1/2 and 1/2 or all vs all....read on..

[bhallerm]

So, I have a dance studio that comes in twice a year and the main portion of the stage (especially the more upstage part) is usually lit from above with warm and cool lights. I use my 1-3 E with 6" Fresnels and pars/parnels angled across the stage. I.e. The lights on SL of center are angled toward SR and vice versa. Just kind of how I picked up previous people who did it.

My question comes in the warm cool balance. I have done 1/2 the stage cool pointing one way and 1/2 the stage warm pointing the other...but can't remember if I have alternated W-C-W-C on both sides. (it's late...sorry....)

I'm also helping cover the stage from my catwalk with 36° S4's in matching colors.

I do remember that when I do ALL on one side or the other, I have to (understandably) fill in the off side of the stage more with other lights....

My gut tells me that the alternating warm/cool on either side would be more beneficial. I'm covering an area about 25' wide, and the flood settings on the fresnels usually does a respectable coverage job.

Sorry for the rambling...just finally getting a more experienced opinion on how these should or could be mixed. FYI, we're not talking deep colors here. Maybe a couple shades darker than a Bastard Amber and Special Lavender

Thanks for any advice....

BJH

[65535]

If it looks good it is good.

if you were to drop the intensity of the cool gelled instruments they would eventually reach a pretty close color to the warm at a lower output, practically speaking if you have the range of color you want and it looks good don't worry about it.

[techieman33]

Whatever you like the looks of it just fine. I usually have a full warm wash and a full cool wash, sometimes 3 or 4 colors depending on what I'm lighting then I have it all available to me to make different looks.

[bhallerm]

Thanks guys. I was hoping I would get that answer. I know from doing this a couple times that I can add some "warm" to the cool to augment any lack of light the cool might have. I guess I just get picky on the outsides of the stage....but that doesn't matter as much.

Things like this make me crazy with lighting. I'm an pro audio engineer/musician by official training but have developed my lighting over the last few years as a TD. So many "rules" in audio. Other than the actual physics of beam angle/temp/style of light...soooo many variables and flexibility. I just have to remember to not over think it. If all else fails...we'll program my VL-1000's in and fill things in. LOL

Any more comments and or random thoughts are always welcome.

On a side note.... Side light for dances... I've been putting two Leko's on floor standing trees. Never done "shin busters" but thinking of adding my two extra fresnels right off the floor to complement two lekos up higher. Any tips for side light for dance shows??

BJH

[techieman33]

The more the merrier for side light when it comes to dance. I usually do shins, waist, chest, head, and over head with different colors for different looks.

[DuckJordan]

Breakup paterns are your friends as well...

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[bhallerm]

Breakup paterns are your friends as well...

Ya know...I should know this.. I did an awesome lighting design with crazy breakups for Midsummer Night's Dream last spring...never thought of it for the dance shows. Would have to do them from the CW though since I'm using pars/parnels/fresnels for the main lights on stage....

For the side light, unfortunately, I'm now limited to three lights per side due to dimmer slots. I have two extra fresnels, 2-3 extra S4's and a ton (40?) or so Colortran 50/500's available. But I try to avoid my CT's now with the new S4's.

BJH

[mstaylor]

Just remember in lighting, there are norms or suggestions to follow but in actual practice you can use anything anyway if it looks good to you. It's kind of like using 57 and 58s, they are workhorses that get the job done but there are other options. Lighting you try to get certain washes from certain types of lights but if you want to try something else, go for it. It is only wrong if it is ugly.

[derekleffew]

...My question comes in the warm cool balance. I have done 1/2 the stage cool pointing one way and 1/2 the stage warm pointing the other...but can't remember if I have alternated W-C-W-C on both sides. (it's late...sorry....)

The latter sounds like quite an odd bastardization of the McCandless Method - ControlBooth . The only way that could work, without looking very peculiar, is if each of the four systems (two from each side) could fully wash the stage. This is known as double-hanging for color. You probably don't have enough instruments for that.

The vast majority of dance lighting comes from the sidelight, with low intensity, dead-on straight frontlight as necessary to see faces if required.
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I'd avoid using a Fresnel spotlight as a shin-kicker; as a head-high (with barn-door) or above it might be fine.