Ken Coker Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 Yes; don't be lazy. Lots of opportunities for trying things out - does WYG really work being one of them. Some nice wireless DMX LEDs should help maintain your interest. Yes, I know they're not IP rated for outdoors, but that can be overcome. Something I've always wanted to try is to bounce setting sunlight off of reflectors, though even I have yet to find anyone mad enough to let me try it. Anycase, getting away from the fetishism of commodities, "MSND" is a great play and no opportunity to light it should be missed. One could light it every day of one's life and still not exhaust its possibilities. It is also almost impossible for even the most knobhead of directors to ###### up. Sorry if this almost sounds like enthusiasm. Obviously, I'll be happy to rent you a fine, PC based lighting controller!! Get on with it KC
kerry davies Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 Aah, the old bronze mirror trick, Ken, Aeschylus would be proud of you. Figured that Minack would be the site for that technique. I'd somehow missed the fact it was the Dream, did that in Russian in Castell Coch with a mega-rig of par cans which took out the councils somewhat dubious 3-phase fusing. My original simplicity of ideas may have been a little too little and you can indeed play nicely with it. If you can get creative with the trees as a signifyer it could work nicely but MSND is an LD's wet dream to work on, go for it!
Andrew C Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 Figured that Minack would be the site for that technique.Only trouble is that there is nowhere to put the mirrors. Maybe a huge tower at the top of the cliff... Hmmmmm...
kerry davies Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 You don't put them anywhere, Andrew, the chorus gets to wave highly polished bronze tea-trays around while declaiming "Woe, woe and thrice, woe!" whilst wandering about on the "battlements". That's my interpretation, at least. :D At Minack they can be stationed on the walls and rocks and balconies 'cos, after all, they're only the chorus.
Andrew C Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 Rats. Won't work then. The sun sets behind the audience and the cliffs. Suppose you'd get some light off the sky, but once the sun starts setting you'd loose the light fairly early
Don Allen Posted March 14, 2011 Posted March 14, 2011 The audience always takes away the last scene as their momento so it is worth while ensuring you light the last scene for good effect. It is a gradual fade and seems wa waste of power having your lights on at the start when it is daylight, but that way the audience will not notice the transition. Doing a show outdoors allows you to take advantage of trees etc. If you find you are in a courtyard with only buildings, try some abstract angles with PAR56's to break up the flat industrial shapes of the building walls. Use tight angles so you have lots of shadows.
paulears Posted March 14, 2011 Posted March 14, 2011 Don't forget midge/mozzi repellent - as the sun fades and your lights take over, they attract every creature from miles around!
lite_lad Posted March 20, 2011 Posted March 20, 2011 a westend venue with enough power for 50k of dimming wouldnt they have a touch more? http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif
J Pearce Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 Well show was tonight and all went well. Politics made it a 7pm start and an abridged script meant we were done by 9, but the lights still made a good impact :) We kept it simple, maintaining a basic white wash from the start and adding tree uplighters and festoon at appropriate moments. It was a young cast and adding complexities was not a great idea! Sun and parcans complemented each other beautifully. There should be some photos on the school website in a few weeks, I'll post back as and when.
Big Chief Running Brail Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 When I used to work on Open air opera we used to focus overnight starting with the fiddly stuff whilst it was dark and then race to finish before the sunrise. It was generally the backlight that got done last, without gel until locked off as by this time it would be too light to see a 119 backwash! We would plot over the rehearsal and then tweek late evening after it. Some LDs needed reminding to plot all of the Act 1 cues with circuits at full and keep the artistic stuff for later in the show.
Andrew C Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 Some LDs needed reminding to plot all of the Act 1 cues with circuits at full and keep the artistic stuff for later in the show.You can try to do some arty stuff in Act 1, I've tried (not very hard) to create a night scene; at 8:00 this week. Doesn't work of course, but I had to try!
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