I think the reason you got a question about the L181 backlight is that it may not be the easiest color to use with the rest of your
plot. The pale tints you're using for sides and fronts could make the 181 seem to 'vibrate or crawl.' It's hard to describe the
effect... but I think you'll know it if you see it.
As for
plot things... the reason it's important to follow the SL to SR numbering convention is because a lot of times the electricians will prep things (like color or accessories to add) based on the
instrument schedule, not the
plot. So you may well some day find your
plot hung correctly then colored and templated backwards. It would be really frustrating with a
plot that was ALMOST symmetrical so it might take a while to notice why things weren't where they should be....
Many times, movers are numbered separately from
conventional lights... but they should be numbered and put on the
instrument schedule (so it may go 1. 2. 3. M1. 4.
etc....) for the same reason - in the documentation you need a number to refer to the light, so if you need to leave a work note, you can say M6 on the 2E needs to be moved 2 feet... or swapped out with a spare... or have a custom
gobo loaded
etc. For small rigs, saying "the second
Mac 2K on the 2E" may be fine... but eventually there will be a mistake made and the miscommunication is YOUR fault if you didn't specifically define a language to refer to each individual light.
There seems to be an extra
cyc cell on the
cyc electric... overlapping two others? And the
cyc lights should be numbered as well (well... lettered) for the same reason... if the
gel is burning
in one of them, you want to tell the electricians that
cell three of
cyc light D on the 7E needs to be swapped out. Many times they could figure it out from "one of the R80s is burning..." but if they don't, it's your fault for not communicating again. Same with the color blazes.
Design wise (don't you hate when you want to talk about design and get drafting notes? I hated that in grad school! And now I do it myself. Turns out that drafting is important...) it looks like a fine, safe
plot. It's hard to get into trouble you can't get out of with L202 and
scroller backlight... and the R33 is a fine warm match to 202, though not the one I would have picked.
My personal preference would have been to put something more saturated in the frontlight, because... I don't want the front light to
wash out the modelling from the sidelight and backlight. The two options for this are either to put a pale tint in the front light and run it down on
dimmer where it turns to mud, or to put something with a little stronger color in the front light and run it up to a
level where the color actually reads the way I want it to.
Not knowing how you plan to
cue the show... I would have considered either coloring the gobos the way you did (paler than the area light to cut through and
lay on top of it) or substantially more saturate than the frontlight, planning to use them as a full
stage wash and then add area light just in the areas with dancers... so the
gobo on the floor becomes the
backdrop and the area lights and/or follow spots (are you using follow spots? They should be on the
light plot if you are...) will light the dancers only where they're standing. With full
stage dances... this may be impossible... but you can still get good
effect out of slightly more saturated
templates with pale area lights with good
cue structure. You can either start and end a number with a
cue where the
templates are emphasized, then add the area light on top for better visibility as the action of the dance grows... the payoff of the
templates is felt for the whole dance, even if they're mostly hidden by the area light for much of it. And it gives you something dramatic to
drop back down to for a solo, when you CAN take out a lot of the area lights and just light one area with the
gobo wash surrounding it. The other thing you can do, if you don't want the
gobo look for separate cues is to record part cues... so gobos come up faster than area lights, and go out slower... so you make the audience feel their
effect without ever having to hit them over the head with them...
And you mentioned that they've used booms in the space before? I know they're ugly in a
thrust space like this... but if you can position them where they don't really
block a lot of audience views.... I always maintain that a
light plot has to be judged ugly or beautiful by the cues it makes... not by what it looks like with the
house lights on... Now if you're make it possible for dozens of people to actually see the dancers... well that's a different story.
Of my suggestions... I'd say that the drafting ones are the only 'shoulds...' I do feel that following industry standards in graphics is very important. I know, as you pointed out, that you'll be looking at the
plot from front of
house, so numbering left to right for you sounds convenient... but the
plot and schedules are NOT for you... they're for the electricians. The channeling can be done from your left to your right if you want (as you did) because the
channel hookup and
magic sheet are YOUR documents about how the
plot works artistically. But the technical documents about how it goes together have one purpose - to get the necessary information to the electricians, and so putting it in the format they expect and are used to protects your design and keeps your electricians happy.
The artistic suggestions I made are just things to think about. I think your
plot is fine and will work well for you in tech. I only tell you the things I would have considered doing differently so you can think about them. If you reject all of those suggestions after thinking about them, then excellent.
Break a
leg!
Art Whaley
Art Whaley Design
That brings up the question of how should I spell that, I realize I have never had to write that word out before.
