Help with front light design

[rbartlomain]

I'm the tech/creative director at my church and we're just beginning a remodel. A small but important part of this will include redoing our stage (physically) and improving lighting. Our new stage will be a constant radius at the downstage edge. The stage walls taper off toward the upstage edge. The stage (at its widest and deepest) is 65'x36'. I'm trying to work on the front light design but I'm struggling a bit because:

We have a drop ceiling that's sloped (roughly 2.5" rise per foot) and floor that's also sloped (roughly .5" drop per foot), ranging from about 13' to 25' tall where any lights would likely be hung. In addition to this, the curvature of the stage means I've got throws (based on proposed truss locations, but I think we may be able to adjust these) ranging from about 20' to 27', with the longer throws being at the shorter ceiling heights.

This is making it difficult for me to come up with a plan that produces a nice even front light wash with good angles for video while avoiding shooting too much light behind the talent. I'd like to give them some room to move around, but don't want light spilling all over walls or scenic elements.

Planning on using all Source Four products (want to keep one stock of lamps). Shooting for a color temp roughly around 4000K and light levels for worship between 30-60fc and preaching between 50-70fc.

So with all that said (I know it's a lot), anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I'd love some input.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

When I lay these out, its all section work and drawing. Good contra lighting, probably some straight on for face light but staying of displays/projections, and steeper washes to kill shadows and add color and texture. And generally I try to work with all the elements at once. I guess, in brief, this is a hard problem to comment on in text. 4000k and S4s?

 

[RickR]

What I hear Bill almost saying is hire someone that really knows lighting.

Someone local will keep the costs to you down. They can see the space and state of existing equipment, talk to the various parties and hear their stories. Lighting Designers and Consultants come in a huge range of experience and skills. Big Names are used to big budgets, but small players may not have experience in your sort of space. Take some time to find the right person and they can give you a great plan.

We can try to answer some specific questions but we don't have enough to go on for solid recommendations.

 

[SteveB]

Planning on using all Source Four products (want to keep one stock of lamps). Shooting for a color temp roughly around 4000K and light levels for worship between 30-60fc and preaching between 50-70fc.

So with all that said (I know it's a lot), anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I'd love some input.

It may be cost effective to be thinking about LED profiles instead of incandescents.

Once you factor in power needs, dimmers and wiring infrastructure costs, LED's begin to make sense on a new install.

ETC makes the Lustre 2 series in daylight 5600K, white only. Other companies as well - Altman, Robert Juliat, etc... all make white (non-color changing) fixtures. Obvious advantages long term are savings in incandescent lamp's, HVAC reduced cooling needs, reduced labor changing lamps and electrical usage. If you have an S4's currently, you can swap the rear lamp housing and re-use the existing front end.

 

[lwinters630]

I'm the tech/creative director at my church and we're just beginning a remodel. A small but important part of this will include redoing our stage (physically) and improving lighting. Our new stage will be a constant radius at the downstage edge. The stage walls taper off toward the upstage edge. The stage (at its widest and deepest) is 65'x36'. I'm trying to work on the front light design but I'm struggling a bit because:

We have a drop ceiling that's sloped (roughly 2.5" rise per foot) and floor that's also sloped (roughly .5" drop per foot), ranging from about 13' to 25' tall where any lights would likely be hung. In addition to this, the curvature of the stage means I've got throws (based on proposed truss locations, but I think we may be able to adjust these) ranging from about 20' to 27', with the longer throws being at the shorter ceiling heights.

This is making it difficult for me to come up with a plan that produces a nice even front light wash with good angles for video while avoiding shooting too much light behind the talent. I'd like to give them some room to move around, but don't want light spilling all over walls or scenic elements.

Planning on using all Source Four products (want to keep one stock of lamps). Shooting for a color temp roughly around 4000K and light levels for worship between 30-60fc and preaching between 50-70fc.

So with all that said (I know it's a lot), anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I'd love some input.

This is hard to be exact from your descriptions. Due to the thrust stage I would want to cross lighting on DS areas and straight light the US band. Trying to keep balance between camera face light angle and staying off walls maybe 40 to 45 degree.
I also like the flexibility of adding right arms or similar item to FOH lights with that stage.
As mentioned seek a local rep or consultant you trust.