Over the years we have had the pleasure of doing business with a wide variety of lighting vendors. During the latter part of 2009 the Chauvet LED COLORdash was the key ingredient in our project with Light Insight Design for the install of beautiful purple LED lighting at the W Hotel Boston. Today we are very proud of our friends at Chauvet for their endeavor to raise money to help those less fortunate living in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Albert and Berenice, thank you for your very kind hearted gesture!

From: Everyone at High Output, Inc.

Chauvet® has teamed up with the charity organization Food for the Poor to raise funds for the construction of homes in Haiti.

In the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that left more than 1.2 million homeless in Haiti, CHAUVET® has extended an invitation for you to join them and Food for the Poor in an effort to raise funds for the construction of homes in the devastated Caribbean nation. At this very moment many hundreds of thousands of Haitians are living in tents or broken down shacks made of little more than cardboard, plastic or whatever miscellaneous materials they could scavenge from the garbage.

Chauvet’s immediate goal is to finance the construction of 20 homes for displaced families. The average cost of each home suitable for a family of four is only $2,600.00. Company co-founders, Albert and Berenice Chauvet are Haitian born American citizens. The brothers kicked off this campaign at the beginning of April with a $10,000 donation and a personal commitment to fund four homes. As a manufacturing entity, Chauvet has also pledged to match the first $10,000 in contributions from donors like you.

Before & After Housing Projects

"This is a human tragedy that we can all relate to,” says Albert Chauvet. “The good news is that, with very little money, you can have a huge, concrete impact in someone else’s life.”

Food for the Poor has a strong tradition of involvement in Haiti, where it builds housing units at an average cost of $2,600. In addition to providing emergency relief and housing, the organization aims to break the cycle of poverty by offering solutions for self-sustained living with vocational training, agricultural programs and the establishment of fishing villages equipped with boats, motors, sheds and freezers.

Chauvet plans to solicit donations primarily through a dedicated Web page www.foodforthepoor.org/chauvet, digital communications, and its network of media organizations, suppliers, designers, dealers and distributors in the entertainment and architectural lighting industry.

Our young filmmakers of today are the highly respected independents and industry award winners of tomorrow. Across Massachusetts our towns and cities have produced some of film’s most prolific actors, directors, producers and filmmakers having garnered prestigious awards, critical acclaim and countless accolades worldwide. Perhaps one of these fine filmmakers we speak of in this article will live out that same dream as we watch from our seats in some dark crowded theater.

1st Place: "Sam the Super Sticky"
directed by George C. Thorman

2nd Place Winner: "A Crecer Como Una Persona"
directed by Bryan DeLeon

3rd Place Winner: "Mr. President"
directed by Rene Dongo

3rd Place Winner: "What’s Keeping Portland Weird"
directed by Cori B. Mintzer, Josh McHale and Christina Diamon

18 & Under Winner "Aquafinito"
directed by Annalise Littman

Again, congratulations to the BCA Young Filmmakers Competition winners and thanks for entertaining and enlightening us. We look forward to seeing your future works and wish you all the best of luck in the world! Bravo!!

High Output, Inc. president and co-founder John Cini was honored along with four industry peers at the fourth annual Imagine magazine’s Industry New Year’s Celebration and “Imaginnaire” Award Gala on Tuesday January 12, 2010 held in the Grand Ballroom at the Liberty Hotel located in the heart of Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.

The “Imaginnaire” awards are given to those members of the New England film & video production industry who show creative vision, leadership and a commitment to excellence. An “Imaginnaire” is recognized for providing distinguished service in the advancement of the business of film, television and new media production in the Northeast. Recipients of the award are known for sharing their creative thoughts and ideas while exhibiting best industry practices. They are generous of themselves and their resources in the service of the industry.

Though it was bitter cold outside the storied building once known as the Charles Street Jail those inside the grand ballroom shared a warmth in one another’s company, while sipping wine and enjoying hors d’oeuvres, as the “Imaginnaire” awards were one-by-one bestowed upon the honored guests in sometimes humorous, but always heart-felt presentations performed by an industry peer.

“Imaginnaire” honoree John Cini was treated to a walk down memory lane through the words of Imagine magazine’s founding editor Carol Patton. Carol began her speech by recounting the early days of their business relationship in Boston and the eventuality of their now genuine mutual friendship.

Among the honorees at the “Imaginnaire” Award Gala were other industry notables:

• Dorothy Aufiero, Red Hawk Entertainment, Producer of THE FIGHTER.
• Brian Heller, Award Winning Cinematographer & Director of Photography.
• Nick Paleologos, Executive Director, Massachusetts Film Office.
• Dona Sommers, Executive Director SAG/AFTRA, New England.

Nick Paleologos could not attend the “Imaginnaire” Award Gala ceremony due to a broken ankle suffered in a nasty fall on the ice outside his home. Carol Patton took on the responsibility of giving Nick’s acceptance speech by reading aloud from the printed comments he had provided. At one point she hesitated, blushing a bit by finding herself forced to recite a compliment found inside Nick’s sentiments written on the paper in front of her – a rather touching moment that also proved to be somewhat entertaining.

The last award presentation of the evening, for Dona Sommers, was given in a somewhat whimsically entertaining manner by Ernest Thompson, the Academy Award winning writer of the American treasure – “On Golden Pond”. Mr. Thompson is also a 2008 recipient of an “Imaginnaire”.

Throughout the years each recipient of this award has made a significant contribution to the film, video and television industry in New England. For those of us being entertained by any one of those medium we are very fortunate to have them working behind the scenes and living in our communities. They are an inspiration to us all! Congratulations “Imaginnaires”! Bravo!!

March 10, 2009 - High Output Senior Project Manager Brendan Murray and Lighting Technician Andrew Boucher were spotted by Boston Herald reporters outside the back entrance of the Somerville Theater this morning carting lighting gear for U2's live performances inside. Evidently they confirmed that U2 is indeed broadcasting their Boston appearance from that location.

Did they give away a big secret? I doubt it. After all, both they and many others of us at High Output have known about the performance planned at the Somerville Theater since Jess Klarnet, our director of Production, took the hush-hush phone call last week and no one here has told a soul. It's always like that here at High Output. We can't say anything until we are given the go ahead. Until that time. Mums the word. Andrew and Brendan only did what they knew they could - confirm to the world U2 is here to rock Somerville!

What's cool is they got their picture in the Boston Herald for doing it! The guys can be prominently seen in photo #2 and in the video below it. Check it out!. Additionally, High Output crew members are pictured in the Boston Globe, and our very own Director of Production Jess Klarnet has been featured on WCVB Boston Channel 5 News. Check the image below to view the video.

Boston WCVB Channel 5 Report Featuring Jess Klarnet

High Output Receives Praise After U2 Concert Filming

March 13, 2009 - Just wanted to say thanks and let you know how terrific it was to work with you guys. My experiences with U2 have always brought out the best…it’s nice to know the average is still 100%

Marc Bauman
Supervising Producer

March 13, 2009 - Just a line to say how much I appreciated everyone's help and effort in Boston. Many thanks to you and please pass on my thanks to all the techs for their good natured accommodation in jamming ten pounds of #@%! into a five pound bag. It looks like the footage is going to be great, so we'll call it a result.

Very best regards,
Willie Williams
Neal St. Studio Ltd
London

Annually our System Sales Department completes dozens of theatrical installation projects in performance spaces whose seating might typically run into the thousands, complete with hundreds of dimmers, dozens of linesets and yard upon yards of drapes. But High Output is also involved with many small performance spaces, as well. At High Output our motto is "No project is too small for us!"

This writer might go so far as to say,"If there was such a thing as a flea circus, High Output would be more than willing to provide the lighting and sound". Although that would not be possible, we do however work with several small organizations, especially one in particular that captured our imagination - the Virginia Theater Machine!

The Virginia Theatre Machine, under the direction of Mark J. Lerman and designed and fabricated by Jeremy Woodward of Woodward Studios, is a technically equipped mobile stage prepared to transport highly engaging and innovative professional theater to audiences anywhere an 8’Wx8’Dx11’H 2,500 lb trailer can be embedded. Whether it be the parking lot of your favorite mall, the local school yard, a public park, a private beach, or even stationed in front of your own back door, Virginia Theatre Machine will perform.

Mark J. Lerman is a freelance theater director, arts consultant and retreat facilitator, who served as the Artistic Director at The Perishable Theatre in Providence, RI from 1990 to 2005, when it was at the forefront of introducing new voices to the American Theatre, and became nationally recognized as an incubator for the development of new plays.

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Sometime back in June of 2008 Lerman brought his ideas for the Virginia Theater Machine, which was already well into the fabrication stage, to High Output System Sales Department Manager Mark Shore seeking his assistance in the design of the sound, lighting and control system.

"The challenge of this project was creating the right configuration for the light and sound control system due to the limited space on the custom built VTM trailer", commented Shore. "Also, the controls had to be easy to move into and off of the trailer to ward against theft. That meant everything had to be accessible enough for quick hook-up to the lighting and audio gear, and subsequently easily unhooked for removal"

"Another challenge was to find the right configuration for the speaker system so that everyone in the crowd could have clear unobstructed sound from the stage", he continued. They ended up using the EAW SMS4 compact two-way loudspeaker, which are both lightweight and weather resistant. "Originally we wanted to go with an LED lighting system because they use much less electricity, but that turned out to be cost prohibitive. So we ended up using a configuration of small PAR lighting fixtures in the front and on the sides", says Shore.

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Although sometime in the future Lerman is hoping to add solar panels to store battery power, for now everyone is quite willing to allow him to run a long extension cable to plug-in during performance.

"This is definitely the absolute smallest theater install we have been involved in. But you know?", Shore pauses, "it's really a very interesting and unique thing! It truly did capture our imaginations. This little theater rolling down the road from performance to performance. How cool is that?"

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February 2, 2008 - Canton, MA - It was the weekend before Christmas, and something big was going on inside the High Output facility in Canton, Massachusetts. All three stages of our Charles River Studios were a buzz with workmen busily building a Viking-style sailing ship, while others filled the floors with massive amounts of dirt and rock to create the rough terrain to be seen in Gatorades' upcoming television commercial entitled, "The Quest for G".

Everyone here at High Output was sworn to secrecy due of the shear magnitude of this production, which features: Kevin Garnett, Derek Jeter, Jimmy Johnson, Usain Bolt, Misty May Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Alicia Sacramone and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

According to the Gatorade company, "The Quest for G is set in the time of 711 A.D., the Dark Ages. All across the land, men and women were thirsted for guts, glory and game. The likes of which were said to only be found in... Holy G. Unfortunately, via sorcery and deceit, the exact whereabouts of the Holy G had been lost. Nevertheless, hope sprang when a gifted king and his gallant knights sought to unearth the secret location of the Holy G." Quite a concept, indeed!

Once that weekend back in December had ended and the shoot was done, those huge amounts of dirt and rock had to be removed from the studios, while everyone here at High Output beamed with an anticipation concerning the upcoming Gatorade spot. Now, we could all finally shared our closely guarded secret with family and friends. "When will it air?", was the question on everyone's minds. The Super Bowl maybe? After all, with all those superstars, what else could it be for?

As we watched the big game, hoping the Gatorade spot would air, no one wanted to leave the room for fear of missing the mysterious Gatorade commercial we had been talking about for the past couple of months. But, as the minutes in the fourth quarter ticked away we kept asking each other if we had somehow missed it. Did they show it when I went to the kitchen to bring back a batch of Buffalo wings? Were we talking and laughing, or perhaps even arguing, about some play we had just seen? What happened? No Gatorade spot with Kevin, Kareem or Jimmy? What gives?

On Monday morning everyone was asking each other what had happened. This writer went to Jason Nute, the Film & Video Department Manager here at High Output, who in turn contacted Gatorade, who pleasantly told us their project entitled "The Quest for G" will be airing nationally very soon. When, is not clear at this point, but soon. So much for our wishful thinking concerning the Super Bowl. In any event, the mystery is now over, and the "Quest for G" was being shown prominently on the Internet.