Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

INSTALLATIONS CSI: Miami [Club Scene Installation] The Case By PhilGilbert We here at the installation offices of PLSN are always looking out for you, the reader. It was with that in mind that my crack team of installation researchers and I recently risked life and limb to get the dirt on what it really takes to put together a world-class nightclub on the cut-throat streets of Miami, Fla. What my gumshoes found may not be suitable for young viewers, as it is extremely, and unavoidably, graphic. The Suspect Name: Dean Iacuzzo Position: Senior designer, Underboss Known Alias: Dino Known Accomplices: Robert ‘Lippy’ Lippolis Scott Chmielewski Richard Belliveau Len Rove The Interrogation Club Scene Investigation [CSI]: All right Dino. Just how long have you been running this operation?! Suspect [Dino]: Over twenty years. I started in the mid-80s at a club called 701 South, one of the first all-video nightclubs in the country. That’s where I first started using High End products, including High End Systems Intellabeams and Cyberlights. I’ve been steadily using their products for the last twenty-some-odd years. CSI: What do you know about Bricks nightclub? Dino: It’s in downtown Miami, in an area called Brickell. Brickell’s an up-and-coming financial district of Miami right now. Most of the major banks, trading houses, law firms, are located in the Brickell area. There was a relationship with the owner in several clubs in the Florida area before. Going back to 701 South in Daytona Beach, as well as several other clubs we had done in the area and some of the larger clubs we had done in New York. CSI: A “relationship,” huh? Tell me about another…relationship…with Robert “Lippy” Lippolis…How long have you been working with him? Dino: Over twenty years. Most of my career. He is, for lack of a better word, a sound guru. He’s done, not only nightclub installations since the early ‘70s, but live shows for Barry White, Radio City Music Hall and other places in the New York area. He’s been very close with people like Richard Belliveau from High End Systems. He always took their flagship stuff and brought it to the market. When the Intellabeams came out, he said “Great…let me have them.” When the Cyberlight came out, he always had to be the first. When Richard Belliveau dreams up something in his head that is just so out there, he always has to be the first. CSI: Yeah, we know all about this Belliveau character. You better give us a straight answer on this one. What kind of trouble does Mr. Belliveau have you in this time? Dino: A year-and-a-half ago, when this project was in the design phase, we had gotten wind of the DL.2 and its capabilities. We flew down to Texas. We saw the product. We said “That’s it. We need eight. We have to have them.” And that was the end of the story. CSI: You’re going to have to do better than that, Dino. I don’t believe that’s the end of the story… Dino: In the design phase — in talking with some of the people down there — everybody had cautioned Mr. Lippolis and myself: “Don’t build a dance floor.” That whole Miami feel of people just sitting down and doing nothing. We bucked convention. We informed the owners that they needed a dance floor as well as a light show. Bricks is an innovative situation because it’s the only permanent installation of eight DL.2s in the country right now. The project started in November of 2005, and completed in June of 2006. So it was a seven-and-a-halfmonth project. We’ve completely gutted the space and made it into something that is immaculate. I believe downstairs is 6000 square feet. There’s also a rooftop that we completely redid that’s maybe 4500 square feet. There had been several failed attempts in this space to make it a nightclub. It was in complete and utter disarray. A filthy warehouse would be a good way to describe it. It had that bad nightclub feel to it. That dark, dank, bad smelling — some place that you’d only want to be if you were inebriated, or otherwise affected, and wouldn’t notice your surroundings. CSI: That’s the kind of stuff I’m looking for. But we need more technical details. We need to know how this operation works. So keep talking. Dino: The dance floor is the centerpiece. The eight DL.2s are on the dance floor in an octagon configuration. In the center of the dance floor are these pieces of privacy glass. Privacy glass has the ability that, when you apply voltage to it, it goes clear; when you take away the voltage, it goes frosted. So this octagon in the center of the dance floor is one of the surfaces the DL.2s can project on. The use of the privacy glass as a projection medium seems to wow a lot of people on the industry side. No one ever thought of using a piece of glass. People had mentioned to us that DL.2s really need a central focal point. People were using the idea of screens or some type of retractable medium. But using electric glass was something that no one had re- 34 PLSN DECEMBER 2006 www.PLSN.com
ally thought of — probably because it was cost prohibitive. It’s a very expensive medium to project onto. And no one had really made the connection of “Oh, well, make the glass frosted.” It was kind of a “Duh” situation. In the center of the electric glass is a cryogenic fog effect using carbon dioxide. Not only do we have the ability to project on the eight frosted screens, but we can make that clear while we’re firing the cryogenic effect and have another level of projection medium. CSI: Well, I think Cold Case is looking for Ted Williams, but that’s another continued on page 55 Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info www.PLSN.com PLSN DECEMBER 2006 35
Page 1: Club Installs: Miami page 34 PROJEC
Page 4 and 5: Ad info: www.plsn.com/instant-info
Page 6 and 7: TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION EDITOR’SNO
Page 8 and 9: NEWS Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/i
Page 10 and 11: NEWS Atomic Tour Incites Panic LITI
Page 12 and 13: NEWS Letters to the Editor Hats off
Page 14 and 15: NEWS Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/i
Page 16 and 17: ONTHEMOVE A l t m a n Lighting, Inc
Page 18 and 19: INTERNATIONALNEWS National Theatre
Page 20 and 21: Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instan
Page 22 and 23: SHOWTIME Tribute to the Latin Gramm
Page 24 and 25: INSIDETHEATRE Capturing the Magic o
Page 26 and 27: VITALSTATISTICS Selecon HQ Selecon
Page 28 and 29: By Kevin M. Mitchell By KevinMitche
Page 30 and 31: John Brown of Brown United, smiling
Page 32 and 33: By RichardCadena Turmoil, Change, R
Page 34 and 35: PLSNINTERVIEW Visionary, Visualizer
Page 38 and 39: PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT By NookSchoenfeld
Page 40 and 41: NEWS Infor Conference Held in Orlan
Page 42 and 43: VIDEO NEW PRODUCTS » Da-Lite Serie
Page 44 and 45: feat ure Visuals for the Live Event
Page 46 and 47: VIDEO WORLD ByThomas.S Freeman It
Page 48 and 49: PRODUCTGALLERY Manufacturer Web Add
Page 50 and 51: A Christmas Production Poem ‘Twas
Page 52 and 53: FEEDINGTHEMACHINES Test Time at the
Page 54 and 55: TECHNOPOLIS Controlknobs Ad info:ht
Page 56 and 57: MARKETPLACE Ad info: www.plsn.com/i
Page 58 and 59: LDATLARGE By NookSchoenfeld Anyone?
Page 60: Ad info: www.plsn.com/instant-info

Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?