theatre intel spots

[gareth]

Lightjocky, when is your production at the Bridgewater Hall?

[ChrisBogg]

Lightjocky, when is your production at the Bridgewater Hall?

 

Allow me to clarify a few things. I worked for the technical dept at the Bridgewater Hall for a few years and still work as a freelancer there sometimes.

 

The Post comes from a student involved in a school speech day at the hall. The first half of the event is a speech day and the second, is normally an abridged version of a musical. The last one was Joesph. As the event is not a Bridgewater Hall promoted event, nor is it a public event (school parents and friends only) its not in the 'whats on guide' and I guess still counts as a school production.

 

The school in question has a sizable budget and their past productions have been very reasonable. The problem in the past and I would imagine is still the case, is that, the hall is a 2500 seat concert hall not a theatre. Time restraints and rigging positions are often a compromise and truss flying heights are often obscured by PA or other parts of the buildings structure.

 

What the O/P is asking (and maybe not explaining very well!) is that he will not be able to rig or focus himself and as the house has some Mac 2000s, will they do the job that he wants?

 

I'm sure that as part of the school lighting team, this is an opportunity for him/her to get involved in lighting in a professional venue (all be it not a theatre) and lets be frank, get a taster of the problems we all face in our daily work!

 

I can see that reading the posts would not explain the O/Ps point very well, and so thought, id just jump in and help the situation along with some insider knowledge! hehe.

 

Chris

[lightjocky]

thank you very much for this chris this is correct and I am doing this for experience and I enjoy what I do and would love to carry this career on for many years to come.

 

why must all posts any one does in this forum turn in to critisimn and bad points against the poster I joined this for advice and help in my LD and not to be told the event is made up or not real !!

 

Moderation: Please don't keep quoting all the original posts - it's very tiresome to read and totally unnecessary. I have removed a huge quote from this post.

[gareth]

I suggest you read again what I wrote. I didn't suggest that your event was "made up or not real" - I merely asked, out of curiosity, when it was, as it wasn't shown on the Bridgewater Hall website.

[dave singleton]

With the greatest respect the easiest way to make sure people dont go down those lines is to make every post very clear and give as much info as you physically can do first time round. That will stop people thinking other wise. I have been caught out in the past and branded a spotty school LD but experience has taught me the best way forward.

 

Also, add as much info as you can to your profile, although it doesnt seem asthough people would be interested thats the first place people go to understand what they're dealing with.

[tokm]

Got to second Gareth & Dave's comments.

 

Sorry if we all sound like criticising old farts, but you told us you were doing a production at the venue, which didn't make sense (for the reasons I stated in my previous post) clarifying that it was a section of the show in a 'speech day' and giving more accurate info all round would have saved a lot of this.

 

Good luck with your show.. and in case your still not sure. YES MAC 2k's ARE SUITABLE FOR WHAT YOU NEED THEM TO DO :P hehe

 

Tom

[Zephan]

I was the lighting designer for my schools production of Les Miz 3 years ago. we had no moving units. Les mis does not need any moving lights. the one possible scene that needs any sort of motion effect is Javert's death. on broadway, they use a gobo rotator. you dont even need that much. movers are a waste of money. use the money to rent scrollers or something, so you can use more specials. the entire rig consisted of 25 scrollers and 102 specials, all source 4 lekos. no movers needed. it programs easier, too

[WiLL]

Quick answer, with no criticism or sounding like an old fart.

 

Mac 2k's are lovely, you could use them to cook a donkey at 5 paces. I think you'll find them easily bright enough.

[niall]

I was the lighting designer for my schools production of Les Miz 3 years ago. we had no moving units. [snip]

Read the thread!

[WillW]

I was the lighting designer for my schools production of Les Miz 3 years ago. we had no moving units. Les mis does not need any moving lights.

 

I hate to go OT but the above comment has been said by several people (not just the quoted one) and I feel the need to reply (even though I know its a standard argument).

 

Movers are not only useful for 'moving live'. They are very useful in many ways for anything all the way to naturalistic Shakespeare. Even if only using them as rig multipliers (i.e. using the same lantern for multiple purposes), they can be extremely useful. Some thought needs to be given as to whether conventials might be cheaper, but once one mover is doing the job of 4 specials, you might find that it becomes more economical. Saying 'Les Mis' does not need moving lights is not a statement that can be made, the decision varies from design to design, and from designer to designer.

 

And so, slightly more on topic - if you have 4 Mac 2k's, they'll do any special type job required - assuming they're rigged in a useful place to get the right angles. You have to remember with a moving light to consider not only what it's lighting, but where it's lighting it from, and the effect of the resulting angle - e.g. a light rigged in the middle of FOH might be great for a spot USC, but for a spot all the way over to Stage Right might be too close to sidelight, and won't light someones face properly.

 

 

Will

p.s. I apologise if there are any words run together in the above post, my spacebar is dodgy, and I've got anoyed to the extent that I've stopped checking.

[dwh]

movers are a waste of money. use the money to rent scrollers or something, so you can use more specials. the entire rig consisted of 25 scrollers and 102 specials, all source 4 lekos. no movers needed.

Hold on a moment... Given the option of 102 Source 4s or a couple of movers, I know which I'd find a) cheaper, b) easier to rig and c) easier to power...

 

For that matter, you really used 102 specials in a school production? Wow.

[Ynot]

Hold on a moment... Given the option of 102 Source 4s or a couple of movers, I know which I'd find a) cheaper, b) easier to rig and c) easier to power...

So do I...

102 conventionals ANY time!

A handful of movers can NEVER replace a good, well positioned rig of fixed lanterns (providing those were the right lanterns in the right places).

OK, it may take longer to rig a hundred lanterns, but I'd challenge you to do a decent job with even a dozen moving fixtures compared to my 102 S4's!!

[dave singleton]

With the greatest respect Y-not, your wrong.

 

This is actually a topic that doesnt boil down to personal preference. The long and the short is IF you choose the right head for the application and design with movers in mind it can and will produce the same effects.

 

People really need to get out of this "movers are evil, and should only be used as a pimped version of a disco effect" type mind set.

 

Yes movers could never replace a show that has run with a generic rig and try to reproduce exactly the same effetcs. It takes a new design, but you can still achieve the same effects if you know what your doing.

 

Its like sound, a system is only as good as the person(s) riding it.

 

Instead of give me 12 Mac 2ks, or give me 102 Source 4's, give me whatever suits the show and I'll use it to suit!

[Bryson]

Actually Dave, Ynot has an excellent point. What movers cannot do (unless you get clever like the original Miss Saigon) is move along the bar. Those 12 movers cannot recreate the same number of angles as the 100+ S4s. And at the end of the day, you can only turn on 12 lanterns at a time. You are unlikely to get a cover with those 12.

[dwh]

Hold on a moment... Given the option of 102 Source 4s or a couple of movers, I know which I'd find a) cheaper, b) easier to rig and c) easier to power...

So do I...

102 conventionals ANY time!

A handful of movers can NEVER replace a good, well positioned rig of fixed lanterns (providing those were the right lanterns in the right places).

OK, it may take longer to rig a hundred lanterns, but I'd challenge you to do a decent job with even a dozen moving fixtures compared to my 102 S4's!!

Sorry Ynot, I should've mentioned when I said, I was vaguely thinking about this application, where we've specifically been told space and rigging points are limited (though apparently there are no budgetary issues!)