Live Design International (LDI) 2024

Trade Show Exhibition work could represent an important career trajectory for lighting, audio, and media entertainment professionals. Part theater, rock & roll touring, and experiential environment design, trade show exhibition lighting and production is big business. From big pharma to consumer electronics, to kitchen and bath shows, Available Light, has been at the forefront of this activity for over 30 years. This session will be a deep dive into our process and the technology they deploy, oftentimes on a massive scale.

In this session, we’ll look at examples of how immersive color is used in various live production and fixed installation scenarios, as well as the tools and history of color in art that are used to create these impactful scenarios. We’ll take a look back at what spaces, environments, and works of art have inspired immersive color experiences, and look forward to what’s possible in today’s environments. How do certain immersive colors make us FEEL, and how do we use this information in large group environments?

Applies to Houses of Worship as well as other architectural lighting scenarios.

A serious conversation on the need for increased diversity, equity, and inclusion in the live events industry, an important issue the industry continues to face, and there is so much more to learn. How to engage and commit!

Plus an opportunity to meet this year's recipients of the Pat MacKay Diversity In Design Scholarships.

This session will explore the creative and technical elements of incorporating creative stage lighting into small-scale creative video and film productions. The presenation will break down several productions, including musical performance captures and promotional hype films produced by Joshua and the GMedia team. While the content of the presentation is within a university context, it can be applied across the industry to small creative teams working to produce high-quality multimedia within logistical and financial constraints.

Key takeaways:
1) It’s possible, even on a small-scale, to combine stage & film lighting techniques to create dynamic, impactful visuals for screen. The session will explore how GMedia produces engaging content with a small crew and minimal budget.

2) Videographers and cinematographers can walk away from the session with specific examples and lighting equipment information to expand their creative and technical skillset. Lighting & stage designers can walk away from the session with an expanded understanding of film/video directors' creative process for capturing visuals involving practical intelligent lighting.

3) The session will explore the interaction between video directors, lighting designers, programmers/board operators, camera operators, stakeholders, and talent on-set, and the importance of pre-production to sucessfully realize a creative vision.

The Light Talk podcast (now in its 8th year) features seasoned professional lighting designers and educators — the original three Lumen Brothers, Steve Woods (SMU), Stan Kaye (emeritus University of Florida), David Jacques (emeritus California State University Long Beach), plus Brackley Frayer (emeritus UNLV) as well as designer Zak Borovay, and Lumen Sisters Ellen Lampert-Gréaux (LDI/Live Design) and Ann McMills (San Diego State University)—who discuss the latest topics and developments in the world of entertainment and architectural lighting design and offer sage, and sometimes controversial advice to professionals and students of lighting design. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and they can be as silly as they are informative. Join us for a live taping and toss out questions and topics at LDI (you can even win a prize!)

Sharing excerpts, insights, and exercises from their upcoming book (published in spring of 2025) Allen Branton and Sharon Huizinga will discuss lighting design process for the evolving world of live events outside of traditional theatre dance and opera, including concerts and tours, awards shows, sporting events, benefits, comedy shows, corporate events, fashions shows, political events, and other instances where an audience comes to a location to be part of an occasion. These types of productions represent a majority of the opportunities available for people wishing to start a career in lighting design and technology. Most people interested in lighting and most people graduating from lighting training programs are going to work in the evolving world of live events beyond theatre. Part manifesto, part memoir and part lighting textbook, their book introduces the origins and history of live events, compares and contrasts where lighting design process for theatre, dance and opera differs from lighting design process for live events, and provides a step-by-step framework from which to approach productions in this environment, mixed with personal anecdotes, interviews, insights and case studies. The upcoming book is aimed at individuals (students and professionals) who already have an understanding of lighting design fundamentals and are interested in expanding.

A Case Study: Architectural Lighting  
The Paramount Group and MdeAS architects asked design one lighting to aid in the lighting of the two facade walls in the Broadway district in New York's Times Square. Simple, bold choices, with an eye on clean lines and a modern look, brought this gorgeous project together. Join lighting designer Christien Methot as he goes through the design and installation process of this wonderfully challenging project.

RIG Rope Access is hosting a general Introduction and Q&A session on Industrial Rope Access and SPRAT's Work at Height training course and certification.

Women In Lighting @LDI 2024 Schedule:
2:30pm: Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton: Intro to WIL + presentation about 'Collected Light Volume Three: Women in Entertainment Lighting' by Light Collective
2:50pm: Sharon Huizinga / Rock Lititz
3:00pm: Erica Hayes: Navigating Diverse Lighting Environments: From Concert Tours to Television and Film
3:30pm: Karla López: Creative Processes: The Art Of Lighting Design
4:00pm: Kat Borderud: Growing The Culture Of Women In Lighting
4:30pm: Q &A
4:45-6pm: Meet Up reception with drinks sponsored by Ayrton/ACT Entertainment

Join Women In Lighting (WIL), an inspirational and global digital platform that profiles women working in the field of lighting and lighting design, and Light Collective. The schedule includes the presentation of a new book, 'Collected Light Volume Three: Women in Entertainment Lighting' by Light Collective, followed by presentations by three inspiring women.

Following on from the successful publication in 2022 of ‘Collected Light Volume One: Women Light Artists’, Light Collective will publish a third book in the series, ‘Collected Light Volume Three: Women in Entertainment Lighting’ in November 2024.

Light Collective, a UK-based lighting consultancy have spent the last 25 years working with light in many formats. As well as architectural lighting design, the company is known for its role as light activists within the lighting industry. This has ranged from Guerrilla Lighting demonstrations around the world, showing the transformative nature of light within cities to the global community, to the networking project Women In Lighting, set up to raise the profile of women working with light and to celebrate their achievements.

The Women In Lighting initiative led Light Collective to the curation of this third book, Women In Entertainment Lighting. Women working in this field are in a minority and often uncelebrated. This book is a small step towards trying to redress this unfair imbalance. While researching the book, Light Collective reached out across the globe to many women working in this field.

Erica D. Hayes will discuss her journey as a lighting designer, highlighting her work with artists like Fantasia, The Isley Brothers, and Lucky Daye, and her transition to television and film. She will explore adapting lighting design to different settings and her experience with IATSE 728. Attendees will gain insights into the intricacies of transitioning between concert tours and the film industry, and learn about the importance of versatility and innovation in lighting design.

A behind-the-scenes look at the life-cycles of international productions (War Horse, Back to the Future, Angels in America, Dorian Gray) the experience of touring major technically complex productions, the mechanisms of transferring between the West End and Broadway, and introducing new protocols for production management and technical excellence as a foundation for a hybrid studio. For Back to The Future, a look at building bespoke DeLorean’s for each international show and what we’ve learnt about fabricating Special FX projects in a cost-competitive industry, and the wider challenges of transfers and touring massive shows. And a segue to the opportunities available to a new generation of practitioners within the production arts and help answer the question of how and where to start and how to increase chances of personal success by making the right choices at the right time and the career ladder that can be expected as a novice or recently graduated technical designer.