4 Mar, 2020 | ETC
Home to both the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics, TD Garden is bustling
with sporting events and concerts throughout the year. Recently, the arena has
been turning heads with a massive, two-year expansion currently underway. As
part of its renovation, the Garden tapped ME Engineers and Port Lighting
Systems to revamp its aisle lighting. ME Engineers designed an aisle lighting
solution with layout and lighting calculations while Port Lighting Systems
provided the controls solution and upgraded lighting in the aisles as well as
additional sections of the arena.
TD Garden faced a unique challenge when rethinking its aisle lighting. The
old system featured an odd voltage, which meant the entire arena’s wiring would
need replacing to complete the aisle light upgrade—and would come at a hefty
cost.
ME Engineers was ready with an alternative solution, having completed a
renovation at Madison Square Garden with a similar issue. In that project, LED
fixtures were used to light the aisles from the catwalk—a solution ME Engineers
has also designed for Staples Center, United Center, and nearly 20 other new
and renovated arenas and stadiums nationally and internationally.
Once ME confirmed this approach would comply with local code regulations, TD
Garden called Port Lighting Systems—its collaborator for over a decade.
Together, the team selected aisle lighting fixtures ideally suited to the
arena’s needs.
Port Lighting Systems recommended the UL-924-listed ETC ColorSource Spot LED
fixture to meet National Electrical Code (NEC) section 700.24—a new requirement
stipulating that fixtures installed for emergency lighting must be
specifically listed for use in emergency lighting. This recently added
code section has proven nearly impossible to meet, as most lighting
manufacturers do not provide UL-924 listed luminaires.
“In addition to meeting code, the ColorSource fixtures provide aisle
lighting for all uses including emergencies, and offer both white and
color-changing options,” says Ron Kuszmar, Vice President of Architectural
& Theatrical Lighting at Port. “We knew the Garden team would love this
flexibility to display appropriate colors for Bruins games versus Celtics games
versus events calling for standard white light and so on.”
TD Garden approved the plan and the lighting upgrade was completed during
summer 2019. Port Lighting Systems also added master control elements to Levels
2 and 9, installed a new lighting solution for the Coors Light HUB Bar, and
continues to prepare additional upgrades as construction progresses.
13 Feb, 2020 | ETC
ETC has become a SixEye Connected manufacturer, with its Mosaic
series becoming the first in its inventory to gain from SixEye’s remote
management platform. ETC will be joining companies such as Pathway
Connectivity and Pharos Architectural Controls and will have access to
SixEye’s latest features.
‘We’re happy to offer SixEye
functionality in our Unison Mosaic controllers, the premier system for
transforming large scale buildings, attractions or LED walls into
eye-popping displays,’ said Shawn Fernandez, product manager for Mosaic
at ETC. ‘We have Mosaic controllers for every project, so it makes sense
to let users access them from everywhere with SixEye.’
‘We are
delighted that ETC has seen the value of the SixEye platform and is
joining us as a Connected manufacturer,’ commented SixEye’s CEO, Simon
Hicks. ‘For SixEye, having one of the world’s most respected lighting
manufacturers on our platform is a leap towards becoming a standard for
the remote management of professional control devices.’
20 Jan, 2020 | ETC
What’s
Next? In 2016, a dedicated research team was formed at ETC to advance
the technology of future product offerings. The team’s first primary
project was to create the best light for use on camera. The findings
from this multi-year, industry-wide study on color perception come
together in the family of fos/4 panel lights, now available from ETC.
Each of the three panel sizes (small, medium, and large) deliver unrivaled brightness in two array options. The Lustr X8 array adds a deep red LED to its mix that brings a richness to the spectrum by enhancing skin tones and giving new depth to blues, greens, and ambers. The Daylight HDR is a tunable white light array that, using a calculated selection of LEDs from the X8 color system, delivers a natural warmth when rendering skin tones and is optimized for output in cooler temperatures. These soft lights offer a shocking level of brightness, and selectable CCT between 1,900 – 10,450 K. All without compromising on color quality.
The
full-color screen and tactile encoders on the user interface were
designed with the cinematic workflow in mind. fos/4 gives nuanced color
control
from the full-spectrum color picker within the UI, letting you choose
how you mix each color. Use the Tune function to choose brightest, best
spectral, or a hybrid of the two. Save your customized color palette to
one of the many programmable presets.
The
industrial design of the fos/4 panel provides an ergonomically friendly
tool that’s meant to be seen. Features include the Griprail, a bracket
that acts as a mounting location for the fixture as well as for the
numerous accessories found on a shoot. Handles that double as safety
cable locations, rounded corners, and an industrial gray finish add to
the visual appeal without compromising functionality.
Additional
features include NFC configuration from your mobile device, Multiverse
Wireless control from your console using City Theatrical’s Multiverse
transmitter, and a suite of effects that you’d come to expect from a
fixture of this caliber including emergency lights, beacon, camera
flash, and party. And like all ETC products, fos/4 Panels are made in
the United States, come with an impressive fixture
warranty and a 24/7/365 customer support promise.
fos/4 is what’s next.
13 Jan, 2020 | ETC
A Chorus Line is a classic because of its depiction of the versatile,
fantastically-talented chorus dancers. Now, a new production at Washington
D.C.’s Signature Theatre has put their own stamp on the show with a new vision,
new choreography, and a new lighting design that features the versatile,
fantastically-talented ColorSource Spot from ETC.
“The goal was to keep the soul of the show, but put it in a new wrapper,”
says Lighting Designer Adam Honoré. “We wanted to fight the idea that it had to
look like we were in a theatre — complete with borders and lighting instruments
— or even in a rehearsal room. We wanted it to be just about each individual
character. We wanted to capture all 18 leads as bodies moving through
space.”
The original line on the stage floor was incorporated literally and
metaphorically into a new set that was (if possible) even more stripped down
and angular than the original. The scenic design “stretched” the stage along
the line to deliver an almost Cinemascope, wide-screen feeling. Literally, the
line was embedded into the set in various locations as LED tape hidden under
milk-white plexiglass. “The multiple lines disappear when you choose to light
them or not,” explains Honoré. This allowed him to move the line around stage
to create a fantastical environment when characters would tell their story, and
practically it gave the illusion of a deeper stage. When the light line moved
upstage, characters had a lot more room downstage of the line to tell their
story.
But the crisp, three-sided box of scenery meant that there was no way to get
lighting on to the stage from top lighting or high side positions. Honoré
didn’t bat an eye. “I just said ‘If you can get me 14 ColorSource Spots we can
do a show.’” He took the fixtures and put seven on each side of the stage,
eight feet off the ground in the boom light position. “We lined them up and
kicked them on, and they were amazing. They felt like really nice Kander side
lights.”
The ColorSource Spots were on the entire show and contributed to the
contemporary aesthetic of the show without disrupting its classic feel. The
ColorSource Spots let Honoré create looks that were big, exciting and flashy —
super-saturated with deep blues, punchy and nice for the montage — but also
ones that contained a range of subtle shades and corrections that allowed
Honoré to dial in exactly the right look during solo numbers. “For a lot of the
show I got to use a range of color correction for skin, or moonlight blues, to
create these stunning looks on stage,” he says. “They didn’t feel like LEDs. It
felt like a show in 2019, but using 1975 colors.”
And getting the right color appropriate to the ‘70s palette was obviously
incredibly important to Honoré and the entire design team. “We spent about a
day or day and a half doing a lot of picking of colors and color matching,
looking at the subtle undertones of costumes,” says Honoré. “We’d add a little
more purple or green, or subtract some here and there to make the costumes look
more becoming. That was the most important piece of the show. The ColorSource
fixtures work really well when you want to play with percentages or color.
Other instruments if you make just a small change to one set of diodes — take
away two percent of green — the output varies wildly. But in ColorSource it
fades so nicely. It’s very helpful when you’re getting specific with color.
They’re fine-tuned to desaturate without destroying color composition. With the
ColorSource, every color feels authentic thanks to how they have all the diodes
working together. That’s what made them feel so much more charming to look at.”
A Chorus Line will remain a classic no matter how you
envision it, and Honoré would like to keep envisioning it with the ColorSource
Spot. “I’ve used the whole gamut of other companies’ instruments, but the color
mixing is never as good or looks as charming on skin tones as with the
ColorSource. The CS Spot did so much more than I needed or asked for. These
instruments are underappreciated. The light really works with you and gives you
the range of color and dynamics you’re looking for.”
8 Jan, 2020 | ETC, High End Systems
After
more than two years of renovations, the celebrated Théâtre du Châtelet
in Paris has recently reopened its doors to
the public. With the intention of restoring the venue to its original
splendor, the project saw the inclusion of an array of products from ETC
and High End Systems.
Christophe
Leuba – one of the venue’s two lighting managers who assist lighting
director Renaud Corler – recognized the
potential of ETC Eos consoles after attending an ETC training session.
“I loved the event and as soon as I got back to the Châtelet I arranged
an ‘Introduction to Eos’ session for our entire team,” says Leuba.
Several
other desks were considered, but Eos family consoles emerged as the
best solution for the theatre. “Thanks to their
simplicity, it’s obvious how to make a patch,” says Leuba. “But it’s
the color tool that really stands out. With the level of color control
they offer, there is no comparison with other consoles at the moment.”
Subsequently, two Eos Ti consoles were installed in the theatre’s control room – one of which is used in the audience during
creation phase – and a more compact Ion Xe 20 was chosen for use elsewhere.
Even
though decision-making for lighting control and power control was not
connected at the outset, the Eos consoles chosen
complemented the Sensor3 Power control system selected, with both
product families originating from ETC. “It’s really convenient to be
able to control the dimmers from the consoles,” says Bernard Maby, the
theatre’s other lighting manager. “In addition, it’s
very nice to have the feedback directly on the desks.”
The electrical room features seven Sensor3 power control racks fitted with 582 modules, plus 24 modules in an additional
rack for lighting. The team opted to work in sACN for communication between consoles, dimmers and fixtures.
Technical
solution provider Dushow was appointed to supply the lighting, and
began with a demonstration featuring all the
key brands of the sector. “The Dushow demo was superb because it was
very objective,” says Leuba. “The High End Systems SolaFrame 3000 stood
out thanks to its power, but also its color quality and full-frame
shutters. This led to an investment in 46 SolaFrame
3000 fixtures.”
The
venue already had a dozen Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr luminaires and
the team chose to add 60 units of the same
model, equipped with 25–50 ° zoom optics. “It’s a great fixture with
quality tungsten emulation,” says Leuba. “And the color management with
Eos is just amazing. It consumes nothing and it makes beautiful color!”
It’s fitting that the 72 ETC fixtures are proving to be a perfect accompaniment to the SolaFrame 3000s for Théâtre du Châtelet’s current production – An American in Paris.
23 Dec, 2019 | ETC
The Eos
control system has proven itself as a favorite in Broadway theatres for its
consistency and reliability, but what happens to the lighting design when a
Broadway show is based primarily on improvised action?
Billed as
a “freestyle, hip-hop, improvisational, never-before-seen comedy ride,” Freestyle
Love Supreme features a rotating cast of MCs, beatboxers, and special
guests and is unique every night, to every audience. That creates a unique
challenge to the designers behind the scenes. A typical theatrical lighting
performance runs on a cue stack that is carefully curated by a design team, and
run consistently from night to night by the board operator. But the team on Freestyle
Love Supreme wondered if a show so heavily improvised could be programmed
on the Eos platform… or programmed at all. “When we started putting this
together, a lot of people said this couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be done on Eos,”
remembers Lighting Designer Jeff Croiter. “But, based on past experience with
the family of consoles, I knew it was absolutely possible.”
As the
designer, Jeff wanted to have as much control as he could, but wasn’t sure how
much of the show would demand a live lighting component. And he wouldn’t know
until going into the first tech with his programmers, Sean Beach for the
off-Broadway production and Zak Al-Alami for the Broadway show. They were
pleasantly surprised. The cast would choose five or six out of ten
predetermined songs to perform each night. “Each has a unique look; some are
specifically cued and called by a stage manager, a few have busked sections
that exist within parameters, and one is entirely made up and completely
different every night. For the busked parts, once the song’s basic look is cued
up, busking takes over to help with the improvised storyline. And it’s not just
‘set the lights and hack away’ — the storytelling aspect is important. Where
are they, what time of day is it, what’s the mood/vibe of the scene, and how
can the lighting help tell and enhance the story? Like a regular theatre show
except it’s shorter and you don’t know until the words come out of their mouths
(or if things are really clicking, right before),” jokes Jeff. With help and
encouragement from Director Tommy Kail, the design team was then able to set
some blocking. “Even though the words are different every night, at several key
moments, we were able to have them stand in the same spot saying them. More
often than I anticipated prior to tech.”
The
essence of Freestyle Love Supreme is the improvisation, so Jeff knew he
needed someone with the right experience to run the board and busk during the
show. For that expertise, Jeff reached out to Andrew Garvis, who he had worked
with previously on several shows. “I was surprised at how well Eos is organized
for the setup of a show like this, and how well we’ve been able to integrate it
into cueing, because it’s busking on top of a cue stack,” Andrew
explains. Building off the magic sheets built by Sean and Zac, Andrew uses two Ion Xe consoles and three total touchscreens—two
to access the magic sheets and one that holds the cue stack and manual
channels—along with two fader wings in order to run the show quickly and
easily. “It’s fun because the show is still growing and changing,” says Andrew,
“and the cast and I talk about what lighting can do, which is great. I’ll
notice things they repeat or they like to call out for – I made a DeLorean cue,
for example, because they like Doc Brown and jumping back in time to help with
their improv cues.”
Located
in the house left box with the stage manager, as opposed to a booth in the
back, Andrew is visually part of the show, not only to the cast with whom he
interacts during the performance, but for the audience as well—adding even more
of a unique live element for the audience. “The best part is when the audience
member who gets called up on stage says something that I can react to with
lighting—it really makes the show interactive and fun,” says Andrew.
In the
end, the Eos platform proved a reliable and nimble system for the show and its
night-to-night demands. “It was fascinating to work with an Eos in a way that I
was not familiar,” Jeff remarks, “I am fiercely loyal to the brand, to the Eos.
At the end of the day this is a theatre show—and I find that hard to do
on other desks.”
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