When Ferrari’s Mugello Circuit made its debut in last year’s Formula 1 championships, the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer was looking for a high-quality, cost effective solution that could capture all the exciting motor sports action in 4K.  Searching to find cameras capable of providing ultra-crisp and clear broadcast quality images for the safety, security and control teams at the circuit, Mugello turned to MarCam Europe, one of Marshall Electronics exclusive distribution partners in the region. MarCam specified over 40 Marshall CV630-IP and CV420-18X cameras, including weatherproof housings and PTZ controllers.
 

Finland’s biggest touring circus, Sirkus Finlandia, completed a successful tour of the country late last year with a lighting rig composed almost entirely of Ayrton fixtures. The Ayrton products were supplied and supported by Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for Finland, Oy Lafoy Ltd of Helsinki.
 

When asked if there is a problem with people leaving the industry due to COVID-19 Duncan answered that, “Freelancers have been forced to find work elsewhere. In a recent survey of 2,800 people over 30% of freelancers said they have had to leave the industry, and 20% say they hope to come back but are very unsure whether they are able to because of the lack of certainty.” #WeMakeEvents is currently verifying the data from this survey and will be publishing the full report in the coming weeks. 

When the new Biden-Harris administration asked New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander to play “You Get What You Give” at their January 20^th virtual “Parade Across America,” producers ESM Productions and A/V provider Synergetic stepped in to help make it happen. “Scott Mirkin, President & CEO of ESM Productions, had seen our new studio streaming space and called just a few days before the Inauguration as he thought the stage would be a good setting for the New Radicals performance,” comments Jason Weldon, President and CEO at Synergetic. “When he came in to refresh his memory, as soon as he walked in he said he knew the space would be perfect.”

The South African State Theatre in Pretoria’s 550 seat Drama Stage hosted both the rounds and finale of the 2020 edition of Idols SA, complete with a lighting design by Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier and technical production delivered by Dream Sets for SIC Entertainment. This, the sixteenth series of Idols SA was directed by Gavin Wratten and broadcast on the Mzansi Magic network. The show would usually have shifted to the 3000 capacity Carnival City Big Top Arena in Johannesburg for the finale, however this time, due to Covid-19 restrictions, everything remained at the State Theatre, and Josh drew on some imaginative and original lighting techniques to keep all the broadcasts looking fresh, interesting, and spectacular.

WARPRO, the Edinburgh-based specialist in audio visual equipment, is the first in the UK to invest in Panasonic’s latest generation 4K PT-RQ35K projectors. The company has acquired four of the world’s smallest and lightest 30,500 lumen, 3-Chip DLP projectors to upgrade its rental stock, as well as Panasonic’s latest PTZ Remote cameras. The purchases are part of a significant investment to enable WARPRO to deliver 4K end-to-end production in preparation for the mass return of the events industry in 2021.

Countries worldwide welcomed 2021 in many different, creative and Covid-safe ways, recognising the highly symbolic temporal roll-over from a year where everyone everywhere has been impacted dramatically by the pandemic. Brussels’ “Laser Lights” – which featured Robe moving lights among others and 12 custom lasers – was designed to be enjoyed from the comfort and safety of people’s homes, uniting everyone in spirit, feeling and determination during these extraordinary and restricted times. Fundamental to the project was that, while being a streamed event, Laser Lights should contain some core human elements relating to real life and not just be in a virtual digital environment.

Last November 8th, rock band Dance Gavin Dance performed their new album Tree City Sessions 2 in its entirety on Tower Bridge in Sacramento, California, a setting that provided a visually stunning framework for the introduction of their latest music. The PPV concert, executive produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, was lit by Justin Wade and Sacramento Production & Lighting (SPL) using a rig of Elation Professional luminaires.

The 2020 series of Finland’s ‘Tanssii tähtien kanssa’ – a version of the BBC’s popular Strictly Come Dancing TV show – climaxed at the end of December following a visual feast driven by Hippotizer Montane+ RTX Media Servers.

California’s SilverLakes is best known for attracting sports fans and horse-riding enthusiasts with more than two dozen full-sized soccer fields and five equestrian areas. But this past New Year’s Eve, the complex upped its showmanship game by serving as the high-energy host site for a drive-in concert headlined by superstar DJ Kaskade, who rang in 2021 on an L-Acoustics K2 system deployed by San Diego-based Pro Systems AV.
 

Colombian rapper and singer/songwriter Nanpa Básico held his virtual KOSMO concert last fall with a large complement of Claypaky fixtures lighting up the live-streamed show.
 

The biggest Brazilian live DJ show in 2020 took place in xR, as local DJ and musician Alok attracted 750,000 people to his ‘Alive’ live stream in December, also clocking seven million views on YouTube. The disguise xR workflow drove the music special with a vx 4 media server and two rx platforms enabling the show to incorporate content from leading render engines Unreal, Unity and Notch. Alok is one of the most prominent icons in the Brazilian electronic music scene.  He was named by Forbes Brasil as one of the most influential people under 30 in the country. Following the cancellations of all his live shows last year, the aim of the xR live stream was to bring a fresh way of broadcasting the artist’s performance to his large fanbase.

Leading Japanese lighting designer Mr. Mitsumasa Hayashi created “The Robe Lighting Show” – a piece of light art at the Urayasu Mai Studio of the Nihon Stage Co.,Ltd. – which featured over 350 Robe moving lights. These were supplied by prominent Japanese rental companies, M-Tech Style and the Mula Corporation. The piece was commissioned by Mr. Masaharu Sakamoto who heads up LTG, Robe’s Japanese distributor.  With live performances halted worldwide due to the pandemic, Mr. Sakamoto was keen to produce a lighting art video concept that could be enjoyed and appreciated by lighting enthusiasts worldwide, and he knew Mr Hayashi was the right person to create a brilliant, poignant, and high-impact work.

The Belgians definitely didn’t let the pandemic dampen enthusiasm for the festive season, and while it was “different” in every sense with a lockdown in place and none of the usual round of parties and celebratory shows … theatrical musical producers Deep Bridge created a special streamed ‘Home Edition’ version of their 2020 Christmas Show, with appearances and special Christmas collaborations from a host of celebrities and music stars, all presenting unique festive musical moments.

Live Company is a full technical production and rental specialist based in Skovlunde, a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, owned by Peter Clausen, Mikkel Bedsted and two other business partners, all of whom are dedicated to providing excellent service and high production values to clients across multiple performance genres. Since 2018, the company has invested steadily in Astera products, the first ones being AX1 PixelTubes which were purchased to illuminate the domed roof of Cirkusrevyen’s big top venue in Dyrehavsbakken (the north of Copenhagen).