Long Center Lighting Supervisor Todd Drga.
“high-rise” dimmer modules with 800μsec
rise time. The lighting system also includes
another 636 dual 20-amp and 18 50-amp “Advanced
Features” Sensor dimmers, 90 relay
modules, 294 Source Fours, 25 Source Four
Zooms, 48 Source Four PARs, a number of L&E
MR-16 mini-strips and Runt cyc lights, Altman
Q-Lites, Strand 8” 2K Fresnels, 24 Wybron
Coloram InfoTrace Scrollers and three Lycian
1293 3K followspots. Also part of the Dell Hall
is a group of High End Systems Studio Command
1200s, which lighting supervisor Todd
Drga says are “super bright.”
The control system includes a pair of
consoles, either of which many venues can
only dream of having. There’s an ETC Eos and
Flying Pig Systems Full Boar console. Both
are networked to 40 remote network stations,
and each station has an RJ-45 Ethernet
connector and a 3-pin XLR jack that ties into
the Leon Audio Cue Light System. Twelve
ETCNet2 Portable DMX 2-Port Nodes provide
network access and it’s all tied back to the
front of house with a fiber optic backbone.
24 PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
“The unusual
thing about
this project is
dealing with the
former Palmer
Auditorium.”
— Joshua Dachs
Next door in the Rollins Theatre Lyle Lovett (downstage center) and Ray Benson (stage right) perform under a circular
canvas lit by Vari*Lites on opening weekend.
is another system of ETC Sensor dimmers,
Source Fours, L&E mini-strips
and six Ocean Optics SeaChanger color
changers. The console system comprises an
ETC Expression with an Emphasis server.
San Antonio-based Texas Scenic supplied
the rigging system as well as a custom
fabricated automated system that adjusts
soft goods in the house for acoustic
dampening and control. The stage rigging
system re-uses the Palmer gridiron and it’s
still a manual counterweight system.
To help staff the production team, Director
of Operations David Poole hired in
Drga along with Frank Cortez as rigging
supervisor, Jim Larkin as technical director
and assistant technical directors Scott
Braudt, Jeff Strange and Eric Miller.
“We’re trying to create a culture that’s
different,” Drga said. “We want to be a top
notch service provider.”
The Austin Symphony Orchestra performs in the Dell Hall. The circular truss and lighting was part of a rental
package supplied by Upstaging.
Flaunting Austin’s Talents
INS
If the grand opening gala was any indication,
then they just might achieve that goal.
The two-day event featured performances
by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin
Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin on Friday
night and Asleep at the Wheel, Lyle Lovett,
Rick Trevino, Flaco Jimenez and the unofficial
ambassador of Austin, Willie Nelson. Austinbased
lighting designer Tony Tucci and associate
lighting designer Chad Jung hired in
Phil Gilbert, formerly of Austin but now residing
in New York, to program the automated
lighting and four High End Systems DL.2s. Upstaging
provided a circular truss and a handful
of Vari*Lite VL3500s, some VL5s and High
End Systems Showguns. J.T. McDonald, who
happens to live in Austin, was the production
supervisor for Upstaging.
For many Austinites, including band leader
Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, the new
incarnation of the old Palmer Auditorium had
a very familiar feel along with its shiny new
image. The old dome may be gone, but the
history remains a part of the new center. Benson
remarked that he had first played on the
stage of the Palmer Auditorium with country
legend Ernest Tubb in the early ‘70s when
he first moved to Austin and Elvis graced its
stage long before that. The Clash made the
video for “Rock the Casbah” in the early ‘80s
and everyone from the Cars to Van Cliburn
played there.
“The grid over the stage is the old grid
from the Palmer Auditorium,” Campbell reminds
us. “And the wood…a lot of that is reused
material. It was terrific talking to a lot of
the contractors who had been to all of these
concerts (in the past) and they were excited
to work in this space to make it into something
else.”
And if you listen closely, you can almost
hear the last strains of the reverb from the
old Palmer Auditorium. Rock the casbah
indeed.
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2008 MAY PLSN 25

FEATURE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Second Baptist
Church Lights
Up Anew
LEDs and automated lighting provide a colorful boost
By KevinM.Mitchell
To backlight the stained glass not open to daylight, LEDs replaced energy-gobbling, heat-producing cyc lights.
A key challenge was to upgrade to moving lights but conceal them so the rig would not detract from the church’s architecture.
On the road to a conventional lighting
update, you could say Mark Sepulveda
took an “intelligent” detour.
Sepulveda, who is global technical director
for the six campuses of the Houston-based,
40,000-member Second Baptist Church, had
a big task ahead of him in re-lighting the
main sanctuary at the Woodway Campus.
The system had originally been installed in
the 1970s and updated in the mid-1980s,
but with the increasing demand for video
production and new high-definition cameras
coming into the picture, the lighting
needed to be updated.
“We started off by hiring Richard Cadena,
who was basically the lead designer of
the project,” Sepulveda explains. “We commissioned
him to design a conventional
lighting system, and then as kind of an addendum,
we also wanted to put together a
basic plot for a television lighting system.”
Then Christmas came (perhaps in more
ways than one).
For the many special events the church
produces, as they have for many years,
Sepulveda and his team started the annual
tradition of renting a lot of extra lighting
and support, particularly automated lighting.
He paused, realized that he was about
to throw a bunch of money at a temporary
solution and started wondering aloud
if this was not a good time to consider
changing plans. It turns out that it was.
A More Contemporary Look
plsn
“The goal was to add intelligent lighting
to be used for some of the more contemporary
services, so the services could
look on par with how they sounded,” he
says. “We didn’t have a single intelligent
fixture in the room.” No one in the organization
had ever opposed the idea of buying
automated lighting in the past. The
money was always slated for other things
that were higher on the priority list. But
now the budget had some room.
“Intelligent lighting is becoming almost
an economic choice because you
have to think about more than just the
individual price of the fixture,” Sepulveda
says. The cost to operate the light, the
amount of energy used, dimming, electrical
installation and HVAC requirements,
all add up. (See “By The Numbers,” below.)
“Take into account the cost over a five year
period and it’s significant.”
At this point, the Second Baptist team
turned to Nashville-based Maxx Technology,
with whom they had worked in the past.
“We’ve been a provider for them for
a while” says Neal Watson, president of
Maxx Technology. “We were brought in
to be the integrator originally, and when
they changed course a bit we got more involved
in the project.”
For the first phase of the project, Watson
says the system consists entirely of
automated lighting and a new controller,
specifically, an MA Lighting grandMA
and 30 moving lights. “The layout and approach
was put together based on a lot
of conversations about what they needed
and what they were trying to achieve,” Watson
explains. “We had to figure out what
instruments were needed in the long term.
We worked with Mark Sepulveda and Tim
Honea, the lighting director, to determine
the best use of the dollars available.”
Robe ended up getting the call with
24 ColorSpot 700E ATs and six ColorWash
700E ATs. “We looked at Martin and Robe
in large part because both offered products
that had the functions we wanted,”
he says. Watson says they often work with
Robe and the company has a long relationship
with them. Both products were
deemed to be of excellent quality , and so
it came down to cost. Also, the clients just
preferred the look and feel of the Robe for
the church’s needs.
Architectural Splendor
plsn
The biggest challenge to the team
was rigging these relatively large lights
(compared to conventionals) and at the
same time preserving the architectural
splendor of church. The building was constructed
in the early 1970s and installing
modern automated lighting and rigging
among the stately columns and 60-foot
domed stained glass ceiling might have
spelled architectural disaster. But a relatively
simple modification to the ceiling
was enough to get the job done. The octagonal
sanctuary has a massive catwalk
above the ceiling and rows of ports in
three concentric octagons allow the platform
lighting to be rigged above the ceiling
from the catwalk and still focus on the
platform below. But the lights didn’t quite
fit in the ports.
“We needed more space in the ceiling
ports for the intelligent lights,” says Watson.
“So we took out every other divider
in the upper row and the upstage row.
The congregation didn’t even notice or
make comments because of how small a
change it was.”
Ultimately this was a retrofit, and the
team had to be sensitive to that. In addition
to minimizing the cosmetic changes
in the sanctuary, costs had to be minimized
too, especially since this was phase
one and another was anticipated soon afterwards.
The electrical power distribution
system had to be redesigned, and they had
to find ways to pull from existing power as
much as possible. Despite these and other
challenges, Watson reports that the project
went down according to schedule.
“It’s a beautiful room,” Watson says.
“We all just tried to accent the church as
it was, particularly the arches. A lot of the
design was put together with Tim and
Mark, who did a great job in finding ways
to utilize the lights.”
Intense Color, Massive Savings
plsn
Along with the addition of automated
lighting, the upgrade included a replacement
for the conventional lights that backlit
the stained glass windows. There are two
very large windows, approximately 50 feet
high and 40 feet wide, only one of which is
open to the outside. The other was lit from
the rear by rows upon rows of 1000-watt
cyc lights. The lights did an excellent job
of lighting the window, but they were terribly
inefficient, gobbling electricity and
producing lots of heat that had to be removed
by the HVAC system.
“We went through 12 different designs
before we settled on one,” Sepulveda says.
There were trial runs of alternative sources
including T5 fluorescent fixtures and a variety
of LEDs. The fluorescents might have
worked except they can only dim to 10
percent or 1 percent, depending on which
ballast is used. The challenge with the
LEDs was finding a bright enough source
without exceeding the budget.
The cyc lights were designed to project
away from the stained glass and bounce
off of a white wall in order to create a very
uniform backlight. But the LEDs, lacking the
horsepower of a 1000-watt cyc light, didn’t
have enough punch to do that. So they were
focused directly into the stained glass.
“We get this full, rich result from it,”
says a very pleased Sepulveda. In addition
to backlighting the windows, they now
have the ability to enhance and change
the colors as well.
“The intention was to add intense color
to the stain glass window,” Watson added.
“So by using the LEDs it provided more op-
By the Numbers
Stained glass window before LEDs:
102 1000-watt cyc lights
102,000 number of watts used to power lights
106,080 number of kilowatt-hours to keep lights on 20 hours per week, 52 weeks per year
348,038 number of BTUs generated by lights
$3,569 estimated cost to run HVAC to remove heat generated by lights annually
(assuming a S.E.E.R. of 10)
$10,460 estimated cost to run lights annually (not including lamp changes)
Stained glass window after LEDs:
80 324-watt LED fixtures
25,920 number of watts used to power LEDs
26,957 number of kilowatt-hours to keep LEDs on 20 hours per week, 52 weeks per year
88,443 number of BTUs generated by LEDs
$907 estimated cost to run HVAC to remove heat generated by LEDs annually
(assuming a S.E.E.R. of 10)
$2,658 estimated cost to run LEDs annually
Savings provided by LEDs:
$2,662 estimated savings in HVAC operation
$7,802 estimated savings in cost of electricity
$10,464 estimated total savings in operation cost
119 tons amount of coal saved annually
218 tons amount of CO2 saved annually
26 PLSN MAY 2008

“It’s another canvas for these very creative people
to have and to use.” —Neal Watson, Maxx Technology
Along with the price of each fixture, the church factored in five years of energy costs when deciding on the lighting upgrade.
The church’s 9:30 service is relatively subdued and conservative, but the look for the 11:11 service gets lit like an “all-out rock show.”
tions, less heat, and used less energy … yet
the intensity these Chauvet lights provided
really came through the glass, giving them
the ability to bring out the blues and reds.”
They ended up with about 80 LED fixtures,
and Sepulveda says that they want
to put in more in the future.
Lofty Projection
plsn
Meanwhile, in the choir loft there was
a huge amount of space that is rarely
used. Sepulveda came up with the idea of
stretching fabric over it and using it as a
projection surface for lighting and (eventually)
video. The fabric takes light very
well and provides the opportunity to project
color and gobos, and it’s used to great
effect in a variety of settings.
“Now everyone is very excited about the
new look we have,” Sepulveda says. “We really
didn’t have anywhere to shine the lights that
would give us any kind of structure. I’m not
a huge fan of over-the-top gobos and things
like that, so I wanted a very elegant look. Basically,
I didn’t want it to look like a circus.” He’s
pleased with the automated lighting now,
but it took some effort to work it all out. “That
was very challenging, getting the lighting
how we wanted it to be,” he sighed. “That took
time and was tedious. But it looks great now
and works tremendously well.”
Watson added: “It’s another canvas for
these very creative people to have and to use.”
The team eased gently into using the
lights in the church, and for the first service
they just “tip-toed” into it, Watson says. They
had finished the bulk of the install in a mere
five days, but there wasn’t any time to do extensive
programming for that first Sunday.
Once the job was finished and the lights were
fired up for the first time, there were few surprises
for Watson. Because of the modeling,
the investigation, and time spent in development,
it was pretty much exactly what he and
the others were expecting, he says.
Once the creative team found its footing
in the services following, they had to do
a lot of listening. Sepulveda points out that
like many similar-sized organizations, Second
Baptist is made up of many leaders with different
opinions. “We have a paradigm here and
were trying to meet collective needs and not
force people into things,” he explains. “We’re
always learning what the congregation and
elders want, but we’re not going an “a la carte”
route for every person, of course.
“With all that in mind, we have a very conservative
approach to the 9:30 a.m. service
and there we use what we have in very subtle
ways. Then there’s the 11:11 a.m. service, and
for that it’s very different. It has a rock band
and it’s almost an all-out rock show. Still, I like
it to be tasteful and classic.”
Today, the congregation is reportedly
very pleased with the results.
“I think it’s enhanced the worship experience,”
Sepulveda says. Today’s worshipers are
used to technology enhancing their secular
experiences. Most importantly, of course, is
not making the lighting and media the show.
“We’re not doing the things that Hollywood is
doing, and I think that’s the right way to go.
But we’re trying to make lighting a non-factor.
“You don’t leave a Sting concert and say,
‘that was the greatest lighting show ever.’ You
say, ‘That was a great show.’ These new elements
we’ve brought in are a contributing
factor and a good investment for the church.
This is where lighting is going anyway.”
Sepulveda keeps it all in perspective, though:
“Whatever we do for any service or event, needs
to accent and augment the worship service. I
think a lot of churches take the lighting too seriously.
Ultimately, God is the draw.”
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2008 MAY PLSN 27

FEATURE
Shifting Gears
PROJECTION
for
LIGHTS & STAGING
Biofuels
NEWS
Filling the tank is no longer a no-brainer for tour trucking companies.
By FrankHammel
A herd of cattle blocks a Roadshow Services truck from the biodiesel pumps at a rural co-op.
You’d think that with highway diesel
fuel rolling past $4 per gallon, alternative
fuels harvested from corn, soy and
other crops would be a natural: good for the
budget, good for the environment, good for
a tour trucking company’s image.
But crop shortages have pushed prices
for harvested oils to record highs. And
growing awareness of the connection between
biofuels, high food prices and deforestation,
coupled with indignation over
government subsidies and mandates, have
created flashpoints of controversy.
Clean Energy Scam?
With headlines like “The Clean Energy
Scam,” mainstream publications like Time
magazine have labeled some biofuel sources,
such as corn ethanol, “environmentally disastrous,”
leading to food shortages for other
commodities like soy, and the destruction of
forests and wetlands in Brazil and Indonesia
to produce biofuels from sugar cane and
palm oil. Other influential publications like
The New York Times have blamed food shortages
and high prices around the world to the
rise of “demon ethanol and other biofuels,”
calling “the subsidized conversion of crops
into fuel” a “terrible mistake.”
“It’s the law of unintended consequences,”
says Sean O’Rourke of San Franciscobased
Roadshow Services, of the negative
side effects. Although the company has
actively supported the efforts of early biodiesel
proponents like Neil Young and Willie
Nelson, and remains ready to support artists
with a pro-biofuel agenda, Roadshow is
not in the business of promoting any particular
fuel as the answer to all the world’s
problems. “We’re just a trucking contractor,”
O’Rourke says.
Even if the hidden problems of the recent
push into biofuel are emerging, the
basic concept — like recycling — is tantalizing
enough to spur further exploration and
development. Potential advances include
a boost in yield and oil content of energy
crops and the cultivation of biofuel sources
that can be produced on marginal lands or
on water, with little or no requirements for
petroleum-based fertilizers, such as oil-producing
switchgrass and algae. Researchers
are also tinkering with ways to use enzymes
to extract ethanol from garbage.
Energy Independence Day
Although their sustainability has been
called into question, biofuels are probably
here to stay. The recently enacted U.S. Renewable
Fuels Standard (RFS), part of the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007, calls
for the production of 36 billion gallons of
biodiesel, ethanol and other biofuels annually
by 2022 — about 25 percent of the total
energy fuels consumed in the U.S. today.
Currently, biodiesel accounts for less
then 1 percent of U.S. diesel consumption,
and 2 to 3 percent of diesel consumption in
Europe. There are now over 500 retail outlets
that sell biodiesel to truckers and consumers,
and that number is growing, but limited
geographic availability still requires that
trucking companies have a game plan for refueling.
After all, it doesn’t make much sense
to make a high-profile commitment to biodiesel
blends if you’re going to be burning
part of it up in a fruitless search for a refill.
John Limatola, operational supervisor
at Janco Ltd., Wayne, N.J., says “about 95 percent”
of Janco’s 80 tour trucks are biodiesel
ready. But the lack of readily available biodiesel
on the road, coupled with concerns
about biodiesel that has degraded due to
exposure to air and moisture, has prompted
Janco to arrange for tanker trucks with
biodiesel to drive 20 to 100 miles or more
to supply its tour vehicles at each venue.
Blending In
Another biodiesel issue facing trucking
companies is the question of whether outlets
selling alternative fuels on the road will have
sufficient quantities available when the tour
bus and trucks stop by. Upstaging Inc., based
in Sycamore, Ill., has been learning through
experience where biodiesel is available, and
in what quantity, according to Upstaging account
manager Chanon DiCarlo.
Different artists are also voicing preferences
for specific biodiesel blends, DiCarlo
says. Some, for example, don’t want to fuel
up on biodiesel made with palm oil, because
of its possible link with deforestation
in Southeast Asia. Another complication is
the need for fuel additives to keep biodiesel
from gelling in colder climates, although
DiCarlo notes that additives are often necessary
in freezing climates for regular diesel
as well.
Most of Janco’s biodiesel-fueled tours
fill the trucks and tour bus with B10 or B20
blends, according to Limatola, referring to
biodiesel mixtures of 10 to 20 percent of
renewable oil and 90 to 80 percent petroleum-based
diesel. For an upcoming Jack
Johnson tour, however, the artist has requested
that Janco use B99, a blend that is
almost entirely renewable fuel.
While some may fear that using blends
higher than B20 might void engine warranties,
others point out that biodiesel fuel suppliers
are responsible for ensuring that the
products they sell are free of contamination,
and they may be liable if it is not. Generally,
biodiesel that is free of contamination does
not harm engines.
Handle With Care
Due to their lower content of sulfur, a
“biocide” that contributes to acid rain, biodiesel
blends do have a shelf life. To extend that
shelf life, operators need to limit biodiesel’s
exposure to air and moisture. It definitely requires
more thought and care than traditional
diesel fuel blends, Limatola says.
So far, the most significant maintenance
concern Janco’s had with biodiesel is its solvent-like
properties. “It cleans out an engine’s
gook, grime and rust,” Limatola says. This
means that fuel filters can get clogged more
readily than with regular diesel fuel. Tour drivers
keep extra filters and other parts on hand,
and Janco makes sure newer trucks get used
for tours where biodiesel is the fuel of choice
to keep the filtered gunk to a minimum.
The Price of Green
Another consideration is the cost of the
biodiesel blends, which tend to be priced
at a 10 to 15 percent premium to regular
diesel, Limatola says. But while some biodiesel
critics have also complained about
limited power and fuel mileage, Limatola
is not one of them.
“There are no issues there,” he says, noting
that biodiesel burns hotter than regular
diesel, which also helps trucks belch fewer
particulates in the air. “It’s a more complete
burn. Every drop. If anything, there is a slight
increase in power.” He’s more concerned
about possible issues down the road with
gaskets and seals resulting from the hotter
burn, although few of those problems have
emerged so far.
“It’s the law of unintended consequences.”
— Sean O’Rourke, Roadshow Services

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FEATURE
“It’s a more complete burn —
every drop. If anything, there is a
slight increase in power.”
— John Limatola, Janco Ltd.
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
If government mandates will play a big
role in biodiesel’s growth, touring musicians
were instrumental in creating the groundswell
of interest that made those mandates
politically feasible, creating demand for a
fuel choice with hardly any advertising at
all, Limatola notes.
No Stems, Just Seeds
One of the earliest and most prominent
proponents of biodiesel was Willie Nelson,
who owns a stake in the company that supplies
truck stops in seven southern states
with a seed-derived blend of biodiesel
branded as “BioWillie.” Nelson has touted
biofuels primarily for their ability to free
the U.S. of its reliance on foreign oil — and
America’s need to get involved in foreign
wars to protect those supply lines.
Adam Gardner, guitarist and vocalist for
Guster, a grassroots folk band, is another
ardent supporter. He and his wife founded
Reverb (www.reverbrock.org), which has
used biofuels as part of an effort to “green”
tours for artists including Alanis Morissette,
Avril Lavigne, the Beastie Boys, Bonnie
Raitt, the Dave Matthews Band, Fall Out
Boy, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson,
Linkin Park, Norah Jones, Panic At the Disco,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sheryl Crow and The
Fray, among others.
If biofuels succeed at addressing one
environmental problem only to create new
ones, they’re not that different than recycling.
The solvents used for the de-inking
process for recycled newspaper, for example,
produces a carcinogenic sludge. The
toxic sludge requires less space in a landfill
than the paper itself, but creates a new
waste disposal dilemma. Newspaper recycling
is also powered by coal or petroleum,
whereas virgin paper production is often
powered by steam produced by burning
wood bark.
Upstaging Inc. has equipped APUs in all its trucks to generate heat and air conditioning without idling
truck engines.
Think Green
Likewise, as food crops are turned into
fuel, and as food commodities in general
double or triple in price, there are new pressures
to turn biodiverse wildlands into pastures
and farmland. Farms are better for the
environment than parking lots, but they
can still threaten biodiversity, create runoff
problems and usually aren’t as carbon-rich
as the wildlands they displace.
Biofuels from soy and corn made a lot
more sense in an era of grain surpluses than
they do right now. But the general concept
of using the sun’s power to grow energy will
always hold promise, especially if it can be
executed in a way that minimizes the negative
side effects.
One of the positive effects of any “green”
effort is that it gets people thinking of other
ways to conserve resources. Biodiesel, for
example, isn’t the only way that Upstaging
is hoping to reduce its appetite for fossil fuels.
The company has also invested in Auxiliary
Power Units (APUs) for all its vehicles,
according to DiCarlo.
These APUs provide heat and air conditioning
without requiring that the truck
engine idle for hours on end, reducing
emissions during idling time — and maybe
even saving enough fuel, over time, to
offset the carbon deficit created by a killer
light show.
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30
PLSN MAY 2008

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VITAL STATS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Brian Friborg, Martin Professional
By Kevin Mitchell
BUSINESS
Who: Brian Friborg, President, Martin Professional,
Inc. (U.S. division)
What: Manufactures automated lighting, effects
lighting, LEDs, fog machines and controllers
which are used in all aspects of the entertainment
industry. Martin also has a line of
architectural luminaires for architectural lighting
applications.
pletely silent because it works without fans.
Because it has no fans, it doesn’t collect dust or
other pollutants and offers a lower power bill.
“Our LED products are also pretty cool.
We’ve got Stagebar 54 and just released the Exterior
200 LED, an architectural product.”
PERSONAL
Home front: Wife Charlotte, kids Mathias,
Rebekka and Nikolai.
If I could go back in time and tell my younger
self one thing, it would be: “Trust your gut
feelings.”
People might be surprised to know: “That I
ride a motorcycle on the weekends and that I
have a pretty good sense of humor.”
If and when I go on vacation, you’ll find me
… “relaxing at home, by the pool with friends
and family.”
Where: Aarhus, Denmark. U.S. headquarters is
located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Subsidiaries are
in Germany, England, France, Italy and Singapore.
“Partners span the globe, from Algeria to
Yemen.”
My first job: Delivering newspapers as a young
boy in Denmark.
Least cool thing about this job: “Out-ofservice
coffee machine.”
In the kitchen I make a great … “caperers and
tiramisu.”
Yam what I yam: “If I was a cartoon character,
I’d be Popeye.”
Brian Friborg, President, Martin Professional U.S.
“Trust your gut feelings.”
We won’t tell: “My biggest guilty pleasure is
Danish candy (and sneaking it when my wife
and kids aren’t looking).”
When: Martin Professional (DK) was founded in
1986. Martin US opened up in 1996.
The perks: “I knew I wanted to be in this business
when they told me I’d get free admission
to a bunch of venues!”
Career low point: “I really don’t focus on these.
‘Low points’ are learning opportunities. We
should be grateful for them.”
Most cool thing about this job: “Traveling,
meeting some of the most amazing and dedicated
people in the industry and seeing firsthand
the results of both of our visions (and
when the coffee machine is working).”
What recording artist I’m listening to right
now: Matchbox Twenty’s Exile on Mainstreet
Last good movie I’ve seen:
Bourne Ultimatum.
Words to live by: “Always look on the bright
side of life.” — Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Career high point: “I could never narrow these
peaks down to one. In addition to our team
making strides everyday, the strong relationships
that we have formed throughout the
years, the ones we’ve created today, and the
ones we look forward to generating, contribute
to the high points I experience in my career.”
The ride: A BMW 550.
My greatest fear is… “running out of gas on
the I-75!”
Martin’s LC Series panels added flash to a recent Nordstrom’s
fashion show.
Brian Friborg with Martin’s LC Series panels.
Current tours/big events/big clients include:
“Too many to list — but they are all terrific!”
Coolest “toy” lately: “We’ve got two especially
cool products out there. One is the LC Series, a
semi-transparent, modular system of LED panels.
A lighting designer or programmer can create
the most dynamic set designs with them.
“The other really cool product just released
is the SmartMAC. It’s an extremely bright profile
light, but it’s also an image projector. It’s the
brightest luminaire in its class; it’s also com-
Martin Panels at the Fox Sports Awards Show in Miami
Matchbox Twenty performs with Martin’s semi-transparent LED panels.
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32
PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
BUYERS GUIDE
Transistorized Dimming By
RichardCadena
As the entertainment industry’s love
affair with automated lighting has
cooled a bit over the years, its interest
in conventional lighting is as strong as ever.
Sales of dimmers are at an all-time high and
there’s no indication that they won’t continue
to grow. There’s little mystery about it. Conventional
luminaires offer warm light, good
color rendering and very smooth dimming
at a reasonable cost. They’re easy to understand,
easy to maintain and easy to program
and operate. But the news isn’t all good.
Familiar, but Wasteful
BG
forms no work. This is typically dealt with by
using K-rated feeder transformers, but it’s an
inefficient solution. K-rated transformers are
designed to handle the extra heat generated
by harmonic currents, but they contribute to
the inefficiency of the system under low-load
or no-load conditions, which, in a dimmer system,
is most of the time.
The Transistorized Edge
BG
On the other hand, only transistorized
sine wave dimming draws current in a sinusoidal
waveform, and therefore does not generate
harmonic currents. Therefore, K-rated
transformers are not required in a dimming
system using only sine wave dimmers. But for
those of us who don’t have the budget for an
all-sine wave dimming system (they have a
significant price premium over other technologies),
or don’t require absolute quiet in lamp
filaments (the primary feature of sine wave
dimmers) there is another green option.
Harmonic mitigating transformers (HMTs)
are designed in such a way that third-order
harmonics – the most troublesome of harmonics
– do not re-circulate in the primary
of the delta-wye transformer feeding the system.
Therefore, they avoid generating waste
heat and are also much more efficient with
low loads or no load.
HMTs and transistorized dimmers are relatively
new technologies , but they could be
the technology of the future. To learn more
about transistorized dimming, check out our
Buyer’s Guide and talk to the manufacturers
about what they have to offer.
Thanks to Steve Terry for providing the information
about HMTs.
With the heightened awareness of sustainable
living, the rising cost of depletable
resources like oil and coal, the falling cost and
increasing output of LEDs and the development
of alternative technologies like shortarc
discharge lamps, compact fluorescent
lamps, T5 and T8 fluorescents, conventional
lighting is being closely scrutinized in every
application. And there’s good reason for it.
Incandescent lamps are among the most in-
Tr a n s i s t o r i z e d
sine wave dimming
draws current in
a sinusoidal waveform,
and therefore
does not generate
harmonic currents.
efficient sources around. They convert about
3.5% of the energy they consume into visible
light, and at 20 to 30 lumens per watt for an
HPL, they lag far behind more efficient lamps
like CFLs (about 60 lumens per watt) and
MSRs (about 80 to 90 lumens per watt). But
in many ways, it’s hard to beat the good old
incandescent lamp. It’s familiar, it’s not overly
complicated and it’s easily accessible the
world over. And that’s why sales of conventional
lighting and dimming are as strong as
they’ve ever been.
There are more efficient incandescent alternatives
on the horizon. Last year, General
Electric announced that they are working on
a High Efficiency Incandescent (HEI) that will
eventually reach about 60 lumens per watt.
And David Cunningham, the inventor of the
Source Four, is working on an incandescent
lamp with an infrared-reflecting coating that
will improve the efficiency substantially.
More Efficient Dimming
BG
But both of these new incandescent technologies
have yet to make an appearance in
prototype form as far as we know, leading one
to wonder when and if they will ever be a reality.
Until then, there are some steps that can be
taken to maximize the efficiency of dimming
systems. Transistorized dimming, including
both forward and reverse phase- control IGBT
(insulated gate bipolar transistor) dimmers
and sine wave dimmers, offer marginal improvements
in efficiency since they don’t use
conventional filter chokes. But just like conventional
SCR dimmers, even transistorized
forward and reverse phase-control IGBT dimmers
still produce harmonics, resulting in consumption
of wasted “reactive” power that per-
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2008 MAY PLSN 33

BUYERS GUIDE
Transistorized
Dimming
ETC Matrix MK II Dimming System
Strand Sine Wave Dimmer Module
Strand Dual Dimmers
Manufacturer
Web Address
Model
Number of
Channels
Channel Capacity
Over-current Protection
Total
Harmonic
Distortion
Harmonic
Current on
Neutral
Full Load
Efficiency
ETC Sensor®+ SineWave
Dimmer Racks
and Modules
up to 48 dimmers
in a rack
2x20A modules @ 120V
single-pole 20A magnetic circuit
breaker per dimmer; digital
over-current protection in each
dimmer
96.50%
ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.)
www.etcconnect.com
ETC iSine Bars
1, 2, 3, 4, or 6
depending on
capacity
2.5kW, 5kW, 12kW,
24kW@230V
< 1% < 1%
ETC Matrix II Dimmer
Racks and Modules
up to 162 x 3kW
or 54 x 5kW dimmers
per rack
4x3kW, 2x5kW or
1x12kW modules@ 230V
digital over-current protection;
RCD/RCBO breakers available
97%
Strand Lighting
www.strandlighting.com
C21 Sinewave Dimmer 2 15A or 20A
EC21 Sinewave Dimmer
2 3kW or 5kW
Two single pole fully magnetic
breakers
SP, SPN or RCD thermal magnetic
breakers

ETC Matrix MkII iSine 4x3kW Dimmer Module
Swisson XSD Sine Wave Dimmer
Swisson XSD-148 Sine Wave Dimmer Rack
Compliance Features Retail Price Comments
UL, cUL
rack and module installation; voltage, current and temperature
sensors in each dimmer; LED indicators for control
signal, power, over-current/short circuit; feedback via rack
control electronics module; 100,000A short circuit current
rating;
Digital Over-Current Protection in each dimmer includes current sensing with tolerance for incandescent/tungsten
loads, as well as a predictive algorithm which detects overcurrent at low levels
and shuts down the circuit often before the breaker trips. Configuration option of 16-bit DMX512
control for smooth fades of neon.
versatile installation; compact, self-contained unit; convection
cooled; variety of dimmer and output configurations
available; DMX512; Ethernet or local control capabilities;
DimStat reporting
POA
CE
swing-frame and rear access install rack options for ease of
installation and maintenance; plug-in, hot-swap dimmer
modules; mix-and-match module types as needed; Ethernet,
DMX512 and local control; DimStat reporting software
w/ dynamic load sensing and curve-correction options
ETL
CE
high density dimmer module; fully status reporting w/
short circuit protection; all modules are interchangeable w/
modules of similar capacity.
high density dimmer module; fully status reporting w/
short circuit protection; all modules are interchangeable w/
modules of similar capacity.
POA
Use with C21 dimmer racks with up to 48 modules - 96 dimmers
Use with EC21 dimmer racks with up to 48 modules - 96 dimmers
CE (UL
pending)
sine wave dimming; modular; configurable power modules;
power management; individual eletrical installations;
multiple control interfaces; additional DIN track modules;
intelligent cooling system; touchscreen interface.
POA
5-year warranty
3-unit 19” rack; voltage, current and temperature sensors
for ea. channel; LED indicator for level, load detection and
over-current/short circuit; fast access to ea. channel w/ potentiometer;
over voltage-proof; fast flash function; power
management control
$5,995.00 USD
UL, cUL
P.O.A.
IGBT microprocessor controlled dimmer circuit makes automatic adjustments to voltage and the
flow of current in response to fluctuations in the load/electrical service. Intelligent dimming protects
property and life as it suppresses surges, protects again
UL, cUL, CE $325 or $400
Mount wherever needed. It attaches to existing light fixtures or structures or to the wall. Requires
no dimmer racks or electrical installation. Solid-state, chokeless dimmers for silent
and efficient operation.
n/a
P.O.A.
$2,830 or
$2,150
Performance and energy-efficient advantages of IGBT dimmer technology in an economical, lightweight,
low-profile, high-density rack. 24 or 48-module racks can be used as a stand-alone solution
or incorporated with other Entertainment Technology dimmer pro
IGBT-based dimmer strips are lightweight, compact strips containing six 1.2kW or three 2.4kW IGBT
dimmers that can be mounted anywhere within a performance space. The dimmer strips can be
incorporated with other Entertainment Technology dimmer products su
UL, cUL
$2,830 or
$2,575
IGBT-based dimmer boxes can be considered a replacement for a conventional drop box or used as
portable wall mount or deck circuit boxes. Installers can place a dimmer box where needed or hang
it from pipe or truss. Lightweight, compact dimmer boxes conta
$3,925
Lightweight, low-profile dimmer panels contain no fans or inductors and are virtually silent. The
dimmer panels can be used as a stand-alone solution or incorporated as dimming for architectural
loads within a complete Entertainment Technology system usin
2008 MAY PLSN 35

INTERVIEW
Michael Brosilow
Brian
Sidney
ryan roBinson
Bembridge
Brian Sidney Bembridge, scenic and lighting designer
Michael Brosilow
Bembridge’s moon takes a starring role in La Luna Muda at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company.
By RobLudwig
At the age of 23, Brian Sidney Bembridge
moved to Chicago, the home
of more than 200 small theatre companies,
to try to make a name for himself as
a lighting and scenic designer. After working
on various small projects, he finally got his
break in the local theatre community after he
was invited to work on a film featuring a little
green frog and his friends. He took time out of
his busy schedule to talk to us about how his
naivety helped him make the most important
decision in his life and what he’s learned since
relocating to the Windy City.
PLSN: Obviously, you’re heavily involved in
the Chicago theatre community, but let’s
back up to the beginning of your career:
How did you get involved in the theatrical
lighting industry?
Bembridge: As a kid, I did community
theatre. I was on stage but also hung the plot,
circuited, ran spots and ran the board. So I
was always sort of involved with it, in some
capacity.
Then I toured around the world for a
year (as a performer), and when I came back
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was
working in a restaurant and I remembered this
brochure I had seen from the North Carolina
School of the Arts that I thought looked cool,
so I sent my application in. They said, “Come
down and bring your portfolio.” I didn’t have
a portfolio. [Laughs]. So I slapped some stuff
together and went down for the interview to
major in lighting design and was accepted at
the interview. Norman Coates and Scott Templin
were there at the time. It all sort of took
off from there.
How old were you when you graduated
and started working full time?
Twenty-three.
So you knew what it took to get to where
you wanted to be, and thus you moved to
Chicago, right?
I think I was naïve. I don’t think I knew
36
PLSN MAY 2008
what it took, but I loved theatre. I still love all
aspects of theatre. I love costumes and sets,
but I do mostly sets and lighting, now. I still
do a costume here or there. But I love the process
and I’ve always been involved with it. I
knew I somehow wanted to stay in theatre.
Why did you feel the need to move to
Chicago?
At the time, I moved to Chicago because
I didn’t want to go to New York and learn by
assisting. I wanted to learn on my own, by
my own mistakes, and figure out what my
process was. At the time, I was married and
my ex-wife was a dancer. We made one visit
to Chicago and really liked it, and moved, not
knowing anybody.
In your mind, did you think Chicago had
better opportunities to offer?
There was a professor who came in my
senior year, Franco Colavacchia. He taught
scenic design and used to teach at DePaul. He
left DePaul to come teach at North Carolina
School Of The Arts. He really talked about Chicago
quite a bit and said there’s a ton of theatre
there. Another friend of mine, from Ohio,
had been there a couple of times and said I
should go check it out.
I didn’t quite know the level of storefronts
that are here; there are over 100 storefront
theatres here. Everybody knows the Steppenwolf
and Goodman, the big names, but there
is so much more theatre to see.
It’s a great city for theatre, but I’m sure
there was plenty of competition. So how
did you get your break?
When I first came up here to visit the city
to see what was up here, Franco said to call
the Goodman and to get in touch with Max
Leventhal, who at the time was the production
manager, and, “tell him I sent you and
show him your work.”
When I came up he wasn’t available, so
I dropped off a resume and a few images.
When I moved up here in the summer of
The Lookingglass Theatre Co.’s production of Hephaestus, which had been a hit in Detroit. Bembridge added moving lights to the
design before it opened in Chicago.
1997, I called him and he said to come in.
He was very gracious. He said, “Your work’s
great. I really like your stuff but I could hire
any designer in the country — why should I
hire you? Go put in your time” — he gave me
some people to get in touch with — “and call
me in a few years.”
So I called a few people, but it was still
hard because a lot of the theatre companies
come from Northwestern and DePaul, where
they hire their designers because they went to
college with them and have already formed a
relationship with them.
I needed money so I started working at
Anthropologie, a store owned by Urban Outfitters,
and started doing some displays for
them. When I left that, I did some styling work
and photography. When I left that, I worked
for an interior designer for a while. And then
I went and did a movie in North Carolina —
Muppets From Space. I designed some sets for
that and when I came back people said, “You
just worked on a multi-million dollar movie,
you can do our $500 set.” And, of course, I was
only a set designer on it, I wasn’t the production
designer, but things sort of took off.
Lookingglass Theatre Company — I’m
a member of the company — really was my
first break. Another small companyI worked
for — TimeLine Theatre Company. Their artistic
director at the time, P J Powers, had
worked with me at Anthropoligie. He worked
in the stock room and had just graduated
from DePaul, and at the time, he told me he
was starting a small theatre company and
that they kind of had designers but that we
should keep in touch. Those are really two of
my home bases now, here in Chicago. David
Kersnar at Lookingglass was the first person
to actually hire me. And Laura Eason and Heidi
Stillman were supporters of my work, and
they were co-artistic directors and directed
some pieces that I did there.
So working on a movie launched your
theatre career?
It did. It always cracks me up when I look
at my first resume from when I got here.
[Laughs]. Nobody would hire me even though
I did five shows and a party or something… a
lot of people took risks hiring me.
But my career did take off after that. At
Lookingglass, at first I did sets, and then sets
and lights, and then a bunch of lights.
When you started working with lighting
were you a tech, programmer, or designer?
I didn’t do any electrician calls at the time,
but I did do some carpentry calls at the Shakespeare
Theatre, when I needed extra cash.
It’s funny — I was designing a show upstairs
with Gary Griffin, who’s now on Broadway of
course, while I was loading out a show downstairs,
right around that same time. It’s kind of
a humbling business — you do what you’ve
got to do to eat.
Now you focus on scenic and lighting
design?
Yes.
How has your design philosophy
changed? From what I understand,
you’re using more moving lights now.
I am. Hephaestus, for instance, is sort of
like a rock ‘n’ roll musical, and we’ve done
four incarnations. We did it once outside
of Detroit, without moving lights, in a big
proscenium house as a test out, to see how

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
it did with an audience who knew nothing
about us. It was a huge hit. That winter, we
did it at Lookingglass and I think that show
only had four fixtures. That was my introduction
to them. I had a great assistant,
Jesse Klug, who is still an associate of mine.
He designs lights, and I design sets, on lots
of shows when I can’t do both. He really introduced
me to moving lights.
Is that something you didn’t learn about
in college?
We really didn’t. I went to school from
1993 to 1997, so we didn’t even have a scroller.
It’s different now. I loved that Norman wanted
everyone to become a good designer with
the basics and without technology leading
your process, but I think they finally figured
out they need to keep up with technology.
land Awards and two LA Drama Critics Circle
Awards for Brothers Karamazov, several Joseph
Jefferson and After Dark Awards in Chicago,
and an LA Weekly Award. And the greatest
honor was receiving the LADCC Award with
Robert Wilson.
And you’ve also done some designs for
film, haven’t you?
That’s more set design. I’ve done a bunch
of indies; some for friends of mine and some
for people I’ve met. It’s a radically different
process.
I heard some outrageous statistic about
the number of shows you’ve done in one
year.
In my busiest season — September to
June — I did 31 designs.
The set and lighting for The Trial, staged at DePaul University, adds to the intensity of Franz Kafka’s nightmarish vision.
So you had to teach yourself on the fly?
Totally.
That’s another fine method of learning.
How often do you use them now?
If I’m doing a musical, I have to use them.
It’s impossible to do some musicals without
them.
Do you program your own console as
well?
I don’t do that much anymore. I still would
rather have someone else (a programmer) at
the board because they are much quicker.
Have you won any awards for your designs?
I recently was honored with two Gar-
That’s seems like a lot of design work in
one season. Was that because it was hard
to say no to design offers? Did you learn
anything from it?
There are few small companies I still work
with because they are my friends and my history
with them, but my goal now is really trying
to stick to fewer, larger shows. That’s my
goal in life.
Are you still interested in other projects
— outside of theatre and film — that you
might pursue even though you’re trying
to be more selective?
I look at every opportunity. That’s why
I love this business — there’s always something
new.
The set for Love Song, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago
Michael Brosilow
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2008 MAY PLSN 37

WIDE ANGLE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
matchbox twenty
EXILE IN AMERICA TOUR
Photos & Text by SteveJennings
In 2000, Benoit Richard was working on the Matchbox Twenty Mad Season tour with lighting designer Marc Brickman. When Rob Thomas
struck out on his own in 2005, he brought Richard along as the lighting designer. From his experiences with the band and its front man, Richard
has compiled quite a knowledgebase about the band’s likes and dislikes. “For this tour,” he said, “our goal was to top what we had done in
the past. When I showed my concept to the band, they were very excited. One band member (Paul Doucette) actually participates in the creation
of the show cues with me and we worked well together this time around.
Visual Designer and Lighting Director Benoit Richard
how did they do that?
“I was very pleased to put the (High End Systems) Showgun on this tour. The fixture was
a perfect fit for the look we were going for. The (Martin) MAC 700 Profile also impressed me a
lot. It certainly has a lot of output for such a small fixture. The Martin LC panels are awesome,”
Richard added. “I figured they would look even more amazing if we were able to move them
up, down, sideways and also track them to the front of the stage and all the way to the back. I
have to say the whole motion control side of the project was as smooth as we could ever imagine,
right from the start. We had to drop the side-to-side motion but we still ended up with a
special concept that made the fans wonder, ‘How did they do that?’”
a virtual virtuoso
According to Richard, “I’m a proud user of the (Flying Pig Systems) Wholehog III console.
This time I also decided to use the Hippotizer V3 media servers. The key to the whole puzzle
was to build the system in virtual reality and pre-program most of the show prior to our rehearsals
in Florida. I was able to use my ESP Vision system to pre-visualize the whole show
including all the lighting fixtures and the video content as well as the different positions of our
Martin LC Panels. I spent about one month in the virtual world and only four nights with the
real equipment before the first show!” Dimmer tech Blake Rogers seconded the notion that it
pays to be prepared. “As far as the dimmers and the motion control, from the get-go, proper
prep was the key to powering this monster moving mother grid. We’ve had no problems. The
Showguns held up well. It’s nice to see that High End is back in the game. And the Martin LED
panels are awesome. The run was great!”
“awesome“ vendor support
“We had a great crew, awesome production
and great support from vendors,” Blake
Rogers said. “Show Distribution was great,
and we really have to thank Kevin Forster
from Ed & Ted’s. We seem to test him a lot. He
usually gets the plot and looks at us with a
funny look and says, ‘You want to do what?’
No matter how off-the-scale we go he always
gets us what we want.” Richard agreed, noting
that “Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting has been
the touring vendor for Matchbox Twenty and
Rob Thomas since 2003. As a matter of fact,
Kevin Forster was involved with the band
even before I came on board in 2000. They’re
a great company with a bunch of wonderful
hard working guys!”
“wild“ but worth it
“Ben and I go back a few
years,” said dimmer tech Blake
Rogers. “We have done just about
every type of gig in all four corners
of the earth. It’s great working
with Ben again. We tolerate
each other well. I pretty much
know what to expect when he
pulls me into a gig — it’s going
to be something a little wild,
but look great. I’m really proud
of what we achieved out there.
I feel I’ve witnessed Ben grow
from the tiny things we’ve done
to these awesome productions.
It’s been a fun ride.
38 PLSN MAY 2008

giving the crew their due
“I had a great lighting crew on the North American leg of the tour,” Benoit Richard said. “Wayne Boehning (crew chief), Blake Rogers (dimmers), Jeremy Knight (moving light tech) and Greg Wood
(lighting tech). Blake and I go way back to our High End Systems days in the 1990s and I always try to drag him out on every tour I do. (They will be on the upcoming George Michael Tour — ed.) For
motion control and rigging, I was very lucky to get Tom Cusimano back. Tom and I worked together on the previous Matchbox Twenty tours and also with Dream Theater. In the video department,”
Richard added, “I had a chance to have three great crew members; Kevin ‘French Fry’ Stoeckle, Luis Castillo and Rudy ‘Tig’ Pena — he deserves a medal for switching from sound to video without
missing a beat!”
CREW
(North American Leg)
Lighting Company: Ed & Ted’s Excellent
Lighting (Kevin Forster, rep)
Visual Designer/Lighting Director:
Benoit Richard
Crew Chief: Wayne Boehning
Dimmers: Blake Rogers
Moving Light Tech: Jeremy Knight
Lighting Tech: Greg Wood
Motion Control/Rigging: Tom Cusimano
2nd Rigger/LD for Alanis Morissette:
Chris Maeder
Video Company: Creative Technologies
North America (Stephen Gray, Eric Wade
— reps)
Video Crew: Kevin “French Fry” Stoeckle,
Luis Castillo, Rudy “Tig” Pena
Set Company: B&R (Brian Sullivan, rep)
Set Carpenter/Soft Goods: Dave Russ
Soft Goods: Sew What? (Gerilyn Gregory,
rep)
Rigging & Motion Control: Show Distribution
(Jacques Tanguay, rep)
Production Manager: Mark Hogue
Tour Manager: Dave Licursi
Stage Manager: Donny Floyd
GEAR
Lighting Console: Flying Pig Systems
Wholehog III w/ Playback Wing (2)
4 ChainMaster Vario Trolleys
8 ChainMaster VarioLift Hoists (½-ton)
12 High End Systems Showgun
2 Hippotizer V3 Stage Media Servers
1 Lighthouse 10mm LED wall
(18 foot by 36 foot)
1 Luminys Softsun 3.5kw PARs
5 Lycian 1.2kW Truss Spots
4 Martin LC Panels 1140
36 Martin LC Panels 2140
28 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
12 Martin MAC 3K Atomic Strobes
w/ Color Changers
22 Martin MAC 700 Profiles
34 Martin Stagebar 54 LED fixtures
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
2008 MAY PLSN 39

ROAD TEST
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
VectorWorks
Spotlight 2008
By PhilGilbert
For many production and design professionals,
the VectorWorks suite of
computer aided drafting software has
become an industry standard platform. A
highly mature group of products, the VectorWorks
family includes products that cater
to architects, engineers, landscape artists
and lighting designers.
In the newest major release of the software,
Nemetschek North America — the
company behind VectorWorks – has sought
to address a huge amount of user-requested
features while also adding features that
make it easier than ever to switch from another
platform.
New Features and Updates
RT
While it would be impossible to list every
new feature here, there are some major improvements
that should not be overlooked.
VectorWorks Fundamentals — the core CAD
component of all VectorWorks products –
has seen some much-needed updates to its
overall look and the way it gives feedback to
the user.
The software now includes a Rotate Plan
command that allows you to easily draw in
any orientation. This could translate to big
time savings since you don’t have to continually
switch orientations to complete a
drawing. A new heads-up display provides
dimensioning information wherever your
cursor is – allowing more precise drawing on
the fly — while a new view bar consolidates
much of the information into one location.
Updates to the Viewport abilities include
Layer Overrides and Black and White
Only settings. Viewport Layer Overrides allow
you to modify Viewport display properties
and attributes without affecting the
base drawing, giving the user a greater
amount of flexibility to quickly create a variety
of drawings. Advanced options also give
increased control over printing Viewports in
black and white.
Working with non-native and referenced
files has become much easier in VectorWorks’
2008 products. Updated import
and export tools support the newest versions
of AutoCAD and SketchUp files and a
strong focus has been placed on easier management
of referenced files and imported
AutoCAD layers. Since many architects work
exclusively in AutoCAD, this feature will be
handy for those of us who often rely on architects
to supply building drawings as the
basis for the lighting design.
Spotlight Updates
RT
For VectorWorks Spotlight users, the new
version incorporates major improvements
that should not be overlooked, including an
updated symbol library. We can never have
too many symbols, and library updates are
always welcome. For those who make use of
Spotlight as both a drawing and paperwork
manager, the new two-way Spotlight worksheets
will also be a welcome update. All
Spotlight worksheets are now completely
dynamic, with changes on a worksheet instantly
reflected in your drawings and viceversa.
Dynamically linking worksheets and
the drawings is a huge timesaver.
Users who make extensive use of the
visualization and beam functions of the
software will be pleased to see increased
control over the light source and light distribution
file as well as more accurate beam
geometry. It’s also worth mentioning that
shutter cuts are now possible in both wireframe
and rendered modes. Improvements
to non-rotating and scaled label legends
make it even easier to display your drawings
in multiple orientations and scales.
Other Improvements
RT
Nemetschek whas released two service
packs (free to owners of VectorWorks 2008
products) since the arrival of the software,
both of which improve speed and stability
of the product. And in the production environment,
it’s all about speed and accuracy.
The new improvements in VectorWorks
Spotlight are a great step in that direction.
The various new commands, Viewport capabilities,
ability to work with non-native and
referenced files, visualization and beam functions
and updated symbol libraries add up to
an extremely useful VectorWorks Spotlight
update that is more than skin deep.
Phil Gilbert is a lighting designer and
programmer. You can reach him at
pgilbert@plsn.com.
VectorWorks Fundamentals — the core CAD
component of all VectorWorks products —
has seen some much-needed updates.
Increased control over the light source and beam geometry will assist those making use of the software’s visualization capabilities.
This VectorWorks screenshot was created by Peter Neufeld for a Rotary International event.
Spotlight 2008 has updated its import and export tools. This screenshot is courtesy of Irrlicht GmbH.
40 PLSN MAY 2008

A Wide-Eyed Debut for HES DL.3s
Litepanels Announces New
Broadcast Lighting Division
Eight DL.3s set the stage for the ASCRS 2008 Symposium and Congress.
CHICAGO — A group of eye doctors opened
wide to take in the visuals at one of the first corporate
events to use High End Systems’ DL.3s. Attendees
of The American Society of Cataract and
Refractive Surgery’s 2008 Symposium & Congress
were treated to an array of hues and graphics.
Dale Sahlin, production supplier and lighting
designer at Las Vegas-based Fusion Design Live
specified eight DL.3 digital light fixtures and two
Road Hog Full Boar consoles for the event’s producer,
Audio Visual Management Group (AVMG) of
Dallas. Intelligent Lighting Creations of Arlington
Heights, Ill., supplied the equipment.
“We were fortunate to use DL.2s with AVMG
over the last year on numerous shows and they
WARSAW, IN — The Da-Lite Screen Company,
a manufacturer of projection screen and audiovisual
products, has been awarded the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2004
certification for an environmental management
system (EMS) at its headquarters facility.
An ISO 14001:2004-based EMS can be used
to set a company’s environmental goals and to
measure progress. “By achieving ISO 14001:2004
EMS certification, we have reached an industry
first among producers of projection screens for
trust the High End digital lighting products that
we provide,” Sahlin said. “When we talked about
this show, they were excited to be the first to use
the DL.3s.”
DL.3 is a digital lighting fixture equipped with
a 6500 lumen, three-chip LCD projector and an onboard
media server. New features include an SDI
input/out for AV applications, optional lens accessories
for longer throw and a high 2000:1 contrast
ratio resulting in a dark “video black.”
Four DL.3s on the downstage truss lit the ceiling,
walls and 20-foot round columns on stage. The
other four DL.3s were set up backstage on scaffolding
towers to project onto two 17-by-40-foot
wide screen surfaces.
continued on page 44
Projection Screen Company Gets ISO 14001 Certification
the AV market,” said Richard Lundin, Da-Lite
president and CEO.
“ISO 14001:2004 requires a strong commitment
to compliance with applicable environmental
legislation and regulations and a commitment
to continual improvement,” said Tim Henson, executive
vice president of manufacturing.
Da-Lite is also involved in other eco-friendly
initiatives, including Greenguard certification and
the United Stated Green Building Council (USGBC)
Leed accreditation program.
Litepanels says it can put on-air talent in a “softer, more flattering” light.
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Litepanels announces the
launch of its new Broadcast Lighting Division. The company incorporates
its proprietary LED technology into HD-compatible
broadcast lighting fixtures that require a fraction of the electrical
energy used by conventional lighting equipment.
“The needs of television are very different from the motion
picture industry, where we cut our teeth,” says Ken Fisher,
Litepanels’ co-founder. “The new division allows us to concentrate
on the unique needs of broadcasters.”
Litepanels is no stranger to the requirements of broadcasters.
ENG crews began using the on-camera Litepanels Mini because
of its inherent soft-projected output, low battery-drain,
and ability to be dimmed without affecting color balance.
Litepanels is also lighting newsroom studios and other venues,
including the White House Briefing Room. In addition, the portable
Litepanels can be used to illuminate live news remotes,
and draw less power than tungsten-lamp fixtures.
42
46
Inside
Reggae Truss Panels
UB40’s crew lights up 80 square meters of
LED panels on moving truss.
Video Digerati
LED tubes, tiles, strips, transparent displays,
backdrops and 3D arrays.
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

NEWS
LONDON — Along with “Red, Red Wine,” classic
Reggae band UB40’s recent U.K. arena tour
served up a brimming dose of visual impact with
LD Dan Hardiman’s use of more than 80 square
meters of Chroma-Q Color Web 125 LED panels
on moving truss.
Hardiman and his company, THC Design,
have designed the show elements for the last
four of UB40’s international tours. The most recent
tour, to promote UB40’s EP Dub Sessions
and the release of their 27th album, 24/7, made
scenic use of video truss border, with a twist.
The Color Web panels were attached to a
series of five moving trusses ranging from approximately
3.5 meters to 15 meters in length, an
18-meter-wide front truss and a 15-meter-wide
handrail running across the back of the raised
stage area. These video elements could then be
positioned in a variety of configurations to form
parts of a bigger overall screen or to disappear
completely.
For the first part of the show, the trusses
were trimmed virtually flat, and only the truss
Color Web was used, with video patterns mirroring
the cyc work of the lighting. For the second
part, the entire rig was then evenly raked from
the handrail to the front truss to form one large
LED video screen using all the Color Web. Finally,
to highlight “Red, Red Wine” and other hits, just
the five raked trusses were additionally raked in
the x-plane for only one song at a time, to provide
a twisted look.
The Color Web was mainly used for video
textures, with Hardiman choosing content during
rehearsals, when he could preview what
worked best due to the nature of the different
screen configurations. Content was chosen from
a mixture of THC Design’s own stock footage and
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
UB40 Tour Features Video Truss Border, with a Twist
The LED images on movable truss could change position or disappear entirely.
media used to provide video elements on previous
UB40 tours.
Visuals included a great billowing U.S. flag
used during a song about political prisoners, the
red, gold and green colors of the Reggae flag,
a modified still image from the artwork of one
of the band’s biggest singles, a starfield and a
filmed mirror ball. All content was provided via a
PRG M-Box Extreme media server.
Hardiman chose the Chroma-Q Color Web
125 LED display system for its modular and
lightweight design, and UB40 approved the design
after seeing the results of his rendered flythroughs
showing the panels mapped pixel for
pixel. XL Video supplied the web.
“I originally planned far more looks for the
show, but the rig looked so great with the Color
Web all as one big raked screen that we lowered
the front truss trim to maximize this and used
this look for the majority of the show,” Hardiman
said. “I’m very happy with the product’s performance,
and I’m looking forward to using it again,
as this application has given me lots of ideas for
the future.”
The full video/lighting rig consisted of 82
Chroma-Q Color Web 125 125mm pixel pitch
LED panels, 30 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots, eight
Vari*Lite VL3500 Washes, 25 Martin Mac-2000
washes, 10 8-Light Molefays and four Lycian M2
truss spots.
Artistic Licence is the designer and manufacturer
of Color Web, which is exclusively distributed
by A.C. Lighting. Chroma-Q Color Web
is licensed by Artistic Licence, Color Kinetics and
Nexxus Lighting.
Video Helps Westlife Tune In to Fresh Look
The video programming integrated with the lighting and effects on the tour.
DUBLIN — Most
boy bands burst on the
scene and then fade
almost as quickly. But
Westlife, first signed on
by Simon Cowell almost
10 years ago, managed
to survive by evolving
from pop songs to an
adult contemporary
sound. The lighting for
the group’s latest Back
Home tour has evolved
as well.
“Westlife has toured
prolifically for the last
10 years, and it is always a good challenge
keeping the look of the show fresh
and varied from one year to the next,” said
Phil Mercer, project manager for XL Video,
which supplied video equipment and
crew.
XL’s equipment and crew supported
the visions of William Baker, the tour’s
show designer and director, and LD Baz
Halpin. The tour was produced by Production
North and production-managed by
Karen Ringland.
Westlife’s live shows have always had a
strong video element, and the Back Home
tour was no exception. Seven Stealth Mk2
LED screens brought texture, depth, movement
and color to every area of the stage.
Custom video playback ran throughout
the show, commissioned by Baker and produced
by Blink TV.
A curved section of Stealth measuring
27 modules wide by eight modules high
flew in and out from its downstage position.
It was crafted to blend with Halpin’s lighting
design at the top of the show to gradually
reveal members of the band standing behind
the screen.
Upstage, near the back of the W-shaped
stage set, there were two Stealth surfaces
measuring 13 modules high by seven modules
wide. These were set at a 45° angle to
form a large “V.” To each side of these were
a total of four landscape Stealth panels, all
measuring nine by seven modules in 3:2
aspect ratio. These panels flew in and out
throughout the performance.
The Stealth was used almost exclusively
for showing VT playback material. IMAG appeared
on the central curved screen just
once, during the unplugged section of the
show. This was in black and white, in contrast
with the rich coloration throughout the
rest of the performance, and for the black
and white IMAG segment, the screen was
divided into four sections, each showing a
tight head shot of the four performers.
Billy Robinson directed the live camera
mix. XL supplied four Sony D50 cameras,
which were positioned at FOH, in the pit
on track and dolly and with the two others
off in the wings of the audience. Robinson
cut the mix using a GV Kayak switcher. It
was beamed up onto two side 14-by-10-
foot screens, each fed by
a Barco SLM12 projector
from XL.
All the playback footage
was stored on two
Doremi hard drives and
triggered by MIDI timecode
from the backline,
controlled via Barco
Events Manager software.
This was programmed
and formatted for all the
screens by Richard Turner
during production rehearsals
at Lite Structures
in Wakefield.
XL supplied seven crew members for
the tour, under the direction of crew chief
Stuart Heaney. They included Graham
Hollwil, systems engineer, Andy Tonks
and Patrick Vansteelant, Stealth techs
and Luke Levitt, Thomas Levitt and Mark
Cruickshank, camera operators.
Blink TV’s Marcus Viner, Tom Colbourne
and Helen Stringer created playback footage.
They worked on the project at Blink’s
studios for about two months, including
a two-day video shoot with the band at
Centre Stage Studios in Islington, London.
Cinematographer Angus Hudson wove
material produced during that shoot for
the “beauty” shots for “Swear It Again” and
other songs.
Blink TV also filmed a dancer and a
pole dancer. The dancer was shot with a
series of brass instruments. That footage
was then composited and layered to create
the multi-colored pop art style brass
band for “Easy Way.” The pole dancer was
treated with chrome and gold effects and
appeared in James Bond fashion in “If I Let
You Go.”
Four-Sided
LED Screens
Stoke NCAA
Fever
DETROIT — Earlier this spring,
57,563 sports fans packed Ford
Field, home of the Detroit Lions,
to watch a game of…basketball.
The player’s weren’t dribbling on
AstroTurf or scoring 3-point field
goals over goal posts. And yes,
tackling was still frowned-upon.
This was, after all, the 2008 NCAA
Mid-West Regional Championships,
with mobs of spectators filling
the stadium that dwarfed the
regulation-sized basketball court.
Thanks to a four-sided Daktronics
ProTour LED screen, even fans in
the most distant seats could easily
follow the action.
Ford Field contracted with
Daktronics’ leading rental partner,
Impact Video, to provide four Pro-
Tour video screens, each measuring
approximately 12 feet tall by
16 feet wide in a 13mm resolution.
The screens were installed
as a four-sided, center hung
video board as Ford Field was
transformed into the world’s largest
temporary indoor basketball
venue. Those seeking an exciting
game did not leave disappointed,
as top-ranked Kansas took the regional
championship with a 59-57
victory over Davidson.
“The displays performed flawlessly
and the image quality of
the displays was unparalleled,”
said Jeffrey Isenberg, VP of sales
and marketing for Impact Video.
Impact Video has used ProTour
displays for temporary, four-sided
video boards for basketball once
before, during the 2007 NBA All
Star Game at UNLV’s Thomas and
Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Along with its LED technology
for brilliant image reproduction,
the ProTour video system features
a remote power system for ultralight,
low noise panels and also
redundant data. The system is also
highly flexible and quick to assemble.
Daktronics’ ProTour LED screen, in the world’s largest
temporary indoor basketball venue.
42
PLSN MAY 2008

Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

NEWS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Church Group Stirred by LED Panels
The 10 lightweight LC panels were hung randomly, and could be easily rearranged.
OXFORD FALLS, Australia —Christian City
Church held an “Awakening” conference for
young adults recently, and Mandylights did its
part to provide caffeine-free stimulation for the
three-day event, with a mixture of lighting, projection
and the Martin LC Series LED panels.
Mandylights LD Richard Neville hung 10
LC Panels randomly around the church’s stage,
with lighting positioned behind them to take
advantage of the panels’ transparency. The
lighting and visuals were programmed
and operated on a
full size MA Lighting grand-
MA console, which was networked
to an ArKaos media
server. Four Martin MAC 700
Washes, four MAC 300 wash
lights and two Look Solutions
Unique Hazers were also part
of the rig.
“The client was initially
thinking of using multiple
projection screens,” said Richard Neville,
Mandylights director. “They’re really into the
whole idea of integrating video. Last year we
used ColorWeb and we used a wall of SoftLED
for their last DVD shoot. The LC Panels were
something new and different that they hadn’t
seen before and that hasn’t been used by any
of the churches yet. They’re also a brighter
and better alternative to projection.”
High-Res Video for Starbucks’ Overflow Crowd
SEATTLE —The design for the main stage for
Starbucks’ annual meeting replicated the interior
of a Starbucks store, and although the venue,
McCaw Hall, is a lot bigger than the typical Starbucks
location, it could still only seat about half
of the 6,000 people attending the meeting. AV
Concepts helped keep the overflow crowd of
shareholders from getting steamed.
Starbucks, a regular customer of AV Concepts
since 2003, needn’t have worried. AV
Concepts used fiber optic cables to provide
Howard Shultz speaks from a stage designed as a Starbucks location.
high-resolution video and audio feeds to help
the crowd see and hear Howard Shultz, Starbucks
chairman, president and CEO, visiting
guest Peter Seligmann, chairman and CEO
of Conservation International (CI), and prerecorded
video documenting the company’s
37-year history.
For the main hall, AV Concepts deployed
four screens. Two measured 12 feet
by 16 feet and used converged 10K DLP Panasonic
projectors. Two others measured
10.5 feet by 14 feet, and used converged 7K
DLP Panasonic projectors. All screens were
routed and switched by a Spyder System.
AV Concepts also used a four-camera IMAG
recording package.
Neville found the LC Panels easy to maneuver
and configure into his design. “With a
traditional LED wall it has to be configured as it
is on the plan whereas with the LC panels you
can change their positioning at will,” he said.
“You’re not reconfiguring hundreds of kilos of
LED wall or anything like that. You just need an
Allen key to bang them all together.”
The back wall of the church is usually white
but was draped in black for this event. Normally
the church’s head pastor doesn’t like black
backdrops because the event is shot for television.
However the LC Panels acted as set pieces
and read well on camera, with no “moire” effect
that can happen with LED walls.
“The theory behind the LC Panels and how
they operate is really sensible,” Neville said. “I’m
not a video person but I could patch them up if
I needed to. The addressing system is good. It’s
straight DVI in so there’s not the hassle you have
with video splitting up a source.”
The content, fed via ArKaos, included material
from the church and also Neville’s own
stock video. The direct DVI feed also allowed
for a response time “as quick as a monitor,”
Neville said. He found them bright as well
— running them only at 40 to 50 percent to
match the look of a projection screen — but
he could also bump them up to full to really
wake up the congregation.
“It’s fantastic for the big moments,”
Neville said. “It’s the equivalent of putting
all your moving lights to white and throwing
the light out to the audience — an incredible
impact. The colors are also really
good,” he added. “Even when you run the
LC Panels at a low intensity they hold their
color really well.”
The gear for the event was supplied by
Cairellie Showcraft, which works with Martin’s
Australian representative, Show Technology,
to acquire their rental gear.
A Wide-Eyed Debut for HES DL.3s
continued from page 41
“The ceiling over the crowd provided
a great virtual canvas to shoot the
DL.3s on as well as large white boxes
over the doorways to shoot onto,” Sahlin
said. “The client was so impressed with
the brightness of the widescreens that
we mainly used the DL.3s as projection
on those screens.”
“Originally I had planned to do rearscreen
projection for graphics and IMAG.
We used the DL.3s on the whole screen
and I made a masked box in black on
the second graphics layer and then they
used their conventional projector to
shoot IMAG in the PIP box,” Sahlin said.
“I have been using DL.2s for the two
years, and now, with the extra 1000 lumens
and SDI input/output options on
the DL.3 it just keeps getting better and
better,” Sahlin added. “Our clients are
now having us spec complete shows
with just DL.3s on them for projection
and with the media server built onboard
it gives us all the options needed
to accomplish that without all the video
switching systems.”
This was Sahlin’s first time using
the new Road Hog Full Boar console,
but not the first time to use Wholehog
products. “I only program on Hogs
and will continue to do so,” he said.
Jim Holt, AVMG president and
show producer, said the DL.3 allowed
for a flexible show design and production.
“The flexibility of DL.3 allowed
us to change the look of each session
with a touch of a button,” he said.
“The richness of color generated
by the DL.3s almost overshadowed
the video projectors on the show,”
Holt added. “Its collage and masking
features are amazing and we were
able to project onto a widescreen
and have many features that would
need a large video switching system
like PIP windows.”
Seminar in the City
Presented by Richard Cadena
Where: New York City
When: July 15, 16, 17
PLSN University is providing entertainment electricians and technicians an opportunity
to deepen their understanding of their craft with Entertainment Technician Training.
Seminar in the City 2008, set for July 15, 16, and 17 in New York City.
This live training event will include sessions on the theory and fundamentals of
electricity, practical power distribution, networking and more. There are
three sessions scheduled, eight hours each, from 9 am to 5 pm.
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
The seminar will be presented by ETCP-recognized trainer and
PLSN editor Richard Cadena. The seminar fee is $675.
To register, visit
www.plsn.com/university
or call 512-280-0384.
44
PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
NEW PRODUCTS
SGM Giotto Digital 1500
The new SGM Giotto Digital 1500 is a moving yoke automated
fixture with a patented DLP graphics module. The
library of images and video clips can be expanded with the
addition of bitmap and AVI files. Effects include a digital iris
with total blackout, a digital beam shaper with four digital
blades, an optical mechanical zoom and a digital zoom that
works independently of the optical zoom. Effects are generated
by means of two mixable layers. Rotation, indexing
and digital zoom can be applied individually to each layer.
Other effects include 13 crossfades between layers, brightness
and contrast control and black and white masking.
Techni-Lux • 407.857.8770 • www.techni-lux.com
Robe DigitalSpot 3000 DT
Robe recently unveiled the DigitalSpot 3000 DT, a
digital moving light projector based on DLP and LED
technology. The fixture produces 2700 ANSI lumens
from a single 200-watt projection lamp with a contrast
ratio of 2,000:1. It is now available in a compact package
featuring additional REDWash Module (Robe Emitted
Diodes) with 48 Luxeon Rebel LEDs in red, green, blue
and white, allowing it to project images and frame them
in colors and texture from the LED wash elements. The
software allows for projection around spherical and cylindrical
objects. It has three digital gobo layers for image
and video control and the Picture Merging features
allows for the combination of up to 8x8 projectors.
Robe Lighting • 954.615-9100 or 818.771.1101 • www.robeamerica.com
Edirol Solid-State Visual Presenter
Roland Systems Group’s new Edirol P-10 Visual Presenter
has 12 keypads and dedicated knobs and dials.
It uses SD or SDHC memory cards for solid state storage
and supports motion jpeg and still jpeg formats. A
color LCD display enables viewing with no need for an
external monitor. Analog capture inputs provide a way
to directly capture to the P-10 and immediately play
it back with effects. Additionally, the slide show function
allows you to piece together still images to create
a motion video effect. It can be used with the newly
released Edirol V-8 Eight Channel Video Mixer.
CodexNovus DML Series
Digital Media Player/Servers
CodexNovus’ DML Series
Digital Media Player/
Servers provide a single
home to store, organize
and playback all digital
media collection in High-
Definition video and audio. The DML Series features up to 1.6 terabytes of raw digital storage
and resolutions of up to 1920 x 1080. DML Series Player/Servers, built upon the proprietary
HDcodex user interface, provide instant access and uniform menu views to all movies, music
and still images. With fully customizable playlists, the DML Series can be utilized as a media
source for digital signage in commercial venues, trade shows, point-of-purchase kiosks and
retail environments, as well as corporate presentations.
CodexNovus • 217.351.4819 • www.codexnovus.com
Broadcast Pix Slate 5000
Broadcast Pix’s new Slate 5000 switcher allows a single operator to run graphics, animations,
clips and effects, as well as control robotic cameras, audio mixers and video servers. The
new panel and multi-view monitor
creates a single point of control
but allows for expansion to team
operation by adding a graphics operator
or by adding more operators
anywhere on the system’s control
network. It can accommodate up
to 32 video inputs and has six keyers,
six DVEs, animated transitions
with audio, a multi-view monitor,
dual channel clip store for up to
60 hours of QuickTime and MPEG2
clips, Harris Inscriber CG and five
channels of graphics.
Broadcast Pix • 978.600.1100 •
www.broadcastpix.com
Edirol • 800.380.2580 • www.edirol.com
It’s time again to recognize the foot soldiers of the
LIVE PRODUCTION INDUSTRY.
Yep, we’re taking nominations for the
2008 PLSN Hometown Hero Awards.
If you know or work with a local or regional production company
that consistently goes above and beyond to get
the gig right, then let us know.
Send us the name of the company, the city
and state, any additional contact info
and one or two sentences on why they
should get the nomination.
E-mail your
nominations to
rcadena@plsn.com.
Deadline is May 30.
We’ll pick a selection from several regions around the country
and let the voting commence. Keep in mind that the winners
in each region become the nominees for the annual
Parnelli Award for Regional Production Company of the year.
www.penn-elcom.com
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
2008 MAY PLSN 45

VIDEO DIGERATI
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Scenic Alternatives
By VickieClaiborne
In the live entertainment industry,
certainly a very important aspect of
a production is the set. With today’s
technology, there are many options for
what to do with a stage from a scenic
standpoint, including new ways to
incorporate video elements into the
stage. LEDs have made a great impact
in this area, and innovative products
like Barco’s MiStrips and MiTrix and Element
Labs’ Versa Tile and Versa Tube
have provided the scenic designer with
new tools to create unique and dynamic
visual environments.
Recently, I worked on an outdoor festival
in Austin, Tex. in conjunction with a
large indie music festival called South by
SouthWest (SXSW). For budget reasons,
most of the stages at this festival were
bare except for the backline (the band’s
music equipment), so the festival’s producer,
David Rosen, specified two large
racks of Versa Tubes for both sides (side
A and B) of the double center stage in order
to add energy and impact to the performances.
Fifteen Versa Tubes, stacked
and mounted in six vertical rows, lined
the back of the center stage on both
sides. These were controlled via an ArKaos
Media Server system. The ArKaos allowed
the content to be manipulated
live through color and effects. It was
extremely flexible and absolutely necessary
because none of the cues could
be written ahead of time. That’s typical
of a festival; none of the bands could rehearse
ahead of time — they just showed
up, plugged in and played!
Working with these fixtures inspired
me to look into other scenic alternatives,
and here’s a short list of some of these
exciting new LED products.
LED Tubes
plsn
LED tubes typically contain a row of pixels
composed of red, green and blue LEDs.
Some, like the Color Kinetics iColor Accent
Powercore and Element Labs Versa Tube
work by mapping pixels from a computer
image directly to the pixels in the tube. Any
video source or graphics program can create
effects, including popular media servers like
Catalyst, Green Hippo Hippotizer or Martin
Maxedia. Versa Tube is available in both standard
resolution and HD and comes in a variety
of lengths. It can be mounted in virtually
any configuration, allowing it to be incorporated
into a set in endless possible ways. Other
LED tubes, like the Chauvet Colortube 2.0,
Colortube EQ and Pulsar ChromaStrip 2 can
do color chases and color changes within a
single tube, while others, like the Elation Octo
Strip II only offer solid color changes.
LED Tiles
plsn
LED tiles are sometimes edge-lit
by color changing LEDs to produce
a solid colored light, or they contain
a matrix of color changing LEDs to
produce colored light and graphics.
Like building blocks, these
tiles can be placed together in
any configuration. With Element
Labs Versa Tiles, video content
created with a wide range of
colors ranging from deeply
saturated colors to browns
and grays can be cleanly
and accurately displayed.
Video content and still images
in a stock library or
created using any graphics
program can be easily
displayed on the Versa
Tile system. It comes in
grids of two sizes, 50
cm x 50 cm (25 tile) and
1 meter x 1 meter (100 tile). Other LED
tiles on the market include the Alkalite
PZ-720A (distributed in North America
Transparent LED displays add a creative
element to any visual designer’s tool bag.
by Elation), Color Kinetics iColor Tile FX
2:2, Pulsar ChromaDeck and the Chauvet
ColorPanel 4.
LED Strips
plsn
MiStrip is Barco’s creative new pixel
strip that can be used in a wide range
of applications. It combines high 6100
Nit brightness with a 13.25 mm pixel
pitch in a versatile product that can
be mounted and arranged in endless
shapes and sizes, making free form
visual displays that can be easily integrated
into any set. It has been used on
projects ranging from the Detroit Auto
Show to Bon Jovi’s 2006 tour.
Transparent LED Displays
plsn
Horao is one of the manufacturers allowing designers to create LED arrays showing off dynamic graphics with depth.
The transparent LED display made
its debut at LDI 2005 when Komaden
Corporation of Japan prematurely
showed a prototype of the Image-Mesh.
But they failed to capitalize on it and Element
Labs saw an opportunity, so they
jumped in with the Stealth. Since then,
we’ve seen the G-LEC Phantom Frame,
Martin LC and the Barco MiTrix come
to market. These displays are typically
highly transparent, very bright, lightweight
and modular for indoor use.
They add a creative element to any visual
designer’s tool bag. The MiTrix, for
example, is a display with 24mm pixel
pitch and 3000 Nit brightness that has
been used recently on shows including
the Academy of Country Music Awards
and Rascal Flatts 2007 tour.
LED Backdrops
plsn
Since Main Light Industries outf
i t t e d t h e i r L i g h t s c a p e f i b e r o p t i c s
backdrop with LEDs, they set the
bar for LED backdrops. Their Soft-
L E D a n d H a r d L E D m o d u l a r p a n e l s
p r o v i d e c r e a t i v e l o w - r e s o l u t i o n
graphics to highlight any stage.
These products offer unlimited
creative possibilities for designers
when it comes to displaying
l o w r e s o l u t i o n v i s u a l e f f e c t s a t a n
affordable price. The Chroma-Q
C o l o r We b a n d t h e E l e m e n t L a b s
Helix products marry the transparency
of a webbed backdrop with
the low-res graphics concept. They
feature a modular design, transparency,
pliability and flexibility.
The Color Web is available in onemeter
square panels in a choice of
two resolutions. The original Color
Web 250 panel provides 16 individually
addressable color mixing
LED cells with a pitch of 250mm
/10 inches. And the new Color Web
125 panel provides 64 individually
a d d r e s s a b l e c o l o r m i x i n g L E D c e l l s
with a pitch of 125mm / 5inches,
p r o v i d i n g d o u b l e t h e r e s o l u t i o n
per square meter. Currently you
c a n f i n d t h i s p r o d u c t i n a c t i o n
in European productions including
Take That, Britain’s Got Talent
and the Glastonbury Jazz Festival,
among others.
3D LED
plsn
A few manufacturers are taking
the LED concept into the 3D world.
Barco’s MiSphere, G-LEC B:xel and
the Horao 3D allow designers to
create three-dimensional LED arrays
t h at o f fe r d y n a m i c graphics
w i t h d e p t h t h at yo u c a n’t f i n d i n
conventional LED displays.
These products I’ve mentioned
here are just a small sampling of the
innovative LED tools being manufactured
today. They represent some
of the most creative and versatile
implementations of LEDs available
3D LED displays allow designers to create
dynamic video graphics with depth.
and give the visual designer many
more options to wow the audience.
As production value increases, the
need for managing the budget becomes
tougher. Incorporating video
elements into the set allows many
looks from one basic design and can
help to reduce many of the costs of
shipping other kinds of heavier and
bulkier scenic pieces from venue to
venue.
Vickie Claiborne is a freelance
control systems and digital media
server training developer, lighting
director and programmer and an industrial
training specialist. She can
be reached at vclaiborne@plsn.com
46
PLSN MAY 2008

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THE BIZ
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
InfoComm’s Annual
Market Survey Report
With the NSCA show rolling
into its show this year, Info-
Comm becomes that much
more relevant to a wider swath of
professionals in lighting, staging, projection
and rentals. Thus, InfoComm’s
recently released annual survey of its
increasingly inclusive constituency offers
some insights into where these
sectors might be headed.
Of the several hundred companies
polled, 11.1 percent identified themselves
as rental and staging companies
— relatively small, but up from the previous
year. (Reflecting InfoComm’s origins,
that vast majority of respondents
— 56 percent — are systems integrators.)
Nonetheless, among the four
main company categories (the other
two are dealers/resellers/distributors
and independent design consultants),
rental and staging companies reported
average 2007 revenues of $19.7 million,
virtually on a par with the rest of
the groups. Business is good.
In a year marked by strikes and recession,
business is surprisingly good.
Respondents in the lighting/staging/projection
categories are also as
optimistic about future trends as everyone
else seems to be. The respondents
are strongly positive when forecasting
the demand for AV products
and services in their primary market
area. Only 2.7 percent forecast any
level of decrease in demand, and only
about one in ten expect demand to
remain constant. About half of all respondents
feel the market demand for
AV products and services will “somewhat”
or “significantly” increase over
the next three years. This rosy view
is consistent across all industry segments
and is particularly true of rental/staging
companies. Nearly 65 percent
of the respondents in this group
expect increasing business.
Those who forecast an increase in
the demand for AV products and services
over the next three years were
That’s a natural and healthy response
in a flux economy.
Downsides
BIZ
While relatively few expressed pessimism
about the industry’s fortunes,
it’s worth looking at the factors that
are causing negativity. According to
the report, they include “commoditization”
issues (i.e., competition from
big-box retailers and increasingly user-friendly
technology products), increased
competition from within and
without the industry, striving to maintain
margins in an increasingly competitive
marketplace, and the increasingly
real menace of inflation-driven
higher costs.
Most respondents are expecting a
rise in demand, and more than half will
be spending more for technical staff
and training.
asked their view of what’s driving this
increase. The responses ranged from
the global economy to issues specific
to very narrow market niches. Examining
broad themes shows that technology
factors are paramount, followed
by user benefit and economic/macro
factors. (Responses differed by region,
with North Americans citing a
technology-driven “push” and Europeans
generally pointing to an end-user
driven “pull.”)
Strategies in a Growing Market
BIZ
Virtually all who are forecasting a
demand increase are considering or
acting on strategies to address or prepare
for this increase. The most common
strategies include:
• Hiring additional technical staff:
57.4 percent
• Increasing training for staff: 54.9
percent
• Expanding company focus to encompass
new technologies: 41.4
percent
• Increasing marketing efforts: 39.2
percent
• Expanding the company focus to
encompass new vertical markets:
29.1 percent
• Expanding existing offices: 28.7 percent
The only strategies that lag in popularity
are those that involve a narrowing
or specialization of the company’s
focus. It appears that relatively few
respondents are looking for opportunities
to solidify a more focused niche
in the face of an expanding market.
Is the seemingly pervasive optimism
of the staging business just
whistling past the graveyard? We
shouldn’t look at the Broadway numbers,
the usual bellwether for theatrical
economic soundness, in a strikemarred
year. Live Nation, though
primarily geared to music touring
shows, is a useful surrogate. Based on
its year-end 2007 numbers, the company
reported revenue of $4.2 billion,
an increase of $473.3 million, or
12.8 percent, as compared to 2006. In
other words, consumers were getting
out of the house and going to see live
shows.
We won’t know if this is a trend
that will hold true in a year of economic
recession, but if Hollywood’s
numbers are any indication, ticket
sales to all types of events might stay
on an even keel, with revenues running
4 percent ahead of last year and
attendance up 7 percent over last year
as of Q1 2008, according to box-office
tracker Media By Numbers. Data from
The National Association of Theatre
Owners also suggests a silver lining to
the economic clouds, with U.S. box office
revenues rising in five of the past
seven recession years dating back to
the 1960s.
So this might not be the year to
skip a visit to InfoComm (in Las Vegas,
June 14-20). Take the time to look
around the show in depth. You’re likely
to see a wider array of companies
and products, and the fact that NSCA
is rolled into this show, you’ll be able
to pocket the savings of one less plane
ticket and three fewer nights at a hotel.
That’s how I look at it.
48
PLSN MAY 2008

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TECHNOPOLIS
In Part I of this article (PLSN, April
2008, page 50) I presented an argument
for console agnosticism. Hopefully,
by now you’ve had some time to
think about the merits of being familiar
with a wide range of consoles. These
might include application specific virtues,
cost factors and even political or
historical reasons.
So, now that we’ve got that out of
the way, I’m going to tell you why you
should forget everything I’ve said and
spend your every waking moment learning
one console.
Be Complete to Compete
TECH
We work in a highly competitive
marketplace. While there is a lot of work
out there, you strive day in and day out
to climb the ladder and it’s important to
differentiate yourself from the next person
in line. By learning at least one console
from top to bottom, you can give
yourself some significant advantages:
• Become better and more efficient at
your daily programming duties
• Exceed expectations of designers
and clients
• Increase your chances of becoming a
go-to programmer
But why is this so important?
Work Smart, Not Hard
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
The Religion of Control, Part II: There Is No Hog but Hog
By PhilGilbert
We work in a highly competitive marketplace.
While there is a lot of work out there… it’s
important to differentiate yourself from
the next person in line.
TECH
The more you work on one platform,
the faster you get at the repetitive tasks.
Patching, selecting fixtures, recording palettes
and storing cues become something
that you could truly do with your eyes
closed (though I don’t recommend it).
[Two of the best programmers in the industry,
Christian Choi and Arnold Serame, used
to practice speed drills on their console
while blindfolded. It earned them the chops
and the reputation of being among the best
in the biz. – ed.]
Impress For Success
TECH
While some designers are more collaborative
than others, it never hurts to have
some tricks up your sleeve. Because you’re
not having to waste time remembering how
this week’s console clones fixtures, you can
spend more time focusing on the design,
giving the designer/client quicker feedback
and playing off their ideas more readily.
Who You Gonna Call?
TECH
When last minute shows or consolespecific
problems come up, there is often
a small community of gurus that is called
upon to fly across the country or around
the world at the drop of a hat. By consistently
showing your mettle on a specific
platform, you can eventually become one
of these hired guns. It just may be your
ticket to the next Academy Awards.
Guru Lighting Chops
TECH
Of course, becoming a guru on any
console takes time. While loading up the
off-line editor is a great way to become
acquainted with a platform, it doesn’t
come close to serving the needs of a true
expert. Mastering a console is not dissimilar
to learning improvisation on an
instrument. Some of the most important
concepts include:
• Pattern recognition
• Sense memory
• Working with the quirks
Like a professional musician, these are
some of the tools that will allow you to complete
some tasks at a sub-conscious level.
For the Thousandth Time
TECH
Many of the tasks we do on consoles are
repetitive operations. The first time you copy
a cue you have to think about the syntax. The
second time you copy a cue, you try to recall
how you did it properly the first time. After
you repeat a task hundreds or thousands of
times, you stop having to think about the exact
syntax, which leads to the next point…
Start Making Sense
TECH
If we do the same thing enough times,
it can become sense memory. I can work
quickly on a Wholehog II that has all the
numbers rubbed off of the keypad. This is
because I’ve used the console so much that
my fingers “know” where the numbers should
be, even if my eyes can’t see them. On the
other hand, I have to think about where an ‘A’
is found on a piano. [Some console designers
call this “muscle memory.” – ed.]
It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature
TECH
I’m not here to defend the developers of
any console. The truth of the matter is that
they all have their own quirks, eccentricities,
and…yes…bugs. But by learning a console
backwards and forwards, you will begin to
know where these gremlins exist, and how
to work around them where necessary.
Do You Feel Me?
TECH
The paragraphs above are by no means
exhaustive, but they should give you a
feel for the benefits of having a strong
The more you work on one platform, the
faster you get at the repetitive tasks.
relationship with one console. While this
can be a very solitary and sometimes
daunting task, I would encourage you to
lean on your peers and mentors as you
discover your new monotheism.
Join the online communities and
beta test groups for your console of
choice. These offer a great way to learn
from other users and possibly give
back a little to what is, obviously, the
best console around. And don’t forget
to keep your PLSN subscription up-todate.
How else are you going to find
out about the newest religions…er,
consoles in town?
Phil Gilbert is a lighting designer and programmer.
He’s currently listening to Lucinda
Williams singing “Get Right with Hog.’”
You can reach him at pgilbert@ plsn.com
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
50 PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
ROAD TEST
Light Converse Lighting Simulation Software
By RichardCadena
I
once walked into Bill Little’s office at Little
Stage Lighting in Dallas in the late 1980s
and he showed me a software program
he was working on. This was in the very early
days of desktop computers, before Windows,
and he was working on a DOS-based
lighting design system. It allowed you to put
in a throw distance and it would give you a
numerical display showing the beam width
and the illuminance — for one fixture. Believe
it or not, it was ahead of its time.
Visual Advances
RT
Computers and lighting design software
have come a long, long way since then, and
they seem to get more powerful by the day.
One such lighting design software package
recently made its debut in North America
and it is garnering some attention.
Light Converse is a real-time photo-realistic
3D lighting simulation software package.
It is built on a 3D gaming engine that
renders in real time up to 56 megapixels.
The graphics engine uses Phong shading,
a 3D computer rendering technique, to create
smooth-looking graphics that are very
realistic. It can simulate conventional and
automated lighting, LEDs, lasers, pyro (this
is something to see), and animated smoke.
You can import set pieces from the library,
modify them to size and apply materials
from the customizable materials library.
The library also has fixtures, staging, truss,
speakers, furniture, people and more. You
can work in imperial or metric units of measure.
There are also three live video inputs via
USB or Firewire that you can use to connect
to a media server to display video within the
rendering. You can create projection surfaces
including video screens and video walls
and up to 16 independent video streams
can be played at once in high definition.
Controlling the Action
RT
After you have built your 3D model you
can program scenes, chases and crossfades
using an external console or the built-in
controls. When you’re ready to show it to a
client or potential client, you can record an
AVI file with a DMX-controllable camera. It
can render from 25 frames per second to
the maximum refresh rate of your video card
and the renderings are spectacular. They
look much like a high-end game, except it’s
customized for lighting applications.
If you’re a Windows and/or AutoCAD
user, the graphical user interface is not like
anything you’re used to; there is no toolbar,
no command line, not even the familiar
shortcut commands you’re used to using.
But once you spend a little time with the
program it becomes quite easy to use. It
responds very well with no stuttering or
delay.
Quality Renderings
RT
Where this program shines is in the quality
of the renderings. The plots and paperwork
features in this program are relatively
rudimentary (though the manufacturers
says they’re working on improvements) and
it’s a bit cumbersome to import non-native
files. But as Light Converse user Robert
Dicken of Digital4u2 Lighting Design said, “I
was so impressed with the real-time output.
It used to take hours or days to get a high
res rendering for a client; now it’s as simple
as pressing a button.”
The software can run on a laptop and it
can connect to any ArtNet or ACN-capable
console (up to 16 universes) to visualize the
show for programming purposes. There is
also a DMX interface that can be used for
DMX-only consoles with up to four universes.
Or, in the absence of a console, the
built-in control software allows you to program
a show and output ArtNet or DMX512
to actually run the show. It also connects to
Pangolin Laser software through the Ethernet
port on your computer. Pangolin is the
most widely used laser control software in
the industry. The next scheduled release of
the software will feature direct connectivity
to Flying Pig Systems Hog PC and Avolites
Pearl off-line editors. There will be no need
to use external connection boxes.
Spreading the Word
RT
Light Converse is produced in the
Ukraine and Gord McVicar of AtFull Lighting
is the North American representative.
McVicar helps handle product support in
the English-speaking parts of the world and
he also wrote the user manual, which is well
written and well organized. Dicken commented
that McVicar “has been so helpful
with me getting started in Light Converse.”
There is also a new product forum at http://
lightconverse.net/lc/lc_forum.htm.
The retail price starts at $400 and the
price includes free software updates for the
life of the product. Dicken summed it up by
saying, “I love this program for doing demos
for clients. It’s a job-getter and a great tool
to have in your designer’s toolkit.”
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After creating your design, you can record an AVI file with a DMXcontrollable
camera and then show it to a client.
The renderings are spectacular. They
look much like a high-end game, except
that they are customized for lighting
applications.
The light plot helps the crew bring the designs from the simulated world to the live stage.
What it is: Lighting design and visualization
software with optional DMX, ArtNet
and ACN output
Who it’s for: Beginning to advanced
lighting designers
Pros: Wonderful real-time renderings,
easy to use, versatile programming and
output options
Cons: Paperwork and plotting is rudimentary
(improvements are in the
works), importing non-native files is
cumbersome
Retail Price: $400 to $1,900, depending
on the need for DMX connectivity, laser,
pyro or video playback or vector plotting.
Price includes free updates for the
life of the product.
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
2008 MAY PLSN 51

FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
Getting to Green
By RichardCadena
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is
not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in
a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black,
curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Suppose you owned a construction
company and, along with it, some big,
shiny dump trucks for hauling materials.
Now suppose you’re constructing a building,
starting from the foundation up. So
you hire some drivers to haul sand from the
sandufacturer (you know, the place where
they manufacture sand) to the construction
site so it can be mixed with some cement to
pour the foundation.
Back at the sandufacturer, the dump
truck is filled with 100 tons of sand (I told
you it was a big dump truck) and the driver
happily heads over to the construction
site. But when he gets there, there’s only
3.5 tons on sand in the back of the truck.
And behind him is a very long, thin line of
sand stretching for miles all the way back
to the sandufacturer. It turns out that those
big, shiny dump trucks have a leak and only
about 3.5 percent of the sand makes it to
the construction site. It’s enough to drive
you to the sanditorium.
This scenario may sound ridiculous to
you, but you witness it every day. Except it’s
not sand we’re talking about, but electricity.
Every time you turn on an incandescent
lamp you’re seeing about 3.5 percent
of the energy you’re paying for to power it
up. The other 96.5 percent is the long, thin
line going back to the power plant, except
you can’t see it. You can, however, feel it. It
can be felt in the heat emanating from the
back of the fixture, as well as the heat in the
lamp socket, connectors, wires, dimmer,
feeder transformer, transmission lines and
the power plant.
Most of the energy is lost at the point
where the current passing through the
filament is converted to light and heat. It
seems that Edison’s lamp (at least some of
which can be attributed to Joseph Swan)
makes a better heater than it does a light.
Every time you turn on an incandescent
lamp you’re only seeing about 3.5
percent of the energy you’re paying for
to power it up.
But it’s hard to beat the beauty of the warm
glow of an incandescent source, so we continue
to use the dump truck with the hole
in the bed.
Still, we have a duty to be responsible
with our resources, whether that means being
economically responsible and/or ecologically
responsible. And while we have a
desire to create the best possible look, we
owe it to our customers to make judicious
choices based the needs of the client fueled
by our knowledge of light, electricity
and energy.
How, you might ask, can we make better
choices when it comes to light sources?
Glad you asked.
Today, a lighting designer has the
widest range of options than ever before
and those options are growing. When we
have an area to illuminate, we can now
choose between incandescent, discharge,
fluorescent, electroluminescence and LED
sources. Each has their own unique characteristics,
applications, assets and drawbacks.
One of those characteristics is the
efficacy or the lumens per watt. It’s basically
a measure of how much visible light
it produces for a given amount of electricity.
Here is a comparison chart that shows
the lumens per watt for several types of
light sources.
Light Source
HPL 750/115
HPL 575/115/LL
HPL 575/115/SL
MSD 575
MSR 575/2
MSR 1200 Short
Arc
CDM150SA
Compact Fluorescent
Lamps (CFL)
Red LEDs
Red-Orange LEDs
Orange LEDs
Yellow and amber
LEDs
Green LEDs
Blue-Green LEDs
Blue LEDs
White LEDs
Low
Sodium
Pressure
Efficacy
29.2 lumens per watt
21.5 lumens per watt
28.7 lumens per watt
78.3 lumens per watt
85.2 lumens per watt
91.7 lumens per watt
86 lumens per watt
45-60 lumens per watt
Up to 46 lumens per
watt
Up to 53 lumens per
watt
18-22 lumens per watt
34-35 lumens per watt
58-79 lumens per watt
50-75 lumens per watt
17-26 lumens per watt
As high as 98 lumens
per watt
Up to 200 lumens per
watt
Before we all run out and start specifying
low pressure sodium lamps for the
stage, we might want to take into consideration
that their color rendering index
(CRI) is zero! That’s not a typo and it’s not
a joke. The CRI is 0. These babies are typically
used where energy efficiency is important
but color rendering is not, like for
street lighting.
But the lamp efficacy only tells part of
the story. The luminaire efficacy should
also be taken into account. The luminaire
efficacy is the percentage of visible light
coming out of the fixture compared to
the visible light produced by the source.
In the most basic terms, it’s a measure of
how much light from the source can be
gathered and redirected to the output of
the luminaire. Luminaires can vary wildly
in terms of efficacy, from as little as about
10 percent in a Fresnel in a spot focus to
about 65 percent in an ellipsoidal reflector
spotlight with a wide lens.
Of course, we might want to consider
all the other characteristics, those little
things like cost, size, weight, color temperature
and CRI. In many cases, these
other factors outweigh the efficiency considerations
simply because they are immediately
observable while the efficiency is
hidden and the impact is delayed. By the
time the first electric bill arrives the lighting
team is usually long gone.
Look closely and you’ll find that the
line of sand leading back to the electric
plant also trails back to the designer.
We can’t completely plug the energy
leaks, but in many instances we can
make them smaller.
Get more lumens per watt from your author
by e-mailing rcadena@plsn.com.
You can’t see the
lost power, but you
can feel it — in the
form of heat.
52
PLSN MAY 2008

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
FEEDING THE MACHINES
The Wonders of CUE ONLY
By BradSchiller
While I was programming a show
recently, I was using one of my favorite
console features and I knew
right then that I needed to write about it.
Most automated lighting consoles have this
feature which is a holdover from standard
conventional or theatrical desks. This feature
is commonly known as “Cue Only” and
is used when you are recording or updating
cues. This powerful feature behaves almost
as if the console knows what you really
want and takes care of it for you! However,
before explaining exactly what the feature
does, you must have an understanding of
basic console tracking.
Tracking Consoles
FTM
Most modern automated lighting
consoles are based on the principle of
parameter value tracking. This concept
basically means that only data that is
changed is recorded into a cue and any
values that are not changed track from
one cue to another. For example, if you
set the intensity for fixtures in cue 1 and
then only change the position in cues 2 to
4, the intensity will track through to cues
2 through 4 because no new intensity information
was recorded. More detailed
explanations of tracking can be found
in my previous articles or my book, The
Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook
(www.plsnbookshelf.com).
Cue Only to the Rescue
FTM
If instead of recording cue 4.5 as a normal
cue you record this as a “Cue Only” cue,
then its changes will not track into subsequent
cues. When you activate the Cue
Only recording mode, then the console will
ensure that cue 4.5 does not track. Prior to
actually recoding cue 4.5, the console will
look at the changes you are about to make
and how it might affect cue 5. Then it will insert
real values into cue 5 to represent what
used to track into cue 5. This way the “state”
of cue 5 is maintained as it was before cue
4.5 ever existed. Now the console can add
cue 4.5 to your cue list without destroying
the look of cue 5 (and subsequent tracked
cues). However, be warned that items that
used to track from cue 4 to 5 now have actual
values in cue 5. So tracking for these
parameters from 4 to 5 will no longer occur.
If you later change the color of the blue
wash in cue 4, you will also need to change
it in cue 5 (if you want it to track).
The Cue Only function is named differently
in different consoles — some indicate
this function as “track forwards OFF” — so
check the user manual. Whatever it’s called,
the power of being able to quickly record a
cue in the middle of a list without affecting or
changing succeeding cues is extremely compelling,
because it lets cues be easily inserted
into an existing list.
Intensity Position Color
Cue 1 100% Down Stage Wash Blue
Cue 2 Drum Special Green
Cue 3 Center Stage White
Cue 4 Down Stage Wash Blue
Chart 1: Tracking example. The intensity level tracks from Cue 1 to Cue 4.
Cue 3
Cue 4
Cue 4.5
Cue 5
Original List Insertion Results
1-24 CTO
201-212 yellow
101-112 off
1-24 blue
201-212
101-112
Does Not Exist
1-24
201-212 lavender
101-112
Chart 2: Cue Only example. Changes to Cue 4.5 do not track to Cue 5.
1-24 Red
201-212 Red
101-102 On White
1-24 CTO
201-212 yellow
101-112 off
1-24 blue
201-212
101-112
1-24 Red
201-212 Red
101-102 On White
103-112
1-24 blue
201-212 lavender
101-102 off
103-112
Editing a Tracking Cuelist FTM
When you are working with a cuelist
that takes advantage of tracking, problems
can arise if you are not prepared. For
example, if the intensity is tracking from
cue 1 through to cue 4 and you change
the intensity in cue 3, this new information
will track into cue 4. This means that
your edit to cue 3 affected subsequent
cues. This may have been the desired effect,
but usually an LD wants you to only
update a specific cue and not all the subsequent
cues.
Imagine this scenario: Cue 4 is live
on stage and it has all the front fixtures
(1-24) in a blue wash with a yellow backlight
(201-212). Cue 5 keeps the blue
wash but changes the yellow backlight
to lavender. Now the LD decides he
wants a cue 4.5 that has a red front wash,
a red backlight and a down special from
fixtures 101 and 102 (which were off in
these cues). If you simply create cue
4.5 as desired and record it, then these
changes will track into cue 5, resulting
in a different looking cue 5 (and possibly
subsequent cues) than was originally designed.
Because of tracking, cue 5 would
now have a red wash, lavender backlight
and a down special from fixtures 101 and
102.
Still More Power
FTM
In addition to being able to insert a new
cue into an existing list, Cue Only is really
great when you are updating existing cues.
Although it’s very similar, this methodology
of editing is very powerful. For instance, I
was programming a bank of LED fixtures and
in cue 7 they were all red. I needed to change
cue 7 to a teal color, but I did not want to alter
the look of cue 8. I did not remember what
cue 8 looked like so I updated cue 7 using Cue
Only. This meant that I did not need to worry
that my change to cue 7 might destroy cue 8.
As it turned out cue 8 was a half red and half
yellow cue, and the red values were tracking
from cue 7. So if I had not used Cue Only, then
I would have accidentally changed cue 8 to
become a half teal and half yellow. Thank
goodness for this wonderful feature!
RTFM
FTM
As I stated, the “Cue Only” method of recording
and updating cues is often labeled
differently on various consoles. It is very important
that you study the user manual for
your console of choice to ensure that you
understand how this function works on your
desk. Once you master the Cue Only methodology
for recording, you will find that your
efficiency and speed as a programmer have
increased as well.
2008 MAY PLSN 53
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COMPANY PG# PH URL
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Applied Electronics 33, 41 800.883.0008 http://plsn.hotims.com/18507-105
Atlanta Rigging Systems 27 404.355.4370 http://plsn.hotims.com/18507-107
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Chauvet Lighting 5, 15 800.762.1084 http://plsn.hotims.com/18507-110
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Doug Fleenor Design 16 888.436.9512 http://plsn.hotims.com/18507-119
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Event Tech 25 410.850.8343 http://plsn.hotims.com/18507-267
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LD-AT-LARGE
PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS
By NookSchoenfeld
Looking for Some New Old Stuff
Every month I see new products on the
market. It seems the latest LED and
media server technology is constantly
outdating last year’s cool stuff. Automated
lighting manufacturers are dueling to keep
up with each other in terms of lumens while
trying to come up with new features. This
stuff is impressive, but it makes me wonder…
“Why don’t people concentrate on making
new cooler versions of existing gear?”
That’s what really turns me on. When
Selecon reinvented the Leko, I was impressed
that someone could find that
many new features to add to an existing
luminaire. Why did it take 50 years to develop
a gel frame that doesn’t allow the
gel to fall out? I feel the same way about
moving mirror fixtures. Why did they have
to go away? Why can’t someone just invent
the perfect moving mirror light?
Truckloads of Truss
LD@L
I got really excited this week. I walked
into Upstaging Inc.’s lighting shop outside
of Chicago and saw truckloads of something
new rolling into their shop. It wasn’t cases
of the latest lighting fixtures, nor was it new
LED panels. It was truss — miles of long,
hard, shiny sections of truss. And that made
me smile more than any new moving light
possibly could because someone had reinvented
something old and done it properly.
People have been hanging lights on
truss since I started in this biz. But who
made the standards for truss size? That was
the question John Huddleston, the general
manager of Upstaging, pondered when he
designed this new breed. I had him show
me the “Hud” truss and explain why he decided
to build a new trussing system in the
first place. One of the first things he mentioned
was the question, “Who decided
that 20-inch square box truss should be a
standard size for our whole industry? Everyone
uses miles of this stuff, but why?”
COMING NEXT
MONTH...
PLSN Interview
Diana Kesselschmidt
works with light,
computers, paint and
the camera.
Road Test
Barco’s DML-1200 digital
luminaire is here.
Nook Schoenfeld takes it
for a spin.
All Access Staging
All the world’s a stage,
and All Access Staging
builds stages all over the
world.
“Who decided that 20-inch square
box truss should be a standard size
for our whole industry?”
– John Huddleston, Upstaging
Rethinking the Basics
LD@L
John went on to explain, “These days,
people need to think about logistics and
the packaging of their lighting systems. So
I thought, how can we design a simpler,
lighter, cost effective truss system, one
that can double as auto truss or normal
truss and save us all money? With the cost
of transportation rising, large heavy-duty
truss is a big factor. I see tons of shows using
automated truss and this is great because
it saves enormous time on load-ins.
But when you look up in the air, all you see
are single rows of moving lights mounted
in each truss section. Yet these truss sections
are normally 30 inches wide and
weigh a ton when they are empty. Somebody
had to rethink the whole design.”
There are several types of truss that
were designed to house automated lights
so the user didn’t have to re-rig and wire
the fixtures at every gig. The most common
type was trademarked Swing Wing
by Tomcat and first made available in
2002. Others have come out with similar
products. The truss sections are typically
30-inches-by-30-inches and come in
eight-foot or 10-foot lengths. Automated
lights as well as conventional fixtures are
hung inside the truss on rails with any
type of clamp. The sides of these trusses
swing apart and upward and bolt together
during load in so they don’t block the
beam of the moving lights. During load
out, the sides of the truss swing down to
protect the fixtures in transport to the
next destination.
Another type of pre-rigged truss is
called auto truss. It’s similar in size to the
Swing Wing truss, but the fixtures are
mounted in the truss on bars like any pre
rig truss. Once the truss is lifted a couple
feet off the ground, a team of techs will
lower the lamp bars into place under the
truss. Some people have developed truss
like this that uses hand winches or electric
motors to lower the bars. Sometimes
it seems like it takes longer to assemble
and drop the bars than it would to manually
hang each fixture everyday. But it
does save truck space.
Opportunities for Improvement
LD@L
I think these automated trusses
are okay but each one has a few major
drawbacks. Some are really hard to bolt
together on an uneven arena floor and
some could barely roll when they are
pinned together. The Swing Wing takes
away extra trim height in smaller rooms
because the rails extend 30 inches in the
air above the fixtures. All of it is too heavy
to carry up stairs or stack three high. Plus,
it only fits three sections across when it’s
loaded in a standard semi truck. But the
biggest problem is adding huge, heavy
Andy Au
corner blocks and hinge pieces to these
sections. It often takes three people to
hold up the corner block while another
person bolts it together. Another drag
was that larger fixtures are too big to
ride in these truss sections.
Upstaging has successfully tackled
these issues with its Hud truss. First off,
this truss is only 24 inches wide by 14
inches tall. It comes in standard fourfoot,
eight-foot and 10-foot lengths. The
truss rides on a set of sturdy legs that are
removed when the truss is lifted. These
legs are pinned to the truss and are adjustable
in height. Vari*Lite VL3Ks fit inside
the truss with no problem. Once the
truss is lifted, the legs are removed and
can be manually pinned into the top of
the truss if that’s what you want. They
can double as safety railings for techs
when they need to climb the truss. It also
gives you a place to stash the wheels at
every gig. If trim height or weight is an
issue, you can simply leave them off and
stow them in a back room.
Lightweight and Stackable
LD@L
This truss is easily stacked. It weighs
roughly half of what other empty auto
truss weighs. One other guy and I manually
stacked two empty sections easily. A
forklift would be preferable for stacking
once lights are mounted in the truss. The
truss can be forked up from under the
wheel dollies or by placing the forks between
the moving lights and lifting the
bottom of the truss. Once it’s stacked, the
trusses pin together in a safe, rigid formation.
Wow! How many times have you
seen stage hands push the top stacked
truss and watched it fall over? Heavyduty
casters enable the user to easily roll
an entire bolted lighting rig from one
end of an arena to another. It’s great for
building a light rig at one end of the convention
center while the chain hoists are
being rigged over the stage area.
Compound Hinges
LD@L
The truss sections are connected with
easy-fit spigots. No bolts or wrenches are
necessary. Even the corner blocks have detachable
spigots to easily change the sex.
But the best thing is the compound hinges.
These hinges are designed to move 180°,
but what’s really cool is that they don’t
have to come off for travel. The hinges stay
attached to one end of the truss and when
they fold together they don’t stick out.
I honestly don’t think I ever want to see
any other type of truss again.
So now I’m wondering what other old
technology needs to be addressed?
How about a self-winding wire rope
ladder that automatically winds up? Or,
since nobody wants to design a new moving
mirror fixture, why can’t manufacturers
develop fixtures that pan at a high rate
of speed? Something comparable to Zap
Technologies “Big Lite” would be nice.
The production world waits for old technology
to be new again. Tick tock.
Nook Schoenfeld is a freelance lighting designer.
He can be reached at nschoenfeld@plsn.com.

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