# Focusing side lights



## Learner (Nov 10, 2011)

What are the basics of focusing side lights for dance. I have 4 ladders per side each with 2 x 650 fresnels. Whatever I do I seem to have patchy light hitting the floor. What am I really aiming at doing?


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## shiben (Nov 10, 2011)

Learner said:


> What are the basics of focusing side lights for dance. I have 4 ladders per side each with 2 x 650 fresnels. Whatever I do I seem to have patchy light hitting the floor. What am I really aiming at doing?


 
Depends where you lights are. I would stick to ERSs, but if your gonna use fresnels, get some barndoors. Stick them as low as you can possibly get them, angle up slightly to wash the opposite wall, and cut off the floor.


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## jglodeklights (Nov 10, 2011)

Well, it really depends on where they are on the booms/ladders (and if you can move them), the overall area needing to be lit, and what the dance piece or pieces consist of. Typically you have 3 or 4 lighting fixtures on each boom. Floor/shin as low as possible, mid or head high (or both with 4 lights a piece) and high side. Sometimes you end up with mids and head highs and no high sides if the booms are not tall enough. All are hung exactly as they sound like they should be.

Personally, I focus floor/shins, mids and head highs so that they pick up the face of a dancer at the masking line, or at 2 to 3 feet from the boom if the boom is on stage with no masking. High sides or really high head highs I focus by hot spot at 1/4 or 1/3 mark on smaller stages, and at center on larger stages. 

Shutter cuts all depend on the dance pieces. I like to keep floor/shins just off the stage at the masking opposite side of the stage. Mids I usually try to cut to center (if the scallop of the beam isn't already there), head highs and highs at 1/3 or 1/4. Again, all depends on what you need to actually light.

You'll never get the floor perfectly lit. This is where frost or running the barrel helps significantly.

If you have two Fresnels per side, I would do a head high slightly higher than most heads and a shin. Get as much of the dancers as possible at the masking line or 3 feet from the fixture. As I'm sure you'll notice, if you haven't already, dancers like to travel to the edges of the stage.


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## Learner (Nov 10, 2011)

Thanks for both replies. Really helpful. I have been hanging the lamps too high and angling down instead of up. Unfortunately only have two per ladder available as standard rig.


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## z2oo (Nov 10, 2011)

Learner said:


> Thanks for both replies. Really helpful. I have been hanging the lamps too high and angling down instead of up. Unfortunately only have two per ladder available as standard rig.


 
When you say ladder, do you mean boom, or have I just not heard of this term? Right now I'm thinking of fresnels magically hung off a 6 ft. ladder...


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## jglodeklights (Nov 10, 2011)

Ladders typically refer to steel or aluminum structures typically made of 1.5" pipe that are usually 1.5 to 3 feet wide and between 3 and 20 feet tall. Two vertical pipes, and spacing between horizontal bars are 1.5 to 2 feet. They can be positioned in a variety of ways. Some are hung off booms or tormentors, others are hung from truss or grids. Can start at the deck, or start at any height possible in the space off the deck.


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## mstaylor (Nov 10, 2011)

Booms generally are pipes and bases from the side. Ladders do the same thing but are suspended and allow for two columns of lights. Modern ladders generally have a combination or ERSs, movers and PARs with scrollers.


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## z2oo (Nov 10, 2011)

Thanks for enlightening me, guys. And now back to your original programming - focusing side lights.


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## Chris15 (Nov 13, 2011)

Geography alert!
The OP is from down here, please beare that in mind when encountering terminology mismatches.
The use of ERSs is nothing like as prevalent down here as I'm led to belive it is in the US, their use is unheard of in the average school for instance...


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## shiben (Nov 13, 2011)

Chris15 said:


> Geography alert!
> The OP is from down here, please beare that in mind when encountering terminology mismatches.
> The use of ERSs is nothing like as prevalent down here as I'm led to belive it is in the US, their use is unheard of in the average school for instance...


 
What do they use instead?


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## Ric (Nov 13, 2011)

I think (hope) he is referring to the term 'ERS' as we DO use them a lot.
We just call them 'profile spot s' or zoom spots', not ERS.


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## Chris15 (Nov 13, 2011)

Ric, when was the last time you saw an ERS / profile / call it what you will in a high school?

Pretty much all I ever see is PARs and Fresnels.
Or maybe that's a Sydney western suburbs thing...

Or maybe I'm just completely out of touch with what's going on in the lighting world...


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## Ric (Nov 14, 2011)

Must be somebody not selling schools what they really need up there.
I see them in schools here in Melbourne often.


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## shiben (Nov 14, 2011)

Chris15 said:


> Ric, when was the last time you saw an ERS / profile / call it what you will in a high school?
> 
> Pretty much all I ever see is PARs and Fresnels.
> Or maybe that's a Sydney western suburbs thing...
> ...


 
I mean perhaps they are using PC units instead of ERS units, but they are most likely getting some form of sharp focusable unit...


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