Contemporary Side Light

[LLDeen]

Hey all! Just wanted to stop by and show off what I've been working on.

To give a bit of backstory, I'm the house LD at a municipally owned theatre. We see everything from rock, comedians, magicians, musicals, and local dance schools. Since I came on in 2019, we've slowly started to upgrade our rig and add components. In the past, only one dance school would use side trees for their annual performance of the contemporary Nutcracker. We've all wanted to use it for their recitals and others, but with so many small children, it becomes an issue of safety with hot lights in the wings.

I've been looking for alternatives for a while and as much as I'd like to buy LED lekos, they're just far too expensive to justify. So, I needed something multipurpose that could be used not just for dance, but for anything that comes through the door. As a more modern LD, I went my usual crazy route. So, we purchased Blizzard StormChaser Supercells.

After receiving them, the real work began. How do I turn these into sidelight, without flooding the audience or the cyc? After a lot of thought, measuring, two versions, a lot of cardboard, paint, and gaff tape, I figured it out! With the Supercells, you can individually control 16 pixels. So I took the top 4, the middle 4, and the bottom 4. Isolated them and gave them stationary shutters, or barn doors if you will. They simply tape onto the light and now I've got my highs, mids, and lows for sidelight! Is it perfect? Definitely not! However, the plan is to eventually get something manufactured that is more sturdy and will last longer.

I know there's a lot of individuals who would probably shudder at the thought of non-conventional side trees for dance, but I love it! When I told my favorite local contemporary choreographer, she was extremely excited. Sidelight of any color and endless possibilities. I'm excited to get to work with these this spring when most of our local dance companies come through. Now I can give everyone beautiful side lighting without the fear of burning children!

 

[theatricalmatt]

A friend of mine had an article in one of the usual theatre magazines on using some ColorBlasts as side light for a touring opera production. Worked well enough, and met the budget that the company provided, so no complaints.

Nowadays I find myself doing a lot with 20" box truss and ColorSource Spot Juniors, which are small enough to actually tour inside the truss, with power and data cable tucled neatly inside.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

We have 3 4-level trees for each side of our College theatre stage, and in general, they haven't been proven to be terribly dangerous. They used to be Source 4 in all 4 positions, but we've replaced the shin busters and head busters -)) with the LED models....

I don't know that we've ever gotten someone burned -- and some of our renters have "Dancers" as young as 3 or 4 -- but as far as running into the fixture, people of all ages make that mistake; we have to refocus a light roughly every other show.

 

[JChenault]

Back in the day, Gilbert Hemsley ( broadway designer and educator ) would put what he called “Vertical toner strips”. an R40 strip light hung vertically in the wings. did not have as sharp a definition as elipsoidals, nor as controllable, but did a nice modeling on bodies, etc

your post reminded me of this

 

[Footer]

Back in the day, Gilbert Hemsley ( broadway designer and educator ) would put what he called “Vertical toner strips”. an R40 strip light hung vertically in the wings. did not have as sharp a definition as elipsoidals, nor as controllable, but did a nice modeling on bodies, etc

your post reminded me of this

Pilobolus and a few other companies use zip strips as booms or along with their booms. It works... but... not exactly ideal.

 

[macsound]

Great Idea.
I've never used these fixtures before so I have a couple of questions.
Which lens do you have in them?
How comparable brighness-wise are they compared to anything else you've used?
Based on the lens you're using, how washy are they?

Could you please take another couple of pictures looking into the light but at lower exposure. I'd love to see how you made the cross pieces.
And thanks so much for sharing!

 

[LLDeen]

We have 3 4-level trees for each side of our College theatre stage, and in general, they haven't been proven to be terribly dangerous. They used to be Source 4 in all 4 positions, but we've replaced the shin busters and head busters -)) with the LED models....

I don't know that we've ever gotten someone burned -- and some of our renters have "Dancers" as young as 3 or 4 -- but as far as running into the fixture, people of all ages make that mistake; we have to refocus a light roughly every other show.

We've never had anyone burned either, but due to paranoia from the dance company side, I've only ever been able to use side light for the ballet. I tried many times and assured it would be fine, to no avail. Though, yes, there's always somebody bumping into a light.

 

[LLDeen]

Great Idea.
I've never used these fixtures before so I have a couple of questions.
Which lens do you have in them?
How comparable brighness-wise are they compared to anything else you've used?
Based on the lens you're using, how washy are they?

Could you please take another couple of pictures looking into the light but at lower exposure. I'd love to see how you made the cross pieces.
And thanks so much for sharing!

I am using the clear lens for this application. I will use the frosted lens for concert applications. The dark/black lens I found almost no use for.
They are fairly bright! I will definitely get many applications out of them. Planning on using them as uplights for an annual fashion show held in our ballroom instead of our very old incandescent cyc lights.
The clear lens is very washy, which is why I created the frames/shutters. This is what I typically achieve with my old way of side light, with old Altman lekos. My center fixture can hit both the US & DS walls at the opposite side of the stage.

Here are some additional photos. The "backside" or the side that sits on the lens is shorter so that the long sides can sit over the sides of the light, which is where I've taped it down to the light itself.