The Strike Nineteens hail from Scotland and recently shot this video using four iPhones and one COLORado™ Batten 72 TOUR (which makes a cameo appearance!). Thanks to their sound engineer, Ian Green, for sharing this with us.
Six Questions with Thomas Aratanha Fonseca
Lighting Designer and Account Manager for Kor Media & Lighting
1. How did you get into this field?
I started as an actor studying at Uni-Rio in Brazil. When it came time for everyone to leave the theater so the stagehands could have the stage, I just wanted to stay. I loved being in the theater and ended up doing a little bit of everything. I started designing small productions for friends and before I knew it I had completely shifted my focus towards lighting.
2. What do you think is the next big thing in the lighting industry?
Because my focus is more in theatrical lighting, I would have to say an LED that could replace the ETC Source4. A fixture that is equivalent to a 575-watt or a 750-watt lamp and is quiet. Color temperature of LEDs is getting better and better. I think every theater, church, or production company would buy a fixture like it in a heartbeat.
3. Do you have a favorite fixture (and why)?
I’ve worked quite a bit with the Colorado™ 1-Tri Tour. It’s great for backwash because of its tri-lensing as well as for incredible color mixing. Although it’s only a one-watt LED, it has great output and works perfectly for the theaters (where I mostly work) that have a trim of 21′ or less. Also, I’ve been truly impressed by the Clay Paky Sharpy. It has an incredible output and it looks great.
4. What has been your favorite design/project?
One of my favorite designs would have to be working for YoungArts and being part of the alumni show. We had to put together a show that included artists from all different backgrounds. There were performers such as, a ballet dancer and a visual artist, a classical cellist and a pop singer, or a film maker and a jazz sax player. If that wasn’t enough, we only had a week to create it from scratch, tech it, and perform it. It was a great experience.
5. What was the biggest unforeseen obstacle that you’ve faced in one of your designs, and how did you overcome it?
I suffered every lighting designer’s nightmare. After finishing lighting and teching a full performance, I came back the next day for a dress rehearsal and was told the board lost ALL my cues. I went crazy of course and almost killed my programmer, but the end everyone said that the cues looked better the second time around.
6. Complete this thought: A show without light is like…A snail without a shell… SLIMY!!
We believe this to be true. Admittedly, we have a love affair with light—light fixtures, light design and lighting in general. Lighting has infected us.
Light breathes life into any design: concert stages, theater, interior spaces and skylines. For us, it has added life to our booth at LDI, which will embody our current expression of loving light and its infectious nature. We have created a small wondrous world filled with the many ways light can be articulated, as well as a visual platform to show case our new and exciting products.
Imagine interlocked video walls made from our modular MVP™ Series surrounding a space especially created for our Q-Wash™ 560Z LED moving heads and Epix™ Series of pixel mapping fixtures. Overhead creeps a spidery truss design where our COLORado™ Zoom Tour static wash lights will hang alongside the awesome quad-colored Legend™ 412 moving yoke.
The look will ensnare you. Our infectious new products will captivate you. Get infected by light at booth 183.
The last leg of Miranda Lambert’s tour, “The Revolution Continues“, has begun and with it a revved up light show from Chris Lisle. We were able to get some behind-the-scenes photos of the new stage design. On deck are COLORado™ Batten 72 TOUR linear wash lights and Legend™ 300E Beam moving heads.
Our Global Sales Director, Stéphane Gressier, shared this gorgeous photograph of a building in the European city of Batumi, Georgia on the square called Era Square. It features, 121 COLORado™ 3p IP and 33 COLORado™ 1 IP. The fixtures were specified by Sound Design Studio LLC.
Dwight Slamp, Business Development Manager for Production/Touring, is on the road. He stopped at the Grand Ole Opry and took a couple of photos of our COLORado™ Series in action. Check them out.
The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville is equipped with 72 COLORado™ 1 Tour fixtures as down lights.
Here is a shot of Tyler Bryan (Opry LD) controlling 400+ COLORado™ fixtures from his GrandMA console.
Another shot of the Opry stage with some awesome color combinations.
Global Sales Director, Stéphane Gressier, and Business Development Manager for Latin American, Paula Ortiz, are in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the 28th annual Expomusic 2011, an international music fair. More to come on their adventure, but for now we have these great photos. Lots of COLORado™ wash lights have been spotted!
There are three COLORado™ 1-TRI Tour static wash lights spotted in the lobby of Neutrik®. Check it out.
Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby.
Mike Graham looking pensive in front of MVP™ video panels
Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional
After a very successful PLASA, I would like to thank a few people. First, I want to thank Sam from our CHAUVET® Europe office for being the consummate professional during the buildup, the show, and tear down, as well as programming a great booth. I know I can count on you. Great job!
Secondly, I want to thank the crew from VME for bringing it all together at the end and getting us all of the kit we needed to build up the booth (and for all of the good humor). P.S. I am going to work out the comfortable rigging harness for you guys for next year.
Last, but not least, I need to thank the tireless efforts of our CHAUVET® Europe and international sales team, along with our U.S.-based tradeshow coordinators, for bringing all of the marketing, sales, and general good attitudes that I know I can depend on.
Great job everyone! Looking forward to next year. (Last year at Earls Court, I think.)
UPDATE 9/29/11: Photos from the show. (Thanks to Stéphane Gressier!)
"Sleeper hit" fixture the LFS-5
LFS-5 and COLORado™ Zoom Tour
– Mike Graham, looking pensive in front of MVP™ video panels
Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional
I’m at PLASA 2011. We are getting the show ready and for the second time, we are right in front of the doors leading to Earls Court 2. For those of you who have been to Earls Court, you know that right before those doors, the floor of the hall tilts up a little. That tilt is where the stages are when the big shows come in. 
Anyone who knows me knows I am a big Pink Floyd fan. In fact, I’m writing this blog and listening to “P•U•L•S•E Live at Earls Court”. It actually sends a chill down my spine to think that I am lucky enough to build up a rig and help design and program lights in the exact spot where some of the greatest shows have ever been produced. Not only was PULSE here in 1994, but the original “The Wall” was also staged here in 1980 and again in 1981. It is a mind-blowing thing for me to think about those shows and in my own little way, I can pay tribute to those who have come before me and produced some of the greatest shows ever. Not only has Pink Floyd made history there, but many others including Led Zeppelin, Genesis, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Elton John, U2, and Madonna have played sold-out multi-night shows there. Some of the world’s best lighting designers have held court right there where our booth is.
Pink Floyd at Earls Court, 1973
For some reason, I feel totally at ease working here in this space. I’m not sure if is the history of the room, or if it the intimacy of working in a smaller space than at trade shows like LDI or Pro Light + Sound. I look forward to coming back here year after year and doing our show in the same place. Right here, where the floor tilts.
Today, I heard a terrible rumor (as if there is any other kind). I heard within the next two years, Earls Court Exhibition Centre would face its own demise. I also just read about it online. Looks like this venue will be torn down to make way for 8,000 flats. This is a travesty of the highest proportions.
I plan to make the most of the tilted floor this year.
CHAUVET® Professional 