Saturated Color Help?

[marshmolly123]

Hey guys! So my high school is about to do a production of Honk! the musical and there are several scenes in which we need very saturated colors (e.g. saturated blue for pond scenes, saturated green for a frog scene). However, I don't want to turn all the actors blue or green...

It's not as huge a deal with the frog scene since the frogs themselves will be green, but with the other scenes, I'm trying to think of a way to make the actors look at least mostly normal-colored, while still lighting the pond. For lighting positions, we have 3 electrics with 6-foot-long pipe-end tail-downs, a fourth electric without, a catwalk, and then box booms from closer to the front of the house (around 5' in front of the stage), and box booms midway through (around 40' in front). We can also use floorplates.

We have a good inventory of lights:

• Source 4s (x113)

• 10° Barrels (x6)
• 19° Barrels (x15)
• 26° Barrels (x45)
• 36° Barrels (x40)
• 50° Barrels (x12)

• 6" Fresnels (x21)
• Source 4 Pars (x15)
• Par 64s (x25)
• Studio Spot 250 (x5, but one is broken at the moment)

[icewolf08]

Are you trying to light a piece of scenery or the floor? If so, put your saturated colors to the sides, back and/or top and then use your fronts for face light. It is not uncommon to use deep blues and the like for top and/or backlight, you just need to play with levels to achieve the look you want. Many people also push color from side positions and then just reveal faces with a little help from neutral colored front light.

However, remember if you are trying to create the pond with light, you are going to have to deal with shadow issues no matter how you light it.

[rochem]

First of all, that's a VERY nice inventory, especially for a high school. I'm jealous . But anyways.

Ice is right, you see this done all the time in professional shows. Lay down a deep saturated blue as a system of high-ange backlights, maybe R74 or R83 depending on where you're going with it. If you still have room in your inventory, lay in a slightly less saturated side wash from your electrics and tail-downs, maybe R79ish - actually you may want it a little less saturated than that. Finally, gel your frontlights in a neutral or cool front color, somewhere around R60 or maybe R53. Then just play with levels and balance it out. It is not uncommon for even big-budget shows to have only one or two colors of front light, and then totally change setting and appearance by pumping in lots of saturation from the backs and sides. Note that these colors aren't exact by any means, just some ideas off the top of my head - what colors you use will be dictated by the specific show.

[marshmolly123]

Thank you both so much for your help! Perhaps I'll use the 4th electric with a bunch of par cans -- it's usually full of those anyway, and it'll be good for backlighting. I'll use the pipe end tail downs too.

Also, to respond to Michael, yes! We're very lucky to have a terrific drama program at our school. Our technical director is brilliant, and he makes it all work