LiveBlog

He’s A Jolly Good Fellow

Ellen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:08:06 +0000

UK-based sound designer John Leonard—who was named the LDI sound designer of the year in 2002—
traveled 12,000 miles to Hong Kong and back in a little more than a day. Why would he do such a thing?
To gather the sound of a rare bird? No, actually he was named an Honorary Fellow at the Hong Kong Academy Of Performing Arts!

“An honorary fellowship is usually awarded by an educational establishment to people who have made a significant contribution to whatever art or science the educational establishment specialises in,” he says. “I’m also an honorary fellow of The Guildhall School Of Music and Drama and the two together mean that I can stick letters after my name and that’s about it. So I’m John Leonard Hon.FGSM, Hon.FHKAPA.

If there had been some kind of degree going when I was training, I could add BFA, or BA or something else as well,but it was so long ago that there wasn’t even a diploma to be had, so I really appreciate the honorary stuff. Makes me feel I’ve achieved something after all these years.”

John Leonard in cap and gown, bottom row, far left.

Kids Today, With Their Blogging And Their Facebook And Their Baggy Pants

David Johnson — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:03:19 +0000

I joined Enormous Time Waster, I mean Facebook, last winter. Why they allowed me in I have no idea. Aren’t I too old for this sort of thing? Shouldn’t they have rejected me and suggested I move to one of the more mature, middle-aged social nets? Luckily, there appear to be others from my generation on there too, a mix of designers, technicians and educators who also bravely gone where those over 40 normally don’t.

What’s been fun, however, is tracking down so many of the talented artisans we profiled in the pages of Entertainment Design under the moniker “Young Designers to Watch.” Remember those? We did it for several years in ED, from 2000-2004, as well as a roundup of lighting professionals in Lighting Dimensions called 30 And Under in 2004 .

It makes sense, really. Most of those young designers are the key demographic for Facebook, so it’s no surprise that I’ve find as many as I have. (It’s probably also no surprise that they have about 10 times as many friends as I do, but that’s another story).

Curious as to who’s out there? Here are some of those alumni I’ve found:

Class of 2000
Set Designer Klara Zieglerova

Class of 2001
Projection Designer Michael Clark
Sound Designer Jill DuBoff
Lighting Designer DM Wood

Class of 2002
Costume Designer Constance Hoffman
Set Designer Michelle Malavet
Lighting Designer Thom Weaver

Class of 2003
Set Designer David Korins
Lighting Designer Jason Lyons

Class of 2004
Lighting Designer Brian Bembridge
Sound Designer Leon Rothenberg

30 And Under 2004
Lighting Designer Nic Phillips
Projection Designer Jake Pinholster

A few of these folks, like Hoffman, Korins, and Rothenberg, I haven’t heard back from yet (why have they forsaken me?). And there are several on the list who I think are on Facebook but can’t tell for sure, either because of really common names, like sound designers Paul Adams (Class of 02) and Elizabeth Rhodes (Class of 03), or obscure photos (is that crayon drawing really you, sound designer Josh Schmidt?)

But it’s been great getting back in touch with some of these folks and finding out what they’re doing. It’s actually quite gratifying to see so many of them doing so well in their chosen career. If you’re among those we profiled as a Young Designer to Watch who I haven’t yet stalked on Facebook, please drop me a line. I’d love to hear what you’re up to.

A Day At Arup

Ellen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:19:15 +0000

Last Thursday I spent an interesting four hours with David I. Taylor and two acousticians at Arup, the international engineering firm that has more recently branched out into theatre consulting as well. Taylor introduced me to Raj Patel, Arup’s head of acoustics, and a younger acoustician, Ryan Biziorek. We spent quite some time in the Arup Soundlab and if you are interested in theatre history, theatre consulting, or acoustics, I suggest you call David and make an appointment to spend some time in the Soundlab… about six hours if you want the full treatment. I was only there about two-and-a-half hours and we were rushing through it all. The idea of the Soundlab is to show you—as the architect, theatre consultant, or end-user—exactly what a building will sound like. It takes the “voodoo” out of acoustics and harnesses physics in the service of the emotion and art one expects in a great hall. Arup made its mark in the performing arts world—as engineers—with the Sydney Opera House, one of the most iconic opera houses in the world, and perhaps the one that started the drive for “destination” architecture in the arts. The theory of the Soundlab is that you can hear how the great halls of the world actually hear, then work to make yours sound the same way, or as Patel puts it: “You can hear a room as it is being developed, not just hope for the best when completed.” This theory has moved beyond performing arts buildings and into the arts themselves, with musicians such as Laurie Anderson and Stephen Vitiello using the Soundlab to work on projects, such as Vitiello’s “Smallest Of Wings,” an immersive sound environment that recreates the sounds of the rain forest in a space in the center of London. It’s very cool stuff and I’m sure the folks at Arup would be happy to let you stop in and listen…

A Truck In The Square

Marian Sandberg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:36:25 +0000

Mike Jarvis, live events technical project manager for Stage Electrics in the UK, sent in this photo with the comment:
“Sometimes the challenge isn’t the technical side of the job, but the physical one, like getting your artic [that’s semi trailer to us Yanks] on to Trafalgar Square in London whilst it is still open to the public. That’s me in the hi-viz vest.”
Thanks for sharing, Mike.

Spooky Design: William Gibson, Virtual Reality, and a Giant Squid

David Johnson — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:24:18 +0000

So I picked up the paperback of William Gibson’s latest novel, Spook Country, at the airport on the way to Vegas for Infocomm. I haven’t read anything of his since Neuromancer, back when that was all the rage. To be honest, that groundbreaking book didn’t do much for me except give me a headache, but I’m sure I was as behind the times as the book was ahead of it. I’m finding the new one a little easier to grasp so far (I’m currently only about 100 pages into it). It’s discussing the utilization of GPS, VR, and other technologies to create “locative” art; one installation is a virtual recreation of River Phoenix’s death scene outside the Viper Club (sooo LA), while another one is a giant squid floating over a Japanese department store with a constant flood of video imagery passing over its surface.

Of course, you gotta wear goggles to view this stuff in the book, though, this being William Gibson, it suggests that someday we’ll all be wired to view such site-specific stuff automatically, without all the accessories. But what struck me about it, particularly the latter project, was the fact that there are projection designers already doing this kind of work, maybe not site specific, but certainly in the context of another project, be it onstage or in an architectural setting.

So the question is, are projection designers so far ahead of the curve they’re anticipating Gibson? Or does Gibson just not get to the theatre very often?

Assuming there are a healthy number of cybergeeks out in our world, I’d love to hear any feedback on this latest novel, and if you think there are parallels to the world of entertainment technology. But please, no spoilers, I gotta lot left to read.

Off The Wall: UPDATED WITH PHOTOS

Marian Sandberg — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:40 +0000

(Originally posted June 28)
I’ve decided that trying to say goodnight early in this industry is fruitless, and by early, I mean 11:30pm. But when you start making the rounds to bid everyone adieu at that time, you suddenly find yourself chatting another two hours.

But starting at the end of the night isn’t very helpful here, is it? Last night was the Barco event at Philadelphia’s Comcast Center, where the largest indoor LED screen (and a pretty high res one at that—7,000 Barco NX-4 modules and 10 million pixels, to be exact) is the center of attention in the building’s lobby. At 83′ x 25′, it’s sort of hard to miss.

You really have to see this. It’s a fantastic example of art and technology creating a stunning work of public art, and that’s just what it’s meant to be—no Comcast logos or branding in sight. In fact, it’s called The Comcast Experience, a name that probably does it a tad more justice than “the screen.” The content (which can loop unique combinations for up to two years, courtesy of the programming of Alan Anderson of Medialon) was created by David Niles of Niles Creative, who consulted on the project from its early stages and shot all the content in his New York studio.

The wall looks like wood paneling to match the rest of the lobby (and it really does look like wood paneling, not like a screen). Then, dare I say, out of the woodwork comes content (everything from a piano virtuoso filmed at various angles taking up the entire screen, to almost 1:1 scale people climbing the walls, to a Van Gogh painting that appears to seep out of the wall for its reveal). What struck me most about the presentation is that the content looks incredibly three dimensional, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. You can say I don’t get out much, but you really do have to see this. It has a 30% higher resolution than IMAX.

Dana Cory from Barco did a great job hosting the event, and I had a lovely dinner with Serge Nalbantian of Liberty Property Trust (partner of Comcast in this project), Laird Nolan from MIT, and Ken Romaine of Barco, followed by a tour of the control room with Alex Carru from Medialon and Guy Russel from Barco.

The project is actually on the cover of The Philadelphia Inquirer this morning, but nothing in print or on screen will do this thing justice.

Summer Stock – Week 1

R. Christopher Stokes — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:46:04 +0000

I am back up in Vermont to start my third summer stock experience at The Bread Loaf School of English. I hope to do a weekly recap of my seven weeks here as the master electrician. So far, it has been a relaxed opening week of the summer. The equity actors and production team arrived within the first few days of classes starting, and everyone went straight to work opening up the theatre. There is a welcome back speech the second day, so it is always a rush to get the space prepared for the 250 students sitting in the house. The play this year is the Bard’s Twelfth Night. There is a static set for the show, so it seems the show will be lighting heavy to dictate the different locations. Students at the school fill in the additional roles to the hired actors as needed. All in all it ends up being a very enjoyable experience for everyone.

To my surprise I found a dozen new S4 Pars waiting to be installed as the new house lighting system. We are lamping them down to 375 watts so we only have to devote two of our 96 dimmers to the house system. It is going to be a big improvement over the previous system, plus it will provide flexibility for our space which can be oriented in any direction. The theatre is interesting as it is a converted barn with a static grid hanging above.

I also took a drive up to Production Advantage this week, which is conveniently located in Burlington to pick up some L520s for the house lights, but also to pick up an Apollo Right Arm. It’s a little complicated, but basically the T.D. here ordered this unit for his theatre, but decided to pick it up in Vermont. So now I have a Right Arm to finally check out and play around with. I have only had time to open the box up, but I will hopefully give a little overview of my thoughts about in, especially in comparison to an Autoyolk.

Coffee With Rich Dale

Ellen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:36:18 +0000

Rich Dale of Apollo has moved to New York City and is out on the town. His job is to meet and interface with lighting designers and what better place to do that than the Big Apple (well, he was based in Fort Wayne, Indiana…). We met for coffee the other day and talked about the New York lighting scene as well as Apollo’s commitment to young designers, as seen in the Standing Ovation ad campaign they have been running, and which featured our 2007 Rising Star winner John Horan. They are also hosting a gobo design contest with entries accpeted through June 30… so if you have nothing else to do this weekend, get out the old drawing pad and maybe your name will be added to their gobo catalogue. Good luck to all those who have entered!

Remembering Adam Steyh

Ellen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:27:02 +0000

Many years ago, I was in Las Vegas and Adam Steyh took a few of us out on the town, sort of an informal club crawl. Adam knew everyone in town and we wandered into all kinds of clubs, saw part of a Sheena Easton concert someplace and ended up at a way-off-the-Strip Italian restaurant that Adam liked—complete with third rate Elvis impersonator. But what a Las Vegas experience. Adam also stepped in during LDI that year to lead a tour of the lighting at New York New York, which had just been completed, and I knew I could always count on him for information or introductions I might need. As we wander the ins and outs of Las Vegas in October during Backstage Las Vegas at LDI2008, I know that Adam will be there in spirit. Jim Holladay and Barbara Brennan have promised to send their thoughts about Adam so please keep an eye out for that….

Ladytron’s Lovely Lights

Lisa Murphy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:57:33 +0000

Liverpool electro-rockers Ladytron are currently on tour in support of their just-released fourth album, Velocifer.
Touring with them is LD Nick Van, who brought in 12 Microh LED bars, 12 Chromlech Jarag 5, running on a full-size grandMA with an Arkaos media server. The effect was minimal but striking, creating a dark ethereal silhouette around each of the six band members that perfectly matched their emotional and intense music. Terminal 5’s in-house rig includes 6 Robe ColorSpot 1200s.