adamcoppard Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Hi all, First off, a bit of a background as to what we are trying to achieve: We are running a charity event next March (a fashion show), which needs to be lit up! I am sourcing equipment for this (we can run sound, and lighting control / dimmers) from what we have in school. However, as I have explained in previous topics, our lights really are in a bad way, and I really don't want to use them for this event (we need a full rig of 12 Par's to light it up succesfully), and as usual, we hire in for productions etc. and they stay in a state where they are unusable. Now, for these events, we don't get school's backing (they only write off any expenditure if we make no money), so I am looking to hire in a set of 12 Par 64's / Par 56's for as little as possible! We already have the rigging for them, the dimmers and the control desk, and I am just looking for the lights! These must connect to the dimmers with a 15A plug (we even have all the plugs!) and must hang from a T-Bar.I have looked around, and got some quotes for around £60 (Stage Electrics, and other's in the Bristol area) and am going to ring up a local hire company (who will charge us that kinda money for a couple of day hire) as soon as I have told the financial people that an expenditure of around £60 must go out on this production. Does anyone here know of where I could source some Par's for a couple of nights (we're rigging on a Wednesday / Thursday and we can get the lights out the Friday night if needbe, otherwise it's a Satruday / Monday tear out) from a local hire company (South Somerset) pretty cheaply? I'm not bothered about quality :) as long as they do the job (it's not a professional production after all).I know that generally telling a hire company that you have loads of work for them if they do the first a little cheaply is a way to end relationships with said companies, but I'm sure that if they were decent we would hire from them in the future! Is £60 the target price I should be looking at, and I should just give up and go home, or could I find someone really nice and get them to hire them out to us for less? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sound In Gloucestershire Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 is that price for par 64's or 56's? also what wattage are they? 1000w? 500w? 300w? theres a big difference when you are asking people to make a comparison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 £30/day per day is pretty much the going for a bar of 6 par64 1k's so your not too far off the mark. Unfortunately I don't have any contacts in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Cain Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 perhaps you could update you location on your profile? then people can give you morehlepful advice... thanks.Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 As has been said already, a fiver apiece for par cans isn't a bad price to be frank. However, as with all these sorts of events, you seem to be approaching it from the wrong angle.ANY fund-raiser will have specific costs. and like any other event must be planned and budgeted well in advance. If, at the concept stage, you, or another person with authority, decided that for the event to be successful you need equipment x, y and z, then costs should be identified to PAY for x, y and z. If your budget doesn't cater for it all, then either something must be sacrificed to allow for that - or the income side (eg ticket prices) adjusted to accommodate the additional expenditure. Simple economics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted November 16, 2008 Author Share Posted November 16, 2008 is that price for par 64's or 56's? also what wattage are they? 1000w? 500w? 300w? theres a big difference when you are asking people to make a comparison£6.45/per week for Par 56 300W from Stage Electrics.£5~ from other sources (will try and resurface the links). perhaps you could update you location on your profile? then people can give you morehlepful advice...Shall add to profile (but it is in the post, if that helps ;-) ) If, at the concept stage, you, or another person with authority, decided that for the event to be successful you need equipment x, y and z, then costs should be identified to PAY for x, y and z. If your budget doesn't cater for it all, then either something must be sacrificed to allow for that - or the income side (eg ticket prices) adjusted to accommodate the additional expenditure. The event we are planning to do is a fashion show (and with a big group of girls organising (I am one of only two boys)) the only thing getting worried about is clothes and makeup! I am rather tempted to bring up the point if hiring in the lanterns, so that the punters can actually see the clothes, but, as is always the way, this shall probably get neglected!Also, down to budgeting:We bought in ~£190 from out latest event. We need to pay the location £200 (a combined total from all three events), and all extra money raised is going towards charity (OK, so it isn't a lot, but from a school with only ~200 pupils, it isn't bad!). Therefore, we need to find this £50-£80 out of the ticket prices. Now, I would look at it this way: each punter get's charged £6 (£4 for child) (which is what we've charged for events like this before). Costs get £1 from each ticket (which should cover it going on past turnout). Each person then pay's for drinks, to cover costs that way (we being in almost half the overall profit from the refreshments!). Now, that is simple to me, and it would very easily work. Will everyone else in my group see it like this? Doubt it. (But it give's you the idea for the money coming in) Thanks for the help, all, and I shall keep looking around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundo26 Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 The problem is that if you look around at the moment you will notice lots of companies going into receivership! The reason for this is that they are constantly being asked to do jobs/hires on the cheap from everyone. This is something that has been going on for several years now, we are the only industry where prices have reduced over the years whilst costs have been on an ever increasing upward spiral!Due to this you may find it very difficult to get equipment in at cheap prices as you will be one of many people, who call into these suppliers every day. Everybody needs to understand that this cannot continue and to stop doing these jobs on the cheap or we will very soon have no industry left!If you are putting on a production of any kind, you have to realise that you must price it realistically, you cannot say that you have to pay some suppliers then expect others to supply you cheaply of freely because you don't have enough budget, it's up to you to work within realistic budgets! Sorry to you if this sounds like a rant but I am now out of work after 35 years in the industry because of this very thing and so are lots of others, if you want an industry then you must support your suppliers whether you be a production company, Corporate, school, charity or whoever else and plan your budgets realistically! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Please listen to Brian, it's very true and very honest, You're willing to pay for these things and that's a good thing but there is only so much companies can do as regards discount, particularly at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnomatron Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 £60 is a good price, does that include transport though? I've been charged £30 for delivery and collection of hire gear by some companies recently - companies within the same city, too! Sadly with the current price of fuel, wages, running a vehicle etc. that's not all that excessive a price either. It's important to sit down at the VERY early stages of planning any event and figure out what you need to do to make it happen, and what that will cost. I don't just mean technical costs either; publicity, ticket printing, any materials for set dressing, etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Just to throw in my 2P. I did a fashion show just the other day. People behind the main tabs then walking out down a catwalk (the catwalk was probably about 5 feet wide max and 10 feet long or something like that; fairly short and narrow). What I did was just used 6 fresnels to do a wash of the catwalk from above (well pretty much above; very steep angle anyway!), with a fairly narrow focus so that there was little or no spill. I then had 2 fresnels on a bar further back with quite a wide focus - one on the left bar and one on the right - the left one covered the front of the catwalk from the front and the other covered the back half of the catwalk from the front, which I then trimmed off with barn doors so there was again no spill. I then used 8 x PAR 64's to do a colour wash of the stage (stage behind catwalk) which had the tabs closed all the time so it was really a tab wash with 106, 119, 020 and 153 along with some 124 on some 500W floods on the bar in front. There were also two 500W fresnels on the same bar as the ones doing the catwalk which allowed the people in front of the tabs standing there to be seen. These were open white again. Whilst this may be OTT for what you are doing, have a look at maybe 8 fresnels to cover the catwalk and any areas on stage, and then 4 PAR 64's to do some subtle colour washing. One thing I was told a while back was when doing a fashion show don't use too many colours as you want to be able to see the true colours of the clothing and see them well. I hope that made sense! EDIT: 8 x fresnels would be £48 a week and 4 x PAR64's would be £30 a week so a little over your budget, but you COULD have just 6 fresnels which would drop it down to £36 + £30. These are the prices from our local hire company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 @tom_the_LDI'm working on the basis of a show we've done before (we had 8 Par 64's), for which the cat walk was around 1/3 shorter. I'll take some measurements, but pretty sure it's going be around 15m long (not my choosing).What we are planning to do:Give the catwalk a wash of chocolate, and then add colours (dark aqua blue, orange, pink) Then, anything extra is going on set points (which shall be barn doored). Also, if you could PM me with the hire company's details, it would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Adam, I would strongly think about making sure there is open white on there. Especially as it's a fashion show. Washing with colours will not allow the audience to see the clothes/models correctly as they will just be coloured! PM sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_s Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Adam, I would strongly think about making sure there is open white on there. Especially as it's a fashion show. Washing with colours will not allow the audience to see the clothes/models correctly as they will just be coloured! But is it an actual fashion show, or a fashion show-like event. As in, are there fashion designers there showing off their new ranges, or is it a fashion show using clothes borrowed/bought from a shop? In the case of the former the designers will probably murder you violently if you do anything to make their clothing look different, but if it's the latter I dare say a bit of creativity and use of colour won't be too frowned upon (obviously assuming the catwalk isn't going to be lit exclusively in primary red or any other extreme way :huh:). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 My take on the event is that it will be the sort of thing where a local clothes store (or one of those companie who peddle end-of-line clobber to schools and charity groups) trying to show off what wares they have to the parents and friends of the school. I seriously doubt there will be ANY designers on hand to worry about the rabid green on their creations...:huh: Of course, I could be wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Adam, I would strongly think about making sure there is open white on there. Especially as it's a fashion show. Washing with colours will not allow the audience to see the clothes/models correctly as they will just be coloured! But is it an actual fashion show, or a fashion show-like event. As in, are there fashion designers there showing off their new ranges, or is it a fashion show using clothes borrowed/bought from a shop? In the case of the former the designers will probably murder you violently if you do anything to make their clothing look different, but if it's the latter I dare say a bit of creativity and use of colour won't be too frowned upon (obviously assuming the catwalk isn't going to be lit exclusively in primary red or any other extreme way :huh:).O yeah definitely use colour, but I meant just make sure that it's not all just colour. Although different people have different ways of working! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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