Vol. 21.

05
June, 2020

NEWS SPOTLIGHT
Church Services, Live
5 Music and Entertainers
Try the Drive-In Option

NAB Show Express

5 Draws 40,0000 Virtual
"Attendees" in Mid-May

Longtime PLSN
5 Contributor Debi Moen
Joins Parnelli Board

InfoComm 2020 Goes

10 Virtual with "Connected"
Event from June 16-18

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
14 COVER STORY
26
STUDIO
TV3 Media Servers

Nemesis UV-C
Studio Gets an Overhaul in
38 Rack and Tower Time for Election Coverage
COVER IMAGE COURTESY ABC

WHAT’S HOT

18 20 30
Designer Insights Wide Focus Designer Solutions
Keane's Cause and Effect Tour Brad Paisley at MooTV's Steel Mill Patrick Dierson's Previz "Farm"
 P R O J E C T I O N , L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S

JUNE 2020 CONTENTS

www.pls n.com

FEATURES 30 Designer Solutions

12 Video Product Guide
New video projectors, processors, panels and
networking solutions from Panasonic, INFiLED,
Luminex, Obsidian, Riedel and Whirlwind.
14 Cover Story
Nook chats with Dennis Size with The Lighting
Design Group on the latest updates for the Seth
Easter designed ABC News Studio TV3 on NYC’s
Upper West Side. The LED-lit and video-embla-
zoned TV3 keeps getting updated with fresh
looks, but the crew is poised to keep pace with
the changes as the presidential election coverage
looms, no matter the outcome.
18 Designer Insights
Patrick Dierson’s The Activity has opened up “The
Farm,” offering designers luxury previz suites just
off the Las Vegas Strip.
34 Round Table
Michael S. Eddy chats with Silent House partners
Baz Halpin, Cory FitzGerald, Tamlyn Wright and
Alex Reardon.
36 Video Feature
The immersive new attraction at Disneyland’s
California Adventure, Star Wars: Rise of the
Resistance, dazzles visitors with Panasonic’s
4K visual technology.
38 Product Spotlight
Crossfade Design’s Nemesis UV-C Tower and

Keane’s Cause and Effect tour design includes a set
within a set, a “blank canvas” look with large blocks
of color and bold shafts of light from all sides of the
stage. Steve Jennings spoke with Louisa Smurth-
waite and Steve Heywood and captured the looks
they crafted shortly before the band’s 2020 North
American tour was cut short by Covid-19.
22
Nemesis UV-C Rack use UV light’s ability to
disinfect viruses.
Focus on FX
39 Installations Strictly FX and Verge Aero salute health care heroes
Bandit Lites helped bring the music back to the with a drone show in Nashville.
“Little Opry” in Nashville, Indiana.

20 Wide Focus
Brad Paisley performed with his band in mid-May,
lit by LD Dean Spurlock with a big LED screen and
P.A. from MooTV and Sound Image — one of the
first full-scale concert productions to take place
after Covid lockdowns. But there was no audience.
The gig was taped for streaming at MooTV’s empty
Steel Mill facility, and the band members and crew
all practiced safe distancing.
24 Company 411
OSA International is making a big push further into
COLUMNS
40 Vendor Watch
Debi Moen reports on the many ways idled ven-
dors have pivoted to take positive action against
the pandemic.
42 Parnelli NextGen
As a teenager, Ross Tyler Blitz took a chance and
sent an email to his lighting idol, TSO LD Bryan
Hartley. It was a bold move, and it opened some
doors for the aspiring LD.

PETER MOUNTAIN
lighting, with newly hired industry veteran Mark
Fetto leading the charge. 44 LD-at-Large
Besieged by lockdown frustration, Chris Lose
26 Buyers Guide unleashes his inner Covidiot, then returns to
In the two years since our last Buyers Guide on his usual sensible self.
Media Servers, advances include new ways to
manipulate live camera inputs, 3D import mapping
and real-time UV mapping.
DEPARTMENTS

32
4 Editor’s Note 12 New Products
28 Live Events 5 Industry News 13 Showtime Cinematography
Premier Global Production was called in to support
a top-secret show — Keith Urban’s live concert 10 On The Move 43 Advertiser’s Index
Netflix’s The Two Popes features vivid colors,
for carloads of health care workers at the Stardust 10 News in Brief 43 Marketplace contrasts and projected shadows.
Drive-In outside Nashville.

2 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com

 EDITOR’SNOTE

The Editor Ups His CAD Game

By
NookSchoenfeld
During the Down Time
T I’m educating myself during this down time,
here’s been a lot of time to get an ed-
ucation during this time out. PLSN has
been covering many ways to learn new
skills. This month, we concentrate on how
touring vendors are getting an education
and repurposing themselves in many ways
to keep busy. I’m educating myself during
this down time, as we all should. I think
LD Patrick Dierson said it best to me, “Fat,
drunk and stupid is no way to come out of a
pandemic.”
›› Brushing Up on CAD
I absolutely love playing with CAD, and
have for the last 30 years. I started with Mac
Draw in the 80’s. Then I decided I needed
something better, if I was going to impress
anyone. I asked Patrick Woodroffe what
he used for the Stones, and that was good
enough for me. Some pals and I bought
MiniCAD 6 around 1994. It was an exciting
time as each of us raced to learn something
new, then talk each other through the
process. Within months, we were making
3D renderings, the type where you clicked
“render” on the computer, went to bed and
hoped the image was baked by morning.
as we all should. I think LD Patrick Dierson
said it best to me, “Fat, drunk and stupid is
no way to come out of a pandemic.”
MiniCAD became Vectorworks, and
instead of just offering a new version when
the time was right, they started offering a
yearly perpetual with maintenance program.
This came backed with a support program
called Vectorworks Service Select. I stayed
up with the program as long as I could, but
the fact was, 15 years later, I could draw a
decent plot, then hand it in to the lighting
vendor who would, in turn, hand me back a
perfected model. I designed too many shows
to keep up with the software, which led me
to ignoring the program after 2011. I had
no need to update my software often, so I
turned down the Service Select program. My
sole use to upgrade was for new symbols, it
seemed.
But the company was respectful; they
were cool with my decision. They called me
every year to see if I may be interested in
rejoining. Every three years or so, I did, just
to update my software and use a few new
tricks. Come last March, I got my yearly call. I
realized that I had never come close to even
mastering 2017, so I asked some questions.
One being, “I am self-taught and have
never learned the proper way to utilize your
program. How can I get someone on the
horn to sit down and talk me through some
questions?” I was answered calmly, “As a part
of our service plan, you have always had
the ability to talk with us. But how about if I
hooked you up with our expert, Jim Wood-
ward, who can answer your questions?”
›› Honing New Skills
I had time to take a call. Plus, I wanted
to learn about these GDTF fixtures. An hour
later, I bought the software upgrade. I have
not had this much fun drawing in 20 years.
The tools I always wanted, the way I always
envisioned working in 3D, are all there now.
Heck, they have a Vectorworks University.
This morning, I took the two-hour beginner
class as a refresher. I found about 20 short-
cuts I should have known and 20 new ways
to work more efficiently.
This week, I am concentrating on Spot-
light rigging and Braceworks analysis, a mod-
ule that allows me to figure out all kinds of
rigging scenarios. I’m a kid in a candy store.
I’m moving trusses, calculating weight loads
— heck, I can even take a plot and visualize
which company sub-rented me every single
piece of equipment being used on that
show. For once I can get accurate weight
loads that I am not guestimating with pencil,
pen and the internet. I can adjust the tilt on
a truss, and it will redistribute the weight
load on each motor. And boy, am I asking
questions to a patient rep.
It took a pandemic for me to have enough
time to relearn this program correctly. But
I’m looking at this program with a new set of
eyes now. After 25-plus years, I am pleased
with Vectorworks and my solid investment.
They never pressure me and seem to always
welcome me back with open arms, on my
terms, when I’m ready.
If you’re looking for Nook, he’ll be at his draft-
ing table late at night, smiling. Reach him at
nook@plsn.com.

President Terry Lowe tlowe@timelesscom.com

Group Publisher Greg Gallardo gregg@timelesscom.com

Editor Nook Schoenfeld nook@plsn.com

The Publication of Record for the Lighting, Staging
and Projection Industries Managing Editor Frank Hammel fhammel@timelesscom.com

Art Director Mike Street mstreet@timelesscom.com

Production Manager Mike Street mstreet@timelesscom.com

Graphic Designer Angela Marlett amarlett@timelesscom.com

Senior Staff Writer Kevin M. Mitchell kmitchell@timelesscom.com

Contributing Writers Michael S. Eddy, Steve Jennings, Chris Lose,

Debi Moen, Will Romano, Craig Rutherford, Mike Wharton

Photographer Steve Jennings

Web Designer Mike Hoff mike@mikehoff.com

Sales Manager Matt Huber mh@timelesscom.com

Sales Manager Jeff Donnenwerth jdonnenwerth@timelesscom.com

Greater China C: 0086-13810325171

Worldwide Focus Media Judy Wang judy@timelesscom.com
Office Administrator Naomi Crews ncrews@timelesscom.com

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Projection, Lights & Staging News (ISSN: 1537-0046) Volume 21, Number 5, June 2020. Published monthly by
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 SCALABLE LOOKS
Zeds Dead’s Deadbeats shows scale
up with Bending Lite and GLP, 6
INDUSTRY & GLOBALNEWS
The Drive-In Option
ii LOS ANGELES — There aren’t a lot
of options for live music events, sports and
church services to take place amid a global
pandemic where any big assembly of con-
cert-goers, sports fans and worshippers risks
making a death toll that’s already passed the
100,000 mark in the U.S. even worse.
Perhaps the most effective way to safely
reach multitudes with a performance is via
online streaming, as Brad Paisley did with
his Bud Light Seltzer Sessions gig with Lady
Antebellum at MooTV’s Steel Mill rehearsal
space in Nashville, which garnered more
than a million views within 48 hours on You-
Tube. (See “Wide Focus,” this issue, page 20).
Another option is to stage a show, but
keep members of different households from
mingling by letting them watch from the
safety of their own cars. This is the approach
taken by Keith Urban, also in mid-May, at
the Stardust Drive-In in Watertown, TN. (See
“Live Events,” this issue, Page 28).
An audience of cars takes up a lot more
2020’s Festival Season: The Uncertain Path from Spring to Summer and Fall
ii LAS VEGAS — March and April were
months of reckoning for the live music in-
dustry this year as organizers for spring and
summer festival events had to figure out
whether it made more sense to postpone
their gatherings for later dates in the year
or cancel their 2020 gigs outright and stake
their hopes on a rebound in 2021.
One of the first major U.S. festivals to be
up-ended was the Ultra Music Festival in Mi-
ami. Set for March 20-22, it was postponed
to 2021 on March 4. Two days later, Austin,
TX canceled the SXSW festival that had been
scheduled to run from March 13-22.
Organizers of Glastonbury in the U.K.,
who had been prepping for their 50th an-
nual event with headliners Taylor Swift, Paul
McCartney and Kendrick Lamar June 24-28,
also pulled the plug with an announcement
on March 18. And by April 10, organizers of
Burning Man notified spectators and partic-
LIVESTREAM DJ SHOWS
NYC talent and light brighten an
empty theater in Norwalk, CT, 8
For more on Keith Urban’s show at the Stardust Drive-In outside Nashville, see story, page 28.
space than an audience of people, of course.
But that didn’t stop numerous churches from
holding drive-in Easter services conducted
on church rooftops or makeshift stages. For
the Cross Community Church in South Caro-
lina, congregants took over a drive-in movie
theater on Highway 21 and drove in to hear
Pastor Taylor Burgess on their FM radios as
he delivered his sermon on a flatbed truck.
By mid-May, about the same time Keith
Urban was staging his concert tribute to
health care heroes, the Tupelo Music Hall
in Derry, NH had launched their “Tupelo
Drive-In Experience,” taking the music out-
side the venue with an assist from a Meyer
Sound system provided by UltraSound. And
in Germany, Materie Event Production was
providing Chauvet F4 IP video panels to
launch Studio D4’s Autokino Apolda pop-up
drive-in theater concept for a full schedule
of movies. (See plsn.me/materie.)
Production companies are also gearing
up to meet the demand for these kinds of
ipants that their event, set for Aug. 30-Sept.
7, would move from the Nevada desert to
cyberspace in 2020.
By late May, as the Covid-19 pandemic
crossed the threshold of 100,000 deaths in
the U.S., festival goers where waiting and
watching to see what would happen to the
big gigs where organizers hoped to salvage
2020 by postponing their shows for several
months.
On March 10, Goldenvoice and AEG Pres-
ents announced that Coachella 2020, set for
April 10-12 and 17-19, would move to Oct.
9-11 and 16-18, with the Stagecoach fes-
tival also shifting from spring to fall dates.
On March 18, organizers of Bonnaroo also
shifted their event, from May 15-17 to Oct.
2-4. On March 23, Summerfest also resched-
uled, from an 11-day run starting June 24 to
Sept. 3-5, 10-12 and 17-19. And on April 3,
organizers for the Electric Daisy Carnival’s
gigs. All Access’ turnkey VersaPlex Drive-In
Events (plsn.me/AA-DI) and Briere Produc-
tion Group’s Briere Drive-In Services (plsn.
me/BPG-DI) are two cases in point.
And others are hitting the road. On June
23, XL Event Labs launch their 11-city Park-
ing Lot Social tour, starting in in Houston, TX.
Featuring live bands, stand-up comedy, and
special nights for kids, each tour stop will of-
fer five nights of entertainment for up to 250
cars per night, with tickets at $30 and up.
DJ Marc Rebillet is also touring drive-in
theaters around the Midwest in June and
July. And the Colorado Beanstalk Music &
Mountains Festival is set for June 26-27 at
Fort Collins’ Holiday Twin Drive-In.
Skeptics note that ticket sales at drive-in
events will never match those at walk-in live
events, even if Live Nation foresees 500 to
1,000 or more vehicles in the lots outside the
40-plus amphitheaters it owns this summer.
Even so, artists, fans and crews could all ben-
efit by putting idled resources to good use.
flagship Las Vegas event pushed their dates
back from May 15-17 to Oct. 2-4.
As it has been from the start, however,
pandemic uncertainty prevails, with opti-
mists hoping for a combination of relaxed so-
cial distancing guidelines and warm-weath-
er declines in new infections and deaths,
while skeptics point out persisting dangers
posed as the total number of infected Amer-
icans pushes past the 1.75 million mark.
Much will be revealed by mid- to late-
June, when the consequences of eased re-
strictions over Memorial Day weekend be-
come apparent. But on May 27, Bloomberg
reported that the organizers of Coachella
had already begun asking artists slated to
perform in this year’s event if they would
instead be able to perform in 2021, stoking
fears that the festival might not proceed as
planned this year, even at the postponed
dates.
BOB HARMAN
Chris Lose and Bob Bonniol at NAMM
LD-at-Large Chris Lose
Has Been Serving Up a
Plethora of Podcasts
ii LAS VEGAS — Every week, the
PLSN Newsletter features a link to a
podcast conducted by LD-at-Large col-
umnist Chris Lose, which he’s been do-
ing since the NAMM 2020 show in Ana-
heim. But in March, April and May, Lose
has gone into Covid lockdown podcast
production overdrive. Since it would
take more than a year of newsletter
links to include them all, we posted a
full list of the podcasts, each packed
with ideas, insights, anecdotes, advice
and inspiration from top creatives in
their fields and made it available to
PLSN newsletter subscribers. You can
link directly to that posting of links by
going to plsn.me/LD-Pod.
Virtual NAB Show Express
Attracts 40,000 Industry Pros
ii WASHINGTON, DC — The Na-
tional Association of Broadcasters
noted that some 40,000 industry pro-
fessionals have accessed the inaugu-
ral NAB Show Express since the online
event launched on May 13. The associ-
ation’s in-person event, slated for April
19-22 in Las Vegas, had to be scrubbed
due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Participants from around the world
engaged with content through social
media streams, partner programs and
directly via nabshowexpress.com. In
total, participants consumed more
than 1.6 million minutes of video con-
tent in just one week. The virtual event
featured an exclusive marketplace with
1,479 exhibiting companies.
Debi Moen Joins Parnelli
Board of Advisors
ii LAS VEGAS —
Longtime PLSN writer
and “Designer Watch”
and “On the Road”
columnist Debi Moen
has joined the Parnel-
li Board of Advisors.
She is an Austin, TX-
based journalist with
deep roots in the live
Debi Moen
event world.
“Since 2011, Debi has been a key to
the success of PLSN,” said Terry Lowe,
Parnelli Awards executive producer
and publisher of PLSN and FRONT of
see MOEN on page 6
plsn.com • JUNE 2020 5
INDUSTRYNEWS
LDs for Zeds Dead “Deadbeats” Shows Skilled at Scaling Up the Looks
›› DENVER — From a base in producing
both original music and remixes a decade
@FREEFILMS/DON IDIO
ago, Canadian electronic music duo Zeds
Dead branched out to explore a vast range
of genres including U.K. garage, electro
house, hip hop, drum and bass and more.
Now a staple on the international touring
circuit, such diversity poses many challeng-
es for the lighting team, led by production
designer Erik Mahowald (of Bending Lite
Productions).
Recently they have been headlining pack-
age tours for their record label Deadbeats, a
series of one-off shows in a varied combi-
nation of festival stage takeovers and stan-
dard concert venue applications at venues
ranging from 5,000-50,000 capacities. This
Erik Mahowald and Bending Lite rely on GLP Fr10 and JDC1 fixtures for their versatility.
demand on scalability, and the random na-
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6 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
ture of the shows, creates further challenges
for Mahowald. But GLP fixtures provided the
necessary versatility.
“The design was originally debuted at Red
Rocks Amphitheater [near Denver] which
consisted of 50 GLP JDC1 fixtures, while
GLP impression FR10 Bars were introduced
very recently at our Aragon Ballroom [Chi-
cago] and Masonic Temple [Detroit] shows,”
he said. Lighting inventory for both these
shows was provided by Chicago-based LEC
(LIVE Entertainment Chicago).
Bending Lite has been working with Zeds
Dead since 2017, and have created two pro-
duction designs for Deadbeats shows. “This
is our first tour with them, and we also han-
dle all programming,” Mahowald said, citing
Davis Alexander as the programmer.
Bending Lite was first introduced to Zeds
Dead by production manager Daniel Ostroff,
who asked them to assist on larger produc-
tion applications such as their major head-
line shows.
“For the Deadbeats shows, we had one
request — they didn’t want one big upstage
wall, but rather four vertical stripes,” Ma-
howald said. “From that, we moulded some-
thing that would look bold, powerful, and
clean, with lots of definitive straight lines
that would create architecture. The two DJs
stand on an elevated platform upstage of
the tiered deck trussing, creating a massive
platform.”
Wanting to fabricate a rig that would fit
the full width of venues, mirrored flown and
deck trussing was designed to create a pic-
ture frame aesthetic. This versatile set fits the
vast library of music, and also underscores
the importance of having flexible fixtures in
the rig.
Each of the four identical trusses includ-
ed six FR10s and eight JDC1s, with the flown
rig mirrored to the deck to create maximum
beam power. “The music varies greatly night
to night, and having versatile fixtures like
this is something we count on,” Erik Mahow-
ald said.
“We used each of these units to their full-
est capacity and most extended modes, and
we appreciate their ability to create what
seems to be an infinite number of looks.”
Moen continued from page 5
HOUSE magazines, who first worked
with Moen at Performance, a concert
touring trade publication, back in the
mid-1980s.
Moen then joined High End Sys-
tems in 1995, working as a marketing
communications for nearly 15 years,
before launching her own freelance
writing/editing/PR services business
that includes her continuing work
for PLSN.
“I am honored and excited to col-
laborate with my colleagues on the
Parnelli Awards advisory board as we
navigate a new path through this pan-
demic,” Moen said. “It will be import-
ant to provide a gathering place for us
to come together again and honor our
industry in January 2021.”
For more about the Parnelli Awards,
visit parnelliawards.com.
 #togetherwearestronger

We want to personally reach out to all in our entertainment

technology and production community as we face this
unprecedented health challenge.
All of us – manufacturers, rental companies,
venues, broadcasters, festival and event organisers,
production managers, artists and of course our
vast pool of highly talented individuals,
designers, engineers and creative freelancers
– to everyone working in all disciplines
and across every each sector making
this incredible industry go round –
we offer our solidarity, strength,
thoughts and positive energy.

together our strength

will shine.
We are all facing an incredibly tough few
months ahead. Cooperation, empathy,
humanity and mutual respect should be
paramount and in the true spirit of this great industry
… please be kind and considerate to others.
When we come through, we will be stronger and
more united, and our industry will be more
dynamic than ever.

Josef Valchar Ladislav Petrek Harry von den Stemmen

at the heart of our community

INDUSTRYNEWS
ARC Live, Series of Livestream DJ Shows, Get Bold Looks with LED Rig
›› NORWALK, CT — “ARC Live,” a series
of livestream DJ shows produced within an
empty theater in Norwalk, CT and streamed
via Twitch.tv, feature bold lighting looks from
Chauvet Professional fixtures. ARC Sound
Stage and Lighting owner Gene Morrell, who
also busks the looks for the two-to-four-hour
shows, has been providing Rogue RH1 Hy-
brid, Rogue R1 Wash fixtures and COLORado
par style units for the gigs.
The ARC Live house and EDM DJs have
been performing the livestream shows from
Norwalk’s Wall Street Theater, located near
ARC Sound Stage and Lighting in a part of
Norwalk that includes a “graffiti garden” of 24
street art murals and two graffiti covered sea
containers. (Visitors can still drive through
this parking-lot-turned-art-park without hav-
ARC Sound Stage and Lighting provided fixtures from Chauvet Professional
ing to leave their cars.)
2020
Legend series
P3.9/4.8
Outdoor Cur ved Instock
Classical cabinet for rental solution
8 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
“We are big on using art to touch the lives
of people in a positive way,” Morrell said.
“This is why we are always eager to get in-
volved in community art projects, whether
it’s putting on block parties or commission-
ing local artists for graffiti — and it’s why we
do the livestreams.” Morrell and his team got
the idea to produce their thrice-weekly live
streams “about 10 seconds” after the govern-
ment’s lockdown order went into effect. “We
couldn’t sit idly by,” he recalls. “So, we had to
do something to express ourselves.”
The Wall Street Theater, built in 1915 and
now equipped with ARC-supplied fixtures,
had been dark since the Covid-19 shutdowns
began, and became the first choice as a ven-
ue for the ARC Live livestream shows. Next
was the question of talent for the livestreams.
After the venue’s owners agreed to let Mor-
rell put the space to good use, a supply of
mostly New York-based talent was also easily
tapped. “The DJs who appear are friends,” said
Morrell. “They are glad for the opportunity to
do something creative.”
With safety a primary concern during the
pandemic, the performing DJs enter the the-
ater through a separate entrance. They are
limited to one guest. All equipment is sani-
tized before and after their performance.
“We maintain strict social distancing,” said
Morrell. “I am running the lighting from the
middle of the empty 1,000-person capacity
theatre, while our sound and video guys are
in their own separate control rooms, so we
have a minimum number of people in the
building for the shows.”
The livestream shows, which are streamed
on Twitch.tv over a 10Gb fiber line, are ac-
companied by lighting looks that fill the
stage with color and movement. “I get a lot
of versatility out of the Rogue RH1, and their
output-to-size ratio makes them well-suited
for this type of application,” said Morrell. “The
color rendering of the Rogue and COLORado
fixtures is also very important, since it comes
off very vibrantly on camera.
“Since these shows are looked at on
screens, often relatively small ones, I tend to
confine most movements to shots that are
framing the stage, so we maintain the view-
ers focus,” he added. “I also do very few black
outs. Generally, I’m a big fan of theatrics when
I’m working a club, but they can be a bit dis-
concerting to the viewer on a livestream.”
In Memoriam:
Darren P. Deverna, 60
›› MT. VER-
NON, NY — Dar-
ren P. DeVerna, a
20-year PRG vet-
eran and CEO of
Global Theatre,
died May 21 after
a battle with can-
cer. He was 60.
As head of theater, DeVerna over-
saw scenic technologies, rigging, video
and projection, lighting and sound for
Broadway, the West End and touring
productions. He was also a producer
with numerous shows to his credit. He
is survived by his wife Karen, three chil-
dren, PRG colleagues and numerous
friends in the Broadway community.

ON THEMOVE
7thSense Design named Geoffrey Platt
product manager. Platt has more than 20
years of experience as a media server tech-
nology and emerging digital media spe-
cialist.
Ayrton added Kseniia Igoshkina to its
international sales team. Based in Detmold,
Germany, Igoshkina will support sales
growth across the Baltic countries, the CIS
states and South America.
Beckhoff Automation named Steve
Rastberger Northeast Region District Man-
ager. He will work with Graham Harris, East
Region Manager, and a team of sales and
applications engineers in the area to ex-
pand Beckhoff sales and market share.
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Creative Stage Lighting hired Michael
Duffy as director of business development.
Duffy brings more than 30 years of OEM
and electrical sales management and de-
sign knowledge to the company, having
worked with Amphenol, Philips Lighting
and others.
ETC named David Hilton senior U.S.
sales manager. Hilton will manage the
North American sales team across all ETC
divisions (entertainment, architectural,
and rigging), supporting and coordinating
their efforts.
Green Hippo’s product specialist team
has strengthened on both sides of the At-
lantic with the appointments of Zep Mouris
as Hippotizer product manager at the com-
pany’s new London HQ and Nick Spencer
as product specialist based in Chicago.
Group One Ltd, the U.S. distributor for
Calrec, DiGiCo, Klang, Solid State Logic and
other pro audio/lighting brands, promot-
ed Trisha Matulewicz to CFO. Matulewicz
previous served as the company’s financial
controller.
LMG’s AV integration business unit,
Systems Innovation, which is based in
Orlando with offices in Nashville and San
Jose, is expanding to London. Systems In-
novation by LMG Europe Ltd. will be part
of ETP Europe, operating alongside exist-
ing brands Pixl & Audio Evolution Ltd.
Media technology
DMX
Art-Net™
sACN
PosiStageNet
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News in Brief
ADJ fixtures are ready to shine at
Bandit Lites, Austin Yarnton and
the Presentation Resource Group had
been working on a corporate event at
Nashville’s Omni Hotel. Canceled due to
Covid-19, the collaborators pivoted and
provided a webcast instead, providing a
virtual version of the client’s conference
over a three-day span.
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Chauvet Strike and COLORado
fixtures supplied by Kingsize. Events lit
a series of livestream events featuring
German artists affected by the Covid-19
lockdown. The shows streamed from
vacant indoor climbing center Bloc48 in
Eberswald, Germany on April 21 and 23.
More details at plsn.me/ C-Eber
disguise technologies drove more
than 50 square meters of LED video at the
FOX Sports compound in Miami during
Super Bowl LIV this year. FOX Sports also
collaborated with Creative Works London
on the studios’ set content package
More details at plsn.me/d-FOX
Elation lighting fixtures were cho-
sen for Mars Music Hall in Alabama, part
of Huntsville’s Von Braun Center. Before
the venue went into Covid-19 hiberna-
tion, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit re-
opened Mars Music Hall on Jan. 3.
More details at plsn.me/E-Mars
Green Hippo Hippotizer Karst+
media servers were chosen by Copen-
hagen-based 4K Projects as part of Den-
mark’s annual music competition to find
its Eurovision entry.
More details at plsn.me/GH-D
InfoComm 2020 may have been
canceled due to the global pandemic,
but an online convention, free to attend,
is set to take place the same week (June
16-18). The virtual platform will remain
live from June 19 to August 21 for “at-
tendees” to browse exhibitor showcases
and view on-demand sessions.
More details at plsn.me/ IC-Virt
InteRise, the Morris division that
designs and builds audio, video, lighting
and acoustic systems in churches and
corporate spaces, put together a video
that walks clients through what a typical
design process looks like with their team.
More details at plsn.me/Int-Vid
Knight of Illumination (KOI)
Awards in both the U.K. and the U.S.
have been canceled due to the Covid-19
pandemic’s impact on the entertain-
ment industry.
More details at plsn.me/KOI
Robe MegaPointes, Pointes and
Tetra2 LED battens mesmerized visitors
to the Lux Partum light art installation
and live stream staged at the Motorwerk
event space in Berlin. DJ Paul van Dyk
kicked off Lux Partum’s 10-day run with
a three-hour show.
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COVERSTORY
P
LSN recently caught up with Dennis
Size, executive vice president of design
for the Lighting Design Group, the larg-
est television lighting design firm on the East
Coast. Among the projects he has been deeply
involved in lately is the redesign of Studio TV3
at Disney/ABC News headquarters on West
66th Street in New York City, the flagship studio
of ABC News.
This studio has been a mainstay on tele-
vision since 1986, when it was designed and
built for Peter Jennings’ evening news broad-
casts. Since then, many other shows have been
added, and in addition to the country’s num-
ber-one newscast, World News Tonight with
David Muir, and other shows including Night-
line, World News Now, America This Morning,
This Week and Weekend Good Morning America.
›› Pandemic Impact
Despite several major studio designs in the
works all over the world, things have slowed
considerably for Dennis as he hunkers down
with his family at their home in New York, cur-
rently the Covid-19 epicenter of the country at
this writing. One of LDG’s biggest projects this
year, the Summer Olympics, was postponed
until 2021.
And although Size has been busy redesign-
ing ABC’s TV3, “ninety percent of Disney/ABC’s
buildings are empty, with almost everyone
who is able working from home. Anchors are
now broadcasting from home out of necessi-
ty. The only news show still in the 66th Street
Manhattan studio is World News Tonight. David
Muir insists on broadcasting from his own ABC
studio — but they’re using a ‘bare-bones’ skel-
eton staff.”
Scaling down is not necessarily slowing
down for Size, however. The previous week-
end saw him putting on his ‘hazmat’ suit and
installing a small lighting system at the Hamp-
tons home of George Stephanopoulos, who,
along with his wife Ali Wentworth, was diag-
nosed with Covid-19. That installation allowed
14 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
STUDIO TV3
The Studio Gets an Overhaul for
2020 Election Coverage with Help
from the Lighting Design Group
By NookSchoenfeld
George, who did not suffer symptons, to con-
tinue as daily anchor of Good Morning America
in addition to Sunday morning’s This Week.
›› News Set Trends
News sets have evolved in recent years,
many of them latching on to the eye-catching,
video driven, colorful set wave that networks
such as ESPN and CNN have embraced. We
asked Size for his take on this current trend.
“The Lighting Design Group has been in-
volved in lighting news studios and events
for decades, providing the lighting for several
dozen presidential debates and the national
presidential conventions. News coverage has
become big ‘business.’ Election night broad-
casts are huge televised events — the ‘Oscar
Awards’ of network news divisions.”
›› Lavish Midterm Coverage
ABC invested heavily in the production
supporting its 2018 midterm election cover-
age, spending trillions of dollars (okay, maybe
not quite that much) for a Seth Easter-designed
multi-level circular set. Dennis Size and his
associate designer/programmer Alex Kyle-Di-
Pietropaolo also played a key role for the mid-
term election coverage with a lighting design
that utilized several hundred moving lights
and more than a hundred conventional fix-
tures to bring that news programming to life.
Disney/ABC was thrilled, “not only with ‘the
look’ and the incredible coverage — using the
latest in Augmented Reality graphics — but
also with the ratings. They decided to emulate
that look with as much production value as
possible for their TV3 newsroom studio and
their 2020 Election coverage,” Size says.
›› Future Plans Downtown
Studio space in NYC is scarce and at a pre-
mium these days. Disney, the parent company
of ABC, is building a 19-story headquarters in
lower Manhattan at 4 Hudson Square, close to
where the Holland Tunnel emerges from be-
neath the Hudson River. It’s not scheduled to
be completed for another three or four years,
however, and the people ‘upstairs’ at Disney/
ABC wanted a new set for the 2020 Election
Coverage during this interim period.
They were willing to invest another $100
billion (okay, again — maybe not quite that
much) for this TV3 studio renovation, even
though it may only be used by ABC News for
another three years once finished. However, it
was imperative that the news shows continue
IMAGES COURTESY ABC NEWS
as usual in temporary spaces while the demo-
lition and construction of the redesigned news
studio was happening.
›› Upgrading TV3
The production/broadcasting of news spe-
cials like Super Tuesday primary election cov-
erage require a robust control room capable of
switching dozens and dozens of feeds from lo-
cations all over the country. The control room
to accommodate this was already in place
above TV3, so that’s where the studio had to
be kept, especially since all the offices of the
ABC News Division are in the building.
Spearheaded by ABC production designer
Seth Easter, decisions were made, plans were
drawn, and contractors were brought in. “Usu-
ally, when they remodel a set, they just add
new scenic pieces and we move the lights
around, swapping some fixtures in the grid in
the process,” Size says. “The problem was, the
old studio did not have the trim height for the
big look the executives wanted.” This would
necessitate not only gutting the existing room,
but removing the ceiling and grid and com-
bining part of the fourth floor space into this
third floor studio.
The studio started construction in Novem-
ber, but World News Tonight with David Muir,
who was set to occupy the center stage of the
studio, wished to keep working during con-
struction. This put two different scenarios in
play. First, they needed to build a makeshift
studio in one corner of the floor and seal it
off from the construction mess. The second
was that the construction would have to work
around the time the show was on the air.
Thus, a temporary broadcast space for the
popular anchorman was constructed — affec-
tionately called the “Bubble.” Size had a small
Unistrut grid system installed in the makeshift
studio to hang a small design for Muir’s nightly
newscast (and ABC’s Nightline). “Another prob-
lem that sprang up was ABC’s sudden cover-
age of the impeachment hearings. Now we
had more special news reports that we had to Size says, noting that he’s got 10 more in his challenge. Additionally, the second floor of the “The Production Designer had the initial
work around. ABC’s scheduling became very pocket for the other shows. “The remaining fix- studio is shrouded in Plexiglas, risking unwant- thought that the room may be able to just be
complicated.” tures were mostly LED conventionals or small ed reflections. repurposed by sliding two unique desks into
Dennis took possession of Easter’s drawings movers, like the GLP impression FR1. I love The studio launched with a flurry for ABC’s one or two configurations and changing the
last September (2019) and began designing a those little movers! I can take them, or a Chau- Super Tuesday Election Coverage on March 3. surrounding media content and colors. But, of
brand new lighting system, complete with a vet Color Dash Accent, and plop them in any Then Size turned that design around to meet course, every show wants a special look. Good
new lighting grid structure, since the entire dark corner for a little sparkle of color. Arri LED ABC’s sudden need for extensive pandemic Morning America, for example, wants a totally
studio was being gutted. Alex Kyle once more SkyPanels, L7 and L10 Fresnels, Practilite 604 coverage. He’s currently designing the lighting different look with totally different talent po-
served as Dennis’ associate for the project. Fresnels and Source Four LED fixtures rounded for the third phase, as all the shows migrate sitions than This Week, or other news division
TV3 is quite the bustling studio. Once the out the lighting package.” All lighting gets con- back to the studio when the pandemic ends. shows.”
pandemic is over, there will be many ongoing trolled by an upgraded ETC Ion console. When The new TV3 studio is a state-of-the-art and While Size hung and tucked key lights and
shows shot in this studio, coupled with occa- the new Disney/ABC studios are complete versatile work of beauty, Size notes — two sto- Fresnels in wherever space he could, backlight
sional news specials, using several different downtown, Size mentions, “we will probably ries high, with video walls and tall light boxes and floor light space for beauty specials was
sets for the various shows occupying differ- move to the EOS Ti.” illuminated “by millions of LED tape channels. limited. The high trim was of no help. “I had a
ent areas of the studio floor. To accommodate The video floor and ceiling stay in place, but ton of threaded rod stanchions made for drop-
those requirements, Size would need to design ›› Line-of-Sight and Reflection Challenges the sets are all different. There are four differ- ping fixtures where needed. I must have doz-
a multi-purpose system that would service at Because the production designer and di- ent anchor desk positions, including the spe- ens of hidden ETC mini Source Fours providing
least seven major network news shows in ad- rectors did not wish to see any lighting fixtures cial ‘home base’ desk configuration for World backlight, accent lights and fill lights because
dition to ABC News’ election coverage events. hanging in front of any video surface or the News Tonight. All desks will move around, how- God forbid any fixture block a video panel.”
“Of course, the best-laid plans are always light boxes that looked so great on camera, ever, to satisfy the production demands of the We inquired how he used the “in demand”
met with obstacles when construction starts,” finding the best hanging positions was quite a various shows. eye-lights for all the talent in this scenario, to
Size notes. “The new plans were drawn off
existing plans that had, of course, been mod-
ified during the original construction decades
earlier. A lot of re-design went into the proj-
ect along the way. It brought back memories
watching them tear out the old motorized
grids and throw away a mixed bag of Altman’s,
CCT’s, S4’s, Desisti/Century, Arri and yes, even
60-year-old Bardwell Fresnels. All that tung-
sten is gone. I had been the assistant LD when
the studio was designed back in the mid-80’s. It
was fun being one of the few people who had
the ‘institutional knowledge’ to answer crazy
questions about why something was done a
certain way back in the ‘medieval times.’”
Size expands on the modern-day chang-
es being made. “Everything is high tech vid-
eo-centric at the studio. Seth Easter designed a
couple huge LED video walls that can fly in and
out, and another large wall that can jackknife
out at any angle of choice. The circular floor in
the center of the studio is all made of video til-
ing as well, upon which they create the most
amazing augmented reality graphics. The en-
tire studio is surrounded by LED video walls.
The design called for video ceilings overhead
as well. A T-shaped cross of video hangs above
the set. The construction guys and welders
had to install a lot of steel to existing I-beams,
and the slab above, to handle the additional
weight.”
One thing to take into account was that all
the lighting for the Super Tuesday live event
was only temporary and would all be removed/
modified after that event, Size notes. “Nobody
ever seems to preconceive the exact hanging
points for the lights ahead of time, since the
talent positions were unknown. Since there
was no longer any grid, as the scenic depart-
ment hung an element in the air, I’d say, ‘Hey,
while you’re up there — can you secure a pipe
to this wall for me?’ I may not actually have a
use for it at that moment, but we will need a
light there at some point.
“The re-design required an all energy-effi-
cient LED lighting package of several hundred
fixtures. The Super Tuesday setup was treated
like a ‘one off ’ road show, however. In conjunc-
tion with the ABC Electric Shop, I designed a
purpose-built control system installing ac-
cessible gateways and DMX opto-splitters
throughout the studio. We ran temporary DMX
cables everywhere. We were fortunate that a
lot of the old existing power could still be used.
Rather than rip out all the old dimmers, they
were repurposed and ‘slugged’ as hot power
racks, giving us hot circuits all over the place.
“I had 15 High End System’s SolaFrame
750’s for multi-purpose key light coverage,”

plsn.com • JUNE 2020 15

 IMAGES COURTESY ABC NEWS
COVERSTORY

ABC News Election Headquarters set used in 2018. The updated set in place for Super Tuesday.

rid the newscasters of any unwanted neck

shadows and add a little sparkle to their eyes.
“On a lot of our projects, we actually have a
hand in designing the desks. Like most live
events, we rely on LED tape now. On this new
set, I relied on the ABC Electric Shop to create
custom eye-light housings for the LED tape
that they mounted under the curved plexi
desktops. They had a row of warm white and a
row of cool white LEDS, so we could adjust the
color temperature accordingly and softened
[them] with a diffusion lens that Environmen-
tal Lights makes. This helps keep the light om-
nidirectional, but less obtrusive and softer to
the anchors. We at the Lighting Design Group
have been using Environmental Light prod-
ucts on all the projects we design. The quality
they provide is exceptional.”

›› Balancing Color Temperatures

Speaking of adjusting the color tempera-
ture, we asked Dennis how he prefers to light
his sets. “Video displays have a color tempera-
ture up to 8000+ degrees Kelvin now — aw-
ful high, and extremely ‘cold’ — adversely
polluting the color of the ambient broadcast
lighting. If you try and take them down to the
old 3,000 Kelvin or lower tungsten range (the
color loved by talent everywhere) the video
rendition/quality is terrible. On-camera talent
is not fond of being lit at 6000 Kelvin (basic
daylight color) They feel it’s too white, too ‘cold’
— almost blue. They need their skin color to
be honest to their eyes. As one anchor told me,
‘I want my lighting to be warm and fuzzy, like
it is in my living room at home.’ Consequently,
I usually cheat all my LED key lights to 4500°
Kelvin as a baseline compromise. Then we ad-
just the temperature of the LED walls down
and video levels up as best we can to match.
In the old days, this took some time, adjusting
and matching with CTB and CTO color correc-
tion gel. These days it’s easy-peasy with high
quality tunable LED fixtures.”
At the time of this writing, the pandemic
was still a major crisis, and studios are still shut
down, but Size had completed three of the
light plots required, with several more to go.
Once Disney/ABC gives the go ahead, he and
his team will head back into the studio to finish
the remaining shows.
“The plan is for the studio to ‘re-launch’
with David Muir’s newscast, World News To-
night. Then all other shows will migrate back
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16 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com

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DESIGNERINSIGHTS
Cause and Effect Tour
W
e caught Keane, the English rock band, on the North
American leg of their Cause and Effect tour, in sup-
port of the band’s fifth studio album of the same
name released last fall. Starting with their debut album — the
second best-selling British album in 2004 — they continue to
have top-charting albums and singles. We spoke with produc-
tion and lighting designer Louisa Smurthwaite and lighting
programmer/director Steve Heywood about the design for the
2020 North American tour leg. Originally slated from March
5-28, had to be cut short after their fifth show, at the Dolby The-
atre in Los Angeles, on March 10, due to Covid-19.
Louisa Smurthwaite
Production and Lighting Designer
As Keane’s production and lighting designer, Louisa Smurth-
waite says she was lucky enough to operate the last shows the
band did for longtime designer Rob Sinclair before the band
took a break in music. It was a worldwide live stream from a
closed cinema in Berlin. The band was aware it was the first
time she had operated for them. “The show went really well,
and feedback from the tour manager (then Colin Davies) was
that the band felt everything was on point and liked what I had
done. It was after that that I was asked to light [lead singer] Tom
Chaplin’s solo tours” in support of his solo albums, The Wave
(2016) and Twelve Tales of Christmas (2017). “It naturally pro-
gressed from there to the current band’s Cause and Effect tour.”
Smurthwaite loved theater from childhood. She was always
the person that lit youth theater shows, and got her start in the
industry at age 18. She started as a theater technician at Bat-
tersea Arts Centre in London, a venue that welcomed a mixed
community of talented in-house producers and incoming pro-
ductions. “I learned a lot from incoming designers there, and I
also got to light shows and work with directors from a young
age.
“With the folly of youth, I wanted a ‘more exciting’ way of life,
[and] the next few years I worked for White Light Ltd and then
LCI Productions, where I learned laser programming and pro-
jection skills. This is where I first stepped onto a tour bus, as a
laser tech for Grace Jones on her 2008 album tour, Hurricane.
“Over the years, I ended up doing lasers, running cameras
and lighting shows for her. In the early days, the combo of lasers
and lighting made me attractive to smaller bands, as I could
program both — it saved them money and made it possible.
Having worked with lights, lasers and video, I naturally had an
eye for balance between mediums to make cohesive ‘whole’
shows without one element stomping on others.”
After 10 years on the road working as a lighting designer,
director and programmer, Smurthwaite just finished a year at
art school, where she says she wanted to develop a practice
rooted more in art and design. She has since gone on as LD (to
18 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
Photos & Text by SteveJennings
name a few) for Sam Smith’s The Thrill of it All tour, designed by
Tim Routledge; Glass Animals’ How To Be a Human Being tour,
Rag‘n’Bone Man’s Human tour and Florence + The Machine’s
How Big tour, where she working again with LD Rob Sinclair.
Smurthwaite had two meetings with the band, tour man-
ager Mark Dempsey and also Beth Warren and Adam Tudhope
from Everybody’s Management. “We spoke about things that
were important to them. The album artwork was still being de-
veloped — I’d only seen a few paper textures from the artwork,
and Tim [Rice-Oxley, Keane keyboardist/singer/songwriter]
talked about how he was excited by simple block color.
“I went away and thought about the best way to use color
to its true effectiveness, and it felt right to give them a blank
canvas — this was really the basis of the show. We could paint
anything on that canvas with abundance. As the album artwork
completed and we all saw the warmth of the paper textures, it
was then I spoke to Jack James at RCM, who made the content
(for the U.K. run). We recreated with a new twist, some of the old
artwork the band had.
“Some of my favorite moments in the show are the stop an-
imation style recreations of the artwork from past tours. I had
drawn a set that was essentially a stage within a stage; it illumi-
nated from beneath the band. It had some custom-made light
boxes behind the band, and beyond that, it had the blank can-
vas far upstage, so it was really becoming something you could
shift between perspectives with lots of depth play. It was a new
band layout for the guys, which they took to really well. Tom
[Chaplin, singer/songwriter] and Jesse [Quin, bassist, multi-in-
strumentalists, vocals] really used the height and width of it to
make some exciting interactions between them all.”
Planning looks for songs with bold color, Smurthwaite went
back and drew inspiration from some “true masters” — the late
artist/educator Josef Albers (for Smurthwaite’s palettes of color)
and James Turrell, of Roden Crater fame, for her sense of depth,
light and form. “I really liked the mix of rock-show-cum-art-in-
stallation. I actually wanted to use a lot more front light in the
show; it was due to budget with labor costs to not take a front
truss everywhere.
“The things I wanted to play with relied so much on color
temperatures. We couldn’t really rely on the different in-house
rigs, so we went with side lights for lots of illumination of the
band,” she says (with apologies to monitor engineer Ralph
Smart). “Lighting the set pieces, I really needed fixtures with
consistent good mixing, and lots of the same thing. So many
thanks to the lovely teams at GLP and Martin lighting. They’re
always on hand if we need any help. The only fixtures I ‘had’ to
use, due to dimensions of the stage, were the Color Force II by
Chroma-Q, and I was really impressed with the brightness and
mixing on them.”
Smurthwaite first met Steve Heywood when he was the ven-
ue tech in the Oxford Academy. They both used the same desk
A sheet of light illuminates the band.
NNINGS
STE VE JE
back then and knew some of the same people, so it was good
to bond. “He took over the Glass Animals tour from me a year or
so later, when I needed a break from touring. He did a brilliant
job. He was the person that I really trusted to take my words and
make them into cues and execute those cues with metronomic
steadfastness. The Keane members ended up nicknaming him
‘Steed’ rather than Steve,” alluding, no doubt, to the unflappa-
ble gent in the British TV series, The Avengers.
“We spent a week or so in visualization at Christie Lites in
Coventry. I really like to have all the cues nailed before we even
see lights in the production period. I spent three shows adjust-
ing things, then left it to him. I could change things forever, so
I’m sure he was pleased I left. I’d like to thank the band — Tim,
Tom, Richard and Jesse — for letting me shine lights in their
eyes. Beth and Adam for trusting me. Mark [Dempsey, TM], Si-
mon [Hall, PM] and Steve [Heywood] for making it happen. As
well as Mat [Ilot] at Christie Lites, [and] all at Hangman, for the
scenic elements, and the team at RCM for the content. Oh, and
my dog, for being at rehearsals and making everyone smile.”
Steve Heywood
Lighting Programmer/Director
Steve Heywood was approached by Louisa Smurthwaite last
year about the lighting director and programmer role. They had
previously worked together on pop band Glass Animals, then
Heywood took a short gap from touring after the birth of his
second child. “It was timed really well, to get back into it and
work with Louisa again,” he says.
For the Keane tour, Heywood had been using the Vista by
Chroma-Q S1 console, which both he and Smurthwaite have
used for quite a while. “It’s what she had programmed Glass An-
imals on, and it’s my ‘go to’ desk on most jobs. Just before we
started Keane, Louisa had been on the grandMA for Sam Smith,
another desk I know well. We discussed which one to use and
decided in the short time frame we had before the initial festi-
val shows that we could get the most out of the Vista.
“People always seem surprised when it turns up at FOH, and
it’s always nice to be able to show them around it,” Heywood
adds. “The programming flow is excellent and lends itself to
very quick, yet precise work, both initially creating the show
and updating while on the road. Features such as the ‘Alias
Cue,’ where copied cues update each other if further changes
are made; and the timeline feature, for quick-yet-complicated
offsets, really help with this. The FX engine is also very versa-
tile, allowing the creation of very dynamic looks. Finally, I really
enjoy the visual layout of fixtures. Once you move away from
a number of a fixture and into just a tap to select, I find I can
spend more time looking up at the rig than down at the desk.”
Heywood has spent more time as a lighting director than
programmer. On lots of the other tours he’s been on, he’s taken
 Martin MAC Auras provide the side beams. Opposing side light adds visual drama.

X4 Bar 20 fixtures throw shafts of light. Christie Lites provided the fixtures.

over when it was already on the road. “I real- at the low end, keeping the same color all the
Crew Gear
ly enjoy both roles — the problem-solving of way to off position. Production & Lighting Designer: U.S. Tour:
programming and the creativity as a lighting “Mat [Ilot] and Christie Lites have been Louisa Smurthwaite 1 Vista By Chroma-Q S1;
director — and I also enjoy seeing a show great to work with, allowing us to take over Lighting Programmer/Director: 2 M1+backup consoles
through another designer’s eyes. The first office space and providing us superb crew Steve Heywood 40 GLP X4 Bar 20’s
mock-ups I did in WYSIWYG after Louisa sent throughout the tours. It has been a great few Lighting Co: Christie Lites 8 GLP JDC1’s
me the plot look very different from where we months on Keane. The Oakland show PLSN Crew Chief: James Poepping (U.S.), 24 Martin MAC Aura XB’s
are now, and when the band adds a new track, covered was unfortunately the second-to- Mike Sanchez (U.K./EU) 8 Martin MAC III Profiles
which they often do. I have to think, ‘How last before the U.S. tour was cut short due to Lighting Tech: John Hetherton (U.K.) 6 Martin MAC 700 Spots
would Louisa light this?’ There is no time-code Coronavirus. I am lucky to be working for a Tour Manager: Mark Dempsey 12 Claypaky B-Eye K10’s
Production & Stage Manager: 4 Claypaky Sharpys
or triggers on the show. It would be achiev- band and management who have continual-
Simon Hall 3 Chroma-Q Color Force 72’s
able, as the band are on a click, but there is a ly looked out for the crew through the whole
Christie Lites Rep: Mat Ilot 3 Chroma-Q Color Force 12’s
large pool of songs they like to choose from,” time I’ve been with them and continue to do Content: Jack James/RCM 12 Chauvet Strike 1’s
he adds, noting that this tour is for their fifth so now. I look forward to getting back together Staging: Metalman 2 Half mirror balls
studio album, and adding that there have been with everyone soon to continue where we left Drapes: Hangman 2 ReelFX DF-50 hazers
nine Eps and B-sides that have been released. off, and wish everyone in the industry well at Trucking: Stage Call (U.S.)/ 2 Look Solution Unique hazers
“And we had 10 days initially to get the show this trying time.” Fly By Nite (U.K./EU)
up and running. This way, we could spend
more time on the ‘design’ and less on the ‘pro-
gramming.’ I have a musical background and
enjoy running a show live with all the nuances
that can be added as is needed. Now we’re into
the flow of it, and most of the show is second
nature. I enjoy being at FOH, seeing the result
of every button push.”
Heywood is using GLP X4 Bar 20’s, JDC1’s
and Martin MAC Aura XB’s among his lighting
fixture package, and says there is a good reason
why all of them are a staple of so many shows
at the moment. “We have four rows of X4 Bars
at the back of the stage (two flown and two
on the ground) giving both light curtain and
cyc effects, and it has been good fun playing
with those, especially on the cyc, to find new
things to do with them. Just when you think
you’ve done all there is, I’ll sit down one day
and find something else. We have our JDC1’s
on their side at the bottom of the light poles
either side of stage. This means we can tilt
them up and down stage. They make a terrific
flat wash and some great shadow play. There’s
a few moments in the show where they are the
only lights on. The Color Forces light the front
of the drum riser and pack a great punch. For
most of the show, they are at quite a minimal
level, and then can smash when needed. The
strobe options on these make for some nice
effects, and they have a lovely dimming curve

plsn.com • JUNE 2020 19


WIDEFOCUS
at MooTV’s
Steel Mill
The Bud Light Seltzer Sessions Performance
Included Full Show Production in a Studio
By Kevin M.Mitchell
B
rad Paisley’s Bud Light Seltzer Sessions
performance with Lady Antebellum
was taped May 13 at MooTV’s The Steel
Mill in Nashville and streamed May 15. While
Lady Antebellum went with a more intimate
vibe, Paisley pulled out the stops with a full
arena-show production that included a mov-
ing light rig supplied and helmed by LD Dean
Spurlock, big LED screen and cameras from
MooTV and full P.A. from Sound Image, topped
off with some blasts of confetti, even though
the performance space lacked a live audience.
“It’s so great playing live music with my
band,” Paisley said, as the second song started.
“Welcome to the Bud Light Seltzer Sessions
— I hope you’re safe. We’re going to have us
a blast.”
The show, among the first post-shutdown
full-production concerts, had a couple of key
differences from Paisley’s tour gigs. As noted,
the “arena,” in this case, was MooTV’s Steel Mill
rehearsal facility. And the lack of an audience
definitely changed the usual vibe between
songs for this full-production gig. Paisley
smiled as his sound crew played with him,
piping in thunderous applause for a moment
before cutting back to silence after one of his
songs. The show still lives on in cyberspace (on
YouTube) where it was viewed by 1.3 million
people in the first 48 hours. (To watch, go to
plsn.me/BP-2020.)
›› A Live Event Production
The rehearsal space looked great, and the
event has been declared a success by every
measurable way. “I know the intimate concerts
from an artist performing in their living room
that have been streamed have been nice, but
I’ve believed that there has been an appetite
for something bigger, and we wanted to be
the ones who brought it,” said Scott Scovill,
owner of MooTV and The Steel Mill.
Scovill started thinking about where the
virus was going to take the country and our in-
dustry in general just when Covid-19 and the
full ramifications started breaking across the
country. Longtime client Paisley was up tour-
ing in Canada and was one of the last tours to
be shut down. “When Brad got back to Nash-
20 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
ville, we talked, and I told him he was our last
act on the road. He then said, ‘Well, mark my
words, I will be the first one back.’”
›› Safe Distancing for Performers and Crew
The event was orchestrated with great
caution and care in strict adherence to CDC
guidelines, and then some. First of all, every
performers and crew showed up to the Steel
Mill, a medic greeted them and took tempera-
tures, while making sure that everyone filled
out a questionnaire about symptoms, etc.
All visitors would then get wrist bands if
approved (with a different one for each day).
There was plenty of hand sanitizer, and crew
members wore masks the whole time. (If it
slipped under your nose, the medic let you
know that that wasn’t cool). The crew was also
kept to a bare minimum — if you were a man-
ager, a band member’s girlfriend, or the typical
lookie-loo that appears at shows like this, you
were asked to stay home and not welcomed
on the set. “Some crew we asked to work on
this weren’t comfortable coming in, or their
spouse wasn’t comfortable, and that was okay
— no judgment,” Scovill says.
Once inside, there were all kinds of oth-
er precautions taken. The video production
director, engineer and playback crew work
typically six feet apart anyway — but
now extra cables were brought in to
separate them farther. “Two lighting
console techs are typically on top of
each other, and we asked them to
put more space between the con-
soles, which they were happy to
do,” Scovill says.
The huge doors of the Steel
Mill were kept open to keep air
circulating, shutting only when
closing up at night and for the
performance. Finally, there
were follow-up protocols, and
if anyone that was there tested
positive for the Coronavirus, full
contact tracing was in place.
“Honestly, I felt very responsi-
ble in every way,” Scovill says, of the
production. “I felt responsible for the
health of everyone who worked on the
JEFF WEDDING
Along with full lighting and audio production, the studio show included a blast of confetti.
show, their mental health in the stress involved Bud Light Seltzer Sessions
with leaving their house for this, and I hope it Venue: The Steel Mill, Nashville, TN
doesn’t sound silly, but I also felt responsibility
to the industry. If anybody got sick from this MooTV Crew
first full production — well, that’s not the news Executive Producer: Scott Scovill
the industry needs right now.” Exec. VP/GM: Jason Rittenberry
He adds that he is grateful for the everyone Project Manager: Travis Walker
who did work on it, as all appreciated the grav- Screens Director: Bailey Pryor
ity and the stakes involved. (Paisley posted a Playback Operator: Joe Monahan
great short video on his Facebook page of all LED Tech: Quentin Voglund
the precautions taken to prepare for this show Camera Operators: Jessica Quinn, Von
and, at one point references the strict mask Galloway, Jonathan Paine, Tom Zeleski,
policy, joking, “everybody looks like bank rob- Larry Boothby
bers.” (To watch, go to plsn.me/BP-FB.) Jib Operator: Mike Breece
Scovill commented on the different vibes Robotic Camera Operator: Jeff Horr
achieved by Paisley’s full arena production EIC: Tim Monnig
and Lady Antebellum’s more intimate, scaled- Camera Shader: Eric Heidel
down show. “Brad wanted to feel the full Engineer Assistant: Evan Byron
sound, and Lady A wanted it more stream- Technical Director: Milojko Dobrijevich
lined,” Scovill says. “Both were great, and it was
a great juxtaposition. It showed that The Steel Video Gear
Mill is available and suitable for any type of 350 Triton 5.9mm LED tiles
show any artist wants to put on. 32 Gtek 15 mm LED tiles
“It’s going to be a while before we can get 32 Astera AX1 wireless LED tubes
back to business as usual, and a lot of the ma- 1 Dataton watchout media server
jor players are taking a wait-and-see approach 1 Ross Carbonite 2 ME switchers
to performing,” Scovill concludes, “but in the 7 Hitachi SK 1300 cameras
meantime, we’re going to continue to be avail- 3 Panasonic HE 130 robotic cameras
able for shows. We’re basically a turnkey solu- 1 30’ Jimmy Jib
tion.”
Bud Light Seltzer sponsors Paisley’s shows.
 series

WEBSITE: WWW.INFILED.COM EMAIL: INFO@INFILED.COM


FOCUSON FX
Strictly FX Salutes Health Care
Workers with Drone Show in Nashville
O
n Friday May 15, health care workers in Nashville
were given their own show of appreciation with a
custom-designed drone exhibition that featured 140
of these unmanned aerial devices equipped with LED lights.
The show was presented as drones took to the air from the
safe confines of Vanderbilt Stadium, which obviously is not al-
lowing people in the stands at the moment. Instead, doctors,
nurses and other essential workers in the health care industry
stood in a nearby parking structure that faced the open end of
the stadium to enjoy the 10 minute spectacle.
The drones moved into wide configurations, often display-
ing animated light figures ranging from washing hands with
drops of water to models depicting the six-foot social distanc-
ing length. Of course, messages of text were written out to the
workers, who showed their appreciation with applause and
quite a few “oohs” and “ahhs.”
The show was put on by local pyrotechnics and special ef-
fects company Strictly FX. This company has been one of the
world’s leaders in all kinds of effects ranging from lasers to
explosive devices to smoke effects, but it was only recently
that they got into the drone side of the entertainment busi-
ness — an obvious fit for a special effects company that offers
one-stop shopping for almost any type of entertainment, film
or special event.
PLSN spoke with partner Ted Maccabee about how this ex-
hibit came to be. “Our team at Strictly FX is grateful for the
amazing bravery of all the front-line workers. We really felt
like doing something epic for the City of Nashville that has
been hit by the Covid crisis. They are truly heroes, and this felt
like just a tiny way that we could give back in appreciation to
those putting their lives on the line to save others. We thought
to ourselves, ‘When they see this, it’s a way to change the nar-
rative and spread something positive.’ On another front, we
thought this would be fun. We’ve got the city skyline as a
backdrop; a perfect canvas.”
It was also a way for the company to make use of their
drones. Strictly worked through Verge Aero, who manufac-
tures their own proprietary drone system, to purchase 150 of
these units for their inventory earlier this year. Like everyone
else in the entertainment business, their work shut down lit-
erally overnight last March. The timing for getting their crew
up to snuff on operations was right as Strictly FX, assisted by
members of Verge Aero who came down to help guide the
team, took one day to prep and ready themselves for the ex-
hibition.
22 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
The idea for the show came from an exhibit that Verge Aero
had done in Philadelphia a week earlier. Strictly FX was im-
pressed with what they saw there, so they collaborated with
them to produce a show in Nashville.
To get permission to hold the event, Strictly worked hand-
in-hand with the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp., who
were the first to be approached to discuss the idea of a tribute.
The area was carefully selected and the show was designed to
ensure that the hospitals in the area were able to see it. Once
Vanderbilt Stadium was chosen as the launch site, Vanderbilt’s
team stepped in and they were extremely helpful in assisting
everyone at Strictly FX.
The drone shows’ maximum height is 500 feet, which is
high enough for the aerial devices to be viewed in many areas
surrounding the campus, along with various other parts of the
city. But while drone shows are exciting to watch in person,
the event was deliberately designed to avoid drawing a big
crowd of spectators, which would be at odds with its social
distancing messaging. It was announced just a few hours
prior to the tribute. Health care and frontline workers were
informed, and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. also
issued a press release and provided a live stream for people to
safely watch from home.
The load-in process started the day before the event,
around mid-day. They invited the FAA onsite to check out this
new technology and make them aware of how the drones
operate. After they were comfortable, the crew did a health
check of the drones to ensure that all signal and data informa-
tion was accurate. After that was verified, the pilot flew several
low altitude practice flights. Prior to each practice flight, the
team ensured that the local helipads at the hospitals were no-
tified and cleared for them to take off. Late in the night, they
did a full rehearsal as to not reveal the surprise.
There was limited time for the actual event, determined by
the logical amount of time the workers could leave their posts
and the fact that the drones can only fly lit for 15 minutes be-
fore requiring a fresh battery charge.
Strictly FX has such a vast and diverse clientele ranging
Crew
Strictly FX Reps: Ted Maccabee, Justin Seedle
Strictly FX Designer: Grant Sellars
Remote Pilot: Sam Jackson
Verge Aero Rep: Tony Samaritano
COURTESY STRICTLY FX
By RichardOlson
from large scale concerts to stadium sized wrestling events
that they are always expanding with new technology. The
drones are another great effect they can now offer their cli-
ents. After close to a year of planning and R&D, Strictly FX
was prepared to support a number of live events with drone
effects this spring and summer. Those plans have changed,
of course, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. So the company re-
focused its efforts on a display that would pay tribute to the
frontline workers, and the May 15 event was the first live show
where Strictly FX’s drones were deployed.
Speaking of the models and system, Strictly FX strategically
partnered with Verge Aero because of their expertise. These
drones are not your typical models. They literally fly in forma-
tion in a three-dimensional space. This requires many sensors
to ensure precision and reliability. Before they even take off,
they must be rock solid.
Sam Jackson is considered a “Remote Pilot” — he is li-
censed through the FAA to pilot the drones, and did so for
this event. Tony Samaritano, a representative from Verge Aero,
was on hand assisting with Strictly FX’s inaugural flight. In ad-
dition to the license, a waiver from the FAA is also required to
fly these drones.
Some thought and advance work has to go into creating
the animations and flight paths of the drones. That was a col-
laboration between the Verge Aero team and Grant Sellers
from Strictly FX. The city of Nashville also had an opportunity
to suggest graphics, which is where the custom music note
logo and believe flag was introduced. These were all pro-
grammed in the Verge Design Studio.
We also spoke with Nils Thorjussen from Verge Aero about
the drone company’s decision to work with Strictly FX. “They
have the perfect mindset to deal with specialized gear like
ours. They are used to dealing with equipment that is differ-
ent from the normal, widely-used technology. As you know,
with an actual drone show, you need approval from the Feder-
al Aviation Administration. Because of all the various permits
they have to pull for other shows, Strictly already has the right
people in place who are accustomed to dealing with these
types of permits on a daily basis. And who deals with safety
better than pilots and pyrotechnicians? We have never been
more pleased, working with Ted and his team. Very happy to
aid in this production and know that the drones will get a lot
of use and are in good hands.”
For more information, visit strictlyfx.com.
 WE TRANSFORM
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COMPANY411
OSA Completes
Transformation
into Full
Production
Vendor
Established Vendor Hires Mark Fetto to Help
Spearhead New Lighting Division By NookSchoenfeld
L
ast year at LDI, I ran into a couple of old
friends walking the aisles, Mario Educate
and Mark Fetto. It was nice to see an au-
dio guy and a lighting dude walking the aisles
together, but since they were both from Las
Vegas I figured they were just hanging out
and doing the grip and grin, as opposed to re-
searching gear.
After a few minutes of small talk about the
past, Mario, who is the president of OSA, looks
me in the eye and says, “So what would you
think if we hired this guy to run a new lighting
division for us?” I replied in earnest that anyone
who employed Mark Fetto would be adding a
valuable asset to their team. Before I could ask
The point of difference
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24 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
why, Mario said, “Well that’s good, because we
just hired him yesterday.”
Both of these fellows have been popular
names to me since the 80’s. I’ve honestly nev-
er heard a negative word about either and
always enjoyed working with both of them. I
met Mario when he was mixing FOH for Log-
gins and Messina on a comeback tour, utilizing
his own company’s audio gear on tour. Fetto
has been around since the late 1970s and has
worked as a lighting tech, then lighting de-
signer for Obie’s and Vari-Lite. Along the way,
he worked his way up, running the VL Las Ve-
gas operations, looking after that company’s
branch. He eventually found himself working
as a sales manager for Stage Rigging. When I
first met him in the 90’s, he was employed as a
site coordinator on a gig.
Fetto is proud of the 14 years of work he did
managing the day-to-day operations at Mor-
pheus Lights and all his team accomplished.
By the summer of 2019, though, Mark was con-
templating his future and figured it was time
to make a move. About the time he decided
to head in another direction, Mario had con-
cluded that OSA needed to expand their light-
ing division to be a full service department to
augment their audio and video services. OSA
wanted to go from dabbling in lighting to
becoming a player with a state-of-the-art in-
ventory. They wanted to be able to offer a one-
stop shop, so to speak. It was perfect timing.
Mark walked out of Morpheus and, two days
later, Mario snagged him for a new position as
VP of lighting.
On Stage Audio (OSA) started as an audio
vendor back in 1985 in the Chicago area and
has expanded over the years to include ware-
houses in Las Vegas and Nashville. They cover
the gamut of show services ranging from cor-
porate theater and special events, tradeshows
and press events such as the auto shows,
product launches, concerts and touring, sport-
ing events to live TV broadcasting. OSA Inter-
national, Inc. deals with live events, supplying
complete technical systems for any size show.
Over the years, the company branched out
into all sorts of audio, lighting, and video in-
stallations — every kind imaginable. Now, as a
one-stop shop, they are able to provide the On
Stage Advantage.
If there is one thing OSA is known for, it’s
providing quality gear. They utilize high-end
equipment, including their thousands of
speaker cabinets, consoles, LED displays, cam-
era packages or staging. That is just one factor
that tempted Fetto to come on board.
“Being in the business of live events for so
long, I was thrilled at the prospect of starting
a lighting division almost from the ground up
and making the decisions to purchase the gear
that would be on every designer’s wish list,”
Fetto says. “Mario was very open with me and
trusted me to make the right decisions and
cut the best deals to help our company with a
spanking new inventory.”
OSA is serious about impressing their cus-
tomers by getting enough fixtures to “have
critical mass with all of our fixture types,” Fet-
to adds. “By this, I mean we want 50 of each
type of fixture that we see spec’d on most of
our shows. LED fixtures were our main source
of interest. I think the only arc-sourced lights
we own are the Robe Mega Pointes, but those
are a must have for many rock ‘n’ roll LDs. They
can shoot down from high above with great
brightness. We need to have the sources to il-
luminate big arena shows. But we do an awful
lot of trade show gigs and corporate events.
For those, we are more inclined to offer the
designer the new Esprite fixtures, purchased
from Robe as well.”
Fetto is well-versed in the differences be-
tween arena and ballroom lighting practices.
While several types of fixtures can be used for
both scenarios, a key to the success of the new
lighting division would be to have lights that
LDs wouldn’t mind accepting as a substitute
for what may have been spec’d on the original
light plot. He picked up GLP JDC1 strobes as
well as their X4 Bar 20 moving battens. “There
are plenty of options out there, but if you carry
the best of each type of fixture, you are cov-
ered,” Fetto says. “Nobody is going to say ‘I can’t
stand that fixture’ with any light we own. We
personally tested out a lot of different fixtures.
We know we will get requests for Claypaky
B-Eyes, so we bought a bunch of the mini sized
ones to be able to use them in ballrooms and
smaller venues as well. We loved what we saw
with the Ayrton Diablos as well and realized
they would make a great fixture for our ball-
room productions.”
OSA didn’t stop there. They purchased
grandMA3 consoles for operation. They re-
quired the best strip lights they could find and
chose Chroma-Q Color Force II units to fill that
need. And as for all the infrastructure neces-
sary to make the lights function, Fetto notes
that “Luminex network devices were what we
chose, and Lex was able to supply us with all
the cable and power distribution. Mario spent
what was necessary to do it the correct way,
right from the get-go.”
With three different locations, we asked Fet-
to what the plans are for full service through
Duke Carlisle and Warwick Burton
Mark Fetto
all their shops. “Step 1 is what we call ‘Critical
Mass’ — collecting everything we need to do
any sized show and cover multiple events at
the same time. So we are planning to keep the
lighting gear in Vegas to start. We have been
transferring large amounts of gear between
shops as necessary for shows and we will just
continue that with lighting gear when neces-
sary. The second phase will be concentrating
on our 65,000-square foot Nashville ware-
house and stocking that.”
To run the shop, Fetto connected with
Warwick Burton, a longtime lighting direc-
tor, crew chief and popular lighting veteran.
Warwick had relocated to Vegas several years
ago and was looking for a house position that
would enable him to manage a shop and build
shows, as opposed to always traveling to vari-
ous locations for work. Seems like a good mu-
tual relationship could work out. He was hired
as shop manager right before the lockdown.
OSA is not a stranger to lights by any
means, they just never stocked a full inven-
tory. They employ a head of lighting design/
production manager. “OSA has employed
Duke Carlisle for the last three years as our
resident staff LD. That stands for designer as
well as lighting dude, since he looks after the
lighting aspects on our jobs and is one heck-
uva production coordinator,” adds Fetto, as he
mentions some history as well. “2020 actual-
ly marks our 35th year as an audio company.
Seven years ago, the company purchased Me-
dia Solutions and made a very big push into
the video side of our industry. So while we
have been doing lighting for years, we usually
sub-rented whatever lighting gear we needed
to augment our own.
“There is literally nothing we can’t do in the
corporate world. We have been looking after
all the graphic capabilities involved in an event
as well as providing a certain amount of sce-
nic,” Fetto continues. “We even provide small
stages for corporate events. The NBA is a big
client of ours — we have put together big pa-
rade dollies for their events recently.”
In conclusion, Fetto points out that Mario
is 100-percent involved in every move the
company makes. “He has his own clients, and
by that, I mean he draws up his own Vector-
works drawings and makes the presentations
personally. Because of this, he understands ev-
ery piece of the pie. He’s not going to skimp on
any of the ingredients.”
B L I Z Z A R D P R O.C O M
BUYERSGUIDE Media Servers By NookSchoenfeld

Analog Way Picturall Pro ArKaos Studio 4K AV Stumpfl Pixera two RT

OS: Linux
Input: HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0,
3G-SDI, DVI
Output: DisplayPort 1.2
Playback Resolution (Image/
Video): Beyond 8K
Layers: 200
Playback Layers: Up to 48
layers of full HD video or 12
layers of 4K@60Hz video or 3
layers of 8K@60Hz video
Control Protocols: TCP/IP, Art-
analogway.com
Net, RS232
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: Yes
Support for Notch: No
Syphon/Spout: No
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: No
3D Object Import: No
Real-time UV Mapping: No
MSRP: Varies with configu-
ration
OS: Windows
Input: HDSDI, DVI
Output: DisplayPort 1.2
Playback Resolution (Image/
Video): 3840 x 2160
Layers: 36
Playback Layers: 8
Control Protocols: DMX,
Art-Net, Ma-net , MIDI , SMPTE
, Art-Net timecode
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: Yes
arkaos.com
Support for Notch: No
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: No
3D Object Import: No
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: $16,000
More Details: Dedicated
synchronization hardware
designed for professional LDs
and production studios.
OS: Windows
Input: 3G SDI, HDMI, Display-
Port
Output: DisplayPort, SDI
Playback Resolution (Im-
age): 16K resolution (due to
graphics card limitation)
Playback Resolution (Vid-
eo): Six uncompressed 4k60
8-bit, or four uncompressed
4K60 10-bit content streams
simultaneously
Layers: Unlimited
avstumpfl.com
Control Protocols: Art-Net,
sACN, TCP/UDP, JSON, HTTP,
OSC, more
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: No
Support for Notch: Yes
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: $40,000 and up

Avolites Q4 Catalyst Dataton Watchpax 60

OS: 64 bit Windows
Input: HDMI, DVI, SDI
Output: HDMI
Playback Resolution (Im-
age): Up to 16,384 x 16,384
Playback Resolution (Video):
Up to 13,104 x 13,104
Layers/Playback Layers: Up
to 32 per fixture
Control Protocols: Synergy,
Art-Net, Midi, OSC
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: Yes
avolites.com
Support for Notch: Yes
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: $62,985
More Details: Part of the Q
Series range. Promises im-
pressive detail on large tours,
in large venues or advanced
installations.
OS: Mac
Input/Output: SDI DVI
Playback Resolution (Im-
age): 4K
Playback Resolution (Video):
Up to 27 mega-pixel movies
Layers: 48 OS: Windows Syphon/Spout: No
Playback Layers: 4 (recom- Input: HDMI, DVI, SDI, NDI Edge Blending: Yes
mended) Output: DisplayPort, MiniDP, Scenic/Automation Data
Control Protocols: DMX, HDMI, DVI, VGA, SDI Input: Yes
Art-Net Playback Resolution (Image/ 3D Object Import: Yes
NDI Compatible: N/A Video: No system limitations Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
Stock Content: Yes (NSL) MSRP: Three models available,
Support for Notch: No Layers: NSL contact for pricing
Syphon/Spout: Yes Playback Layers: NSL More Details: Dataton media
Edge Blending: No Control Protocols: TCP, UDP, servers range from pocket-size
Scenic/Automation Data DMX512, RS232, MIDI Watchpax 20A to the more
MSRP: Contact dealer NDI Compatible: Yes powerful Watchpax 40 and the
Input: Yes
More Details: Catalyst offers Stock Content: No high-performance Watchpax
3D Object Import: No
48 layers, 36 mixes & 6 outputs Support for Notch: No 60 range.
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
snp-productions.co.uk dataton.com

disguise solo Green Hippo Hippotizer Tierra+ Modulo Pi/Modulo Kinetic

OS: Windows
Input: 3x HD-SDI, 2x 3G-SDI or
2x HDMI (1920x1080@60 max)
Output: 1x DisplayPort 1.2
(GUI), 2x DisplayPort 1.4 (4096
x 2160 max)
Playback Res. (Image): 16K
Playback Res. (Video): 2x 4K
Playback Layers: Unlimited,
depending on hard drive
Control Protocols: Art-Net,
OSC, Serial, MTC, LTC, UDP,
MIDI, HTML5, BlackTrax
NDI Compatible: No
Stock Content: No
Support for Notch: Yes
Syphon/Spout: No
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: By request
More Details: disguise also
offers the pro range, letting
users play huge video content
on large canvases, and the gx
range.
OS: Windows
Input: NDI, DVI, SDI, DP, HDMI,
Composite
Output: DP
Playback Resolution (Image/
Video): 16,384 x 16,384 Max
Layers: 16 per mix
Playback Layers: Unlimited
Control Protocols: Art-Net,
MA net, sACN, TCP, UDP, OSC,
MIDI
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: Yes
Support for Notch: Yes
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: $69,995
More Details: Featuring 4
unlimited DP 1.2 outputs,
the Tierra+ offers 8K and 4K
@60fps playback, 39,816
Notchmarks and Dual 10GB
included as standard.
OS: Windows
Input: SDI, HDMI
Output: DisplayPort
Playback Resolution/Image:
Up to 16K
Playback Res. (Video): To 8K
Layers: Unlimited
Playback Layers: Depends on
codec and resolution
Control Protocols: Art-Net,
MIDI, OSC, TCP-IP
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: No
Support for Notch: No
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: Contact company
More Details: Reliable across
the complete workflow: 3D
study/simulation, generative
and interactive content,
real-time compositing tool, ad-
vanced warping features, live
mixer and show controller.

disguise.one green-hippo.com modulo-pi.com

PRG Mbox Designer v4 (software) Resolume Arena RGBlink UMS4 MediaMind

OS: Mac
Input/Output: Depends on
hardware
Playback Resolution (Image/
Video): >4K
Layers: 24
Playback Layers: 24
Control Protocols: Art-Net,
sACN, OSC & MIDI through
Mbox Director
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: No
Support for Notch: Uses
Video Dust
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic Data Input: Yes
3D Object Import: Yes
Real-time UV Mapping: Yes
MSRP: $7,500
More Details: PRG Mbox
Studio and Mini also available
(scaled down versions) and
software v. 4.42 now available.
OS: Windows, Mac
Input: All Blackmagic, Datap-
ath, AJA capture cards
Output: All GPU outputs,
Blackmagic, Datapath, AJA
output cards
Playback Resolution (Im-
age): Depends on video card
Playback Resolution (Video):
Depends on machine specs
Layers/Playback Layers:
Unlimited
Control Protocols: DMX,
OSC, MIDI, Denon StageLinq,
Ableton Link
NDI Compatible: Yes
Stock Content: Yes
Support for Notch: No
Syphon/Spout: Yes
Edge Blending: Yes
Scenic Data Input: No
3D Object Import: No
Real-time UV Mapping: No
MSRP: $799
OS: Windows
Input: SDI and HDMI options
Output: 1 x DVI, 4x4K Dis-
playPort
Playback Resolution (Image/
Video): 8K support for media
server applications.
Layers: N/A
Playback Layers: Four
Control Protocols: RGBlink
OpenAPI, others as supported
by apps.
NDI Compatible: No
Stock Content: No
Support for Notch: No
Syphon/Spout: No
Edge Blending: No
Scenic/Automation Data
Input: No
3D Object Import: No
Real-time UV Mapping: No
MSRP: $7,750
More Details: Intel i7 proces-
sor, WX8200 GPU & SSD slots.

prg.com resolume.com rgblink.com

26 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com

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 K E
U R B A N
Drive-In
By Richard Olson
Live Concert Pays Homage to
Healthcare Heroes; New Live
Format Sets the Stage for More
F
eeling the need to express his gratitude
to the multitudes of workers on the front
line, Nashville resident Keith Urban de-
cided to play his first show since Covid-19 shut
down the world as we know it. Doctors and
nurses from Vanderbilt University Medical Cen-
ter were invited Thursday evening, May 14, for
a private concert outside at the Stardust Drive-
in in Watertown, 30 minutes outside of Nash-
ville. This was no webcast from a studio, it was
indeed a live concert, the first of our new era.
›› Old Entertainment Concept, New Era
The Stardust has been operating at half oc-
cupancy and obeying social distancing guide-
lines now, seven nights per week. This includes
concession stands. Owners mentioned that
they had gotten a variety of calls about rent-
ing their space for events, but the one they
got from a member of Keith Urban’s staff was
something special. Urban himself declared, “It
was a load of fun” while appearing on the To-
day show the next day. “We also really want-
ed to take the opportunity to not only do the
first one, but do it for the healthcare workers,
because that’s what this is all about right now.
They did an amazing job as an audience, and I
had a great time.”
The space allotted for no more than 125 cars
with a maximum of four people per vehicle.
Pandoras Box Server
Spyder X80
Our powerful processing solution
duo for unlimited show control.
christiedigital.com
I T H LIVEEVENTS
Estimates say just over 200 attended this sur-
prise show. Fans were seen watching from their
hoods while leaning against their windshield.
Trucks and vans parked in the back. The drive-
in provided the projector and the screen; it was
up to Urban’s crew to figure out the rest, and do
it stealthily. After all, if word got out that Keith
Urban was playing anywhere near Nashville, it
could have been a mess.
›› A Top-Secret Gig
PLSN caught up with Anthony “Geddy”
Kordyjaka, project manager for Premier Global
Production, a prominent lighting vendor and
rehearsal studio in Nashville, to see how the
production went down.
“I got a call from a couple of guys early last
week to see if they could meet and talk about
something with me. So I went down to the shop
to meet with Randy Gardner and Brent Maxon.
I just figured they wanted to talk about using
the rehearsal studio time or shoot something
there. Instead, they just came in and asked me
about ten questions. They never mentioned
the act, the date or the venue. But I knew it was
a charity event, and I had to be ready this week.
Of course, I knew who employed these two
men, but I never asked who, when or where
about this show.”
Geddy loaded up a box truck with a smatter-
ing of light fixtures and everything he needed
to make a light show work, per Maxon’s specs
during the meeting. He would go on to drive
said truck himself, be the lone lighting tech,
and make that side of the show happen with
a bare-bones crew obeying social distancing.
Come day of show, a flatbed semi pulled up
with some P.A. from Sound Image strapped to
it and parked in front of the projection surface.
A PGP semi for stage gear flanked one side of
the stage, and the PGP box truck occupied the
other They provided the security for Keith’s bus,
to corral in a backstage area.
›› The Setup
“We had two 12-foot-tall towers off to the
side for front light. We really couldn’t put a
front truss up without blocking the Drive In’s
projector. On those towers, we threw up some
ETC Lustr ellipsoidals for front light as well as
SGM P-10’s for audience lighting. Behind the
band and to the side, we hung about 20 Chau-
vet COLORado 2 Zoom fixtures for flashing LED
colored washes from some 12-inch truss tow-
ers. With the stage being eight feet deep, we
squeezed in some Portman P3 tungsten units
on the floor to give the artist that ‘warm’ feel.”
Urban’s video crew brought in their own
disguise gx 2c media server for this show to
play back video content. They went bare bones
Keith Urban at the Stardust Drive-In.
and cut the one Sony HXC-100 camera with
75x long lens at FOH and two Panasonic AW-
HE130k robo cams directly from the media
server, as it allows for eight inputs on it. All cam-
era switching was done via MIDI triggers. The
video was directed by Simon Roberts.
Randy Gardner usually acts as the stage
manager for all of Urban’s live events, but for
this particular show, he took hold of the reins
on site. It was deemed safer and wiser to put
a younger person in charge of on-site logistics
for this event. The usual production and tour
manager would see through the day’s set up
of events via FaceTime communication as well
as Keith himself, who wanted to be involved in
this event as much as possible.
“It seemed the guys were in constant com-
munication with management to make sure
everything was covered,” says Geddy. “Keith
was anxious to get out and play as well and
was checking in for status updates. The sound
check itself seemed to last a couple hours.”
The show ran for over an hour, with band-
mate Nathan Barlowe joining Urban on stage
to sing and play guitar. With all the car horn
honking aiding the applause and the audi-
ence clapping in time with their headlights, it
appears a good time was had by all. The Drive-
In Concert Era in America is off and running.
DESIGNERSOLUTIONS
Patrick Dierson’s The Activity
Offers Luxury Previz Suites in
Vegas By NookSchoenfeld
P
atrick Dierson is al-
ways busy, even when
the rest of the indus-
try seems to be on hiatus.
Besides being the principal
designer at The-Activity
(the-activity.com), a full-on production design firm located
in Las Vegas that works across the live entertainment genres
of concert touring, music festivals, corporate experiential
launches, and broadcast television, he recently even opened
up an online store titled Th3 Gear (th3gear.com). But what
we are here to discuss today is “The Farm” (th3farm.com), the
company’s luxury previsualization studios located right off
the famous Las Vegas Strip.
›› A Little History
After growing up in a New York City suburb (on Long Is-
land), Dierson pursued dual career paths, learning the basics
of the live entertainment business and serving the U.S. gov-
ernment for several years. “In the end, my service required
me to learn a trade specific to the entertainment industry.” So
while in service to his country, he found himself starting his
career in entertainment.
“In 1993, I went to work for Farralane Lighting, quickly
followed by a stint at Group One, Ltd. They were the United
States sales distribution company for brands such as Clay
Paky, Celco, ElektraLite and MA Lighting. I became a product
specialist for them, concentrating on Clay Paky fixtures as
well as all control consoles in their lineup.”
He left there in 1998 to pursue a career as a console pro-
grammer. “At the time, the Whole Hog II was the premier mov-
ing light console, and thus I made a big push to learn that,
but I also had a good knowledge of less popular but equally
complicated consoles and controllers such as the Celco Navi-
gator and Masterpiece 108 from my time at Group One.”
Dierson reached out to friends, and they sent him loan-
er consoles for their proprietary systems such as the Status
Cue and Case II desks. In turn, Dierson became an expert on
systems such as these and ended up being in high demand
because there weren’t too many professional programmers
out there who knew these quirky controllers.
“It wasn’t too long into this process when the series one
grandMA was released; a product line that I had already been
working with in its alpha stage while back at Group One,”
Dierson adds. “I progressed with that as my main console of
choice from there on out.”
After gaining a reputation and client base while located
in NYC, he and his wife Dee decided it was time to get The
Activity running in full force, which also led to the couple’s
30 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
decision to relocate the business.
“New York City is a magical place and I really feel, that just
like the military, everyone should have to go through it for
at least a year. It will teach you a level of self-discipline that
you never knew that you were capable of…or it will tear you
to shreds because you can’t handle it. It’s also notorious-
ly expensive, and I simply couldn’t afford to love New York
anymore. From a business perspective, if you’re going to do
things on the up-and-up, you’re going to pay a phenomenal
amount of taxes, and New York City is not the most freelanc-
er-friendly state in the union.” They chose Vegas. “It was the
only 24 hour city other than NYC that we liked, and Nevada is
extremely business friendly.”
›› Grasping Previz
Dierson purchased his first copy of WYSIWYG in 1999.
“I had made the investment in a personal copy to utilize as
both a CAD design tool as well as a pre-programming tool.
Another programmer friend had recently become an expert
in the system. Rodd McLaughlin had teamed up with Norm
Schwab, Tom Thompson, and others to create a company
called Prelite LLC, and they were the first actual previz stu-
dio that I came in contact with. They had studios in New
York City, San Francisco and L.A., later creating the concept
of mobile previsualization systems. They were true pioneers
not just in formulating a studio-based business plan but also
in regards to the experience and hospitality involved with a
service-based business in this lane. I started to use Prelite ex-
tensively on projects through the early 2000s, and loved the
service.”
Over the years, Dierson watched as various companies
upped their game and offered new and exciting features.
“Systems such as ESP Vision and L8 would slowly start push-
ing the realism of the graphics to new heights and ultimately
kept the entire community on its toes. Then, and I say this jok-
ingly and lovingly, MA Lighting came in and ruined the whole
damn party by giving grandMA3D away for free.”
Calling grandMA3D “utilitarian,” Dierson adds that “it works
really well, and it’s my favorite to use, but that’s only because
I know what I’m looking at when I watch its simulations. It is
absolutely not what I would show a musical artist, though.
When you’re trying to convey the look of a stage show to
someone who traditionally sees things with their ears, you
really want to spend the money to use something that will
render more realism. But herein lies the beauty of the pre-
visualization software industry. There is a place and time for
everyone’s offerings, and there are some really great solu-
tions out there for every situation. There are also some truly
next-level offerings on the horizon as we await the official
release of Imaginary Labs’ Carbon software. They are taking
visual realism to the next level — in being able to simulate
not just light beams better than the competition, but also el-
ements such as pyrotechnics.”
When asked to define his company Patrick notes that “a lot
of people describe The Activity as a collective, and they’re not
necessarily wrong. It is a collective of people, but the collec-
tive shifts quite abruptly. We have a core group of people that
live and operate within the entity who are not just designers.
We have producers, art directors, technical directors, etc. Some
live here full-time while others are white-labeled and merely
operate from the umbrella. The Activity’s main purpose is to
provide a production design backbone for just about anyone
that needs it, and by “production design,” I mean that in the
true sense of the words. We concentrate on the engineering
and delivery aspect of someone’s creative vision.”
›› The Farm
The city of Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the
world. But what has really become a major attraction the last
few years is all the big music legends playing long-term resi-
dencies in Vegas showrooms. They are countless. With the quick
turnarounds in the venues coupled with the unrealistic short
programming times given to these act’s production teams be-
fore opening night, previz has become an industry standard.
Any good tour manager will work these programming costs
into their show budget. There is nothing worse than having
your artist step onto a new stage set for the first time and the
LD doesn’t have a scripted show all set to work off of. This is why
you need a place like the Farm, especially in Vegas.
Nobody does mere eight-hour days while programming,
and they certainly don’t hold banker’s hours. The one con-
stant every LD wants is a quiet comfortable space where they
can program any time of day, preferably in luxury. The Activity
required a suite they could utilize for their personal projects,
but why not open a space up that all production people could
utilize? A seed was sown in Dierson’s mind.
As for the name, Dierson admits that, while “I couldn’t grow
a vegetable with Old McDonald helping me himself, there’s a
tie-in to my history in just about everything we do, and the
choice to go with the name ‘The Farm’ is no exception. The
Farm is a representation of our end goal. Farms are a place of
cultivation and growth, and we very much strive to help cul-
tivate and grow creativity in that space. It is designed to offer
the comfort and freedom for creative teams to concentrate on
just the work at hand.”
The Activity located their home base in a high rise building
one block off the strip. “We had initially obtained the space for
The Activity’s offices, and soon after realized that not only did
we not require all of the space we had, but business had simply
exploded soon after. We quickly realized that having access to
an in-house previz solution would be extremely beneficial for
us internally. We also realized that we had created a working
space that was such an exponentially pleasant experience, it
was a bit of a shame to only be utilizing these resources for our
own projects. Here we are, a company specifically designed to
help creatives, and we’re sitting on something that could help
them on another level if we were to be able to share it with
them. It was a bit of a no-brainer in the end.”
Dierson expands on the location. “Let’s face it, Las Vegas pri-
marily bases itself on opulently luxurious experiences. When
you live on the Strip, you’re constantly being exposed to these
amazing environments designed to be both comforting and
utilitarian. When this world of opulence is ultimately your lo-
cal neighborhood, it’s wonderful to be exposed to it constant-
ly, and it shifts your way of thinking about service to clientele.
Why are we accepting the corners of noisy warehouses as the
pinnacle of the creative workplace? At The Farm, we simply
decided to break the norm and elevate the expectation. That’s
what we did with our space and, in incorporating previsual-
ization studios into it, we realized that the magic of a previz
space does not lie within the tech and software that’s in it.
What truly separates times spent engaging in previsualization
is the actual experience of it.”
The actual location is not a big secret by any means, but
The Activity specifically don’t post it anywhere in writing; the
physical address is given only to guests. This is merely to assist
in maintaining security for their higher-level visitors, since this
experience is designed to be able to be client-facing. “That
The comfortable small studio The Think Tank

means that we will often receive artist talent software servers, hooked up to 65-inch, 4K That is to say that if you own your own copy job. Further to that, any service provider who
at the studios, and maintaining their privacy, Samsung LED displays. The large studio con- of WYSIWYG and would like to utilize that in- has a client in our studios is given unfettered
security and comfort is of utmost importance. tains two displays so that a video server can stead of renting it from us for your session, we access to the previz computers via the Team-
The last thing we want is various members of be utilized to show high-resolution content welcome that. Viewer service so that they have the ability to
the paparazzi making their photographic at- outside of the previz environment if desired. “It is important to note that we are both make changes to their client’s file in real-time.”
tempts here, and that is just as much for their Each of the studios also comes with a full software and file-creation agnostic, meaning Rates for The Farm’s services vary depend-
safety as it is for the privacy of our guests. audio mixing station with reference monitors that we do not push any specific software, ing on which studio is needed. The Small stu-
Walls and fences need to be scaled to gain as well as a SMPTE destripalyzer. All other nor do we create the actual previz files in dio has a daily rate of $950 while the large
unwanted access. Our clientele appreciate gear is welcome to be brought in as needed. house. Our service is strictly about the ex- studio is $1,150, and those include the use of
the somewhat clandestine nature of the loca- “Anyone utilizing any other console prefer- perience and not the technical prowess of the in-house grandMA consoles and grand-
tion combined with its proximity to the major ence and/or in need of more processing units creating great visualization files. Many of our MA3D software. All bookings have weekly
hotels on the Strip.” for their previz session can arrange delivery clients create their own files or have a rela- discounts if booked for seven days or more.
The Farm is literally a two-story town- with us so that it is onsite and ready for their tionship with other previz service providers. “In short,” Patrick concludes, “we’re in the
house that has been converted into offices. arrival,” Dierson says. All are welcome here. We want The Farm to business of providing comfort, whether that
What would have been bedrooms have been “Whereas we have grandMA3D installed be a haven for other previsualization service be a comfortable physical setting in which to
turned into two previz suites. On the lower on all machines, simply because it is the most providers to feel safe in using the space while be creative or simply putting everyone’s mind
level, there lies a creative space that’s referred requested, we obviously have the ability for still having the ability to service their clients at ease knowing that they have their most fa-
to as the “Think Tank,” along with a dining guests to utilize any previsualization system without the perceived threat that we’re there miliar service providers still at their fingertips
area and small kitchen, which is outfitted they desire, whether that be WYSIWYG, Cap- to try and take their business. It’s simply not with a partner that will do everything to en-
with the normal things one might expect — a ture, L8, Vision, etc. We rent those systems as what we do. For those clients that require files sure that that is maintained.”
robust coffee machine, tea station, fridge full add-ons when needed, and we also encour- made for them, we simply refer them to the
of basic drinks and craft services, etc. “We also age the use of any privately-owned system. team at Imaginary Lights, who do an amazing For more information, visit the-activity.com.
offer a custom meal plan as an add-on service
where a menu of your choosing is made for
you right there in the space. This has been an
attractive option for some who do not want
to endure the wasted long spans of time
to leave their sessions to go out to nearby
restaurants. However, coupling those nearby
restaurants with a dining space in the studios
certainly offers a host of options for ordering,
which also saves creative teams tons of other-
wise unproductive time.” There is also an out-
door patio space surrounded by high walls
which provide decent privacy for those who
just want a Zen moment outside or to take a
smoke break.

›› The Studios
The Farm has a large and small studio,
priced accordingly. Patrick explains the lay-
out. “The smaller of the two lends itself well
to having two to three people working in it,
while the larger studio is comfortable for ap-
proximately six people, although we have re-
configured it on occasion to fit larger teams.
In fact, we reconfigure the entire property to
suit the needs of our guests as needed. We re-
cently had guests working on one of the Las
Vegas residencies that booked both studios
and then brought their video content cre-
ation team with them to be able to make con-
tent and alterations in real-time during the
programming sessions. We had people set up
throughout the entirety of the space simply
because it suited their needs best.”
Each of the studios comes with a console,
the choice of which is simply based on first-
come-first-serve availability. The Farm owns
a full grandMA2 and full grandMA3 console
and are connected nicely with high-process-
ing Falcon Northwest Frag Boxes acting as the

plsn.com • JUNE 2020 31

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The DP tried to keep shadows to a minimum.
D
irected by Fernando Meirelles and
set in 2013, the recent Netflix film
The Two Popes imagines a theological
debate between Pope Benedict, portrayed
by Anthony Hopkins, and his soon-to-be suc-
cessor Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan
Pryce), who’s hell-bent on resigning his post
when the Pontiff summons the Argentinian
clergyman in an effort to ascertain why.
The two religious leaders, whose philoso-
phies occupy opposite ends of the ecclesias-
tical spectrum, pontificate and verbally spar
on matters of church doctrine amid a swirl of
headline-making scandals, which threaten to
shatter the faith of millions. As Benedict wres-
tles with his own fateful decision to vacate
his Vatical vocation — something a pope had
not done in centuries — the two men gain an
understanding of one another and eventually
nurture a budding friendship.
Despite the emphasis on discourse, The
Two Popes is surprisingly visually brilliant, at
times nearly radiant. After visiting a newly
refurbished Vatican for inspiration, director
of photography César Charlone envisioned a
film that would illuminate the main characters
and their facial expressions, as well as eradi-
cate unnecessary and unwanted shadows,
and allow the Sistine Chapel’s eye-popping
color schemes to bolster the playful, at times
comedic, dialogue and subtle symbolism of
Anthony McCarten’s script.
Iconic Renaissance paintings, such as Mi-
chelangelo’s The Last Judgment, were repro-
duced for The Two Popes, as were structural
components of the Sistine Chapel, contrib-
uting to the cool, almost clean, quality the
filmmakers had conceptualized for portions
of the Vatican. The brightness and vibrancy
of these works guided Charlone throughout
the production process. “Color and form were
very important reference points for us when
we were doing color tests for the film,” says
Charlone, who collaborated with Meirelles on
the critically acclaimed The Constant Gardener
and City of God.
32 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
The Two Popes is but one of several auspi-
cious signs that Netflix is heading in the right
creative direction. In mid-January, Variety re-
ported that Netflix was investing $17.3 billion
in 2020 for its original streaming content. Al-
though its 2019 fourth-quarter U.S. subscriber
growth fell short of expectations, Netflix raked
in nearly $5.5 billion in the same time period,
beating analysts’ forecasts. The supernatu-
ral monster-hunter series, The Witcher, star-
ring Henry Cavill, and Martin Scorsese’s Os-
car-nominated The Irishman, have both been
deemed successes, and feedback from The
Two Popes has been generally positive across
the board. The industry has also taken note:
both Pryce and Hopkins had were nominated
for Academy Awards for their performances in
the film (Best Actor and Best Supporting Ac-
tor, respectively) with McCarten nominated
for Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Working for Netflix is great,” says Charlone,
a native of Uruguay. “I’m working on a docu-
mentary series for Netflix now. It’s fabulous
how you interchange experiences and ideas,
and how we get together. It’s a great collab-
oration.”
PLSN: We’re curious about the discussions
you had with director Fernando Meirelles,
as far as the overall look of The Two Popes.
What kinds of visuals references did you
use?
César Charlone: We realized, from the very
beginning, that we had a dialogue-heavy film.
I told Fernando the main focus should be in
giving the actors the best performance situa-
tion possible. The camera should be straight
on the actors, seeing every detail in their face,
every gesture. I told Fernando that we cannot
be doing anything fancy, moving the camera
around, or doing anything that distracts. We
have to see these guys with no strong shad-
ows, no dramatic lighting that would hide
part of their faces. Just have them flat lit. Si-
multaneously, I was searching for references
for this particular look, and one of the refer-
DoP César Charlone’s
Vivid Colors and
Projected Shadows
By WillRomano
ences that came to me, since I was visiting the
Sistine Chapel, was the paintings of Michelan-
gelo and all the paintings in the ceiling — the
Last Judgment. While there, I saw exactly what
I was talking about: flat lighting with no shad-
ows.
The sharpness and brightness of the film was
inspired by the paintings?
Well, I wouldn’t say it was sharpness. It’s
more about the actors being front-lit. It’s a
dynamic process. When we were discussing
this with Fernando, we were reading over the
script and seeing locations. It was a work in
progress.… When we were filming the scenes
set in the Sistine Chapel, we wanted the actors
to blend into the paintings. You have some
shots when the actors are in the same room
as the paintings, in the middle of discussion,
and the camera is underneath, and they are
almost integrated with that painting.
Certain rooms and scenes, in the Vatican and
elsewhere, are defined by their color pat-
terns. For instance, there was a green color
scheme, more or less, in one scene…
That was Castel Gandolfo, when Francis, or
Bergoglio, visited Pope Benedict. They have a
long scene in the garden when they are de-
bating and confronting each other. Then they
have dinner in separate rooms, and Pope Ben-
edict took care that Bergoglio would have the
same meal, a German dish, that his mother
once prepared. They ate at the same time, but
not in the same room. After that, they meet
in a place where, you could say, they harmo-
nize, helped by the music of the Beatles and
the dialogue. For this, I thought it would be
nice to get opposite colors that would harmo-
nize. I lit the room in green, and I lit, especially
Pope Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio, in red. Red
and green are opposite, but in this place they
blended in a nice, soft way.
Were there other scenes in which this harmo-
ny took place?
PETER MOUNTAIN
There was a scene in which Benedict and
Francis dance the tango. Benedict is dressed
in white and Bergoglio is dressed in black, and
so we looked to the black and white environ-
ment of the floor, and so on.
Can you speak to how the production team
recreated the Vatican?
The Vatican doesn’t let film crews in, be-
cause if they would, there’d be 20 crews film-
ing all the time. The Sistine Chapel was built in
the studio, Cinecittà [in Rome]. This was mar-
velously done by the teams working that Enzo
[Sisti, co-producer] and Mark [Tildesley, pro-
duction designer]. There were lots of locations
given to us to simulate the Vatican: castles
and palaces that are in Italy and, specifically,
Rome. The Piazza San Marco, however, was
beautifully recreated in post-production.
You alluded to this earlier. The vibrancy of
the color of the frescoes in the Sistine Chap-
el, what some have called the “Tattoo Wall,”
is exceptional. How was this achieved?
Prints were done with special photograph-
ic paper. In other words, the scenario was plas-
tered and on top of that were pictures of the
Sistine Chapel. In this way, you keep the tex-
ture of the plaster. It looks exactly like a fresco.
It really was perfect.
How was this lit?
I went to the Sistine Chapel quite a few
times, took notes, and looked at how the sun
behaved… I wanted this effect to be as realistic
as possible for the film; I wanted to imitate the
exact lighting in the Sistine Chapel. Because
the windows are tinted, the sun doesn’t come
straight onto the wall and spoil the painting.
I used very strong light coming through the
location of what would be the windows, and
I used a filter to give the same sensation, as if
light was being directed at the paintings. The
strongest light is on the top, at the location of
the frescoes, and at the bottom, you have a
kind of spill of light coming down.
 NETFLIX
César Charlone frames the shot

Our camera was RED Helium [sensor], an 8K

camera, and we used it with two sets of dif-
ferent lenses. I used different zooms because
I used a zoom in order to reframe … without
having to change a lens or having to move
the camera. I use two types of zooms: 35mm
zooms, for 35mm frame, and 16mm zoom for
a 16mm film. I don’t like using a 4K camera
with a perfect lens for people’s skins, because
you see so many realistic details that take out
the softness of the imagery and the poetry.
That’s why I mix these two types of lenses.

Was there anything special about the light-

ing units you used for this film project?
Every tool has its function. The powerful
6K HMIs are good for coming through win-
dows, and then soft panels are good for skin
… The only thing that was different was that
I used film projectors to project textures or
shadows on a wall. I set it up so that you’d
have light, as if it was coming through the
window and passing through a vitriol, and I
would film that effect and project it onto the
wall… If you have shadows of leaves moving
just outside the window, or the sun hitting a
tree and there are glittering shadows, these
images are being projected onto the shade
or the window. I would film that effect with
my cell phone. Today you have very light and
cheap projectors. I had a couple of them with
me as part of my lighting equipment. I cap-
tured some real vitriols from Argentina, what
was part of Bergoglio’s past, and then project-
ed these images for our Rome scenes [in the
film’s present-day year of 2013]. It helped to
recall or create a kind of reminiscence of Ber-
goglio’s former life.
COMMITTED TO QUALITY,
There are shifts, visually, when the film flash- DEDICATED TO YOU
backs to Bergoglio’s past in Argentina. What
was done differently about these scenes?
We wanted it to be technically different
from the contemporary dialogue scenes. The
flashbacks would have a more filmic quality.
There is some realistic archival footage used in
the film, and I had to match some scenes we
shot with that footage. There’s a scene done IWEISS.COM | INFO@IWEISS.COM | TOLL FREE: 888-325-7192 | CHICAGO: 708-435-4162 | MISSOURI: 417-238-3550

at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, aired

by the Dutch television, and we had to shoot
scenes of our actress as if she were part of that
archival footage. We — myself and the color-
ists — investigated how to get as close as pos-
sible to that footage in the way of shooting it
and then afterwards in post-production.

The outdoor sequences were shot where?

We filmed in Rome and in Argentina, all the
flashbacks and everything.

Was it challenging to light this film, and

what were some of the hurdles you faced
when lighting a movie that was so focused
on theological debate?
I’ll answer this way: I was a Catholic and
today I am an agnostic, but I believe in the
power of the church in uniting people and
supporting people in their constant strug-
gle for a better life. I was stimulated by this
film. To me, it is not a film about religion but
friendship. It’s about tolerance, forgiving; it’s
about love. I joke that you could have done
this film in a very similar way with [Cristiano]
Ronaldo from Real Madrid and [Lionel] Messi
from Barcelona and set it in a slightly differ-
ent environment. The backdrop wouldn’t be
church dogma but playing professional foot-
ball [soccer]. You’d have these guys initially
meet, almost as enemies, and end up as very
nice friends.”

plsn.com • JUNE 2020 33

ROUNDTABLE
ilent House Productions’ partners, from left: Cory FitzGerald, Baz Halpin, Tamlyn Wright and Alex Reardon
A
t incredi-
this year’s
NAMM Show, I had the
great good fortune to be able to host a pan-
el talking with the principals of Silent House
Productions — Baz Halpin, Tamlyn Wright and
Alex Reardon. The fourth principal, Cory Fitz-
Gerald, was unable to attend due to an illness,
but I caught up with the now healthy FitzGer-
ald recently to add him into this conversation.
The panel, entitled “10 Years of Creativity with
Silent House Productions,” celebrated the
firm’s illustrious decade.
The Silent House list of clients is long and
illustrious. Some of their clients include Taylor
Swift, P!nk, Cher, Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani, Brit-
ney Spears, Halsey, Tears for Fears, and Bruno
Mars. Recent work from Silent House includes
Khalid’s Free Spirit tour; Jennifer Lopez’s “It’s
My Party” tour, Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Be-
gins tour; Childish Gambino at Coachella; and
Mango TV over in China.
Founded in 2010, Silent House is a full-ser-
vice production company that provides pro-
duction and design services for concert tour-
ing, television, and live entertainment. The
firm brings altogether, under one roof, an ar-
ray of services including creative direction, live
event production, lighting, scenic, costume
design, video content and stage direction.
Talk about the company philosophy and the
creation of Silent House.
Baz Halpin: Silent House was a way to
move away from being a solo designer and to
have more of an infrastructure; to be a little bit
nimbler; more efficient. It started with focus-
ing on design aspects for one tour at a time
and it grew as we found new partners. Then,
in my professional capacity, I moved more
into producing and directing shows—both on
television and in live entertainment—and, as
a necessity, Silent House grew into a multifac-
eted company.
Our ethos is as a full-service production
company. We wanted to make sure, from the
creative end of things, that we were — and
34 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
a conversation with
ble bullpen for
getting the drafting and the
rendering out and then the execution. There
By M
ichael S.Ed dy tive of designers, hav- is the bidding of the thing and how do you
continue to be — be-
coming more efficient and more communi- ing the resource of the perspectives that the expedite that? So, I’ve certainly found that
cative. Communication in this business is key, other partners and team members might add having great relationships with vendors is a
and we do incredibly complicated things on a to the overall look and feel of a design? critical part of us being able to do our job. It’s
daily basis. Cory FitzGerald: We are able to share expe- about the pre-production process and the in-
As we grew, we moved into a larger facility riences in a way a lot of designers can’t. When volvement and the attention and the support
and grew to seven — four partners, three asso- approaching a project, it’s incredibly useful to that we get is absolutely vital to our success.
ciates — along with several full-time staff. That be able to ask each other about similar expe- Tamlyn Wright: I think, for all of us as de-
was all with the goal of being able to have a riences with clients, vendors, or even venues signers, it can be an intensely lonely career
core team that was rapidly producing work and get firsthand feedback. Our industry is by yourself, to sit there at this blank piece of
under the same processes, processes that con- pretty open about things overall I’ve found, paper and go, ‘What am I going to do?’ It’s like
tinue to evolve and get more efficient, so that but having that internal connection adds a bit you can have writer’s block all day long. You
we adapt to the marketplace. of helpfulness not to mention the sharing of have these moments of intense solitude and
Silent House has evolved from a design the workload as we can help each other out creative voids and then creative passions that
company with just me supporting what I had with projects in need or collaborate to share can all just kind of come at once, which is such
to do, to growing to be a larger communal ef- the workloads. a wonderful thing, especially when you can
fort with support for our industry community. I think our commitment to creating realistic, share that with collaborators. I think that being
That was part of why about two years ago, we innovative, and achievable ideas has provided in this work situation that we’re in now in our
expanded to a new building — the Flower us a good track record in the industry as a collective, it’s definitely brought out the most
Street Factory. We took this concept of a com- whole, and in the eyes of current and potential growth in my work. I can learn from someone
munity-based work ideology and expanded clients. We really try to focus on looking at the else’s process, because we all work differently.
that out to some companies that we worked whole picture, thinking through each aspect Also, at Silent House, we have an incredible
with. If you do 20 tours in a year, you’re prob- of the design and its implications for budget support staff — our bullpen, as we call it, of
ably working with some of the same compa- and time, etc. We all have quite a bit of experi- modelers, renderers and drafts people as well
nies. So, we looked at the facilities that we ence that we can combine to look at solutions as a wonderful studio manager. That’s actual-
needed on a regular basis to execute things quickly and efficiently but most importantly ly one of the most important things, because
and we brought all these companies together. keeping them cost effective. no matter how good a designer you are, if you
We found an old building, we designed it, and Baz Halpin: When you get a bunch of cre- don’t have an amazing staff with you, well,
looked to build a community, around all these atives in a room, you start vibing off each other you’re only as good as them. You grow into a
companies, that would help us all get better and learning from each other. That’s probably different person as a designer when you have
and get more efficient. the greatest thing that we’ve found at Silent an amazingly skilled set of people around you.
At Silent House, we’re always looking in- House. It’s very easy—as a solo sort of enter- You can challenge yourself and your collabo-
ward critically at how we can improve every- prise—to get myopic and tunnel vision in your rators with things that we’ve never done be-
thing that we do. We haven’t cracked it yet; if approach to design. But, when you’re in a build- cause we can come together on a challenging
anything, every year we discover more things ing with 20 other creative people that all have design, knowing that we have some of the
that we need to get better at. We try to be su- ideas, if you get stuck on something or you most skilled people supporting us.
per-efficient in the way that we do our busi- need an idea or you’re looking for a solution, Alex Reardon: I think if I could expand on
ness, but everything is in service of the cre- now you’ve got options of who you can call. what you’re saying — and I agree, we have an
ative endeavor. It’s all in service of the design. That also applies to our vendors, they’re amazing bullpen — I want to add that also
That’s the Silent House philosophy. a critical part of the whole conversation. Be- goes for the amazing programmers we work
cause in the same way that with programmers, with; they elevate the work. If I was still pro-
Tell us a little about the benefits of working you want that unspoken sort of shorthand and gramming my own shows, I think the lighting
within Silent House, being part of a collec- we have got the processes working with our would probably not be as good as it is now,

simply because I was limited by my technolog-
ical ability. Overall, I think we’ve become a very
efficient, self-supporting organism. If you want
to bounce an idea off someone else, you can
do that. We all work towards the same ideals,
even if we work differently. I believe the suc-
cess of any production design relies on three
bars being set to the same level, which is aes-
thetics, logistics, and finance. There’s a phrase
I use a lot — the function of a designer is to
be as creative as any artist, but to a specifica-
tion. If you walk in with a bunch of ideas and
throw them at the artist, you haven’t listened
to them. That first meeting is all about listen-
ing, and then you reflect on that and then
come up with the idea. But that idea has to fit
in the trucks. It’s got to fit in the venue. It has to
come in within the budget. So, aesthetics, lo-
gistics, and finance are absolutely vital. I think
the support of everyone at Silent House lets
us, as designers, focus on those things; that we
all at Silent House work with all those things
in mind.
You have all done so many incredible proj-
ects. While at Silent House is there a partic-
ular project you have done that has really
stood out for you? And why?
Alex Reardon: For me, it’s not so much an
individual gig. I mean, I’m still the new boy in
this, having been with the company for just
two years. So, to me, the milestone has been
shifting from 25-plus years of freelance to now
working in a company with a bunch of people.
And it’s fantastic. It’s an amazing thing to do,
to now operate in, as we mentioned before, a
mutually supporting environment. Surround-
ed by very creative people who will smile if
you design something that appears to have
STEVE JENNINGS
broken the laws of physics.
Cory FitzGerald: It’s hard to really isolate
one instance of a project that stands out since
they are all woven together now within the
team. But probably the last J-Lo tour would
be a great example. I was double-booked on a
job when approached to design the tour, and
asked Alex to step in and help collaborate, as
well as be the man-on-the-ground during re-
hearsals. We worked through the design phase
and meetings with the artist and manage-
ment, and when the time came, he handled
the on-site programming time and rehearsal
changes while I reviewed videos of rehearsals
as they progressed and commented from afar.
It worked out great, and we managed to crank
out two shows at the same time.
Baz Halpin: Well, Taylor Swift’s Reputation
tour was big for us. I think that was a huge
milestone for us because it embodied the two Tyler, the Creator Igor Tour 2019
things that we really wanted to achieve, which
was something that really looked great, that talking about earlier, about the ethos of Silent ly a huge one. For me, the thing that’s always
pushed the boundaries, that was spectacular, House. tantalizing in a way is going from the scale of
that gave us everything we wanted, but also Tamlyn Wright: I think, early on, there were something like Reputation, one of the largest
was efficient. It was like 62 trucks, and the load- two Emmy Award shows’ designs that we col- tours ever mounted, to the scale of Saturday
in was six and three quarters hours, for the 62 laborated on, myself and Baz. The designs of Night Live, where literally there was a pile of
trucks. So, to have a show that size, where we that, of the Emmy Awards in particular, was papers with music notes printed on either
never missed doors, never late for a show, and pure magic. It was just the moment where Tom side and a bunch of monofilament. That was
we never had any problems. At first you think, Colbourne’s group from Blink and the virtual for Taylor’s appearance on the show. I and four
‘What have we done? We’ve sketched this architecture of the set came together in such stagehands took a whole day hanging little
enormous thing and now we’ve got to figure a way that it was wonderful. The most magical pieces of paper and creating this art installa-
it out.’ It was a stadium show that was 110-feet thing after a show, especially in broadcast, is tion of sheets of music pouring out of Taylor’s
high, 200-feet+ wide, with 240° sightlines in when the next day people are like, ‘How did piano and making this whirlwind for the ti-
the stadium and it had no roof. you all do that? I don’t even understand. Was niest stage space in New York. To have those
So, that was a huge milestone, to be able that a completely virtual set, or what? What high contrast moments, I love that, and both
to bring those two things together where did you do to achieve that?’ When you’re get- of them are poetry. It’s really quite wonderful.
you were incredibly creatively proud of it, but ting questions from your mentors, that’s al- I geek out about what we do, I love what we
also proud that it was a logistical success as ways fun. do. We get to create these poetic moments for
well. That was very much about what we were And, as Baz said, Reputation was obvious- artists.”
plsn.com • JUNE 2020 35
 IMAGES COURTESY DISNEY
FEATURE

Panasonic Illuminates the Path to a New Universe

By MikeWharton

D
isney Imagineers and Panasonic engineers have been jected is the right size and color, in the correct position and is vide the highest level of image quality without being visible to
working together for many years collaborating on consistently illuminated. The guest should walk out of these the guest,” Martin adds. “Brightness, contrast, image resolution
bringing technology and storytelling together. Their attractions and feel the adrenaline and excitement of really be- and color fidelity then all match the physical environment per-
cutting-edge efforts have helped deliver immersive and mag- ing in the story. Panasonic projection technology is part of the fectly. Panasonic and Disney pay great attention to this detail.
ical experiences to guests visiting Disney’s theme parks in the imaging toolbox that Walt Disney Imagineering uses to bring To achieve this level of illusion in attractions, our factory and
U.S., setting sail on Disney Cruise Line ships, or attending Dis- the story to life. product development engineers are constantly evolving the
ney Parks fan events. As with every project, the testing and integration process performance specifications of our products to meet the goals
This strong relationship between these forward-think- of an imaging solution is a collaborative effort between Disney of a partner like Disney.”
ing companies led to a formal strategic alliance in 2017, with and Panasonic, as both are committed to creating an amazing Martin says that, over the course of a project, there are many
Panasonic being named the Official Projection Technology of guest experience. In the area of visual acuity, which is the crite- opportunities for Panasonic and Disney to share development
the Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. Pana- ria where imaging looks authentic and holds the illusion of tak- milestones and engage in many phases of visual tests and per-
sonic has supplied Walt Disney Imagineering with projection ing the observer into another world, there can be no compro- formance evaluations. “Panasonic’s goal is to always place the
technology for various attractions, entertainment shows, and mise. Panasonic R&D teams and product support teams have customers’ requirements first — we listen and respond with
guest experiences, including Radiator Springs Racers at Disney a long history of understanding Disney’s requirements. “Our technologies that create success for the customer,” he says.
California Adventure next to Disneyland and Na’vi River Jour- respect for each other’s methodologies results in a tailored “Helping to transport guests into experiences like Star Wars:
ney at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park at Disney World in project that guests can enjoy,” says Martin. “Disney Imagineers Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at
Florida. Panasonic also supported the attractions at Star Wars: and Panasonic projection engineers speak the same language Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort means we
Galaxy’s Edge, and in late 2019, Panasonic’s latest accomplish- when it comes to developing products and techniques for must fully understand the creative and practical requirements.
ment with Disney was realized as Panasonic 4K laser projection park attractions. It’s something we take a tremendous amount of pride in and
helped Disney bring to life Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. “To bring guests through an attraction like Star Wars: Rise of drives our development effort forward.”
“When we first began speaking with Disney about the size the Resistance, the projection equipment should be reliable, as
and scope of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, it became clear small as possible, allow easy maintenance access and still pro- For more info from Panasonic, visit https://na.panasonic.com/us.
this was going to be a groundbreaking attraction,” said John
Baisley, senior vice president of professional imaging and vi-
sual systems, Panasonic Systems Solutions Company of North
America, in a press release highlighting the new attraction.
“Working with Disney, we developed and designed a Panaso-
nic 4K visual technology solution that helps Disney seamlessly
integrate physical and visual elements throughout the entire
experience.”
The fusion of ride systems, lighting, physical sets, show ele-
ments, sound systems, imaging systems and more, all have to
work in concert, says Ron Martin, senior vice president and di-
rector, Hollywood Laboratory (a division of Panasonic Research
and Development Company of North America). Panasonic pro-
jection systems then need to perform flawlessly while reacting
with precision to the story beats. Media has to play each and
every time at the exact point in time required to display the
finest image elements. Precise imaging involves all aspects of
color, contrast, resolution and frame rate so that the guest re-
ally believes they are in the story, not just witnessing it. “When
we speak of immersive experiences as emotional investment,
this is the goal,” says Martin.
Panasonic’s goal is to support Disney with tools that help
them to tell their stories and create the magic. In the case of
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the guest is put right in the
middle of a First Order Star Destroyer, so physical show pieces
and technological elements need to work together seamless-
ly, with projection elements that ensure that every pixel pro- Patrons are mesmerized on the ride

36 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com

 NAMM.ORG
Resources for Live Event Professionals

Supporting Our Live Event Community

At this time of global concern, NAMM continues to provide free webinars, resources and updates.

On-Demand, Financial Relief for Businesses A Voice in

Business-Focused Webinars and Individuals the Government
View an on-demand catalog of webinars, Access resources through the Paycheck We actively represent the regulatory and policy
covering topics across studio, house of worship Protection Program, CARES Act and other interests of our community, ensuring that our
and live event production. federal programs. members' voices are heard by our elected officials.

namm.org/webinars namm.org/business-resources namm.org/advocacy

Despite any obstacle, NAMM and our members

have moved the industry forward since 1901.

We are all in this together.

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#MusicISLife
PRODUCTSPOTLIGHT
Nemesis UV-C Tower and the Nemesis UV-C Rack
By CraigRutherford
F
ew things have the power to change
entire industries within the span of a
few months. Government actors with
regulatory power, of course; sweeping cultur-
al changes, and, quite self-evidently, global
pandemics. None have any accurate predic-
tions about the future state of the industry,
and those who claim to are wrong, even if
they’re right. But out of the messy months
following the genesis of Covid-19 arose truly
inspiring displays of the human power to in-
novate. As makers of light, we have a unique
expertise in putting it to use. Not only to
amuse, entertain, and enthrall, but to harness
the power of light to aid in what is truly one of
our most important human endeavors right
now — the protection of our health, on a
larger scale than perhaps ever before.
›› UV Light: Dangers and Benefits
With this, we turn to UV light, well-known
as a source of skin damage and occasionally
spectacular lighting effects. Ultraviolet light,
which covers parts of the visible spectrum
from around 400 nm down to completely in-
visible ionizing (and quite hazardous) wave-
lengths around 10 nm, can do spectacular
damage to eyes and skin, as anyone who’s
ever suffered a painful sunburn knows. The
same properties that can damage our exteri-
or human shells, however, can — at the right
wavelengths and exposure times — prove
deadly to pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2,
and it is these properties that are of intense
interest to those seeking to help those at the
front lines of protecting our health.
Enter Crossfade Design, an Indiana-based
design firm that’s worked on the largest
shows, from Usher to HBO Boxing. This light-
ing firm has designed state of the art instal-
lations of lighting systems for several of the
country’s newest sporting arenas. They were
keen to help the sports players feel confident
and safe coming back to work. Seeing a need
for fast, efficient, and most importantly thor-
ough decontamination of rooms ad surfaces,
they have developed a line of two solutions
utilizing UV-C wavelength light: the Nemesis
UV-C Tower and the Nemesis UV-C Rack.
UV-C light falls between 280-100nm
wavelength and has been recognized as ger-
micidal for many years. UV-C lights are used
in industrial water decontamination, disin-
fection of laboratory, surgical, and medical
equipment. UV-C light, unlike some longer
wavelengths, has a limited ability to pene-
trate into the deep layers of skin tissue, but
this does not ameliorate the danger. High
doses of UV-C light can cause sunburn-like
damage to the upper layers of skin, but the
more significant hazard is in eye exposure,
where it can cause acute and long-term
damage to the retinas of the eye. For this
reason, ensuring that areas where UV-C is in
use as a disinfectant are access-controlled is
of the utmost importance. While, of course,
the current pandemic is the source of much
of the sudden interest in using UV-C light as
a disinfection technique, UV-C light is effec-
tive against a wide range of airborne, water-
borne, and surface pathogenic micro-organ-
isms, including influenza, SARS, hepatitis,
typhoid, and others. And as a purely physi-
cal method of disinfection, there’s no worry
about residual chemicals or residues left on
surfaces after disinfection.
38 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
›› Nemesis UV-C Tower
The Nemesis UV-C Tower is a large rolling
light “tower” with high-output UV-C radiators
arranged in a star pattern, radiating outward
from a heavy central base which houses the
power supply, cooling, and electronics for
control. The tubes point directly outward for
a 360-degree disinfection capability, bath-
ing all unobscured surfaces in the germicidal
light. The unit, while large, comes with in-
stalled casters and hand holds to make ma-
neuvering the system in tight hallways and
spaces easy. Intended for use in spaces like
locker rooms, dressing rooms, and workspac-
es of all kinds, the Nemesis Tower’s portability
makes ideal for touring situations. An as ac-
cessory, the Nemesis Tower has an ATA flight
case available.
Crossfade rates the Nemesis UV-C Tower as
being able to achieve a 99.99 percent reduc-
tion in virus, bacteria, mold, and fungal loads
in two hours in a 40-by-40-foot room, and 20
minutes in a 20-by-20-foot room, but here we
sound a note of caution. Every room is going
to be different, and the effectiveness of the
decontamination process is highly depen-
dent on the distance to the source, power,
and time, with longer doses at a higher ener-
gy level generally corresponding to increased
deactivation of the pathogens in question. As
there currently exists much uncertainty re-
garding the exact doses needed for inactiva-
tion of SARS-CoV-2, Crossfade recommends
UV-C doses at the upper end of what is re-
quired to kill the hardiest viruses, for an extra
factor of safety. As always, the most reliable
source of up-to-date information about dis-
infecting surfaces are expert sources like the
CDC, WHO, and pathologists who study infec-
tions, so please bear this in mind when using
any device like this for room disinfection.
Avoiding human exposure to the UV-C
radiation is critical, and in keeping with its
health-focused mission, the Nemesis includes
occupancy sensors, and 85db alarms togeth-
er with bright LED lights to alert nearby per-
sonnel of the potential exposure danger.
While the tower model contains a traditional
red flashing police beacon, the Nemesis UV-C
rack includes an LED ribbon that goes around
the top of the carrier. When the system is en-
gaged, the bright LED will be red. When it is
safely disengaged, it turns green.
›› Nemesis UV-C Rack
Next, we look at Crossfade’s Nemesis UV-C
rack, specifically designed for the decontam-
ination of masks, helmets, sporting equip-
ment, or any other small to medium-sized
Nemesis UV-C Rack
equipment. Using 12 UV radiators, it is con- Nemesis UV-C Tower
structed in a modular manner, with a remov-
able and reconfigurable specialty rail system,
which allows the users to house a variety of
items for decontamination or reconfigure for
different applications. Easy to roll into differ-
ent rooms on the rubber foam-filled tires, the
Nemesis UV-C Rack closes the decontamina-
tion area for user safety and can be personal-
ized with custom branding.
Both units can accept power in from 110V
to 220V AC, can be activated via remote fob
or with Wi-Fi capability with the option to
remotely manage the units from a custom
phone or tablet application. Crossfade also
provides design, layout, and specification
of all their UV-C systems, as well as on-site
supervision, focus, and activation of their
systems together with personnel safety and
operation training to ensure safety at all stag-
es of operation. Of course, 24-hour support is
available as well.
These two units are just the tip of the ice-
berg for Nemesis. They have just begun offer-
ing the Cart Trek and Golf Trek systems. The
Cart Trek models are designed for freight and
shopping carts. Picture a 10-foot-long box suring. They have utilized full studies on UV
with an opening at each end. These Neme- treatment of germs from Harvard University
sis devices are 5’ wide and 6’ tall. They have among others. Says owner Eric Wade, “There
electric doors that lock when the machine is have been full tests done on all kinds of mate-
activated and open when the sterilization is rials with UV-C lighting. While it is extremely
done. They have a slightly larger model for dangerous to skin, it has little impact on rub-
driving golf carts right into them. Those mod- ber, cloth and other materials. Since the 70’s,
els can fit two golf carts at once. almost everything made has been UV treated
The Cart Trek system is open ended, so for protection from the sun. We would have
multiple sections can be connected in a row. to leave a basketball inside one of our cham-
Conveyor belt options are available for each. bers for sixty straight days to see any kind of
Airlines have now contacted Crossfade De- effect on the material. Leather, such as the
sign about using these for their baggage. kind used in footballs, is already chemically
Arenas and airports are contacting them to treated to last and our machine has little ef-
use the Trek systems for their freight as well. fect on them.”.
Users can put a cart against a wall and have a The actual light bulbs for the Nemesis fix-
forklift drop the palette right into the box to tures last over 9,000 hours at full power and
get “baked” then remove it two minutes later it’s recommended that they be changed out
for safe delivery. every year. The new bulbs cost $32.00 US
Crossfade Design is now working on a each to replace.
Nemesis product that combines arena house
lights with UV-C lights in one pod. The idea For More Information
being that users can turn off the traditional You can contact Nemesis through
houselights and turn on the UV ones to ster- their website, nemesisuvc.com, or by
ilize large arenas after crowds disperse. As phone at 972-423-0075. Theresa Harris
of this week the company is experimenting and Stacey Labarbera are answering
with the manufacturers of Ribbon Lifts to the phones. As for MSRP pricing, prices
see if they can invent a pod that lowers these subject to change and all devices can
house light fixtures down from their high po- be redesigned and built to specifica-
sitions. The closer the light to the surface, the tion. At this writing, the following MSRPs
less time it takes to kill the germs. were released: Tower: $16,995; Cart Trek:
Safety has been something this team has $16.995; Golf Trek: $19,995.
spent countless hours evaluating and in-
Bandit helped ensure that the 2,000-seat venue’s 78-foot-wide stage was optimally lit.
N
ashville, Tennessee is known for its
music, including the country music
mecca, The Grand Ole Opry. Nash-
ville, Indiana is also known for its music, in-
cluding the performance venue known as
the “Little Opry.” But it was closed after a fire
in 2009.
In the aftermath of the destruction, In-
diana’s Brown County officials were deter-
mined to build a venue that would draw top
touring artists, and turned to Bandit Lites’
sales and integration team for an assist. From
rigging to backstage layout and ultimately
the lighting controls, Bandit’s team elevated
the lighting to match the vision of the center.
“We wanted the stage to be a first class,
state of the art lighting package,” says project
manager Doug Harden of Miller Architects.
“Bandit delivered exactly that.”
Bandit Lites provided all the fixtures for
the building, including the stage work lights,
lobby lights and more, right down to the
bathroom sconces. The facility boasts a stage
Bandit Lites Helps
Bring the Music Back to
Nashville, Indiana
By Thomas S.Friedman
nearly 80 feet wide and seats 2,000, but the
venue’s designers made sure that the far-
thest seat is only 106 feet from the stage.
To meet the venue’s lighting needs with
precision, Bandit supplied Ayrton Mistrals,
HES SolaFrame 1000s, Elation Professional
DARTZ 360, Chauvet Professional STRIKE 4
blinder and strobes, Chauvet Professional
Rogue R2 Washes and ETC ColorSource Spots.
In addition to the venue’s fixtures, Bandit’s
team provided the Tyler Truss, ChainMaster
Hoists from ACT Lighting and drapes from
BellaTEX.
“We chose Aryton Mistral fixtures to be
the workhorse spot over stage,” says Andrew
Fisher, Bandit’s senior systems integrator.
“They allowed us to get the punch and the
numbers we needed to fill a 78-foot-wide
stage without blowing our budget,” and
allowing for a complementary mix of LED
beam, wash, and blinder units to round out
an impressive effects package.
“There are also SolaFrame 1000’s on a FOH
A variety of acts returned to the “Little Opry” starting in late 2019.
truss that can easily call up and adjust high
CRI specials throughout the show without
having to climb a truss to focus,” Fisher adds.
“We rounded out the look with ETC Color-
Source Leko’s that provide a general front
wash, featuring multiple lighting angles and
great color fills for toners.”
“Bandit supplied the Brown County Mu-
sic Center with a remarkable lighting system
overall,” says lighting director Shea Briggs.
“They were able to cater lighting needs to
the building’s design, and I’d have to say that
the Ayrton Mistral is my personal favorite —
Bandit’s placement of these fixtures within
the lighting plot allows me to use them for
their versatility.” Bandit Lites also supplied
an Avolites Tiger Touch II console with fader
wing.
“My experience with Bandit’s service was
nothing but positive,” Briggs adds, credit-
ing Bandit Lites installation project manag-
er John Jenkinson and Fisher. “They were
on site for our soft openings and were kind
INSTALLATIONS
MICHELLE WEDEL
enough to answer any questions that I had.
They even programed some of the basics
into the console.”
Bandit also installed S4 mini’s in the lob-
by to accent the signage as well as an ETC
Paradigm lighting control system for build-
ing-wide controls.
“Believe it or not, we had the most chal-
lenges in the restroom areas, dealing with
other trades taking allotted space,” says
Harden. “We had to modify our fixtures, and
Bandit was very flexible and quick to adapt.”
When the venue opened in in the fall of
2019, its first concert sold out in 15 minutes,
and Vince Gill took to the stage with a state-
of-the-art lighting system.
“Partnering with Doug and the entire
Brown County Music Center team was a won-
derful experience,” says Jenkinson. “It was
exciting to be a part of bringing this unique
venue to life and adding to the rich musical
heritage that make Brown County unique.”
plsn.com • JUNE 2020 39
 VENDORWATCH
Pivoting in a Pandemic: Designing Corona Virus Solutions
P
ivoting is the big buzzword
By DebiMoen during this pandemic. In a
near feverish rush, companies
and individuals researched and retooled to provide products
and solutions to aid in the Covid-19 crisis. This month’s De-
signer Watch provides a round-up of those efforts. We also
checked the temperature of a few to see how they’re faring in
this life-changing event.
›› All Access Staging & Productions: All Access co-found-
ed the Entertainment Industry Relief (EIR) with Silent House
Productions, Go For Site Management, Joe Lewis Company
and Gallagher Staging & Productions to help the Covid-19
front lines. The idea was to partner their equipment and de-
sign skills toward creating emergency relief facilities such as
temporary medical and testing facilities, hospitals as well as
cold rooms for makeshift morgues.
The idea came about when Silent House designer Tamlyn
Wright contacted Bob Hughes, VP of All Access, wanting to “do
something.” Hughes helped bring people together, turning it
over to All Access’ Founders Clive Forrester and Erik Eastland
for the heavy lifting.
Hughes calls it “a brain trust.” They’ve created template kits
for the structures, a database of volunteers for “boots on the
ground,” and are collaborating with the Event Safety Alliance
(ESA) and others on guidelines for bringing the industry back
to work safely in the new age of Covid-19.
Recently, All Access sent a truckload of gear and a couple
of skilled workers to help make the New Orleans convention
center temporary hospital setup ADA-compliant, while the
EIR is now focused more on entry screening and lab testing.
“Hopefully some thermal cameras and testing will come
with a fast enough turnaround for people to start congregat-
ing — on sound stages for starters — so we can get a quarter
of the population of Los Angeles back to work as soon as pos-
sible,” Hughes says.
All Access has kept all its employees paid and on staff
through this pandemic — currently busy with demand for
drive-in worship services — and Hughes says it will enable the
company to get back up to speed quickly when the industry
starts opening up again. plsn.me/aa-covid
›› Astera: LED lighting manufacturer Astera was planning
to temporarily scale back operations in its China factory, when
PPE changed the plan. CEO Norbert Ernst says, “It offered a
path to keeping many staff employed full-time, and also helps
contribute positively to the ongoing global demand for face
masks, which are vital to help meet the unique challenges of
containing Covid-19.”
Two types of mask are being safely and cleanly packed at
the factory: disposable face masks and KN95 respirator masks.
Currently, 100 Astera staffers are working on the project, while
another 100 may be hired temporarily to assist with face
masks alone, depending on demand. astera-led.com
›› Bandit Lites: All Bandit Lites offices have made available
its power and IT data distribution systems, portable struc-
tures and lighting to local governments and hospitals free of
charge. In addition, its Venue One Nashville rehearsal facility is
also available free to any artist needing a place to perform a
live stream event.
Says Bandit Lites chair and founder, Michael T. Strickland,
“While all Bandit offices are under Safer-At-Home Orders, the
entire staff is on full payroll. No one has been laid off. When
individuals are needed to accomplish a task, they are covered
by the legal exemptions and the Bandit team jumps in and
performs the task at hand.” banditlites.com
Blizzard staff package KN95 masks for shipments to the medical community and the public. lockdown, and things were starting to get real,” he says.
40 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
›› Blizzard: Blizzard has bought more than 300,000 KN95
masks from an FDA-registered facility in China, now for sale
on its website. To help meet local medical demand for PPE,
they’ve partnered with The United Way of Greater Milwaukee,
who will receive large numbers of purchased masks — along
with 10,000 masks donated by Blizzard — for distribution to
places in need. blizzardpro.com
ETC has produced 50,000 face shields with more being made every day.
›› ETC: Recognizing the need for PPE, ETC gathered mate-
rials to start production in one day in its Middleton, WI head-
quarters. They’ve currently produced 50,000 face shields with
sales staff joining the assembly line.
VP operations/business development Jake Dunnum says
requests from healthcare workers have led to other new de-
velopments, such as the need to disinfect N95 masks for reuse.
“We talked with a local engineer who was repurposing
equipment from the baking industry and were able to create
a germicidal UV chamber that uses a conveyor to run masks
through,” Dunnum explains. They’ve donated a few chambers
locally to medical facilities, ERs, clinics and fire departments,
who are testing the units to determine its safety for other
community businesses. ETC is also experimenting with Ultra-
violet room disinfectant,” he adds.
“There is FDA approval and safety work to take into ac-
count for open air room disinfectant and UV solutions,” he
notes. “ETC is cautious in those areas. We want to make sure
what we’re doing provides a high level of safety.
“This experience is teaching us in to think and to act differ-
ently,” Dunnum continues. “The focus is doing the right thing
for community, for front line workers fighting the virus. But
we are doing research toward broader solutions, and adapt-
ing some of our products.” etcconnect.com/faceshields
›› Gallagher Staging: A co-founder in the Covid-19 EIR
(Entertainment Industry Response), Gallagher Staging is pro-
viding at-cost disaster relief structures for health professionals
and government officials.
CEO Joey Gallagher says they’re fabricating plastic face
shields for SewWhat? Ear Saver caps (For more information on
this, see SewWhat? Info below). They’ve also just started ven-
ue disinfecting services using an EPA registered hospital dis-
infectant, Vital Oxide. Gallagher says their quality labor force
is well trained to handle any size of venue. gallagherstaging.
com/covid19
›› Mega Systems Inc: “We wanted to do something early
on in this pandemic,” says CEO Guillermo Cabada. “But this is
a whole other field for us; this is medical.” Their newly-devel-
oped Ultrabot GUV is a Germicidal Ultraviolet (GUV) LED sin-
gle-axis moving fixture designed to disinfect environments.
The fixture can sweep a room or focus on specific areas to
cover different angles. It uses GUV radiant energy to damage
nucleic acids, which kills bacteria and inactivates viruses.
“This is not a light and needs to handled by trained profes-
sionals,” Cabada adds, saying they will have approved trained
integrators to sell, install and maintain the units. As UV-C can
be dangerous to humans, the units can be controlled exter-
nally — in completely empty spaces — with no exposure to
staff. mega.lighting
›› Mickey Curbishley and Jo Little: While companies
turned to making PPE, Mickey Curbishley, Solotech president,
live production division, knew that manufacturing wasn’t an
option, but he wanted to help. “It was a couple of weeks into
An internet search of Hollywood’s homeless shelters and
food banks stunned him with how many pinpoints filled the
map. His first phone call to Angel Food Services was answered
by a grateful worker who expressed desperation for face
masks for food servers and the homeless. PPE for front-line
volunteers became a personal project for him and his wife, Jo
Little.
He phoned an LED manufacturer in China, who sourced
a non-medical mask factory, “and within a day, my wife and I
bought 200,000 masks,” Curbishley explains. “And then I real-
ized I couldn’t afford to buy them myself.”
He reached out to Live Nation, Concerts West, the Bron-
fman family and the makers of Frassers beverages, and each
made a substantial pledge toward the cause. His GoFundMe
page also drew in dollars. “When the factory called saying the
masks were ready for pick up, I called Rock-it Cargo, and Da-
vid Bernstein stepped up. Within a week, we had them in Los
Angeles and started delivering them in our cars to homeless
shelters and food banks.”
His next project is to raise funds for hand sanitizer for Ari-
zona’s Navajo Nation — an at-risk community lacking running
water — and for Los Angeles’ homeless. To help, contact Mick-
ey Curbishley at mcurbishley@me.com
›› Mountain Productions: Mountain Productions has
teamed up with other organizations and restructured to man-
ufacture and supply protective equipment. Products manu-
factured include anti-microbial vinyl protective gowns, 3-ply
face masks, 4-Ply KN95 masks, anti-fog protective face shields,
and FDA-compliant hand sanitizer with Aloe Vera.
“We are continuing to manufacture at full capacity to keep
up with the rapid requests of the healthcare community and
to help meet a deep need during these turbulent times,” says
Ron Rose, Mountain Productions’ global managing director.
mountainproductions.com
›› PixMob: Known for their LED wristbands and eye-open-
ing effects for audience experiences, Montreal-based PixMob
has created new SafeWatch smart wearable technology which
tracks hand washing with LED light signals. It’s also supplying
surgical masks and a smart wireless nurse call system. pixmob.
com
FDA-approved face shields are ready to be assembled at PRG Scenic Technologies.
›› PRG Scenic Technologies: “In mid-March we were faced
with the reality that our industry was going to have to adapt
to a changing landscape,” says PRG Scenic Technologies gen-
eral manager Mark Peterson. “Project manager Alvin DeLeon
and I started researching emergency medical supply products
that we could fabricate quickly, safely and easily without a tre-
mendous amount of re-fitting of the shop to keep our people
employed.
“As the industry began to come to a halt, I was contacted
by a friend from another scenic fabricator. He was helping
NYU put together shops to build face shields for the medical
community. We committed to supplying 132,000 face shields
to NYC,” he says.
Their design, vetted by the NYC Department of Health, is
a modification to the open source design circulated by Uriel
Eisen. “Materials are the hardest part of the process,” Peterson
explains. “What sets us apart is that our plastics meet FDA
guidelines, and our foam pads and elastic banding meet ANSI
requirements for medical splash guards and clothing.”
 He adds, “We’re now looking at more solutions for our event
industry: how to keep people safe when they start convening
in large groups. My goals have always been: to help the state
of New York in the fight against Covid-19; to get our employ-
ees back to work so they can better support their families, and
to assist PRG through these challenging times.” prg.com
›› Rose Brand: Rose Brand is creating masks, banners,
posters, bumper stickers and clothing to promote the social
distancing message: “Join The Resistance, Keep Your Distance.”
A portion of the sales benefits healthcare workers.
“If we can make a vital contribution to the war against
Covid-19 and bring back our furloughed employees more
quickly, then I’ll feel that we’ve done the best that we can do
given the present situation,” says president Josh Jacobstein.
The company has created kits for portable medical cubicles
using standard pipe and base structures, engaged with textile
mills to bring out fabrics that have anti-microbial finishes for
curtain dividers, and supplied fabrics to the crafters building
face masks for their communities. DistanceIsResistance.com
›› SewWhat? Rent What?: “It was a massive learning curve
to go from stage drapery to masks, other than using a sew-
ing machine there was very little in common between the
products or processes,” says Megan Duckett. When Sew What?
switched from concert draperies to making personal cloth
face masks, she had to learn a new industry. “It was certainly
not a slam-dunk simple transition,” she says. “This is apparel,
this is not drapery or upholstery. Traditional drapery fabric is
not appropriate for mask making. There’s a difference in the
way you cut, the sewing allowances, even the thread and nee-
dles are different.”
The fabric mask designs range from comic monsters to
tattoo-inspired art. Her “Ear Saver System” (Patent Pending)
beanies and baseball caps with fasteners attached act as
ear loops for masks. She’s also created face shield headgear,
which attaches to the Ear Saver System baseball caps. Many
items are sold at cost.
“It’s not a time for profiteering,” Duckett explains. “It feels
like a time to be useful in and among the community. Eighty
percent of our staff is back from furlough,” she adds, “so that’s
a success.” c19response.sewwhatinc.com
›› Upstaging: Tweets from U2, Jon Bon Jovi, James Tay-
lor, Miley Cyrus, Sting and more are touting the services of
Upstaging. Not about their concert services this time, but
their Covid-19 efforts.
The Upstaging team pivoted its resources to manu-
facture face shields, privacy divider walls and counter
shields for retail. “We started a whole other business in
five weeks,” says John Huddleston. “It’s nuts but it’s going
well. And it keeps my mind off the news.”
Getting into retail is “a whole other animal,” Huddleston
adds, but their face shields are now sold in all Ace Hard-
ware stores nationwide, and are a permanent solution for
splash protection and other future needs.
Medical offices are their new clientele, and feedback
from dentists has also resulted in a new magnification
shield, which allows for a lighting attachment. “We got
into niche products now,” Huddleston says. “We sold thou-
sands of these.”
Its 100-truck team is transporting food for grocery
chains and medical supplies. “It’s wholesale trucking,
freight and a different dynamic. It’s not a big profitable
venture for any trucking outfit, and we have a new ap-
preciation for people who hustle freight out there in the
world, and for what our drivers been doing for the past
45 years.”
Huddleston adds, “We’re not making a lot of profit, but
we’re keeping people working, and that’s our main goal.
We’ll pivot quickly when the concert industry comes back,
because most of our staff is still here and ready to get
back to work on events.” upstaging.com

Megan Duckett of Sew What Inc? is creating a range of personal face masks, along
with their Ear Saver beanies and caps.
Debi Moen, who normally chronicles all the different shows LDs
are doing, did some pivoting herself for this column. You can
Upstaging’s face shields are protecting the medical community, and are also now
reach her at dmoen@plsn.com.
available in all Ace hardware locations nationwide.

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plsn.com • JUNE 2020 41


Ross Ty
I
n PLSN’s continuing quest to track down
the next shining star in the live event in-
dustry, we met Ross Tyler Blitz. At age 26,
the New York City-based lighting director and
programmer shares his story and the key that
unlocked his door to the production indus-
try’s world of opportunities: networking.
›› From Camp to Contacting LDs
Ross knew at age 10 that he was destined
for showbiz. The catalyst kicked in at summer
camp when he chose “the drama option” over
sports. “They put me on lighting, and some-
thing clicked,” he explains. “I loved everything
about it.”
42 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com
ler
Blitz By DebiMoen
Blitz followed his bliss. At 13, he volun-
teered as followspot operator at the Willow
Theatre in Boca Raton, FL. In his spare time,
he absorbed lighting magazines and found a
hero: LD Bryan Hartley. He Googled him and
emailed questions.
“I thought ‘What’s the worst thing he can
say, ‘No?’ Thankfully he could not have been a
nicer person. He invited me to load-in, and we
talked all things touring,” Blitz says.
“Yes, his parents brought him to the arena
during the day,” Hartley recalls. “He knew all
the lingo and products. I was impressed with
his knowledge.”
Ross’ connection with the LD of Trans-Sibe-
rian Orchestra would come full circle in later
years. But back to our story.
›› Interning at 14
In high school, Ross studied in the Stage-
craft program, serving as resident LD for their
new state-of-the-art theater in Palm Beach
County, FL. For four years, he “lived” in that fa-
cility, doing countless theater and dance pro-
ductions. “Sometimes school administrators
would drive in their golf carts to get me out of
class to fix a power problem, or figure out why
lights were not turning on in the theater,” he
recalls with amusement.
During those years, at age 14, he interned
with the Lighting Design Group (LDG) for the
televised 2008 Republican Debates in Boca
Raton, FL. “I learned a lot, even if my main task
was cutting gel,” Ross says. “Even menial tasks
have an important impact.”
›› Full Sail to Smoky Mountain Opry
In 2011, Ross graduated from high school
and enrolled at Full Sail University, taking
three months off for another internship with
the LDG at the 2012 Republican National Con-
vention.
He graduated Full Sail in 2013 with a Show
Production degree. Through alum LD Susan
Rose, he got his first professional gig as light-
ing director/programmer and pyro tech at the
Smoky Mountain Opry in Pigeon Forge, TN. His
first road gig followed a year later as electri-
cian/FX on the Barbie Live! tour.
›› Running Away to Join the Circus
Jumping on board for the Ringling Bros. and
Barnum & Bailey Circus train in 2014 “was defi-
nitely a new experience — elephants pooping
and tigers peeing on you,” he describes. “But I
fell in love with it and stayed a few years. Feld
owns their gear, so we had parts and had to fix
every single light in the rig. That’s where I got
the building blocks of my skill set as a moving
light tech.”
›› From the Olympics to Lionel Richie
When the Lighting Design Group was staff-
ing up for the 2016 Olympics, LDG President
Steve Brill recalls, “The Olympics can be an
intense, stressful environment, and I thought
Ross would fit in quite well. I was impressed
with his eagerness to learn new skills, travel
anywhere with a bright outlook, and with how
much he had grown over the past few years. As
fate would have it, Ross was ready to move on
beyond living life in a small train cabin, and he
joined us in Rio de Janeiro and did quite well.”
After the Olympics electrician gig, Blitz flew
straight from Rio to New York City to jumpstart
his career. At an inauguration event, he met
ROSS TYLER BLITZ/BLITZ PRODUCTIONS LLC
LD Rob Smith, senior designer at Lightswitch,
which led to the two working together on
Chris Brown’s “The Party Tour” in 2017. And
that later led Smith, as LD for Lionel Richie’s
2017 tour, to recommend Ross join the crew.
During 2018, Blitz worked on multiple
tours: as lighting designer for Slash, lighting
director for Julia Michaels, and on the lighting
crew of Maroon 5.
By 2019, he heard back from Smith, who
was prepping for Lionel Richie’s “Hello Hits”
world tour. Says Smith, “I had grown confident
enough in Ross’ abilities that I had made a note
to keep him in mind if I found myself looking
for a touring LD in my stead. Lionel Richie 2019
was that opportunity. I decided to pursue
shorter-duration work. I would previz and pro-
gram the tour, and Ross would take it on the
road. It was initially outside his comfort zone.
He was running grandMA2’s controlling about
240 fixtures, Mbox media servers, Barco S3s,
and calling spots, which included Follow-Me
for 50 moving lights — just another day as a
touring LD. The shows went off better than ex-
pected.”
While the industry is on lockdown, Blitz is
“capitalizing on online free classes — thank
you, manufacturers! — and forming new
bonds networking across the industry in
Zoom chats.”
While he learned on a Hog 2, he’s primarily
a grandMA2 user, but he’s well-versed in most
brands of lighting consoles. He’s also a certi-
fied tech for Claypaky, High End Systems, Mar-
tin and Vari-Lite lighting products.
So, back to his mentors... and how they fig-
ure in his future. Blitz was set to join Brill and
the LDG team on the Olympics in Tokyo, but
it’s currently rescheduled to 2021. And Rob
Smith says he and Ross talk regularly. “When
the next opportunity comes along for me to
place a talented programmer/operator on a
job, I won’t hesitate to pull Ross back into the
fold,” he says.
Meanwhile, Ross and Bryan Hartley also
kept in touch. “Ross achieved great success,”
Hartley says. “He called me one day to return
the favor and have me come to his show. It was
Lionel Richie, and he was the LD. That was very
cool! My next mission is to get him on a TSO
tour.”
Blitz says having Hartley visit as his guest
“brought that experience full circle for me.”
He emphasizes that networking remains “the
most important thing you can do,” and we
can’t help but wonder where his connections
will take him to next.
Got a tip on a worthy up-and-comer for the next
NextGen profile? Network with PLSN at pr@plsn.
com.
 MARKETPLACE
To Advertise in Marketplace, Contact: Greg 702.454.8550 gregg@timelesscom.com

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plsn.com • JUNE 2020 43

 LD-AT-LARGE

Creativity Will Not Be Quarantined

“The arts are not a most honest uniform that I can muster. This
By ChrisLose way to make a living. low level of attention and enthusiasm is un-
They are a very human sustainable. Unless we are Courtney Glove,
way of making life more bearable.” we cannot show up to work in the same
—Kurt Vonnegut clothes that we slept in the night before. Our
colleagues will eventually notice that we are

D
isclaimer: I am not encouraging any- getting unintentionally sloppy and wrinkly.
one to do anything stupid, dangerous Costumes are what set us apart. Whether we
or illegal. I am a human being and are onstage or off, we are telling a story with
I have desires that conflict with reason and our outfits. If we can’t care about our own
logic. I want to work just as much as any of appearances, we can’t expect others to care
my brothers and sisters. I want to break out of either.
isolation with all of you, but I will stay home
as long as necessary because there it a greater iiProduction is Essential
good than my own whimsical cravings. Stay Milton John is one of the most recog-
home. Stay Safe. nizable singer/songwriter, pianists, and
I’m also fed up. Like you, I am not a hamster composers in the modern age. We all owe
who can run on the wheel for long. I know him a debt of gratitude for his contributions
the wheel doesn’t get me anywhere. I’m too to humanity. But watching him play his
smart and I know too much to think that the million-dollar piano in his driveway is not
hamster wheel will get me where I want to go. worth the price of a neighborhood BBQ raffle
I’ll chew my way out of this BPA-laden plastic ticket. His music lends itself to a spectacle.
cage before I sit in isolation one day more Lady Fafa jumping off the top of a stadium
ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY AU

than necessary. I am born to rock. I am des-
tined to roll. I am ready to leave here tomor-
row. For I must be traveling on, now. Cause
there’s too many places I’ve got to be. My job,
whether Governor Gipapuk knows it or not, is
essential. I make people feel things. My job is
to amplify emotions. I help people escape the
humdrum monotony of their busy lives. I am
willing to take the message of my artists from
city to town to village to hamlet to backyard if
I have to. I will make sure that my client looks
their best, sounds their best and is their best
no matter what the cost. We are essential, and
the world is learning that the hard way.
iiLighting is Essential
I have only recently realized how dishev-
eled I look on camera at nine in the morning
without a shower. That is true for most of the
people that I associate with. Without proper
lighting, the shadows are crossing our faces,
highlighting our flaws and revealing our age.
Without proper key lighting, the celebrity DJs
that are scrambling for likes online are falling
victim to the same harsh reality. We need
professional lighting to keep up appearances
and entertain the masses. Zoom calls and
Facebook live streams can only dent our
psyche and give momentary release from the
daily stress. They don’t have the same impact
as a live show because the lighting does not
extend beyond the gap from the diminutive
screen to our eyes. Concert lighting is expen-
sive because it’s worth every penny.
iiSound is Essential
I listened to a Global Citizen performance
and I know that if we had spent just .1% of the
proceeds on a sound crew, we could have had
a show worth spending six hours listening to. I
love Lady Faga. She is a beautiful human being
with a heart of gold and the bravery of a pride
of lions. She still needs a sound professional to
remind her which direction the microphone
goes. I share that love with the greatest rock
band of all time, The Strolling Bones. Their
sound is so important that it belongs on the
golden record that was sent into space to
be discovered by future alien civilizations.
However, that racket that they were screech-
ing into their laptops during the live feed will
hopefully burn up on reentry. I give them full
respect for being brave and vulnerable enough
to perform live from their living room, but any
Tom, Dick or Harry could have done that. It’s
primarily their reputation for doing shows that
are over the moon that makes their home-style
acoustic set worth appreciation. Without a P.A.
system that takes three days to set up, and a
busload of technicians, they are right back to
their acoustic bluesy beginnings in London.
iiHair and Makeup is Essential
I appreciate when rock stars do the “no-
makeup-for-a-month” challenge. It makes
them more relatable and more approachable.
The lack of extravagant makeup makes them
more personable. I like seeing that they aren’t
all that glamorous in real life. But I only like
seeing that for a short while. After a brief
moment of vulnerability, I want them back in
full hair and makeup, melting faces without
breaking a sweat. KIZZ, without makeup, is
just four guys from the East Coast playing bar
band music way too loud. With makeup, they
are legendary rock icons and sex symbols.
That thin layer of black and white oil trans-
forms them from the-guy-next-door into the
Rock Gods of the Motor City.
iiCostumes are Essential
I am just as guilty as the late-night TV
hosts. I wear a T-shirt and shorts to my zoom
meetings because I can’t be bothered to
give a flop. I know that my clients and col-
leagues will be wearing the same quarantine
uniform. I can’t pretend that I am getting
dressed to go out of my house, so I wear the
during the Big Game takes her songs from
memorable to monolithic. The Strolling
Bones need a rig the size of a small city to
remind us that they are still relevant. These
days have proven to me that it takes a team
of people to make rock stars look good.
Living in isolation has given me the time to
reflect on what really matters. There are a
million talented entertainers waiting in the
wings to jump into the limelight. They all
have the talent necessary to be the bright-
est star in the night sky. All they need is
someone who believes in them enough, has
the financial backing and the motivation to
invest in their talents. This magical investor
will take their talents and hire a team of
professionals to amplify their every trait. We
will use every trick in the book to make them
appear better, bigger and more grandiose
than they used to be. We will take them from
the couch in their living room to Madison
Square Garden in a matter of weeks. We can
do that with lighting, sound, hair, makeup
and costume. We can take the world from
their couches in isolation of fear to the peak
of emotional freedom. Creativity cannot be
contained. Love cannot be isolated. Connec-
tion cannot be distanced.
Larger-than-life spectacles will eventually
return. Until then, reach out to Chris Lose from
your couch to his at close@plsn.com.

Brought to you by
THE PODCAST
With ChrisLose
PLSN and LD@Large Chris Lose has been interviewing top live
production professionals discussing their careers, telling war
stories and giving out advice on their craft. This month, listen in
on Chris’ chat with Cosmo Wilson, LD and lighting director for
the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith …and for one big charity
gig at Wembley, even the great Spinal Tap.
To listen to Cohen’ s discussions of our unique and now-
struggling industry, go to plsn.me/Podcast-CW.
For more from the Podcast archives and LD@Large articles,
check this link out: plsn.com/podcasts. Cosmo Wilson

44 JUNE 2020 • plsn.com

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