Production Musings

Hiccups

// January 25th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Video

Tim Gosnell, our newest technical staff member, created this video short to illustrate various old wives’ tales regarding the best way to get rid of hiccups. As you read this, what things have you heard of doing to get rid of them? Various water drinking methods? Questionable body positions? Potentially dangerous amateur medical practices? These and other ideas were mentioned here but seriously, how do we really get rid of hiccups?

The creative team was looking for a fun way to setup the fact that when we’re faced with issues and challenges in life we need to use caution when seeking for truth, for answers. We need to be able to discern truth from opinion as we walk through life together. The truths that God has communicated to us through the Bible will be the guide.

Take a look: (it’s my first cameo! which one am i?)

Hiccups from Tim Gosnell on Vimeo.

Tech specs:
Audio captured via Sennheiser K6 shotgun direct into camera
Video captured w/ Canon 7D, handheld
Lens, Canon 24mm, 1.4 L

Sloppy Work?

// January 16th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Thoughts

Each of us has a certain work set before us. I can be one of the best at procrastinating, being lazy or distracted. I’ve also felt the drudgery of certain tasks that needed to be done.

Stage lighting used to really be one of those things for me. I was a spring chicken in the audio world and knew nothing of dmx protocol, cue lists, hang/follow times, the need to terminate dmx, and I wasn’t real clear on the difference between a par and an ellipsoidal. Over the past 5.5 years a love for stage designs and stage lighting has really begun to mature in me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally in love with it yet…but I’m light years from where I was.

No matter, here is an excellent writing I found regarding whatever work we find before ourselves. It pretty well sums up what my experience has been when I’ve found myself standing in front of a task that I didn’t feel that strongly about to begin with:

…maybe you are just bored. Your boredom may arise from unbelief or something akin to unbelief–lack of vision. You do not have a clearly defined goal ahead of you. You are drifting. Pray about your work. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a definite goal for the next three months. Then drive to that goal.
Or perhaps you do not like the work you are called to do. You feel unfit for it. You could slave at something else, but your own work is too unattractive. Remember the verse, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Eccles. 9:10). You will be surprised how enjoyable a task becomes when you master it. Make it your aim to do your daily job superbly, and you will turn drudgery into a craft and a craft into an art. Nothing is so boring as sloppy work. – John White

Collide Series Part 2 (2009)

// January 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Stage Design

I mentioned yesterday that this was the design for trying new things. For part 2 of Collide we were into the holiday spirit and decided to have a little stage change-up for several weeks. For several years now, a few other Blue Ridge leaders have really desired a giant screen on stage. We currently have 2 screens off stage left and right. At any rate, finally we had a fantastic opportunity to explore some uncharted technical territory. We pulled off a 24′x6′ image across the back of the stage.

The response to our experimenting was overwhelmingly positive. Our executive pastor told me, “Out of all of the technical things we’ve ever tried, I haven’t received as much positive response to anything as I have the center screen.” Despite the way we bootlegged this setup, people seemed to like it. The number one comment we received was that it was “much more engaging being able to look straight ahead rather than off to the side.” It was a technical learning win as well. While we were in the planning stages, someone asked me if it was going to turn out ok. I responded, “I have no earthly idea. It could be successful or we could fall flat on our face.”  Either way we would have learned something.

As far as changes to the set, we did away with the angled truss, joined the ends and made one nice long straight piece of truss from which to hang the projectors. We measured their placement and distance as best we could, 8′ apart and 15′ from the screen if memory serves me correct. VGA was supplied to each projector fed by a Matrox TripleHead2Go. Our operating resolution was 2400×600 and our screen was about as homemade as you can get.  Todd used thin finishing boards as a flat surface and a half inch frame around the back.  In addition we used two 20′ battens secured to the frame to give us rigging points.  To finish it off we wrapped it in spandex.  We love spandex, can you tell?

My Macbook Pro drove the whole system from stage left after we discovered that the Matrox doesn’t appreciate having a 100ft VGA extension between it and my laptop. (It is supplied with a proprietary cable that must be between the computer and itself.) If any of you understand why that is so, feel free to educate us! To control my laptop and be with the rest of the tech crew, Colin screen shared it over our network and it worked like a charm. Overall, we didn’t have any major issues with screen sharing although we would not recommend this method for anything other than a short term experiment.

Here are a few solid things we’ve learned from this project as we look to do something more permanent:

1. We shouldn’t make our own screen. Fluctuating humidity and temperature causes wood to warp. Even over 5 weeks, noticeable image distortion could be seen.

2. Brand new projectors and new lamps are a must. As projectors age, so do their LCD panels. Color and brightness should match as closely as possible. The provided photos illustrate the color/brightness differences.

3. Edge blending is a must if you desire smooth transitions between projectors. We’re considering Panasonic projectors because it’s built in and hard to beat the quality.

Propresenter worked very well in controlling the display. As we consider a longer term solution to a center display we feel strongly about Renewed Vision’s product in terms of reliability and quality. Special thanks again to Lester Hamrick of Just Right AV for the use of his projectors and volunteering countless hours as well as Mark Hudson for giving several days worth of his time during this stage design and for his faithful service over the last several years.

Collide Series Part 1 (2009)

// January 12th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Stage Design

Several weeks ago we kicked off the last series of 2009: Collide. Todd and I had been tossing around the idea of doing some slanted floor risers so we thought we’d finish up this year by giving it a shot. As a matter of fact, “give it a shot” became a pretty popular phrase/idea within this last series. We did alot of new things we’d never tried before. We tried new lighting angles with the funky lighting bolt truss idea. We tried the moving lights from stage positions. We tried slanted stage risers. And we also tried Rosco 02, Bastard Amber. It’s not what you think! It’s a popular front light gel to make things a bit warmer. Let’s begin with our original Google Sketchup drawing of the design idea:

I think this may have been the first design that we’ve successfully integrated the Studio Beams from the stage floor. If my memory serves correct, I was a little unsure of the results of using them from this position. I was afraid of losing some flexibility of creative backlighting. Thankfully, Colin and Tim challenged me to give it a shot and looking back I think it’s safe to say that it worked very well. We hung 5 S4Jrs in the grid as backlight in place of the Studio Beams.

The front 3′ of the slanted riser stage right was constructed to be removable for 2 reasons:

1. Lift access to stage

2. Easy exit/entry for groups of people (Baptism service in mind–we also stuck some rope light on a dimmer to aid those unfamiliar with the stage as they exited for that service.)

The truss was provided by Lester Hamrick of Just Right AV in Bedford, VA. We used two CM Loadstar half ton chain motors to lift the assembled truss off the stage and loaded it with 3 ETC SmartBars and 24 par 64 cans. The dimmers and fixtures were not rented or purchased. They were removed from our installed grid. Yes, it was quite a bit of work but now half our grid is clean as ever! Once everything was safetied correctly, we lifted it into placed and attached the final safety cables.

We had never tried positioning lighting fixtures in this space on our stage. The front side produced a very strong backlight on the vocals and looked nice in the haze. The backside was used for front lighting the band and down/side lighting center stage. We lit the truss with 3 different colors to produce separate feels. (Deep purple and fuchsia in addition to the blue I have shown below.)

And then there was Rosco 02, Bastard Amber. For over 5 years, we’ve stuck with cool front light. I personally like cooler color temperature but it was time for a change. We replaced it all with R02 and love it. I think I’d like to try Light Bastard Amber as well in the future.  For sidelight, we left the gel cooler resulting in very nice looking camera images.