LED tape

[sunray]

Even the best Directors are not necessarily good Lighting Designers.......(No, really..)

 

One of the LD's jobs is to take what Directors ask for and interpret it into something that will work. I would suggest you do as asked with the LED strips but also have some side light, G.C. etc ready that you can add to light the actors. otherwise you'll end up with the oft heard comment, "It looks lovely but I can't see the actors faces."

 

Belt and braces every time....

(no patronising intended :-)

You have that mistaken belief too?

One of our previous plays included a scene based in a 'village hall' in India during the war, the lighting brief was 'just like It aint hot Mum' ie exclusively footlights but not too strong. Initially I tried 3 fresnels but the ensemble especially Director said too strong and dimmed gave the wrong look. tried some 10W CW LED floods which looked good but the wrong colour, a row of 6 WW versions looked good, actors lit as requested with no spill apart from a border. 3 lit rehearsals later with no adverse comments.

The single performance and the director came on the intercom asking where the rest of the lighting is

From my position at the back of the hall I thought it looked right but at the debrief they were more concerned about that than their forgotten lines, missed cues, and even starting a scene with the scenes lead missing from stage.

 

[sunray]

ok the tape arrived and we knocked up 2 sticks on wheels with 1.6m of tape [1/3 of 5m] down one side.

 

It did the job for lighting the scene quite well, in fact very well at lighting the people as it danced past them. But the desired shadows don't work at all, a 3W GU10 [unexpectedly10W flood was far too bright] about 900mm above floor creates a lovely shadow effect but highlights the waist area. We're going to try adding a smaller lamp at head height next time, also experiment with the GU10 being at a different height on each tree.

 

[alistermorton]

If you want long, and more importantly hard shadows, you want a bright point source a long way off.

[david.elsbury]

I’m not surprised- that’s not how shadows work! :-) you could try using a Cob led spot to see if that will work?

[sunray]

If you want long, and more importantly hard shadows, you want a bright point source a long way off.

The objective is to create confusion by trees moving around and the lighting is on the trees to intermittantly light the actors and create the shadows, hopefully making the shadows dance around more than they would by static lights.

 

I'm not surprised- that's not how shadows work! :-) you could try using a Cob led spot to see if that will work?

I hit on that as soon as the request came in, I drew the parrallel with a fluo tube. We don't want the scene to be brightly lit [the LED tape is far too bright] and so far the GU10 looks like it is going to work [and there is a boxfull available], we will have to create a slot to restrict the horigontal spill which will be easy enough.

[andy_s]

If you want long, and more importantly hard shadows, you want a bright point source a long way off.

The objective is to create confusion by trees moving around and the lighting is on the trees to intermittantly light the actors and create the shadows, hopefully making the shadows dance around more than they would by static lights.

 

I'm not surprised- that's not how shadows work! :-) you could try using a Cob led spot to see if that will work?

I hit on that as soon as the request came in, I drew the parrallel with a fluo tube. We don't want the scene to be brightly lit [the LED tape is far too bright] and so far the GU10 looks like it is going to work [and there is a boxfull available], we will have to create a slot to restrict the horigontal spill which will be easy enough.

 

If you like what the LED tape does apart from the brightness, you could try a bit of Lee 299 1.2ND. Won't make the shadows any crisper though...

 

I was a bit confused by the Director's brief though - do they want patchy areas of gloomy semi-darkness where light doesn't penetrate, for a spooky atmospheric feeling, or to project recognisable silhouette shadows onto the surface of the scenery?

Edited January 11, 2020 by andy_s

[sunray]

 

If you like what the LED tape does apart from the brightness, you could try a bit of Lee 299 1.2ND. Won't make the shadows any crisper though...

 

I was a bit confused by the Director's brief though - do they want patchy areas of gloomy semi-darkness where light doesn't penetrate, for a spooky atmospheric feeling, or to project recognisable silhouette shadows onto the surface of the scenery?

The aim is for all front light to fade once they enter the woods, although I think we will need to just a touch. He then want's patchy light so the characters walk between dark and light.

He wants distinct shadows to be cast, mainly on the cyc but on the upstage trees too, we only require shadows, nothing recognisable.

The 8 trees will dance around to change the shape of the woods to split the characters and direct them to different places, so the 'patches' of light will alter.

The choreography isn't finalised yet but it looks like the trees will form an avenue then close in, behind a character to force him to a particular place and of stage, then the trees will regroup to a different avenue to force another in a different direction.

 

[sunray]

So the progress so far...

4 trees built on £10 skates from Lidl complete with a weight to improve stability, tree trunk and branches but only one decorated so far.

 

Kitted with battery, GU10 at differing heights and a switch .

2 rehearsals had us changing the switch to a button and deciding to reduce the original 8 moving trees to 6 and 2 static.

 

Looking very good and the routine works well.

 

This afternoon came the announcement the show has been cancelled...

 

[sunray]

So the progress so far...

4 trees built on £10 skates from Lidl complete with a weight to improve stability, tree trunk and branches but only one decorated so far.

 

Kitted with battery, GU10 at differing heights and a switch .

2 rehearsals had us changing the switch to a button and deciding to reduce the original 8 moving trees to 6 and 2 static.

 

Looking very good and the routine works well.

 

This afternoon came the announcement the show has been cancelled...

 

We've had a bit of a social gathering with wine and nipples and it seems the director and leading actress were having a ... lets say an adventure together, sadly our lead actors wife is the leading actress and their daughter is lead dancer directors wife is coreographer/prompt and owner of the dance group. All 5 have withdrawn from the show and pulled their assets. It's taken a week for this to be made public and despite the rest trying to work through the problems and reinstate it we've now decided it's too late to get it back on track in time for the narrow window for hall time.

[J Pearce]

Wine and nipples? Pulling assets?

 

Goodness me!

Edited February 1, 2020 by J Pearce

[david.elsbury]

You can’t make this s**t up!

[sunray]

Wine and nipples? Pulling assets?

 

Goodness me!

OOPS

Obviously finger problems at this end, but come to think of it they were usually fairly prominent on the lead actress chest and there have been some comments in the past by some of the older women... perhaps that's where it all started going wr(.)(.)ng.

You can't make this s**t up!

Oh yes you can...... it's called panto.

 

Well Darlings latest update...

3 of us walked home after our social gathering on Friday, 2 are women well into their 70's, so I walked a different way than intended to see them home and there was some chat about the events which had unfolded.

Apparently I made some comment about the affair being wrong, Maggie has just phoned to warn me to be careful as Mahgerie [correct spelling] has been seeing a married man she worked with since before she retired.

 

And 2 of the others who always appear to be avoiding each other at meetings seem to find lots of jobs for each other... So it seems I'm starting so get the gossip now after only 5 years.

Edited February 2, 2020 by sunray

[Charlotte_R]

Wine and nipples? Pulling assets?

 

Goodness me!

 

Are you telling me that you've never had a wine and nipple party? You've never lived.

[sunray]

Wine and nipples? Pulling assets?

 

Goodness me!

 

Are you telling me that you've never had a wine and nipple party? You've never lived.

Are you offering???

 

 

I'll bring the wine... any preference?

[sunray]

A tiny little update on this story...

Having had the, em... hiccup in proceedings, the company regrouped and restarted rehearsals a few weeks back, the show was booked in for April 4th.

Me thinks this show isn't destined for an airing.

Edited March 20, 2020 by sunray