Transformations and Dramatic Statements 
Lighting & Color is ART is Color & Lighting
July 25, 2011
“Art After Dark“ is the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s annual gala organized by a dynamic group of young patrons dedicated to exceptional art and cultural education. This year’s gala was named “Vivid” in tribute to the Roberto Capucci special exhibit that was on display this Spring at the museum. The exhibit celebrated the forward-thinking Italian fashion designer and artist noted for his inventive construction, liberal use of color and creative layering of textures. Worn by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Gloria Swanson, Capucci’s creations have also influenced younger designers including Ralph Rucci.
Eventions, along with other local artists, professionals and performers, was called upon to create a dynamic event that reflected Capucci’s passionate love of architecture, color and fabric as seen through his incredible haute couture fashion design. An artist after our own hearts, one gown he designed was made up of 25 different shades of red to resemble the flames in a fire.
Live models provided by Saks Fifth Avenue greeted guests as they entered the Museum and were invited to a cocktail reception in Lenfest Hall which we had bathed in color washes. Guests strolled through the exhibit halls enjoying champagne poured by living statues and past spandex-covered models created by Sandy O of Creative Juice. As guests continued to mingle they were treated to a wide selection of stylish passed hors d’oeuvres served on colorful platters from Stephen Starr Events.
As guests continued upstairs into the Great Stair Hall they were mesmerized by the dramatic transformation we had created. We suspended 2,500 square feet of fabric over the entire area to form a “soft ceiling” that allowed us to project layers of vibrantly-colored light that changed and morphed as the night progressed. In fact, we used a total of 16 moving lights and LED color changing fixtures to constantly change the look of the room according to carefully choreographed timeline.
On the stairs below the soft ceiling the Museum placed multiple mannequins dressed in Roberto Capucci gowns. The stairs, the mannequins, the walls and the ceiling of the space were lit with ambient, directional and atmospheric lighting to provide contrast and spotlighting effects.
An Italian-inspired dinner by Stephen STARR Events included short ribs, seared salmon, roasted eggplant and mushroom penne. A romantically-lit modern lounge area served to create comfortable residential-style seating areas, meandering live models dressed in Capucci gowns, and a spirited live auction offered additional entertainment.
After the live auction an aerial performance in the Great Hall surprised the guests but didn’t keep them from staying to enjoy dancing under the soft ceiling and mini desserts served on the “skirts” of the live models.
CATEGORY: Community, Our Stage This Weekend
Lighting for a Neon, Cement and Metal Mitzvah
April 08, 2011
As lighting designers, we’ll be beating the “Lighting creates a mood” horse forever. Nothing demonstrated this basic concept better than last Fall’s bar mitzvah for an edgy, cool kid with urban tastes. Collaborating with event designers Beautiful Blooms Events we took a standard formal country club ballroom and turned it into a night club with layers of modern grunge appeal.
First things first, the walls had to fade to black. Literally. Wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling black drape was installed around the perimeter to wipe the slate clean. Next, Eventions’ lighting designer Rian Winther worked with the creative team to assess the room and determine what the dramatic focal points would be for the event. For social event lighting design our goal is always the same, to keep everyone’s eyes on the tables, the dance floor and stage, as well as each other. For this party concept, lighting would be one of the key design elements and our standard goals would expand to include lighting on multiple levels. Think NEON! Custom graffiti was hand-painted on cement blocks, canvas panels and faux walls in paint that we would not only high light but strobe out! It was illuminating to say the least. (pun intended). .
The bar mitzvah boy walked into a gritty modern environment that was alive with intense light! The dinner tables were covered in bright red, royal blue and bright green – harsh in daylight but effective and vibrant in dimmed party light. The painted cement blocks served as funky centerpiece vessels and were filled with dried electric blue roses that we pin spotted with meticulous precision. Sculptural metal spheres and industrial matte aluminum pipes were formed into other urban tablescapes that we washed with leikos for a wider wash on the table.
In the center of the room we placed a 30 foot x 30 foot metal truss system from which we suspended 22 intelligent light fixtures to provide dance floor, ceiling and room lighting. Many social events we do only require a soft color wash, or “blanket of light” on the dance floor. Very often we layer gobos, or patterned stencils made out of stainless steel or glass, over a light to project a design or pattern. Both good options but just not slick enough for this gig. We programmed the computer-based intelligent light fixtures to change, speed up and intensify as the party progressed to follow the action in the room.
Our dramatic “Pillow Wall” backdrop was a major sculptural element and a great backdrop for the Eddie Bruce Orchestra. This three dimensional metallic backdrop allows for amazing lighting effects using the combination of LED and intelligent light fixtures that we had on hand.
The design team also made use of our Chroma Dance Floor and our Chroma Bars. Our Chroma Series employ a great mix of furniture and lighting effect. Both are computer controlled to allow the event lighting designer to coordinate the bar colors and dancefloor effects with the intelligent lighting in the room.
We also worked with the videographer to coordinate what was shown on our six suspended 50” plasma screens throughout the party. Parties are theater, and to execute a “show” as we like to call them, we need to work with a detailed production schedule that includes everything that happens on the stage, as well as in the rest of the party space. That way, we can build up the energy or reduce down the vibe or pick up the pace or fade to black. It’s got to be a well-choreographed routine even for a private party such as this one. It’s got to be ELECTRIC!
Floral Design: Beautiful Blooms Events
Venue: Philadelphia Country Club
Entertainment: Eddie Bruce Orchestra
Photography: Susan Beard Design
CATEGORY: Design Ideas, Mitzvahs, Our Stage This Weekend
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES MAKE THE BEST STORIES
February 10, 2011
Looking back, this has to be one of our favorite events of all time, and certainly, one of the best we have ever collaborated on. The party was in November, 2007, a bat mitzvah for 500 guests at the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal. The 40,000 square foot “Terminal” as it’s called amongst those who’ve worked there and lived to talk about it, is one of the most challenging locations to work in for its sheer massive footprint. A historic manufacturing building dating back to 1880, the Terminal has seen some incredible parties in recent years. This was the second mitzvah celebration we had the pleasure of working on for the same family, with the same guest list and in the same venue. Needless to say, the pressure to make this particular event a completely unique experience was INTENSE.
SUSPENSION OF 10,000 LB ICE CHANDELIER
There were two major highlights to this fantastic party that Eventions had a major hand in producing. The first was the suspension of a 25 foot tall chandelier made entirely out of ice and weighing almost 10,000 pounds. Created by Fear No Ice, the magnificent chandelier posed a few obvious logistical challenges, such as:
• How on earth do you hang a 10,000 pound chandelier one half hour before the first guest arrives?
• Will the circa 1880 ceiling support that kind of weight?
• How do you test the concept with it arriving onsite only 30 minutes before the party?
• What will happen to all the water as it melts?
The biggest challenge our rigging staff encountered was the fact that the ceiling of the Cruise Terminal is made of 120 year-old iron and teak wood. The iron work was forged 30 years before the Titanic sunk and we all know how well that went! Structural engineers determined that we could only attach to the iron structure with a maximum load of 300 pounds per attachment point. To meet those requirements, our rigging staff had to spread the weight out over 36 different attachment points. Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of the complicated design of the ceiling system, but it was impressive!
Once the ice was suspended, our lighting designers worked their magic to make the piece come to life against a backdrop of sensational lighting and special effects.
As to the concern of melting water from the suspended ice chandelier, event designer Katherine Warden from TableArt constructed an oversized “sandbox” made of lucite that not only caught the cascading water, but with an added lush floral design, became an eye-popping focal point enjoyed all evening.
CRYSTAL CHANDELIER GUEST OF HONOR REVEAL
The second dramatic feature of this bat mitzvah was an impressive 30 foot diameter crystal chandelier that served as the high-flying focal point over the dance floor. This concept grew out of a last minute struggle to find a fabulous way to reveal the guest of honor. While months of planning and design went into this event, it was only within the last two weeks that the concept came to life. But how?
As the guests entered the dining room, the crystal chandelier was sitting on the dance floor with the Bat Mitzvah girl hidden inside the concentric rings of crystals and lighting. After the band introduced all of the family and friends, the chandelier slowly started to rise to its position over the dance floor. Voila! as it moved up the guest of honor was revealed to wild applause!
Nothing like keeping guests on their toes and begging for more! Collaborating on this stunning event with the creative team of Peachtree & Ward Catering, TableArt, CinemaCake, Susan Beard Photography and Starlight Orchestras brought down the house yet again! But luckily, not the 1880 ceiling.
CATEGORY: Innovations, Mitzvahs, Our Stage This Weekend
Last Minute Requests to Event Lighting Design Plans Don’t Scare Us
January 24, 2011
As lighting designers, we know how to evoke an appropriate mood, reinforce the style of the event design and highlight visual elements into a unified environment. Working closely with your event designer, florist or event planner, we begin the design process by listening to the event vision and overall goals before sharing ideas on how light can be used to enhance the vision. In fact, the earlier we get involved in the event design the better the collaboration is in achieving the client’s desired “look” for the event. But sometimes, as all creative or visual art professionals know, all the pre-planning in meetings, in computer-generated renderings or on paper isn’t the end of the design process. Invariably, last minute requests for changes or additions to the lighting design occur during the installation of the event. Most people are “show me’s” and can’t visualize how we can create effects to match or highlight the space, mood or action. And, frankly, very often the lighting designers see something on the job site that inspires an addition, change or logistical adaptation. We happen to love these kinds of last-minute “shoot from the gut” challenges because our ability to adapt on the fly generally separates us from the rest of the pack.
For instance, for a wedding at Winterthur Estate in Delaware our client, Evantine Design, collaborated with us for months on an outdoor celebration around the Reflection Pool. The lighting design would incorporate lighting the entire party area, from 65 foot trees around the perimeter to shrubbery, fountains, architectural statues, walkways, stairs and of course, dinner tables, a stage and dance floor. All was set and in place when a dramatic summer storm meant changing plans completely and moving the wedding inside the adjacent museum. Not only was the new party space rather clinical, with stone facades and walls of glass at either end, it required working with restricted conditions for attachment and installation timeframes. [Photo of the event space just before we began installation]
Our goals were simple: unify the entire room and ceiling with textural light using multiple gobos in layers of pink, lavender and magenta; highlight the stunning floral décor on dinner tables; wash the band and dance floor with photo-friendly hues of amber and pink; and let the rest fade into darkness.
As we were working through the details in the installation, Evantine asked us to light up the incredible columns surrounding the entrance area to the space. We were more than happy to use our new LED uplights at the base of the columns. This simple request turned out to be one of the more memorable design elements of the wedding.
Seen from the outside, who would know all this happened in a matter of hours.
[Photos courtesy of Laura Novak]
CATEGORY: Design Ideas, Our Stage This Weekend, Weddings
Phasion Phest
October 01, 2010
Just wanted to share a quick snap shot of Phasion Phest this week. Eventions provided lighting design and video screens for Philadelphia’s premier fall fashion event. The event took place on 12th street under the Convention Center
CATEGORY: Behind the Scenes, Community, Our Stage This Weekend, What We're Up To
Muscle Cars and a Hot Rod Sound System!
September 16, 2010
On Saturday, September 11th, Eventions helped local DJ and entertainment company Silver Sound With a monsterous sound system for the American Muscle Car Show at the Phoenixville Fire House and grounds. The event was to raise money for the troops serving in our armed forces. Over 400 American muscle cars were in attendance, mostly Mustangs of all ages and types. There were also many manufacturers, distributors and after market parts companies in attendance.
Silver Sound Director of Special Events, Paul Evans, who actually DJ’d and Emcee’d the event, wanted to ensure he could be heard clearly over the entire show which covered the area of approximately 8 football fields. Our audio designers, using satellite imagery of the space, specified a JBL line array sound system utilizing over 24 speaker cabinets and over 25,000 watts of power.
Satellite imagery and computer modeling of the sound system are used by our engineers to guarantee flawless audio!
Here is the feedback from our satisfied Client:
“Everything went very well! Your techs are always a pleasure, they know what they are doing, they are supportive and they take care of the clients even when they throw curve balls. The President of the company really appreciated Andrew taking care of his needing a microphone to plug into a remote system they had over by the dyna. No one told us about that.
I Thank you for providing me with a great end to end solution, for helping me to design the system for the proper coverage, the result of our work impressed the people attending. As Director of Special Events, I really enjoy learning how to configure, deliver and set these things up. The Genie’s were very cool the line arrays and subs sounded great the near field speakers were very strong and smooth”.
The Line array’s being set up on the ground.
DJ Paul Evan’s State of the art Laptop base DJ rig.
Photo Credits: www.silversound.com
CATEGORY: Business Partners, Community, Our Stage This Weekend
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Craig Sumsky: (09.16.10 - 2:36 pm) Wow, that sure is one state of the art system. Who is Paul Evans?