The low-lying fog generator we’re referring to is the Ice 101, by Antari. As an Antari dealer, we were able to easily pick up the unites we needed and can now confidently sell and rent them to our clients. To make things interesting, we’ll setup a shootout: low-lying fog using ice cubes vs. dry ice.

Our next test is to see what low lying fog is produced using dry ice. The Ice 101 is capable of utilizing regular ice cubes or dry ice. Either application is good with us, as we used to have to deal with CO2 tanks for low-lying fog. But no more.

Here’s a photo of low lying fog produced by just 1 Ice 101 unit, using ice cubes (no dry ice):

We’ll be showcasing the Antari Ice 101 at our upcoming Open House on May 10. And to make things interesting, we’ll setup a shootout: low-lying fog using ice cubes vs. dry ice.

If you’ll be in the Los Angeles area and want to see this effect with ice cubes and dry ice up close, RSVP to reserve a slot!

 1. What inspires you?

Ingenuity, and all things visual – magazines, movies, window displays, nature.

2. What is the BrownHot design style?

Manicured chic with a twist of funk.

3. Is there a particular niche BrownHot Events targets?

Social sophisticates and luxury corporate.

4. What do you enjoy most about your job?

The freedom to Create, the challenge to Wow.

5. What are your top three MUST HAVES to make a fantastic event?

• Energetic music beats
• Great lighting (brown-nosing!)
• Quality fare/drink

About Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown is the creator and founder of BrownHot Events, a boutique event design and production company based in Los Angeles. Brown has been “eventing” for more than two decades, with the past 12 years spent here in sunny southern California. Clients range from the luxury spirits portfolio Moet Hennessy USA to the clever cast and crew of South Park. Big, small, from Beverly Hills to Bora Bora, the BrownHot crew “has skills, will travel”. BrownHot Events provides creative packaging and gifting concierge to a thrilling cast of clients, too. He’s creative conspirator, farm boy turned big-city, and fanatic about all things “lifestyle”. That’s why you’ll see him out shopping and dining and soaking in SoCal’s culture when he’s not behind the scenes helping to create it. His party pet peeve – greedy guests who stampede the buffet. Relax, it’s a party!

www.brownhotevents.com

On Twitter @BrownHotEvents

Kinetic on Twitter

• Open House picts now online: http://t.co/8Wwc25dm
• @awpresents Thanks!
• @etv_design Glad to hear it!
• Thanks to all who attended, presented at, and supported our Open House yesterday. Was a huge success & lots of fun seeing so many of you!
• Using Moving Lights On Camera session has started!
• Putting the final touches on today’s Open House. Not too late to RSVP: http://t.co/8ObmD0ki

We’re currently selling stage lighting, theatrical supplies, gaffer’s supplies, and used lighting gear. Of course, we have plans to expand the offerings in the near future — More on that in a later post. For now, we’re steadily adding products each day within these equipment & supply categories (just added nearly 1,500 Apollo Design gobos yesterday).

In our opinion, this is the most beautiful, easy-to-use lighting store online. But don’t take our word for it — Check it out for yourself. As added incentive, for a limited time, you can use promo code [highlight21variation="mauve"]DEBUT[/highlight1]and get a discount on anything you buy.

We had an e-commerce site before, built as an add-on to our existing site, KineticLighting.Com. It was an experiment and certainly not the greatest source of equipment and supplies you’ve ever seen. But it was a great learning experience. We learned that it would be easier to manage a store if it were separate from our main site, which is how our web ecosystem is now architected.

1. What inspires you?

I am inspired mostly by films, architecture, fashion, and through my travels. 

2. Whats the best advice you’ve heard? What’s the worst?

Best would be from my grandmother which was to follow my dreams. Worst would be to never take big risks!

3. How would you characterize your firm’s design style?

We are very versatile. We do everything from ornate and over-the-top to contemporary, clean, and simple.

4. What are your top three MUST HAVES for a fantastic event?

Great food, great music, and of course, great lighting!

5. You travel a lot. Any favorites, traveling tips, or dining recommendations?

My favorite place in the world is Bora Bora followed closely by the Amalfi Coast. Nammos restaurant on Psarou Beach in Mykonos is my favorite restaurant to leisurely dine and people watch. I’ve really enjoyed many places in India as well.

About Chad Hudson:

Chad Hudson launched Chad Hudson Events following 12 years of event production and management, including seven years as an event producer and manager at Warner Bros. Pictures.

Chad Hudson Events is a full service event production, design, management and lifestyle services company. Encompassing all aspects of special events, CHE emphasizes the importance of developing fresh ideas and implementing a creative design process that adheres to strict aesthetic taste, while providing a friendly staff and superior management for its innovative events.

The CHE team handles all aspects of the event including budget, location, layout, design, rentals, lighting, sound, catering, invitations, rsvp tracking, seating, staffing, management, load-in, strike and all other necessary tasks. CHE client-centric approach focuses on all possible needs and goes beyond the role of most traditional event companies. The company boasts an up-to-date VIP contact list of over 10,000 celebrities, models, fashionistas, influencers and socialites in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Las Vegas. CHE has helped successfully launch and promote scores of films, restaurants, boutique stores, fashion lines, night clubs and hotels over the years through special events, promotions, weekly parties or tastemaker events.

Chad Hudson Events also has the ability to secure potential sponsors and manage the relationships and needs throughout the entire event process. In addition, CHE successfully leverages long-term vendor relationships to help off-set costs for its clients working with limited budgets. CHE helps to solicit money-saving partnerships to ensure that sponsors and vendors are part of the process of delivering events within or under budget.

Chad Hudson Events has 15 years of successful event and promotions work which includes the production and management of over 400 events: film premieres, Academy Award and Golden Globes events, product launches, private parties, conventions, fundraisers and fashion shows among others in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Chicago and New Orleans. Chad Hudson Events has produced large and small house parties, private functions and birthdays for its clients; premieres including all films in the Twilight series, many in the Harry Potter series, Valentine’s Day premiere; Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13, the Matrix trilogy, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Superman Returns, 300, I Am Legend, Polar Express, and the biggest film opening of all time, The Dark Knight, Oscar-winning pictures such as The Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby, Happy Feet, and The Departed; The Warner Bros. Academy Award party at the Hotel Bel Air for six years; Guess North American Conference and the WB/InStyle Golden Globes party for five years.

The CHE Team has also produced many philanthropic and charitable events pro bono for multiple nonprofit charities raising thousands of dollars for worthwhile causes.

www.chadhudsonevents.com

On Twitter @ChadHudsonEvent

Kinetic on Twitter

• Open House picts now online: http://t.co/8Wwc25dm
• @awpresents Thanks!
• @etv_design Glad to hear it!
• Thanks to all who attended, presented at, and supported our Open House yesterday. Was a huge success & lots of fun seeing so many of you!
• Using Moving Lights On Camera session has started!
• Putting the final touches on today’s Open House. Not too late to RSVP: http://t.co/8ObmD0ki

Andrea works in our accounting department and is expecting a boy in late April. All of us here at Kinetic are super excited and happy for her and her husband.

We presented Andrea with gifts, had lots of food and dessert, balloons. Erick, our senior technician, played a mixtape by yours truly. And to make things even more fun and festive, the only we know how, we set up lighting. Mac 301s and Source Four Ellipsoidals, to be exact. We decided to keep the Source Fours up (they’re projecting really nice patterns on the shop wall.)

There doesn’t appear to be any other baby-shower-needs here at the office anytime soon. But should that change, we’re at the ready (with practice under our belt).

People ask me  questions all day long about gobos, from, “what is a gobo?” to “what are the differences between glass and steel gobos?”. Having worked in the theatrical lighting business for over 20 years, these seemed like simple questions to answer when I first took on the task of being a sales/rental rep at Kinetic Lighting.  But answering these questions was surprisingly difficult. In the lighting world, you just know what a gobo is and what it does, much like how a golfer knows a pitching wedge from a driver.

Years ago, one of my first new customers called and asked, “what does a gobo do?”. I wasn’t far into my answer before  feeling like he had asked me to explain the function of a proton in the nucleus of an atom.

Customer: What is a gobo?

Me:  Well, a gobo is a, uhh…a gobo.  It’s, it’s….it’s…well, you use it to light things on a wall or set…I mean, lighting designers, you know, for theater, they use it to…it’s a thing you plop into a light to make a thing happen on the wall and you can see it, I mean…everyone can see it.  That is, everyone who is looking at it can see…it. In any event, that’s what a gobo is.

I would have preferred the proton question.

Monogram projection at wedding

As the years have gone by, I’ve become better able to handle these questions.  To make things a little easier for the newcomer, I’ve put together some information about gobos and feel this is as good a forum as any to share it.

What is a Gobo?

A gobo is a flat piece of glass or metal with a design in it.  When a light source sits behind the gobo, the design is projected onto a surface (usually a wall, building, set piece, or floor). Custom gobos are used to project  images in light. This maybe done for branding and promotional purposes, to convey a theme or message, to generate a particular ambiance, or simply for fun (e.g. monogram projected onto a dancefloor at a wedding). Whatever the purpose,  lighting is an eloquent (and effective) means of projecting imagery.

Light Source

Your projection will also require a light fixture. The fixture is offered separately from the gobo and may be rented or sold. You can choose from a variety of light fixtures. I often help people figure out which light fixture (or light projector) to buy or rent. Here are details you can provide me with in order to make a recommendation:

• The purpose of the event or permanent install
• The distance between the light fixture and the surface you are projecting
• The image size you want on the surface
• The importance of energy efficiency

It is rare for a glass gobo to burn through the way steel can. However, fragility is an issue.

Types of Gobos

A gobo is typically made of steel or glass. There are big differences between the two, not the least of which is cost.

Steel gobos have artwork cut into them. Light passes through the cuts, or openings, resulting in the projected image. The cut-out process requires tabs or bridging of the steel (like stenciling) to keep curves and O’s in tact. So your logo may appear slightly different in the projection than in the artwork. And since this process entails metal cut-outs, color is not included in steel gobos (the fixture used to project light through the gobo may be fitted with a filter for a specific color). These can normally be used multiple times but will eventually burn through. Steel gobos are commonly used for short-term applications.

Glass gobos feature artwork embedded directly onto glass. This results in higher-resolution imagery than the steel version, and may also include color. Glass gobos will typically last longer than steel. It is rare for a glass gobo to burn through the way steel can. However, fragility is an issue: Drop a glass gobo, and it can crack or break; Steel won’t.

Black-And-White glass gobos are popular with users who donʼt want to pay the additional charges for color. Black-and-White Glass may include grayscale images, and, due to the higher resolution, the integrity of artwork remains intact (sans color).

One Color glass gobos are rare, but they do exist.  It is perfect for artwork that has just one color and white (e.g. red & white Coca Cola logo).

Two Color glass enables color to pop. This is also an ideal choice if your artwork has any two colors other than white (black is considered a color).

Full Color is when the logo has more than one color in their artwork and the the color-integrity of the artwork is highly important. Full Color gobos are also the choice if you wish to project a gradient.

Artwork & Content

Gobos can be made from nearly any common graphics file format: eps, pdf, jpg, psd, png, tif, ai.  Caution: don’t submit a .doc fle for gobo manufacturing because the artwork can get altered.

Artwork Tips

• Bright, vibrant colors (for glass) project best.
• Keep text and lines away from edges.
• Text should be big and bold.
• Avoid lengthy text.

If you don’t have artwork or a graphic designer, there are sites that I can send you to where you can pick out fonts and designs, just let me know.

Pricing

Pricing varies between the different types of gobos.  The first gobo you purchase is called an original and you can purchase a duplicate (same artwork, size and gobo type) at a reduced rate. Artwork is kept on file so if you find yourself in need of a copy a couple of years down the road you can still get the duplicate price.

Rush charges can apply if you need a quick turnaround.  I can get you the specific details, just ask.

Do you have questions about gobos?  You can contact me for additional information.

I first saw it at Event Live Expo in Los Angeles in 2011. Realizing the 880 would fill a void we had in moving light rental stock, I made my case to James and Daniel (who didn’t get a chance to see it). They bought in. And we bought — or so we thought — VL880s. Turns out, the fixture wouldn’t be ready to ship a year later. Fast forward a year…

This shipment arrived at our Glendale facility the first week of January 2012. The lights arrived in cardboard boxes which were printed to look like flight cases. Cute. We powered them up and only 1 unit didn’t strike. After Erick, our senior tech, fiddled with it, all units were fired up.

The first thing we noticed was how bright the Philips Platinum 35 lamp is. Coupled with Vari-lite optics, the VL880 is damn bright (Vari-lite measures output at 19,000 lumens, per their spec sheets). Flat field performance is great. And the gobo selection is better than most. With 2 gobo wheels, you’re able to achieve some really nice texture and motion effects. The other plus with the stock gobos is how well they work for beam effects, too: Tunnel, check. Flat plane, check. Leafy breakup, check.  Circles in triangular formation, check.

The fixture’s color-mixing system consists of Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta wheels for seamless blending options, augmented with a dicroic, indexable wheel. This type of setup has been standard fare for years, allowing designer to have seamless mixing and the ability to pop to hard-to-mix colors on the fixed wheel, but Vari-lite has been widely praised for it’s color mixing, a feature the VL880 inherits.

Vari-lite did a great job with the form factor, too. The VL880 housing is sleek and compact (for an 800w-source fixture). Let’s face it, there are some great moving lights out there packaged in some ugly housings. And while this may not be the most important factor in a moving light, we are in a business that’s all about pretty visuals (and as Steve Jobs proved, the beauty of every detail, not matter how small, matters). The 880 weighs in at 56lbs. (without clamps), a manageable figure for a fixture that can hold its own against the big guns.

It’s also worth mentioning the VL880 features auto-voltage switching. This is huge for a lighting rental company. This means we can send the fixture out with L620 connectors and if a user wants to run the units at 120v, they simply connect adapters and go. No fuses to fuss with!

We just used the light on a gig for the first time the response was great. Our crew especially liked the unit. We look forward to getting them out on many more.

We’ve got a few lighting picts up — shots of lighting equipment — and will be working to quickly expand the photo albums. Once we’ve got a few more equipment picts up, we’ll focus on event lighting images. We’ve got tons of them, so I expect a lengthy process there.

The setup was fairly painless but overall, Google+ does not have the most intuitive interface. And it lacks some basic features like the ability to change the cover of a photo album. To be fair, it’s relatively new.

If you’re into lighting, stop by our page. And do check back — We’ll be updating content regularly.

The party was in the front building, which proved to be a perfect space. Room for lighting, food, people, and a big white elephant gift exchange. Rachel handled the lighting which turned out beautifully (check out the picts!). A few sticks of truss around the room elevated our new Legend 412 moving lights and COLORado LED pars and were uplighted with Elation LED blacklights (purple light emitted from the blacklights reflected off the silver truss to reveal our company colors — Nice touch, right?). Our new Batten 72 LED striplights were placed around the room ro uplight the walls and a strategically placed COLORado gave our photo area some needed front light. Said photo area was in front of Daniel’s office where a Christmas tree was joined with a big inflatable snow man.

A few parties back, we started a Honeybaked Ham tradition, so Andrea made arrangements to have them cater this year, too. Ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, and gravy. Nobody left hungry. And by by the end of the following day, there was no food left.

I handled the music, a throwback to my old-school DJ days (I actually considered bringing in the turntables and rocking Sorato…maybe next year?). The homemade playlist was supposedly synced to my iPhone, but upon firing it up at the office, it clearly didn’t sync completely. No biggie…rebuilt the playlist on the office machine. Thanks again, Steve.

James and I grouped a bunch of photos together for a slideshow presentation. Usually we’re sharing event lighting photos, but for this, it was all about showing the Kinetic family. I though I had some classic, but he really had a good archive of embarrassing shots. Everyone got a kick out of the slideshow. We looped it throughout the night.

Darts and beer pong were big hits, but the highlight of the night was the $20 white elephant gift exchange. It was the biggest we had in years, and the most fun. Jennifer helped keep it moving. Gifts were given, received, stolen, re-stolen, and re-re-stolen. Judging by the smiles on everyones’ faces, all were happy with their choices.

What a great time. The bar has been set high for next year’s party.