Tree Lighting
wolf825 said:
[quote=" If ya can't find or don't have any scrap wood--try using a round steel
base from an old Mic Stand--they work just as well and add a little more weight to the whole thing to keep it from toppling over. Another thing you CAN do if you don't have any of those--go to the local surplus store and get a cheapo pack of 10 FLAT-style TENT STAKES...these surprisingly fit in the hole of the
Yoke very well and since most are curved--you just pound them into the
ground to hold the light in place. Lastly--you can also use cloth sandbags on the
yoke to sorta hold it in place--but you canot use PLASTIC sandbags or they will melt or catch fire...most theater sand bags are fire-proof treated.
-wolf
On the last two, as a member of the "Terrible Trio" (I like that!) I don't know if I would do them and trust that by the end of the evening they would still be at their aimed position. Nor do I like for this instance using a costume rack as it seems to be for hanging the lights at the
base of a tree which would put the light a
bit far away from the
base of the tree. Plus if store bought - such costume racks will not hold up well to a lighting
C-Clamp. Different strokes for different folks and all, but the
fixture plywood
base and
mic stand idea are much more standard to be using for this. Granted that you will have to add some extra special washers to the
mic stand, and will probably have to de-rust it later if it gets wet. Plywood stands, and how to
build them as well described in a past posting to DVS Dave about a earlier
stage lighting question about how to get rid of his lights quickly by myself is I should be so humble and by others, well covers the subject, and I do think it's the best solution at least for under tree up lights. Sand bags are for the bases not for the yokes in my opinion, and stakes could do well for the cable or
base but not for the
yoke either. No offense as I would trust Wolf to do my lighting any time.
"Pidgeon plate", must be a West Coast thing like "
Apple Box." Pidgeon holes are for storing
stage hardware in the scene shop but I never heard of Pidgeon plate before myself.
5/8"
bolt shoud say 1/2"
bolt as 5/8" is a
bit too large to fit in most lighting equipment
yoke holes, but possibly the right size drill to use in the lumber to account for swelling of the lumber should it get wet and you want to get the
bolt out. In lumber, especially if it's going to get wet, always drill it out for at least 1/32" larger if not up to the stated 1/8" larger. 1/2" bolts however would be standard for
stage lighting yokes unless in small equipment thus in my case a 9/16" drill
bit.
Just a
bit of a caution about your S-4 understanding of the above. Lekos as an uplight for a tree would probably not be very effective.
PAR Cans were stated and are the normal solution - especially in the
PAR 64 size. If you were saying S-4
PAR than all is well, but even a 50 degree
Leko isn't going to have the same
effect as a S-4
PAR with Wide Flood
Lens much Less
PAR 64 proper to light branches, much less say a
PAR 38 to light the trunk as desired. Lekos are fine for
stage lights and directional beams at that, but for washes as you would be using them for, it's not very effective. The
PAR 64 is ideal for this application. A
Fresnel while too indirect for this use would even be better as a tree uplight than a
Leko.
More cautions. Where is the audience? Given that idea that most people are stupid, how much risk are you putting your audience at when they wander up to one of these lighting positions and burn themselves on the fixtures while "just exploring their world" of being stupid? A differnet situation in the lighting trees at a wedding where for the most part it's visitors won't want to stray off the given path to warm their hands and get their duds dirty on the lighting equipment or the potential mud surrounding it is different than at a concert or
play where the idiots will get near and burn themselfs on anything they can, much less be climbing the trees in a matcho show of strength and "coolness". In other words, unless these trees for your use are berricated off than even protected against the idiots that cross the berricade, perhaps it's not wise to just simply put a light below a tree to make it special.
More to the
point, if you want to light them, it might be necessary to go military and plan for the idiots in the audience. Specify places to light from such as with the origional costume rack idea in lighing from say a centralized protected position such as the lighting and sound control area that by nature should be fenced off and watched, in lighting the trees from a distance. I would go with
boom bases and lighting trees, than just light from them into the trees you want to sculpt, but from afar as opposed to from below.
The idea in this case might be best served in this type of lighting from afar anyway given the
stage is a primary focus. If you light your area as an overall design for the audience as they come into your theater say from down a path from the parking lot, you want to awe them as they come in and it could just be that you want to service that with lighting the tree tops and area from a distance. A other than under the tree position might be better serving your overall look but perhaps you might still have to do some up-lighting -see below with the tree mounted fixtures. Than once the audience gets into the viewing area, the focus can be on
stage - probably too many people in the audience anyway to notice much up-lighitng, much less not have them in the way of your beam spread for the late comers to your
stage picture. Much better to light from afar depending upon the design concept of course. If under ltree ighting is necessary, perhaps bracketing directly to the trees and over the reach of the audience might be a good solution to consider for the same
effect. Some uplight would be good to use in combination with distance throws to enhanse the trees, but you have to consider audience accessability to not only the cords that they will trip over if they can, but the lights themselves. I love the dramatics of up-lighting, but save them for weddings and other circumstances where the expected audience would not be expected to burn themselves.
By the way, you will have to excuse my calling the audience - cattle as "idiots" in this insance. It is with good reason and specific to outdoor settings. In a theater proper, the architecture protects the audience from injuring themselves on lighting and other equipment. In a more natural setting, audience control is much more difficult especially in keeping them away from the lighting equipment, from climbing the
truss or trees, much less throwing chairs on
stage if they don't like what's going on. Can you say one particular riot that happened in Chicago during a show that took the horse mounted troops to disperse at one time I remember? That as a tech person was a real mess to clean up. The "Idiot" phrase is meant to stress that if they can get at something they will in this instance and that would be bad. With your design, you should consider that even if it does not allow as cool of a design, what
effect it will have on the overall package of the show.
In my opinion, I would light such a setting so as to light the space of the
stage for the audience as they enter the area and not the trees surrounding the area from when they are already in the audience area. Uplights on trees along the path to the audience is usually fine, peer pressure in finding one's seat is usually well enough to keep one from lingering too near to the special effects lights, but in the area of the
stage or audience, it would be bad. To do this it's probably more effective to just light the trees from a distance and from a protected zone than from below if the audience will be able to get near your
effect. Perhaps not as dramatic especially in the Fall, but given the
stage is the purpose, it might at least be servicable.
Every year I install the follow spots for the Special Olympics in Illionis. The spot lighting positions are in the grand stands of the audience, but in this case the psychology of the croud is focused not on the lights but on the action in the football stadium. Were lights special
PAR 64s for
uplighting placed for the big show and put in the easy access of the croud, it could be expected as it is that the people around them would not go near the tech part of the show. Your show I expect would be different and putting fixtures near the audience where they are not protected should become a
design factor.
Hope it gave you some more ideas on the oveall concept of it all.