Editor’s note: Will Flavin, 17, is a lighting programmer for Flavin Lighting Design and junior at Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, La.
There are many challenges to face when integrating technology in a live production. Add a full-size, state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video system to the mix and it can become much more difficult.
Trinity Baptist Church of Lake Charles, La., had to face some of these challenges for their youth event, entitled Epic Weekend. The event featured an award-winning band, The Digital Age. It was held in Trinity’s contemporary worship facility, their newest addition called the North Venue. This was the first major concert the room had seen since opening in August.
The AVL system in the room was designed by Porche’ Advanced Systems, LLC of Lake Charles. The room features two Meyer Sound line arrays, environmental projection, and almost 150 LED fixtures in the lighting rig.
Flavin Lighting Design, LLC of Shreveport programmed the lighting for the show on the church’s Jands Vista S3 lighting console. We were able to get the church to send us the show file they use on a weekly basis ahead of time. From there, I was able to set up the console in a way that suited my style of programming.
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Having the Vista console was one of the rig’s strongest points. We were able to program hundreds of cues in a short amount of time. I think the console’s speed and the way it handles complex timing sets it apart from many others. This made things much smoother to program in the short time frame we had to work.
The show ran on Friday night, twice Saturday, and Sunday morning. Church officials got a set list ahead of time, which also made it much easier to prepare for the show.
Here’s how the show turned out:
The room has five Eiki EIP-HDT30 projectors, three used for words and graphics and two for environmental projection. When I heard there was environmental in the rig, I was not too excited. All environmental projection I have worked with in the past either washes out the lighting rig or vice versa. I was extremely surprised once I started programming how much depth there was when you blend environmental projection with the lighting.
I always say lighting is a three-dimensional element, especially if there is haze present, and projection is two-dimensional. Therefore I don’t think only having one dimension with only projection really creates the best look. Porche’ did a great job designing the system to create depth.
One of the key features for this system was a great hazer. I recommended the Radiance Hazer by UltraTec FX to Porche’ when they designed the room. The church has had bad experiences with other hazers in the past so the Radiance was a very solid option. Having good haze allowed me to create the separation I was looking for between the lighting and video elements in the show.
