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Los Angeles, July 29,
2008
Fans of the family comedy "Night at the Museum" are eagerly
anticipating next spring's release of the sequel, "Night at the Museum:
Battle of the Smithsonian," which is now in production with a grandMA
and grandMA Light on hand. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor
of the grandMA in North America.
"For the past five years the grandMA has been our primary console,"
reports rigging gaffer Keith Woods citing movie credits for "The
Chronicles of Riddick," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "A Tale of Two
Sisters" and "The Santa Claus II." "We've used all models from the
grandMA to the grandMA Light and even the Ultra Light."
Tasked with making movie lighting systems work for DOP John Schwartzman
and Gaffer Drew Davidson, Woods is currently working on a set for
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" which replicates the
Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Ben Stiller reprises his role as
Larry the security guard in the sequel to the hit film which finds the
Museum of Natural History closed for renovations and its exhibits in
storage at the Smithsonian in Washington.
"grandMA is used to control the movie's conventional and moving lights
and do some cueing," Woods explains. "Our rental house, Christie Lites,
uses the grandMA, and once again we were in the position to need its
fixture capabilities and touchscreens."
Woods has tapped the grandMA "pretty exclusively" since "The Chronicles
of Riddick" to control large conventional dimming systems. For that
film, one of his Best Boy/Console Operator/Programmers designed a
fixture patch for spacelights and KinoFlo Image 80s that enabled the
grandMA to control them via the touchscreen.
"We have six circuits of dimming for the spacelights and eight circuits
of data for KinoFlo Image 80s, which we can operate from the
touchscreen rather than keying in by hand," he notes. "Thanks to the
touchscreen and fixture-patch capabilities we can do everything much
faster. We can make changes quickly and don't need channel numbers."
As the grandMA continues to compile feature-film credits it's clear
that Woods is a fan of the system. "We like it. It's been pretty
consistent," he says. "We first used the grandMA for additional
universes, then we saw how easy to use it could be. So grandMAs are
back in the movies again."
"I continue to be amazed at where grandMAs are being used. Movie
lighting has really come a long way in regards to lighting control, and
we are so proud to be involved. Of course, I will look at the movie in
a very different way, and I cannot wait to see it," comments A.C.T
Lighting president and CEO Bob Gordon.
On "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" Todd Martin was the
grandMA console operator with Jason McKinnon, Phil Klapwyk and Sean
Oxenbury the programmers. MA Lighting is
exclusively distributed by A.C.T Lighting.
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T
Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge
products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company
provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its
clients.
For more information call 818-707-0884.
Copyright © ACT Lighting 2009. All rights reserved.
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