-prepare your attentions for the show/gig
-ask for the genre and theme
if the theme for example pop then the lights need to show the genre and what affects your trying to cause
- if the theme changes throughout the performance?
-what the directer is trying to highlight?
for example if the director is trying to show a specific action or senaro then we could use lighting to symbolize this.
-what colors are being used this can affect the theme and setting of a scene
-if any on stage actions will effect the lighting for example different instruments being used.
- what the song will be played and if any lighting is needed so the musicians can read there music ect.
-what fixtures will be used for specific lighting affect
you can use different size edges of a fixture to show different effects
you wouldn't use a profile for a wide and soft wash as a profile is normally a firm and harsh light to highlight specific objects.
-what height the fixtures are positioned
the height of fixtures can change a scene or song dramatically
for example if you have small up lighters for a rock and role song it doesn't give you the effect you wanted but up lighters for a slow and calm song would work really well.
- if moving lights or effects will be used.
effects can change a mood and theme as well
if your effect is set to bpm it can add a good flow to a song as long as the correct fixture is used.
- when using movers you have to take into consideration of tracking and the speed in which they move.
if tracking is on the it can make the scene feel stiff and fixed as its very rigid but if it disabled then the scene can feel smooth.
this changes through for the genre of the song and the pace, as tracking on a quick song can look really good as it can carry the flow of the song and keep it linked throughout.
-will visual effects be used.
visual effects could be lazers or hase for example,
these add a great effect once again to the correct song and mood.
hase machines can add a setting idea to a song
it can make it feel cold with a cold blue wash pushed through it
but it can also be made to look like humidity which can add a great effect.
The difference between a professional lighting programmer and a amateur. the main difference is experience and knowledge on the feild, for example with alot more experience you may have quicker ways to finish tasks to save time, with a amateur they may have to do everything by the books which will take time.
this is key when working in a professional company they wont hold your hand, you have to learn on the job and quickly.
What are the advantaged to using intelgent lighting in a music gig??
The history of moving lights in music gigs:
The first ficture that wqs introduced with motors was made in 1925 by herbet f king in USA, this fixture had an electric motor build into the rear end of the fixture, by 1936 the fixturers were able to pan and tilt using indurviaul joy sticks. This was a huge acumplihment in the industy.
There are many advangages to using moving lights in music gigs, the capabity of being able to move a beam of light anywhere and quickly can bring great affects and style to a gig, before moving lights were invented a gig would consist of gentric lights normaly frenels or parcans to cover the stage, this would be very basic as there wouldn’t be any fixtures moving but only the intencity was being changed.
The moving lights could add effects to a gig for example highlight indurstional instruments or objects using one specific fixture rather than an indurviausl for each spot, this was really helpful as it would make rigging up the stage a lot quicker.
When moving lights were beginning to be introduced to the industry they were exspencive and slightly annoying to operaters as each and every mover had a different joy stick, this meant that a different control cable was run along the rig, this resulted in more time. The moving light had many peole not liking it due to more work and a lot more fidderly to manover and opereate as it had to be looked after a lot more carefully than genric fixtures. This was a huge dislike of them as many workers didn’t like the responibley of looking after them.
Another aspect of intelagnt lighting are the led fixtures, these are a lot newer than moving lights, these in my opinion are one of the greatest inventions In the industry, there great because they save a tremendous about of power and preduce less heat, in the early days of indoor theatre and still to this day without venterlation theatres got very very hot because of the hot lamps being on.
Leds can be used in many ways to add great affects and colours to a gig, leds are my prefured use of fixture for many reasons, they preduce a very very little about of heat and the intencity and colour can be changed so quickly yet smoothly there great for improvised lighting states and effects, during a gig fixtures that move and change intencity along with the music are thebest way to hype the atmosphere in a room, this is why intelagent lighting is the preferred option.
As I have already said led fixtures can change intencity very quickly without a problem but genttric lights would sruggle after a period time as they have lamps, a tradtinal lamp for frenels and some profiles are T26-26 these are haligon lamps which means they produce a lot heat like your bulbs at home but a lot hotter, these lamps don’t last a logn period of time if they are changed in intencity a lot and quickly in a small space of time, if you turned your bulb in your room on off on off it would eventruly break or shatter, this is the saem as gentric lamps, this is another example of why new and intelagagent lighting is better for quick and sudden performance as replacing and maintaining the genetric lights is costly and time comsuming.
A reason why intelgent lighting wouldn’t be used in a live gig could be the budget for the show, hiring or buying moving lights can cost depending on length of hire and series of movers and may need someone with exsperiecne and knowledge of the fixture, LED’s on the other hand are cheaper to hire and don’t require a lot of knowledge to set up.
If the budget for the show is low then other tricks of the trade may be used for example a chase effect can make fixrures look like there moving, this is a newish effect that comes with any new lighting console, the downside to this is that you would have to hire more fixtures and that can also be costly. The other factors are weight, moving lights way a lot more than a single LED, most movers will be the same weight as as many as 5 LED’S combined, In some theatres and venues there are weight limints depending on how they rig the fixates, for example if there are 2 x 500kg lighting bars for the fixtures to be attached to this will limit the amount of fixtures that are able to fit on the rig, this can effect some shows as they may need to think of otherwise to get the same effect but with out using so many fixtures.
https://www.britannica.com/art/stagecraft/Stage-lighting
Unit 11 Draft:
The advantages and disadvantages of using intelligent lighting in productions:
This is a broad subject so I decided to focus on live lighting at events?
Live lighting events was still to very broad to I narrowed it down to
Pros and cons:
Health and safety:
-Weight
-
Pros:
-Overlap period
Less maintenance
Can be waterproof
Easier to transport (timeline of flight cases)
Some fixtures weigh less https://www.thomann.de/gb/profile_spotlights.html?pg=2&ls=25
More energy effect
-very little heat produced
-less power needed
-more robust (less replacement)
Cost long term https://www.thomann.de/gb/profile_spotlights.html?pg=2&ls=25
Simple to rig and set up (profile) http://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/lighting/lighting-
More customizable (colour wheel no gels needed) SPECS: of each different fixture
They can produce a clear and less misty light beam
Some don’t have lens (can’t be broken)
Mimerable bleeding
Take up less space
Larger range of fixtures avaible
Can be wirelessly controlled
Cons:
Cost short term (by out)
Have to have some knowledge of setting up and operating
Hard to repair
Faults normal occur when human error
Doesn’t work with older equipment
Require non dimmer power
Wireless interference
Interview Steve Collis
The pros and cons of using intelligent lighting in live lighting events?
Intro Paragraph
· Before intelligent lighting
- Generic lighting
- Dimmer
- a lot of maintenance
· Before digital lighting consoles
Body:
· Intelligent lighting Is more beneficial in lighting design and live events and energy saving than generic lighting.
· Expand on pros and cons
Conclusions:
· Why was intelenet lighting helpful and used well in our unit 12
Leds are not like normal generic fixtures because instead of having a lamp produce the light there are leds instead, this is a huge pro to an led as leds are nowhere near as likely to break or fail compared to the old halogen lamps, this is good when it comes to maintenance as you wouldn’t need to maintain the lamps and its another factor not to worry about. This is a huge help because at events which are 99% some distance from your warehouse if a generic light breaks it’s a pain and may require tools or spare parts that you may not have with you but with an led there is a lot less chance of damage or faulty equipment that hasn’t been caused by a person in which case it should have been checked beforehand, this once again helps on live events because leds are less likely to break.
Tom Pegrum Unit 11
F for my unit 11 I have chosen to look into why LED fixtures are more beneficial on live events, my question is what are the advantages and disadvantages to using leds on live events?
There are many pros to using leds at live and temporary events, when using leds there is less heat provided after a long or short time of use, this is because of the power used. Leds are a non-dimmer fixture this means that they need constant and non-fluctuating power feed o work and are there intensity and other profiles are controlled via dmx, this is a huge pro for the use of leds as it will reduce the amount of heat energy wasted when they are in use.
When using leds at a live event and not needing to worry about positioning the leds away from any flammable materials is great as its another thing that doesn’t need to be worried about which results in a more practical fixture. This is helpful at events because a lot of time can be wasted when positioning fixtures and the less variables that are needed to worry about the better.
Leds are also a lot more maintenance free, this is because there aren’t anywhere near as many variables when using them, a generic fixture isn’t waterproof so you would need to worry if one got wet for a long period of time but an led can be, depending on which led type you get they can either be waterproof or not, this is really helpful because when at an event an led fixture can be put outside to highlight a sign or something else and no worry is needed because its water proof.
Leds are also a lot easier to transport to some extent, with generic fixtures transport would have either been a few fixtures pushed into a large flight case or a dozen fixtures hung on a meet rack, both take up a lot of space and some care is needed to make sure no damages occur.
On the other hand, leds can be transported in custom flight case, most led fixtures can be brought with a flight case to optimize transport and storage, you could customize an original flight case to transport and store old generic fixtures but they are a lot bigger and awkward shapes. The use of having flight cases that are specifically made to store leds are great because its quick and easy to find the correct flight case with the fixture in it and stored is easy.
Another pro to using leds is weight, most generic lights weigh more than leds because of a few factors, this can play a huge part when it comes to flying fixtures on truss or stands, when using truss someone must calculate the weight of what they are planning on hanging but also work out the load or the truss, in many cases the weight of all the fixtures is below the max the truss can take but at large events for example festivals weight is key as balance is effected by weight and so are many other things, leds are the prefers use when using truss and a single feed of power is needed rather than lots of induvial feeds to control the intensity only adding weight in its self and because leds are new they tend to be safer as well. (http://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/lighting/lighting-rigging-positions/)
Leds are also a lot more cost effective in the long term, an led currently can retail from about 300 to 600 ( https://www.thomann.de/gb/profile_spotlights.html?pg=2&ls=25 ) that’s a lot of money striahg out but as they have a long life exspeticy of about 15 years they are cheap if they last that long, but a generic fixture has a lot shorter life spam but are cheaper. This will change through as in 2020 the EU are wanting to bring a law and regualtions in that prevent the use of old gentricl ights because of there energy officacity, this will hopefully lower the retail price of leds as they will be on demand a lot more than currently, it will also cause casos for less finalcialy stable companies and schools ect. https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2018/theatres-exempt-devastating-eu-lighting-rules/
The other pros to using leds are that they are more customizable for example they can have extra addons like gobos leans ect, with genetric lights there isn’t a colour will or a gobo wheel or shutter, this is a huge pro for leds as its time comsuming changing gels and adding gobos ect,.
On the other hand there are a few disadvanges to having leds, short term the outright prices are a lot compared to genetric fixtures, for smaller companys this could be a big deal espesualy with the new EU law being introduced. They are also hard to repair yourself
