Use of moving lights advantages/disadvantages

[krisbox]

Hello everybody,

 

I am currently a student at CSSD about to finish my course and I am writing my IST at the moment on the use of moving lights within the lighting industry.

 

More specifically I am looking at the advantages/disadvantages of moving lights from a technical and artist view.

 

and looking at what it is all leading too.

 

It would be brilliant to hear other professionals opinions of these areas of moving lights......

 

Thank you

Kris

[mac.calder]

The few that come off the top of my head:

Major technical disadvantages:

Noise

Complexity

Size

Cost

More things to go wrong

 

Major technical advantages:

Versatility

More forgiving (focus wise)

 

There is also the "Wow"/"brag" factor.

[WiLL]

The ability to put a special potentially anywhere is a huge advantage and obviously saves on 'focus' time. however this is normally balanced out by the much longer 'plotting' time these units involve. To be honest, it's the ;wow; factor that makes em worthwhile :huh:

[Rob Halliday]

I'm not sure it is just the 'wow' factor anymore.

 

Though of course there are no generalisations and a lot of it depends on type of show - ie. whether you're trying to make 'spectacle', or just use the tools that are available to do work that you could do in other ways (more time, more lights, more dimmers) if you had to. The 'longer plotting time' is really down to how good the programmer is and - mainly - how good or bad the console is; none of them are actually really much good at the moment, in terms of actually understanding what we're trying to do with the lights and helping us do it. Plus you have to look at the bigger scheduling picture: even if 'plotting' time is longer, you might have been able to reduce the time set aside for focussing.

 

Plus as the health-and-safety people clamp down more - banning tallescopes, banning Genie lifts, banning working at height in the dark, all of which they will do in time because, if we're honest, working with a hot, awkward, potentially-faulty, potentially-live piece of electrical equipment at height in the dark is not really the most user-friendly thing to ask someone to do - moving lights will become more and more common because they will be the only way that we can 'make' lighting in the way we've become used to. And that's even before you add in the versatility of changing focus between cues etc.

 

Though for that to really work, we do need quieter, more reliable, cheaper moving lights, and that's a hard equation to make work as a manufacturer.

 

I've long had a theory - sadly never tested - that on the big shows we should put up a moving light rig to light the show because of the speed and versatility it gives us ("you want everything in red, sure, no problem").

 

Once the show's done we should figure out what the lights actually do, then come in, take down the moving lights, put up more conventional lights and adapt the programming accordingly. Even with the cost of the changeover I reckon you'd save hugely in the long run with lower rental costs, lower running costs, lower maintenance costs etc.

 

At the end of the day, it's not the lights - moving or otherwise - that make for good lighting. It's how you choose to use them.

 

Rob.

[Oovis]

Another disadvantage of heavy reliance of movers for specials is - what do you do for the rest of the act when a lamp pops?

[Just Some Bloke]

Rob makes a lot of good points. The wow factor is great for bands, but there are an awful lot of plays and 'Les Mis' type musicals where you can't see the moving lights over the stage and you aren't specifically aware of them moving very often. I've lit plenty of shows where it's useful to have light in one place for one scene then another place in the next scene, but light both with the same unit. So you put up a woving head washlight, use it for scene 1, fade to a state that doesn't use it then go to scene 2 with the same light in a different place and colour. Not at all "wow" to the audience, but very useful to the LD on a tight budget.

 

The other advantage, especially for the bigger shows, is that nowadays LDs very often have to come up with a required hire budget and flybar requirement before the show even goes into rehearsal. This requires coming up with, at the very least, a provisional design based on very little. The easy way is to put up a selection of moving head profiles and moving head washlights so that, when it comes to plotting, there'll always be something you can use somewhere near where you want it.

[Guest mattladkinlx]

And it also allows for flexibility.

 

If when it comes to the tech rehearsal, the truck needs to be set a metre upstage of its intended position, you dont have to climb up a ladder and refocus (at best) or re-rig the lantern.

 

Also it allows (with CMY Colour mixing) for changes that need to be made because the paint colour is slightly off of the spec or the costumes are slightly darker than was first thought.

 

Matt

 

P.S - I love Rob's idea of going in with a complete ML rig and then changing to conventionals once the show is programmed. The number of times I have seen a mover get used twice in a show and think to myself well, thats another 100 quid down the drain that could have been replaced by £20 of profiles!!!

 

If I remeber correctly the first time I went to see Mary Poppins there was a S4 revolution sitting on the SR FOH ladder that wasnt used - second time I went to see it it wasnt there (or was being used - couldnt work out which!)

[Dmills]

And it also allows for flexibility.

If when it comes to the tech rehearsal, the truck needs to be set a metre upstage of its intended position, you dont have to climb up a ladder and refocus (at best) or re-rig the lantern.

 

If its a re-rig job then the mover is also probably in the wrong place!), in my experience this normally happens when the direction of light is critical (not just what it hits), I have never seen a mover that could relocate itself (as opposed to its bearing) yet.

 

It ain't just WHAT you light, its where you light it from!

 

Now I could see having a few VL1000TS or studiocolour or similar in a generic theatre rig fo that you have some way to get light to a last minute special, but if you are not actually moving the light during the show (IMHO a severely overused effect), then a suitable generic (possibly with a scroller and gobo rotator) will almost allways be cheaper, lighter, quieter and less likely to play silly buggers.

 

I don't know if scrollers count as moving lights, but they are IMHO a huge force multiplier and enormously cost effective compared to moving lights for straight theatre.

 

Just my 5p.

 

Regards, Dan.

[Oovis]

P.S - I love Rob's idea of going in with a complete ML rig and then changing to conventionals once the show is programmed. The number of times I have seen a mover get used twice in a show and think to myself well, thats another 100 quid down the drain that could have been replaced by £20 of profiles!!!

 

Hmm.. I remember one show we had in where we went through all sorts of grief rigging 4 VL1000s FOH. It eventually became apparent they could have been replaced with 4 19 degree Source4s as they did a gobo shot for one scene only :)

[pete LD]

I've long had a theory - sadly never tested - that on the big shows we should put up a moving light rig to light the show because of the speed and versatility it gives us ("you want everything in red, sure, no problem").

 

Having just spent the last month follow spotting Saigon after the first week when I was bored I was watching the vl3500s on the advance truss and one didn't seem to do much at all, so little in fact that no one noticed it hadn't got its lamp struck one night! I'm sure rob will tell me that it was a vital part of the rig!!

Pete

[Tomo]

Having just spent the last month follow spotting Saigon after the first week when I was bored I was watching the vl3500s on the advance truss and one didn't seem to do much at all, so little in fact that no one noticed it hadn't got its lamp struck one night!

It may well have been a spare. I can see it being useful to have at least a couple of fixtures that aren't actually used much, but can be thrown in at the last moment if something else breaks down.

[WiLL]

If its a re-rig job then the mover is also probably in the wrong place!), in my experience this normally happens when the direction of light is critical (not just what it hits), I have never seen a mover that could relocate itself (as opposed to its bearing) yet.

 

Now I have visions of a mac 500 on caterpillar tracks, or better yet little spindly legs, waddling across the forestage during a really dramatic scene so it's in place for the chorus number coming up next :)

 

I better shut up before I inspire someone somewhere to rig a mover on a tab track.

[Rob Halliday]

There is nothing new in showbiz... and, in particular, lights that can re-position themselves aren't new. They're just rare because they're difficult (and therefore expensive) to achieve. But:

 

- Miss Saigon (Drury Lane original) had four VL2s on tracks, two running across the advance truss, one running up and down each side of the pros. This was done because David needed the lights to get 'around' scenery, and the lights themselves were then VERY expensive. My memory is that they even did one or two cues where they track up and the lamp tipped down at the same time to achieve a sunrise effect. For later versions of the shows, when Vari-Lites became cheaper, it was more cost effective to add more VLs than continue with the tracking system.

 

- Oliver! (Palladium) had three VL6s on a a tracking bar so that we chould change the angle of light coming through three big windows at the back of the set

 

- Hamlet - RSC a few years ago I believe had StudioColours on tracks.

 

 

So anything can be done if you have the time, inclination and money.

 

 

As to other things: yes, if one light does lots of specials and it breaks that's more of a problem than if one Source Four that does one special breaks. However, not being able to replace it easily is really a factor of all control system's being rubbish, because if the control system was 'intelligent' enough it should be able to dynamically replace one light with the best available unused light, with the console figuring out where the light should be pointing etc.

 

 

I think you really must all be bored if you're sitting there watching which lights on the advance truss/circle front are moving..... The Saigon advance truss lights do actually work pretty hard. The Revolutions in Poppins work less hard but do their share. But this is also an example of the 'priorities' in lights: my priorirty would be an utterly reliable, absolutely silent light over some of the extra features lights now come with. But I don't seem to be able to find one of those.....

 

Rob.

[Just Some Bloke]

- Miss Saigon (Drury Lane original) had four VL2s on tracks, two running across the advance truss, one running up and down each side of the pros.

 

Rob.

Thank you Rob!

 

You've restored my sanity. I saw the original Saigon and remember seeing the VLs move on tracks, but having never seen the same thing since eventually began to think I must have been mistaken. I'm so happy to know I'm not as senile as I thought! :)

[paulears]

I think I must really be old - I can't remember the last time I spent time in my paid for seat watching the lighting? Work meant I have seen WWRU 9 times - can't for the life of me remember what the lighting was?

paul