dominicgross Posted October 28, 2003 Share Posted October 28, 2003 Hey, I'm looking into the possibility of some kind of system to allow a person (rigger) to hang behind the bar to focus and rig, with the ability to move up and down and side to side along the bar, controlled by the person on the up on the system. Does such a thing exised?? I looked in the possibilities of using a girder trolly, a couple of ascenders and some pulleys for side to side movement. surely their must be a more simple way?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I'd strongly recommend that you find a different solution - the new Work at Height regs will (probably) require (quite sensibly) that Rope Positioning work be used only as an absolute last resort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicgross Posted October 29, 2003 Author Share Posted October 29, 2003 But an alternative method is not as fun... we normally use a tallescope: but this causes issues, we have to retract the seating and move the whole venue around to reach the side bars and FOH bars: and apparently we don't have enough load bearing, or even enough money to design a bridge... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Work is often not fun... I'd recommend moving the venue around. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 You would probably do best to go on a course from IRATA as you will not only need to know about the mechanics of moving around but also rescue techniques in case it all goes wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Surely what you want is some kind of catwalk affair, or a flown catwalk if necessary. What does the ROH have for LX overstage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Surely what you want is some kind of catwalk affair, or a flown catwalk if necessary. What does the ROH have for LX overstage?IIRC, ROH have lighting bridges overstage. Glyndebourne (simmilar sort of setup) certainly do. But the bulk of the ROH rig is either permanent focus or moving lights (Autoyokes, etc.) so there's not a huge amount of manual overhead refocussing to do during turnarounds. The Old Vic used to have some flown focus bridges (three, I think) - don't know if they still have, but the Chief LX there is Deano McCulloch and I'm sure he'd be able to give you some info if you gave him a call. They are very bulky, though, taking up a lot of space in the flys - each bridge takes up three counterweight sets (two to suspend the bridge, and one in the middle as a clip-on bar for fall arrest lanyards) - and they take a long time to rig and strike. Stick with the tallescope/ladder solution for now - any sort of rope access takes you into whole new territories regarding training, H&S compliance, etc. and would almost certainly turn out to be more hassle than it's worth - especially in a school theatre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Opera house has bridges on the Pros (I think two levels) the rest of the stage is just flown trusses that are focussed from genie/scope (although most of it is intelligent so not much focussing is required) They do have a big motorised gantry that can track across the stage, it was meant to be used for focusing and rigging cloths, but no one had thought about the fact that the set will get in the way so I don't think it is used that much.. Old vic still has the bridges in bits, but haven't used them for at least a year (as long as I have been working there) We did think of using them once but they are an arse really, and the Zargees can get to most places.. Haven't been anywhere that has bridges over the bulk of the stage that I can think of, as they would get in the way of the flying pieces. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Stick with the tallescope/ladder solution for now - any sort of rope access takes you into whole new territories regarding training, H&S compliance, etc. and would almost certainly turn out to be more hassle than it's worth - especially in a school theatre.Hmm, I didn't read the original post properly but now I have I agree with Gareth completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stig Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 Southport Arts Centre has a walk around lighting gantry in its studio space, So has the Sherman theatre studio and the Albany theatre. The problem with this sort of arrangement (and all the above are arranged slightly differently) is what if the lantern you want to rig needs to be under the gantry you are stood on. Also to be able to access most of the rig from a gantry you cant have a gantry more than an arms length way so you suddenly find more gantry than rig. The best arrangement I have seen is that FOH is done from gantries as these lanterns donÃt often move position. As for over stage, give me a scope/ladder any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 The Cochrane Theatre has a moveable bridge which you reach from the fly floor on one side and the plugging gallery on the other, which was supposed to aid focussing. Whether it has ever been used for that, I don't know..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Higgs Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 Reference to the Work at Height Regs is spot on. (July 2004.)Even now though, you would be ill advised to even consider it. You would need an amount of planning, paperwork and documentation before you could even start. Then adequate training which would typically involve a residential course. Then you would need to adapt the techniques for the theatre and install appropriate anchor points since it unlikely they exist in an appropriate place to allow access to your lanterns. The law and best practice requires use of a specific method using a double rope system, a rescue plan and rescue trained personnel on site during use.Doesn't seem quite such fun, now, I am afraid, but swinging about on ropes for fun is a voluntary activity and incompatible with workplace activity.Sorry again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Higgs Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 Dom, - I didn't check before - you are only 16 - forget it completely.Sorry, buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 quick question on the same subject: 8m bar 6m scope profiles on the bar so need quite good access to focus, is the 2m difference too much?? if so any ideas about how else I could focus it?? as it stands there is no set in the space as this would mean that we cant move the scope on stage as its much too busy. have very little budget to do this (£50ish). so any ideas or syjestions?? or is the 2m difference not a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 According the the Flints catalogue - the maximum platform height on a mid sized scope is 5.9m, giving a maximum working height of 7.9m This is obviously dependent on the height of the person on the top of the scope and how high they can reach though. I'd have thought that as long as they do not have to rig or move lanterns around or re-plug them on the bar you should be OK. Top shutter might be a bit of a bugger. However (of course) you should consider the additional risk of fatigue from working with your arms above your head the whole time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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