Mark S Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Hi. Could do with some help on a lighting issue Situation: We are providing sound and lighting for a conference event....lighting is causing a few issues. Room is 60 ft long by 25ft wide. Stage is 18ft wide at one end of the room. Set up We need to light up the main speakers when presenting from either side of the stage and the only real place to set up tripods is either side of the room at the back. Kit We currently have on the tripods x4 ETC Sourc e4 juniors - x2 on each stands pointing either side of the stage. These are running through a dimmer pack and then into a showtec 12 channel desk. Problem: Problem we have is that lights are simply blinding the person on stage! Is the any way to avoid this...obvious would be not to point the lights in their eyes, however how do you then make sure that they are illuminated for the audience. Any thoughts/ suggestions would be much appreciated... Thanks very much. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubbs the Techie Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 The simple answer to this is: light them from above. Then they will be illuminated but the light won't be directly in their eyes. If it's good enough for the theatre, it's good enough for a conference. How high can your tripods safely go? What you haven't stated is how high the room is. Will the room allow you to do this? It is however unlikely (in my experience) that you will be able to get them high enough, so what I usually do is put them right next to the stage, near the front corners, at either side, nice and high, and light them from above. Soften up the focus on your S4's and it should look good. Unless that blocks people's views.... or there are chairs there.... Chubbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark S Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 The simple answer to this is: light them from above. Then they will be illuminated but the light won't be directly in their eyes. If it's good enough for the theatre, it's good enough for a conference. How high can your tripods safely go? What you haven't stated is how high the room is. Will the room allow you to do this? It is however unlikely (in my experience) that you will be able to get them high enough, so what I usually do is put them right next to the stage, near the front corners, at either side, nice and high, and light them from above. Soften up the focus on your S4's and it should look good. Unless that blocks people's views.... or there are chairs there.... Chubbs. Thanks very much, room is no way high enough to light from above from the back. There are lots of chairs etc, so down front might not be an option either. Room is about 12 ft high. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 You clearly need to make the room seem higher, so use a mirror. Get some Rosco shrink mirror and make a frame like this. Then mount it on the ceiling and put your lanterns down low pointing up at the mirror. The light will appear to come from a lantern mounted 20 or so feet above the floor. I've done this quite a few times in a couple of our village halls where the stage height is too low to get steep angles. You may need some help in mounting the mirror on the ceiling safely. Edit: for SPaG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 There are lots of chairs etc, so down front might not be an option either. The usual thing is to move the chairs and get your equipment in the right place. A little chat with the venue and client when setting up will usually help in this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark S Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 There are lots of chairs etc, so down front might not be an option either. The usual thing is to move the chairs and get your equipment in the right place. A little chat with the venue and client when setting up will usually help in this. Hi, Thanks for you help, we moved the tripod to the side of the stage and it works much better. Many thanks agian. Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Glad it worked <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkiDonki Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 We need more presenters like this guy I used to work with... He liked as much white light directly in his face as we could throw at him; he only felt comfortable presenting when so blinded by the spots that he couldn't see the audience at all! Unlike the usual idiots who like to point out that the lights are very bright when they deliberately stare right into the lens... (Mind you; I've had the other extreme too, a rather nervous chap who kept having us turn lights down on the stage & set until he felt "comfortable"; the room was totally blacked out. Oh well, at least he was happy.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 (Mind you; I've had the other extreme too, a rather nervous chap who kept having us turn lights down on the stage & set until he felt "comfortable"; the room was totally blacked out. Oh well, at least he was happy.) Ahh, love people like that - so much easier to have a little nap :) . Most presenters want to see the audience - it ain't theatre and they want more interaction, see when they are losing them, see who is asking questions etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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