Best fixture to light cyc?
- Thread starterDustincoc
- Start date
techieman33
Well-Known Member
I think the cyc is about 60' across only the top half is ever visible during thesection. show. The reason for doubling the reds is to get a very intense red, almost what I've seen done with LEDs. My origina plan was red blue and gren in the cyc strips but the director who has always done the lighting in the past wants the doubled reds. I'm not sure what kind of striplights they are they take a 4 1/2 x 4 3/4 cut of gel, have the double MR16 lamps per cell and have 5 cells per circuit for each.
The place has no idea how many of what unit they have, they are almost all in the air and a lot of dead units have been abandoned where they hang. It seems like half of the units I take down to use are broken so I spend a good chunk of my time fixing them. Mostly its the wires have pulled out from under the screws on the connector. Thats what you get when a mechanicals contractor wins the bid to supply and install theatre equipment I guess. From what I hear they might of had one working set of Barn doors 30 years ago.
I was hoping something else would work other than the scoops, I don't want to take them down from where they are now but I'm thinking they are probably the best solution.
The place has no idea how many of what unit they have, they are almost all in the air and a lot of dead units have been abandoned where they hang. It seems like half of the units I take down to use are broken so I spend a good chunk of my time fixing them. Mostly its the wires have pulled out from under the screws on the connector. Thats what you get when a mechanicals contractor wins the bid to supply and install theatre equipment I guess. From what I hear they might of had one working set of Barn doors 30 years ago.
I was hoping something else would work other than the scoops, I don't want to take them down from where they are now but I'm thinking they are probably the best solution.
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That would be a 6', 3-ckt. Altman Zip strip, colorframe 4-3/4" x 4-3/8".
Four zip strips aren't going to get you very much, letting alone doubling a color. How far are they from the backdrop? Does a single color cover evenly/adequately? I agree with others, RGB (with combined diffusion media or cyc silk) for the strips, and use additional instruments to provide the extra RED punch. At one theatre, I had RBA in my 1500W SkyCyc s and an artist's road manager came in who insisted on also having green. He made me put R90 in 8" 1kW Fresnel s (all I had six extra of) on booms from the wings. Surprisingly, I liked the effect.
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Well, scoops were pretty much the default cyc light for years, but you only have 3, which might not make you happy coverage wise.
In this situation, I would probably gel those strip lights RGB. Then, I would use the three scoop lights for that extra red punch. I don't think it would make me happy trying to blend Fresnels or Scoops with Zip Strips. Even in wide flood, it will take a fair number of Fresnels to properly cover a cyc, and will likely need a fair bit of diffusion as well as reasonable throw distance. Not saying Fresnels won't work, just that you will have to space them like they are cells of a strip light, and not like they are scoops or cyc lights, and I have no way of knowing if you have the power, cable, and gel for that. Of course, I don't even know what anything you have is lamped at or with. Are your strip lights hung or are they on trunions?
In this situation, I would probably gel those strip lights RGB. Then, I would use the three scoop lights for that extra red punch. I don't think it would make me happy trying to blend Fresnels or Scoops with Zip Strips. Even in wide flood, it will take a fair number of Fresnels to properly cover a cyc, and will likely need a fair bit of diffusion as well as reasonable throw distance. Not saying Fresnels won't work, just that you will have to space them like they are cells of a strip light, and not like they are scoops or cyc lights, and I have no way of knowing if you have the power, cable, and gel for that. Of course, I don't even know what anything you have is lamped at or with. Are your strip lights hung or are they on trunions?
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The strips are hung. They are about 3 foot in front of the cyc. The coverage of the strips isn't great. There are bright spots here and there. There are actually 12 zip strips in the space, 8 of which are hung on the 2nd and 3rd elec as downlight. Another problem I'm going to run into is that there are no circuits run to the cyc lighting position. The power has to be run from the 3rd elec.
