Brighton Beach Memoirs

[LightingMinion]

Hello!

My school is doing BBM this fall and I was wondering if anyone has done it, and if they have, do you think that using a fiber optic curtain would be a bit much?? I lean more towards artistic lighting and very colorful bright scenes. Since this play is very realistic, I wondered if a star curtain would be a bit much?

[soundman]

My college produced it my freshman year and a fiber optic curtain would have been a bit much for our approach. If the concept for your production is more of a cartoony feel then it might work. To hang it and plug it in just because you have it isn't the best idea. For our production we had a 2 story set and a lot of time was spent by everyone to make it look as realistic as possible for a pre 1940s house. Lots of practicals and working outlets.

[derekleffew]

See here star curtains for some tips on star drops.

[LightingMinion]

Originally Posted by soundman

My college produced it my freshman year and a fiber optic curtain would have been a bit much for our approach. If the concept for your production is more of a cartoony feel then it might work. To hang it and plug it in just because you have it isn't the best idea. For our production we had a 2 story set and a lot of time was spent by everyone to make it look as realistic as possible for a pre 1940s house. Lots of practicals and working outlets.

Well, then I suppose a star curtain would not work, our director likes more depressing realistic shows. Hmm... We might have a god light on Eugene each time he speaks to the audience. Do you think the best solution would be to rent moving lights for this??

[Pie4Weebl]

Originally Posted by LightingMinion

Well, then I suppose a star curtain would not work, our director likes more depressing realistic shows. Hmm... We might have a god light on Eugene each time he speaks to the audience. Do you think the best solution would be to rent moving lights for this??

Probably not. Go watch a rehearsal and count the the number of places Eugene stops and talks, more likely than not it will be five or less which in my mind doesn't justify a moving light. Another issue with using one moving light for this would be that the angle the "god light" hits him at could vary wildly for each position he is in, so using conventionals hung right where you need them lets the lighting look more uniform.

[LekoBoy]

Originally Posted by LightingMinion

Do you think the best solution would be to rent moving lights for this??

Yes. Ten VL1000TS's should do it. Remember it's ALL about the lighting. The playwright and actors don't really matter.

[quarterfront]

Originally Posted by LightingMinion

We might have a god light on Eugene each time he speaks to the audience. Do you think the best solution would be to rent moving lights for this??

You planning on following him around? If so, if you have the budget to pay a spot op spend it on that instead of renting a moving fixture. Writing the cues to follow somebody around with a moving light is a lot of work and what you get for your trouble is something that looks blatantly mechanical, really inorganic. You have to work out in tech the actor's timing down to the 10th of a second and the SM has to nail it every time. The actor can never diverge from this timing and blocking even a little so it forces the actor to move with the light like a marionette. Moving the actor along a curve is a huge PITA. And, even then, to keep the actor in light you have to make the focus wide enough to give them some margin for error and then you have spill all over the place. Not that it can't be done, I do it fairly frequently but I generally hate the way it looks and I'd really rather just have a human on a light. (I also wish we could always afford a band and never use tracks, but that's another story with the same ending).

If you're looking to have a single unit that serves as multiple stationary specials, that's different. Depending on your set design a single mover might be fine. Actually, for this purpose, what I'd suggest is a Rosco iCue, a moving mirror head that goes on a Src-4. I have 6 of these, they're my only movers and I love them. They have their limitations and they're not "feature laden" like other wiggle-lights; they're a one trick pony but they do that trick extremely well and the price is right.

They cost about $600 each, you could probably be well on the way to owning one for the cost of renting a moving fixture for a couple weeks. You need DMX and a scroller power supply.

[LightingMinion]

We generally rent our lights from Atmosphere lighting. Do you think two studio color 575's or Studio Spot 575's would do it???

[LekoBoy]

No. You'd have to have either Showguns or Showpixs.

[Pie4Weebl]

Originally Posted by LightingMinion

We generally rent our lights from Atmosphere lighting. Do you think two studio color 575's or Studio Spot 575's would do it???

So.... there have been a couple of responses, none of them support using moving lights.... so why are you so intent on it?