Download a PDF - PLSN.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PRODUCTION PROFILE PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Photos by bree Kristel ClarKe My Morning Jacket Eight Sizes Fits All — with a Few Alterations The floor lighting package has been, and will remain, an important part of the overall look of Janowitz’s lighting design for My Morning Jacket. By Frank Hammel and Bree Kristel Clarke [Shortly before this article went to press, My Morning Jacket had to cancel the European leg of its Evil Urges tour. Frontman Jim James had fallen from the stage during a concert in Iowa City, Iowa and was hospitalized with injuries. The band had also rescheduled its Chicago area tour dates from early October to December. — ed.] My Morning Jacket’s music defies conventional music categories. LD Marc Janowitz describes it as a combination of “classic rock and Southern rock, but then also funk and psychadelic rock.” And the music isn’t the only thing noticeably different about this band when they’re on stage. Lit from Within PLSN “I’ve been working with this band for about two and a half years,” says LD Marc Janowitz. “I started developing a floor package for them almost right away. The idea has always been that the light should be emanating from and through the band, and from the stage, as opposed to top-lit, or lit from far away.” The asymmetric overhead rig adapts to different-sized venues with truss arranged in a “train wreck” configuration, allowing most of the gear to be used for most of the shows. 42 PLSN NOVEMBER 2008 A big show date last June at Radio City Music Hall, 10 days after the release of the band’s Evil Urges album, called for an overhead rig and custom backdrop featuring large monster eyes to go with the floor package. But the varying stage sizes and trim heights of venues on the subsequent tour — ranging in size from Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre outside Denver and the Greek Theatre in L.A. to much smaller clubs — required accordion-like flexibility. “We’d be at House of Blues one day and then Red Rocks the other. So we needed to make sure that the lighting rig could be set up a lot of different ways,” says Eric Mayers, production manager, without drastically altering the overall look of the show. Evolving Organically PLSN Even so, the lighting rig has been a work in progress, evolving as the tour continues. “After six shows, we finally got to hang the rig for real. I looked at it, and on the seventh show, we completely turned it on its end,” Janowitz says. Rather than duplicating a single monolith of a lighting rig, the Evil Urges tour flows with a more flexible, asymmetric assortment of light sources and levels, with hinged truss that has evolved into a zigzagging, semi-circular “train wreck” configuration above the stage. The overhead rig’s design started with the ideas incorporated into the band’s appearance at Radio City Music Hall in June, with gear supplied by Scharff Weisberg. At the time, the 29-year-old lighting, video and sound company was in the midst of moving from New York City to a 98,000 square-foot facility in Secaucus, N.J. “They hadn’t quite moved their video department in, so they had a lot of space in their shop,” says Ben Price, lighting tech. “We were able to spend three very long days at their shop for preproduction, and because of all that room, we were able to pretty much hang the entire thing.” Modular Flexibility PLSN With so many variables in the size and shape of the tour venues, however, the lighting rig and design needed to stay flexible. Mayers supported the idea of a modular approach, using eight-foot-long sticks of truss as “building blocks,” according to Janowitz. “From February to June, we had that period of time to figure that out. Then we had our Radio City Music Hall show June 20 th to sort of flesh out a slightly different version of it, and learn from that. And then we ultimately compressed that and condensed it slightly, and that and made it our touring package,” Janowitz says. “Even then, when we hit the road, we changed stuff,” he adds. “The Showguns were meant to be in the air, but for the first few shows, there were low trims, so we put them on the ground, and we liked them there a lot.” By the time the tour reached Red Rocks, big enough to bring the Showguns “upstairs,” Janowitz opted to bring them back to the floor. Train-Wreck Truss PLSN The rig and lighting design continued to evolve. “When we were inside at the Fox Theatre a couple of dates later, we decided LD Marc Janowitz started off with a floor package for My Morning Jacket in early 2006, making it seem that the band is lit from within. to try out another idea. Instead of having the modular sticks at different levels, why not just have them all pitch in different directions? That became the concept I now call the ‘train wreck,’” Janowitz says. “When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it,” Price says, of the zig-zagging configuration. There are advantages and disadvantages, Price notes, but adds that it lends the stage with a natural, “organic” feel that seems well-suited to the band, its songs and shows. “Each light suddenly becomes all that more important, because its location is different from every other fixture. You’re not looking at two fixtures with the same height anymore.” “As an LD, I find that asymmetry sets you free,” says Janowitz. “You don’t have to match beams. It’s not really about that. You don’t have to be right in the middle of a room and get everything perfect from one side to the other.” From A to G…and H PLSN Instead of a one-, two-, or three-sizes-fitsall approach, My Morning Jacket’s tour now has variations labeled “A” to “G.” And even with that amount of flexibility, alterations are sometimes required. To date, Stubbs BBQ in Austin, Texas takes the prize as the tour’s biggest rigging challenge, with its trim height of just 14 feet. “There are no rigging points there,” notes Price. “I would call that ‘position H.’”
Monstrous eyes and smoky looks unleash the visual drama of what Janowitz calls a “fire-breathing beast.” Using a sub-grid pre-rigged with swing wing truss modules, a skeletal crew can get the overhead flown in 2.5 hours and the entire lighting package assembled in four hours or less. “The most difficult venue was Stubbs BBQ in Austin. There are no rigging points there, and it had about a 14-foot trim. I’d call that ‘position H.’” — Ben Price, Lighting System tech CREW Lighting Designer/Director: Marc Janowitz Lighting System Tech: Ben “Jammin” Price Tour Manager/Production Manager: Eric Mayers Stage Manager: Chris “Bubsy” Houlk FOH Engineer: Ryan “Grandma” Pickett Monitor Engineer: Dave “Grandpa” Kissner Guitar Techs: Brucie Churchill, Rick “Dangler” Sanger Drum/Keyboard Tech: Jim “Coach” Perry Lighting Supplier: Scharff Weisberg, Chris McMeen, John Healy, Eric “Guido” Perry GEAR 20 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots 10 Vari*Lite VL500Ds 10 Vari*Lite VL2500 Wash Fixtures 7 Martin MAC 2000 Performance Fixtures 5 High End Systems Showguns 8 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe with Atomic Color Changers 4 ETC Source Four PAR MFLs 1 EDI Scrimmer Sticks 2 Le Maitre G300 Foggers 1 Le Maitre Radiance Hazer 1 Le Maitre Neutron Hazer 1 High End Systems Hog iPC Console 1 High End Systems Roadhog (as backup) 1 High End Systems Full Rock Expansion Wing 5 8’ Tomcat SwingWing Truss 9 10’ Tomcat 12” Box Truss 4 8’ Tomcat 20” Box Truss 1 10’ Tomcat 20” Box Truss 4 Tomcat 20” Hinged Corners 6 CM 1-ton Chain Motors 16 CM 1/2-Ton Chain Motors 1 TMB ProPower Rack 48-way 1 TMB ProPower Rack 24-way 4 Packages TMB White Athletic Socks Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
Page 1 and 2: Buyers Guide: Low-Res LED Displays,
Page 3 and 4: Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instan
Page 7 and 8: ESTA Posts Five Draft Standards for
Page 9 and 10: Ad info: www.plsn.com/instant-info
Page 11 and 12: In Brief Georgia Aquarium has chose
Page 13 and 14: Ad info: www.plsn.com/instant-info
Page 15 and 16: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS IN
Page 19 and 20: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Ma
Page 21 and 22: Summerfest 2008 ST Lighting Co Acme
Page 23 and 24: Joan Marcus Joan Marcus Joan Marcus
Page 25 and 26: With its limitless range of colors
Page 27 and 28: The Jersey Boys theater, and most o
Page 29 and 30: A.C. Lighting exhibited new technol
Page 35 and 36: The Axis LED from Mega-Lite is a mo
Page 39 and 40: Coach, Coach Company of the Year; U
Page 43: Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instan
Page 47 and 48: “I approach every show as if it i
Page 49 and 50: Chroma-Q ColorWeb 125 Barco MiTrix
Page 51 and 52: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Po
Page 53 and 54: HD Video + Moving Rig for Queen + P
Page 55 and 56: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS NE
Page 59 and 60: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS VI
Page 61 and 62: The lamp socket works with the Osra
Page 67 and 68: PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS FE
Page 69 and 70: To Advertise in Marketplace, Contac

Download a PDF - PLSN.com

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?