Lighting a small fashion show

[fireball40k]

I lit a small fashion show as a favour on Friday in a school assembly hall. I used two bars of Par 56 on stands at the front corners of the catwalk (orange and straw gels), two PixelPar 90's on the floor at the front corners of the catwalk, two PixelPar 90s shining back onto the curtain backdrop (all for added colour interest and chases in the disco numbers) and made use of six permanently installed CCT fresnels (in open white) that were located in groups of two around three of the walls.

 

It all went off fine, but during rehearsals there were a few worries about blinding some of the punters around the catwalk as they looked in certain directions. So we kept everything as muted as possible while still being able to see the girls. But it made me wonder what the conventions are to lighting such a show where the audience are located all around and their eyelines are right where the light needs to be (i.e. on the models). I guess that you would hang a fair few lamps as high as possible, but what other tricks of the trade are useful to know? Particularly when your rigging options and budgets are severely limited (or non existent).

 

Thanks

[Simon Brockwell]

MR16 batons at the end of the catwalk work, particularly for when the models do their weird little pose and turn. Very illuminating!

I used to work on London Fashion Week and had literally hundreds of generic fixtures to light the catwalk, with these kind of gigs

it's more light the better and sometimes they can dazzle a bit. Best thing to do is keep your focus positions out of direct eye lines,

keep fixtures aimed at around a 45 degree angle and you should be fine. If all the lights are on the catwalk not too many should hit the audience, obviuosly depends on venue shape and lamp positions.

[Jivemaster]

The front row of guests may be there to be seen! Lots of steep lighting angles mean that less light is straight in the punters' eyes Lots of lights all over mean that the lights are bright but not so dazzling.

[timperrett]

For further reading on BR...

 

Check out this thread:

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?show...28236&st=15

 

and this thread:

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?show...;show=&st=0

 

Hope the comments there help

 

tp

[Pattern123]

Focus and positioning are key, I've done dozens of small catwalk shows with Par56's on stands or Par64's with 500w lamps, generally 2-4 on a stick one in each corner of the room or as close to 45 degrees off the corner of the catwalk as possible. By keeping the angles as close to 45 degrees as possible, it reduces the amount of spill onto the audience and even when it does happen makes it more 'comfortable' (Less 'blinding') Mainly the choice of fixture has been dictated by both price and set-up time. Rarely have they been on dimmers, due to both requirements.

[fireball40k]

Thanks for your responses guys.

 

I don't think that there'll ever be a budget available for anything special (or anything at all, over and above what I have already) so I think that a minor outlay on some Lee frost for the Par 56s might be a good investment for the next fashion show. For 300W Par 56 lamps, can anyone suggest which would be the best frost to go for. I want to soften the beams slightly but not take too much energy out of them, because they ain't that strong in the first place. Is colour correction also worth thinking about?

 

Cheers

[Jerome]

these might help...no?

[MrBoomal]

Thanks for your responses guys.

 

I don't think that there'll ever be a budget available for anything special (or anything at all, over and above what I have already) so I think that a minor outlay on some Lee frost for the Par 56s might be a good investment for the next fashion show. For 300W Par 56 lamps, can anyone suggest which would be the best frost to go for. I want to soften the beams slightly but not take too much energy out of them, because they ain't that strong in the first place. Is colour correction also worth thinking about?

 

Cheers

 

 

Rosco #132 would be my choice of frost. Try some lee 202 for colour correction.