The hot topic circulating on several electrician’s industry forums is of an outdoor event's temporary power setup, a collaboration between Professional Electrical Contractors of Connecticut and High Output’s special events production department.

High Output was contacted by Bob Badger, of Professional Electrical Contractors of Connecticut, looking for a solution for creating a temporary power setup to be used at an outdoor tented event. His first challenge was the need to provide 125 to 150 standard household power outlets to literally hundreds of food vendors who would be demonstrating their products beneath 3 large tents. He knew the event would also require generators.

The second challenge was that the generators would have to be located very close to the tents and hence would need to be extremely quiet. Being well equipped for situations such as this, we were able to quickly provide answers to both of these problems. Using our event electrical distribution systems (L14 and L21) and our twin 125kw film quiet generators proved to be the perfect solution for this project.

Coupling this with our talented and knowledgeable staff, we have been fortunate to provide this system for past two years. Professional Electrical Contractors of Connecticut has invited us to work with them on this project again next year.

The thread containing this story, complete with a wide range of photos, can be found on at least two industry forum sites: Tim Holt's Forum at http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=144944 and Electrician Talk at http://www.electriciantalk.com/f2/weeks-project-37627/index3/

      Nearly everyone in New England is aware that Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Mark Wahlberg frequently work on feature films in the Boston area. The most recent hit in this encouraging trend is Ted, a comedy written and directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis (of Black Swan fame), and has a stellar supporting cast including Joel McHale (The Soup, Community), Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, Family Guy), and Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar). High Output is thrilled to be supplying Ted with its lighting, rigging support, dollies, HVAC, and a host of other production needs.

      Also currently shooting is the Kevin James feature Here Comes The Boom. Directed by Frank Coraci, the film recently shot scenes at Boston’s Faneuil Hall as well as the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. High Output is proud to support Here Comes The Boom by supplementing its lighting, grip, and expendables packages. The film, which also stars Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler, has an anticipated release slated for July 2012.

      Moonrise Kingdom, the latest project from Wes Anderson (the man responsible for such greats as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Fantastic Mr. Fox), is also in the area. The feature, which stars Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Francis McDormand, is shooting primarily in Rhode Island. High Output is excited to be supplying Moonrise Kingdom with its dollies as well as support in the grip and special effects departments.

      As we anxiously await Sandler’s next offering for the area, I Hate You Dad (slated to start shooting this summer), High Output is proud to be an integral part of the up-and-coming feature film market in Boston.

      High Output is proud to announce the exciting new look of the Charles River Studios production offices! Over the past few months, we have been diligently revamping our space to better suit your needs.

      Along with a fresh new color scheme, every office has been entirely outfitted with brand new furniture and includes an extensive décor face-lift. Our green rooms provide a pleasant environment for talent while our production offices cater entirely to the needs of your production staff. We are ecstatic about these new changes and hope the transformation will satisfy each and every one of our clients.

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      In November of 2002 High Output made a major change of venue. After 12 years at the Everett Street location, High Output was quickly growing and made the move to double it's warehouse size. The new 93,000 sq ft warehouse that was to be the new home of High Output's flagship location needed major renovation and remodel.

***Studio A Construction***

      The great empty space that was formerly occupied by manufacturing styled companies needed hundreds of feet of shelving, the studio complex built out, offices erected and all of our equipment moved from Allston. Six months of renovation and a month of trucking our gear from Allston a we were moved. All the while still servicing the region with top of the line equipment and service!!

      This month we will be celebrating 25 years of success. From Jim Hirsch's basement, to a small location in Watertown, to Western Ave, to Everett Street and now Canton, High Output continues to grow today; recently adding services and departments to meet the ever-expanding needs of our industry and clients. Along with this celebration, we will be featuring a first look at our freshly updated Studio complex, complete with new furnishings and decor. We are sure the studio facilities will continue to grow and change in the next year but the major parts of our fix up will be ready for all to tour in just over 2 weeks (eek!)

***Charles River Studios Complex***

      Our Planning Committee and Production Department has been tasked with throwing the biggest party we've had since moving to Canton. With a list of top notch sponsors and contributors, a solid design, an our own technical production support you are sure to see some things expected and some new design elements we are proud to present.

***Studio A Event Floor Plan***

      We are excited to see everyone on the 21st, we have a lot going on that we want to share with everyone we know. Head to our event website at www.highoutput.com/party for details about our coach buses from Boston and details about our sponsors and update info about this milestone event!

      Last week High Output had the great opportunity to participate in WGBH's "Day of Discovery" HMI & LED, looking at what is new in television lighting today.

      We were proud to have our GrandMA 2 Light, an array of lighting fixtures including our newest 12kw/18kw HMI Daylite Mole Fresnels, 5kw Mole PARs, 200w HMI Pocket lites, and the... new Vari*lite VLX LED moving head fixture courtesy of Vari*lite a division of Phillips Entertainment.

Just found a great event report on Biz Bash Boston about the Presidents at Pops event.

      High Output has proudly been supporting Symphony Hall and all of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops shows for just over 10 years!! Check out the article and photos!

      What a great event at State Room last week! Working with Carrie Scott, one of the talented Event Specialists at State room, and Amy Dipeitro of Boston Business Journal, to create a wonderful evening of celebration.

Check out the event report from Biz Bash Boston!

      This year Boston Ballet opens their season with the one time performance Night of the Stars. After 8 consecutive seasons supporting the ballet High Output is proud to see this season off this past week. Rolling out with our new inventory of Vari*lite 3500Q the Boston Ballet’s season consists of 6 shows including an annual traditional family favorite performance of The Nutcracker.

      The lighting team spends their prep time here in our studios combing over every piece of equipment, testing consoles, and prepping for a season in theatre.

      To herald its opening, the newest addition to the Boston skyline, the W Hotel by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. , is dressed up with temporary LED lighting to draw attention to the impressive architecture.

      The corner rooms on each of the 30 glass encased floors are lit nightly for one month creating a column of purple light stretching from the ground floor to the penthouse in the heart of the vibrant Boston Theater District.

      Lana Nathe, owner of Light Insight Design Studio, a Boston, Massachusetts-based lighting design firm, collaborated with High Output to design and install the temporary LED fixtures. The challenge: provide a self contained, low maintenance, high intensity fixture that generated little heat, which would turn on at dusk and off at 11pm each night.

      High Output chose an all-Chauvet installation using the COLORdash™ Quad fixtures. The lighting not only saves the expense of costly and time consuming lamp replacement but the fixtures are environmentally friendly. Maintenance was a major concern, these fixtures were installed in active construction areas and had to endure in an less than ideal environment and had to function on cue each and every night.

      The COLORdash™ Quad wash light offers 3, 4, 10 or 12-channel operating modes, rich, saturated colors induced by RGB color mixing from 36 high powered LEDs. This stackable wash fixture is also utilizes a custom programmable recall setting and custom programs that can be transferred between fixtures. The 25° x 6° lens produces a wide linear beam for bright, seamless wall washes.

      “LED was the obvious choice and the COLORdash™ Quad was a self contained unit that required no additional hardware. It was a simple one man installation just place; put a timer in line and go that allowed High Output, Inc. to keep the cost to client reasonable. The beam spread was such that if the unit was knocked off its mark we still got good coverage” stated, Jess Klarnet, Director of Production for High Output.

      The field of “Architainment” lighting, a hybrid of architectural and entertainment lighting is quickly becoming a vibrant field. This means that we need to look at traditional theatrical equipment in a new light. The LED brings a new tool to both the Lighting Designer and Production Professional.

      For more information regarding this project, questions regarding the Chauvet COLORDash fixtures and/or lighting services for your "Architainment" styled event contact an Account Executive at High Output at 781-364 1892.

      Marking its 14th successful year of free Shakespeare on the Common, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, in partnership with the City of Boston and Mayor Menino, opened the 2009 season with a toe-tapping production of “The Comedy of Errors” – directed by Steve Maler.

      This rendition of "The Comedy of Errors”, set in 1930’s South Beach Miami, was presented complete with sand, a lifeguard, surfers and a comic cast of characters in nightly open-air performances on the Boston Common adjacent to the Parkman Bandstand.

      At times both the cast and crew were subjected to working in heat wave conditions. At other times the cast was running for cover while the crew was forced to face fierce thunder and lightning in a torrential downpour.

      "When we started several people asked what our rain plan would be. We had no choice. Our rain plan was bring your booties 'cause everyone is going to get wet", commented Production Manager Mark Lorenzo, "During part of load in we got bucketed on. That whole day even our socks were soaking wet"!

      Some months prior to the opening of the show High Output began a collaboration with Production Manager Mark Lorenzo, Lighting Designer Scott Pinkney, Master Electrician Mercedes Roman-Manson, Audio Designer and Composer David Wilson, and Director Steve Maler to develop an extensive equipment and systems support package for this year's performances.       In this season's equipment support package High Output included: power generation and distribution using one of our dual 1200 amp "Film Silent" twin pack generators, a lighting equipment package utilizing a combination of Vari-lite intelligent fixtures and ETC conventional fixtures, a full sound reinforcement package plus the 40ft. by 30ft. self climbing truss grid needed to hang the speakers and lighting fixtures.

      Throughout CSC's "The Comedy of Errors" production prep, build, run and teardown High Output provided on call support addressing any and all last minute changes and general production maintenance routines.