LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA – The marriage between lighting and set design is never far from Crt Birsa’s mind. Only when light absorbs itself completely in its surroundings, can it exert its full power to transform. This is always true, he believes, but especially so when lighting television productions, where the limited and less forgiving eye of the camera replaces live human vision.

“In TV shows lighting has to walk hand in hand with set design,” he said. “There must be tight collaboration between the lighting and set designers for the total design to reach the level of perfection that the camera demands.”

Birsa and his frequent collaborator set designer Greta Godnic achieved this level, and then some, for a NYE special run by Slovenian National Television (RTV) in its famed Studio 1.  Powering his five universe show with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80, he wove light from 101 fixtures (not counting key lights) so tightly around the set’s myriad crystalline structures that they fused into a single spectacular vista that mesmerized from every camera angle.

“On TV projects I usually work with Greta,” he said. “We make most of the things together. There is my input on her set designs, and there is her input on my lighting designs, so we can’t really say who did what. When building the set design, we are already thinking where to put the lights and where to leave space.

“In this project, the geometric structures represented ice spikes or crystals, and were made from semi-transparent plastic material, “continued Birsa. The crystals were meant to be lit with the lights. Because they were semi-transparent, the light beams went through them to become part of the structure itself.”

Precise timing of colors was critically important in making the collaborative design achieve its intended effect. Birsa credits his MagicQ MQ80 with helping him in obtain this level of control. “As I have done a lot of jobs with RTV, importing palettes was really important,” he said. “The speed of my desk was critical to this timing. It gave me a fast way to bring my show file to the starting point.

“The Cue Stack macros of  the MQ80, which make it possible for one cue to control (activate, release or manipulate) many other cues or playbacks, were also very important for programming the show,“ said Birsa. “They helped me start all the right cues on time. Something else that was really valuable about my ChamSys in this show was being able to replace a palette in a cue or a whole cue stack.”

Another challenging aspect of lighting this television show was that the set had to be treated like a 360ﹾ stage. “We had to cover all angles for the camera,” said Birsa. “At the same time, we had to make sure that the key lights did not bleed onto the set and detract from our colors. The RTV technicians who ran the key lights did a great job avoiding the set in such a small place. Also, by allowing me to  transfer  my ideas to reality very quickly, my desk helped me manage this tricky situation.”

Everything in his complex project was pre-programmed on his MagicQ MQ80, notes Birsa. This helped ensure that there were “no special surprises” in his show. 

No “special surprises” perhaps for this talented designer, but for those who tuned in on RTV, the show was a rewarding journey into the surprising visual delights that unexpectedly arise when light and its surroundings become one.

TRIESTE, ITALY – With its exquisitely light and airy Neo-Renaissance forms, the Nicolò Bruno-designed Politeama Rossetti theatre affords excellent views from each of its 1,531 seats. Regardless of where visitors find themselves in the historic venue, however, they can only see the stage from one angle at a time.

No such limitation exists for livestream viewers, though, and that, believes Crt Birsa, changes the fundamental trajectory of a lighting design. “The live audience has just one point of view,” he explained. “But in a livestream each camera is a new point of view that has to look good. The viewer sees things from all angles, so your design has to present a very consistent image from one end to the other.”

Birsa provided a breathtaking example of this principle in December when lighting a one-hour livestream at Politeama Rossetti for the Trieste-based guitar quartet 40 Fingers. Covering the stage with a seamless and tightly woven pattern of gobos and beams, his 15-universe, 110-fixture show enveloped the four artists in an all-embracing panorama that reflected their lively performance. 

Powering his preprogrammed show was a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console and PC Wing. “The show was designed in WYSWIG and run on my MQ80 with the Wing for backup,” said Birsa. “I have been using ChamSys for 10 years, ever since a retailer in Slovenia convinced me that the company’s consoles would do all that I want faster and more logically than an alternative.  His advice was certainly true.

“The MagicQ MQ80 was a big help in this show,” continued Birsa. “It is powerful with enough universe support for a show of this size. (It’s capable of handling 48 DMX universes.) Plus, it’s fast to program, and fast in editing cues. By simplifying things, my MQ80 frees up my creative side.”

Birsa’s creativity was on full display during the 40 Fingers livestream. Pulling out all the stops, he served up an explosive array of bold immersive looks,  showering the quartet with flood of split beam and gobo patterns one moment, then directing a quasar-like torrent of intense rays out to the empty theatre seats the next. 

“Because there was no audience, and the show was made just for the camera, I could do a lot of looks that I would normally stay away from out of fear of blinding  people in the seats,” said Birsa. “This opens up a lot of creative possibilities and the chance to push things in bolder directions. I am fortunate that Vigna PR believed my crazy ideas and helped bring them to life for this show and that the Event Lighting crew did such a great job setting up the rig.”

By creating sweeping looks, Birsa ensured that his design would present a smoothly flowing image to viewers from every camera angle. “Being aware of all the cameras, we wanted to cover all the main backgrounds with light,” he said. “Of course, we also used the very nice ambience of the venue itself as often as possible.

In addition to creating his big picture vistas, Birsa ensured that each song had its own look.

“This was still a concert and light must support the music,” he said. “I think that in a livestream setting, because there is no audience, concerts are becoming more and more visual. The looks we create can be stronger, as long as we don’t lose sight of the music.”

Supporting the performance on stage, must always be at the heart of any show, affirms Birsa. But for now, while working livestreams, he is free to push his designs in directions that are bolder and more comprehensive than ever.

BREMEN, GERMANY – Chauvet Germany GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChamSys’ parent company, is now exclusively responsible for selling and servicing the complete line of ChamSys products in the German market. In conjunction with this move, which reflects ChamSys’ commitment to building on its success in Germany, Frank Alofs has been appointed the German Business Development, Training and Support manager.

Highly regarded throughout the industry, Alofs brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his new position. “We’re very excited to be direct in Germany and to welcome Frank to our team,” said Henning Oeker, Operations Manager for Chauvet Germany. In his new role, Alof will be responsible for conducting training sessions and tutorials that cover the full range of ChamSys consoles in German. Information on these can be found on ChamSys’ new German language website: www.chamsyslighting.de and social media support page: www.facebook.com/chamsysgermany 

“Going direct gives us greater resources to meet the demands created by our rapid growth in Germany,” said Chris Kennedy, managing director of ChamSys. This, combined with the deep understanding of the market that Frank brings to ChamSys, puts us in an ideal position to build on the success we’ve already achieved, so we can grow even more in 2021.”

Frank Alofs is equally optimistic as he assumes his new position. “I have always been a big believer in ChamSys products,” he said. “They offer a practical, realistic and user-friendly solution to programmers and designers. The sky is truly the limit.”

ChamSys products will be more readily available than ever in Germany. Poised as it is for growth in the year ahead, this is a welcome development for its expanding base of customers in the German market.

NEW ALRESFORD, UK – Seen from a distance, the Steam Illumination Christmas Train appears like a rolling band of moving light cutting through the dark night as it rolls past the farms and fields of the Hampshire countryside. To those inside, the experience is even more magical, as they find themselves immersed in a rotating tunnel of brilliant colors and patterns. 

Covered entirely by LED lights, this special 120-metre-long train seems like something out of a fantastical Hollywood Christmas movie suddenly come to life in South East England. In reality, however, it was the result of extensive of planning and hard work by the nonprofit Mid Hants Railway’s Watercress Line and a creative team that includes Simon Horn.

The owner of Purple Lighting in West Sussex, Horn was responsible for designing and programming the 78-universe Steam Illuminations lightshow with the help of his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M console and MagicVis software. “This was the kind of project you become completely immersed in,” he said. “The Watercress Line typically has visits with Santa every December, but this year that was impractical because of COVID, so the foundation turned to something new.

Horn spent two weeks programming and four months on background research for his show, which involved two Steam Illumination trains, each adorned with 14,000 individual fixtures. (Some fixtures are banked, so the console sees just shy of 10,000 heads and pixels.) He programmed roughly 1000 cues for his show, breaking them down into an internally timecoded cue stack for each section, which cover the intervals between the two stations on the 20-mile roundtrip route as well as the time spent at each station.

“I programmed everything on my MQ500M,” said Horn. “Although the design was originally built on another software, I ended up using the MagicVis Visuliser to preprogram this show, as it was far more stable and smoother with visualizing such a big array of pixels.”

The ability to manage a large number of pixels was a key benefit of using the MagicQ MQ500M in this project, according to Horn “Being able to make pixelmap grids automatically from the plot, saved me days of work, as 10,000 pixels all in a slightly complicated array would have been nearly impossible to do myself,” said Horn.

Given the size and scope of this lightshow, the channel capacity of the MQ500M was another important benefit for Horn. “At 78 Universes and with limited space on the train for control gear, my console was a life saver, because it handled everything with no need for any racks of external processing.

“The on-board audio playback was also essential,” continued Horn. “Using the console to play back the Audio content was a fantastic help. One gain, the meant I needed less equipment. It was nice and simple to have an all-in-one solution with audio and time code all in one place!”

Aside from dealing with cramped quarters, Horn also had to content with power and data distribution issues. “There are a great many long cable runs in a railroad environment,” he said. “This can play havoc with distribution. We got around this by using custom waterproofed and powerful PSU and drive modules that were built for this application with its complex cabling system.”

Dealing with these issues freed Horn to push the creative envelope for Steam Illuminations. For example, he created immersive and memorable looks by rolling an intensity effect from one side of the train over the roof and down the other side. In addition to creating a jaw-dropping impression on those viewing the train from the outside, this created an engaging tunnel effect for the train’s socially distant passengers.

Horn also used his lighting to play off the tress that the train passed along its 20-mile roundtrip route. Hitting the trees from two angles from the wash lights under the train, he created animated color shadows that mesmerized passengers as they passed through wooded areas.

At some points, Horn even created rainbow chase effects, something he normally avoids.

“In the concert world, I would look at these as ‘my first lightshow’ kind of effects,” he said. “But as it’s Christmas — and also as a nod to our hard-working NHS – I did it, and frankly it looks pretty epic in this scenario.”

For those visiting Steam Illuminations, which ends January 3, many of the looks created for this event will be “epic.” By combing a centuries old form of transportation with cutting edge lighting technology, this popular attraction is transporting visitors away from the daily concerns of life in 2020, to a place where the magic of the Holidays blooms in vibrant color.

BRIDGEVIEW, IL – Zach Scott has been a self-described “huge fan” of New Found Glory since sixth grade. Following the rise of the quartet from their early days through their ascendent to the top of the alt rock charts, he’s developed a deep appreciation of their ability to balance raw power with subtle emotions. 

So, when Scott got the opportunity to light a holiday show by the band in the parking lot of Seat Geek Stadium (home of the NSWL’s Chicago Red Stars), he decided to depart from his usual near-total busking mode and program a heavily cue-stacked lightshow for the band’s 90-minute performance.

“Because of my connection to the band, I wanted to do this,” said Scott. “I decided to cue stack a lot of the songs I knew they would play.”

Scott’s plan may have seemed simple, but there was a complicating factor: he was given only 48-hours-notice that he would be LD for the show. To make matters even more problematic, he also had to light two other bands on the second night of the holiday show, along with providing supplemental lighting at the start and conclusion of the movies that were shown each night. 

It is under circumstances such as these, says Scott, that his go-to console, the ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 really shines.

“I had minimal time to get things together, but that is the exact reason why the MQ80 is my favorite desk,” he said. “I used an MQ80 with an Extra Wing on this project. That combination is always my first choice, because of the size allows me to take it anywhere, including on airplanes, and because of how quickly it allows me to be up and running. From getting a basic file ready 15 minutes before showtime to spending 3 months programming a tour together, it will do whatever you ask of it.”

In this instance, Scott programmed six New Found Glory songs, each with 30-40 cues. The rest of his show was busked. The user-friendly, logical setup of the console and the MagicQ Software made the programming easier.

“The MagicQ software is basically my third arm,” said Scott. “Whatever I can imagine in my mind, I can then translate to the software without a lot of complications slowing down the process.”

While the MagicQ software expedited programming in the tight window available to Scott before the two-day show, the intuitive layout out of the console and its 12-inch screen made busking “infinitely easier” for New Found Glory as well as the other bands.

“Being able to take my desk on the stage deck to do my DS focus without having to ask a tech to assist with moving it made my days a lot easier,” said Scott. “I never fail to be amazed at how something so compact can be so easy to work with in real time at a show. Things like the eight Encoder Wheels put so much at your fingertips.”

Using this power, Scott conjured up nonstop intensity in his four-universe shows during the two-day event. “I always strive to create a totally immersive environment,” he said. “This is more challenging to do at a drive-in show environment, so I pushed beams with extra intensity into the lot to pull the cars into the experience. 

In the end, the whirlwind show experience, left Scott with an immense sense of satisfaction. “I can’t really explain the feelings I got at the end of the New Found Glory Show,” he said. “Seeing my work created under time pressure, come together to revolve around a band I have always loved, is something I’ll never forget.”