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Lighting a comedy night


mal421

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Normally we deal with bands and the like but we have been approached to provide stage lighting for a local comedy night . I was thinking of using a couple of rows of par cans ( par cans is all I have available ) overhead using a mixture of cyan , magenta , pink and some light straw gells . A follow spot will also be used . As lighting is not really my forte can anybody offer some suggestions ?
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Normally we deal with bands and the like but we have been approached to provide stage lighting for a local comedy night . I was thinking of using a couple of rows of par cans ( par cans is all I have available ) overhead using a mixture of cyan , magenta , pink and some light straw gells . A follow spot will also be used . As lighting is not really my forte can anybody offer some suggestions ?

 

lighting for that sort of thing should be subtle during the show, but you can (if you want) make it a bit wild on entrance and exits. I agree with the light straw, however I would probably go for a true red and blue instead of cyans and magentas, and use them subtly to pick up highlights. I would also add a moderatly heavy frost if they are close to the performer.

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When ever I have lit stand-up comedy (only a few times) I have normally only used one main state throughout with maybe just a blackout or different state for the entrance exit. This state is normally a fair bit of front lighting (for obvious reasons) sometimes I have done this in the form of a follow spot, A general cover/ wash on the area which they are performing and a bit of backlight for example a fan of P64s just to make it look a bit nice.

 

HTH

 

Sam

 

Edit: Actually another thing if you want to make it a little more interesting - if there are any set pieces etc. then gently keylighting them can be nice sometimes

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<_< Oh, come one now Sam. I knnow you to be a bright lad. You've got to light one person chatting to an audience (and hopefully making said audience giggle a little) Make it look pretty, use a follow spot by all means, and keep it simple. Preset, main stage, post set.

 

Good look

 

-------------------------------------

Apologies Sam , I was reading the post above yours........ beg your pardon! :o

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Stand up comedy... well visibility is the important bit and like everyone else has said it's probably static during the act with something a little different for entrances and exits.

 

Personally I'd probably not use a followspot. Just make sure there is enough front light coverage to let the talent be seen wherever they wander around the stage. I'd add some (primary) colour from the sides (and preferably from behind if possible) Then probably stick some parcans on the floor producing an "interesting" pattern on whatever backing you have.

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If you watch Jack Dee Live At The Apollo on TV at the moment (and we had him at our place in the tour that led up to that gig) you'll find he uses a row of pars in a deep (primary?) blue as back light plus some general cover and a follow spot from the front. It works very well. In fact, in my opinion, having one strong colour works better for comedy and is less distracting than mixing several contrasting colours. They go for blue as that is the colour of Jack's suit.
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A good colour to use for backlight would be some sort of lilac as it is a neutral colour (it can make blues feel cold yet reds and straws feel warm) and highlights a persons stature well making it stand out from the background yet not being too saturated in tone.

 

Why not for a back wall, have a few pars pointing upwards with the beams spread vertcally up the wall in dark blue or red - that's always quite a nice feature.

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I agree with the things people say about not using followsports. Nothing worse than trying to Followspot Ken Dodd when he's on one of his 4 hour special shows and your sweating, your arm's numb and then he stands still for a long time.

 

General wash is good and nice cyc lighting works for me

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Thanks for all the help and suggestions . I am in the enviable position of having built the lighting gantry ( wonderful stuff Trilyte ) so tomorrow I will be mostly trying out all your ideas before taking the rig down and moving it to the venue next week . Once again thanks guys it is really appreciated .
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