antdoran Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Please be kind to be I am abit of a new user but I read alot of these forums before I registerd. Okay and back to the point.... :( Current situation- We have recently had some retractable raised seating installed by Audience System, great stuff looks like our school insisted on getting cheapest of the cheap, we are a school I sopose!!The people high up there sumwere (I am an insignificant pupil in year 12) forgot that when it comes to performances us poor technicians need somewere for equipment etc. Deputy head has sent me away to come up with a solution for the problem, or atleast a few ideas. I have got 2 ideas but I decided to ask you guys here. Breif- An area that we can use when a few sections of the seats are folded flat for putting equipment on. We currently have (just to give idea of scale) strand preset(unfortunatly), fat frog, 24 chanl sound mixer, a few bits of random sound stuff (apologise I am a lampie I dont know much about sound) and a folowspot.Seating- top row has 24 seats. Rest have 20 because of two isle which means we loose 2 seats to each isle per row. We have got 11 'levels'. My ideas- Using steel deck with different sized legs front/back which goes from one level down to the next. I have seen this used before works well but I feel it would be dodgey by the time you put a folowspot ontop because you are alot higher than the audience right behind the audience. Making sections of 'platforms' which 'bridge' the chairs when folded down to make a floor. Then make the same except at a different gieght for the row in front. This means that we have a floor rather than a risen table. Thanks for your help any ideas welcome. P.S- Mods if in wrong section I apologise please move to right section! Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 I've seen specially made tables with front legs longer than back so it sits over the second row of the seats work well, much like your steel deck idea. Means you can still use the row of seats behind to sit at the desk. As for followspot platform, I see no reason why having platform higher than back row of audience is a bad thing (assuming you have the roof height!). That's providing the platform has suitable hand rails and kick boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antdoran Posted November 2, 2007 Author Share Posted November 2, 2007 I've seen specially made tables with front legs longer than back so it sits over the second row of the seats work well, much like your steel deck idea. Means you can still use the row of seats behind to sit at the desk. As for followspot platform, I see no reason why having platform higher than back row of audience is a bad thing (assuming you have the roof height!). That's providing the platform has suitable hand rails and kick boards. Height may be a slight issue. Do you have any url for the company that makes these? Thanks lots Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psychedelic Theatre Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 The venue near me has 'retractable' seating which sounds similar to yours (though on a much larger scale). When touring shows come to the venue, they generally use steeldeck (or similar) and remove a couple of rows of seating. So I don't think height will be a problem...but without knowing how much space you have up there we can't really say. Followspotting from that height, if it's only 11 levels shouldn't be too bad. If you think about the majority of theatres, their followspot positions are pretty high up, mostof the ones I've seen are level, or above the borderline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antdoran Posted November 2, 2007 Author Share Posted November 2, 2007 The venue near me has 'retractable' seating which sounds similar to yours (though on a much larger scale). When touring shows come to the venue, they generally use steeldeck (or similar) and remove a couple of rows of seating. So I don't think height will be a problem...but without knowing how much space you have up there we can't really say. Followspotting from that height, if it's only 11 levels shouldn't be too bad. If you think about the majority of theatres, their followspot positions are pretty high up, mostof the ones I've seen are level, or above the borderline. Height is only a problem because the space ffrom the last row to the ceiling is 2 meters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 A new school is being built in Arran and should be open in December ready for the pupils to move in in January. It will contain a multipurpose hall, one use for which will be a 350-seat community theatre. It will have the same type of seating as you describe. The technical installation is being done by a company from Edinburgh and will include two follow spot positions in the back row of the raised seating. This will be achieved by providing two floor sockets, on the top row of seating, which will take a length of 48mm pipe standing vertically. On top of each pipe there will be a standard TV spigot which will enable a follow spot to be safely mounted. This system doesn't require any seats to be removed just not used when the follow spots are in position. Luckily the architect included separate technical areas which are behind the rear wall with a good view of the auditorium and the stage. Unfortunately, due to fire regulations, the viewing is through windows. This is fine for me as the lampie but the noise boy may have a problem. We are hoping to get a guided tour of the new facilities in a couple of weeks so I'll know more then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psychedelic Theatre Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 In an installation such as the one you are talking about boatman, I would have thought the windows could be open-able. Or is that also against fire regs? I have seen a fair few touring sound engineers working from between the back of the stalls and the beginning of the circle. Don't know if that is possible with your new set-up though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Surely if the highest level has enough headroom, you can get a followspot plinth in - even if the spot op has to sit? The perfomers won't mind the things being up high anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 In an installation such as the one you are talking about boatman, I would have thought the windows could be open-able. Or is that also against fire regs? I have seen a fair few touring sound engineers working from between the back of the stalls and the beginning of the circle. Don't know if that is possible with your new set-up though! Unfortunately not. We did ask about having opening windows at the planning stage but were told that fire regulations demand that the windows will have to be fixed. Also there will be no openings in the wall so it wont be possible to run a snake from the control room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewR Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 In an installation such as the one you are talking about boatman, I would have thought the windows could be open-able. Or is that also against fire regs? I have seen a fair few touring sound engineers working from between the back of the stalls and the beginning of the circle. Don't know if that is possible with your new set-up though! Unfortunately not. We did ask about having opening windows at the planning stage but were told that fire regulations demand that the windows will have to be fixed. Also there will be no openings in the wall so it wont be possible to run a snake from the control room. Sorry... but that's complete balls! What you were told that is. ;) There is no reason for a control rooms windows to be fixed other than the designers being too damn lazy to design the building propperly! Many many venues have control rooms with openable windows (I used to be employed by one, in scotland) it causes them some extra work to get it to comply with the regs thats all. And the venue I worked in also had cable runs and traps to allow multi's to be run to the control rooms via the basement (actually the shortest route) Sorry... achitechs and designers who refuse to meet normal technical requirments for a performance space just because they don't think its important make me sooooo mad!I blame it on working in a new build venue! (that was the one in scotland!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted November 4, 2007 Share Posted November 4, 2007 I'm sorry I'm going to have to disagree with you Andrew. Just because other venues have opening windows doesn't mean it's possible in this venue. From the boatman's description it sound like the wall in question is a fire break wall, which is designed to impede a fire spreading from the auditorium to other parts of the building or vice versa (much like the pros wall in many theatres). Don't get me wrong this is bad design, why the control room couldn't be part of the same 'room' as the auditorium with fire break walls around the control room I'm not sure. But it is possible that opening windows are not feasible. With regard to you being mad about architects and designers not meet technical theatre requirements, I'm with you on that! I had to deal with the after effects of a new theare space that had control windows so high you could only see the performance space if you stood right at the window. This was after repeated requests with a specific height. They even moved then lower during the build but still not low enough! But then these were the same architects who put a corridor through the battery room for the existing theatre space. Didn't realise until I noticed it on some preliminary drawings. In response to the OPs question regarding a website for the manufacturer of the tables I'd seen, sadly there isn't one, they were made in house in the scenic department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roderick Posted November 4, 2007 Share Posted November 4, 2007 Unfortunately not. We did ask about having opening windows at the planning stage but were told that fire regulations demand that the windows will have to be fixed. Also there will be no openings in the wall so it wont be possible to run a snake from the control room. I'll bet you a fiver that the architects called the 'control room' a 'projection room'. in which case there is a whole different set of regs to comply with - including sealed windows.Try to have the purpose of the room changed and see what the answer is. However, if it is as Johnhusin suggests, there are solutions but they may be beyond the budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamharman Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 The venue I used to work for had a combined projection room / control room. There was a sealed window in front of the projector, with appropriate fireproof glass, and an openable window about 2 feet from it with ordinary 4mm glass! There was a steel roller shutter over the window, which I assume is how it got through building and fire regs. The regs for cinema projection rooms seem to be mostly from the days of celluloid film anyway. The modern polyester stuff doesn't burn anythign like as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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