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    Monday Morning Zen – Zen in the Art of Lighting Part 3

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    This is the last in the series, but fear not, there will be more coming!

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional 

    I can remember sitting in the audience during a show on one of the ships I was auditing.  There was a banjo player on stage and he was working on creating a mood. He was trying to create the image of sitting on his grandfather’s front porch in the evening learning how to play the banjo.  All of a sudden, every single moving light in the rig started doing a ballyhoo In Technicolor.  It looked like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The mental image was destroyed for the audience and the banjo player was about as mad as a banjo player can get. The point is that in a situation like this, one can accomplish more with less. More often than not, this applies.

    In the above case, I have to think that the programmer simply lost their mind for a minute. Clearly, they were not thinking about the talent onstage. Or how to serve the show best. In a stage show, such as a rock concert, or even on a cruise ship, you have a ton of lights in the rig because you have to be able to create tons of different looks.

    A rock show is completely different from the straight play I wrote about before. One of the great things about moving lights is that you can position them wherever you want with the roll of a wheel, a slide of a fader, or a stroke of a key. The basic principles of front, side, top, down, and back lighting still apply. However, now it is ok to add in a little flavor—BUT ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. For a great lesson in this, I highly recommend checking out the U2 concert video for Rattle and Hum. Largely shot in black and white, you can clearly see how certain songs call for strong beams of light to position down onto each member of the band at certain times. The end result is absolutely stunning.  Some of my favorite looks are just simple shafts of light coming from asymmetrical positions. I really like to have odd angles coming in from at least two positions. If you have good spot light operators, it is even better!

    Moving lights can also lend themselves to becoming an evil temptation. Yep, they move, change color at the blink of an eye, and you can even drop in a gobo. For some programmers, this is like putting a Twinkie in front of the sound guy. Just because a light has a particular function, it does not mean you have to use it every cue. Once I discovered the move-in-black function on the Wholehog® II, it was like someone gave me the key to life. I learned how to use moving lights as a conventional light (conventional lights are lights that don’t move, have one color in them, and are focused to a specified location). Now, I could make these big “statement” looks like I saw in all of these concerts I had seen before. I was also able to effectively use the tools at hand and create a Zen-like state in my shows.  It gave me the subtle lighting show that I wanted to have without having distractions. I found that I was much more at peace with the whole process once I figured out that you don’t have to overdo it.

    Another important part in the Zen of programming is that you, as a programmer and designer, must be in a place in your mind where you are at peace. You must be clear of mind so that you can make good choices. In order to be clear of mind, you must know what you are programming and for what type of show. Know your act and know your audience. If you are doing a Rush show, go big with big beam looks and excitement. If you are doing something that calls for an intimate design, then that is what you should do…create a mood. Becoming part of the environment is critical to this. (I am not saying to become the lights, but hey, who am I to argue if you do?) The goal should be to feel at ease with your lights. If you watch a true master of design and programming at work, it looks easy. A true Zen master will be so in-tune with what is going on around them that they are completely aware of their surroundings. For me, if I am able to, I will video tape a rehearsal and work from it. This gives me the ability to design and program without the act there if I have to. This way, I don’t have the pressure of having to rush to get my looks down. I also try to be alone. Too often, people who are “just trying to help” will really ruin your Zen thing. Turn off the cell phone, put on your headphones and get into your zone.

    Keep in mind as you go, “Does this look natural?”  How does the color reflect the mood of the subject? Is the lighting conveying this mood? Should this be a sharp beam effect or diffused? Does this call for a gobo breakup? Do I need a strobe light hit here? Every lighting change must be motivated. I can remember hearing over and over in acting class, “What is your motivation?”  Well, what is it?  Is there a change in the action that calls for you to write a cue? Did your principal actor just cross from stage right to stage left? Did your band just change tempo? Was there a murder on stage? If the answer is yes, then write a cue. If there is no change in action on stage, then there is no need. I’m sorry, but “Because it’s in the script” typically is not good enough and may need to be challenged. So challenge it. Wisely.

    Now go forth, young Grasshopper, there is nothing more to teach today.

    Monday Morning Zen – Part 2 of Zen in the Art of Lighting

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Here is part 2 of Zen in the Art of Lighting.  Enjoy!

     

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional

    Question: How many grains of sand are in the desert?
    Answer: Not one more than there has to be.

    When you are working on your design of your light plot, it is important to not throw every single light you have at the stage…unless it absolutely calls for it. Once the set design is finished, your job is to make it look amazing. The key here is not to go over the top. Too often designers make the error of throwing the kitchen sink at a rig just to have more. This is not the way of Zen. Zen dictates that the design does not have to be stark, but the choices have to make sense.

    Plot with Care, Grasshopper.
    It is really easy to stray away from the plan during the plotting stage. Firstly, using software like WISYWIG, MSD, or Vector Works makes dropping in lights really easy. So easy in fact, that the temptation to go overboard is strong. For anyone who doubts this, check out the CHAUVET® LDI 2009, 2010, and 2011 rigs. If there is an open square foot of truss, I am dropping a light in. For a trade show, this is important as the point of the rig is to show what the lights do and how they work together. That is the story line for a trade show, however, this is rarely the case in everyday life.

    Consider the Performance.
    When you are working on the plot, consider the act. Are you working with a smoky blues singer, or are you working on a Fortune 500 gala event. If you are working the blues singer, then having a few down lights, a little front light, and some back light are really effective and will look really cool. If you are working the gala event, then a much bigger rig may or may not be called for. It really depends on the event. Even if you are working on a straight play (a play with no music), there must be a balance. Classic front, side, and back lighting will work perfectly. Cover your acting areas evenly is the key. There is no need for any kind of excessive lighting in these situations.

    Get Practical.
    So let’s say I am plotting a show that will have a few practicals. A practical is a light on a set that would be seen in day-to-day life, like a table lamp or a wall sconce. It can either be controlled by an actor (bad idea) or by the lighting operator (good idea). Let’s say I have four wall sconces and two table lamps, I also have to light around them with theatrical light. This means that I have to take into account what kind of light the practical will put out in relation to what the design intent is when I place my theatrical lights.

    For example, in your house, a table lamp gives off enough light to read by, but not enough to light the whole room. A wall sconce will give off enough light to fill in the places that the table lamp does not. I would use my theatrical lights called specials.

    Stay Special.
    Specials are names for fixtures that are used to accent a specific thing. In this case, the special is used to give the impression that the practical is brighter than it is. A special is a functional light source, not an area light source. As I select my specials, I would choose soft, diffused edges and try to get the color temperature to come in around 3400 K so that it is a little cooler than the practicals will be. This will allow the practicals to be seen and function, but will allow the theatrical lights to give off enough output to let the action be seen. Combined with the basics of front, side, back, and down light, this will give the action the correct amount of light and will not overpower the light itself.

    The plot is set…Let’s start programming.

    Tech Talk Throw Back Thursday!!!! AMX to MPX and DMX

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    Wow, that is a lot of T words!

    Check out one of our first ever tech talks from back in 2010 talking about DMX and AMX  Hard to believe it, but there are still systems out there using AMX  to run their lighting systems.  We have come so far with the proliferation of Art-Net, ACN, and SACN since this was written, but still, its all relevant.

     

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional

    Mike Graham pensive in front of MVP™ video panels.

    1. What is AMX? More commonly known as Multiplex or Analog Multiplex, AMX 192 was devised to multiplex up to 192 analog dimmer levels down a four-wire cable. There are thousands of installations that still utilize AMX protocol because the dimming systems they were plugged into were built like Mack Trucks and endured.

    2. The transition to DMX. Boxes to convert DMX into AMX were developed in order to avoid problems with the control. As technology began to become less expensive and started to filter into the lighting world, a new protocol was needed to handle larger dimming racks and moving lights. DMX-512 superseded AMX 192, but it came with its own sets of headaches. No standard existed in how DMX protocol was delivered to fixtures. Each manufacturer had its own method. This left smaller companies that made basic dimming and control in the lurch.

    3. What is MPX and why use it? Several manufacturers began to use a system called Multiplex – a touch of both DMX and AMX. Others used their versions as MPX. So here we are with all of these smaller controllers out there with Multiplex outputs sometimes sitting right along a DMX-512 output.

    When trying to answer some overwhelming questions such as, “What port do I plug into?”, or “How do I keep from ruining a fixture because multiplex puts current down the line?” follow this simple rule of thumb: if you are using like control with like dimmers, Multiplex is the way to go. If Multiplex is all your controller puts out and you want to control intelligent lights, you need to get a new controller.

    Monday Morning Zen – Zen in the Art of Lighting Vol. 1

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    This is a re-post from a few years ago.  We just re-read it and thought it was fitting for Monday Morning Zen

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional

    “I know nothing, but you know less. Together, we will learn and become Masters.” ~ Michael Thomas, Bartender and friend 1995

    When you start working on a show, you walk in a blank slate. You know nothing of what the show will be. Often times, the people who hired you don’t know either. When I started as a bar-back in 1995 at Elwood’s Dixie BBQ in Delray Beach Fla., I didn’t know the difference between a Corona and Cuervo.  By the end of my first night I did, right into the nearest garbage can.

    By the time I got to work with Mike Thomas, I was already a good bar-back, but I really wanted to be a bartender. I convinced Mike that I would work as hard as I could to prove to him that I could do it.  One night after a particularly long shift, he let me in on a little secret. The above quote is one of the most profound things I had ever heard at that time. Keep in mind that I was 21 and was about to become the youngest bartender in town. Mike explained to me that the trick was to become part of the environment over time. I had to let go of any pre-conceived notions that would interfere with what was going on around me—to open up my senses and to anticipate the next action. Eventually, as we worked together, we became Masters of our world. At the end, the key was he hid nothing from me, or I from him.

     

    Entertainment lighting is not that much different. We walk in, as supposed Masters of our craft, to build something from nothing and start from scratch. We must open ourselves up to the harsh cold reality that we know nothing of the pending plan or the outcome. We must also shed any pre-conceived notions that we do. We must not hide anything from others just as nothing is hidden from us. We must know this completely.

    During the first production meeting, we must formulate a plan of action. What is the intent of our show? What do we want people to take away from their experience? This must be our guide from start to finish. The show must be an extension of the people who put it together. If it is not, then the show will fail. We have a responsibility to connect with the experience that will become our driving force for the show.

    For example, in 2011, CHAUVET® as a company embraced a theme of INfected. For our tradeshow booths at LDI, we showed that not only did we come up with a great set of booths we knew and understood our message so purely and so strongly that we produced a phenomenal show. By virtue of the fact that we made conscious and sub-conscious decisions—completely embrace this theme—we were successful in driving the message.

    The key is that one must know, not think, that they have put down the best ideas they have for the show. Then nothing is held back. The designer must have clear vision of what the producer wants to see even if the producer does not. The designer must start to visualize from the first meeting what the outcome will be.

    Often times when working with musical acts, I can hear colors for songs. I see melodies as lights moving and patterns shifting from spot to spot on a stage. I start to create visuals in my head that become cues in the show. From these images, I see structures that become the lighting rig.  I can see the gobos and prisms interacting with washes of various colors. I can see it all so clearly in my head that laying it out onto a controller becomes a necessity as much as the songwriter must get the words onto paper.

    Free from Imagining
    “One should not imagine oneself to be one with the eye or independent of it or the owner of it. The same with ear and all the other senses, including the mind. Nor should one imagine oneself to be identical with the world or contained in it or independent of it or the owner of it. In this way, free from imaging, one no longer clings to the things of the world. When one no longer clings, there is no more agitation, insecurity, and worry. Being no longer worried, one can reach into the depth of oneself and understand that where there has been lost there is now fulfillment.” ~ “Samyutta Nikaya” of the Buddha

    The point is you must free your mind enough to imagine not what your vision is, but rather to know what your vision is. You must see your vision clearly in your mind to open up and let it become reality. When you know your vision doubt, worry, and stress float away because you have the security of knowing.

    Now that you know your direction, the next step is to create something.

    Throwback Thursday – Dimming and Electricity

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    There is a really cool website that deals with the beginnings of filament lighting in theatres. Everyone should check it out as it speaks to the beginnings of our present era in the history of lighting. Check out CASSSTUDIO6 for some amazing behind the scenes shots and history of our industry.

    2_Electric-i

    The above photo is of the electrical room in the Paris Opera House in 1887

    While LEDs are becoming more and more prevelant in the theatrical world, there are still plenty of places where standard dimming is still being used and installed.  This is why CHAUVET Professional came up with the Ovation ED 190-WW and Ovation FD 165-WW.  These are LED fixtures that are designed to work with both DMX control and dimming systems.  A true bridge between the old and the new.

    Emotion and Motivation for Lighting Design

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    By Michael Graham

    Believe it or not, designing lighting to music is a lot like acting in a play. There has to be motivation relative to an emotion for action to take place. If you ever have a chance to speak with a stage actor, ask them if they memorize their lines or if they learn their lines, develop a character, and then, in working with the other actors in the play, create the motivation and emotional connection necessary to make the dialogue more natural. The better actors will tell you that they do they work a process like the one I described rather than just memorize lines. By working the process, the actor can convince the audience that they are that character and involve them in the show. Go watch Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich in “Death of a Salesman” or Alec Baldwin in “Glengary Glenn Ross” and you will see exactly what I am talking about. These actors preformed these rolls flawlessly, in my opinion, because they not only understood their characters, but understood the motivation and emotion behind their actions.

     

    Creating cues and looks in lighting design is really no different. The lighting should reinforce the mood or action on the stage. This means that no cue should ever happen without the motivation for it to occur and it should help to evoke the emotion that the song is trying to create.   If you think about the character development process while you are listening to music, you will start to see the colors that the song should be, and the movements (or lack there of) that should accompany the music you are programming to. Take Marc Brickman’s interpretation of Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” from the Pulse tour.Every cue and color makes sense. Not only did he know the music, but it was apparent that he was emotionally attached to it. He may not have had the same attachment as the band, but the design of the song was very personal, and to the audience, it draws them in past just the music.

     

    Not everyone gets to design music they can get deeply emotionally involved in. That is a fact in our industry. This is where the character development process can help you out. I cut my teeth running lights for cover acts on cruise ships. Trust me, I did not love all of the songs that I had to design for. I started out fighting the music and not getting any personal enjoyment out of most of the songs I was designing lights and it was apparent in how the shows looked. Eventually, I figured out that something had to change, and it was me. I had to work out a way to be able to listen to the music and find elements in every song to work cues into. This is where I can honestly say I started to enjoy styles of music past just rock. I found that getting emotionally involved got easier because I was making myself part of the process of character development in so as much as the lighting was a character in of itself. To me this is a big part of the difference between designing a show and just programming a show. You have to listen to the music and not just hear it.

     

    So, give it a try. Listen to the music you are being asked to program to and try to make it your own. Find your meaning and let the lighting design become a dialogue between the lights and the music.

    Emotion and Motivation for Lighting Design

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

     

    gal_colorado_1tri_tour_7_3

    Believe it or not, designing lighting to music is a lot like acting in a play. There has to be motivation relative to an emotion for action to take place. If you ever have a chance to speak with a stage actor, ask them if they memorize their lines or if they learn their lines, develop a character, and then, in working with the other actors in the play, create the motivation and emotional connection necessary to make the dialogue more natural. The better actors will tell you that they do they work a process like the one I described rather than just memorize lines. By working the process, the actor can convince the audience that they are that character and involve them in the show. Go watch Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich in “Death of a Salesman” or Alec Baldwin in “Glengary Glenn Ross” and you will see exactly what I am talking about. These actors preformed these rolls flawlessly, in my opinion, because they not only understood their characters, but understood the motivation and emotion behind their actions.

     

    Creating cues and looks in lighting design is really no different. The lighting should reinforce the mood or action on the stage. This means that no cue should ever happen without the motivation for it to occur and it should help to evoke the emotion that the song is trying to create.   If you think about the character development process while you are listening to music, you will start to see the colors that the song should be, and the movements (or lack there of) that should accompany the music you are programming to. Take Marc Brickman’s interpretation of Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” from the Pulse tour.Every cue and color makes sense. Not only did he know the music, but it was apparent that he was emotionally attached to it. He may not have had the same attachment as the band, but the design of the song was very personal, and to the audience, it draws them in past just the music.

     

    Not everyone gets to design music they can get deeply emotionally involved in. That is a fact in our industry. This is where the character development process can help you out. I cut my teeth running lights for cover acts on cruise ships. Trust me, I did not love all of the songs that I had to design for. I started out fighting the music and not getting any personal enjoyment out of most of the songs I was designing lights and it was apparent in how the shows looked. Eventually, I figured out that something had to change, and it was me. I had to work out a way to be able to listen to the music and find elements in every song to work cues into. This is where I can honestly say I started to enjoy styles of music past just rock. I found that getting emotionally involved got easier because I was making myself part of the process of character development in so as much as the lighting was a character in of itself. To me this is a big part of the difference between designing a show and just programming a show. You have to listen to the music and not just hear it.

     

    So, give it a try. Listen to the music you are being asked to program to and try to make it your own. Find your meaning and let the lighting design become a dialogue between the lights and the music.

    2nd Annual CHAUVET Professional Student Lighting Showcase!

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    We started a great event on the West Coast for the students in the region to come by the Burbank Showroom, rock and roll with a real rig of excellent CHAUVET Professional touring fixtures and equipment, and mingle with industry leaders in the region.  So far, it’s been a success twice!  Did you come this year?

    Chauvet-professional-student-program-2

    BURBANK, CA – (For Immediate Release) – Vividly dynamic lightshows weren’t the only thing only on display at the Second Annual Student Lighting Showcase. Also shining brightly was the creative bond that connects generations with a shared passion for lighting, as students from four colleges got the incredible opportunity to have their designs evaluated by some of the most respected LDs in the industry.

    Held at the CHAUVET Professional Showroom in Burbank, the one-day event drew students from California Institute of the Arts, the University of California Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts, LACC Theatre Academy, and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Groups of two or three students from each school collaborated on designing a lightshow for one song chosen by them. Lighting designer Joe Spangler programmed the one-song shows for the students.

    When the student lightshows were completed, they were shown to guest lighting designers, an esteemed group that included such luminaries as Lee Rose, Joshua Hutchings, Martin Phillips, Steve Young and Ian Peacock. The LDs then provided the students with feedback on the shows, answered questions and shared ideas about lighting, providing them with an educational experience that will last a lifetime.

    Chauvet-professional-student-program-1

    “This was really an experience, not a competition,” said DeAnna Padgett, National Sales Manager for CHAUVET Professional, one of the driving forces behind the event. “We don’t score the students’ designs, so there’s no one who comes in first place or anything like that. There’s a very relaxed atmosphere at the event with drinks and appetizers and a lot of mingling. It’s really all about some of the leading designers from one generation passing their lighting insights onto aspiring designers from the next. Everyone from both generations really likes the experience.”

    Like all successful events, the Second Annual Student Lighting Showcase was the result of a lot of dedicated people pulling together. In addition to the guest lighting designers, college students and internal Chauvet team members, Padgett singled out the educators from the four schools for their help in making this student showcase special.

    Chauvet-professional-student-program-3

    “In doing this event, I am just very fortunate to work with people like Anne Militello from CalArts, Jim Moody of LACC, Tom Ontiveros from USC and Lonnie Alvarez with UC Irvine,” said Padgett. “There are so many things they did to make this a success, not the least of which is the amazing job they did preparing their students. The four of them have a genuine love of lighting design. They know how special this industry is, and they’re dedicated to passing that passion down to the next generation.”

    Come Get The Physiological Experience at PLASA FOCUS KC!

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    CHAUVET Professional’s Customer Engagement and Education Manager Jim Hutchison will be bringing his popular seminar, LED COLOR: The Physiological Experience, to the PLASA Focus Kansas City audience! Check it out!

    jim-hutchison-plasa-focus

    The human eye contains millions of cone cells for detecting color — and Jim Hutchison hopes to tingle each and every one of them in his upcoming “LED Color: The Physiological Experience” seminar at PLASA Focus: Kansas City from 2-3pm, Wednesday, May 20. Hutchison, the customer engagement manager at Chauvet Professional and Iluminarc, will take visitors on a colorful tour showing the effect that different colors and combinations of colors have on human thought and emotion. Along the way, he will share some insights on ways lighting designers can utilize the influential power of color to create more impactful designs.

    “I’ve geared this course to show lighting designers what it means to be able to use color on a level that gives their designs even more depth and a greater ability to convey the story they want to tell,” said Hutchison. “It’s obviously very important that, as designers, we spend time talking about the pixel pitch and batching of LED fixtures and look at their mathematical data and photo metrics, but that’s still only part of the equation. What we also need to do is put ourselves in the audience’s seat to see how we can better tell a story to them and suspend their disbelief more effectively. This course will offer advice on how you can do that by having your audience experience different colors of light.”

    Some of the examples of color influence that the seminar will explore include the power of red to increase breathing and digestion rates, how heavy yellow hues evoke “an almost a blissful confusion,” and how blues and greens engender states of calmness. “Individual colors are potent influencers,” said Hutchison. “Then, when you use them in combination with one another, you pump up their power even further. Our seminar will cover some proven examples of this color synergy.”

    Hutchison will be relying on a collection of Chauvet Professional COLORado Batten Quad-9 fixtures to provide vivid examples of LED rendered colors in action during the seminar. “We’re going to fill that room with heavy hues and induce some color fatigue in everyone’s cone cells for the sake of art,” he said. “It should be fun and I promise that anyone who attends will never see color in quite the same way.”

    See Chauvet Professional at PLASA Focus: Kansas City, May 20 – 21.