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2006 ILDA Career Achievement
Award recipient:
Inspired by the music of The Beatles, Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: Space Odyssey”, and a host of cultural events of the 1960s, Doug McCullough began creating psychedelic light shows for rock concerts in 1968. His first use of coherent light was in 1970 when he created lumia effects with a Helium-Neon laser in a multi-media performance with avant-garde electronic musician Morton Subotnick. In the mid-1970s, he formed Audio Visual Imagineering (AVI) as a sole proprietorship. In 1978 he first used high-power Krypton/Argon laser effects for multi-media presentations. In 1979, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition of performing light shows in a planetarium theater with the opening of “Laserdrive” at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. Doug concentrated in the 1980s on developing the potential of laser light shows. One of the first uses of computer laser graphics was in 1982, when he introduced sequential laser animation in a planetarium light show titled “Visual Music”. He also pioneered thematically mixing abstract and graphic imagery in laser show choreography. Doug's shows at New York City's Hayden Planetarium (which included "Laser Floyd", "Laser Zeppelin", and "Laser Beatles") were legendary. In addition to planetarium shows, Doug worked on corporate meetings and special events, producing laser presentations for numerous high profile clients. For the corporate market, he developed generic laser “modules” for meeting openings, closings, speaker introductions, coffee breaks, product reveals, etc. At AVI, Doug innovated the extensive use of scanned mid-air beam effects with no “bounce” mirrors. This “look” of two lasers creating crisscrossing scanned mid-air beam effects has since become an industry standard. In 1987 Doug helped closely with the founding of ILDA; he served on the original Ethics Committee. Over the next 17 years, he and his team at AVI received numerous ILDA Awards for “hands-on” work in creative show production. In fact, in total number of ILDA Awards received, AVI has won more than any other company save one. In the early 1990s, Doug co-invented a 360-degree laser projection system for planetariums known as Omniscan. He also was the first to develop 3-D laser shows using the ChromaDepth technique. In 2000, Doug created the first all-raster laser show done with standard laser scanners. His ILDA Award-winning “Linea” was produced for Pangolin to demonstrate the then-new technique of TV-like raster scanned laser images. Even now his commitment to laser art remains strong. Doug continues to work in lasers with his new company, Laser Show Design, Inc., which specializes in high-end laser presentations for theme parks, corporate meetings, and special events. In 2006, Doug wrote: “If I look at visual music and light art over the broad historical sweep of the last few hundred years where many have struggled for acceptance, I have a profound appreciation of living at a time when both the technology and the marketplace allow me to pursue my passion.” For his achievements in
pioneering laser artistry and techniques for over three decades, ILDA is proud
to present Doug McCullough with the 2006 Career Achievement Award. Acceptance speech of Doug McCullough
I’m really honored to receive this prestigious award. When I think back to the start of my career in “light shows” in 1968, I never thought about making a lot of money or receiving acclaim. I was simply excited about the experience of creating dynamic visuals that transformed the environment and accompanied music. So now, almost 40 years later, it’s all the more gratifying to have my career acknowledged by my peers in the industry. And hey, the best part is that I’m alive and able to enjoy it! So thank you ILDA for this award. I’d like to mention some individuals who were a great inspiration to me and in some cases gave me encouragement early on. Those people include Joshua White of the Joshua Light Show from the Fillmore East, Jordan Belson – independent filmmaker and the master of abstract cinema, Thomas Wilfred – the father of modern light shows and the originator of “lumia” (the art of light and color), and Ivan Dryer – the pioneer of laser light shows and creator of “Laserium”. There’s a funny thing about doing light shows: Once you really get into it, from the creative side, IT get’s into you…sorta like catching a virus, or bug, that never goes away but stays with you your whole life! That’s what happened to me. I got the bug. After the whole fad of the psychedelic era faded in 1970, I found that I still wanted to pursue the goal of “visualizing music” and developing the medium of light as an art form. However, at that time there was absolutely no demand in the marketplace for this. So basically I labored in obscurity…I was the stereotypical starving artist pursuing some weird art form that no one understood or cared about. All of that changed when I saw my first “Laserium” show in New York City’s Hayden Planetarium. It was a revelation – a spiritual experience, really. There were crowds of people avidly enjoying a fantastic sound and light show. It was like being in a futuristic “temple of light”…something that was only written about in science fiction novels. Although I had previously worked with lasers to create lumia effects, Ivan Dryer’s approach really opened my mind to the artistic potential of lasers. Profoundly inspired by “Laserium”, I began to change myself from a “misunderstood, starving artist” to an entrepreneur devoted to the creation of viable entertainment. It was quite a leap, both technically and financially, to make this transition from incandescent to coherent light! But the more I explored lasers, the more excited I became at the possibilities. By a dual-pronged approach of pushing the technology and developing a new style of choreography, we were able to make laser light shows an extremely powerful medium – not just a “gee whiz” special effect but a tool to communicate ideas. When you study the history of light shows, you’ll discover that it goes back a few centuries when a few visionaries imagined an instrument that could produce visuals in much the same way that a musical instrument produces sound. The term for this imaginary instrument was the “color organ”. With the advent of electricity and the light bulb, the first rudimentary color organs were made. However, the results were crude and not expressive in the way that music was. The more deeply that I worked on developing the potential of laser projection, the more convinced I became that it was the realization of the long-held dream of a color organ. Being a like-long fan of animated cartoons, I was naturally drawn to marry the graphic capabilities of computers with our laser projectors to create laser animation. It may seem elementary now, but in the early 1980s it was pretty hot stuff! While I spearheaded these developments, I’ve been very fortunate to have worked closely with many brilliant and talented individuals. Some of these who I’d like to acknowledge are: Aron Bacs, Roger Lippincott, Eric Honsch, Jeff Hwang, Scott Frederick, Jerry Wallace, Dave Oxenreider, Willie Castro, Carey Langille, Rob DiAddezio, Bill Benner, and Greg Makhov. Just like making a movie, producing a laser show is truly a team effort! If I can be permitted to “preach” for a few moments: When I look back over the brief history of laser light shows, I see the growth process…in baby steps, growth spurts, and sometimes major breakthroughs. It’s not so much where you start in the process, but how committed you are to continually improve. This is the real achievement. While I’m very, very excited about the new technologies that are becoming available - such as 60K scanning and solid-state lasers – it’s how we utilize these tools that will determine our success. It’s my observation that the biggest problem that we face as an industry is, quite simply, the proliferation of poor quality laser shows. The effect of these shows literally destroys the market for laser displays. Now I know that no one wants to come forward and admit that their work is not up to par! But if we are to generate long-term interest and success in the future, each of us must hold ourselves to high standards of accountability in producing significant value for our clients. It’s not a question of “getting by” - just showing up with some lasers and shooting beams around. Ask yourself how you can best apply the unique capabilities of the laser medium to solve problems for your clients and exceed their expectations. OK, now a word (or maybe two!) about ILDA. From my perspective, ILDA has been THE mechanism that has transformed our industry from the “dark ages” of the late 1980s when there were NO agreed upon standards and imagery produced by one company could not be played back on another company’s projector. Also, the ILDA awards competition has had great merit – allowing us to view each other’s work and be inspired to improve our own. Our ability to successfully respond to this type of competition will produce practical benefits for us in the marketplace. And lastly, ILDA has provided us with a powerful voice in the public discourse when there have been irrational fears about the safe use of lasers for entertainment and display. Finally, I sincerely hope that ILDA will continue, on a yearly basis, to evaluate deserving candidates for this career achievement award. John Tilp, Greg Makhov, Bill Benner, Tim Walsh, and Dick Sandhaus are a few that, in my opinion, are definitely worthy of this award. Thank you!!!
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