A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

The Load-In and Setup

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Once there, they are often equipped with a tape mea-

sure, all of the channels are turned on, and the over-

head striplights are flown out to trim. Keeping them

all turned on allows the designer to see how they are

spreading on the goods as they fly out. It also allows

everyone to see if, for some reason, a circuit unplugs

on the way out to trim.

Striplights that make up the groundrow are preset

much the same way. Again, matching the instruments

to each other is of prime importance. Almost every-

thing is the same between the two positions, regard-

less of the unit type. The usual difference, though,

is in the way they prefocus. While overhead strips

usually prefocus straight down, groundrow strip-

light bodies are typically preset slightly tipped, facing

upstage into the bounce, or downstage into the trans.

Because they tip, it’s more important that the color

frame holders slots are “up,” so that the color frames

can’t fall out. The other main difference is one of tim-

ing and preset placement. If the groundrow’s playing

position is directly under the overhead striplights, it’s

often assembled some distance upstage or downstage

of its final placement. That way a ladder, if need be,

can move back and forth in its absence to focus the

overhead position.

Using zoom ellipsoidals can be another element

that may impact the speed of the focus. Trying to

determine the positions of both lenses while on a lad-

der, especially for folks not familiar with the units,

can slow a focus session to a crawl. Presetting the

lens positions of zoom ellipsoidals (or the beam size

of fresnels, for that matter) can be accomplished

while the instruments are being hung. Typically, this

technique is most useful when zoom instruments are

plotted for entire systems of light. It requires a little

homework on the part of the lighting designer, which

is done prior to the load-in. First, a sectional beam

drawing defines the actual throw distance for each

instrument from each hanging position. If the zooms

are used in a lot of different systems hung at different

distances, some time will be spent constructing the

drawings. As the hang is taking place, a single zoom

is placed some distance from an un-obscured wall.

The actual throw distance for each instrument or

system is measured from the instrument to the wall.

Likewise, the desired beam pool size is measured out

on the wall. The sample zoom is then moved to each

measured location, and its focus knobs are adjusted

to match the desired diameter. The knob positions

(or the number of rotations for fresnel instruments)

are recorded for each actual throw distance, and then

applied to each system’s instrument in the hang.

Once the instruments are hung, plugged, colored,

accessorized, and prefocused, the hang is complete

and the instruments are ready to be tested.

POSITION THE BOOMS

Final on-site positions for sidelight booms are often

defined by a combination of four elements: the initial

plan, combined with the specific environment sur-

rounding each location, personal experience, and gut

instinct.

The ideal system is created when all of the

positions are located equidistant from centerline,

safely secured and hidden from the audience, and

each system on the combined booms provide an

even blend of light, covering the entire depth of

the performance space. In order to achieve that

even blend for each system, the lenses for all of

those instruments on the booms are placed at the

same distance from centerline. Presuming all of the

instruments are the same type and the same watt-

age, the light beams in that system should then be

matching intensities.

On and Offstage

The distance from centerline usually begins with

a distance far enough offstage to be concealed by

masking legs. That distance is then checked against

the beam size produced by instruments focused on

the near side of the stage. Usually, the field spread

of those instruments is large enough so that light

from the “near focus” instruments splashes the near

masking legs. Often this means the instrument’s

lenses are placed somewhere between 8′-0″ and 12′-0″

offstage of the onstage edge of the black masking

legs.

After that initial placement, however, the ele-

ments of the surrounding environment have to be

considered. One element that may alter this location

are the side sightlines from the audience. Common

practice dictates that the lenses of the instruments

should not be visible to the audience, and booms may

need to move farther offstage to be concealed from

view.

The length of the overhead battens can also

affect the distance. When sidelight booms are located

under overhead electrics, they’re often positioned

offstage of the end of the batten pipe, so the elec-

tric can still be lowered to the deck without hitting

the sidelights. Often, however, the battens are just

too long, and extend too far offstage. If the booms

are moved far enough offstage to clear the battens,

they may become ineffective. Often, the choice made

is to place the boom directly underneath the overhead

electric in that opening. The calculated gamble is that

the electric batten will less likely need to be lowered

to the deck than any adjacent battens, which may be

weighted with scenery.