Work History

White Light Ltd

2018 - 2024

Production Technician, Senior Digital Technician and Production Specialist

Lighting and Video technician for production events. On site lead deploying complex lighting and video systems.

Pre-production work involving creating kit lists, pre-visualisation and pre-programming, advising on suitable systems for a specific task. Assisting Production Managers with Pre-visualisation and equipment requirements for their events, system design and configuration. Supervision of both full-time and freelance staff on site, being responsible for the smooth running of events.

As Senior Technician and Production Specialist designing production systems for highly complex deployments, network systems, xR workflows, complex and interconnected control systems.

Freelance Technical Crew, Disguise, xR Specialist

2016 - present

Lighting, sound and video technician for live events across music, live shows, awards ceremonies and corporate events.

Working in a range of venues setting up rigging, lighting, video and sound equipment for production companies, promotors and clients.

Royal Albert Hall  -  Casual Stage Crew

2016 - 2018

Working with in house and external productions to set up up the building and stage for their productions.

As Crew Chief taking responsibility for daytime and overnight building turnarounds in the absence of permanent staff.

Building the in house staging in the main auditorium and peripheral rooms to the spec of the event manager, preparing the auditorium and backstage areas for the incoming production as required.

Loughborough Students Union  -  Technical Crew

2012 - 2016

A 3500 capacity venue with three main rooms (1900, 800 and 350 capacity).

Designing and setting up lighting, audio and video for a wide range of events, including live music, nightclub, presentations, awards ceremonies and live events.

Production managing event builds ranging from half a day to multiple days.

Liaising with internal and external promoters and clients to ensure their event runs smoothly and fulfils their requirements.

About me

Having been in and around theatres from a very young age, it was almost inevitable that I would develop an interest in the design and running of live events. Through my school years I volunteered with many productions and performances, and gained my first experience with sound and lighting with the local youth music service. Once at University (2012 - 2016) I began working at Loughborough Students Union. Working across lighting, audio and video, I became the main creative designer for my final two years. I also got to work with high profile artists, such as Wilkinson, Sigma, The Hoosiers, Ella Eyre, Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, High Contrast and SHY FX.

Having graduated from Loughborough University I worked as stage crew at the Royal Albert Hall. I quickly rose from crew to crew chief taking responsibility for building turnarounds on the tightly scheduled overnights This meant working on some very high profile events such as the BBC Proms; the Festival of Remembrance; Cirque Du Soleil; the BAFTA's in 2017 and 2018; Star Wars: The Last Jedi European Premier; Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts; as well as many other classical and popular music concerts.

In 2018, I joined White Light as a Production Technician. I worked as a lighting and video technician across a wide range of events, ranging from live broadcasts to sporting events and product launches to high profile conferences and private events. In late 2020 I was brought onto the team running White Light’s production SmartStage, an xR stage using the Disguise media server workflow. During this time I developed massively in my knowledge of Disguise as well as learning more about Unreal Engine including complex blueprinting functionality. Events produced include the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad announcement; an IPO launch video for a large German software company (including full remote gallery, content and direction); and a product launch for a UK based CEMA Military manufacturer. We further delivered global events for private companies, as well as multi-day leadership conferences for our internal leadership teams.

I also became involved in the broadcast sector, delivering live xR production (as disguise operator and unreal integrator) for Eurosport’s Roland Garros, US Open, Australian Open, Tokyo 2021 Olympics, Beijing 2022 Olympics. I was also part of the team that delivered ITV’s home studio for the 2021 European Championships.

Between 2021 and 2024 I became the senior technician across lighting and video, which put me in a position to influence and design the delivery of our productions. Both assisting with the traditional corporate and lighting based events WL had always delivered, we were also responsible for a number of more experimental and innovative solutions. This included delivering xR stages for MPTS in 2022 and 2023, the d&b audiotechnik Soundscape demo rooms at ISE (2022, 2023), Infocomm (2023), and Interbee (2023). I also delivered the launch of Samsung’s IVC led panel at IBC 2023 and consulted on our SmartStage deliveries on the Samsung and CreateLED stands at ISE 2024.

I have also been involved in the design, delivery and commissioning of a number of permanent installation xR stages (SmartStage) installations both in the UK and around the world. This included the control system design, as well as client discussions around how they envisage their system workflow and user interactions.

tom.andrews.lx@gmail.com