Lighting design

[fitsjohn]

Hi there ,just looking for any tips on designing a show which will be put into a hotel conference centre later this year .Space is tight . The stage to ceiling will be 17 ft and there will be 3 x 1ft stepped risers on different parts of the stage.it is 20 ft deep 50ft wide with a further 25ft wing on each side .

 

totals 100ft wide ,20 deep 3-6ft stage height

 

there is going to be a 15 piece band and dancers.

 

I fly pa and lighting out of the roof but lamps start get low limiting effect.

 

3 truss flown, front line of stage 45deg foh, and back bars

 

Last year I used

30x 500w par64

6 x 1k fresnels

8x mac 250 kryptons

4 x mini macs

 

the show organisers thought it was great but I personally thought it was cluttered due to tight height and depth .

Any ideas on trying to open the set up and getting more of a wow?

choice of fixtures etc . Cheers

[Just Some Bloke]

If it's mainly dancers then wouldn't side light be better than front light? Think about replacing the front truss with side booms (4-6 bays each side) each with some shins and something with scrollers on at arm height (Source 4s or wide Pars). With those and some Mac250s from the back it could easily look stunning. If you need to light singers or a compere, one or two specials from a Manfrotto stand FOH to each side should be enough (or a F/S tower if there's a space).

[Pete]

I'd leave it as is.

 

Keep the client happy!

[pete LD]

you don't say what type of band it is? are we talking dinner dance or rock band type thing?

try putting 2 of your macs on the floor at the back this helps make it look more spreed out and gives you another angle to light from. I'm in the lots of back light camp so I would say lots of pars on a us truss and some haze!!

hth

Pete

[fitsjohn]

the main focus of the show is the band with 5 vocals out front . there are dancers floating in and out and go out on to the wings on either sides . Also there are 3 screens on visuals so it is really cramped for lighting angles . I will try and post some photos of last years show. Also the percussionist on on the back of the set when standing has par cans 3 ft away from him further limiting focus options

 

I use 2 haze machines (fighting with air con ) and a smoke . with some pyro during the night

 

got some photos of last year if it describes it better

 

 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/pot...06/IMG_3416.jpg

 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/pot...06/aae95dd1.jpg

 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/pot...06/149ff94d.jpg

[zonino]

if your using the same sort of set (ie the two drum risers) I'd probably put a 250 or minimac on each corner,

 

you said you thought it looked cluttered - I can see where your coming from, but I think this is mainly because of the flown PA, rather than your LX rigging positions!

[Stutwo]

Agree with Zonino, the thing that catches my eye from those pictures are the speaker cabs, the lighting was a lot neater than I thought it was going to be!

[fitsjohn]

another thought I had was . Is there too much light . Would par 56 cans make the make the heads more effective and be more compact . just a thought

 

 

If I can I might try and loose the bar on th stage front line and work off the back, ground and front bar in crowd

[mattwright15]

As it has already been mentioned about the PA being rather a distraction IL keep away from that topic, but what about the risers. you want to make the stage look more open, which with black risers is sometimes not so easy to do, so heres my 2p's worth.

 

How about Chroma DB4 Colour blocks positioned under each riser with the front and sides of the risers covered with a diffusion gel. a couple of conference grade truss towers up and down the sides with a Chroma 36can at top and bottom. this will open your space up more by letting people see something whilst the band isn't playing, but while they are.... you can bring your design to a who new level.

 

Two Instant downsides come to mind thou.

 

1- Extra time is now required on fit up and load out.

2- The extra cost of now hiring this kit which will force you to increase the cost to the client. (mind you,this stuff is cheap as chips for what the overall effect could be.

 

And as for the main lighting rig, looks pretty dam nice, do you really require krypton's? Are they a cost cutting possibility and maybe put in some of the old 250+ instead or another manufactures equivalent... Which maybe cheaper?