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Showlight 2001
| In the cold wet winter of 2000, John Watt and I were having
one of our ‘catching up’ telephone conversations. Needless to say, he
was outlining the nature of Showlight 2001 in his capacity as Chairman of
the organising committee. “Its in Edinburgh, Mike, are you thinking of
going?” At that point in time I hadn’t given it much thought, but it
did sound quite appealing. |
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| The Castle |
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The seed had been sown; a brochure arrived a few days
later, which went into the pending tray. Decision time came soon after the
spring edition of Television Lighting hit the doormat in early March. I was on
the way….
My first and only experience of Showlight was in
Amsterdam some 12 years ago, which was sunny and hot throughout. The committee
clearly have connections in high places, because the forecast for Edinburgh
Showlight 2001 was also excellent.
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| A typical Edinburgh Bar |
| I stayed in a pleasant B&B about a mile from the
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, where it was all to happen. My breakfast companion
was no other than one Bill Lee, who, as always, was good for stimulating
conversation. Bill’s passion for television lighting, and the Society, is
still burning as bright as when I first met him some 25 years ago. Truly an
example to us all. |
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| A splash of colour in a city square |
| I took a pre registration walk around the city; it
was some 20 years since I used to come over to Edinburgh at festival time to
work on the BBC2 Festival review programme. Production briefing was at about 11
am. This was followed by a lightning tour around the various emporia of the city
to see a snatch of the performances which would be included in that nights show.
Back to the temporary TV studio (BBC radio’s music studio) and the name of the
game was to plan, rig and focus for that nights live show. It was enormous fun,
high quality busking of the televisual kind. |
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In to the Festival theatre to meet old friends and
new. One of the pleasures of working at Wood Norton on Lighting Training is
meeting young and enthusiastic guys who have been through the place and are now
shaping up for a career in lighting. Enthusiastic I may still be but can no
longer claim youth to be on my side. The future is with them, as is the future
of the Society. (I don’t know if anyone has done an age profile of the Society
members, but I bet it’s a bit top heavy on the over 45’s.) |
| The stage was full of a kind of tented village, each
exhibitor showing their wares in a three-sided Tepee kind of thing, with their
name emblazoned at an acute angle on the canvas. Try tilting your head to read
it when you are carrying a plate full of food with a wine glass resting
precariously on one of those clip things! All manner of extremely bright,
colourful images swept the high walls of the stage in the way that only lighting
exhibitions do. |
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| The tented village that was 'Showlight' |
| Day one covered everything from lighting for Disney
to DMX 512/1990. Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for
Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories. All worthy stuff, but a bit
above my head. The DMX, that is.
Bernie Davis entertained us with his 'Orchestral
Manoeuvres in the light' and other speakers kept our attention levels high,
aided and abetted by regular crashes from the P.A. system accompanied by the
occasional howl round and a few late fades. The lighting was OK though!
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| Francis Reid holds forth |
In the evening, we were all split into groups at
which point we accompanied our Sponsor hosts to dinner in restaurants in
Edinburgh and Leith. A splendid meal with opportunities to chat to other
delegates. Thank you, Lee Filters who were the hosts on our table.
| Day two, a morning of illustrated talks, the
highlights being, for me, Chris Watts and Teletubbies (been there, got the T
shirt) and John Henshall with his session on digital imaging-a particular
interest of mine. |
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| Out into the bright warm sunshine (yes, this is
Edinburgh) and three hundred delegates and sponsors board a fleet of coaches to
go on our various tours. Over the Forth road bridge to Kirkcaldy and the
premises of Strand Lighting to se the production line turning out their high
quality luminaires and lighting desks. Our guides showed us the various
processes involved in the line, and explained that they now ‘out sourced’
the PCB’s side of things. The attention to quality and detail was continuously
stressed. |
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| Our Mac Guides at the Strand Factory |
Understandably, I suppose, we were not allowed into their R&D
department to see what the future had in prospect. Certainly all interesting
stuff, but I would have liked to have seen a ‘hands on’ set-up of their kit
before we left.
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