Lighting Trees (T) par 64s

[wjo]

We are a small group that do stage gospel plays in church... Family Affair Ens... we setup lighting with 2 light trees with 4 to 6 pars(64's) on each tree... and 2 CYM,s some what ok...lots of light spill....do eany of you out there use this type lighting for stage plays.. if so how did it turn out and what ideals can you share with me.... I know bands use this type of setup " Oh yea" Back Lights Ha, Ha. no room

 

[mattm]

If light spill is an issue, try Source 4 ellipsoidal's. They have shutters that can chop off unwanted spills of light. Look into Applied Electrions L-16 lifts. They have 16' of trim and a steaper angle also help reduce light spill.

http://etcconnect.com/product.overview.asp?ID=20080
http://appliednn.com/pdf/l-16.pdf

Matt McCormick
www.cablepick.com

 

[gafftaper]

I've done a couple of low budget plays with lights out front on trees. For those shows I used Sourc4 Pars. You can't get a lot when you are trying to light from trees because you don't have much space for hanging multiple lights. If you aren't far from the stage then the LED PAR lights are a great way to go... but so far their range is pretty limited. Something like a High End "color command" could be an interesting way to go as well. I've never used them but there are couple of dichroic mixing wash lights out there that would have a lot more punch than the LED PARs do at this point. OR wait a year or so. It's only a matter of time until we have 5 Watt LEDs in those PARs and they are cranking out the light.

 

[icewolf08]

A quick solution for spill with pars has been discussed in a recent thread where using blackwrap was talked about. The other option that would be cheaper than buying new lights, but more road worthy than blackwarp would be barn doors.

 

[Van]

What wattage PARs are you using? It's possible you could go with a smaller wattage and larger number of Fresnels. Fresnels coupled with some barndoors might give you more control over areas. I'm suggesting fresnels since it seems you are on a budget and S4s are a very expensive way to go.

 

[highschooltech]

The only thing about fresnels is the wattage issue. Depending on the size you buy they get very high on the wattage side. If you can deliver the power the control over the beam angle is great. However, if you had the money i would go for a S4.

 

[Les]

It seems to me that you already have the equipment and you're looking for ways to work with what you have. I've done a lot of Church functions where I set up a light tree with parcans and it worked out fine. Precision isn't usually much of an issue, but if it is, barn doors are a good investment. Also, might I suggest buying different types of par lamps. If you're using wide floods, you might also invest in some medium floods and narrow spots. This way you can change the lamps to meet the requirements of the space. Picking up a couple of 500 watt as opposed to 1,000 watt might be a consideration too if you're dealing with places where power is limited. IF you want to go the ellipsoidal route eventually (which is what I'm doing) Altman's line of 360Q 6" ellpisoidals are pretty cost effective to buy. They've improved over the years and seem to be industry standard in the class of mid-range ellpisoidals. They also have the 3.5Q which is even smaller yet still pretty bright. Check eBay, rental houses sell them left and right (probably in efforts to convert to Source Four's) and they go for pretty cheap.