On the other side of the coin, would you use 35 DL3s and a rig of 200
Mac 2K movers for Hamlet? Not usually.
That would be an insane version of hamlet. Im in, if anyone wants to do it.
However, to the OP: Source 4s are great, kind of a "Standard" theatrical
fixture. Good for a lot of things,
drop a
gobo in there and you make texture,
drop some color and some
frost you have a nice
wash, harden the
edge and you have a nice little special... If your doing concerts and such, good for throwing a special on each of the band members and leaving at 50 or so unless they start shredding out a sweet solo, in which case bring it up a
bit. Also good for front, back, side and top washes of color or texture. Fresnels are also great, but mainly as a
wash fixture.
IMO, toss at least 2 over any "lighting area", one warm and the other cool. Add more if you want a sweet green
wash, or any other color really. Also really good for specials, for that leading lady kneeling by her bed after she kills her grandpa, a
Fresnel right on top can just really make the moment. Nice soft edges, with a
bit of
frost they can be even softer, making a really nice pool of light.
Drop in a
barndoor for more control. If you dont have a lot of barn doors, get those before you get some VariLites or Macs. The
ParNel: Nice for backlight, I personally like them. Makes focusing a backlight or toplight
wash a breeze, just twist the thingy and make the pool the size you need! Great for dumping some serious color on the
stage. Pop those on your farthest US LX pipe and make everyone shine colors! Your Revolutions can be used for tons of things. Not by far the most popular ML, but a ML none the less, and it works. Use for specials that can be re-focused (instead of only being able to hit the above lady at her bed, you can also hit her while shes killing the grandpa!) Also nice for some "
flash and trash" (hereafter referred to F&T), or making lots of cool light effects for the school talent show, where most of the talent is convincing people to pay good money to come see it. Nothing makes a building chorus better than a huge audience
ballyhoo right at the top.
Things I would look into: Learn about the McCandles method. A good way to light the
stage for theater (well, to start). I like using something like R302 for my warm, and something like R62 for my cool. This is the
bit where I deviate from the "method" and add some more fun stuff: I then add a N/C light dead on, and sometimes add a "deeper" blue (theres a great color by
Lee for this, cant remember the number off the top of my head...) if I have a lot of night scenes, right next to my straight on light. I personally focus hard and
drop frost, its easier than trying to match with running
lens tubes on the S4. Next, I add at least a warm and a cool top
wash, sometimes more than 2 colors if Im feeling fancy (or the lead actress needs to look bloody when doing murder), and some backlight in as many colors as I can make happen. I like using backlight to color because it changes the mood without making anyone too hard to see, and also makes a really cool
effect in our actress's crazy hair. Side light is also good, I like throwing some gobos in S4s, and shooting them across the
stage to make pretty texture. Ill then
drop some colors or add scrollers to make pretty colors. There are various theories about where to put MLs for plays. I have never actually used a VL or
Mac or Rev
in one, but I imagine I would do the same as when I use I-Cues (a horrible little mirror that can be moved around the
stage). I like to have 2-3 DS in my
FoH catwalk, for moving specials, and then multiples of 2 over the
stage, to add moving side highlights to the special. For R&R, Dump all your ParNels and Fresnels on your Upstage most
electric, and color in Red, Blue, Amber and Green. I like adding a bunch of N/C as well, but you can do that with S4s if you have to. From the front, a blue, amber and red
wash will usually serve you well, along with the a fore mentioned specials on the band members. Flash backlight, and make your Revs do things like flash and
ballyhoo and
throw gobos around, change color,
etc in the time before you
load out the band. Last of all, Have fun with it, because its making art! The more you learn your gear, the more art you can make! So learn your gear, try stuff out, screw the pooch (make mistakes), and learn the art, because this is how you make it. If you do it well, others from your school will do the same, and your lighting
system (which sounds pretty darn good, FWIW) will be used to its maximum potential for years to come.
Oh and on the topic of wanting VLs and DL3s: For many years they lit plays with fire. Then they got lights. For years they lit concerts with huge piles of PARs, no movers at all. Many plays STILL dont use movers, and many that do use them more as "I can focus this many places and ____(insert name of
house) in _____ (insert name of city) cant screw that up!!!!" instead of doing tons of cool stuff with them. You could make tons of art without your Revs, so dont worry about getting the newer VLs or DL3s which you REALLY dont need yet. Leave that to BonJovi or someone who has tons more money and the taste to put robots with video screens on
stage. Make better art, not cooler effects.
What you need to do is:
