Design Issues and Solutions -

[Hypermay]

Hi, i'm a High school Sophomore and i'm running lights for our school's production of "Twelfth Night" and my director wants me to come up with a way for the light to somehow be sparkley? I'm trying to figure out how to do this in an inexpensive way. I'v already spent whaats considered to be a larger amount of money on this show by buying new things. New cyc gels, over 20 lamps, and an Oceana DMX by chauvet. Our theatre department isn't exactly poor but isn't exactly financially safe to be spending massive amounts of money. Is there a Gel or something that i could purchase to use?

Also, i'm having a tough time understanding how to use the Oceana. I'm not the most familiar with DMX and the manual is translated into english so it doesn't make very much sense. Is there a way to tell it to start on whe function i want? There are the ten switches on the back but i don't understand how that works. Our board does have DMX but we don't know how to use it so we have the basic controller.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[adude23]

What you want are EGG STROBES!
I'm not sure if that's what you call them in the states but in the UK that's what they're called. . . Here's a link to what i'm talking about. .

Amazon.com: Egg Strobe: Electronics

They're not a full on strobe they're a tiny little strobe that flashes every second. . . when you've got a tonne of them they all flash alternatively and look sparkly!

Oh and remember because they're strobes they can't be dimmed!

As for Oceana sorry i can't help you there!

[adude23]

Sorry mate just read you're bit about oceana again!

The ten switches are called 'Dip Switches' or 'Binary'
The ten switches are used to give the fixture an 'address'
I assume you understand addressing fixtures etc.?
If not PM me!

Here is the link to a 'Dip Switch Calculator'
Type in the number that you want it to be addressed to on you're desk and then it will tell you which of the little switches have to be 'ON'

[adude23]

Here's the dip switch calculator. . .Dip Switch Calculator - Ukslc.org

[icewolf08]

Lets start with some simple questions. What lighting controller do you have? That will help us give you more directed advice. Also, if you can, tell us what kind and how many dimmers you have so that we can have more info about your space.

The manual that I found for the Oceana on Chauvet's website seems to be in plain English, not hard to read. Look on page 9 for info about setting the DMX address. What you need to do is set the DMX address of the Oceana higher than the highest dimmer number that you have, how you then hook it up to your system is then dependent on what console you have and how it is hooked up.

As for sparkle, that is an odd request. You could mix some silver glitter into some glue that will dry clear and wash it over the set. then when the light hits things, they will sparkle. As far as sparkling in the air, not very easy to do. You could try haze, but it won't give you so much of a sparkle, but it will let you see the beams of light through the air. This of course if if you are taking her to literally mean sparkle. It could be that she just wants clean bright looks that make the actors pop.

[gafftaper]

Yeah what exactly do you mean by sparkle?

If you could do it perfectly, what would it look like to the audience?

[adude23]

Egg strobes hidden in the set would be ideal

[Les]

Egg Strobes are also known as "Star Strobes". At least that's what I call them. Maybe I made it up. Anyway, many models allow a random flash sequence. Also, some can screw straight into a medium screw base while others simply hang from their cords. Cheaplights.com used to have them for $10 each.

[soundlight]

What exactly do you mean by sparkley? Star strobes/egg strobes/mini strobes are a great solution to one meaning of sparkley, but to the other dozen or so they're relatively useless. Does this mean a rotating gobo? Perhaps a rotating gobo behind a static gobo? Does some part of the set need to be sparkly and this effect is to be achieved with light? Defining "sparkley" would be a great place to start here. I agree that egg strobes are a great way off achieving random "sparkle" around the set if used in the right places.

[BillESC]

My read of his intent is to recreate the sparkle one sees when moonlight strikes rippling water. For that, egg strobes might be overkill.

For a better understanding of the intent, What scene will this play in? What does the set look like in this scene? Do you have any fly space? Is there a set change prior to this scene? And afterwards?

I have an inexpensive thought but need to know if it would be practical.