SceneMaster Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Lighting Style for Grease…. Any ideas…? Ok I know it is a big loud modern musical and have been on a school lighting crew for it before so know the shoe…. but now I am the designer for a big production of it by another school (their head of drama, is my old drama teacher)… anyway… I was just wondering about people’s ideas, lighting style ect… for the show… I have my own ideas but it’s always good to see what others think… Being a school production this is a massive budget even though it is a big show bye the school. I will post details about the venue tomorrow but to give you an idea we are talking about 40 light probably, lots of colour and maybe two movers for moving/rotating gobos if the style of the design calls for it… Well anyway what do you think…? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lxdave Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Last time we did Grease, we had a general wash and used 10 Source4 Parnels. They were all fitted with colour scrollers, and we had the stage literally changing colour which looked really effective. Otherwise, have some profiles with scrollers fitted, and have areas changing colour. Mirror balls tend to be popular - especially if you can get a really good focus. I reccomend two profiles with irises for the desired effect - however people continue to use Patt23's with them plate things with a hole in. Movers are a good idea, otherwise what about the Chroma Q mirror attachment? And in addition to that you could use those HES Source4 colour changer things. But theres my 2P in the ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Glitzy musical isn't it so traditionaly it would incorperate: a starcloth maybe (for that awful sandy song and a few others- the dance for instace), neon signs as practicals flown in (seen quite a few versions of grease that have used this), pars with scrollers to change the colour often etc. etc. You could of course (if it blended with the set designers designs, costume etc.) go at it from a completly different angle and try and shrug off all the stereotypical musical lighting effects (mirror balls, starcloths, neons, lots of 'wiggiling') and give it a completly differnet look. I hope you get what I mean- thats what I would be tempted to do! Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 I like the idea of a neon sign... does anyone know where to get one? Saying either grease or saying grease with the car… I don’t want to get one made specially as this is a low budget show… I presume I could just connect it to a switch pack or a dimmer channel set to switch mode so it could be plotted into the lx desk states? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 I don't think you will find one with Grease on it that you can hire however for effect (there's a cafe scene or something ins't there) you could get a cafe or Open one. These are quite common and you may be able to come to arrangment with your loal neon sign shop re: renting one. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 QUOTE(SceneMaster @ 26 Feb 20 05, 08:47 PM) I like the idea of a neon sign... does anyone know where to get one? Saying either grease or saying grease with the car… I don’t want to get one made specially as this is a low budget show… I presume I could just connect it to a switch pack or a dimmer channel set to switch mode so it could be plotted into the lx desk states? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> There are real problems with neon signs. They operate at HIGH voltage. Think 10kV or so. A workable option is to use UV reactive paint or tube and some UV source when the sign needs to be illuminated. I've done it with cutouts & gauze for sky lines for New York for something or another. I'm not saying you can't use neon, but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 Sure… I know what you mean… the sign would be very close to the actors heads which would be a safety issue. How about florescent tubes I think I have seen some in different shapes or I may just have been seeing neon ones I don’t know, can you get florescent tubes in different shapes? I remembered seeing a grease sign on peters (our admin’s) site a while back when I was looking through his shows… I’ll just see if I can find it… Edit: Here it is… Peter what exactly is the sign and how did you do it? http://fp.kirkup.plus.com/peter/images/preset.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 This is where I ask a question that makes me look stupid but will inform me and others . Is a neon not just a Florescent with a differnt gas running through it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 That sign looks more like a projection or a backlit perspex sign than a neon sign to me. May be wrong but I am sure Peter will enlighten us Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 Oh… yep I wasn’t implying peters sign is neon at all… well it may be neon backlit but I doubt it… what I mean by neon sign is the small tubes that spell out words like you have at cafes ect… I know florescent and neon are completely different (I presume different gases ect) florescent also only requires 230v (on domestic mains types) not thousands of volts and florescents also needs a starter… does neon? Could someone explain the exact differences if I have missed any out (I know this is a little )… Thanks anyway… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 This is where I ask a question that makes me look stupid but will inform me and others . Is a neon not just a Fluorescent with a differnt gas running through it ?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Big difference between fluorescents and neon is that old fashioned flu tubes used a starter (a bimetal strip) that heated the cathodes and this momentary highish voltage started the discharge cycle, ionising the inert gas inside, producing UV which impacts on the powder coating on the tube, making it fluoresce. (God that was a long sentence). The initial start up voltage might reach a few hundred volts before falling back down to the running voltage. Strictly speaking, these tubes should be termed hot-cathode types, as the filament each end needs to be hot to start the cycle. Neons are by contrast, cold cathode devices. The cathodes run at much higher voltages, 15,000 or higher. If you see one, look for the power supply unit nearby - usually if outside there will be a firemans switch close by too - obvious reasons really. Watch out for these power units they really hurt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 well it may be neon backlit but I doubt it I didn't mean neon backlit I meant more backlit with either floods or fresnels. Thats what it looks like to me at least. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 Much more low tech than that, I'm afraid. Three 8' x 4' sheets of hardboard, painted pink. The lettering was cut out of furthur sheets of 8'x4' and painted black before being stuck to the front of the sign. Small (fairly light size) holes were drilled around the inside edge of all the letters, and various sets of fairy lights were poked through the holes. Small strips of gaffa tape held those in place, with some cable clips for good measure (to stop the sets of lights falling out if the gaffa failed.) I then lit the sign from the front using follies pink (no swatchbook to hand). Two SLs focussed into a square shape, at 45° angles. (Flat on angle, as the balcony was my highest rigging position. This worked well as any spill was lot onto the blacks at the back rather than falling onto the stage). When the houselights were taken out, I crossfaded to the fairy lights on the letter G lit, then follow on cues illuminated R E A S E in time with the first bar of the overture. It got a round of applause. Incidentally, the sign was flippin heavy. It was hung on a hemp set, and took three full grown men to fly out after the overture. We did have a 4"x2" structure behind the hardboard to support the cabling and flying wires. If I'd had the resources, I would've preferred to build a box-steel frame which would've been lighter. One word of advice. If you go down this route (and I'd thoroughly recommend it - its still my favorite effect), be careful where you're drilling the holes for the lettering. My old school stage still has the word GREASE embossed into the wooden floor.Picshttp://fp.kirkup.plus.com/peter/images/dscf0128.jpghttp://fp.kirkup.plus.com/peter/images/dscf0129.jpghttp://fp.kirkup.plus.com/peter/images/Grease%20Sign.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted February 27, 2005 Author Share Posted February 27, 2005 Would you advise me to include a follow spot or even better two follow spots (if I am going to have a follow spot in my design I might as well have two) in my design? I know it is often traditional to have them for musicals and especially Grease as I have seen and worked on Grease shows using them before but are they really needed? (I am not talking in terms of cost or man power to operate them just whether the show actually calls for use of them in the design) Any thoughts… I would appreciate people who have done Grease before to tell me what they had in terms of a rig and whether they had follow spots or not. Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted February 27, 2005 Share Posted February 27, 2005 I really wanted not to have a followspot for Grease, but my director insisted on it. It ended up being fairly useful, as last minute an entrance was changed to through the auditorium and it meant I could light the character without havnig to program some horrible moving-head fades. Go with what the director wants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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