Synchronised thunderstorm

[j_pilborough]

The director on my next (amateur) show has informed he wants to have synchronised lighting and sound in the thunderstorm sequence.

I was thinking of building the sound sequence and then giving the exact timings of thunder to the lighting guy to program into his console(a Strand 300 series).

Is this the usual/best way of doing it and it is possible using this console?

Thanks for your help.

[GridGirl]

I'm guessing that the thunderstorm has to be right overhead, then?! Certainly it's possible to run a sequence to exact timings on the 300, but this does rely on sound and lighting operators hitting "GO" at exactly the same moment! You could use SMPTE so that sound triggers lighting, but this is time-consuming to program and you've got to have the equipment (the 300 is capable of it, but it needs specific hardware). I'd have a word to the director and point out that it's pretty rare for thunder and lightning to be exactly synchronised.

[Dj Dunc]

is it possible (just as a random thought) to get a decent movie clip of the storm (with decent sound) and use software to put a 3 2 1 style overlay at the required point, and on cue, the sound operator starts the clip, the monitor being viewed by lx. so the sound is coming from the clip, and the lx has a visual cue of the lightning. just a thought. mods feel free to make this post make more sense.

 

Duncan

[Bryson]

What a bizarre request, given that 95% of the time, thunderstorms aren't syncronised in real life!

[Andrew C]

Does the 300 do MIDI? Do you have a MIDI capable sequencer (or other playback device)? Synchronised needn't be bang & flash at the same time; just at the correct times! Long flickering flash prior to long rumble; big bright flash just before HUGE bang...

[Ekij]

The director wants to have synchronised lighting and sound in the thunderstorm sequence....

Synchronised by the operator. The Lighting OP fires off the strobe, the sound op sees the big flash and hits play on the sound effect which then closely follows the flash (the way real sound follows the flash on a thunderstorm).

 

"Synchronised" doesn't have to mean "at the same instant".

[Bobbsy]

I think Ekij has the best idea. This is a time for the KISS method.

 

When I do thunder effects I tend NOT to make up a whole sequence. I keep the individual claps of thunder separate so I can trigger them exactly with dialogue (since they tend to drown out anything being said! :** laughs out loud **: ). It's a simple matter to coordinate with LX on the cueing.

 

As an aside, thunder and lightning can often be one of those circumstances when "real" doesn't always mean realistic. Even though it almost never happens in real life, a simultaneous LX flash and thunder effect is often better accepted by the audience.

 

Bob

[Ekij]

All right then... Can you get the sound effect to be a tiny rumble followed closely by a big thunderclap rumble?

Then the Sound effect op could start and the lighting OP could take their trigger from the tiny pre-rumble.

Trying to tie the two systems together to automate it sounds (pun intended) like far too much work for an amateur production.

 

What's the chance the director will have forgotten this request already?

[Ynot]

Easiest way to link thunder to lightning....?

Use a multi-channel strobe controller with an audio input.

I use a 4-way Opti controller, with usually 3 strobes, leaving one not connected.

One BIG strobe from FoH, the other two up stage, though not necessarily matched positions.

Switch the controller to audio, then onto peview, until just before the cue.

 

The noise boy HAS to have a good quality recording with as little hiss as possible, as any background noise can 'rumble' the strobes. But when he hits the play button (esp on the BBC SFX of what I named years ago as "Everybody's Favourite Thunderclap!) the strobes will cycle in perfect sympathy with the sound. Dip the stage lights a little at the same time if needs be.

 

And yes, I KNOW that thunder & lightning rarely appear at the same time but we've been here before.... This is THEATRE and most punters leave their sensibilities at the door. Unless there's a GOOD reason for absolute realism in the sequencing, then they'll 99% of the time accept the effect and may even say to themselves "My, that was effective" ...!

:D

[JimWebber]

Just a thought... I'm not a noise boy, so this is the lampie's take on it...

 

I've seen available (Maplin???) A DMX controlled MP(three) player, If the thunder were recorded as an MP(three), then could the thunder not be triggered as a LX cue, in perfect sync with any lighting requirements?

 

Just my 2p

 

Jim

[dbuckley]

(Affordable) strobes on their own dont give a very good lightning effect(*), what I use is either 200W domestic lamps, or 275W or 500W photofloods, and put a few of them hanging off the bars, out of view. You need enough to get over the ambient lighting convincingly. For outdoors scenes put them behind windows etc. Use (usually) three channels of dimmers, and program up little sequences of long and short overlapping flashes. Syncronise with rumblings or bangs and crashes to taste.

 

Now that every noize boy uses a computer for playback, if you want to syncronise its easier to trigger lights from sound.

 

*: There are strobes that do extreme lightning effects, see Lightning Strikes! but they dont fit into the category of affordable, and play havoc with breakers.

[Stewart Newlands]

You could try http://www.hvfx.co.uk/ for big arcs on stage!

[OB2]

are those really safe enough to have on stage? (or just off anyway)

[dbuckley]

No.

 

Many people get away with Tesla sparks to themselves as the electrical energy is at high frequency which due to the skin effect the current flow goes over the outside of the body, not through it. Until a finger of the arc jumps to the energizing transformer, gets modulated by 50Hz, and suddenly the thing has become lethal.

 

The idea is to have a lighning effect, not real lighting.

[GridGirl]

I worked on a production set in WW I, and as such had a rather large battle sequence. We used a thing called the "electric scissors" for the bomb flashes - apparently the BBC used to use it for lightning and it would have done equally well for that. I wouldn't recommend building your own, we got ours from a special effects company, but it was basically a positively charged carbon rod, and a negatively charged carbon rod which the operator (wearing a welding mask, large gauntlet gloves and all necessary protective gear!) shorted out with a third carbon rod. It was a pretty cool effect really!