2007 Conference

[Dante Waters]

I was asked to setup and coordinate a 2007 conference for a local church.
Along with cameras, and other equipment of course I need lights.

Well I have yet to actually set up lighting to this magnitude. I would like enough lighting so that the speakers on stage faces can be seen clearly (there is a link to the layout of the venue below).

Now I know the throw, as well as wattage is very important when it comes
to getting the right amount of lighting. I have been considering ETC this one:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ipsoidal_.html

Simply because from the information I gathered you can soften the focus
causing the light to be more diffused and less harsh.

Also this about 2-3 Arri flood lights:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...cus_Flood.html

The actual place doesn't belong to the church so to mount items on walls/pillars could pose a problem. Whatever I use must be be either mobile or on stands.

Attached is a simply mock up of what the venue looks like:

http://www.cwellproductions.com/conf/SFX4B3.pdf

Please shed some light on the matter as to where I should start and
really give me options both price and setup time.

Thank you

[Richard Andrewski]

Originally Posted by Dante Waters

I was asked to setup and coordinate a 2007 conference for a local church.
Along with cameras, and other equipment of course I need lights.

Well I have yet to actually set up lighting to this magnitude. I would like enough lighting so that the speakers on stage faces can be seen clearly (there is a link to the layout of the venue below).

Now I know the throw, as well as wattage is very important when it comes
to getting the right amount of lighting. I have been considering ETC this one:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ipsoidal_.html

Simply because from the information I gathered you can soften the focus
causing the light to be more diffused and less harsh.

Also this about 2-3 Arri flood lights:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...cus_Flood.html

The actual place doesn't belong to the church so to mount items on walls/pillars could pose a problem. Whatever I use must be be either mobile or on stands.

Attached is a simply mock up of what the venue looks like:

http://www.cwellproductions.com/conf/SFX4B3.pdf

Please shed some light on the matter as to where I should start and
really give me options both price and setup time.

Thank you

ETC Source Four stuff is very commonly used in Theater and well thought of so quality is not an issue. I guess you chose an ellipsoidal because you wanted primarily a spot effect? The ellipsoidal's strengths are projecting a beam of light or a pattern. You can think of it as a mini spot. You can use it for what you're doing but I wonder if that's the effect you want? An ellipsoidal is not something you see often in video production but more often in theater for sure. You would most often see it where you want to use a cucaloris and I don't think that's your current application.

As for the floods, I'm sure they are fine as they are Arri's. A flood is a flood for the most part unless they do silly things like putting fuses in them which can make them more unreliable. You could almost use a worklight much less expensively to do the same thing. With a floodlight you are just getting a wide area covered with light, no focusing or lens. Not a very complex fixture at all. If you have barndoors, like on the arri, at least you can flag off some areas if you need, but I don't think thats a big issue for you here.

You're just trying to cover as much of the stage as possible from what I can see. It's a bit hard to tell from your drawing whether three would be enough to cover that area. If you're sold on Source Four, I'd be inclined to get four or five of the 575w or 750w Pars with the "ParNel" lens and the enhanced aluminum reflectors--it's really an efficient design. They have them at B&H also--Just look under tungsten and theatrical and studio lighting then "pars". A par starts out a bit like an ellipsoidal. You've got an ellipsoidal type reflector in both with the bulb "head" stuck in the center of the reflector sticking out horizontally. This is really efficient for light output. Even more efficient than a fresnel which has a simpler reflector with the bulb situated in front of it.

But it's what happens after that that separates the par and ellipsoidal in terms of lens and focusing mechanisms. The par can have quite a variety of lenses but usually no focusing mechanism and it isn't really needed here for what you're doing--hence why I think the ellipsoidal is overkill...

[Nino Giannotti]

I don’t suggest this very often, but I’ve been in theses situation many times and even thou I know exactly what needs to be done I always end up hiring a lighting company that specializes in events staging. Looks like you are going to have over 400 people there. The only place for you to place lights is in the rear of the room. That’s also probably where most of the in/out traffic will be. Looks like the room is about 60x60 feet. You might be able to throw maybe one powerful spotlight from the back but that will not give good lighting. At that distance no lights will be affective no matter how many lights you’ll put up. 750w Source four will not do it. You will blind the people on the stage and the audience too anytime they turn around. Lights positioned at the rear of the room will also cast some very ugly shadows on the back of the stage and they will also pick up and highlight any particle in the air and with that many people there will be a lot of dust flying around. In few words it will look awful. Not to mention the liability factor with all these lights. Powerful lights means heavy duty stands with large footbase, also lots of power and lots of cables.

Those lights should be mounted about 20 feet from the stage and about 20 feet from the ground. Rooms this size must be designed with some sort of ceiling supports but this require someone who have done these sorts of things before.