Vista at the British Music experience

A.C. Special Projects Ltd. supplied a varied range of lighting fixtures for the spectacular new British Music Experience (BME) at The O2. The BME is an interactive music exhibition within one of the world’s most popular music venues. Four years in the making, the exhibition enables music lovers to trace historic moments and trends through the decades, learn about music’s influence on art, fashion & politics and tailor the experience to their own music tastes through interactive elements. Furthermore, there is a full public and educational programme with workshops, lectures, master-classes & concerts.

In addition to a virtual concert, the exit show is joined to the exhibition’s pre-show area by a removable wall to enable the areas to be combined as a larger space for conferences and special live music events. The show lighting requirements for this space necessitated a console with a rapid programming environment suited to both corporate and entertainment lighting modes.

DALD project lighting designer David Atkinson specified the Jands Vista T2 lighting console. He commented: “The Vista’s highly intuitive graphic interface lends itself to a multitude of programming situations. The console covered all bases with its quick and easy approach to programming and provided an extremely flexible patching system that could cope with numerous changes, whilst retaining the base show information.”

The shows were programmed by Stewart Parker using WYSIWYG, with console training and some pre-programming assistance provided by A.C. Special Projects at their High Wycombe office. Using the Vista’s unique timeline feature, the team were able to upload the exit show audio soundtrack to the console and accurately plot scenes, ensuring the lighting and sound were perfectly synchronised. To enable simultaneous playback of the pre-show and exit show lighting designs, the shows were uploaded onto an Enttec E-Streamer DMX replay unit triggered by the AV control system.

Vista Open Days - Moscow

Vista lights the action at Autosport International Motorsport Show

A Jands Vista T4 console has provided lighting control for the “Live Action Arena” event at the Autosport International motorsport show. Held at the NEC in Birmingham, Autosport International is a highlight of the annual motoring calendar. A star-studded line-up of guests included Formula One’s top British scoring driver David Coulthard and Alan McNish, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

Forming the centrepiece of the event was the “Live Action Arena”, an action-packed show performed in front of 4,700 people six times a day. The show featured a spectacular range of demonstrations, breathtaking wheel-to-wheel racing and record-breaking stunts.

Lighting designer Nathan Wan has used the Jands Vista console on a variety of concerts and exhibitions in 2008, so had complete confidence in the console making light work of the impressive rig, which featured over 80 moving lights, various pyro flame effects and 72 ways of dimming.

The brief was to create a dynamic light show choreographed to music and 14 different car races. The performances lasted 90 minutes on the arena’s oval track and included video links from Formula One’s David Coulthard and commentator Louise Goodman.

The Vista’s intuitive interface allowed Nathan fast and easy access to his rig, in addition, the console’s innovative timeline editing proved a powerful time-saving feature for coping with last minute changes to the show’s running order and tidying up programming.

Hire company Network Productions Ltd. supplied the Vista console and lighting rig. Fixtures included Robe ColorSpot 1200 & 700 EAT’s, Robe ColorWash EAT’s and ten Safex Flamejett used for various racing sequences. In addition, 72 ways of conventional dimming provided source lighting for the racing drivers.

Summarising his experience with the Vista, Lighting Designer Nathan Wan commented: “I loved using the Vista because it enabled me to generate a dynamic show in less than a day. Also, the Vista’s Smart FX allowed me to create striking custom colour intensity and movement effects. The console’s playback controls and timeline really impressed me on this type of choreographed event, especially when the show director changed the order of the performance, and I was able to deal with it without a headache. I’m already planning to use the Vista on various installations and gigs confirmed for 2009.”