The Vienna Philharmonic invited audiences to the open-air Sommernachtskonzert (Summer Night Concert) for the 20th time this year – and a massive 50,000 spectators didn’t need to be asked twice. In addition, the free concert – one of Austria’s largest classical music events, set against the backdrop of the impressive Schönbrunn Palace – was set for broadcast in over 80 countries.

The Sommernachtskonzert has become an established tradition and for many Viennese it is impossible to imagine life without it. Lighting designer Jerry Appelt has emphasised in the past how much this concert means to him. Therefore, he and his team continue their work – and at the same time have created new highlights in the production, thanks to the help of some new GLP devices.

The GLP impression S350 Wash has been used for orchestra lighting for several years; this year 76 of the fixtures were deployed. The devices “impress with the lighting quality required by production for TV applications,” explains Appelt. “In addition, the light weight of these spots is an advantage, given the limited load-bearing capacity of the stage roof. That’s why they are an integral part of the lighting design at the Summer Night Concert.”

GLP’s impression X5 LED washlights have also been used for orchestra lighting for the past two years. As with all spotlights in the stage roof, the comparatively low weight also plays a role here. Sixty-one impression X5 Wash were part of this year’s lighting design.
However, 54 of the new, weatherproof GLP impression X5 IP Maxx were used for the first time, providing column lighting on the magnificent façade of Schönbrunn Palace. The impression X5 IP Maxx represents the much-praised colour quality of the X5 Series with an even higher output. The lighting designer favoured the new model in this application primarily for the “brilliant colours and the IP65 protection, which made it possible to forego additional rain protection in front of the historic facade”, he explains.

With 12 FUSION Creos, a completely new model also made its debut at the Summer Night Concert. The tiltable LED washlight with 18 40W RGBL LEDs, arranged in three lines, functions both as a single device and in combination with several other fixtures to create an overpowering LED bar. During the Summer Night Concert, all 12 devices were used on the Gloriette, which is around a kilometre from the palace, and is often seen by the TV cameras.

“The Creos impressed us both as architectural lighting and as single camera lighters,” says Appelt.

For the first time, the designer also used 52 of the ultra-compact and weatherproof (IP65) FUSION X-PAR 8Z LED PARs with zoom from FUSION by GLP to illuminate various statues in the extensive palace park. “The statues in the park were presented as decentralised highlights, concealing the necessary lighting technology in the foreground. The X-PAR 8Z can be used extremely effectively as small, inconspicuous uplights,” he explains. “They also have a very good zoom range for such a compact device in this performance class.”

Jerry Appelt’s design team additionally used eight GLP ArenaLED1 Touring for the ambient lighting at the Gloriette, which “were somewhat misused in this role, as they are actually arena floodlights, but nevertheless did a good job and were also very acceptable outdoor floodlights. We’re looking forward to actually using the fixtures in an arena context,” says the designer.

When a torrential thunderstorm began on the day of the dress rehearsal, the IP-certified fixtures from GLP demonstrated their reliability even under the presence of such heavy rain.

Finally, Jerry Appelt thanks the organisers of the event, as well as the Philharmonic Orchestra: “My team and I always look forward to the Summer Night Concert. This is not only due to the wonderful music in the unique open-air atmosphere, but especially to the constructive collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic. In particular we thank Johannes Schneider, as our contact person, as well as the organisers, Anneliese Pontiller and Zigo Mutschlechner, who help make the Summer Night Concert a local highlight as well as a cultural export hit.” Appelt also thanks the ORF (the Austrian Broadcast Corporation), and particularly Roberto Berkembrock, for the close cooperation.

Photo credit: Jack Langer.

The post More than 260 GLP fixtures illuminate the stage, Palace and park at the Summer Night Concert in Vienna appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

The show was directed by Mari Pogrebynska and Pavlo Zakrevskyi and included eye-catching lighting designed by Anton Semeniuk who utilised 32 Robe Spikie moving lights, six ColorWash 575s and a BMFL Follow Spot controlled via a RoboSpot system … among other lights, all supplied by Ukraine’s largest lighting rental company, Alight.

Like everything in Ukraine, the show, production and entertainment industry has adapted to the realities of wartime, and while Alight has moved much of its equipment inventory to Poland for the moment – for obvious reasons – Anton explained that he was still very keen to use whatever Robe kit was available at the time of the show.

“The stage space was too restricted to realise our initial ideas, so we found ourselves needing small but multifunctional devices, and Robe’s Spikie immediately came into my mind,” he explained.

Mari, Pavlo and Anton collaborated on the stage set design which included LED tubes rigged to create an abstract but interesting space. Within this were the band and their music which captures some of the spirit and the moments of Ukraine in 2024. The set concept was to have the three walls of lighting wrapping around the band leaving the fourth wall open at the front, inviting the audience in to join them.

Anton used Spikies for several tasks, including in an almost architectural context … to change the shape and meaning of the performance space as the band played through their 18 album songs. “The fixtures were a brilliant solution for setting and changing the look and styling,” he declared.

16 Spikies were hung on two rear trusses rigged in the roof and the other 16 were deployed across four vertical truss towers – stage left and right – on the deck.

Having a good number of Spikes in these different positions brought great dynamics and vibrance to the stage which radiated out into the packed audience.

He appreciated the speed of the fixtures and their ability to “create impressive effects”. He loves Robe’s patented multi-coloured Flower Effect which “perfectly complemented” certain points in the song lyrics and show narrative, helping to make each song distinctive.

He notes that Robe’s colour saturation and colour mixing in general is excellent and nicely matched across all the different fixture types.

For smooth high-quality key lighting and specials on lead singer Ivan Marunych, the BMFL FollowSpot was another great result. A standard follow spot would have been impractical and consumed a lot of space in the venue, so RoboSpot was “a logical option,” confirmed Anton.

The BMFL FollowSpot was rigged on a separate front truss, with the RoboSpot operator located backstage.

The six ColorWash 575s – one of Robe’s best sellers from the noughties and still going strong so many years later – are a testament to their great build quality and Robe’s reputation for engineering excellence. They were hung on the front truss and used for general stage washes.

The biggest challenge for any show or performance staged in Ukraine right now is unwanted interruptions – typically by air raid alerts, missile and drone attacks or power outages.

Thankfully, none of these occurred during this show and the band delivered a fantastic set that delighted their fans.

The opportunity to work on this show alone was the most enjoyable aspect for Anton. “When the whole team unites to realise a great show and you see everything perfectly harmonised with band and audience on the same wavelength … it’s very special! It’s such a great feeling,” he says with passion.

He is also the first to compliment the great technical team from Alight who helped make everything happen, including crew chief Andrii Konovalyuk.

For audio and video, the band utilised the Bel Etage in-house systems.

Anton’s first interactions with stage lighting started when aged 9, operating a follow spot for his father Fedir, who is also an LD, and was a big inspiration for him to make lighting his professional career. In 2015 he became a freelance LD working with a variety of artists both in Ukraine and internationally, and he now designs lighting for clubs, bands and theatre shows.

He first worked with Robe in 2018 at a club in Prague, “It was an extraordinary experience!” he recalls, and he has specified Robe products ever that time since whenever possible.

He’s also recently used Robe fixtures on projects at the new Leoland complex in Lviv, installed last year by Robe distributor Sound House from Dnipro, and at the Lviv Opera and Ballet Theatre.

He thinks Robe’s marketing and communication channels are very strong in illustrating how the products are used worldwide – from small clubs and art installations to huge tours and television shows, “enabling everyone to stay abreast of the latest news and trends in our field!”

Photo by Andrew Kharlamov.

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Next to the vehicle itself, the highlight of the Team X-produced reveal, was a performance by Travis Scott. The Grammy-winning, platinum artist didn’t appear on any ordinary stage, either. Instead, he was driven out in the new Mercedes on a platform that appeared to be floating in the lake! For good measure, he performed some songs while standing atop the shimmering blue vehicle.

Seeing a world-class artist and a stunning car on a stage surrounded by water in a canyon that oozed natural beauty was a breathtaking experience. But, as always, this magical moment, was backed by a lot of hard work and brilliant technology.

Seth Bernstein, who led the lighting team, used 68 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes supplied by Volt Lites. He described what went into making this memorable experience a reality:

“This was an impressive accomplishment. Scuba divers built an elevated stage in the park’s decommissioned reservoir. This presented immense challenges, as we didn’t want to distract from the beauty of the environment with excessively visible fixtures or positions.  Also, the audience walked in during the last hour of daylight, so we wanted to keep the rig discrete so people would be highly surprised by all the show elements. Since this was the world premiere of the all-Electric G Wagon, lighting the vehicle reveal was a huge focal point for the show planning. Niklas Bildstein Zaar and his team at Sub Global in Berlin, our talented creative directors, chose a piece by lighting artist Boris Acket called “Sunrise For Sleepers” which consists of a simulated sunrise in an indoor environment.

“Boris and I collaborated on adapting this idea in the canyon setting, using a 24,000-Watt Tungsten Fresnel fixture on a 55’ techno-crane,” continued Bernstein. “As the car drove out, the ‘sun’ appeared to rise over the lake. The amount of technical planning and blind luck that went into making this happen was staggering. Boris was a pleasure to work with. Killswitch Rigging and Volt Lites put their heads together to mount and power the huge fixture on the crane and StrictlyFX provided all the atmosphere to render the sunrise and hide the techno arm and base.”

With the exception of a few selectively employed keys lights, Bernstein relied exclusively on color washes and strobes from his Color STRIKE M fixtures, along with laser effects. “The creative direction called for a huge amount of atmosphere, which needed to be colour toned for each song,” he explained.  “Because we were using these very pure and bold Laser effects, I wanted to be careful about using any fixtures that would create visible beams that would clash. The Color STRIKE Ms had that perfect brightness and colour range, but also didn’t distract the Lasers.”

Technical directors ST. ROBO, Nik Evers and Markus Eibl recounted how the fixtures helped make the even run smoothly, even with uncertain weather conditions. “Given that the Mercedes-Benz electric G-Class Premier took place at an outdoor venue by a reservoir, the weather was unpredictable — and indeed it went from intense sunlight to sudden rain showers. Thanks for the all-weather IP65 capabilities of the Color STRIKE M, we didn’t have to worry about covering or protecting them constantly. Their reliability and durability made the event seamless and visually stunning despite the challenging conditions. We frequently deploy and specify these fixtures, appreciating the consistent performance and robust design.”

The Color STRIKE M fixtures were positioned “everywhere they could possibly go given the complexity of the lake bed” noted Bernstein. There were only two spots where the soil could support towers being build. So, Killswitch constructed 24-foot towers in a space nestled between the trees on the shore. There were also some boom lifts on the access road where fixtures were lifted above the tree line. Aside from that, the production team installed a row of  “Color STRIKE M footlights” for Travis Scott on the base of the guest deck (which was also build in the lake), while other fixtures were scattered in clearings on the perimeter walking path.

Speaking of the Color STRIKE M units in his rig, Bernstein said, “How strong is this fixture? It took only 68 Color STRIKES to light an entire canyon. At one point someone standing on the access road told me that we changed the colour of the sky!”

The high output Color STRIKE M fixtures were used to create a variety of colour washes that played off brilliantly against the shadows and dark spaces. “Red was a huge element of the show, due to the artist material and the way that red makes water look other-worldly,” said Bernstein. “Cyan, amber and the white center cell of this fixture also played very prominently in the colour choices.”

With limited dark time available in the canyon, the entire production team had to bring its A-game to achieve these results. “We had no timecode and no artist rehearsal,” said Bernstein. “So, a huge credit goes to the programmers Joe Watrach on lights and Nick Meyer on Lasers, as well as our pre vis model builders at Earlybird. We also couldn’t have done this without Blue Revolver, our lead fabricator, and the Mercedes team, including Clair Global, ST. ROBO, and Bullitt Productions.”

Bernstein described the entire project as “a huge team effort.” That ingredient — along with some powerful technology, will make magic happen every time.

Photo credit: Jamal Eid/Getty Images.

The post Seth Bernstein lights Mercedes-Benz Electric Vehicle World Premiere with Chauvet Professional appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Renaldo specified over 200 Robe moving lights to ensure that the high-energy-high-profile live broadcast on SABC was enjoyed by a massive TV audience as well as several thousand excited music fans catching the action in Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

This year, 19 sizzling hot Awards were presented, with the lifetime achievement award going to Oskido, and multiple live performances followed the Awards, with a full-on festival-style concert offering another glittering line up of Africa’s finest.

Johannesburg-based MGG Productions supplied a full technical, structural and set solution and Renaldo collaborated closely with MGG’s technical stylist and project manager, Tamsyn Strydom, to imagine an epic production design for their client, the agency Dzinge Productions.

This year’s Metro Awards theme ‘Black to the Future’ offered plenty of creative scope.

Tamsyn and Renaldo received a brief from their client, Shandu Nesengani MD of Dzinge Productions, regarding the look and aesthetic he wanted to achieve, which was slick and futuristic.

They proposed a series of complementary geometric shapes created with LED video elements which set the architectural parameters and assisted the narratives by showing tailored content, and the set developed from that base idea.

When it came to lighting, Renaldo has always been a big fan of Robe products and like many in South Africa, he’s grown up with the brand which has had a strong presence thanks to the proactivity and hard work of distributor, DWR Distribution.

“We needed bright fixtures to punch through the numerous LED screens, and feature-rich lights with multiple options to keep the energy pumping and ensure that all the segments looked different and distinctive,” he explained.

Shandu was keen on having a progressive and unique portal appearance, so Tamsyn and Renaldo created several different ‘worlds’ within their defined stage space and decided on the very ‘technical’ look for the broadcast space.

Three double-sided triangular screens were flown above mid-stage, and upstage at the back was a masked semi-circular screen. An array of 5 x different sized LED columns were hung on both sides of the stage at different heights, and all the surfaces were of different pitches for added texturing.

Having worked on several projects with MGG, Renaldo knows their inventory which includes hundreds of Robe products purchased via steady investment over the years.

He started with key lighting.

“I knew that ESPRITES were available and that was great for quality light output, intensity and power, plus the excellent shuttering system, all of which were exactly what I needed,” he commented.

Twenty-eight ESPRITES were dotted around the overhead trusses.

Renaldo then chose Robe BMFLs – a combination of Blades, WashBeams and Spots – for his secondary keys and specials – utilising 38 BMFL fixtures in total. “BMFL is still one of my favourite moving lights,” he enthused.

Once the screens were all in place, the lighting positions were calculated so the ESPRITES and BMFLs could light from behind or across the whole set, and also function well for additional effects and looks capturing the action.

They specifically paid attention to multiple camera angles and how to fill the back-of-shots with both lighting and video, explained Renaldo, “We focussed on creating big, beautiful production shots and close up detailing, taking inspiration from broadcast and live show production visuals.”

Renaldo worked in tandem with Watchout operator Dylan Findlay who was outputting all the screens content, which was mostly supplied by the producers, to make sure that lighting would support or contrast the video content at any given moment.

He chose Robe’s Spiider for his primary wash lights: “They are reliable and predictable in terms of lighting characteristics, so overall great fixtures!”  As they can be pixel mapped, he could programme and run corresponding sequences to match with the video effects at specific times.

In between the triangular screens were lighting ladders rigged with 16 MegaPointes and 24 Pointes which enabled an abundance of different scenes, looks that transformed the stage and set looks. They were positioned at different heights to enhance the depth of the whole space.

“I programmed a number of different layers of lighting that I could grab and mix into the bigger pictures, and into the large production scenes, some of which I needed to create on the fly,” he stated, alluding to the pressure and fast pace of this broadcast.

For set and performer dressing, 20 Robe Tetra2 moving LED battens were deployed on the floor and these helped merge the stage with the LED screens. The pixel map-ability of the Tetra2s helped this plan, and Renaldo ensured that there was always some content running through the Tetra2s even if extremely subtle.

“They really pack a punch and are also great as side lights,” he commented.

Thirty-six LEDBeam 350s lined the two ramps, grouped in clusters of three and on the deck for dressing. “I needed something small and unobtrusive that could be tucked in amongst the presenters and guests.”

The lighting was designed and programmed so all angles were covered with plenty of movement, colour changing and other kinetic effects for the camera positions to feast on.

Another major objective was to ensure that the long shots really captured the scale and stature of the stage and the substance and impact of the design. “It’s an outdoor stadium show, and it needed to have that grand sense of occasion,” underlines Renaldo, adding, “All these Robe products worked brilliantly in helping to achieve this goal.”

While Robe moving lights were the main fixtures, the rig which also had some strobes, moles and other linear LED battens, adding up to a total of 40 DMX universes running via a grandMA full-size console.

The challenge was balancing all the design elements that were technically driven by it being a large broadcast event in a dynamic live show environment … that needed to be controlled enough to work for TV.

“It was all about finding equilibrium between the live, live broadcast and staging in a big outdoor venue element,” concluded Tamsyn. “I wanted an impressive overall look that translated for all media, and that also worked when cutting to close ups and SFX,” for which she and Renaldo worked closely with camera director Leticia Masina and the team from the SABC.

On site, the lighting team was co-ordinated by MGG crew chief Lefeti Kambile who did a fantastic job of ensuring that the build process was efficient and well organised.

All of this great teamwork brought spectacular results and another Metro FM Awards show for everyone to remember.

Photos: Siphiwe Mhlambi.

The post Robe for the 2024 Metro FM Awards appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

To bring the rock opera to life, Zieve and lighting programmer Colin Scott met with Production Resources Group to for a shootout of high-output moving heads. “When I saw the VL3600, I immediately fell in love with it,” said Zieve. “I was particularly concerned with the colour temperature of the engine without colour in it, and when I looked at the VL3600, I loved the colour temperature of it. It was very important to me that people actually look good standing in that native white light. That way, I didn’t have to overcorrect it. I could get the maximum amount of light coming out of it, and it was going to look good on someone.”

“The open white beam on those is really crisp and clean and just the quality of the optics was really, really great,” agreed Scott. “Once we saw the VL3600 compared to everything else, its brightness and colour blew anything else out of the water. Just the intensity and the colour we could get and a lot of the beamage, including the dichroic animation wheel, was phenomenal for us. It had really beautiful, saturated colours and also didn’t have the major colour fringing issues that a lot of LED fixtures have. So we’re able to get really clean, crisp looks out of it in saturated colour without compromising what we were doing.”

The colours in the VL3600 were a key deciding factor, given this new version of TOMMY features a tightly controlled colour palette across lighting, projection, costume, and set design. “All of Tommy’s individual traumas are coloured like a thread in a tapestry,” explained Zieve. “By sticking to this palette and being very monochromatic in those choices per scene, then when we get ‘Pinball,’ we’re allowed to kaleidoscope that. Tommy’s whole world is opening up, and we tie that thing in the past to this thing happening now.”

Part of that design requirement meant the colours needed to be consistent across fixtures, something the VL3600 excelled at. “The colour calibration too was very uniform,” said Zieve. “I wouldn’t run into, you know, this one just looks like a slight more magenta or anything. And it would have been noticeable, even though we’re basically in a black set.”

“The fixtures were remarkably good as far as colour calibration and consistency of colour between fixtures,” added Scott. “We’ve had a lot of issues recently with other products in that class, where every fixture is different. With the VL3600s, these were incredibly consistent and reliable.”

Zieve and Scott also both praised the gobo and animation capabilities in the VL3600. Zieve praised the colour animation wheel, which she said reminded her of the colour dots on the VL3500. Scott had many nice things to say about the stock gobo selection as well saying that “everything in the VL3600 felt really right,” providing a broad range of options from tight blobs and breakups to large psychedelic looks.

“The VL3600s were the workhorses of the production,” explains Scott. “They could do tight specials or do large template ideas in the air, anything from really small, tight theatrical moments to big rock ‘n’ roll numbers. The VL3600 was able to do all those things.”

A big fan of the original VL3500, Zieve simply concluded, “Something about when I first turned on the VL3600. Even just looking at the light and standing by it, any of that, I was like, ‘I think this is the new 3500 that we’ve been waiting for’.”

Photo credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.

The post Vari-Lite VL3600s bring beautiful native white and saturated colours to The Who’s TOMMY appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Supplied by Upstaging, the high-output IP65-rated fixtures were positioned throughout the rig by LD  Shaheem Litchmore. From these positions they created a glow over the performance area. The fixtures also flashed their colour rendering prowess, blasting out a rainbow of dynamic chase sequences.

Every bit of the Color STRIKE M’s versatility was needed, as Coldplay took the gigantic crowd on a multifarious musical journey.

Just as the Color STRIKE M was touching eyes and hearts on Saturday night, another CHAUVET Professional fixture was making waves (quite literally!) on the Pyramid Stage the night earlier for Friday headliner Dua Lipa. Lining the contour of the stage and thrust deck, was the COLORado PXL Curve 12, supplied by LCR. LD Matt Pitman and the Pixelmappers team created a flowing visual accompaniment to the high energy moves of the Grammy and Brit Award winner as she banged out 15 of her Top 40 hits surrounded by lithe dancers.

The big Friday night crowd danced right along with Dua Lupa and the performers on stage. Joining them step-for-pulsating-step, with its 12 independently controlled moving heads, was the COLORado PXL Curve 12.

The excitement generated by CHAUVET Professional fixtures on the Pyramid Stage wasn’t limited to the Friday and Saturday headliners. Earlier Saturday evening, 174 of the company’s STRIKE Array 1 blinders, supplied by GLS, supported the performance of Mercury winner, Michael Kiwanuka. The STRIKE units accented the ecstatic psychedelic soul sound of the artist on stage thanks to an inspired lightshow by Ed Warren, and run by Amy Barnett.

With its IP 65-rated fixtures lighting up the Pyramid stage for headlines on two successive nights, as well as one of the festival’s more memorable shows by a rising star, CHAUVET Professional had a lot to celebrate at Glastonbury 2024.

The post CHAUVET Professional lights Glastonbury Pyramid Stage for Headliners appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

As a result, when it collaborated with fellow design company DoLaB to present its unique MACROdose dance music stage for the first time at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, it were able to integrate large quantities of its recently acquired impression X5 IP Bar 1000s, X5 IP Maxx and much-coveted JDC2 IP to animate a series of ‘fabric mushroom’ sculptures which looked like they had just sprouted out of the desert grass.

DoLaB itself is a collective comprising brothers Dede, Jesse and Josh Flemming which builds bespoke architectural and art pieces. The installation itself consisted of nine oversized, satellite-shaped sculptures distributed across a field, under which festivalgoers could get some shade, rest and dance. Maktive delivered all the lighting and took care of the programming.

Maktive director Bryan McClanahan, who co-founded the partnership with Patrick Randall, explains that the two companies had collaborated on avantgarde art projects in the past: “For Coachella we were asked whether we could come up with a couple of different scenarios with different lighting configurations.

The goal was to keep as many lights hidden as possible, but obviously some fixtures needed to be unobstructed.” Those that they chose to reveal included FUSION by GLP Exo Beam 10 and JDC2 IPs. Meanwhile, up inside each of the mushroom type shapes were the X5 IP Bar and also the X5 IP Maxx – part of a burgeoning fleet of GLP new generation solutions in its rental inventory.

But it is the new JDC2 IP, offering more power and creativity than its predecessor, which has excited the company the most. Significantly, it offers the ability to create unique digital effects with an individually controllable pixel matrix. A powerful built-in dual-Cortex CPU with graphic processing offers over 100 GLP DigiFX, giving an eye-watering range of digital content.

“We first saw them at LDI,” says McClanahan. “For us it clicked right away the second we saw them in the booth.” He ordered 150 pieces in what the Maktive director describes as a blind purchase. “For us, this is our largest investment in a single type of fixture. We could see that the in-built 128-channel mode DigiFX were really a digital gobo that could be manipulated with X and Y coordinates like a moving head.”

“At Coachella they really got to shine.” As for the X5 IP Maxx and X5 IP Bars, they were placed inside each of the mushroom-type shapes. “The Bars themselves were mounted from the inside of a pole through the middle of the mushrooms, shooting outwards from the centre, and we mounted the X5 IP Maxx on the outer tips of the mushrooms shooting in. They did all the heavy lifting, illuminating the mushrooms with no uplighting – the mushrooms almost glowed from the inside out.”

It provided a perfect scenario for a star-studded line-up of artists, the DoLaB stage hosting performances from Chase & Status, Alesso, Anna Lunoe and DJ Tennis, plus back-to-back sets by Kaskade and Alison Wonderland and an impromptu party hosted by Billie Eilish.

“We were able to provide the lighting entirely from the GLP catalogue,” confirms the Maktive director in conclusion. “And the fact we were able to match the chipsets meant we got an even homogenous colour.”

Maktive’s Coachella production team comprised Bryan McClanahan (creative director); Jeury Duran (lighting director); Chris Hallet (project manager – day); Ernesto Melendrez (project manager – night); Kylie Woods (creative manager); Nicolai Anderson (lighting drafter); Shane Thompson (master electrician); and Nate Heiderer (video programmer).

Photo credit: Jamal Eid.

The post JDC2 IP helps Maktive bring MACROdose ‘mushroom’ stage to life at Coachella 2024 appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Joe Murray is also a founding director, and they and the team are all big fans of Astera, having first started hearing about the brand a few years back when the neon lighting look was very popular in Australia.

The first Astera products to arrive at Sightline were AX1 PixelTubes that joined the inventory in 2019, a figure that’s now jumped to over 50 fixtures.

In addition to these, they also have AX2 LED battens, AX3 LiteDrops, AX5 TriplePARs, AX9 PowerPARs, as well as the 2 metre Hyperion Tubes and the half metre Helios Tubes, totalling over 200 Astera battery-powered LED products.

These have become invaluable for all types of event scenarios and the continuing commitment has recently seen 2 cases (16 total) of AX3 LightDrops added to stock – joining 80 domes for the AX5s which can be used as set enhancements. They are now looking at Astera’s Fresnel series.

Sightline’s biggest project to date using Astera involved over 200 AX1 tubes that lined an interactive entrance tunnel to an event for software and graphics brand Canva, at The Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Technically Directed by Sightline’s Kim Louey-Gung.

AX1 tubes were also used for the Netflix season launch of the newest Stranger Things series where they – together with other Astera fixtures – help to create an actual “upside down world”.

It’s almost become an in-joke at Sightline in terms of how often AX1s are used, as Astera products are perfect for so many applications and as ultimately useful creative tools, frequently requested on different jobs.

The Sightline team feels the tubes in particular are a brilliant ‘gap filler’ for streamed shows or presentations with cameras and is impressed with the selection of rigging and mounting accessories that come with an Astera package making the lights “super quick and convenient” to deploy pretty much anywhere.

AX3s are super-handy and were recently used on a corporate event fitted to the top of a set piece due to their tiny size, and they are regularly dropped into stage as they are so easily concealed yet have great visual impact.

“Being able to use this many battery-powered fixtures on a show, event or stage set is amazing and so practical… allowing for quick and cable-free looks,” explained Joe.

Mostly the Sightline crew will use the Astera App on an iPad for controlling the fixtures.

The quality of the light output from all the different Astera luminaires “is excellent” notes Adriano, especially the AX5s and AX9s which are frequently used for set and key lighting on stage and in studios. They appreciate the colours, especially the pastels and the warm whites and AX9s can produce an excellent stage wash.

“The batteries will last all day, so combined with the very organic look that blends in so well, the accessibility and incredible versatility of the luminaires – they are good for anywhere and everywhere,” says Adriano.

When LDs, lighting directors, operators or clients know that a company has Astera onboard, “everyone takes you seriously – the name has proper kudos and industry standard status,” he enthused.

On average, Sightline will supply equipment to around 30 projects a month of different sizes, often including the lighting design, and Astera fixtures will invariably be somewhere on the event.

A vital element of investment in any kit is the service expected from the supplier, and Astera’s Australia and New Zealand distributor ULA Group is “second to none. For any busy rental/production company, knowing you have great service, support and backup when needed is all important,” Adriano concluded.

They look forward to continuing their symbiotic relationship with Astera.

Photos courtesy of Sightline. Canva Create. – Produced by The Event Room. Netflix Stranger Things Launch – Produced by INVNT.

The post Sightline Productions keeps Astera in sight appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Kathy & Stella arrives in London following its previous sell-out runs in Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol. Peter describes it as ‘a big, fun, in-your-face musical that’s packed with comedy and colour. It’s busy and fast and the pace and tempo just keeps increasing as the night goes on!”. Being a comedy, a musical and a whodunit, the show covers a variety of genres – all of which Peter had to encompass into his lighting design. He explains: “The lighting works very hard to support the fast-paced storytelling, which features numerous musical numbers which each have their own identity and aesthetic. On top of that, the lighting has almost empathetic qualities, moving with the characters ebb and flow of energy during certain moments. My challenge was to hit all of these emotive and technical briefs yet do so within the contained, boxed-in nature of the set”.

Prior to its transfer to the West End, the show, naturally, underwent several changes, from its original staging through to now. However, it would need to continue changing when it eventually arrived in the capital. Peter states: “The main challenge for us was trying to fit the show into The Ambassador’s which is by far our smallest theatre to date! This took a lot of close work across departments and the theatre to ensure everything could fit. Safe to say the theatre is full, wall to wall, top to bottom. We’ve even removed the theatres’ equipment substage and stored it off site to make space for racks and follow spot controllers”.

This confined space meant that Peter had to be meticulous with his lighting design and find new solutions to be both creative yet practical – which is where the Macula system came into play. Macula is a fixture-agnostic remote-controlled followspot system, offering unprecedented performance thanks to its incredibly high-resolution fluid head and simple, yet powerful, software control. Perfect for venues in which traditional followspot solutions just aren’t feasible, it gives users the organic feel of handling a followspot and is compatible with numerous manufacturers’ fixtures.

He comments: “Previously, we had used traditional follow spots but the limited space within The Ambassadors meant this just wouldn’t be possible. That said, my design utilised the spots, in this case Ayrton Eurus, almost the entire time with many fast moving targets (people whizzing about on modified desk chairs with rollerblade wheels on!) so I had to find some sort of solution to make this work. Whilst it had yet to be used on a West End show, I’d seen the Macula System at various tradeshows before, and so asked WL’s Stuart Porter to arrange a demonstration of the equipment for this production. I was keen to be able to use a fixture of my choice, that would be bright, responsive, stable and have the support to enable a smooth process as we set-up home at the Ambassadors.

He comments: “I’m delighted to say that using the Macula system was a complete success. Once the system was up and running, the operators quickly got their head around it and were using it with complete ease. As we fine-tuned the show, the system itself brought forward some quite interesting revelations. For example, it allowed us to program all the fade ups which resulted in a much smoother pickup rather than the operator trying to control the intensity fader and follow at the same time. Similarly, it also allowed for the (expected) perks of snap blackouts etc. In short, it’s a system which paid dividends on this production and which I would use again a heartbeat”.

Alongside the Macula System, Peter’s rig consisted of SIXPARS, Viper Performances, Auras, ColorSource Spots, various atmospherics and a slew of generics. There is also a significant array of practical lighting, including metres of LED tape, LED pixel festoons, LED neons, light boxes, light bulb signs, fake fluorescent fittings, pendants, smaller practical lamps, fairy lights, rope lights, LED tubes, disco lights and mirror balls, custom-commissioned wireless practicals (light up phones and books) as well as a brand new concept in making a light up Laptop (software provided by Doug Finlay).

Peter explains: “The SIXPARs are the DNA of the design, given the whole rig is visible and largely symmetric (by choice). These are most prevalent as a toplight grid which is used for power and impact as well as a plethora of effects and ways of breaking up the space. This logic is repeated in a sidelight system with the high component being Auras which then can do various focuses in the air/stage/house when not resting in a pipe end focus. Mixed in with the high amount of LED sources is a lot of tungsten to cut through it all and just glowing them into the design can really make a costume pop or fill out a picture. I’ve enjoyed pulling at the extremes of a big, strong saturated LED look and then going to a very dim solo tungsten source. The show is ultimately very human and it’s important to me to have that tungsten element firmly in the mix”.

WL’s Hire Business Development Manager Stuart Porter states: “We’re thrilled to be working with Peter on this show – even more so due to the fact that this marks the first time that the Macula System has been used in the West End. As a company, our ethos is to work closely with designers and ensure we provide with them exact tools and technology to bring their design to life – which is exactly what we did on this occasion. Given this initial success, I’m sure the Macula system will now be part of many West End lighting designs moving forward”.

Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! opened at The Ambassador’s Theatre last week and will run until 14^th September 2024.

Photo courtesy of Ellie Kurttz.

The post Kathy & Stella becomes first West End show to use Macula System thanks to White Light appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.

Lighting Designer Tom Kenny utilised Elation lighting for both the indoor and outdoor stages at the 2024 CMT Music Awards earlier this spring. The lighting package, supplied by 4Wall, included PROTEUS EXCALIBUR, ARTISTE MONDRIAN, and DARTZ 360 luminaires, among other fixtures.

Broadcast live from the Moody Center on the University of Texas campus in Austin, performances took place inside and on an outdoor stage in front of the iconic University of Texas Tower. Lighting direction for the indoor show was by Felix Peralta, David “Fuji” Convertino, and Michelle Griesmer, with Han Henze and Matt Piercy handling lighting direction on the outdoor stage. Production design was by Anne Brahic, her 15^th year working the awards show.

Kenny was in his 12^th year designing for the CMTs and his experience and proven approach are integral to the successful team effort. After familiarising himself with the songs, he works closely with the production team regarding camera angles to make sure the lighting looks compelling for the millions of at-home viewers, and after rehearsal time tweaks the lighting to ensure the artist is fully satisfied. Kenny says he strives to make the lighting unique each time, adding drama while staying within the architectural look that Anne Brahic and her team have created. Video, naturally, was a dominant aspect of the look and the designer worked purposefully with color to blend lighting with video, harmonising the LED screens with complementary lighting.

Elation lighting was prominently featured, especially outdoors at the UT Tower stage, where IP65-rated PROTEUS EXCALIBUR beam effects were required to withstand rain while lighting up the entire skyline. “I love these fixtures,” Kenny said, emphasising that the Texas weather was always a factor, making IP fixtures a priority on the outdoor set. He placed the EXCALIBURS upstage on the deck, behind the band. “Their power and luminance had to be dialed back to avoid overwhelming the scene,” he said. “It’s great when a light is already too bright and it’s all up to the designer to correct it.”

Additional to the Elation package were DARTZ 360 LED beam/spot fixtures, small moving heads that feature a tight 3-degree beam. Their compact size and light weight allowed Kenny to position them throughout the house and on the University walls in the outdoor rig. Kenny says the Dean of the University loved how they lit the buildings and foliage, remarking that they even asked for his contact details post-show so they could acknowledge him personally. “It’s always an interesting life being a lighting designer for CMT as they’re always breaking the rules on where a location should be,” Kenny comments. “It’s what makes these shows fan favourites.”

The CMT Music Awards made their return to Austin for a second consecutive year, after more than twenty years in Nashville, fully embracing Texas’s current status as a hotbed of country music. Inside at the main show, Production Designer Anne Brahic highlighted the city of Austin and its Congress Street Bridge with an asymmetrical set that extended to the heights of the venue and into the audience.

To cover the space, a large lighting package was used to light both set and talent, and included Elation’s 51,000-lumen ARTISTE MONDRIAN LED profile fixture. The MONDRIAN, with its strong beam and 7-flag SpectraColor system, were used both in the main show and throughout the outdoor rig at UT tower. “The Mondrians cut through the strong video sources with the strong palettes created by Trevor Burke and Kat Folts,” Kenny remarked.

Onstage, the celebration of country music featured a host of stellar performances that thrilled fans and spanned the breadth of what country music is today. Behind the scenes, a collaborative production team worked tirelessly to ensure another year of success.

Photo: Catherine Powell/Getty Images for CMT.

The post Tom Kenny uses Elation indoors and out at 2024 CMT Music Awards appeared first on A1 Lighting Magazine.