Other advantages to moving lights

[soundman]

The other day I was watching music videos and I noticed one for a popular rock band that was shot at a live show. The rig was 98% movers. Over the course of the song the pan and tilt changed twice but it was a move while dark. Color changes but no gobos were used. I can think of four or five reasons why the LD might have picked a truss of movers over a double hung truss of source fours with color changers, what might they be.

 

[moojoe]

-power consumption
-less focus time with crews, IE, less money, you just really need to program
-if anything changes on the fly, you can easily change it. -colour options if you want them, same with gobos
-less cable, so less money.
-possibly less trussing or motors due to weight, but thats probably not true pending on the types of movers.
-fewer insturments to take care of and check and all
-and thus less room to take up on a touring truck, so fewer trucks=less money.

oh, and theyre sexy.

 

[ship]

I have of late noticed a lot less spares for other than movers needed to be pulled. Good question.

 

[soundman]

-power consumption
-less focus time with crews, IE, less money, you just really need to program
-less cable, so less money.
-fewer insturments to take care of and check and all
-and thus less room to take up on a touring truck, so fewer trucks=less money.

oh, and theyre sexy.

Well you got three

 

[ricc0luke]

keep in mind you saw one song... not their whole concert....

but definatly a huge advantage in time and man power not haveing to focus a million pars.

 

[moojoe]

true, but to support him, if you look at PLSN or LSA and read the gear lists for a lot of concerts these days, very few have more then 10 conventionals, and theyre often S4s to pick up stuff then. theyre are concerts that use dozens of movers simply to light trusses, rarely changing anything in the movement or colour in the truss.

 

[soundman1024]

Reasons for movers:
No dimmers
Easier toubleshooting, one immediately knows the problem is either DMX addressing or the moving light itself.
Easier cable runs. Running DMX, even if it takes several universes for that many movers, is considerably easier than several load-rated cables.
Moving lights accept changes considerably easier, positioning, focusing, color, and gobo selections can all happen without getting on a lift or the truss.
Perhaps CMY color mixing is used, not a color wheel


Reasons for pars:
Their color temperature is generally better for cameras
Easier to hang, I certainly would perfer hanging a par to hanging a mover
Less expensive
Far less fragile
Easy to repair, fixing moving lights can be a nightmare from what I've heard, though some fixes are pretty easy for movers too.
Less DMX channels (a good or bad reason depending on the console in control)


There are a few ideas for each.

 

[digitaltec]

I know that is discusion is relating around a particular event but also a huge advantage in movers in my day to day job is the fact that we produce 7-8 shows a week on the same rig.

If I had to refocus an entire rig nightly to do the following days shows, it would not be a walk in the park. So to my advantage, I am able to light seven shows a week with only about three months worth of pre work.

 

[soundman]

keep in mind you saw one song... not their whole concert....

but definatly a huge advantage in time and man power not haveing to focus a million pars.

This is true but like other artists each LD will have a style. Just like a person that has studed a certian period or artist can identify an unkown peice by looking at the chartistics of the painting like brush stroke, paint type and what is being painted most LDs will have a certian feel to them. It might not be the same in every show they do because of the differnt styles and artist input.

While I can not find the music video I watched to get the question from I do have a DVD done by the same band and a lot of the principles are the same. Some movement but very low key stuff, no flash and trash style bally-hoos.

soundman1024 you hit on a lot of good points but not the two left I am thinking of. When I get back from my late class I will post a hint.

 

[soundman]

It has to do with part numbers 80560017 and 80560018 on studio spot 575s

 

[Mayhem]

Have very little experience with movers but given the hype around the Mac 700 and also the fact that you list two sequential part numbers (although I have not checked them) I am going to guess that animation wheels might be one of the advantages that you are looking for. In fact, I guess you could list the combinations of prisms, frosts, iris and gobo rotators contained in the one unit.

 

[soundman]

nope, the reason I gave part numbers was to encourage people to go to HES website and look at the drawings of the lights. I know I learned alot after I stumbled acrossed them.

 

[moojoe]

smaller footprint if your working by the 18" rule of thumb

 

[soundman1024]

The product numbers refer to the dimmer/shutter portion of the fixture.

 

[soundman]

The product numbers refer to the dimmer/shutter portion of the fixture.

Correct, now what advantages does this give a moving light. The answer to this does not have to do with cabling.

 

[soundman1024]

Obviously it has to do with shutter as dimming isn't a trick traditional fixtures can't do. Personally I find the shutter not extremely beneficial. Using the shutter isn't always as practical as one would wish. Anyway I'm guess in the advantage in a shutter you are looking for is that light is immediately cut, there is no discharge, or cooling time as there would be with turning a normal lamp off quickly, or warming time for turning it on quickly. The result is the possible emulation of a stroboscope, or strobe light take your pick.

 

[soundman]

Obviously it has to do with shutter as dimming isn't a trick traditional fixtures can't do. Personally I find the shutter not extremely beneficial. Using the shutter isn't always as practical as one would wish. Anyway I'm guess in the advantage in a shutter you are looking for is that light is immediately cut, there is no discharge, or cooling time as there would be with turning a normal lamp off quickly, or warming time for turning it on quickly. The result is the possible emulation of a stroboscope, or strobe light take your pick.

Yup and the fact that dimming does not effect the color temp of the light. The shutter makes chase effect looks differnt than with conventionals and IMO the rapid change of state from on to off fit the music better.

The band was the foo fighters but I can not think of the song name. Im a big fan of the lighting on their "Everywhere but home" DVD