Any tips/ideas?

[NJLX]

I'm doing a show in a couple weeks, and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas for simple lighting effects. It's our Cultural Heritage Show, so mostly dancing groups, maybe a couple of singers, and possibly a fashion-show-type thing at the end.

We have 34 available dimmers, plus renting 12

lights(including rentals, which we won't have until the day before the show):
13 fresnels(no idea what type) hanging on the first electric, red-blue-amber
CYC (red-blue-amber)
20ish altman ellipsoidals, on FOH bar
8 source 4 pars(FOH, 4 each warm and cool)
6 source 4(3 each mounted on pipe stands extreme downstage right and left, floor-mid-shoulders)

any suggestions are appreciated, some flexibility in light placement is possible

 

[NickJones]

Some LED PARs and Color changers like the Seachanger can be good for things like this, the abiltiy to just bring up heaps of colours is great. Also maybe a few stobes for the fasion show or you could use the LED's if the ones you hire can do strobing, and of course chases can be a simple but effective effect for dances, when I do chases I sometimes use the foot pedal you would use on a keyboard to set the rate of the chase, everytime I tap my foot, the chase changes, this makes keeping in time a lot more simple and accurate. I presume you can't afford and/or controll Moving Lights. You are limited by the fact you probably don't have too much to spend, or enough channels to control anything DMX you hire. Foggers can be good if you want to see your beams of light. The boomerangs in followpots can give some of the effects of Moving Lights without any of the costs (if you own them) Figure 8's can look really good.
All the best with your show,
Nick Jones

 

[tcahall]

Nathaniel,

You have enough inventory to go beyond basic illumination, so I would start by looking at each dance, song, etc and try to get a feel for the mood and message of that act. That being said, as you have a "variety" format, I generally try to make as much distinction between acts as possible. A song may be lit with a tightly defined circle of light on the singer(s) (ideally from two front and one rear angle) followed by a dance with very strong (potentially only) side lighting followed by a large group that lights the entire stage. The more differential you have between looks the more you will assist the audience in their transition from each act to the next. Of course, this can also be taken to the point of being ridiculous, so it has to stay within the parameters of the act.

With regard to equipment, a seachanger, or even some color scrollers, will help you provide different looks with a limited inventory. These shouldn't add much to the rental bill (paticularly scrollers), will use DMX channels separate from your dimmer channels and help you change the mood without sucking up all of your inventory on a few looks.

Good luck. These can be a lot of fun. If you can get the director to consider adapting the blocking to the lighting plan (at least a little!), it can really help your inventory go further.

Tim.

 

[NJLX]

thanks!

unfortunately i'm limited to about $250 for lights/accessories, so the 12 dimmers and 6 source 4s take up all of that, and i definitely need those.

followspots are a good idea, may make use of those, although i'd have to train 2 more people to use them.

As far as movers go, control channels wouldn't be an issue, the only problem is $$.

I will try to make different acts as different as possible, i'll keep that in mind when we focus FOH(only one shot at focusing, no catwalk so we have to use a genie), and see what i can do about backlighting.

We also recently had 14ish old lights donated, i have no idea what type, they're roughly like a fresnel, with no gel frame, but they have edison plugs, so we can't use them with our dimmers

any ideas on what i should do with those?

 

[Pie4Weebl]

If $250 is getting you 6 S4s and 12 dimmers you should shop around a lot more. (assuming it is a one day rental)

Out here that would cost around $100 a day, if that.

 

[NJLX]

it's a 3 day rental, one day to hang/focus and rehearse, and then 2 days of shows