6th Sep 2004 - Zero 88 dominate at the Edinburgh Festival.

Julie Harper reports on the extensive use of Zero 88 product at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival.

It must be coincidental that Edinburgh's Pleasance - one of the Edinburgh Fringe's largest venues, boasted 512 ways of Zero 88 dimming across its 17 theatre spaces. Over 30 Beta packs made up at least 90% of the venues control systems. The Betapacks proved themselves equal to the challenge, as did the 8 Illusions, 2 Fat Frogs and a Bullfrog used at the venue.

'It is an important environment in which to soak test equipment as it is used intensively for 12 hours a day for the duration of the festival', stated Craig Colin who acts as blacklight's representative at the Pleasance throughout the Festival. .

So what made Matt Britton and Tom Wright, Chief LX and Head Technician at the Pleasance, choose Zero 88 Frog and Illusion desks?

'I wanted to try something different', said Britton, 'but with the varied range of experience amongst the technical crews and the heavy emphasis on education at the festival, it had to be something that was easy for a beginner to understand'.

Britton was concerned about the Illusion as an entry-level desk at first and needed to convince himself it would fit the criteria for both the technicians and the venue. Would it be easy enough for a beginner to operate moving lights within a small-scale theatre environment? His test was to give an Illusion, a wash light and a spot to a friend with limited lighting experience and challenge him to master the basics within half an hour. This was successfully achieved and Britton decided to take the product on board.

Initially there were a few moments of confusion with some technicians over features such as the tracking but this was easily overcome with a small amount of training. "The confusion was largely due to operators trying to unlearn habits from previous desks and once the basics were mastered the desk's potential became evident and proved very popular. It is a very powerful desk for the
price', continued Britton 'and fulfils the brief for the venue very well'.

This is good news for Zero 88 as the venue now includes the 700 seater Grand Theatre and Beyond - both new venues for this year. The Illusions and Betapacks specified for this year have set the standard and will continue to be used in the venue in future years.

The product was backed by a high level of service offered by Zero 88 in the form of Grant Bales-Smith who was on hand to advise during the fit up period. Feedback offered by Britton and Wright during the fit up was used by the Zero 88 R&D department to adapt software to accommodate the specific needs of the unusual festival venues.

'We were very impressed with the rapidity of response from Zero 88's R&D department and the level of service and technical back up offered by Zero 88', said Wright, 'Grant was excellent and the technicians were able to benefit from first hand training direct from the manufacturers'

The Frogs in the meantime were showing their versatility in a variety of venues - including caberet at the Caberet Bar in the Courtyard, live work for the BBC stand up show, and theatre for the daytime City show.

Zero 88's continues to provide high quality product and service, showing an adaptability which illustrates their deep understanding of the market and the need to respond rapidly to the requirements of its customers. Whilst moving away from its reputation as a manufacturer for schools into the professional market, it has still retained its ability to listen to its customers and dedicate a large part of its efforts to the education of future lighting technicians, thoroughly fitting in with the spirit of the festival.


Photo: Matt Britton - Chief Electrician & Tom Wright - Head Technician with a Zero 88 Illusion, Grand Theatre, Pleasance.