LXbydesign Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Going back on the mirror ball rigging for a second, the other altenative is to use 4 half- mirror balls. Place them on a good surface on the stage with no obstructions much, shine a profile onto them and hey presto. Its a great effect, Or as mentioned, one under the drum riser and one each side of the stage (maybe on the PA stack). Gives a nice multibeam look and no hassle with rigging mirror-balls, other than just focusing the lamps onto them Maybe u could get some LED batterns from your contact. Needs minimal power and easy to control with there own set programs (thinking of the 1044's) for instant "lightshow"!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afterworks Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Just echoing abit of whats been said really. The fan and haze is a must really. Putting the fan in a good spot will create a decent effect with the haze catch different parts of beams. Definately put out some floor cans, I'd pair some up in different areas of the stage. One effect I like is when floor cans are saved on a memory and then pars in the air are saved on another one, then you can flick between the 2 with the music, an easy dynamic effect. Also maybe think about using some pin spots around the stage to, with the haze out it looks cool seeing thin beams of light in contrast the par washes etc. Maybe put out a UV cannon or tube, they're peanuts to hire. With that amount of dimmers it might be an idea to see if you can another dimmer rack if you have the power output and also depending on how many lights you wish to use. Hope his helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick S Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 You could use the projector (minus screen) to do some interesting laser-ish effects, if you had enough haze in the air. There was a discussion on the video forum a few days ago about how haze + video projectors really didn't get on. I can't find the link off the top of my head, but the general consensus seemed to be it was a bad idea. Just something to take note of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Maybe put out a UV cannon or tube, they're peanuts to hire.Though it can be a nice effect you really need to have something for the UV to act on. Of course most whites in clothing tend to do work but in my experience having UV washing a stage can be a disadvantage when lighting normally. Used deliberately for a blacked-out intro and switched is nice. There was a discussion on the video forum a few days ago about how haze + video projectors really didn't get on. I can't find the link off the top of my head, but the general consensus seemed to be it was a bad idea. Just something to take note of.Some people have issues with mineral oil based hazers leaving residue on optics, but no real problem with the more traditional glycol/water base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sowndman Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 A pulsar masterpiece light console would be a better choice if you opt for DMX lights since it will do analog, midi, amx , and DMX all at the same time. I would look to hire some islolution IROC 7s moving mirrors. They have an msd250 discharge lamp so they realy pack in a lot of light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 A pulsar masterpiece light console would be a better choice if you opt for DMX lights since it will do analog, midi, amx , and DMX all at the same time.But at theprice of using a masterpiece. I know some people get on fine with them, and I regularly use one for generics and intelligents, but how can you expect someone to be able to pick it up and use it easily. If you want an analog signal, then why not use a demux? Much simpler. I would look to hire some islolution IROC 7s moving mirrors. They have an msd250 discharge lamp so they realy pack in a lot of light.Do you know of some where thta hires these, and if so how much they cost? Also, unless they are really cheap, in which case I can see an advantage, what do they do that a more respected manufacturer's product doesn't do better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamtastic3 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 The projector thing:I've noticed that when using haze, the blackest of black from projections is never trually black and therefore you see the surrounding projection area. Also if you have images using white (for example, for a tunnel effect your projection would be a white thin circle) the white 'bleeds' and is diffused with the haze, unlike a light source focused with a gobo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 For goodness sake, we are talking about a school talent show!!! You have hardly any budget or any people who know how to operate the kit. Remember the nice KISS principle? How long does the show last?What exactly will you have in terms of rigging, programming and rehersal time?Is it likely to run exactly as rehearsed or will you have to busk? I'd guess the response would be 'not long', 'not long' and 'haven't a clue' - The last question which is "will all the hard work be appreciated?" gets answered easily on every production we do - "NO". I'd be quite happy doing your show with a few colours up in the air, and a desk with flash buttons and a few manual faders - unless people were putting a product together that was worthy of a grand or twos worth of hire kit - is it really worth the bother? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubbs the Techie Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 Thanks everyone for all the ideas. As I am relatively inexperienced, if any of these ideas don't get used this time round they'll certainly be appreciated in the future! I am currently doing an awful lot of mock exams for GCSE, so I'm postponing any action on these ideas until the end of next week. Sometime I will wonder around checking our power supplies, dimmer channels, what lanterns we actually have etc. Thankyou also Matt, for confirming my suspicions about YSL: Been paying particular interest to this thread as I had a similar situation when I was at school. We used Yorkshire Sound and Light for a school production a few years ago, and like you say I'm pretty certain that they don't do much in the way of lighting now as most of the kit came from another hire company. I will investigate the suggestions for localish places I've had! And Paulears: How long does the show last?What exactly will you have in terms of rigging, programming and rehersal time?Is it likely to run exactly as rehearsed or will you have to busk? I'd guess the response would be 'not long', 'not long' and 'haven't a clue' - The last question which is "will all the hard work be appreciated?" gets answered easily on every production we do - "NO". - the answers are: 'around 2 hours', 'a lot of free time this term and a day long rehearsal' and 'last year went spot on we just had a turnip doing the lighting. This year I am in charge!' And will people appreciate it? I imagine so as we had complaints last year from bands and audience that the lighting was pants, so any improvement (I intend to make a big one :P) will be much appreciated! Cheers all,Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LXbydesign Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 hmmm, it does feel a bit like a discussion about a pre-rig for The Brits!!! - and I wouldnt wish that on anyone!! - but seriously, Pauls right. Its good to see you peeps being keen about all this, but it is in a school for goodness sake!!! - not Earls Court!! Most people wont give a s*** what the lighting looks like anyway as all they'll be watching their mates on-stage waiting for them to ######-up!! But its good to take pride personally in what your doing but its becoming a bit of a mission isnt it?!!! Its simple, just have a 3 or 4 colour wash of PARS at the back, some FOH profiles or fresnels - whatever you got, a bit of gobo wash to make the stage look nice, if there are any banners or posters see if you can stick an uplight on those, you will have your strobe for a bit of "oooh", you have your haze to pick all the beams up, get some DMX moonflowers aka the like - cheap and easy , put em along the back of the stage - looks great in haze and / or smoke and finally dot some Floor cans around and a couple under the drum riser for fun and there you have a perfectly varied lightshow that dosent cost the earth and looks good with some interesting states You dont need trussing and moving lights and scrollers and media servers!!! Walk before you run!!!! Actually sorry , just an afterthought, if you dont have one , why dont you hire a follow-spot / stand? That would be worth its weight in gold and you can light people easily and keep the stage looking pretty without washing everything out from FOH. If you went for the moon-flower idea you could have all the beams rotating and changing colour peridically on top of a nice rich colour wash from the PARS and with it all hazed up would look great..... Just an idea :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobitLight Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 And will people appreciate it? I imagine so as we had complaints last year from bands and audience that the lighting was pants, so any improvement (I intend to make a big one :P ) will be much appreciated!That's the thing! People don't notice it until it goes wrong! :) If everything goes smoothly you probably won't hear the audience saying 'the lighting/sound was good' but if it goes wrong you'll hear them saying 'the lighting/sound wasn't very good!' Anyway, our FOH lighting bars aren't in very good places! So I used the closest ones for actual FOH lighting and everything else (FOH that is) just pointing at the stage somewhere which I had on a bump button which I used as a kind off blinder effect. Ofcouse it wasn't as bright as a blinder but sudden bursts of light hiting the stage was pretty good for what we had! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubbs the Techie Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 Yeh our FOH bars are in c**p places! On the two sides of the room, means anything not a profile spills light everywhere, and anymore than 3 profiles on each and they're lighting each other up :P. We improvise with lighting stands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobitLight Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Well we have a few bars FOH but most are along the side, not facing the stage so if we want the light the middle, if that makes sense, we have to light from the back of the hall but which means that the light isn't very bright! :P It means that if we use the extention stage we have to use stands as it goes out just a little bit too far! Half a meter back and it would be fine! We had a lot more equipment than you do but we don't hire stuff in so have to make do with what we've got. I, like you, planned back well in advanced and made a full lighting plan including patching, etc, using an ordinary image editer! PM me if you want me to send them to you and discuss anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 For goodness sake, we are talking about a school talent show!!!Yes but... A talent show, rather than a play/opera etc is the ideal show to experiment on. They cry out for something flashy (if only to distract the audience form the "talent")Most people wont give a s*** what the lighting looks like anyway as all they'll be watching their mates on-stage waiting for them to ######-up!! But its good to take pride personally in what your doing but its becoming a bit of a mission isnt it?!!!And that is no reason not to give it your best shot. Only a school talent show, why bother? Because that school show is where professionalism is founded. Do your best here, and in future show if for no other reason than pride in your work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waster Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 A pulsar masterpiece light console would be a better choice A masterpiece is never a better choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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