PLASA has announced a major shoot-out of leading LED lighting fixtures for PLASA2011, hosted by the STLD (Society of Television Lighting and Design).
Lighting Designer Paul Middleton has teamed the STLD with PLASA to bring visitors a unique tradeshow experience, where they will be able to directly compare LED lighting fixtures in three different areas of the 240 square metre space.
“The STLD has been looking at staging a major LED-based event for some time now, having previously organised events at Pinewood Studios and elsewhere on the topics of consoles, moving heads and generic lights,” said Middleton (pictured). “We felt it was the right time to do another event and LED lighting was the obvious subject, basing the event on the simple question: ‘can you light a TV set entirely with LED fixtures?'”
The STLD LED Shoot Out feature is split into three different sections. The first section is dedicated to a lighting shootout onto a specially built eight metre-wide cyclorama. Here, LED fixtures will be able to show how they outshine their traditional 1250W tungsten halogen predecessors, especially when dealing with deep, saturated colours.
The central section is a practical hands-on ‘mini TV studio’, where competing LED washes, soft lights, key lights and more can be explored hands-on. Visitors will be able to try their hand at lighting the two ‘mini TV studio’ set-ups, and view the results through two HD broadcast cameras, with a lighting director and electrician on hand to offer guidance.
These sessions will alternate with case study seminars where visitors can learn from presentations on a variety of subjects, which are planned to include a recreation of ITV’s LED-equipped Daybreak studio; ENG lighting with LED fixtures; new ideas on lighting dance with LED fixtures; best practice in interfacing LED screens and LED fixtures with a lighting desk; and finally, portrait lighting for interviews with LED fixtures. These one-hour ‘hands-on’ sessions and case studies are pre-bookable in advance via the PLASA website at £10 + VAT per person per session. A limited number of tickets will be available to purchase on the day on the STLD stand.
The third section is a lecture and presentation theatre where visitors can see the output from LED fixtures in different categories compared side-by-side with their traditional Tungsten or Discharge equivalent in a comfortable seated environment. These lecture theatre sessions will be repeated twice a day, with no need to pre-book, and are in an open format so that show visitors can also stand and watch the presentations. Monitors and video displays will make it clear what’s happening, and a light reading will be displayed to show exactly the illumination levels and types of shadows each fixture generates alongside its traditional equivalent.
Finally, to link it all together, a printed Event Guide will be available to purchase which will list all the fixtures on show, complete with a numbered key with full technical details of each fixture – useful both during the show and afterwards. If you prefer it in electronic format, a downloadable version will be available online from the STLD website (http://www.stld.org.uk/), with profits from the electronic version going to the Light Relief Charity.
From 6-8 pm on the first three days of the show, participating manufacturers will use the Lecture Theatre and hands-on areas to run private presentations. To attend these, visitors should either visit the manufacturers’ stands at PLASA 2011, or look out for pre-show invites from them in the run-up to the show.
“It’s a very exciting event for us to put together and we are getting a fantastic response from manufacturers,” concluded Middleton. “ For show visitors who are interested in LED lighting for any application – TV, theatre, film, dance, exhibitions, events or installs – it will be a unique opportunity to put leading brands through their paces, and learn a lot more about LED lighting in general.”
Currently confirmed supporters for the event include AC Entertainment Lighting, Arri Lighting, Avolites, Chauvet, Coemar, Doughty, ETC, Galaxia, Gekko, Green Hippo, Highend Systems, Highlite International, i-Pix, LS-Live, MA Lighting, Martin Professional, Pixelrange, Philips Vari*Lite, Prolyte, Robe, Rosco, Robert Juliat, Sony, Stage Electrics, The Camera Store, Reveal and White Light.
