Project Update
54 PL & P
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Billie Eilish enlisted the help of Blackmagic Design ’ s URSA Broadcast G2 cameras for a multicamera live production workflow on Happier Than Ever , The World Tour . While venues on the trek differ nightly , the core production setup has remained essentially the same , including six Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 cameras with SMPTE fiber chains . Several smaller camera systems complement this setup , including a Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K with a detached fiber back solution rigged on a Polecam system .
The main production desk is built on the ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher with an ATEM 2 M / E Advanced Panel for hardware control . Signal management relies on a Smart Videohub 12G 40x40 router with multiple HyperDeck Studio HD Mini recorders . The engineering rack also features a Teranex AV standards converter for up , down , and cross conversions .
Last November , San Diego Comic Convention , parent company of Comic- Con , opened its longawaited Comic-Con Museum , which will curate the best of what is often featured at Comic-Con ’ s annual convention . Of note is one of
2 its most immersive exhibits , Marvel ’ s Spider-Man : Beyond Amazing - The Exhibition . Produced by Semmel Exhibitions , in association with Marvel and San Diego Comic Convention , the project is celebrating 60 years of the web-slinger ’ s presence in the comic book hero pantheon .
Both the exhibition and Comic-Con Museum benefit from a particular technology that literally helps illuminate Spider-Man ’ s importance : elektraLite ’ s Stingray Mini 20-watt LED profile spot fixture . One hundred and twenty-eight Stingray Minis , sold through Intelligent Lighting Creations and specified by lighting design studio Lightswitch , now light up the exhibition at an art-gallery level . Specifically , the exhibit is using 92 of the Stingray Mini ’ s 50-degree beam-spread model and 36 of the 36-degree model , all of them ceiling-mounted .
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To provide Grammy Award-winning hard rock band Halestorm with simple but impactful lighting for their 2022 American tour , Bandit Lites deployed a dynamic rig using Martin Professional lighting solutions . With budget and gear constraints still affecting the live music industry following the COVID-19 pandemic , the band wanted a lighting rig that heightened their classic-meets-modern rock sound and provided maximum impact for their fans despite the logistical limitations . To meet these goals , lighting designer Craig Richter worked with Bandit Lites and Scott Anderson from Martin to design a rig featuring Martin VDO Atomic Bold , Atomic 3000 LED , and MAC Viper Profiles .
Crucially for Halestorm ’ s tour , the Atomic Bold also faithfully emulates tungsten-style lighting , which helped Ricther achieve visuals that harkened back to lighting from golden-age classic rock shows . For additional authenticity , Ricther rigged the lights to an old-school , double-hung PAR truss system , into which the Atomic Bolds fit seamlessly . Along with the Atomic Bolds , the rig also included Martin Atomic 3000 LED strobes and MAC Viper Profiles for additional effects and visual flair . The former enhances the classic Atomic 3000 design with powerful LED technology for maximum brightness and color washes at minimal power , while the latter offers exceptional brightness and output up to 26000 Lumens .
Cinematographer and DoP James Kniest has been instrumental in lighting several high-profile horror movies , including the recentlyreleased The Free Fall , for which he used Astera Titan and Helios Tubes to provide multiple lighting solutions . The entire movie was shot on location in a heritage-listed house in the Adams area of Los Angeles , so when James needed to get light sources into awkward or hard-toaccess spaces , he found the battery-powered Astera LED tubes to be a valuable asset .
The production ’ s lighting department carried two sets of Titan Tubes and two sets of the smaller Helios Tubes , all powered by Astera ’ s Titan LED engine . Shooting in a protected building meant that nothing could be rigged or attached to the walls or ceilings , so Astera ’ s practical design , multiple mounting options and great versatility was ideal for numerous scenarios . For convenience , the Tubes were often mounted in Kino housings for easy rigging and control via louvres . Kniest sometimes added Opal 250 diffusion gel to the egg-crate for subtle softening , and other times would position the bare Titan and Helios Tubes on the floor or even have them hand-held for some shots . On several occasions , he taped them into corners or in between wall and doorframe casings .
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