http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php Copyright 2012, Lawrence Stromski Lawrence Stromski en-US SPHPBLOG 0.5.1 http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry100531-121300 Lawrence Stromski working on P&Os brand new cruise ship, Azura.

From January 2010-June 2010 I have been working with DMI Productions, Headliners Theatre Company and P&O Cruises on the brand new build of their cruise ship, Azura.
In six months, a production team from Headliners Theatre Company have commissioned seven brand new productions. These productions have involved custom content on Robe's DigiSpot 7000DT fixtures, a moving light rig of 120 Robe fixtures, and a setup of three GrandMA lighting consoles including network expansion. Other products on board were ETC Sensor Racks, Pathway Pathport DMX distribution, Morpheus Colour Faders and a range of Martin and LeMaitre atmospheric and pyrotechnic effects.
My work involved a period as systems technician setting up and configuring the lighting control primarily then a period of programming for the seven shows.
The actual plotting of the shows took place at the shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, at sea and at Southampton, UK. Work took place overnight and during the day with the theatre operating 24-hours a day.
Stage Technologies provided a system of six advanced lighting trusses, specially designed and braced for life at sea. The support structure for the lighting trusses and fly bars has to be advanced and stable enough to keep the lighting equipment safe and stable in all sea conditions. Extra factors had to be considered in all aspects of the lighting setup, which would normally not be thought about on land.
The final product features around 4900 lighting cues for the seven shows triggered by a timecode setup. It was quite important to insure the most was made out of the combined lighting rig using many of the features available through the lights, projectors and the control system.
The DigiSpot 7000DTs were loaded with for 28 gigabytes of custom filmed and created content produced by DMI Productions. The fixtures were used to their limits in running maximum resolution content and using soft blending between projectors to create a continuous image.
P&O Azura now sails on cruises this year with no let-up in the cruise schedule and a team of skilled technicians on board. The team received training over six months in every aspect of maintenance, software and hardware alike. It is anticipated the setup will prove successful and able to operate continuously with little or no shore-side support needed.













]]> http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry100531-121300 Lawrence Stromski Mon, 31 May 2010 10:13:00 GMT http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/comments.php?y=10&m=05&entry=entry100531-121300 http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090323-001000
From January 2009 until mid-March 2009, I will be working with young students who have learning disabilities to train them in basic lighting design and production skills. This flagship new course is being run by the Heart & Soul group.
There are five entertainment professionals, including myself who are taking a group of students once a week in sessions that will teach them all the basics to inspire and empower them with knowledge.

Heart & Soul produces two clubs regularly at The Albany in Deptford for younger and older groups. These clubs involve all the art forms including Music, Dance, Drama and Circus. The "I Did That" students will have the opportunity to work on these events professionally as well as other events Heart & Soul are involved with.

Visit http://www.heartnsoul.co.uk for more information.]]> http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090323-001000 Lawrence Stromski Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:10:00 GMT http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=03&entry=entry090323-001000 http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090323-000000 Welcome to the official Blog of Lawrence Stromski.
Through this Blog, you can get information on projects, designs and other works Lawrence Stromski is currently engaged in.

This Blog will feature short stories on current projects being undertaken and over time will build up an archive of past projects.
Occasionally for bigger projects, mini-features will be found with more frequent Blog entries to record build-up periods for events and long production processes.

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Please feel free to leave comments on any stories you wish although bare in mind comments are moderated by Lawrence Stromski before going live to insure appropriateness.]]> http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090323-000000 Lawrence Stromski Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=03&entry=entry090323-000000 http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090119-002612 This week sees a corporate event with an usual twist - the Lord Lieutenant's charity ball hosted at Chatham Historic Dockyard Number 3 slip. The Astral Lighting team came together once again, headed by James Waudby was the perfect choice for the venue having lit many unusual buildings, environments on scales of equal and greater size.
This historical wooden shipyard building used to be the construction hub and launching point for old sailing ships is now converted to a museum for some of the armed forces most exotic pieces of machinery, tanks and ships.
The new upstairs pavilion was the base for the evenings event.
The building is large and open and a very cold place to be in mid-January. One of the first tasks was heating the venue to keep the guests warm with only two 63-amp three-phase supplies to work with. With the building being as long as an old sailing ship, cable lengths were an important consideration and after careful planning the heating power was distributed from four main distribution boxes.
This left little power for sound, lighting and catering so it was decided that LED lighting would make up the bulk of the rig.
LED wash lights were used down the length of the venue along with source4 profiles to project gobo patterns onto the ceiling. Two 2 Kilo-watt flood lights were used with blue HQI lamps to light the exterior and lower level of the venue providing an interesting and atmospheric blue glow on the interior.
The effect was finished off with some small 250-watt moving lights and some more LED units, combined with a haze machine to give the dance floor a bit of party finish.
Redundancy for the event was provided by having spare power distribution available at all the key points.
Light, warmth, good food and good drink were brought to a cold January night on the Medway estuary.



Further info: http://www.chdt.org.uk/Galleries/3_Slip ... 3Slip.html From Chatham Historic Dockyard website (Accessed April 2009)]]> http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/index.php?entry=entry090119-002612 Lawrence Stromski Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:26:12 GMT http://www.wc3.co.uk/blog/comments.php?y=09&m=01&entry=entry090119-002612