24 Jan, 2017 | ETC
A heavenly lighting effect has been created for the current production of The Dying Screams of the Moon at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre. The unusual solution features a series of unique, handcrafted gobos, and ETC Source Four® LED lighting fixtures supplied by Prosound.
Forming part of the venue’s 40th anniversary celebrations, the play runs from 28 July to 21 August. It marks the first time collaboration of theatre legends Zakes Mda and John Kani, and is set to become a part of theatre history.
The play features an all-female crew and creative team, including award-winning specialists in lighting, costume, set design, production management and marketing. This celebration of women coming together is a memorable event that will appropriately play for much of South Africa’s Women’s Month.
The Dying Screams of the Moon is about two women who meet at church, a place of solace, where they seek inner peace from their troubles of the past. Set in post-apartheid South Africa, it reveals the struggles for land ownership that are still relevant today.
In order to create the majestic stained glass window effect, the church setting called for specific lighting. However, the restricted budget of the play meant that a glass gobo was not an option and it was necessary to devise an alternative solution.
Nomvula Molepo, head of lighting at the Market Theatre, was keen to use ETC Source Four LED luminaires to help realise her vision, and contacted Prosound for assistance. Ian Blair, Prosound’s GM of lighting and structures, offered to supply Nomvula with the fixtures. He also sent Prosound’s lighting specialists, Mac Makhobotloane and Jannie de Jager, to assist with creating the effect that was required.
“The service was awesome! Mac and Jannie brought a variety of fixtures to experiment with in order to achieve the effect I was looking for,” said Nomvula. “We tested the fixtures to see if I could get the desired effect. Then, Mac suggested that I get steel gobos, cut small pieces of gels and paste them onto the gobos. Mac and I tested one fixture and it worked like a dream!
“I’m very grateful to Prosound for supplying the fixtures. And, I’d particularly like to thank Mac and Jannie for all their effort, time and support in assisting me with making the lighting work for the production.”
The ETC Source Four LED fixtures were not only able to capture the look Nomvula wished for, but they were also easy to operate. “I would definitely consider using the fixtures on future productions,” she said.
Thanks to Prosound and ETC, the church scenes in The Dying Screams of the Moon are bathed with the magnificent and divine illumination of stained glass windows.
24 Jan, 2017 | ETC
Every August, the world’s largest arts festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, takes over Scotland’s capital. Thousands of performers take to hundreds of stages to present shows for every taste. C venues is back for its 25th year, creating and curating more than 20 theatre, performance and exhibition spaces at pop-up venues in and around the city centre. This year, C venues’ visiting designers and technicians are using some of the latest products from ETC for a vibrant and packed programme of theatre, circus, cabaret, musicals, dance, comedy and children’s shows.
“ETC has been supporting C venues for a number of years, allowing us to improve the capability of our venues and exposing ETC products to young, up-and-coming theatre companies and technicians,” says Richard Williamson, head of production, C venues. “ETC has a long reputation for producing well-built, reliable equipment and providing an exceptional level of technical support; and we are thrilled to be using the new ETC ColorSource consoles and lanterns.
“The consoles are a great addition to the market and are perfect for our smaller spaces. We have long been looking for a lighting desk which people new to the industry can quickly and easily pick up and use. We’re excited about the possibilities that the ColorSource consoles give us. They fill an underserved niche in the market for a truly intelligent console for smaller venues.”
To equip the festival’s larger spaces, C has added to its existing stock of ETC Eos® family consoles, supplementing its Ion® desks with Ti and Element consoles. Notably, a Ti is situated in the largest theatre, C scala, controlling a number of high-profile shows including Tipping Point by Ockham’s Razor; Fringe favourites The Rat Pack Live; and the all-male a cappella group All The Kings Men. “The Eos range is the de facto industry standard console so we couldn’t imagine using anything else for our bigger venues,” says Williamson.
Additionally, the issue of heat generated by conventional tungsten fixtures has long been a challenge for C venues. For several years, the company has been looking to move its lighting rigs towards LED to help combat this. This year, several venues are benefitting from the installation of ETC ColorSource fixtures that – as well as their low heat output – are recognised for producing a richer, more natural light output than other LED fixtures at such an accessible price point.
“While LED units have been on the market, we have struggled to find any that properly give the level of control and colour rendering that tungsten offers. The new ColorSource LED fixtures are perfect for our needs and, used alongside ColorSource consoles, we are now able to look to significantly expand our use of LED,” says Williamson.
Hartley T A Kemp, C venues’ artistic director, concludes: “ETC’s support to C venues is invaluable as it enables young designers and technicians the chance to work with the latest kit, developing their skills and experience.”
To learn more about ETC products and services, visit www.etcconnect.com.
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23 Jan, 2017 | ETC
Every two years in Madison, Wisconsin, ETC hosts Workshop, an educational event used to train and share new information with industry dealers, reps, and distributors. This summer, for the first time, the event was opened internationally. The week-long event started July 12th, and brought 313 dealers, reps, and distributors from 34 countries to the ETC headquarters. “Workshop is ETC’s best opportunity to bring our sales family together. This was definitely ETC’s most successful Workshop ever,” says Patti Tuttrup, ETC marketing events specialist.
A day of international sales meetings and tours of ETC’s Wisconsin-based manufacturing facilities in Middleton and Mazomanie kicked off the event. For many of the international Workshop attendees, this was the first time they had seen the ETC factories in person. They were able to see where the products they sell come from and meet the people who make them.
On Wednesday, July 13th, Fred Foster, ETC CEO, took to the stage with his keynote address, Reflections on 40 Years of ETC. His stories began in 1975, with the birth of the company and the creation of the first ETC lighting console. He quickly moved through 40 years of ETC memories, touching on noteworthy installations and company milestones, always crediting the large family of ETC dealers, reps, distributors, and employees for the company’s continued success.
That evening, attendees were treated to a picnic at ETC’s headquarters that featured local food carts, Wisconsin beer, and some friendly competition as attendees took part in Tech Games that included assembling a Source Four® fixture, hanging and focusing a fixture, and laying out keycaps on an Ion® console.
Classes on rigging, consoles, lighting fixtures, architectural control, and more, as well as an additional keynote by Dr. Kevin Houser, professor of Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, kept attendees busy for the remaining days.
To thank the Workshop attendees for their hard work, commitment, and support over ETC’s 40-year history, ETC hosted a banquet on the final evening at Madison’s Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, overlooking picturesque Lake Monona. “We’ve grown because of you,” says Fred Foster, ETC CEO, to the attendees. “You’ve embraced our products, our company, and our culture, and helped the world see the passion we share for the industry. I cannot thank you enough for that.”
The next Workshop for ETC’s reps, dealers, and distributors will be in 2018. Next summer, ETC will bring back its popular CUE professional-development conference, welcoming end users from around the world to Madison for a one-of-a-kind experience. Dates for CUE will be announced soon. Visit www.etcconnect.com for details.
22 Jan, 2017 | ETC
The National Arts Festival (NAF) in Grahamstown was the first festival in the world to call on ETC’s ColorSource consoles. In addition to this, NAF put to use an extensive line up of lighting gear from the manufacturer across 16 venues.
The 11-day festival which takes place at various venues across the city is described as the biggest celebration of the arts in Africa. Its main and fringe programmes comprise drama, dance, physical theatre, comedy, opera, music, jazz, visual art exhibitions, film, student theatre, street theatre, lectures, craft fairs, workshops, tours and a childrens arts festival.
‘NAF is a fantastic meeting of technicians from across the continent, it is an honour for ETC to support these talented people with consoles and LED fixtures that will enhance their art and give them a look at the latest equipment available for making theatre,’ said Jeremy Roberts from ETC.
Of the 16 venues to feature ETC equipment, 14 of them have opted for one of the manufacturer’s lighting desks. ColorSource, Element, Eos Ti, Gio and Ion consoles are all in use, with the Eos Ti covering the main theatre. Away from consoles, ETC ColorSource Spot and PAR fixtures have also been called into action.
‘Prosound and Electrosonic are on site to provide support,’ noted Mr Roberts. ‘ETC also provides local support for the larger venues. Benjamin du Plessis from the Fugard Theatre, who is an expert Eos programmer, is on site to support other programmers on the Eos Ti, Gio and Ion consoles.’
Also present were Jannie de Jager and Mac Makhobotloane from Prosound, supporting all the other consoles and LED fixtures that were provided to the relevant venues.
‘The National Arts Festival is a very important event and we are delighted to be part of it,’ said Ian Blair, GM for lighting and structures at Prosound. ‘The festival runs on good quality products that it can trust, so it is telling that there is so much equipment from ETC that has been put to use.’
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19 Jan, 2017 | ETC
Television in Botswana is a rapidly burgeoning industry and Botswana TV is making great use of its three studios, with lighting rigs set up by Prosound. Studio 3, a multi-purpose studio currently used for music shows and dramas, has a perfectly lit cyclorama, made possible with the ETC CYC attachment. 36 fixtures have been used to create this cyclorama with unique CYC lens adaptor allowing for changes to the backdrop in creating exactly the colour needed for the current production in the studio, with ETC’s multi-spectrum LED colour.
Using ETC in a cyclorama application has the added advantage of the LEDs having refresh rates so high that one can use the cyclorama in green as a chromakey with no flicker. ETC Desire D22 lustr+ LEDs and the revolutionary ETC Source Fours complete the cyclorama setup, with a combination of the existing tungsten fixtures. A 16 sectioned moving grid for light fixtures enables Studio 3 to have the ability to accommodate set changes by switching from a direct front light to steeper front lights depending on the setup.
The trussing with powered motors that allow the individual grid heights to change, allows for positioning of light throughout the studio space. An ETC Ion console tops off this dynamic configuration. Studio 1 is used for the Botswana TV news reporting, with the studio space being artfully separated into anchor desk and interview area.
ETC Source Four LEDS are once again used for specific focus on presenters, with De Sisti Softlight Series fixtures to lift the overall intensity of the set. ETC dimmer racks and sensor relays power this multi-faceted lighting system controlled by an economical ETC SmartFade console allowing for an adaptable application with an intuitive direct-access style of operation.
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