Well, I've been trying to whittle down my overloaded brain and settle on one topic. My wife suggested that I write a little about what I deal with on a weekly basis....lighting. Well, that narrowed it down a lot. Then I though that maybe I should write on recent issues that I have been struggling with and others may be going through as well. And now I think I may have something small enough to fit in a blog and not an encyclopedia.
This post will look at some issues church lighting guys have due to poor planning, shifts in building use and shifts in culture.
What Color Goes With Brown???
The largest issue that I have had, and continue to battle from time to time, is the color brown. To all those on on the aesthetics committees (official or otherwise) -- If you ever want nice lighting in a contemporary service, PLEASE DON'T USE BROWN AS A MAIN COLOR FOR THE STAGE FLOOR OR WALLS! I know it looks nice when all the house lights are on and traditional service is taking place. But as more and more churches add contemporary services where house lights just don't do the service justice, the brown is nearly impossible to deal with. When you try to have nice colors as a backdrop with no change in the lighting, it just accentuates the brown abyss.
So, what can the lighting guru do? Well short of plotting something evil like wearing a disguise, getting accepted to the aesthetics committee and stage a coup, there are a few things.
I am going to assume that you don't have an unlimited budget to buy enough lights or pay for the power bill that it would take overthrow the evil brown regime by colored lights alone. None of the following ideas will completely solve all of your problems or work in your situation. This is more to get the creative juices flowing.
First, you can do things to distract from the brown-ness. I don't mean putting up spiral gobos to hypnotize or flashing lights in the congregation. I'm talking about lighting objects on the stage. Have you ever tested the amount of reflection you can get off the drum set or the bass guitar? EXPERIMENT!!! See what cool colored lighting you can get to bounce off the drums.
Another widely used distraction tool is that white stretch fabric. When we started a Saturday night contemporary worship service, we invested in 3 9X9 slightly convex squares that just sat behind the band. When we used them, the eyes stopped focusing on the brown wall behind them and on the incredible color palette that we could now get. Not only could we get a great atmosphere, they were fairly easy to take down before out Sunday morning traditional service.
The third solution that we also use is more like hand-to-hand combat. We have purchased moderately priced LED lights that are only used for lighting the background. After trying multiple LED lights from a myriad of manufacturers, we settled on the ETC Selador Vivids. These lights provide a great palette even on the brown. I was completely blown away with the advancement of LEDs. The brown wall is still there but with these lights, it is a lot less noticable. Of course, I can't use all the colors these lights will allow. Yellow, amber, green and like colors just do not translate well when mixed with brown.
So there you go, 3 ideas to help you stop pulling out your hair and start working toward a solution.
Got questions? Have another solution that has worked for you? Post a comment!!!
This post will look at some issues church lighting guys have due to poor planning, shifts in building use and shifts in culture.
What Color Goes With Brown???
The largest issue that I have had, and continue to battle from time to time, is the color brown. To all those on on the aesthetics committees (official or otherwise) -- If you ever want nice lighting in a contemporary service, PLEASE DON'T USE BROWN AS A MAIN COLOR FOR THE STAGE FLOOR OR WALLS! I know it looks nice when all the house lights are on and traditional service is taking place. But as more and more churches add contemporary services where house lights just don't do the service justice, the brown is nearly impossible to deal with. When you try to have nice colors as a backdrop with no change in the lighting, it just accentuates the brown abyss.
So, what can the lighting guru do? Well short of plotting something evil like wearing a disguise, getting accepted to the aesthetics committee and stage a coup, there are a few things.
I am going to assume that you don't have an unlimited budget to buy enough lights or pay for the power bill that it would take overthrow the evil brown regime by colored lights alone. None of the following ideas will completely solve all of your problems or work in your situation. This is more to get the creative juices flowing.
First, you can do things to distract from the brown-ness. I don't mean putting up spiral gobos to hypnotize or flashing lights in the congregation. I'm talking about lighting objects on the stage. Have you ever tested the amount of reflection you can get off the drum set or the bass guitar? EXPERIMENT!!! See what cool colored lighting you can get to bounce off the drums.
Another widely used distraction tool is that white stretch fabric. When we started a Saturday night contemporary worship service, we invested in 3 9X9 slightly convex squares that just sat behind the band. When we used them, the eyes stopped focusing on the brown wall behind them and on the incredible color palette that we could now get. Not only could we get a great atmosphere, they were fairly easy to take down before out Sunday morning traditional service.
The third solution that we also use is more like hand-to-hand combat. We have purchased moderately priced LED lights that are only used for lighting the background. After trying multiple LED lights from a myriad of manufacturers, we settled on the ETC Selador Vivids. These lights provide a great palette even on the brown. I was completely blown away with the advancement of LEDs. The brown wall is still there but with these lights, it is a lot less noticable. Of course, I can't use all the colors these lights will allow. Yellow, amber, green and like colors just do not translate well when mixed with brown.
So there you go, 3 ideas to help you stop pulling out your hair and start working toward a solution.
Got questions? Have another solution that has worked for you? Post a comment!!!
