For this year's Unilever Christmas party, the theme was '20s Prohibition' so it wouldn't be appropriate to use LED screen as the main feature as last year. Instead CSP designed an ornate set, perfectly suited to the theme.

James was asked to design and operate the lighting with equipment provided by CSP, including Clay Paky Alpha Spot 300s, Alpha Beam 700s, Alpha Wash 575s, Martin Mac 550s, Mac 250s and SGM Palcos.

On top of all the intelligent lighting was 200m of tungsten festoon lighting to add a rich glowing canopy over the dining space.

The excellent catering was provided by Barretts and the marquee by Millennium Marquees.

Basic Monkey supplied a Jands Vista S3 console to control the lighting, running the new 'Byron' software. This was the ideal event to use the beta software for the first time as the evening is 'busked' as opposed to having lots of programmed cues, meaning we can get away with things more easily if there are any software glitches.

The new version performed very well and a detailed report was sent to Jands afterwards to aid in their further development of the software.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening and many comments were made about the standard of decoration and entertainment.

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Following concerns of inclement weather, we were asked to provide a marquee to fit within the confines of the care home car park. This was achieved using 'Chinese hat' pagodas which were lined in ivory and floored with wooden flooring covered in cord carpet.

James Tosland will be providing entertainment for the guests on a baby grand piano in a similar style to last years launch in Alderley Edge (minus the accompanying school band).

Hopefully the weather will stay sunny for them!

This weekend saw James back with Lightech, this time at a wedding reception in Lancashire.

James was there to help with the finishing effort and to operate the lighting in the disco area, which was hidden from view until a grand reveal.

Fireworks also provided by Lightech added an extra 'bang' to the night, followed by band and DJ music until the early hours.

Catering was provided by With a Twist with Nicola and Catherine on the front lines ensuring the excellent food was served with efficiency and style.

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Based on the success of the Catalyst and Barco iLite 12 combination at Paul Hogarth's birthday party, James was asked by CSP to reproduce the spaced screen effect for Unilever's Christmas party in a marquee at Chester Rugby Club. The event had a strong Hollywood/Oscars theme with lighting designed and implemented by James to enhance this.

Jeremy from Unilever asked that as the guests arrived, it would look as if he had spent no money on the event and as such all screens were off, intelligent lighting was off and the room left dark with only a hint of colour. After the guests had all arrived, an intro video was played on the iLite screens and projection surfaces mounted on the gable ends of the marquee (also fed by Catalyst). After this intro video, the full lighting effect was revealed and film trailers were played on the iLite pillars, a different one on each.

As the evening progressed and entertainment from the band began, stock content from Basic Monkey's large library was played on the iLite pillars along with lighting effects from the array of LED and moving fixtures to support the performance.

The night was real show piece, demonstrating the benefits of combined lighting and video design. Ideas brewing for next year already...

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