Light and sound technology on cruise liners

At Rimini Fiera's biennial SIB, promoted by APIAS and sponsored by SILB from March 13th to 16th 2004, the frontiers of event technology will be further extended. SIB will now address productions staged on cruise liners (even medium-sized ones) and ferries, which in many cases are a serious competition to 'on-shore' shows. "Lighting and audio technology has developed at a faster rate in the last ten years than ever before and trade expo events, particularly SIB, are a decisive opportunity for upgrading our systems with the latest products." confirms Paolo Campanelli, Chief Technical Coordinator for the Entertainment Department of Costa Cruises, the Mediterranean's top fleet and one of the world's leaders. "There's a trend on liners to stage shows with an increasingly high profile from an artistic and technical point of view. We're now able to use typically theatrical solutions, such as making a door 'appear' on stage using a profile spot, without having to worry about vibrations caused by the boat's movement, as well as special effects such as fire, rain and clouds with animated projections on a backdrop, or using photoluminescent sets and costumes. Lasers also offer astonishing animated effects and audio systems are increasingly sophisticated and extremely flexible, with wide use of line arrays and surround sound. We can also automate all the shows' components - audio, lighting and special effects, including pyrotechnics. With just a month's work, it's now possible to program even the smallest details of a show and at the same time use the system in manual mode or modify it at just a few hours' notice in the event of unexpected live guest appearances or shows brought on-board at our liners' ports of call".