Lighting a CYC

[peacefulone61]

I have a 40' long by 20' high Cyc that I need to light for Chicago. Right now I have altman 4 Channel Strips along the top of the cyc. These lights fail to really saturate the Cyc, however.

I do not have the ability to hang cyc lights for two reasons. First the electric for the cyc is almost on top of the cyc and the next closest electric is ten feet away, on the other side of a travler. Second there will be scaffolding set against the cyc sticking out 8' which would block the cyc lights.

I was wondering if anyone has worked with any types of products that might work in this situation besides just a grown row of strips. Thank you for any guidance.

 

[texskittles]

Are you the lighting designer for this show? I would call the bluff on whoever the set designer is that put scaffolding that close to the cyc and still expects it to be lit properly.
But there are other ways to light a cyc. Most of it depends on what type of instruments you have at your disposal. One cheap and dirty way is to use wide pars, either from the electric or the floor (both for best coverage). This will obviously not be perfect and will require some time on your part for focusing. I'm sure others have good suggestions for getting good coverage. (also, can you light it from behind?)

So I think before anyone can help you out more they'll need to know what instruments you have available.

 

[icewolf08]

If it is a seamless cyc and you have have space upstage of it, you could backlight it with the cyc fixtures. YOu could also front light from a pipe that is a better distance away and just cable over to the electric.

 

[mstaylor]

I just did Chicago with the band stand inches from the cyc. We top lit it with a row of colorblazes with no problem.

 

[shiben]

We have lit a cyc before in a tough situation like this using MR-16 strips on the bottom and cyc cells on the top, you dont NEED to hang lights on an electric, you just need to bridge with cables, as was mentioned earlier. 8-10' away would be fine, I would think. Then throw on some side lights from booms with breakups and whatnot on there to help mask any really obvious problems.

 

[Grog12]

Adding a ground row is another option.

 

[peacefulone61]

So I think before anyone can help you out more they'll need to know what instruments you have available.

I have to rent. The lighting in this venue is not that great so I am trying to work miracles. I have 48 dimmers in total. I plan on stealing power and running my non-dims from the wall on switches to free up more space.

 

[mstaylor]

If you are renting then LED strips may be the answer. It would cover the cyc and take very little power. Depending on what's available, you may even be able to slide a ground row in, they have a very small footprint.

 

[kicknargel]

If you are going conventional, I second the idea of MR-16 strips (L&E Ministrip, etc). I've found them to be the best choice when lighting a cyc from a very steep angle.

 

[rochem]

For lighting cycs at close distances, mini strips are probably your best bet. They're designed to work in very tight spaces, and it's not at all uncommon to see them hung 6"-12" downstage of a cyc. However, for a 40' long cyc, you're looking at a minimum of 6-8 dimmers, assuming you don't want both a ground row and a cyc pipe. I second the suggestion of LED strips. Colorblaze units are starting to become more affordable from rental houses, they don't use up any dimmers, and you can control them as tightly as you want, not to mention that the output is incredible. I'd personally put them in a groundrow as opposed to overhead, but that's just a personal preference.

If neither of these are options, I'd look into something more abstracted, like a bunch of template scrapes or some color fill from the front. Chicago is a very presentational show, and you can get away with a lot of unique approaches in that show.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

use a few pin spots, that should do the trick!