Do you watch television? We figured you did… and you’ve probably seen some of Michael Veerkamp‘s lighting design work in doing so! Come talk with Michael Veerkamp, creator of Team Imagination, Inc, as he tells us about his life, his lighting world, and some excellent experiences! Thank you so much for this interview, Michael!
https://chauvetprofessional.com/adventures-in-lighting-with-michael-veerkamp/
MIAMI – There were many sights that riveted attention at this year’s Ultra Music Festival, both on the stage and off. Among the more spectacular in the latter category was a towering “Afterburner” on Arcadia Spectacular’s Resistance Stage. Located in a walkway area at the festival, the captivating attraction featured a collection of ÉPIX Tile 2.0 boards and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 strips from CHAUVET Professional. To describe this giant structure made of recycled metal objects as unique is akin to calling a South Florida hurricane “windy.”
Resembling a rocket ship from an old school sci-fi film, the towering structure has a DJ booth made from a discarded military satellite dish and a spire that shoots flames 30 feet in the air, as well as a swirling lightshow that shoots beams in every direction in channeled synchronization. Surrounded by a heavyweight L-Acoustics Sound System and flaming tree sculptures, the Afterburner creates a transformative atmosphere for dancing, escaping and enjoying life and music.
At this year’s Ultra Music Festival, Arcadia Spectacular added ÉPIX Tile 2.0 and ÉPIX Strip 2.0 pixel mappable tri-colored LED fixtures to the impressive structure. The tiles were added to lend an extra layer of depth as well as a video component to the structure’s design, while the strips were used to accent the unique DJ booth.
“We wanted to add a video look to the design without truly getting into video,” said Tim Smith, Technical Production Manager at Arcadia Spectacular. “We don’t use raw videos; we prefer abstract effects and the ÉPIX is perfect for this function. They also added more texture to the DJ booth than we would get with standard DJ lighting. The ÉPIX units are run on ArtNet so we can control them from a light deck or a media server. We use an Avolites Sapphire Console and Ai Media server to send ArtNet to the ÉPIX units.”
The intensely bright output of the ÉPIX units served the Arcadia Spectacular team well in the bright Florida sunshine. “They are super bright, which is obviously very important in an outdoor setting,” said Smith. “They are so bright we even toned them down using a frost filter. In terms of colors, we liked to run the ÉPIX red and white, since it accents our metallic look very well.”
Since the ÉPIX units are modular, they provide the Arcadia Spectacular team with the flexibility to build different structures with them. Given the creative track record of this group, that’s something that is certain to happen many times in the future.
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For more information on Arcadia Spectacular visit www.arcadiaspectacular.com
We’re Behind the Scenes once again with the CHAUVET Professional PVP S5 video panels at WSVN-TV7 News — walk through the studio and installation and learn about the people behind the celebrated WSVN-TV7 studio!
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Now obviously we here at CHAUVET Professional don’t support anything like this done without the utmost considerations on safety and protection of all parties involved…
…but have a look at this video — Kansas City Rep did this, and it looks like they had an absolute BLAST doing it! Check it out! Stage weights, dropped from a height (the loading gallery, it looks like) onto stuff they were in need of destroying! Even a grand piano!
How many stage weights do YOU think it takes to get to the bottom of a grand piano? Let’s find out!
Hat tip to JimOnLight!
It doesn’t really matter what Steve Lieberman uses to make lighting magic, but we are super glad he likes the Nexus Aw 7×7 from CHAUVET Professional! Check THIS out!
MIAMI – All eyes were on the Worldwide Stage at the Ultra Music Festival, and why not? With a superstar studded lineup of the crème de la crème of the EDM world performing, plus a surprise two-song appearance by Ariana Grande, the thousands of fans at the Worldwide Stage pavilion were transfixed by the scene on stage. This year, the awestruck crowd did more than look at the stage, they had their collective vision funneled into it, thanks to a commanding lighting and truss design by Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting.
Lieberman’s design concept was developed around a massive double winged truss structure that resembled an arched bridge. The abutment at one end of this bridge started at the edge of the concert pavilion; the other end was anchored behind the stage itself. This end of the bridge ran across the entire 60-foot width of the stage.
A line of 12 intense Nexus Aw 7×7 warm white LED panels from CHAUVET Professional ran across the structure behind the DJ booth. Overhead were 36 additional Nexus Aw 7×7 panels on two curved rows at the base of the bridge arch that sloped toward the stage.
This combination of arched trussing and intense light over the stage and behind the DJ booth focused the crowd’s collective vision. This allowed everyone to absorb a full view of the stage design regardless of where they were standing. “What I wanted to do was center the crowd’s vision,” said Lieberman. “The way we arched two truss structures pulled you into the stage and gave you a 180 degree perspective no matter where you were standing.”
The idea for this mesmerizing arched design occurred to Lieberman after he observed his work at last year’s Ultra festival. “Everyone was thrilled with the design in 2014,” said the LD. “Still when I looked at it, I knew there was one thing I definitely wanted to change. Last year I noticed that when some people migrated toward the edges of the viewing area – as they always do – they wound up looking at the sides of my stage.”
Determined to give the crowd a more complete viewing experience, Lieberman vowed to create a design that allowed everyone to see the whole stage regardless of where they stood. He also wanted something super bright there to make things popped. This is where the Nexus Aw 7×7 came in. “Having these fixtures behind the DJ and overhead on the arched truss was essential to energizing the stage and the crowd,” said the LD. “Audience blinders are critical at a festival and the Chauvet panels excelled in this regard. We ran them at 100-percent and they dominated. We had a lot of high output movers and the panels did more than keep up. Another thing I liked about the panels is that their beam is not only very bright, it’s also very narrow so it really works well with fog.”
In addition to using the Nexus Aw 7×7 panels as blinders, Lieberman relied on them to serve as header displays and for pixel mapping breakout images as well as chase scenes. “The efficiency of having one fixture that can do so many different things so well is a plus,” he said. “It’s sweet that these panels can be killer blinders one second, then pixel mappable the next. Plus I like that they have an incandescent look, but at the same time they’re LED fixtures with all the advantages of that technology.”
Lieberman gave the Nexus Aw 7×7 high marks in every facet of their performance on the Worldwide Stage. “I love that these fixtures have the incandescence of a blinder, the efficiency of an LED and the pixel mapping capabilities of the 21st century,” said the LD. “I wanted to pull people into the stage and Nexus certainly helped me accomplish that goal.”
Watch Steve Lieberman discuss The Worldwide Stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC2LjGCrjYs
For more information on SJ Lighting visit www.sjlighting.net
People are crazy for the WELL series of battery-powered uplighters, and it’s not hard to see why! Tough units, powerful output, wireless OR DMX control, and a long-lasting battery. Oh, and they look great ANYWHERE!
Here’s a little video tease of some WELL FLEX units in action, the new member to the WELL family! Check it out!
Have you seen Tyler Santangelo rock his NEXUS units out with Rend Collective? It’s truly a sight to see!
From the March 2015 Lighting Insights article:
When lighting designer Tyler Santangelo decided that floating diamonds would look better than squares on the stage for the Irish Christian experimental group Rend Collective, he simply adjusted the Nexus panels on his rig and created a new look. This was the first (but certainly not the last) time that Santangelo got to appreciate the versatility of the intense COB LED panels from CHAUVET Professional.
As the LD on the Rend Collective tour, which has crisscrossed the globe from Sioux Falls to West Sussex and Manhattan to Budapest, Santangelo has frequently called on the Nexus panels to create new looks to fit different venues and keep pace with spontaneous flow of the group’s performance.
Check it out!
https://chauvetprofessional.com/nexus-on-the-move-with-rend-collective/
All but unheard of a few years ago, LED technology has clearly made its way into house of worship applications. Like all new technologies, it brings with it not only promise, but questions. We caught up with Stephen Ellison of Stark Raving Solutions to gain insights into the subject of LED theatrical lighting in churches.
Stephen knows whereof he speaks. After receiving a BFA in Lighting Design and Technical Direction from North Carolina School of the Arts, he’s gone on to enjoy a distinguished career in the theatrical lighting industry as a designer, writer and product developer. Since 1999, he has been working with Technologies for Worship magazine, first as a teacher at their trade shows, then later as the production manager for their training pavilions. He has written many articles on lighting for the magazine and is its Lighting Editorial Advisor. He also has written for several other trade magazines about lighting and technical direction. He is now the lighting and stage designer at Stark Raving Solutions of Lenexa, Kansas. For more information visit www.starkravingsolutions.com
Have your clients’ views on LED theatrical lighting changed in the last two years? Yes they are asking for LEDs now more than ever before.
You use the term theatrical lighting, but really the church market lighting is based on two design looks. The first is more concert lighting than theatrical. The second is lighting the pastor for video, which is a white light/no shadows look. In the first look they have embraced LEDs for the range of color from a single fixture. In the second look they are now accepting the available front lights that can provide a quality white light.”
What’s the biggest obstacle to your clients regarding adding LED theatrical lighting to their rigs?
“Money, the cost is more than a traditional fixture with an individual dimmer.”
How would you rate LED fixtures next to traditional theatrical fixtures in terms of throw distance, color temperature and light quality?
“In just the past year to 18 months the LED fixtures have matched the traditional fixtures and even surpassed them. When you are working with a group of tungsten fixtures that have been in place for a few years, you begin to see differences in the output and quality based on when you last changed the lamp and whether or not the fixture was bench focused when the lamps were last changed. With the LED fixtures you do not have the same issue since the lamp will never change and they are factory set for the field output.”
Looking at LED ellipsoidal and Fresnel fixtures, is one of them further along the development curve than the other?
“No, not that I can tell. The Fresnel was probably easier to develop compared to the complexity of an ellipsoidal. Getting the optics right on the ellipsoidal was a challenge. Now they both are functional units being provided by multiple manufacturers.”
As a designer do you have to treat LED theatrical fixtures differently than a comparable traditional fixture? Is is there a difference the degree of the lens that you would use to achieve throw distance? Would you arrange the fixtures differently?
“Yes and no — optically all of the changes were to the lamp assembly and not to the front end optics. A 26° fixture is the same in output optically no matter the lamp source. Placement of the fixtures on the light plot is identical since it is based on the type of fixture and the optics.
“The difference would show up in the cueing of the fixtures if you have a mixed lamp type plot. You would need to match the dimming curve between the fixtures. Also you would have to watch for the shift in color as you dim the fixture; a tungsten light source will shift to the red as it dims. Most LED fixtures do not have this shift so designers who are anticipating this color shift will have to compensate, or compromise. As the LED fixtures take over the market, the younger designers will think this is natural.”
Do you have to adjust the way you use other lights on stage like washes or key lighting when you are using LED fixtures with them?
“Now we begin to look at the dimming curves used in the LED fixtures. The dimming curve in a tungsten fixture is controlled outside the fixture, while the dimming curve for an LED fixture controlled by DMX can provide a multitude of curves based on the software in the fixture. The key is to match the curves in a mixed rig.”
Can you match LED fixtures from different manufacturers and get the same color consistency?
“I have not had much experience with a mixed rig, but I would always try to use only one type of fixture in a lighting system such as back or side light so there would be consistency within the system. Traditionally you are using different colors in the different systems so you are not trying to match colors.”
Are there any theatrical applications where you wouldn’t use LED fixtures?
“Not that I can think of.”
As you said earlier, LED fixtures tend to cost more, so how real are the savings you can expect to get from LED fixtures?
“The savings come in two forms. One is the actual electrical bill. The second is the decrease in fixtures required to light the space. For example, in a theatre I ran we had 3 lighting pipes with 15 pars on each to light 5 areas of stage per pipe to provide a full stage back wash in 3 colors. With LED fixtures you would only need 15 fixtures, a savings of 30 fixtures. Also you can achieve more colors with the LED fixture over 3 fixtures with colored gel.”
Does having LED ellipsoidal and Fresnel fixtures change the way you approach your work as a designer?
“Not at all, it only improves the options and enlarges the available color palette.”
A lot of church services and theatrical presentations are captured on video today. How camera friendly are LED stage fixtures?
“They are just as friendly as the tungsten equivalent at the top end of the dimming curve, and without the red shift they make dimming much more practical.”
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LINKS TO ARTICLES
Emmanuel Baptist
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/paragon360-church-renovation.html
River of Life
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/river-life-church.html
Millwood Baptist
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/millwood-baptist.html
SEATTLE – The Emerald City is known for a lot of cool things, from Starbucks to guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. Judging from the sellout crowds jamming into Parlor Live every weekend, another entry will soon be added to this list – comedy. Carved out of a space in a high-rise that was formerly occupied by a sports bar, the new club is bringing national headliners like Kevin Hart, Rob Schneider and Loni Love to Seattle. At the same time, it’s also cultivating up-and-coming regional comics by giving them the chance to perform on a spacious stage illuminated by a collection of Ovation and COLORado fixtures from CHAUVET Professional.
In keeping with the creative streak that characterizes Seattle (this is the city that gave us grunge, Windows and Amazon), Parlor Live is no ordinary comedy club. Aside from its 200-seat comedy club, this two-story venue also houses a sports bar, cocktail lounge/restaurant and meeting facility. “From a lighting standpoint, this was really three or four different projects in one,” said designer Stephen Weeks of Morgan Sound and Audiovisual (Lynnwood, WA), who was responsible for creating a design that met the diverse demands of this venue, while giving it a unified, consistent look.
Complicating Weeks’ challenge was the age of the building that houses Parlor Live. “The comedy club is new, actually the second location for Parlor Entertainment, which owns another club in Bellevue WA at Lincoln Square, but this venue is older,” said the designer. “Retrofitting a room in an older high-rise presented some challenges, and among them was the issue of power. We installed a pretty big system here, but it was all LED, so that helped us meet the power challenge. We were able to use the existing electrical service in the space, which was a huge cost savings. The entire design team was very much in favor of using LED stage lighting, including the city of Seattle, which is very environmentally conscious.”
As stage lighting, the four Ovation F-165WW LED Fresnels and eight COLORado 2-Quad Zoom Tour par-style fixtures in the Parlor Live rig offer advantages that go beyond energy efficiency, according to Weeks. “Being LEDs, these fixtures are much cooler than incandescent lighting is on stage, which the comedians appreciate,” he said. “We also get a flat even field from the Ovations and a color temperature that works well for video production.”
Weeks positioned the four Ovation F-165WW fixtures on a ceiling bar 14 feet in front of the stage. An equal number of COLORado 2-Quad Zoom Tour fixtures are on the bar with the Fresnels. The four other Zoom Tours are positioned overhead upstage. Forty-two COLORband Pix pixel mappable linear RGB fixtures are also utilized for audience effect lighting and wall washes.
“The COLORado 2-Quad Zooms work great in conjunction with the Ovation Fresnels,” said Weeks. “They colorize the stage while the Ovation fixtures give us a baseline white. We have an AMX control system that allows a fairly inexperienced operator to set up a show using different preset programs. Plus the Fresnels are easy to focus manually thanks to the overrides for zoom and dimming on the back of the units. The user-friendly features are important in a comedy club where you don’t get experienced lighting directors running boards.”
By contrast, the sports bar section of Parlor Live will have a lighting system run by a professional when it hosts events with dancing. A Hog 4 controller is used to run this area’s lighting rig, which includes 36 Ilumipod LΩGIC Tri-1 RGB fixtures and 27 Ilumipod LΩGIC Tri-4 circular RGB fixtures.
Weeks used the Ilumipod LΩGIC Tri-1 and Ilumipod LΩGIC Tri-4 fixtures from Chauvet’s sister company ILUMINARC to give the main area of the bar a distinctive look that stands out while also harmonizing with the clean look of the comedy club. Stephen worked with architectural designer Sue Genty, who hung a large assortment of Donovan Lighting Ltd. Metal Drums from the ceiling throughout the room. The Ilumipod fixtures were positioned in the discs to create a vibrant color space.
By changing the colors of the fixtures, Parlor Live is able to transform the mood of the entire room. “The color rendering quality of these fixtures is superb,” said Weeks. “Positioned inside the lanterns, they allow us to saturate the room with color, while avoiding hitting people with direct light. The club will use the discs to create color themes for special events – for example to celebrate a sports team or show the company colors at a corporate party. At other times we can have the lanterns chase each other with disco type patterns. It’s a nice touch.”
For their part, the owners of Parlor Live couldn’t be happier with the growing popularity of their club and the performance of its lighting system. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on the lighting,” said Weeks. “Our team and the folks from the electrical contractor Schneider Electric did an excellent job taking an older room and turning it into something memorable.”
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For more information on Morgan Sound visit www.morgansound.com
ANOTHER awesome stage at Ultra Music Festival 2015, another excellently happy crowd! We had a blast at this stage too, and there was lots of CHAUVET Professional pixels everywhere! The WORLDWIDE Stage at Ultra Music Festival 2015 had 48 Nexus AW 7×7 units and 96 of the blazingly bright and popular NEXUS 4×4! Check out the photos, everyone down to the fixtures themselves had a blast!!!
