80's Lighting

[Luke-Woods]

Hi guys

 

I'm currently designing for a production of 'Back To The 80's' and I was wondering if anyone could give me a few ideas on what the lighting was like back then (as I was only born in 86). I have a budget of £2500 for 5 days of hire so not too bad but not great ** laughs out loud **. I have tried looking on the net for pictures of 80's gigs and have not really had any luck, I've had a few suggestions from some people saying that there was a lot of oil wheel type effects, is this true? I've got a white cyc at the back of the stage to project things onto.

 

Maybe going slightly off topic here but I would quite like to have a goal post shaped truss halfway up the stage to rig Lanterns off etc, obviously I'm gonna have to attach the top of this to something but the venue only has hemp lines and wooden beams as a grid, any suggestions? I don't think they have invented sky hooks yet.

 

Thanks

[tom_the_LD]

What's the power like?

 

Lots of PAR 64 cans with pretty colours in to create lots of flashy stuff.

 

Do they not have steel bars to rig lights off? If so can you not brace the truss to this?

 

For the truss, I would advise about 8 PAR 64 LED cans. One at the top on each side, one at the bottom on each side then 4 across the top (one far left, one in front, One on far right, one in front) as this will allow you to change the colour of the truss and can look quite cool.

[gareth]

Hehe! I can just picture what this thread is going to turn into - lots of advice about 80s stage lighting dispensed by people who, if they were around at all, were still at primary school! :)

 

Here's a clue - LED parcans weren't around in the 80's!!

 

What sort of look are you trying to achieve, Luke? Something theatrical? Or more of a concert-based approach?

[paulears]

Early 80's theatre lighting was pretty much like today, really. Fresnels, profiles, floods and a few new fangled PAR64s in the latest equiped venues. If you were looking disco, then mirror balls, strobes and fuzz lights in lots of colours. 3 or 4 channel sound to light units with 150W reflector lamps were about - and yes, the oil effect was everywhere. In the theatres, white cycs with either rows of floods or more commonly compartment battens were still around in large numbers. In fact, most of the kit from that era is still in use at my venue. Some venues at that time still had the lighting from the fifties and sixties, because people rarely changed things that often. 20 years wasn't a problem lifespan wise. I've still got some nearly fifty years old and still giving good service.

[Bryson]

LED Cans...for an 80's themed rig? Did you read the OP at all?

 

He didn't ask "what would look cool" he asked "what did gigs in the 80s look like." And they certainly did not have LED parcans...

 

 

Here's an idea: Find out the artists names, and go look them up on Youtube. You'll probably find tons of Top Of The Pops vids that you can take inspiration from.

[Luke-Woods]

Ok I only have 54 ways of dimming and can push that to approx 2K per channel, But there is plenty of play on other supplies in the building to put the intelligent stuff on. The stage is not that big, it is 24'W x 20'D X 14'H plus the width of a piece of steel deck that we are putting on the front of the stage to extend it.

Yeah that sounds like what I was thinking of, re. lots of P64's with lots of pretty colours in. I have 24 of my own LED Pars so will definitely be doing the truss idea, I've got steel deck at the back of the stage at different levels which I think with LED Pars underneath will look quite sexy.

 

They have got 4 LX Bars spaced out on stage but they are hung on Stud so I cannot move them to take up the tension on the top part of the truss plus I would lose the space on that bar to hang other lanterns.

 

Would I be a bad LD if I ignored the fact that it was an 80's show and did what I want to do which is Macs and LED pars, probably :)

 

Hehe! I can just picture what this thread is going to turn into - lots of advice about 80s stage lighting dispensed by people who,

if they were around at all, were still at primary school! laugh.gif

 

Here's a clue - LED parcans weren't around in the 80's!!

 

What sort of look are you trying to achieve, Luke? Something theatrical? Or more of a concert-based approach?

 

he he Gareth, yeah I kinda guessed that LED stuff wasn't around then. I would like to go for more of a concert look as it is more music than acting. And I shall try and keep this on topic, I know how much you hate that.

 

Early 80's theatre lighting was pretty much like today, really. Fresnels, profiles, floods and a few new fangled PAR64s in the latest equiped venues. If you were looking disco, then mirror balls, strobes and fuzz lights in lots of colours. 3 or 4 channel sound to light units with 150W reflector lamps were about - and yes, the oil effect was everywhere. In the theatres, white cycs with either rows of floods or more commonly compartment battens were still around in large numbers. In fact, most of the kit from that era is still in use at my venue. Some venues at that time still had the lighting from the fifties and sixties, because people rarely changed things that often. 20 years wasn't a problem lifespan wise. I've still got some nearly fifty years old and still giving good service.

 

Hi Paulears

 

mmm I dont really want to go down the disco route as its a theatrical show which has the feel of a concert, With the oil effects was that purely disco stuff or did it reach the concert scene?

 

LED Cans...for an 80's themed rig? Did you read the OP at all?

 

He didn't ask "what would look cool" he asked "what did gigs in the 80s look like." And they certainly did not have LED parcans...

 

 

Here's an idea: Find out the artists names, and go look them up on Youtube. You'll probably find tons of Top Of The Pops vids that you can

take inspiration from.

 

Yeah I tried that but all the videos I found were all close ups on the singer instead of seeing whats going on on the stage. Of course I don't want to copy theirs but it would give me an idea on what was going through LD's brains back then.

[Jivemaster]

A few classic disco effects were the Harvester and the tumbling cube -multi motor driven, series pinspot assemblies, sometimes on the roof sometimes on plinths. three and four channel chasers too! Strobes, arcline and fuzz lights. Coloured R090 lamps and possibly par38s (coloured) though these are silly HEAVY.

 

Look also at the solar 250 projector - there are some seriously interesting wheels inc some polaroid effects that seem to move as the polaroid rotates.

 

As for theatre, the lighting was more likely to be tungsten in big bubbles so may be warmer and less bright, also the lanterns leaked more light than modern lanterns. However many of the 80s lanterns are possibly still in use, still a box with a lens and a lamphouse!

[bjkered]

.

 

Would I be a bad LD if I ignored the fact that it was an 80's show and did what I want to do which is Macs and LED pars, probably :)

 

 

I would say yes you were a bad LD if the Brief was an 80's Look.. Talk to the Producer/director about your ideas using Photos etc. Then do the design They will also have ideas about look and style etc

[niclights]

If it were 80's concert look then surely just pars & ACL's. But, while LED was not around, light boxes were and something like Pulsar Chromapanel could be very TOTP. Personally I would definitely not try to use movers.

[gareth]

What Nic said - if you're looking for the 80's concert lighting look, lots of parcans, ACLs and blinders are the order of the day.

[techsupport]

Ah the 80s well actually 1979 ..... big tours big rigs... take a look at

 

Queen

 

Live Killers LP cover

 

Designer

Jimmy Barnet

 

 

Provider

TFA Electrosound, with ESP equipment

 

Power

 

Lots and lots

 

Rig

 

Pars about 500 plus front truss

 

main grid covered almost entire stage

 

red , green and open white.

 

serious heat source and power drain.

 

Others

 

Iron Maiden

 

Massive PAR rig

 

huge power

 

Cheers

techsupport

[Ynot]

OK, I'm going to jump in on this one.

Now first off, I've not seen this show, but as it's coming to my venue in the Autumn, I looked into it a little for curiosity's sake.

 

The show is a story set IN the 80's, with 80's songs performed by the characters - so it's likely in the same sort of scope as WWRY, or Mamma Mia in that respect, though I don't think it was a West End production - as it seems to have started in Australia, that would be logical to assume.

 

With the theme story in mind, whilst I agree that lighting for the show would need to reflect the style of the genre, it's perhaps not exclusively so when it comes to today's kit. Of course I wouldn't expect to see LEDs as part of the set being eye-candy, though it would certainly be acceptable to use LEDs if you could to emulate a specific type of effect. The same would go, I gues, for modern movers. Yes, the disco scene back then (and yes, I was definitely around as a twenty-something in the 80's) usually comprised loads of helicopters, barrel lamps and all things that could be built from coloured pin spots and twizzly motors. But as you'd find that sort of effect relatively rare these days, it wouldn't be difficult to replicate it with maybe some scanners or moving heads. After all, the idea is to create the effect of the lighting which accompanied the music then, not necessarily go all out to use the actual kit (though finding some to put on view would definitely help the impression).

 

Think of it in the way that we often use electric candles to emulate the naked flames that were used a hundred years ago. The audience likely know that it's an effect, and will accept it as such. Suspension of disbelief - the watch-phrase we (should) all live by in the theatre...

 

The trick, however, is to USE the tools of today to create the scenes. It's already been said that one 'favourite' of the time was simple chases of colour splodges on a white wall/cyc - that's one thing LEDs could well do quite effectively IF you have them. If you must have (or already do have) movers in your rig, then great they can be very useful, but DON'T be tempted necessarily to do all the modern complex movement patterns. That sort of 'look' wasn't prevalent back then. yes the early VLs were coming up on the big R & R tours, but certainly not in the discos.

 

But the key is that this is a show - not just a collection of 25 year old songs that need disco lighting. As with ANY show, the lights need to add something to the performances, not just be there to flish-flash to the music (even though in some cases that may be the case!). What I don't believe it iIS is a pop concert on stage...

 

Oh - and a £2500 budget for LX? Is this for a pro show or am-dram?

 

Either way, unless you're putting this into a full sized stage and taking a wage (or wages) out of that, I'm sure you could get a whole stack of interesting kit WELL within that! I know I could...

[Ian_P]

Agree with everything Ynot has said.

 

However, to get the type of lighting I was doing in the 80's, try lighting with 3 JFR fresnel, 4 Biscuit tin floods, a Furse batten, some baynet holders, and a few hanks of NCB shot-firing wire....

[Jram]

I have tried looking on the net for pictures of 80's gigs and have not really had any luck

It might be worth googling Ross Halfin and Anton Corbijn. Both are noted photographers of the decade, Halfin for his work with Iron Maiden, Ozzy, and a hundred others, Corbijn for his work with Depeche Mode and U2 as well as many many more.

 

Both have had books of their photographs published. If google images doesn't help you, the library or ebay might.

 

And if all else fails, Queen's "Live at Wembley" and Iron Maiden's "Live After Death" DVDs should give you an insight.

[oli]

:)

 

I look forward to the day in 2020 when someone asks what was the lighting like in the late 90s early 00s :(

 

Always love the wealth of knowledge and experience on BR :D