Light Lab
It is really nice to be in an academic setting at times, and have a light lab at your disposal. I have been finding myself locked away more and more this week in our lab, not for our weekly light lab homework assignments, but doing tests to make sure all of the individual ideas I have for the Opera will actually work. One of the big moments that I wanted to really hit on the mark was this rainbow that appears at the end of Act 1. We have a 20′x8′ vinyl wall that will turn into this abstract graffiti covered rainbow. I had picked some preliminary colors for the rainbow from multiple swatch books, but nothing beats seeing it for yourself. I spent a few hours in there swapping colors, changing my mind, going back to my original choices. In the end I am pretty satisfied with my take on how the colors will blend with each other. I am still a little unease about the green. The current choice in the photo below is R95, by my original choice was R93, slightly more blue, but I think it will fit better. Finding the right green has been the biggest challenge in this test. There is also a lot of water effects in the show. I met with the director and set designer to show them the type of effect we’ll get by shooting an instrument into a plastic container with water. We discussed a bunch of ways to keep the water rippling: fans, battery powered bath toys, pumps etc… Ultimately though we went with the most economic solution, that I am interested in exploring. I was very fascinated with how a single drop into a still container of water would make it shimmer. Our idea is to suspend a bag of ice above the containers with a few small pinholes in the bottom. As the ice melts over the course of the show it’ll keep the water moving and shimmering. The backup plan is small fans. So that is what I’ve been doing with most of my free time, along with running around picking up a lot of small accessories I need. Light rig for the show is tomorrow, but it is being double hung with a music festival concert that opens this weekend.
Also if anyone knows where I could order about 7 or 8 of these, I would greatly appreciate it:
Related Topics: Student Blog From Cal Arts, General
April 21st, 2008 at 12:05 pm
The fixture is a standard vapor-tight “jelly jar”. You can find them at just about any electrical distribution warehouse. The fixture does have limits for wattage (temp.) as it is sealed. The glass is available in blue, red, amber, clear, and frosted. Any other colors are usually provided by the lamp inside, or a good coating of old-fashioned Rosco lamp dip. Feel free to contact me if you need any more info or a website recommendation to order from. J.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Christopher, for the water effects have you looked at any of the GAM recipes for shimmering water effects using gobo rotators? They usually work pretty well. You can see them in video on GAM’s web site at www.gamonline.com. I’m a BFA & MFA grad of CALArts from ‘85 & ‘87. Keep up the great blog.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Thank you for the info Jennifer. I finally did find the units I wanted. Actually I found the exact unit in that photo, but they are a bit pricey, especially with the red replacement glass. I decided however to buy very similar units with just the clear glass. I am going to try a few different methods to make them appear red during the show.
Buddy, thanks for the heads up, using rotators to create advanced effects is actually one of my favorite things to do. I only have 6 in my inventory, and while I know they create a very nice shimmer effect, I am going to use them to create slow moving clouds. It’s a better use of my resources, as I can create a water shimmer with water, but I can’t create moving clouds unless I start getting into projection. Thanks again everyone!
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