Street light set piece

[urban79]

Here's the situation:
I'm the musical director for a production of Grease. As the person with the most (recent) theatre experience, I'm taking on a lot of design roles for the show. Part of my set design for the street scene with Greased Lightning is for a flying piece representing street lights in forced perspective.

Fortunately, I don't have to build the piece - I have a high school design class that is willing to take on the project. I gave the teacher the vision and let him come up with a plan. He's looking at building it as a large flying flat (5, 4X7 lauan faced flats, with sockets installed for the street lights).

My first question is: is there anything with this scenario that would concern you, pitfalls to avoid, etc? While it's not my job to build it, I will insist that it's done correctly (and by correctly I mean safely).

Second, would anyone have any ideas/sources for covers that would resemble street lights to be installed over the fixtures?

I have a feeling there will be many more panicked posts in the next six weeks - we're a little behind!

Thanks everybody!

Chris

 

[DuckJordan]

My biggest concern would be where its going to be wired to, since it is flown your options are somewhat limited. In that situation i would run power up to the batten then either up to the grid (if you have dimmer access up in your grid) or run it along the batten to the side and down to a floor pocket...

I guess Wiring would be my biggest concern, not sure if that falls under your responsibilities but I think that will be the hardest part about this piece.

 

[VCTMike]

Chris:

I built one for a 2009 performance using conduit for the light poles (smaller diameters as the perceived distance increased) bent in a semi circle at the top. The fly was held together with a metal frame at the top and the sloped sides were 1x8 that was tapered. I attached light sockets (mostly candelabra type and successive smaller ones) to each conduit end and threaded the wire to the back side and soldered all of the connections to a single up line to the batten where it was dropped off the end to a floor pocket. Over the light sockets I used White plastic bowls of various sizes, again smaller as they went away from the edges to the center. We flew a black scrim behind it with Greased Lightning in front. The audience loved it when the lights came up.

Here's a sketch of the design:


Regards,
Michael

 

[urban79]

Mike,

You would by any chance have done this for a production at Ichabod Crane, would you? Because that is the design I based mine from! I student-taught that fall at Ichabod...

Chris

Chris:

I built one for a 2009 performance using conduit for the light poles (smaller diameters as the perceived distance increased) bent in a semi circle at the top. The fly was held together with a metal frame at the top and the sloped sides were 1x8 that was tapered. I attached light sockets (mostly candelabra type and successive smaller ones) to each conduit end and threaded the wire to the back side and soldered all of the connections to a single up line to the batten where it was dropped off the end to a floor pocket. Over the light sockets I used White plastic bowls of various sizes, again smaller as they went away from the edges to the center. We flew a black scrim behind it with Greased Lightning in front. The audience loved it when the lights came up.

Here's a sketch of the design:
View attachment 4342

Regards,
Michael

 

[urban79]

Mine too. I have plenty of unused dimmers in the grid, but no floor pockets, so I just plan on running power from the grid. The actual wiring of the set piece will be taken care of by the shop, properly supervised, so I hope there won't be issues there!

Chris

My biggest concern would be where its going to be wired to, since it is flown your options are somewhat limited. In that situation i would run power up to the batten then either up to the grid (if you have dimmer access up in your grid) or run it along the batten to the side and down to a floor pocket...

I guess Wiring would be my biggest concern, not sure if that falls under your responsibilities but I think that will be the hardest part about this piece.

 

[VCTMike]

Mike,

You would by any chance have done this for a production at Ichabod Crane, would you? Because that is the design I based mine from! I student-taught that fall at Ichabod...

Chris

Ding, ding, ding!

 

[chausman]

Other than wiring, make sure that whoever is designing and building this knows how deep it can be to clear flying things around it. This might not be a problem if you don't have much around, but if it is close to electrics...

 

[VCTMike]

Other than wiring, make sure that whoever is designing and building this knows how deep it can be to clear flying things around it. This might not be a problem if you don't have much around, but if it is close to electrics...

The original was only 13" deep (in front on the batten). There was nothing on the batten downstage from it and the electric upstage was @ 24".

 

[chausman]

The original was only 13" deep (in front on the batten). There was nothing on the batten downstage from it and the electric upstage was @ 24".

Just thought I'd mention it. (To me) it seems fairly logical, but at least now it is there so if someone searches, they have that little reminder.

 

[urban79]

It's a good point. I showed the shop teacher exactly where it was going to fly for depth issues. There's a bit of room, but not a ton. At this point, I may forego building the piece and instead borrow it!

Just thought I'd mention it. (To me) it seems fairly logical, but at least now it is there so if someone searches, they have that little reminder.

 

[kicknargel]

Unfortunately, building a large piece of hard scenery to fly is something that should not be attempted by students or amateurs. Nor should the rigging of that piece. A failure could quite easily result in serious injury or death.

Here are some options:

1. Build the piece on a wagon to be ground-supported
2. Hire professionals
3. Create the piece as a drop. You could make a painted drops with selected areas translucent. Lit from behind this can have a dramatic effect. Here's one we did: Theatre/Dance

I'm sure there's lots of info on CB about translucent drops, and I'd be happy to offer more advise on making one.

 

[urban79]

I do appreciate the risks associated with such rigging. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I have the experience necessary to pull this off on my own. We do have resources that are much more experienced - a local college T.D. for one. While I have done some rigging in the past, there would definitely be additional help.

The translucent drop is a good idea - one that I hadn't considered. I'm not sure which way we'll end up going, but it will be done correctly (safely).

Unfortunately, building a large piece of hard scenery to fly is something that should not be attempted by students or amateurs. Nor should the rigging of that piece. A failure could quite easily result in serious injury or death.

Here are some options:

1. Build the piece on a wagon to be ground-supported
2. Hire professionals
3. Create the piece as a drop. You could make a painted drops with selected areas translucent. Lit from behind this can have a dramatic effect. Here's one we did: Theatre/Dance

I'm sure there's lots of info on CB about translucent drops, and I'd be happy to offer more advise on making one.