Side light tips

[confused]

Hi,

I recently worked as Chief LX on a small dance show using a lot of side light. I know the purpose of side lioght in dance etc, but what I struggled with was the focussing of this.

Assuming you have a 1/2 k fresnel shoulder height and a zoom profile at shin height, how would people focus this to get the most even side light across a bare stage?

Thanks

[DonkiDonki]

Hi,

I recently worked as Chief LX on a small dance show using a lot of side light. I know the purpose of side lioght in dance etc, but what I struggled with was the focussing of this.

Assuming you have a 1/2 k fresnel shoulder height and a zoom profile at shin height, how would people focus this to get the most even side light across a bare stage?

Thanks

 

 

Do you have anything to place on stage, so you can clearly see what you are focusing on? Some free standing panels, or a sheet strung between some stands?

If you have something even to light it will make your task easier.

 

Or get someone to walk the stage as you focus.

[Mr_Jules]

Okay this is how I do it... Although to be honest, 1 profile and 1 half k Fresnel does not constitute "a lot of side light" It also very much depends on how many boom positions you have. If you have 4 or more you can pretty much divide your sides into 'zones' or strips of light. Otherwise you're going to be looking at just getting an even spread across the stage. Masking is another consideration, but let's learn to walk first.

 

The idea of side lighting, apart from the sculpting effect that dance productions crave, is to keep the light off the floor. Your shin height profile will do this for you. I like to get it as wide and as sharp as I can and tilt it up ever so slightly, while using the top shutter to mask the beam so that it hits the floor either a) At the end of the dance floor or b) just inside the masking. You can occasionally get away with hitting the floor if your stage is higher than the audience, but it's a bad habit and should generally be avoided. You probably want to light the feet is you can, so the trick is to get the light 'hovering' a few centimetres off the dance floor.

 

Your Fresnel should be fired straight across the stage, although to be honest, I often cheat the entire boom's worth slightly upstage a smidge. This help to avoid the dreaded blocking of centre positioned dances by those at the side.

 

As the "Chief LX" I would use the rest of your team to do this for you in 'stereo' that is one on each side, being careful that they don't blind each other (another reason why tilting slightly upstage helps) You should sit in the auditorium and call the focus. Have a third person walk the centre of the stage. A little smoke or haze on stage can help immensely.

 

The tough thing about side lighting is that unless you've got really deep wings, the dances can be virtually on top of the booms if they are positioned towards the sides of the stage. Getting the lanterns as wide as possible will help to pick them up.

 

It can help to imagine that you're lighting from above, by rotating the entire grid through 90 degrees. This is especially helpful when it comes to deciding where to cross the beams from adjoining boom positions.

[Russ83]

Very nice description Mr_Jules, thankyou.

 

We don't have any mounting points in our hall/studios for side lighting so have never thought about trying to use this technique but this thread has got me interested. I have two dance performances coming up so was wondering what other positions you would use along with side lights. Anything FoH (from what angle), where would you put gels or just use open white assuming you had a mixture or different acts?

 

Cheers

[/hijack]

[themadhippy]

We don't have any mounting points in our hall/studios for side lighting

Nor do we,but theres 3 booms a side currently in use at this moment on our stage,Tank traps(or concrete pub unbrella bases) and scaffold are your friend.

[Roderick]

was wondering what other positions you would use along with side lights.

I always like a serious amount of backlight in deep colours, again to sculpt the bodies against the background.

'Pipe ends' are also a favourite, lights rigged at the far end of your lighting bars focussed straight across the stage, covering roughly from CS to just over head height at the legs.

 

Anything FoH (from what angle), where would you put gels or just use open white assuming you had a mixture or different acts?

FoH is always a little tricky because it tends to make things flat, which is not good for dance.

Where possible, I like to 'cross focus' FoH rather that straight in.

The closer the bars or positions are to the stage, the better roughly 30 - 45 degree angle. And repeat the same onstage to light upstage.

I would recommend some gels rather that plain white for FoH. I like three washes in colours that mix well to give me a range of 'feel', specially if it is a mix of dance pieces. When in doubt, I use 147, 161 and 136 which gives me a 'warm' and a 'cold' and a 'soft' look with the 136. Combined they look almost open white, if needed.

[Just Some Bloke]

Assuming you have a 1/2 k fresnel shoulder height and a zoom profile at shin height, how would people focus this ...

 

However the LD called it! :)

 

 

Seriously though, my usual aims are to ensure all the fresnels have barndoors and all the profiles have a full set of shutters. Then I'd focus each lantern nice and wide and cut in off the floor and any spill that's too high to be of use. Then cut in off the nearside masking but leaving as much light to get out as you can. What you're trying to avoid is people who travel from DS to US (or vice versa) on stage but close to the wing, going in and out of light as they pass the bays. Having doors in tight makes it seem less blinding to the dancers, too. In order to get the light even on its own side of stage it will end up quite wide on the far side of stage, so if you need to do just a strip of light across one small area at any point, add specials just for that.

 

Have a play and get people to walk it for you (shins and tops separately).

[confused]

Mr Jules thanks a lot, some bloody good advice! to be honest, a 1/5 k and profile in our theatre does constiute a lot of any light! I would've preferred 2 profiles or 3 lanterns, but needs must!

 

One problem I found was a compromise between spill from the light field and a really hard edge. To keep light off the floor and masking I needed a sharp edge, but this was way to obvious on the people onstage (esp close to the booms where the beams dont cross) leaving a nasty hard line half way up thier thigh. I tried using a slightly softened edge and bleeding the fresnel as low as possible, but the director had a massive beef with any spill on the floor (understandably).

 

Thanks anway, Im liking the idea of cheating each boom upstage too, really useful.

[DonkiDonki]

Mr Jules thanks a lot, some bloody good advice! to be honest, a 1/5 k and profile in our theatre does constiute a lot of any light! I would've preferred 2 profiles or 3 lanterns, but needs must!

 

One problem I found was a compromise between spill from the light field and a really hard edge. To keep light off the floor and masking I needed a sharp edge, but this was way to obvious on the people onstage (esp close to the booms where the beams dont cross) leaving a nasty hard line half way up thier thigh. I tried using a slightly softened edge and bleeding the fresnel as low as possible, but the director had a massive beef with any spill on the floor (understandably).

 

Thanks anway, Im liking the idea of cheating each boom upstage too, really useful.

 

You could try keeping a sharp focus and use some frost gel; just undersized enough to leave the bottom shutter cut hard?

[themadhippy]

Or get some patt 264s :o

[DonkiDonki]

Or get some patt 264s :o

 

 

I've never had the pleasure of using that fixture, a quick google shows it to be an interesting unit. Sounds perfect for this kind of thing.

[Mr_Jules]

Or get some patt 264s :P

 

 

I've never had the pleasure of using that fixture.

 

Consider yourself lucky :o

[Luke-Woods]

Or get some patt 264s :** laughs out loud **:

 

 

I've never had the pleasure of using that fixture.

 

Consider yourself lucky :)

 

 

They are hideous, Noah didn't even like them on the arc!!!

[vinntec]

Mr Jules - your explanation of side lighting is so clear that I now realise when I lit a dance sequence in a musical last year it didn't work as well as expected! Just to finish off the lesson, for a generic dance requirement how many lanterns do you tend to use per boom, what types, at what heights, and how focused? Thanks in advance - Peter Vincent, amateur LD, UK

[Just Some Bloke]

It's entirely up to you, but a common setup is shins, mids and tops. Shins are at shin height (strange that!) and light feet, mids light legs and tops light arms. You can also add another level above if you're expecting lots of lifts. By putting each in a different colour and using a mix of each in every state you can vary colours whilst still lighting the whole body. It's best not to go for saturated colours in side light as you lose the modelling effect, but you can go as saturated as you like in your backlight.

 

If you can only find enough lanterns for one angle of side light I'd be always tempted to go for shins and angle them up more than you would otherwise. You'll be surprised the difference it makes.

 

Another handy hint for dance side light is that they'e very accessible lanterns so you can change the colours in the interval(s) if you want to.