Aerial lighting and projection ideas

[pchaussalet]

Hi All,

I am currently giving a hand to an aerial arts studio to help them regarding their yearly student show.
They have little to no lighting setup, so far they did with a bunch of Chauvet SlimPAR 64 hanging from I beams in front of the "stage" (that is more a 24'-sided square area that has audience sitting on two sides) and the result wasn't heart, a bit dark and lack of contrast.
I have some more fixtures (pretty low end ones, 4 U'King B117 and 1 K9 Bulldog) and they are going with projections on the two white walls facing audience.
I am trying to figure out how I could position those lights to be able to correctly light performers while not washing out projections nor blinding audience. I thought I could go with moving the SlimPARs to opposite corners and focus them on the hanging apparatus, but they are either washing projections too much or lighting too much behind the audience when I try to focus them as far as possible from the projections...

I am a bit lost and I am wondering if there would be a way to have a decent lighting or if it's a lost cause and I should just get back to front facing hanging light to at least have it light enough...
Any thought, anyone?

 

[pchaussalet]

If it helps, here is a (bad) sketch of the stage setup:

 

[almorton]

The "trick" is to keep the light off the projection - which sounds obvious, but it's how. You might be better using a fairly steep angle into the performers and lighting from more rows of lanterns over the stage area. It will look sub optimal because of the shadows on the faces, but might work. Light from two directions at least, to minimise the shadowing, so each row of audience sees one set of lighting face on and one set side on. If the performers don't get too close to the projections you'll probably get away with it.

 

[pchaussalet]

The "trick" is to keep the light off the projection - which sounds obvious, but it's how. You might be better using a fairly steep angle into the performers and lighting from more rows of lanterns over the stage area. It will look sub optimal because of the shadows on the faces, but might work. Light from two directions at least, to minimise the shadowing, so each row of audience sees one set of lighting face on and one set side on. If the performers don't get too close to the projections you'll probably get away with it.

Thanks a lot, that gives me another perspective (no pun intended), I haven't thought about the top lights solution (I mostly started from a dance approach of side lights avoiding lighting the floor and tried to adapt it), but that might indeed be a very good solution.

I spent some more time working on it yesterday night (alas virtually, as I don't have open access to the place) and ended with four shins (UKing B117 PAR cans) in the corners with a steep angle up, and two top backlights per side (SlimPAR) to give a bit more depth. Also, I learnt we'll have one followup spotlight for solos, so that aspect should at least be covered.
I wonder if I should move the backlights on the front (maybe on sides to avoid washing it too much) to reduce shadows on performers.

I would have done both (two back and two front) but I need to keep some fixtures to decently light the ground performance (mostly acrobats), and I feel like what we have should be enough for such a small space, but maybe I am wrong and I should try to see if I can borrow / rent / acquire some more fixtures...

 

[macsound]

Also adding toplight or any glare protection to the pars will help. Blackwrap can also be your friend if your lights won't accept a standard tophat,

 

[Malabaristo]

In some ways aerial stuff is more forgiving of weird shadows than regular dance because the performer is just as likely to be upside down or sideways much of the time. You also have to think more three-dimensionally when the performers aren't always at floor height. With that in mind, lights on the floor pointed up can be interesting too. Top & bottom light can do the same sorts of thing as side light in traditional dance.

Not washing out the projectors is going to be challenging with the space and lights you have available. Aside from controlling spill from the lights, getting as much separation as possible between the performers and the projection surfaces, and using the brightest projectors possible will help make the most of things.

 

[pchaussalet]

@all Thanks again for your inputs, it worked pretty well.
I guess I defined a new normal of having a top PAR per apparatus, that was pretty awesome