Design Issues and Solutions -

[kfd29]

Our electrics operate on the repeating circuit/dimmer theory. ie.. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12.

I would like to create a RGBW + S4 rep plot... haven't found a good way to do it and have a nice, even wash plus the S4 special available. It would be nice to be able to have one fixture per circuit but probably not possible, that'll only leave us with 12.

This is for each electric 1-4, on stage for wash plus the S4 for specials, each electric has 24 plugs, 12 circuits repeating twice as shown above.

Any suggestions?!

[Footer4321]

3 areas? Do you want side light? How bigs the stage? Also, I would stay away from the green, having red, lav, and blue can be helpful.

[MNicolai]

I second avoiding green. For RGB mixing you need lots of hard-edged units and a lot of patience. A particular trait of green though is that the particular color is very unflattering for skin tones, and makes people look sickly and other-worldly, so you may be much better off staying away from that.

[waynehoskins]

Yep...

The first thing we learned about color in high school was how additive and subtractive color mixing worked. What we didn't learn, though, is that the additive method doesn't work as nicely in practice as it does in theory, because the color of an incandescent lamp changes as you dim it, it drifts to amber.

So yeah, ditch the RGB idea. Personally I'd go with neutral arealight (I lean to lavenders; 52's my go-to front color), and add warm and cool (amber and blue, like 16 and 64) colorwashes from each side, box-boomish.

A couple of colors of sidelight, and maybe even a couple of toplight, and probably a neutral back, and you're in business.

I'd do sides probably pipe-end, maybe tailed-down.

Three or five areas across, depending on the size of your stage and your fixtures and positions. Two or three deep, making 6, 9, 10, or 15 areas of frontlight. You might also be able to get away with twofering some areas as you go upstage, because often one won't be used without another.

Sidelight doesn't usually need to be broken up into as fine areas; full-stage-width zones are usually sufficient and can free up some circuits. Same for topwash, that usually runs in the same sorts of zones. Sometimes it's nice to isolate backs to an area.

If you have spares, you can throw some breakups in there too.

I've found it useful to have specials midstage left and right often, at least with the director I've worked with most. Allocate at least a couple of circuits per electric for specials. If you can have a GMOT circuit on each electric, that's really nice too (GMOT = Get Me Out of Trouble).

That's what I'd do; your mileage may vary.

[derekleffew]

kfd29, more questions for you. Is this for a House Plot, or Repertory Plot? There's a distinct difference, as the latter is somewhat show-dependent. What types of shows are presented? We need to know what type and how many fixtures you have available. Also, does the 4th Electric have to light the cyc as well, or is there a 5th, or cyclt. pipe? Since you haven't told us about any FOH or Box Boom positions, we have to assume you have those covered. Take a look at SteveB's rep. plot, (may not be entirely current or accurate). Ignoring the grayed fixtures, it uses/could use less than 12 circuits per electric. His theatre does lots of dance, so he has an abundance of sidelight. For you, since you (probably) don't have ladders, you'll need to make do with Pipe Ends.

I agree with all the others, skip the RGBW idea, unless you just want to hang 4-ckt borderlights

over the stage, which worked just fine for fifty years, thank you very much!

Answer our questions, so we can "help" you some more, by asking even more questions. Also, stop by the New Member Board, and start a thread introducing yourself. We'll have more questions for you over there.

[SteveB]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

[ Take a look at SteveB's rep. plot, (may not be entirely current or accurate).

Jeez, Derek, I'm honored.

That plot was a one-off, here's the current plot posted on our website:

http://www.brooklyncenter.com/techin...WDancePlot.pdf

Steve B.

[kfd29]

Derek,

I'll correct that and say House Plot. I'd say our top 3 shows/events are: HS Musicals/Drama, Assembly/Presentation, and Dance Comps/Recitals. For assemblies we usually drop the Downstage so not much need for a wash outside of the FOH/Catwalk.

Fixtures avail for use: about 20 fresnels, 10 S4 w/ 36 degrees, 12 S4 PARnels. Would like to purchase either PAR64's or S4 PARs to replace our dying fresnels.. any suggestions on that as well? Seems like the PAR64's have a nicer, smooth wash but the S4 PARs are definately more versatile as far as lens changes instead of lamps.

Cyc is lit by the 5th so we can fully utilize 1-4 for stage wash.

[waynehoskins]

Originally Posted by kfd29

Cyc is lit by the 5th so we can fully utilize 1-4 for stage wash.

You have five? In college we had three, at the high school there are but two.

Five electrics, and only 20 Fresnels, 10 436s and 12 Parnels?

How are the Fresnels dying? They're about the simplest fixture design out there. Fix 'em, and then see if you can augment the inventory. By the way, whose Fresnel?

With that stock, I'd use 36s for fronts, the others for the rest.

[SteveB]

[quote=kfd29;98133]Derek,

" Would like to purchase either PAR64's or S4 PARs to replace our dying fresnels.. any suggestions on that as well? Seems like the PAR64's have a nicer, smooth wash but the S4 PARs are definately more versatile as far as lens changes instead of lamps."

Kfd

We just this spring purchased 48 S4 PARs as replacements for PAR64's and it was a terrific move.

Considerations:

- All of my 64's were purchased used roughly 20 plus yrs. ago, so many had issues with sockets, as well as mis-aligned housings from 20 years of getting banged around. The mis-aligned housings resulted in more force required to rotate the lamp, which resulted in the porcelin sockets not always seating correctly (as a result of getting rotated to focus), which resulted in arching, etc... Plus, as all the 64's were used PRIOR to my owning them, much hardware was non-standard, fixtures didn't lock down tight, etc...

- I had a HUGE inventory of PAR64 lamps, but due to time constraints, almost never swapped and pretty much stayed with wides. As I also had in excess of 100 S4's @ 750watts, going to the S4 Par @ 750 was painless.

- An HPL lamp runs about $16. A PAR64 about $32.

- Another color frame size to stock for the PAR64's as well as different size cuts of color to store away.

- In use, the S4 is quicker to focus. They lock down and stay locked.

- The beam spread on the S4 wide is not as long, but slightly wider and somewhat more diffuse. In my space, I find the S4's blend better in an US/DS beam alignment and give me slightly more even L to R coverage, then the PAR64's.

- I purchased City Theatrical 3" color frame extenders for every S4 PAR and had no color burn through after a month of dance recitals, thus may run them a while next season without the extenders.

- The S4 housing @ 750w runs a good bit hotter.

- I still have not found a great method of quickly getting an S4 lens out of the fixture, currently using a bent tip scratch awl to pick the lens out. I sometimes nick a lens. Going to try dental picks next.

In short, I was unexpectedly surprised at how much I liked the S4 Par and was very glad I had swapped.

Hope this helps.

Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by SteveB

...I still have not found a great method of quickly getting an S4 lens out of the fixture, currently using a bent tip scratch awl to pick the lens out. I sometimes nick a lens. Going to try dental picks next.

Have you tried any of the commercially available "lens removal tools"?

I've never needed/used any tool. With the fixture hanging and pointing straight down (and unplugged!), position the spring clip at the top nearest the colorframe clip. While squeezing the spring clip, whack the top of the fixture with the fleshy part of one's open palm. The lens gently drops into one's hand.