Production Musings » Stage Design

T3 Stage Design

Andrew Hunt — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:10:28 +0000

We just wrapped up our 2nd Series of the year. I suppose I must have gotten distracted along the way because I totally did not take any photos of it. I do, however, have a special documentation of the process thanks to Tim and Colin. They setup a Canon 7D and took photos every 30 seconds during work hours all the way up until Sunday morning into the 1st Service.

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.

Collide Series Part 2 (2009)

Andrew Hunt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:30:55 +0000

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.

Student Ministries Stage Design

britninelson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:40:27 +0000

**Note from Andrew: I asked Britni Nelson, our newest stage design family member at Blue Ridge, to write about Student Ministries’ most recent stage design. I snapped a few photos from a non-Student Ministries event to give some context to their ideas and execution. May I introduce to you…Britni Nelson and the student ministries design team:

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.

Hanging the 4x16s

Andrew Hunt — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:44:50 +0000

I’ve gotten a few questions on how the 4×16 panels were actually hung so I took a quick photo of what we did. All of the materials I mentioned in the previous post can be found at Home Depot. The metal ends you see pictured is metal ribbon used for bailing cardboard or other materials and I believe it comes in rolls. Sawyer Scott designed these panels and ran the wire the length of their edges. We drilled holes in each end and used hanging wire at the tops and bottoms. We hung from the truss and anchored to eye bolts in the stage floor. Each panel had 4 rigging points. As you can see, it doesn’t have to be precise or super neat.

“Inside Outside Upside Down” Series

Andrew Hunt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:06:51 +0000

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…

Irrational Series Stage Design

Andrew Hunt — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:30:20 +0000

Ok, back to stage designs. I’m not going to lie, this design wasn’t a big hit. It definitely wasn’t a big hit for the poor couple that chose to get married on the stage with giant question marks in the background. (But hey, I like to think that we helped strengthen their marriage – what better day to really question everything. Right?) On a serious note, to that couple and all who get married at Blue Ridge, we do apologize that we are unable to change the stage to be more wedding friendly and elegant. There are just not enough hours in a Saturday!

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.

April ’09, The Vineyard Series Stage

Andrew Hunt — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:06:34 +0000

The Team:
Crystal George, Art Laura Eagle, Art
Randy Redmond, Pipe Bending Sawyer Scott, Pipe Bending/Design
Sue Scott, Pipe Bending/Design Scott Breiholz, Trellis Work
Todd Foster, Design/Stage Hand Colin Harman, Design/Stage Hand
Andrew Hunt, Design/Stage Hand

It’s going on five months since we’ve been using the extra big stage riser and it looks like it has 7 weeks left through this next series. We will miss you, you big, giant, trusty stage riser. You treated us well. Actually, the neat part is the cost of this whole thing. The initial build took about 5 days and cost $1160. We’ll be getting about 6 months of use out of it….at an estimated $192 per series (assuming a 4 week series). It was also constructed so that about 95% of it will be recycled into our housing repair ministry.

The challenge within each series this year has been how to incorporate the riser in a new fresh way that ties into the series. As Colin, Todd and I brainstormed ideas going into The Vineyard series, we all settled into using a mixture of flourish/vine art and soft goods. Laura and Crystal hand drew each vine onto the spandex and then colored them in. Sawyer and Sue made the side structures come to life. Each structure is supported by three main vertical 1.5″ pipes and 5 hand bent (Thanks to the help of their good friend, Randy Redmond) 3/4″ pipes. Diameter = 5′ and their radius expands just slightly past 180º so they look more circular rather than half round from the front. Pipe couplers were used to expand the total height to 15′ and were bolted at each vertical pipe. We stretched spandex around each structure, covered the tops with black plastic (the technical would be “Giant Garbage Bags”) and lit each from the bottom used AC Lighting’s LED Color Splits. (I’m a big fan of these LED fixtures, BTW. They’ve been rock solid.)

Scott’s trellis design worked very well in front the vine art. We back lit this w/ 4 Par 64s using Rosco Light Tough Spun diffuser and Storaro Yellow. Here’s a few shots. For more, check out my Flickr.

2009 Stage Design #2 – Part 1

Andrew Hunt — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:41:24 +0000

We’re going into a series called “Shift” addressing how we think about other people. Kicking off the 7 week series was a baptism service and we wanted to try a something we’ve never tried before. We made a riser, a big one. After planning it out, a team of about 10 very skilled volunteers came in and built the structure in 2.5 days. We photographed the process over 5 days from start to finish, and you can see that in an earlier post. The structure is made of wood, has a curved front similar to the curvature of our main stage floor. It’s dimensions are 5′Hx16′Dx30′W. We wanted the front of the stage to have 5-7 openings approximately 3′x4′ to contain the series title “SHIFT.” Todd is installing the letters this week and I’ll write about that in Part 2. The openings were covered with spandex from behind and stapled. 2 of the AC Lighting Color Splits were used to get the wash across the spandex. Lighting the top portion was a challenge because it decreased the lighting angles but all in all I think it’s worked very well. For the Baptism service the look was set apart from the look for the series and was primarily blues and greens. For the series, we selected Roscolux #2003 Storaro Yellow for front light for the band – so far it’s been best at lower intensities and provides a very warm look. Roscolux #26 Light Red will be used starting this week.

Stage Design Stop Motion

Andrew Hunt — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:55:16 +0000

Ok, so as an experiement, I sat my camera up on the edge of the tech booth upstairs this week and for 5 days, documented the progress of our stage design. I forgot my tripod the first day I started, so please forgive the few shaky frames! There are a little over 300 photographs here! I’ll write more about the design later when I have more time….till then, here ya go:

Untitled from Andrew Hunt on Vimeo.

2009 Stage Design #1

Andrew Hunt — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:07:37 +0000

Series :: Christianity Undressed
“Many people say religion is one of the primary problems with the world. We agree. Over the years, religion has been clothed in many different ways: the elegant robes of priests, conservative habits of nuns, suits & ties, sin management, rules, and expectations. What’s being covered up? Does Christianity have anything to hide? If all the trappings were stripped away, what would be left?

The purpose behind this series is to expose these questions and many more in an attempt to find the bare truth that may have been covered up by good intentions and lost in the attire of rituals and traditions.” – Series Blurb

It’s our first series of 2009! Dressing rooms constructed of wood. 10′ sections of truss borrowed from my friend Lester Hamrick. 4 30w pinspots were used to light interior of truss. 2 Color Splits and 2 Par 64 fixtures hung from truss. Studio Beam fixtures on back row. One of the significant changes we made recently was to move the studio beams to the back row. They are working out very nicely back there for back lighting and color changes, especially when haze is used. Feel free to critique the color palette of this design. We typically aim for about 2, maybe 3 colors for use but in this design there are at least 4 or 5 colors going on and therefore may be a bit too busy. BTW, when we took these photos, the room wasn’t hazed well enough.