100TH ANNUAL SALUTE TO MAGIC

This is a two-part article based on the fact that in May, your Enttec Newsletter Editor got to step back into the role of lighting designer for two events (coincidentally) in the same venue, about a week apart. This was a very aerobic workout for LightFactory Ver. 2, one that reasserted my confidence that its features are very powerful and useful to real-world projects.


Part 1: The Society of American Magicians recently hosted THE 100TH ANNUAL SALUTE TO MAGIC!
To hear more about it the show itself, click here . For details about Enttec's behind the scenes involvement in the show, read on.

What is The SALUTE TO MAGIC ?

The SALUTE TO MAGIC is the longest running annual show in U.S. history! This historic magic show has had every master magician perform at least once in the past 99 years! For the 100th Annual Salute, they have together an extraordinary magic theatrical presentation that focused on some of the highlights of that amazing history.

It featured several specially re-created performances and tributes to past headliners, and it also looked to the future, including the world premier of several new magical effects and illusions created just for this event. The Salute show included giant video screens on either side of the stage to enlarge details about the live performance, as well as to show film clips of some classic performers and provide telepresence to some special guests who couldn't get out of other contractual obligations to appear in person.
(They included Lance Burton, Penn and Teller, and live via iChat. David Copperfield!)

Who was Involved ?

Lighting Designer: Jeremy Kumin
Associate Lighting Designer: Dan Ozminkowski
Producer: Sal Perrotta
Performers included: David Ben, Mike Caveney, Paul Daniels, The Pendragons, The Amazing Randi, Margaret Steele, Johnny and Pam Thompson, Gary Willner, Kristi Tomoguchi, and many others.

Where & When

The Salute was held at THE MANHATTAN CENTER in Midtown, New York City. This majestic theater has an illustrious history which includes at least three shows by Harry Houdini at the height of his career.


The Salute occurred for one night only, on May 16th, 2009. The production requirements were such that all elements had to be loaded in and rehearsed the same day as the show, so speed of cueing and the ability to prepare certain items in great detail long before the show day was essential to the choice of lighting desk.

HOW DID ENTTEC AID IN THIS PRESENTATION?

An initial design sketch

LD Jeremy Kumin says, “the Producer, Sal Perrotta, has worked as Set Designer with me providing Lighting Design on many productions in the past, but this show was probably the most ambitious we've undertaken for the shortest amount of time in the theater. I knew that I was going to need moving lights to form a large chunk of the lighting rig because once we got into the rehearsal time, we wouldn't have any ability to get a genie out and refocus any lights. We would bang out lighting cues for each performer, and then get no dress rehearsal or on stage notes time, just do the show with what we had set up only a short time before. That kind of timeline really made me want to also use previsualization techniques on the show, both to help discuss options with the producer, especially things impacting budget, and to help get us some things in the board that were hopefully useful on the day of show.”

“I worked for several weeks trying to decide between different visualizers, but eventually went with WYSIWYG. I was already a fan of their Vivien software and had used it before in another venue in the same building as this magic show. As I looked through the options, I noted that Cast Software had everything I needed already in their library of premade items, and it didn't take me that long to create a relatively accurate looking 3D model of the space. Enttec is a Registered WYG Developer, which contributed to my choice as well, but only tangentially. That would have given me ready access to dongles, but I ended up not needing those because I used LightFactory to control the whole show, and that speaks natively to WYSIWYG over the network.”

“Once I connected WYSIWYG to LightFactory I started to really have fun. The thrill of painting with light that I always get at the tech table, without the “hey, can we move on, there are a lot of scenes you haven't lit yet” nudge from the stage manager is what I'm trying to express. Maybe words can't do it. I'll share a picture or two.”
No truck was needed to bring the lighting control system to the venue. Kumin and Associate Lighting Designer Dan Ozminkowski merely rolled it over from his hotel across town using a two wheel luggage cart and a small monitor case with retractable handle and two wheels. That's how portable it all was. The gear complement* included a couple of computers (one primary and one backup – never used), a 19” external monitor, a playback wing, a router, and an assortment of Ethernet to DMX and USB to DMX converters. They wound up using the DMXEthergate Mk2 for the conventionals and the movers in the first two universes of DMX.

“Sal had this concept of placing the evening's hosts in seated formation around a table downstage left, instead of at a podium as many of these kinds of shows would do. This comes from a longstanding tradition the group has of weekly dinners at one of several NYC restaurants which they call “the Magic Table”. So to light that with some color during the video playback sequences, I had brought a small DMX controlled LED par with me. That had to go into universe 3, so we ran that off an ODE and everything worked great once I had the fixtures patched correctly.

But at other times, it was being shot for image magnification (live video feed projected to the large screen above and across the stage from the table) so it was kind of crucial to be able to ride the levels and make it easy for the cameramen and video engineer to balance things. I relied on a submaster or two and LF never let me down in this regard. ”

Kumin made extensive use of the new FAN command in LightFactory. He found it a great way to take two lights and quickly focus them both on the same person, saving time. Also it made spreading several out to cover a curtain or a drop evenly much easier.

There was a moment at the beginning of the show when the producer wanted to make a dramatic appearance “out of nowhere” but in reality it was just stepping out from behind the main curtain. What they did to distract the audience to help cover this very rudimentary illusion was an elaborate seeming series of cues involving movement of three Vari*Lites from the Front of House truss position. They appeared on the stage apron, then swooped around the room, to be replaced by the next, then the next, and finally Sal was in the spot where the last pair of them were aimed when they came on. It is something that would have taken hours with the house board, but Kumin spent about 2 minutes to create it with LightFactory. “This was one of the times that the program's strengths really helped us to meet our goals, and where even with some previsualizing, I couldn't have done it for this budget another way,” he boasts.

Caveat User

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to come clean and tell you that it wasn't all smooth sailing, because I took one for the team and used a beta version of LightFactory on this project. It wasn't completely wise, but I wanted to see what I could learn and give feedback to the developer about some new features that are slated for release 2.1. In that I succeeded beyond belief, but it was a bit more hectic than I'd have liked.



Still the experience was a positive one overall, with lots of compliments from some picky performers and a very seasoned stage manager. There was even a rave from the client, so LightFactory and I pulled it off again, but don't try this at home. Stick to the well-tested release versions of software (anybody's software) when in a production environment.

Gear Used

*Informal gear list in body of article only covers what the design team brought in. The house rep plot also includes the following: