To mimic the series graphic (see previous post)

We just began an 8 weeks series addressing what it means and does not mean to worship. “Our church culture often defines worship as a specific time during a Sunday morning service that consists of some praise choruses, or perhaps a specific music service that occurs during the week. Certainly, that is one way people connect with God. But, we may be limiting ourselves by missing some of the most valuable meanings of worship. It was never intended to be a simple activity that we perform but something much broader. In reality, it was not even supposed to originate with us.” – BR Teaching Team

Tim conceptualized this design to use offset 2′x4′ pieces of white coroplast. The idea was to use 16′ vertical 2x4s on 4′ centers. We would staple one end of the chloroplast to the stud and the other end would be offset approximately 8″ from the stud. I modified our original 3d models to illustrate the assembly in a way much better than I can describe:

Tim, Colin and Todd will attest to how difficult I can be to work with at times. I tend to over think and over analyze details of ideas or concepts and immediately move to “what are the potential problems with this idea?” or “can I immediately identify challenges we’ll need to consider ahead of time?” when brainstorming. Talk about a Debbie Downer for the creative process. In this case, I was worried about the 12″ spacers creating undesirable shadows when downlit and I was also worried that the spaces between the panels wouldn’t look right. For both cases, I was wrong. In hindsight, I think the shadows and spaces played to our advantage once we got color on it.

The entire structure is braced to the back wall and safetied. For sidelight we used the AC Lighting Color Splits (one per side), 5 High End Studio Beams above it, 6 ETC S4 Jr for band backlight and 5 S4 Jr Zooms for Vocal frontlight. Fresh pics to follow….

About the design:
- We wanted something warm
- We got the lanterns from The Paper Lantern Store (along w/ 15′ cables)
- Used 40 watt bulbs
- For power distribution, we found a great 12 outlet distro at Harbor Freight for $20. We replaced the ends from Edison to Stage Pin and it worked like a charm.

Between the 15′ extensions and the distros, we should have a really nice setup for future designs when we want to incorporate lots of dimmable incandescent fixtures.

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.

]]> http://productionmusings.com/2010/01/13/collide-series-part-2-2009/feed/ 0 http://productionmusings.com/2010/01/12/collide-series-part-1-2009/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://productionmusings.com/2010/01/12/collide-series-part-1-2009/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:00:10 +0000 Andrew Hunt http://productionmusings.com/?p=402 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.

We all leave a mark, we all influence people we come into contact with, and whose mark are you leaving, our own or Christ’s? With this stage design we wanted to really drive home the point of making and leaving a mark.

Who doesn’t love to throw and splatter paint around sometimes? We took 3 different colors of paint, in this instance, orange, blue, and green semi-gloss and used 8 foam balls. We dipped them into the paint and threw them onto to wall to create yet another type of mark. Each splatter is different representing that each of us leaves a different mark. To fill in gaps between the marks that the foam balls had made we used paint brushes and paint stirrers to create the more unique marks and designs on the wall.  We hit the walls with blue gels to make the colors pop.

We used 4×8 sheets of insulation board t hat had been glued together and painted with flat white paint creating 4×16 sheets to create our “X”. the top corners of the board were fitted with wires then screwed into the wall. Then screws were screwed in the wall for the boards to rest on. We Used Pink gels and closed the shudders on our lights to focus the lights only on the “X” making it stand out with its vibrant color.

The life that Jesus lived and the things he taught were totally backwards from the ideas the world held.  Today it’s no different.  Love the person one cubicle over who grates on your every last nerve?  (Don’t read too much into that Colin.)  This series explored the teachings of Jesus regarding things such as modern idolatry, human sexuality, what is love (baby don’t hurt me), family and a few others.

For those much farther along the lighting and design process that I am, I’d love your critique of our stage designs.  We always strive to do the best with what we have when it comes to stage design.  At the cost of $3.25 plus shipping per umbrella we created this.  There are obvious similarities to the previous design.  The idea behind it was to include a few subtle tie-ins to the series title.  Umbrellas belong outside but we used them inside and upside down.  Too cheesy?  :)  Hit them with some deep purple gel and really made them pop.  The rectangles in the back were supposed to be like falling dominoes, except upside down.  Only a few people connected that.  What would it look like to really do an upside-down stage design?  How could we have done it better?  I was personally pleased with how this one turned out.  It’s one of the most colorful/Dr. Seuss looking things we’ve done in a while.

Now, let the next stage design begin…

The big stage riser finally came down!  We struggled with how to best make the transition into this design from the previous and had a few goals in mind for this design as we began the Google Sketchup brainstorming.

• No strong thematic tie-in with the series topic needed
• Keep it simple and clean
• Make it cost effective
• Make it recycle-able

We decided on making several 4′x16′ rectangles made from 1/2″ sheets of pink 4′x8′ foam insulation board (Owens Corning or something similar) with no foil backer.  They were purchased from Home Depot. Sawyer and Sue Scott of Advanced Design Electronics here in Lynchburg assembled two 4′x8′ insulation sheets using a thin strip of metal (Band Iron strap for binding pallets, etc.) down both 16′ sides, trimmed both edges with plastic edging, and glued the middle joint with Quickset Gorilla Glue.  Each rectangle was painted with two coats of flat white paint to absorb the most color from our lights.  Glossy paint tends to reflect more light and although I suppose there’s a situation that calls for glossy, this wasn’t it.  All items were purchased from Home Depot and each rectangle costs less than $25 each to make.

Each panel was hung at an angle and braced at the floor and the lighting grid using the Band Iron metal along the sides.  (We left about a half inch excess at each end of the panel with a hole drilled in the metal.)

The cyc on stage left was made using a 30′x40′ piece of stock spandex
from I.Weiss. We were very fortunate with this piece of fabric.  I.Weiss had one in stock that had been returned from a customer because they didn’t realize it has a seam.  We were happy to accept a generous discount for such a large piece of fabric.  ($350)  We’ll be able to use this for video shoots in the future and many more stage designs we hope.  The frame was again thought of and constructed by Sawyer and Sue Scott.  It was constructed from standard metal conduit and ingeniously bent around a giant water tower to create the bend.  (Simple solution eh?!)  After some welding we we had a 16′x22′ frame safety cabled to the lighting grid.

For lighting, we used the Color Splits to wash the cyc.  An old starry gobo we found from a previous stage design from last year was also used on the cyc.  Each of the panels were lit with an ETC Source Four Jr. Zoom and were uplit with Par64 fixtures.  Additional photos and full size images can be viewed and downloaded at my Flickr.

The week of stage change, the whole team was in Chicago for Willow Creek’s Art Conference.  There wasn’t much we could do but we gave it our best shot.  Two of the stage design volunteers, Sawyer and Sue Scott, took it upon themselves to make several giant question marks matching the series graphic above.  Styrofoam insulation is the stuff.  It’s cheap.  It’s light.  It’s easy to work with.  After some tracing and many many hours of cutting 3 different sized question marks they were done.  Prior to leaving for Chicago, I changed a few colors and aimed the Color Splits where the question marks would appear.  When we returned to Lynchburg on Saturday, Todd and I spent several hours getting them hung, stood back, and said, “It is good.”  It was our best.  This was our last design with the giant riser built on stage.  I’d say it was split 50/50 of those where were sad/happy to see it go.

In the upcoming designs, we’ll be using Google Sketchup more.  I’m excited about the potential for designing virtually.

For several years now we’ve been facing challenges within our lighting team.  Volunteer programmers would have trouble performing certain tasks with our old Leprecon LPX-48x controller. Basic tasks such as editing a cue live or moving cues around within the cue list were cumbersome for volunteers.  As I began moving towards these issues I realized that it wasn’t a people problem as much as it was a hardware problem.  Enter the ETC Ion.  It has replaced our Leprecon LPX48.  The Leprecon controller wasn’t a horrible controller and it does have it’s place in the industry, but it did use syntax and workflow that didn’t make it as easy for the weekend warrior volunteers who serve at Blue Ridge.  Simple changes of service became a big issue, no one could make a blind edit with confidence, and not to mention a mysterious problem with our house lights where we would lose control and have to manually reset the dimmers.

The Ion solved many problems for us.  Here’s a list:

1. Undo – my oh my, the simple pleasures.  One tiny mistake while editing can cost a programmer but this great feature has proven it’s worth.  It also keeps a history log of commands entered.  This is helpful from a directors stand point when a programmer says, “The console isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do!”  So, “Let’s see what we told it to do.”

2. On Board Learning – forgot what a command key does or how to use it?  The console will tell you!

3. Networkable – I can save tens of hours every stage change, hundreds of hours every year by controlling the console from my laptop from stage wirelessly.  It came with the network dongle allowing my laptop to become a Primary controller.  I still have a few issues to resolve with this feature…looks like Macs don’t play as friendly with ETC but I haven’t explored the latest firmware and editor updates…we’ll see!

4. iPhone – yes, you can control it via iPhone – iTunes App

5. Expandable – add multiple fader wings for up to 240 programmable faders.

I don’t know if the ‘perfect’ lighting console exists (some say it was the MicrovisionFX) but I can say with utter confidence that going with the Ion was a giant leap in the right direction for us.  Even our beginner volunteer programmer has picked it up and can edit with a level on confidence that comes more quickly than it ever has before!