Lighting a Dance Studio

[Chris Wright]

Ok, here goes...
This summer I will be shooting training videos for a dance studio down in Dallas, Texas. The company who made the connection for the job (and is then outsourcing the work to me) has asked me to research what kind of lighting we will need to light one of the rooms adaquetly (approx 1500 sq. feet).

There will be no sunlight, and ALL of the lighting will be setup by us... so we need the complete kit.

Now, I have never used any lighting kits whatsoever, so I have no idea where to start looking. B&H has about 20 pages of different lighting kits, running all the way up to $2,000... and it's overwhelming to say the least.

Can someone please give me some suggestions on what exactly we will need to light the entire room nicely? Budget is not an issue right now... we just need to find out what an acceptable solution will cost, and then go from there.

Thanks

[Richard Veil]

can you mount a lantern on ceiling

you can contact jay at lightec in dallas he rent some stuff and sells

r



<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Wright : Ok, here goes...
This summer I will be shooting training videos for a dance studio down in Dallas, Texas. The company who made the connection for the job (and is then outsourcing the work to me) has asked me to research what kind of lighting we will need to light one of the rooms adaquetly (approx 1500 sq. feet).

There will be no sunlight, and ALL of the lighting will be setup by us... so we need the complete kit.

Now, I have never used any lighting kits whatsoever, so I have no idea where to start looking. B&H has about 20 pages of different lighting kits, running all the way up to $2,000... and it's overwhelming to say the least.

Can someone please give me some suggestions on what exactly we will need to light the entire room nicely? Budget is not an issue right now... we just need to find out what an acceptable solution will cost, and then go from there.

Thanks -->>>

[Jacques Mersereau]

Traditional Dance Lighting requires a LARGE set up for pro results.
Usually a dance floor is anywhere from 32' deep and 40' wide or
as small as 24'x28'. I'm working on a dance show right now :)

First, back or top lighting. I usually use three 2K fresnels for each color.
I like at least three colors, so that's nine 2Ks for back light.

Front light. About the same, but it depends on whether the client is
working with video projections. If so, double the amount as you need
to keep front lights off to the sides to avoid hitting the projection screen.

Side light. Dancers LOVE side lights. They help outline and define the
body while eliminating their flaws. Usually three boom bases per side each
with a one and a half inch-ten foot tall pipe that holds from 3-4
source four or other leko type instruments.

Only thing left is a light board, dimming and power distro. ALL TOTAL
about $100K for this kind of system :)

A single lantern won't cut it imo.

[Richard Veil]

Ok

r

[Chris Wright]

Thanks for your replies...

Jacques, do you know if there are any lighting kits that will suffice for this project? Of course, we can't spend $100k, but if we could get a decent kit for around $2,000, that would be great.

If not, could you point out exactly what items I'd need to buy to build my own kit?

Thanks again
Chris

[Jacques Mersereau]

None that I am aware of. If I were you, I would sit down with the client
and see what their level of expectation is. You should explain that for
$2000 a real lighting company would rent what they need (my last post)
for *1 day*. Don't get suckered in. If these guys don't have money, they
need to rethink things and go and start fund raising OR . . . if you try to
do it on the cheap, ALL the responsibility for things going wrong will be on
your head . . . things like the building burning to the ground. Think about it.
Running hundreds of amps of power is not for kiddies who don't know what
they are doing. How's the power in that place? Where's the curcuit breaker
box. There are many things to consider. $2000? Not nearly enough dough
imo. That is enough money for a three light interview kit (barely).

Obviously, if they only want 'white' light (or no color as it is known),
then you have more options (but not pro options) like getting a bunch of work lights.

BEWARE: Home depot work lights are DANGEROUS. They are not meant
for long life or safety. Yes, they throw light, but they get amazingly HOT
and the lamp holdlers are subject to burn out which can cause arcing. There
is NO control of the light. For their budget, there isn't time for you to try
and make barn doors for work lights.

I would have to explain things to them and if that is all they can afford,
personally, I would walk away.

[Shane Matich]

From past experience i would suggest another location for the shoot. Dance studios generally dont have enough 3phase power to run the lighting rig required & generally dont have any safe rigging points to fly a lighting rig...

Maybe it would be easy to find a studio/club/theatre with a lighting rig already installed & get a cheap deal on there down time?

It makes a big difference to the look if you have a lighting board, dimmer system & theatre fixtures. Lighting for dance is generally a cross over between rock'n roll & theatre lighting.

The cheapest, but still effective method, would to dry hire a rockn roll lighting rig of 4 bars of 56 par cans with 300watt MFL bulbs with 4 pushup stands, 12 channel dimmer & any crappy 12 channel lighting desk with a chase function. Put one bar of cans in each courner with a different gell on each can, giving you 4 different looks. If you shop you should be able to hire the rig for $200/$300