With all of the formal rules about lighting, and the... (let's be nice) limited lighting choices in the studios, I forgot how much fun lighting can be! This past Thursday and Friday I was the assistant lighting designer for the Ithacappella show, which meant driving to Rochester to pick up equipment, setting all of the lights and working on effects, and helping my good friend Andrew (who was the LD) come up with concepts for the different songs they performed. We used lights I'd never worked with before (5R Pro Intelligent Movers, Atomic 3000 Strobes, Chauvet COLORado LED pars) and we created and tested new effects. (While this didn't work entirely well in the concert, we created lasers using the same projector that was used for the video screens. The mirrors on top of the screens reflected the projection back across the haze and over the audience.) I also got to try my hand at a new lighting console, the Road Hog Full Boar. It's entirely touch screen, and much easier to use than the 140+ dimmers we usually use in the Emerson Suites.
My main job as lighting assistant was to be in charge of the video effects. We created the video projections in Final Cut by creating a matte that would only show the images where the screens were placed on stage. Same for matting a box for the laser mirrors.
But all in all the concert was a huge success (I was not expecting a full house of 600+ people...) And 21+ hours of work (on <6 hours of sleep) later, I finally got to go back to bed.
Trusses, strobes, and video screens
Road Hog and Final Cut with the matte
Haze allowed us to see the light beam being cast from any source, especially the projector
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