Lasers with the right building can match the largest Christmas tree

When we look at a site for the first time, we are always keeping an eye open for what buildings are in the area.

Buildings can be the most stable and reliable laser screens, and often have a historical connection with the community that adds an extra dimension to the laser show.  Plus, lasers can project very, very large, and we are looking for something to showcase that impressive ability – often the right building will add a substantial WOW factor to the laser show.  And that is something that everyone is looking for!

Long Distance Laser Viewing

Get the Laser Show Up

Often, a building will be taller than the surrounding area;  if we can use it for a projection screen, the laser show will be available for a wider audience.  If the lasers can communicate with a wider audience than the audio system will reach, consider working with a local radio station to simulcast the music for the show.  The audience can tune in on whatever receiver is in their area and enjoy the full experience.

Must Have Laser Beams!

Laser beams project out from the building

We have found that it is not enough just to project the laser graphics on to the side of a building, impressive as that might seem…. we always add an atmospherice beam display to complete the laser show!  These colorful beams of laser light dance to the music in intricately choreographed patterns, and bring the show out over the audience.  Theatrical haze machines keep the air a little foggy so that the laser beams show up.

We are looking for a flat wall.

Bring the show down the street

Buildings don’t have to be super tall to work well.  Usually, the scale of a small building is still much more in relationship to the audience, so effective images can be created on any building.  Bricks seem to disappear while watching a moving laser image, and often windows are not in the way, either.  But we are always looking for the elusive large, blank white wall to use for our laser projections!

HeyWire Text Logo

Shawn's Fiftieth party!

Pics are coming…..

This was a pretty big event!

Laser Spectacles fired on all laser cylinders at the stage known as “Neon Garden” in the Automobile Building, Fair Park, Dallas on June 18, 2011.  We created a special laser stage, working with Onstage Systems from Dallas to create special low level lighting that showed the lasers to best effect.  The promoters, Insomniac, expected it to be up to 20,000, almost twice as big as last year’s event at fair park.

Big white laser beams

LED screens on full white

The Automobile building is perfectly suited for lasers, being a long dark hall.  Onstage split their giant LED video screens into 3 sections, two tall ones on each side, and one long one centered underneath the DJ booth on the stage.  This left a large black area in the center which we filled with lasers, and hung a large mesh projection screen back behind the stage to project graphics and lumia onto.

It turned out to be a controversial event

Our experience was all positive.  The crowd was quite mellow, and clearly there to see the music provided by an array of top notch performers on five different stages.  Two of the stages were in our building, the Automobile Building;  two were in another building across the lake, the Centennial Hall;  and an outdoor stage that ended at 11 PM or so.  The indoor stages were scheduled to go on until 2 AM.

Cool Projections on Centennial Hall

Crowd around the fountains

I thought the crowd was great;  whenever I walked outside, it was crowded, but mellow.  there were great projections all over the place, people were playing in the huge fountains (not that they were allowed to!), and people walked around mindful of each other.

At midnight I decided to head over to the Centennial Building to see how the shows looked over there.  Well, there were police at the door, and they would not let anyone in.  I inquired, and was told that everyone was to leave the building.  There was no reason given.

Pic by Tetradtx

Pic by Aaron Leming

Back in our hall, the Automobile Building, the party was rocking!  Unfortunately, possibly because the Centennial Building was closed down, it became overcrowded, and the fire marshal stepped in to reduce the crowd.  Then, someone pulled the fire alarm;  at that point the DJ, Skrillex, was told to stop and he did;  they turned on the lights, and at 1:20 AM the show was over early.

Cyan and Magenta

Back in the event HQ....

What I did not know was that someone had died, and possibly another who was taken to the hospital.  The mood did seem a little somber after the show while we were packing up, but I attributed it to the party ending early.  No one was talking about any deaths.

I found out about that later on in the next few days.  I read several articles that were written from hearsay, clearly by people who were not there, and tended to sensationalize the event by using phrases like “out of control”, or “mob”, or “riot”, which was just not the case.  Besides one or two drug crazed people we ran into, everything seemed organized an under control.

I found one article online that seemed to make sense – here is a link to it:

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2011/06/on_saturdays_electric_daisy_ca.php

And finally, a quick and dirty video of the lasers in action at EDC Dallas 2011:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhPFLoM3dIU

Laser Spectacles took to the back woods of Apache Pass on May 29 and 30, 2011, to provide laser shows for the second Texas Nocturnal Festival presented by Insomniac Events. We had lasers at the Upside Down Room (the stage set up amongst the trees), and in the Sunken Garden (the stage across the river). We also had a big green YAG laser set up doing the Wall of Mirrors, and a big YAG laser set up shooting over the Arc Attack show.  All photos on this page were taken by Todd Rogers of Beamin Lasers!

Big beams from the Sunken Garden

Sunken Garden Laser Sweeps

The lasers in the Sunken Garden always look good. We set up two green lasers over a big bowl of an amphitheater, next to the long pedestrian suspension bridge.  This was a great area for people to sit on the lawn or on the big rocks along the back under the trees, and just chill out, relax, and watch the laser beams play with the music.

In the Upside Down Room, we had three RGB lasers shooting out over the audience and into the trees. In the darkness they looked fantastic!  There were a lot of really bright lights on this stage, but the OnStage Lighting designers were very cool about blending their lights with the lasers for some fantastic looks.

There's nothing like purple lasers....

Wide shot of the Upside Down Room

Magenta Lasers

With our fabulous wireless ethernet control set up, we could sit out in the trees behind the audience, and creat the show that we always like to see ourselves!

Sometimes we just let the colors go....

A closer look at the colors of laser

Found the gold we were searching for!

Onward to Arc Attack – one of our favorite bands from Austin, TX. They specialize in creating music using giant Tesla Coils. It turned out that one of the places we carefully selected to put a big green laser at was right next to the Arc Attack performance space! So, we got to spend some time together and appreciate one another’s work. One very unusual thing they are doing is inviting audience members to stand/dance inside a metal cage, which then attracts the arcs from the giant coils.

The Arc Attack Crazy Man

Girls in the electric cage

Electrified cage girls

The Wall of Mirrors in full flight

Finally, we had the Wall of Mirrors set up over towards the side of the entrance…. another good spot to chill.

HeyWire Logo with text below

We were contacted by HeyWire, a company from Boston that produces free world wide text messaging, to add lasers to an event they were hosting at SXSW (South by Southwest music convention) in Austin, TX. The plan was to rent out a building with a bar, throw a good party inside it (with lasers, of course!) and then project two lasers on the front of the building from an office across the street. One laser would project the HeyWire logos, and the other would be open for anyone to send text messages to – their messages would scroll across the building in laser light! People strolling down the street and lining up for other parties across the street could not help but notice the HeyWire presence.

The bar that they selected was “Friends”, in the heart of Austin’s 6th Street entertainment district, and a few doors down from the historic Driskill Hotel. DJ DNS, visiting SXSW from Amsterdam, was called upon the get the masses inside the club moving. Laser Spectacles installed two RGB laser projectors under MIDI control inside the club for this party.

HeyWire Text Logo

Laserist's View

Outdoors, the text messaging worked perfectly. Using Pangolin’s “Interactive Messaging Unlimited” SMS software, people who got the special phone number could send it a text, and their message would appear in laser. Over the four hours that the show ran, the sytem received 534 text messages!

SAAF Logo in laser

Green Laser Beams One

Laser Spectacles, Inc. had a blast at the San Antonio AIDS Foundation’s WEBB Party on April 8, 2011.  It was held at historic Sunset Station in downtown San Antonio; the theme was futuristic glam – “Supernova”; and we used lasers to bring the party into the future.  After all, it’s the 21st century, and we were promised that lasers would be all over the place, right?  At this party, the lasers were all over the place!

Color lasers looked good, too!

Lasers and the Tower

We had lasers out in the courtyard creating ever-changing beam sculptures overhead while people entered the party.  At 10 PM,  the laser really kicked off with a laser “Supernova” presentation scheduled once it got good and dark.  The specially choreographed presentation featured graphics on the tall “Alamo-like” wall of Sunset Station, and laser beams bouncing off mirrors and terminating on the  buildings around the area.

Through the door at Club Nova

Club Nova Shadow Boxes

In the club room – “Club Nova”, we had two RGB laser beam projectors working with DJ Jenntonic all night long.  And we had lumia projectors and Blisslights running inside the club room lounge to push the party over the edge.

The futuristic dance floor in the pavilion was awesome – it was very bright, and DMX controlled with seemingly unlimited patterns.

Lighted Dance Floor

Here are some pictures I took when we did quick tests of the lumia projector:

Lumia in the VIP Lounge

Blisslights on the Bar

We'll have it all....

Laser Spectacles was one of the first two companies to complete the accreditation process, and receive ILDA Pro designation.  At the 2010 ILDA Awards Presentation aboard the Carnival Destiny cruise ship, company president Tim Walsh accepted the trophy.

Laser Lunch Room

The plan was for us to come in at 6 AM and be set up for the first of four shows at 8:45 AM. In the meantime, the students would be outside to see their principal fly in on a helicopter to kick off Science Day! Click on an image to see it larger –

Crazy Lasers

Lasers and students

Bridge Point Mascot Symbol

We began each show with a short demonstration of reflection, and how you cannot see light until it reflects off of something. We then presented our short production of “How A Laser Show Works” in laser light, and then proceeded to bring the house down for the next 25 minutes with pop and patriotic hits.

Science Day at BPE

It's 2011!

Where are we?

This morning was a magnificent morning for lasers! We ended each show with a world premiere performance on pennywhistle by Tim Walsh, to the accompaniment of the sights and sounds of the lasers. Stay tuned…..

Theme for the show

Laser Spectacles, Inc. has performed many times for the Texas School for the Deaf over the years, especially at the Christmas holiday farewell party.  This show was for another of those, but with a twist – the theme for the party was “Dream Big!  We tried to inspire the staff and students as they left for the holiday break by incorporating the theme and ideas of the TSD staff and leadership.

This show was held in the TSD Auditorium, seating up to 1100.  We used the ceiling as a projection area for abstract lumia and grating effects, and the house screen on stage for the RGB graphics.  One RGB laser beam projector was placed in the center of the stage, with mirrors on each side.

The laser ceiling

Laser Farewell - end of show!

Abstract Combo

The show was exciting – we played back the soundtrack at a big volume so that the deaf could feel the pulse. We highlighted some significant events during the year – such as the school’s Zealous Studio reaching out and communicating with the astronauts on the space station!

Zealous Studio to space...

Laser says "Dream Big!"

Dream Big, Texas School for the Deaf!

Laser Spectacles was there with lasers blazing during the countdown and on into the first 30 minutes of 2011!  Hermes Music built a big stage with great sound and lights, and numerous bands played leading up until the countdown at midnight.

The ball getting into position

Beams down Beaumont St.

The Logo in Laser Light

We had two big green lasers on either side of the stage shooting all the way down Beaumont Street, and two big green lasers behind it to shoot out over the whole area.  A block down Beaumont Street from the stage was a fine white wall upon which we projected laser graphics.  The show lasted 30 minutes, and began with a rockin’ “Auld Lang Syne” as done by the Red Hot Chili Peppers with bagpipes!  The rest of the show used selected pop music from 2010 with upbeat, inspiring lyrics.

Laser Beams fill the air

in McAllen Texas

Abstract lasers danced