TLS Productions Uses Elation Lighting on Award-Winning Toyota Booth at CES

	Toyota booth at CES

In January, Toyota unveiled its futuristic Concept-i vehicle at the CES consumer electronics show at an award-winning booth lit using Elation Professional Platinum FLX hybrid moving heads and Colour Chorus series LED battens. Lighting and rigging was provided by TLS Productions, Inc. who also created the lighting design for the booth.

Held January 5 - 8 in Las Vegas, CES is the place to see what's next in tech and has always attracted the latest in automobile technology. Toyota used the occasion to show its Concept-i car, an intelligent car of the future with built-in artificial intelligence called "Yui." The futuristically designed car with an aerodynamic shape is designed to "learn from and grow with the driver" with Yui embedded into the vehicle's architecture.

TLS Productions has provided for the automotive industry for nearly six decades and has been the preferred vendor at CES for numerous years. The Toyota booth at this year's show featured two parts, explains Robert Glowacki, lighting designer and production manager at TLS Productions. There was the actual booth, which included a header, exhibit properties, and exhibit graphics, and a stage presentation area that focused on the Yui concept.

"The client has utilized this header concept for the last few years," Glowacki said. "Only last year did we change to using LED strips when it shifted from a white header to the new black with graphics that had an organic feel in nature. The main purpose of the 6' long Elation Colour Chorus 72 and 4' Colour Chorus 48 fixtures was to illuminate the interior of the header. The graphic on the inside this year had a sort of node look to it -- imagine the idea and images when information is passing in your brain. I used the Elation LED strips to give movement to the header and subtly move the graphic in various directions."

The Colour Chorus luminaires -- Elation's popular LED batten wash lights that house 3W RGBA LEDs -- were located on the lighting grid about 6' from the header. "This gave them a consistent feel and adding the cyc filter helped for a smooth and even field across the entire graphic," Glowacki says, adding that the Colour Chorus fixtures were paired with LED moving head wash lights in the corners to make transitions seamless. "They color matched together and if you didn't know, you couldn't tell where one ended and one began. The cooler feel of them, mixed with the cyc filter, provided the perfect mixture of intensity and features."

Popular among rental companies and lighting designers in the US and Europe, the hybrid Platinum FLX has proven a big plus in trade show applications where production companies have relied on its unique beam/spot/wash capabilities to cut down on fixture counts and reduce weight and power needs. The hybrid fixtures' main purpose on the Toyota booth at CES, according to Glowacki, was to bring the whole exhibit together.

"Having the ability to be a beam, spot, and wash allowed me the opportunity to find the exact look I was looking for," he said of the award-winning multi-functional luminaire that houses a 470W Platinum 20R lamp and emits up to 20,000 lumens. "I finally decided on a color fade/iris chase/movement trio effect. After seeing the full exhibit together, and the role of the stage performance, I was able to offer the client a very simple and clean environment. This chase was able to draw you into the booth and the turnout was amazing." Located skittled in the main lighting grid, Glowacki says that using the FLX was about having versatility in a small lightweight package. "While designing, I was able to play around with all the features and because of those was able to give the client a great product."

Product support on the Toyota CES booth project was provided by Elation manufacturer rep firm Five Lakes Marketing, who Glowacki is familiar and happy to work with. "Ed Cheeseman at Five Lakes Marketing is flat out amazing," he comments. "In the five years I've known him, he has always brought us new items from Elation to test drive and anytime I need to put a fixture through its paces, he's there. I'm truly happy with the relationship we have." Glowacki also thanks programmer Justin Lang, "who was able to make my design really come to life."

Other members of the team included: production rigger, Tim Kruse; audio engineer, Rob Treloar; local lighting lead, Dan LaPorte; and local rigging lead, Frank Costa.

For more information about TLS Productions, Inc., visit tlsproductionsinc.com or contact them via e-mail at info@tlsproductionsinc.com or by calling 855-515-TLSP (8577).