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High End Systems is an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of entertainment lighting and control systems. The company was founded, owned, and managed by Lowell Fowler, Richard Belliveau, David Blair, and Bob Schacherl before it was bought by Belgium-based Barco in 2008. [1]
Blackstone Audio Visual was founded by Lowell Fowler with his wife Sue. When Lowell Fowler began Blackstone Audio Visual, their main focus was installing more advanced lighting equipment in nightclubs. [2]
Blackstone Audio Visual moved offices from central to north Austin in the mid 1980s. David Blair and Bob Schacherl, one of the companies original employees, both joined the ranks of partnership. [3] The three partners installed Pulsar, Clay Paky, Coemar, Optikinetics, JEM, and other European brands that were difficult to find in North America. At the same time, Belliveau began designing and building loudspeakers for nightclubs and discothèques. Blackstone Audio Visual specialized in installing high end audio, video, and lighting systems in nightclubs all over the United States. Belliveau, unsatisfied with the design of many of the products they were selling, chose to design his own. [2]
In 1987, Belliveau [4] began experimenting with dichroic filters and designed a color fading lighting instrument called Color Pro. It used three MR-16 lamps to crossfade between colors, which was unique at the time. At the time dichroic filters, which are color-tuned thin-film filters deposited on hardened glass, were very expensive. Belliveau bought a used vacuum chamber and directed employees to re-build it for the purpose of manufacturing their own dichroic filters. There were no other lighting companies that made their own dichroic filters. Color Pro was distributed worldwide through a newly established distributor network. [5]
Around the same time, Belliveau set up a manufacturing division called Lightwave Research for the purpose of designing and building new products. Another new company called High End Systems was incorporated in order to separate the installation company, Blackstone Audio Visual, from the sales and distribution of equipment [6]
The next products to be designed and built were the Laser Chorus and Dataflash. Laser Chorus was a laser system with 4.9-milliwatt gas laser tubes available in red, yellow, green, and orange. The heads were controlled by a microprocessor-based controller and they were capable of producing effects such as tunnels, planes, and various other geometric shapes and patterns. Because they were not over 5 milliwatts they were Class IIIA lasers and did not require a variance to operate in most states in the U.S. [5]
Dataflash was a microprocessor-controlled strobe system with DMX512 control. It was used on high-profile tours, including the Michael Jackson Dangerous tour, [7] as well as in nightclubs.
Intellabeam automated light was introduced in 1989. Until that time, most automated lighting in the live event production industry were rented, and Vari-Lite dominated the concert and touring market. The Intellabeam allowed production companies to buy their own automated lighting and rent them for concert tours and corporate events. [8]
In 2000, High End Systems introduced a digital projection system with a video projector, Orbital Mirror Head, and a DMX-controlled media server that interfaced with a lighting console. It allowed a lighting programmer to program the video switching and effects into the lighting console and play them back as part of the light show. The first such system was called Catalyst, but Catalyst evolved into the DMX-controlled media server in 2002 while the Orbital Mirror Head was marketed alone. Up until that point, media servers were manually-operated systems where the media, either tape or video computer files, were switched using a push button matrix switcher or a T-handle switcher to crossfade between sources. [9]
That era marked the beginning of High End Systems’ immersion in digital luminaires. Soon after Catalyst, they introduced the DL.1 Digital Luminaire, a moving yoke projection system under the control of DMX512. It required the use of an external media server but the next evolutions of the product, the DL.2, DL.3, and DL.V all have media servers built in. The integration of media servers in their digital luminaires led to the development of another media server, the Axon Media Server. [9]
In 2017, High End Systems was acquired by Electronic Theatre Controls. [10]
The film industry is built upon many technologies and techniques, drawing upon photography, stagecraft, music, and many other disciplines. Following is an index of specific terminology applicable thereto.
An interference filter, dichroic filter, or thin-film filter is an optical filter that reflects some wavelengths (colors) of light and transmits others, with almost no absorption for all wavelengths of interest. An interference filter may be high-pass, low-pass, bandpass, or band-rejection. They are used in scientific applications, as well as in architectural and theatrical lighting.
Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in this discipline. In addition to basic lighting, modern stage lighting can also include special effects, such as lasers and fog machines. People who work on stage lighting are commonly referred to as lighting technicians or lighting designers.
DMX512 is a standard for digital communication networks that are commonly used to control lighting and effects. It was originally intended as a standardized method for controlling stage lighting dimmers, which, prior to DMX512, had employed various incompatible proprietary protocols. It quickly became the primary method for linking controllers to dimmers and special effects devices such as fog machines and intelligent lights.
The XLR connector is a type of electrical connector primarily used in professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. XLR connectors are cylindrical, with three to seven connector pins, and are often employed for analog balanced audio interconnections, AES3 digital audio, portable intercom, DMX512 lighting control, and for low-voltage power supply. XLR connectors are part of the international standard for dimensions, IEC 61076-2-103. The XLR connector resembles the DIN connector, but is larger, more robust and physically incompatible.
A lighting control console is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple stage lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and are normally placed at the front of house (FOH) position or in a control booth.
A gobo is an object placed inside or in front of a light source to control the shape of the emitted light and its shadow.
A musical fountain, also known as a fairy fountain, prismatic fountain or dancing fountain, is a type of choreographed fountain that creates aesthetic designs as a form of entertainment. The displays are commonly synchronised to music and also feature lighting effects that are refracted and reflected by the moving water. Contemporary multimedia fountains can include lasers, video projection and three-dimensional imagery.
Remote Device Management(RDM) is an addition to the DMX512 control protocol for stage lighting equipment, introduced in 2006. DMX512 was developed in the late 1980s as a standard protocol for lighting consoles to communicate with dimmers, but has since been used for more complex applications, including the control of intelligent lighting fixtures. The addition of RDM addresses many of the shortcomings of DMX512, which is unidirectional with no support for metadata.
Intelligent lighting refers to lighting that has automated or mechanical abilities beyond those of conventional, stationary illumination. Although the most advanced intelligent lights can produce extraordinarily complex effects, the intelligence lies with the human lighting designer, control system programmer, or the lighting operator, rather than the fixture itself. For this reason, intelligent lighting (ILS) is also known as automated lighting, moving lights, moving heads, or simply movers.
A media server is a computer appliance or an application software that stores digital media and makes it available over a network.
A multifaceted reflector light bulb is a reflector housing format for halogen as well as some LED and fluorescent lamps. MR lamps were originally designed for use in slide projectors, but see use in residential lighting and retail lighting as well. They are suited to applications that require directional lighting such as track lighting, recessed ceiling lights, desk lamps, pendant fixtures, landscape lighting, retail display lighting, and bicycle headlights. MR lamps are designated by symbols such as MR16 where the diameter is represented by numerals indicating units of eighths of an inch. Common sizes for general lighting are MR16 and MR11, with MR20 and MR8 used in specialty applications. Many run on low voltage rather than mains voltage alternating current so require a power supply.
A colour scroller or colour changer is an electro-mechanical lighting accessory used in theater, film, dance and concerts to change the colour projected by stage lighting instruments without the need of a person to be in the vicinity of the light. A colour scroller moves plastic "gel" colour gel [actually dyed polyester and/or other base materials coated with dyes] into the beam of the light. It is generally attached to the gel frame holder at the transmitting end of a lighting fixture, so colour is introduced after the beam characteristics have been defined by the optics of the lighting instrument. Most scrollers are controlled via DMX512 protocol, but some models also utilize the RDM protocol. When colour scrollers were first introduced around 1980, a number of companies produced them, including: Avolites, GAM Products, Morpheus Lights, Rainbow, Rosco Laboratories and Wybron Inc. Now the main manufacturers are: A.C. Lighting, Apollo, Morpheus Lights and Rainbow.
A laser projector is a device that projects changing laser beams on a screen to create a moving image for entertainment or professional use. It consists of a housing that contains lasers, mirrors, galvanometer scanners, and other optical components. A laser projector may contain one laser light source for single-color projection or three sources for RGB full color projection.
Vari-Lite is a brand of automated, variable-colour stage lighting systems. Their intelligent lighting fixtures are commonly used in theatre, concerts, television, film and corporate events.
Articles related to the field of motion pictures include:
LMG, LLC is an American provider of video, audio, LED, and lighting support. The company was founded in 1984 by Les Goldberg. LMG is divided into four brands: LMG, Systems Innovation by LMG, LMG Touring & Entertainment and LMG Venues. It is a subsidiary of Entertainment Technology Partners.
Plasma lamps are a type of electrodeless gas-discharge lamp energized by radio frequency (RF) power. They are distinct from the novelty plasma lamps that were popular in the 1980s.
DJ lighting is a variant of stage lighting that is used by mobile DJs and in nightclubs. DJ lighting is generally used by mobile disco DJs and in most modern nightclubs and many late-night bars.
Stage lighting accessories are components manufactured for conventional (non-automated) stage lighting instruments. Most conventional fixtures are designed to accept a number of different accessories designed to assist in the modification of the output. These accessories are intended to either provide relatively common functionality not originally provided in a fixture, or to extend the versatility of a lighting instrument by introducing features. Other accessories have been designed to overcome limitations or difficulties some fixtures present in specific applications.
