I am new help

[Leech]

I just got in to my high school and i am in the tech class and I have wonted to do lights for a long time so what is some things to know to be good at lights i know some but not that much.

[Footer]

What kind of space do you have, what kind of lights, what kind of positions, how many dimmers, etc.... If you give us a little info about what you are able to do we might be able to give you some tidbits, but not everything you will need to know. If you can formulate some questions we can definitely help you. If you don't mind reading (and you really don't have a choice) do a search on here or amazon for lighting books and pick up a few of those.

[Leech]

I dont know but my old school is doing a play and they have asked me to help them.They are doing beuty and the beast. what is a good why to do the transformation and the rous thing

[celtictechie]

What do you need to know. Are you the lead LD or just the assistant. What kind of plans or ideas do you need. Are we helping you with the whole show or just a part that you are stuck on. It is ok to be new and you are we to ask question so ask. I have not done that yet but do know some who have. I have been an LD on and off for about three years. So ask a question.

Here what i think you have

25 pars can
15 lekeos
100 dimmers or more
and
A spot light
no fly sytem
please add or change anything here

James

[PhantomD]

Originally Posted by celtictechie

100 dimmers or more

Why do all you people have so many dimmers in a high school?!

[zac850]

If your fresh at this, I suggest you look through some of the basics. In that regard, here are some helpful websites I found:

good basic website about lights, dimmers, and such

Wikipedias entry on Stage Lighting

Another site of basics, more extremely basic color theory

Page includes links to information about power and color theory (and make sure you have a grasp of power to avoid overloading dimmers and circucts



Start there. We really can not help you with any specific questions until we know more specifics about your show. For instance, I would suggest that for the beast transformation you take the beast, fly him up over the stage and have a massive moving light move into the audience. At that moment he would drop his outer outfit revealing his prince costume.

Of course, unless you have a multi-million dollar budget, thats not going to happen.

Good luck, and enjoy it. My advice would be to read up on electrical theory (at least the basics of it) and then go out and plug things in and turn things on and try to make a cool look. Its art, have fun with it.

Zac

[kovacika]

Read, read, read. Scour the forum. Find a word you dont know, google it, or ask us. Youll start to learn a lot real quick.

[soundlight]

http://www.mts.net/~william5/sld.htm

[TechiGoz]

I agree.. lots of dimmers in American High-Schools it seems! Down here in Australia and even in Singapore we have like 2 racks of 12 channels! Well, where I am thats all we have! Its appauling! haha

If you're new at lighting, when I started, I just had a try of a few things. Start simple, and build up as you get more confident at what you do, what you know, what you can do with what you have, who you work with, and what you feel comfortable doing. You won't become the worlds greatest lighting designer over night, so give it some time. Make Beauty and the Beast a starting point, whether you are the LD or just the assistant. Give you input, feed back, and ask questions! You only learn by asking others!

Good luck!

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by PhantomD

Why do all you people have so many dimmers in a high school?!

Schools in the States tend to be able to get money to upgrade infrastructure so they remodel and put in a whole ton of dimmers. Unfortunately they often aren't able to spend money on instruments. So it's not unusual for a school to have 100 dimmers and a dozen 6" fresnels and some 6X9 360Q's trying to light the stage from 40 feet away. It's all about how the fund raising levies are written when they go to vote.

Also these days most of the expense is in the labor of the electrician installing the dimmers and not in the dimmers themselves.